The (Wo)-Man of Revolt: J.M. Coetzee and Elizabeth Costello

Abstract

This paper elaborates those unconventional textual and narrative strategies applied by J.M. Coetzee in his Elizabeth Costello, in order to illustrate the spirit of revolt that is one of Coetzee’s core poetic features. On the textual level, strategies such as authorial interferences, change of tense, and the play with the term realism are implemented to create the effect of revolt against the writing convention of realism and the complacency of the reader. On the narrative level, the split of the author identity and the ensuing interplaying among the three alter-egos not only challenges the conventional practice of self-examination in writing, but also generates a multidimensional meta-cognitive space in which the self-criticism of the author lends clues to the various mysterious details that baffles critics and the reading public.