making the revolutionary gesture - gordimer and coetzee

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Making

the

u

Revolutionary Gesture :

Nadine Gordimer,]. M.

Coetzee

and

Some

Variations

on the Writer s Responsibility

K E L L Y H E W S O N

A H E O L D I S S U E C O N C E R N I N G

the

nature

of the writer's respon

s i b i l i t y ,

taken up most famously by Jean- Paul Sartre i n

What is

Literature?

and more recently by

Ro land

Barthes in

Writing

Degree Zero,

has been re-opened

wi th

a new urgency i n this

decade, and the questions

that

arise from it are questions

that

agitate a numbe r of conte mporary writers. Na d i ne Go rd ime r is

one such writer.

I n T h e Essent ial Gest ure , an essay she titles

with

a

phrase

from Barthes' Writing

Degree Zero,

Go rd i me r undertakes to

answer the quest ion of the wri ter' s responsib il ity as it pertains to

her his tori cal si tuati on.

1

Understanding along

with

Barthes that a

wri ter's choice always faces i n tw o directions — tow ard society

and to ward the literature — Go rd imer wrestles wi th the problem

o f how to reconcile

those

demands from wit hout to be socially

responsible wi th

those

demands f rom within concerning artistic

integrity.

2

She makes it clear

that

the prob le m is a part ic ular ly

complicated

one when the society one is

writ ing

i n is So uth

A f r i c a .

3

F o r l i v i n g in South A f r i c a , as Gord imer describes it i n another

essay, is l i v i n g i n the inter re gnum — i n the space between two

social

orders and tw o ident iti es, the one kno wn and discarded, the

other unknown and undetermined.

4

I n this precarious situation,

the ques tion of the wri ter's responsibil ity becomes even more vex

i n g . For ho w, as a wri te r,

does

one put oneself into a meaningful

relationship

wi th

a society that is not yet born?

Clearly,

i n the

interregnum that characterizes South A f r i c a ,

there

arise, both



56


from

without and within, different sets of demands for bl ack and

for

white writers.

Because the future holds dif ferent things for different co lours ,

the result, acc ord ing to Go rd im er , is

that

black writers

find

them

selves i n history ( Int err eg num

2 6 ) .

(I presume by this

that

Gordimer

means they

find

themselves in the

emergent

history.)

Abrupt ly

si tuated i n Sartre 's sense, they

find

the values of their

historical

si tuati on more urgent than the transcendent values of

art

( 2 6 ) .

Th e i r soon-to-be- born society demands this of the m

as write rs; thus, says Go rd ime r, black So uth

A f r i c a n

writers come

closest to rec onci l ing the outer and inner demands. Because, as

they are writing, they are also be ing politically active. T he y are

teaching, organi zing and proselyt izing ( T h e Essential Ges ture

141). They can put themselves into a meaningful relationship

with the black predicated society by be ing only writers.

Gordimer

is not saying that all black writers i n South A f r i c a

have accepted the demand from wit hout ( wh i ch she calls re

sponsibility as orthodoxy ) as the only way to make their essen

t i a l

gesture

as

social

beings.

M a n y

have begun — and she cites

Mphalele 's

Africa my Song, Essop's The

Emperor

and Ndebe le' s

Fools

as recent examples — to negotiate the right to thei r own

interpretation of the essential gesture by

which

they are part of

the black struggle (

144 ).

It is a different mat te r for wh ite writ ers i n So uth A f r i c a who,

to use Go rd ime r' s phrase,

find

themselves out of hi story. Ne ve r

theless, she insists

that

they too must struggle, but

in their own

way,

to attempt the same pos it ion black artists a i m for :

to be seen as relevant by, and become committed to, commonly

understood, commonly created cul tural entities corresponding to

a

common reality —

which

is to say, an indigenous culture.

5

Gordimer

does not presume to know how white writers

w i l l find

a

place for themselves i n the new his tory . Bu t she does know

that

what eve r the choi ce, to be mo re th an a wr i ter or

only

a

writer, the essential gesture in South A f r i c a is a revo luti onary

one ( Th e Essential Ges ture 147). T o hel p us unde rs tand one

o f the ways in

which

a wr i ter can make her essential gesture, some

o f

the issues raised i n Go rd ime r' s The Conservationist and

Burg-



M A K I N G T H E R E V O LU T IO N A R Y G E S T U R E 57

er's Daughter

w i l l be discussed. This discussion w i l l prove particu

larly

reveal ing when the issues raised i n it are contrasted

with

those

raised i n J . M . Coetzee's novel,

Life

and Times of

Michael

K.

