Truth and reconciliation in JM Coetzee'sDisgrace

Not Saying Sorry, Not Speaking Pain: Gender Implications in Disgrace

“…The essay examines the gender significations of this abjective alternative, especially in a situation where an ethic of unstinting love requires the elision and/or subjection of the body of the woman. (Attridge 2000;Banville 2000;Graham 2003;Lowry 1999;Marais 2000aMarais , 2000bMarais , 2001Poyner 2000). One of the reasons for this is no doubt that the novel features a hero who notoriously refuses to say sorry for an abuse of power.…”

Subjection and Survival in J. M. Coetzee’s Disgrace

“…Poyner (2000), too, believes in Lurie’s “redemption through the championing of animal welfare” (p. 73), and Poyner (2009) observes that Lurie, after his affair with Melanie and having to leave university, goes through “some kind of reinvention” and argues that through his dealings with dogs, Lurie “struggles for atonement.” Poyner, moreover, argues that Lucy’s rape is “an event which forces Lurie to reassess his own relationship with women” (p. 152). The question that Poyner does not consider, however, is in what terms Lurie reassesses his relation with women.…”

“…Attwell (2004) points out that "at a historical juncture in which the citizenry desperately wanted respect, Coetzee gave them disgrace" (p. 107), and McDonald (2009) argues that the "stark portrayal" of the novel sounded "regressive" to many. At the same time, while Poyner (2000) sees the novel as the "allegory for truth and reconciliation" (p. 73), Kelly (2011) believes that the interracial violence of the novel could hardly be in line with the "Christian model of forgiveness championed by the TRC" (p. 1024). Drichel (2011) remarks that for many people, Disgrace was "the portrayal of a society in crisis, or better, in disgrace" (p. 150), which would undermine the national "optimism" and enthusiasm engendered in the wake of apartheid.…”