Language:
English
Year of publication:
2011
Titel der Quelle:
Jewish Social Studies
Angaben zur Quelle:
17,2 (2011) 80-100
Keywords:
Coetzee, J. M.,
;
Antisemitism in literature
;
South African literature History and criticism
Abstract:
Interprets Coetzee's novel "Disgrace" (1999) as a deconstruction of the traditional genre of South African literature, the "plaasroman" or pastoral novel, depicting white physical labor in the countryside, and thus legitimizing Afrikaner ownership of African land. In "Disgrace", the role of the "white male patriarch", vital for the "plaasroman", is played by a character named David Lurie, who in the course of the novel hands over his farm to a black African named Petrus. Shows that the Lurie character is a typical "racial Jew", stereotyped by the antisemitic literature of previous generations and marked with the signs of degeneration: he is a sexual pervert and intellectually sterile, unable to produce a work of aesthetic value; he is weak physically, which prevents him from working on the land. His whiteness as well as his belonging to South Africa are doubtful. Lurie's otherness is inscribed on his body and face. Coetzee wrote an allegory of post-apartheid South Africa, but did so through the figure of an immoral and degenerate Jewish alien.
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