Both

Na di ne Go rd i me r and J . M . Coetzee are whit e South

Africans — the former is of Eur opean descent, the latter, of

Af r ikaan s —an d

both are novelists

with

large audiences in Europe

and North

America .

6

Consequent ly , it is commo n for th em to be

compared by

critics,

if only to be contrasted.

7

T y p i c a l l y ,

G o r d i

mer and Coetzee are

linked

i n

critics'

minds by their colour and

the co inci dence of the ir geograph ic lo ca ti on; they are often eval u

ated in

terms

of who makes the mo re essential gesture.

Gordimer

herself entered the

debate wi th

a rev iew of C oetzee 's

novel, Life

and Times of Michael K.

8

It is a difficult review to

assess because of its amb iv alenc e; however, amidst c laims for the

novel's

greatness,

Gord i mer raises several questions co ncerning

certain

aspects

of the novel and one striking

criticism.

She main

tains that i n the novel the organici sm that L u k á c s defines as the

integral relation between private and

social

destiny is distorted

more than is allowed for by the subjectivity that is i n every wr it er

( 6

) .

Clearly

it is

L u k á c s s

theory of

critical

realism she is appeal

i n g

to here, the mode she favours for

political

expression.

F o r L u k á c s ,

great

real is m must mak e clear the org anic

connec tion between people as private ind iv id ual s and people as

members of a co mm uni ty. M eas ure d this way, lite rature

deter

mined either by pure int rospect ion or a naturali st ic levelling-

down

would

be distorting

( 8 ) .

T h e a im of the

critical

realist, on

the other h and , is to reveal that eve rything is politics :

. . . every action, thought and emotion of human beings is in

separably bound up

with

the struggles of the community, i.e.,

with politics;

whether the humans themselves are conscious of

this, unconscious of it or even trying to

escape

from it, objectively

their actions, thoughts and emotions nevertheless spring from and

r u n into politics. (9)

Thus , the tension and muc h of the irony i n Go rd im er 's

The

Con-

servationist,

for example, der ived from the battle between

M e h

ring's

inability

to come to terms

wi th

himsel f and the ci rc um

stances

which he inherited, and the power of

those

circumstances



58


to dete rmine his character and his fate. Par t of Go rd im er ' s project

i n

that

nove l was to reveal, despite M ehri ng ' s reluctance to recog

nize it , the persuasiveness of

L u k á c s s

credo.

T h e

central criteri on of

L u k á c s i a n

real ism is the type : a

peculiar synthesis which binds together the general and the par

ticular bot h i n characters and i n si tuat ions ( 6 ) . It is not its

average

quality

that

makes it a type but the fact

that

i n it

a l l the humanly and socially essential determinants are present on

their highest level of development, i n the ultimate unfo ld ing of

the possibil ities latent in them, i n extreme presentations of their

extremes, rendering concrete the peaks and limits of men and

epochs. (6)

So, i n The

Conservationist

again, Gord i mer presented us i n the

figure o f her protagonist wi th a certain type, a type

that

some

critics

have ident if ied as a representative whi te So uth A f r i c a n .

But Go rd im er , as if i n acknowledge ment of L u k á c s s recommen

dations, is muc h more part icular i n her charact eri zat ion th an

that.

M e h r i n g is not

from

South A f r i c a , but

from

Namibia , a country

which

is

i l l e g a l l y

occupied by South

A f r i c a .

H e is a weal thy whi te

capitalist

who deals in

pig-iron.

Because of his business concerns

he travels

widely

and has subs tant ial inte rnat ional contacts. H e is

revealed to have an interest i n conservat io n and clearly wants a

connection wi th the land . How ev er, while the latter were seen to

be

potentially

good qualities, Go rd i me r points out the

limits

of

such qualities, given M eh ri ng' s situation.

T w o more characteristics of

great

reali sm are identif ied by

Lukács :

one,

that

the writer take as her starting point the prob

lems of community in order

that

she identi fy hum anly and

artistically wi th some popular movement ( 1 2 ) ; two,

that

she

ruthlessly scrutinize her ow n world picture

(11).

Clearly Go rd i mer identifies as a citizen and as a writer with

some popul ar mo ve me nt — the struggle against apart he id —

and at the same time is

critical

of her own world pi cture: t he

weaknesses as w e l l as the strengths of characters who represent her

side i n the struggle are uncovered in her novel s.

