Human Sovereignty Eclipsed? Toward a Posthumanist Reading of the Traumatized Subject in J.M. Coetzee’s Disgrace

The main aim of this article is to analyse J.M. Coetzee’s Disgrace (1999) from a posthumanist perspective. By focusing on the character David Lurie, this article analyses the complex materiality of bodies and the agentic powers of nonhuman entities in coping with individual trauma, where agency is n...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:European review (Chichester, England) Vol. 29; no. 3; pp. 397 - 410
Main Author: İbrişim, Deniz Gündoğan
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.06.2021
Subjects:
Animal shelters
Apartheid
Catalysts
Coping
Human subjects
Humans
Individualism
Interdependence
Post-apartheid era
Posthumanism
Public hearings
Rape
Reading
Research subjects
Sovereignty
Trauma
Traumatic incidents
South Africa
ISSN:1062-7987, 1474-0575
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The main aim of this article is to analyse J.M. Coetzee’s Disgrace (1999) from a posthumanist perspective. By focusing on the character David Lurie, this article analyses the complex materiality of bodies and the agentic powers of nonhuman entities in coping with individual trauma, where agency is no longer considered to be the distinguishing quality unique to humans. In so doing, it highlights the interdependence of the human and the nonhuman and the idea that environment is not a mere canvas onto which characters’ traumas are being reflected. On the contrary, it is a material-affective matrix which becomes a catalyst for making sense of the world in post-apartheid South Africa. At the same time, as this article argues, it decentres the sovereignty of the human subject.
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ISSN:1062-7987
1474-0575
DOI:10.1017/S106279872000071X