Affiliations in Joseph Conradâs Under Western Eyes and J. M. Coetzeeâs The Master of Petersburg

VÃ©ronique Pauly

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Chapter 11 Affiliations in Joseph Conradâs Under Western Eyes and J. M. Coetzeeâs The Master of Petersburg

In: Conradâs Presence in Contemporary Culture

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VÃ©ronique Pauly

VÃ©ronique Pauly
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 226â242

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004694972_013

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Abstract

Although Coetzee very rarely mentions Conrad, both authors have much in common. As external and internal exiles, both were expected in their fiction to spell out their cultural and/or political affiliations. The two novels on which this chapter focuses, Under Western Eyes (1911) and The Master of Petersburg (1994), show, however, that this is not an expectation that either Conrad or Coetzee were to fulfil straightforwardly. Under Western Eyes and The Master of Petersburg are both political novels dealing with Russia, revolutionary and anarchist movements, with social, political, cultural and historical affiliations, as well as problematic filiations. Their respective publications revived arguments about their authorsâ cultural and political affiliations. In the âAuthorâs Noteâ to Under Western Eyes, Conrad professes âscrupulous impartialityâ and âdetachmentâ from the subject of Russia. This clearly disingenuous statement only thinly hides the painful confrontation with the shadow of his father and with his avowed detestation of Dostoevsky, with whom he nevertheless creatively engages in this novel. Coetzeeâs novel centres on the figure of Dostoevsky and on events leading to the writing of The Possessed. With this novel, his first since the end of Apartheid, Coetzee appeared to be turning his back on South Africa precisely when some kind of response to South Africaâs fresh beginnings was expected of him. These two novels are also metafictional novels foregrounding the creative process, the writing and reading of fiction. The point of this chapter, therefore, is not to argue that Conrad was a source of inspiration that Coetzee, for whatever reason, seems to be willing to hide. It is rather to analyse how, by displacing the representation of political debates onto creative issues, both Conrad and Coetzee defend fiction against superficial links between representations and affiliations.

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Conradâs Presence in Contemporary Culture

Adaptations and Appropriations

Series:Â DQR Studies in Literature OnlineÂ andÂ DQR Studies in Literature, Volume: 65

Cover Conradâs Presence in Contemporary Culture

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004694972

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 22 Apr 2024

Subjects
- Literature and Cultural Studies

Front Matter

Part 1 What Is Conrad the Name Of?

Part 2 Showing: Graphic and Filmic Metamorphoses

Part 3 Telling: Literary Affiliations and Appropriations

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Chapter 11 Affiliations in Joseph Conradâs Under Western Eyes and J. M. Coetzeeâs The Master of Petersburg

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Citation Info

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Conradâs Presence in Contemporary Culture

Adaptations and Appropriations

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Chapter 11 Affiliations in Joseph Conradâs Under Western Eyes and J. M. Coetzeeâs The Master of Petersburg

Conradâs Presence in Contemporary Culture