1 0

But it is her

dogged insistence on the interconnectedness of the pub l ic and

private

spheres that

ranks Go rd i me r amo ng the

great

realists. For

unlike some political novelists, who reveal eve ryt hing is politics



M A K I N G

T H E

R E V O L U T I O N A R Y

G E S T U R E

59

to the extent

that

the private

l i f e

becomes defunct or irrelevant,

Gordimer

understands that the private l i f e and its virtues count

but

that

they must exist i n an enri ch ing relationshi p

with

the

public

l i f e

if they are to achieve

f u l l

signif icance. Th i s is the lesson

Mehr ing was to have learned in

The

Conservationist. T he obverse

but equal ly impor tant lesson is the central quest ion of Burger's

Daughter,

and that is : what is the meani ng of any k i n d of com

mitment if

there

is no self to co mmit? Gord ime r is as interested i n

individuals and their relationships as she is i n the society

that

surrounds them, and it is for this reason

that

Robert Boyers hails

Burger's

Daughter

as one of the finest political novels.

1 1

Gordimer

has, writes Boyers,

reconceived the very idea of private experience and created a

form that can accommodate microscopic details of

individual

behaviour and sentiment without suggesting for a moment

that

individuals are cut off from the collect ive consciousness and p o l i t i

cal

situations characteristic of their societies. ( 122)

In

his discussion of Burger's

Daughter,

Boyers mentions The

Conservationist

as a po int of contrast .

1 2

Not

that

it isn't an accom

plished

novel, but that it isn't a strictly political novel. According

to Boyers,

The

Conservationist is

not

a political novel because

there

is no single

political

idea foregrounded i n it.

P o l i t i c a l i m p l i

cations are everywhere , he concludes, but they re main i n the

backgr ound, a cli mate ; nothing wi th a specific shape emerges

to be addressed (123).

But

the reason for this, as Gordimer s k i l f u l l y impl ies , is

that

the

novel's protagonist resists addressing political ideas (which are

indeed everywhere i n the nove l) i n any effective way. A self-

ma de man , pig-i ron industrialist and weekend farmer,

Mehring

fails to th ink of himself i n specif ic historical terms. H e believes the

private sphere is his to shape and dominate, and that it can offer

a

refuge from the public world. But the shortcomings of such a

consciousness are carefully uncov er ed : the more

M e h r i n g

resists

the world he th inks he is beyond, the more isolated and to rtured

he becomes. One of the messages of the novel seems to be

that

to

exist i n defiance of the p ubl ic re alm is not only to exist i n indif

ference and al ie nat io n but is to ensure self-destruction.



60


Mehr ing

participates i n imaginary

debates

wi th his opponents,

h is son Te rry, and his ex-lover

Antonia,

i n

which

he reveals his

o w n

pos it ion as

w e l l

as an unders tand ing of theirs, but unfo rtu

nately

these debates

are one-sided; they take place i n his head;

thei r outcome is predi ctable :

H e has them up, arraigned, before hi m and they have no answer.

. . , He feels inside himself the relief and overflow of having pre

sented the unanswerable facts. (80)

It follows, then, that

Mehr ing

fails to acknowledge the public

realm i n his conscious mi nd . Ye t its influence works on his sub

consc ious: fragments from it conti nual ly surface in his thoughts.

T h e newspaper he is car ry ing wh en he

falls

asleep i n the pasture,

f o r instance, is an uncomfort able reminde r of the world outside,

throwing

its t roub l ing facts up to h i m : atrocities in Cambodia, no

maize crop in the Transkei (

4 6

). Whether he is conscious of it or

not, it seems

that

everything is

politics.

B u t the phrase

that

recurs most persistently in M eh ri ng ' s

thoughts is the apocalypt ic one, soon

there

w i l l

be nothing left.

It seems

that

he believes

there

is nothing to be done,

that c y c l i c a l

history

w i l l dispense the appropriate punishment at the appropri

ate t ime and soon i t must be our turn to starve and suffer (46-

4 7

). This is how

Mehr ing

justifies his passive role. In the face of

the inevitable cataclysm, as he understands it, comes his interest

i n conservation, his heightened awareness of the preciousness of

nature and his desire for a rural sanctuary. But Gordimer's un

spoken point is this

:

in South

A f r i c a ,

there

can be no sanctuary.

Politics is not just a climate one can seek shelter from if it is

intemperate. In Sout h A f r i c a , poli tic s is fat e.

