J. M. COETZEE’S FICTIONS OF FRAGMENTATION: A LITERARY OEUVRE BY ACCENTUATING WAITING FOR THE BARBARIANS

Abstract

The South African novelist John Maxwell Coetzee who grew up in Cape Town during the apartheid era attracts considerable critical attention around the world. He faces problems related to identification, and he witnesses the repressive political attitude at an early age, so his fictions reflect a challenge to the established regime which is developed by imperialism. To depict the oppressive South African environment, Coetzee focuses on the concept of power and powerlessness. Waiting for the Barbarians was published in 1980 when the oppressive apartheid government began to criticize international political environments. A critical analysis of his role as an author will be made in regard to the ideology of apartheid. By peeling each layer of his books, the sufferings of Black South Africans will be brought to light-in regards to racism and how their mental states where affected. This study analyses the role J.M. Coetzee played as an author in the apartheid system by focusing on the way he challenges imperialism-without mentioning the setting, time and place.