1 3

W hat Mehring fails to realize is that there is no easy way out of

h is social history. It has to be faced and l i v e d through, responsibly

and

wi th

awareness. A n ecological politics, a politics that concerns

itself with preservation and nature, is si mply not

adequate

for

meeting the

needs

of his t ime and place. I t is an escapist poli ti cs :

M e h r i n g

uses

his love of the land to screen out the

desperate

problems of his country.

I n an essay ti tl ed T h e Screen and

The

Spike, John Berger

defines the ph eno menon of sc reening as a way of looking at the



M A K I N G

T H E


G E S T U R E

61

world that prevents seeing.

1 4

H i s te rm is an appropriate one to use

i n conjunction wi th M e h r i n g for it is clear that

there

is a screen

that

comes between h i m and reality, and

that

replaces reality.

A s the screen isolates one from experience, it prolongs and

makes absolute the state of inexperience, the state, as Berger puts

it, of never accept ing wh at is ( 2 5 9 ) . (This state, he cautions,

is

not to be confused wi th innocence or

n a ï v e t é ,

but is often

acco mpani ed by ruthlessness or sophis tication.) Th i s is precisely

Mehring ' s

p robl em. I n possession of intell igence and imag ina ti on,

he is nevertheless persistently el sewhe re

1 5

and unable to accept

wha t is. Th roug h her choice of M eh ri ng' s probl emati c private

l i f e

as one of the novel' s concerns, G ord i mer is stressing the need,

especially

in South A f r i c a where screening as a way of

looking

at

the world is dangerously entrenched, to make the right k i n d of

connections, to understand one's historical place, to be here

instead of persistent ly elsewhere.

Perhaps the only way to escape the fr ightening demands of the

met aphor pol it ic s is fate is to leave South A f r i c a . Perhaps this

is

the choice

that

M e h r i n g

makes at the end of

The

Conserva

tionist. H e leaves the count ry i n the real izati on that

there

is no

place for h i m there. This is a choice that Rosa Burger, the

protagonist of Gord im er 's next novel , Burger's Daughter, makes,

but it becomes, finally, a choice she cannot l i v e with. She returns

to South

A f r i c a

i n acknowle dgement of, and i n response to, the

requirements of her place.

In

many ways, R os a Burge r is M eh ri ng' s opposite. Where he

eluded the publ ic realm, she is immersed in it, her connecti on to

her country's history enforced by the fact

that

she was born in

M a y

of 1948, the very mont h the first

Afrikaner

nationalist

government took office. A n d whereas

Mehr ing

was alienated from

his descendants and ancestors, R osa is almos t too bound by hers.

A c h i l d

of militant political activists, she is raised in an atmos

phere of trials, prison

visits,

meetings, secrecy and personal sacri

fice : the p o l i t i c a l , we see, is ordinary to her. But , unli ke others of

her generation and situation, she does not accept her heritage

unquestioning ly . She is made to realize the need to claim a private

l i f e

of her own, and to discover a commitment that is hers with



62


which

she can

meet

the new demands of her part icul ar time and

place.

T h e epi graph to the first sec tion of

Burger's Daughter

is f ro m

Claude

L é v i - S t r a u s s .

It

reads

I am the place i n

which

something

has occur red and serves as a fitting

departure

for a novel

that

deals

wi th

the importance , influence and , sometimes, the ty ranny

o f

pl ace on its protagonist. T h e id ea of pl ace is central to

this novel , for a pl ace is where one can belong and feel secure.

Having

a pl ac e defines a person and gives her a pos it ion i n

social

space. Wi t ho ut a plac e, it

follows,

an

individual

is no

where. Hence, the dilemma of

Mehring .

Th e idea becomes an

especially compl icated one for R osa for she is not only in the place

i n which something has occurred but she is i n the place i n which

someth ing is oc curr ing — i n her country , the struggle between

two social orders is on-going. T h e prob le m R osa faces is the prob

lem

Go rd i me r as a wri te r faces, and

that

is, how to put oneself

into

a meaningful relationship (as a

citizen

or as an artist)

with

a social

order

that

is not yet reali zed.

This

is a di le mm a

that

pro bab ly plagues many whites opposed

to the regime but is part icularl y compli cate d i n Rosa's

case

because of her inhe ri te d circumstances. O ne of the central ques

tions of the novel involves finding a viable pl ace to be,

p o l i t i

c a l l y ,

in a country where there seem to be only two choices — the

extremes of either R i gh t or

Left.

O ne of the difficulties of the

historical

situation in

which

R osa finds herself is

that there

is no

effective,

unc omp rom is ed , moderate posit ion to inhab it . Bu t

neither can she feel secure i n the rad ical pos it ion as it was occ u

pied

by her

parents.

A n d the idea of a private

l i f e

for anyone

becomes p robl emat ic in a country whose legislative practices seem

bent

o n imp ing i ng on every aspect of

individual

privacy. Thus,

what R osa discovers at the end of the first sect ion of the nov el is

that there

is no pl ace for her i n her father's count ry. She

does

not kno w how to act i n it ; thus, she makes that other choice : she

leaves it. But, after being given a chance to seek out some measure

o f

personal integrity i n Franc e,

which

then enables her to discover

her own

k i n d

of commit ment, Ro sa

returns

to South A f r i c a , and

finds herself i n pl ace, i n pri son, f u l f i l l i n g her responsibilities to

herself and to her society.



M A K I N G

T H E R E V O L UT IO N A R Y G E S T U R E 63

These brief examples

from

tw o of Gord im er 's novels show h ow

important it is to her

that

i ndi vi dual s acknowledge and act up on

thei r histori cal circumstances. Because

Mehr ing

failed

to

acknowl

edge his responsibil ity to history, to the specific circumstances

denni ng his pub li c sphere, he d i e d historically. O n the other

hand, because she faced up to the demands of her historical

situation,

despite their

horrifying

aspects, R osa Burge r was abl e

to forge a place for herself in history.

It is not surpris ing, then, to discover

that

what disturbs

G o r d i

mer most about Coetzee's

Life and

Times

of Michael K

is his

choice of a protagonist . B y choosing as his protagonist a figure

w h o ignores history rather th an makes it, Coetzee is, writes

Gordimer

i n her rev iew, de nying the energy of the w i l l to resist

e v i l that

she

sees

i n

Africans (6)

.

1 6

What Gordimer

seems

to be

implying

is

that

C oetzee' s assumpt ions are too naturali st ic in his

novel

—

that M i c h a e l

K is not typical i n

L u k á c s i a n

terms;

he is not representative of a part icu lar

social

and hist orical move

ment. T o mak e

M i c h a e l

K a recognizable type, Go rd i me r pro

vides h i m i n her review

wi th

a surname

which would

root him

firmly i n the C ap e as a Coloured ( 3 ) . By nami ng hi m

Kotze

or

Koekemoer,

she choose to deny the more general, associative and

suggestive impl ic at io ns of the surname

K .

Th ere is not the pl et ho ra of articles, interv iews and lectures

detailing

Coetzee's views about a writer's responsibility

that there

is

for Go rd ime r, yet a comme nt

from

Coetzee on Gor di me r i n a

1 9 7 8 Speak

inte rview is telling. Here he reveals an admiration for

Gordimer 's

accomplishments in the critical realist mode wi th this

add end um : I

would l i k e

to think

that

today the nove l is after a

bigger game than [the critical realist type].

Coetzee's comme nt is wo rt h reme mbe ring in li ght of Go rdi me r' s

criticism of his

novel,

a criticism

which

might be answered in

part

with the h el p of an essay of Coetzee's publ is hed i n

1971

en

ti ded

A l e x

L a G u m a an d the Responsib ili ti es of the South

A f r i c a n

Wri te r .

1 8

But of more importance is the fact

that

his comment

provides us wi th a way into his novel, Life and Times of Michael

K.

19

W h e n we see what bigger game Coetzee is after, and con

sider

the kinds of

strategies

he employs to help guide our reading



64


o f the novel i n this bi gger way, it is not hard to unders tand why

Gordimer reads

Life and Times of

Michael

K the way she does.

Consider, for example, the opening line of Coetzee's novel:

T h e first t hi ng the mi dw if e noti ced about

M i c h a e l

K when she

helped him out of his mother into the world was that he had a

hare l i p (

3

) . W h e n we look back at this, we can see that Coetzee

is do ing some thi ng except ional. H e is dr awing our attention to

something other than the col our of his protagonist . T h e first thi ng

the mi dwif e notices and

that

we, i n turn, are

made

to notice

about M i c h a e l

K is his hare lip. W e mi gh t wonde r wh at to make

o f

his point of focus. Wh at is it sayi ng

about

the character of

M i c h a e l

K ? A b o ut C oetzee?

Wh at this point of focus tells us about the character of

M i c h a e l

is that he is not go ing to be Every man. Instead, the impression

created is, si mpl y, that

M i c h a e l

K is go ing to be a p art icul ar

figure, and one who

happens

to be distinguished by a harelip.

2 0

I n fact, if anything,

M i c h a e l

K ' s deformity identifies h i m wi th a

group of freaks. A s the midwi fe says of

M i c h a e l

K to his repulsed

mot he r: Y o u should be happy, they br ing luc k to the house-

ho ld

(3) .

But

first, some

readers w i l l

be

sure

to ask whet her or not

Coetzee is colour b l i n d . It is clear, after a l l , from the place

names

i n the novel that it is set in South

A f r i c a . M i c h a e l

K works i n the

C ap e ; he travels to Pr ince A l be rt ; Stel lenbosch is a place

o f i l l luck. It is also clear from K ' s posi tion i n society that he is

not a member of the rul ing class. So it sh oul d be equal ly clear

that

M i c h a e l

K is not whit e. Howe ver , on the issue

that

so

resoundingly defines South A f r i c a , its poli tics and its people, the

issue of colour, Coetzee chooses to be silent, and this silence

creates a space wh ich

begs

to be filled. A n d whi le it is te mpt ing to

do as some have done and interpret his silence, par t ic ularl y in

light

of the vo lat il e context out of whi ch it emerges, as irrespon

sible, surely there are more posi tive inferences to be draw n from

i t ?

2 1

T o

c a l l

M i c h a e l

K anything, be it black, whi te or coloured ,

is to label h i m and formulate h i m. It is entirely possible

that

Coetzee deliberately omits mentioning

M i c h a e l

K ' s colour pre

cisely

because he doesn't want

M i c h a e l

K to be labelled or formu

lated. Because colour, while a burning issue on the one hand, is,



M A K I N G

T H E

R E V O L U T I O N A R Y G E S T U R E 65

on

the other, just as urgent a non-issue. A person is a person no

matter what his colour. One of the problems

with

the process of

politicization,

part icularl y as it

operates

in South

A f r i c a ,

is

that

it

systematically reduces people int o categories. It de ind iv iduali zes

and dehumanize s th em. By creating a protagonist w ho eludes

classification,

Coetzee can be seen to be resisting this process.

Omi t t ing the detai l of col our from his characterization of M i c h a e l

is just one of the strategies Coetzee employs to prevent us

from

making

hasty generalizations about his

novel.

While

it is true, as Gord i mer says,

that M i c h a e l

K ignore s

history, it is also

true that

M i c h a e l

K is the one figure i n the novel

wh o is able to compete, to some extent, with history. A n d it is for

this reason

that

the Do c tor i n the rehab il it at ion cam p finds K so

fascinating.

2 2

Hi s desire to l i v e as he is is the source of his

strength, lies at the core of his pecul iar

form

of resistance, and is

the reason why he is, as he says, out of the war . It is not

because he is sl ow-thinking, a bad story-teller, or because he has a

harelip.

H e is out of the w ar because his whol e be ing is engaged

i n

exi st ing on his own terms. H e is

simply

not responsive to being

determined by anything outside of them. Those terms, however,

mak e h i m vulnerab le to others, part ic ular ly to those embro il ed in

and subject to the history of the regime.

Throughout the

novel, M i c h a e l

K is ani mal iz ed by numerous

others . H e is referred to as a monke y, an insect, a grub, and he is

likened to a dog, a cat and a parasi te. Wh at is it to deh umani ze

anot her person? It is to see h i m as

lacking

a self. It seems

fitting,

then,

that

those wh o have been dehumaniz ed , deterrit orialized

and disenfranchised should be forced to redirect themselves to

ward

the earth , to things weaker and mo re delicate th an th em

selves.

This

orientation, accompanied by a

k i n d

of

infantilism,

is

clearly evident in M i c h a e l K ' s actions and consciousness.

In

order to hide

from

those wh o deny h i m pri vacy and de

humanize him, M i c h a e l K decides to

b u i l d

a shelter on the

grounds of a fa rm. Forc ed , essentially, to burrow unde rg round so

as to leave no trace of his

l i v i n g ,

it

would

seem

that

M i c h a e l

K

has been reduced to an anima l existence. Ho we ve r,

there

is a

special allegorical

meaning

that

can be drawn

from M i c h a e l

K 's

act of construction: he is

building

the house he

could

never



66


b u i l d ,

possess or occupy i n his society ; it is a dwelling in which he

can relish

his own k i n d of

food,

grown

from

the earth and tended

by

h i m ; and i t is a place in

which

he can enjoy the act ivi ty he is

good at, gardeni ng. A n d he speaks, i n his garden, of the cord of

tenderness stretching from h i m to the patch of earth he tends.

T h e

melons he grows are hi s sisters, the pump ki ns , his band of

brothers. Hi s first fruit is his moth er , a tie that binds h i m :

So what is it, he thought, that binds me to this spot of earth as if

to a home I cannot leave? We must al l leave home, after al l , we

must all leave our mothers. O r am such a c h i l d , such a c h i l d

from

such a

line

of children,

that

none of us can leave, but have

to come back to die here with our heads upon our mothers' laps,

upon hers, she upon her mother's, and so back and back, gene

ration upon generation ? (171)

Coetzee's comment that the nov el is after a bigger game than

the

critical

realist type can again be noted when accounting for

his

depiction of M i c h a e l K ' s situation.

While

it should be easy to

deplore K ' s predic ament, which is, as he himself admits, a bleak

one (when he is not forced to wor k in camps, he is ho led up i n a

burrow,

feeding on pumpkin and drifting in and out of conscious

ness), the fact is

that

the negativity of his situation is projected

positively. M i c h a e l

K ' s retreat from History to cultivate his own

garden can thus be understood as a creative, radical attempt to

maintain

innocence and to assert his own history.

2 3

T h e idea of gardening is not a new idea. It is an idea that

brings to mind Vol tai re' s C and id e, amo ng others, who , in a

different

tone, re mi nded us to cult ivate our garden. M a n y take

Voltaire's

credo, as they may take Coetzee's, as a defence of

quietism or an indifference to the plight of humanity, but surely

the c a l l to cult ivate our garden can be unders tood to me an some

thing

more positive? Perhaps it can mean that we must direct our

attention to that which is in our power to improve.

T h e

idea of gardening is the ide a that G ord imer herself singles

out as the most meaningful in the

novel.

She titles her review of

Life and

Times

of

Michael

K

T h e Idea of Gar de ni ng and ends

the review with a moving co mment ary on the signif icance of the

idea itself. Beyond al l creeds and morali ti es , she writes ,



M A K I N G T H E R E V O L U T I O N A R Y

G E S T U R E

67

there

is only one : to keep the earth alive, and only one salvation,

the survival comes from h e r . . . . Ho pe is a seed. That' s all . That 's

everything.

It's better to

l i v e

on your knees, planting something

. . . (6)

T h e figure of

M i c h a e l

K is sure to provoke ambivalent re

sponses i n readers just as it provokes them in the Doctor. Some

w i l l

see K ' s form of resistance as pathet ic or unfeasible, just as

they may underst and the moral of his story —

there

is time

enough for everything

(249)

— as a definit ion of complacency .

Those seeking a c a l l to action in Life

and Times of

Michael

K

w i l l

undoubtedly be disappointed, for if

there

can be said to be a

c a l l

to action, it is so quiet , and the resulting act ion so minimal,

that

one might be led to conclude

that

Coetzee is implying the

futility of anyt hi ng more substantial, given the circumstances . T o

answer some of these objections, however, it is wo rt h expl or ing in

just what way K imagines himself

l i v i n g .

T he final two para

graphs of the novel , i n

which

we find M i c h a e l K telling himself

a story about the future, are wo rt h quo ti ng in

f u l l

so that we can

then discuss what is be ing suggested by his story :

It did not seem impossible that whoever it was who disregarded

the curfew and came when it suited him to sleep in this smelly

corner ( K imagined hi m as a lit tle old man with a stoop and a

bott le in his side pocket who muttered al l the time into his beard,

the k i n d of old man the police ignored) might be tired of l i fe at

the seaside and want to take a holiday in the country if he

could

find a guide who knew the roads. They could share a bed tonight,

i t had been done before; in the morning, at first light, they

could

go out searching the back

streets

for an abandoned barrow; and

i f they were lucky the two of them

could

be spinning along the

high road by ten o'clock, remembering to stop on the way to buy

seeds

and one or two other things, avoid ing Stellenbosch perhaps,

which seemed to be a place of i l l luck.

A n d if the old man cl imbed out of the cart and stretched him

self (things were gathering pace now) and looked at where the

pump had been

that

the soldiers had blown up so

that

nothing

should be left standing, and complai ned, saying 'What are we

going

to do about water?', he,

M i c h a e l

K ,

would

produce a tea

spoon from his pocket, a teaspoon and a long r o l l of string. He

would

clear the rubble from the mouth of the shaft, he

would

bend the handle of the teaspoon in a loop and tie the string to it,

he

would

lower it down the shaft deep into the earth, and when



68


he brought it up

there would

be water in the bowl of the spoon;

and in that way, he would say, one can l i v e . ( 2 4 9 - 5 0 )

T h e first th ing

M i c h a e l

K imagines , then, is a compani on ,

someone

l i k e

himself, down on his luck, homeless and

with

a

desire to leave the city. The man he envisions w i l l be incon

spicuous and insi gnif icant — the

k i n d

of man the pol ice

w i l l

ignore. So what M i c h a e l K imagines in his future is a co mm uni ty

o f tw o: vagrants , perhaps, but diverse equals nonetheless.

The trip they w i l l take together has the air of ho liday about it :

has them sp inni ng along the hig h road.

Significantly,

he casts

himself

in a pr inc ipal role, as a gui de , as someone who knows

the roads. H e w i l l take the lead and direct the course of their

travel.

Stellenbosch w i l l be avoided because it seemed l i k e a place

o f i l l luc k. Not ic e the resilience

with which M i c h a e l

K is

characterizing

himself here, l b

press

on, keeping clear of the

place which by chance seemed to bri ng misfortune, is surely a

positive conception, just as the idea of community itself implies

important qualities

l i k e

fidelity and forgiveness.

T h e ai m of the journey is to reach the country and beg in to

cultivate

the land. There, we assume, the two of them w i l l grow

food, mut ual ly, to feed each other. T o the query about water,

which

his companion may make, K w i l l respond

with

a gesture at

once simpl e, hopeful and resourceful : he w i l l nourish his friend as

h is mother nourished him,

with

a teaspoon. A n d in

that

way, he

imagines , one can l i v e .

The conditional

tense

of the

final

line of the nove l points to a

possibility.

One of the poss ibili ties is

that

through creative, co

operative enterprise, a com muni ty can be founded. It need not

posit a rural utopia, this idea of tending the earth, but suggests a

means

of ach ie ving some personal power, independence and inter

dependence against a backdrop which denies

individual

integrity

and pri vacy . A no the r possibi lity suggested by the final li ne of the

novel is this :

that

w hat is classified as shabby, derel ict and insig

nificant

by the outside can be transformed inside. Fo r to thi nk

that there

is ti me enough for everything is to th ink

that

time is

as

f u l l

as it ever was. It is to transcend the t ime of his tory, of war,

which

is a time of wa i t ing and of l i v i n g in suspension. T o th ink

that there

is time enough for everything is not to think of oneself



M A K I N G T H E


G E S T U R E 69

as a castaway maroo ned i n a pocket of t ime

l i k e

the Doctor,

listening with

one ear to the banal exchanges of camp

l i f e

and

with

the other to the suprasensual spinni ng of the gyroscopes of

the Gr an d Des ig n

(217 ) .

Rathe r, i t is to transform the ti me of

history into the d me of nat ural cycles. It is to respond to ti me as

it

is conveyed in

that

famous

passage

from Ecclesiastes

3: 1-8.

It

i s ,

i n a

sense,

to rediscover the Garden.

Interestingly, it is to Go rd ime r' s T h e Essential Ges ture that

we can turn to sum up some of the impl ic at io ns of Coetzee' s

novelistic

techniques , at least as they are manifested i n Life and

Times

of

Michael

K.

I n the essay, Go rd i mer says things i n praise

o f Samuel Beckett that could just as easily appl y to Coetzee .

(C oetzee has, inc identall y, acknowl edged Beckett's influence on

his

wo rk ; certain simi larit ies between the two writers in style and

attitude are striking.) Beckett, writes Go rd im er ,

takes

on as his

essential

gesture

a responsibili ty di rec t to h um an destiny, a nd

not to any

l o c a l c e l l

of humanity

(148).

Through his general

politicized

al legorizing, Coetzee can be said to be do ing the same.

Beckett is remove d f rom the temp oral , continues Gord ime r, yet

makes some

k i n d

of

final statement

exacted by the t em po ral

( 148

) .

S i m i l a r l y ,

by the relative absence of particularities of time

and place i n Life

and Times of Michael K,

this

k i n d

of analysis

can appl y to Coetzee's novel . Becket t has chosen to be answer

able to the twentie th century hum an co ndi ti on, concludes

G o r d i

mer, which has its camp everywhere or nowhere ( 149). A g a i n ,

what Go rd i me r is describing to a large extent are the

gestures

of

her

fellow

countryman,

gestures

which

she

deems

earl ier on i n the

essay as imposs ibil it ies for wri ters in South A f r i c a , but

gestures

nevertheless

that

seem to embody a considerable amount of power.

Certainly

the place in

which

bo th Go rd i me r and Coet zee writ e

is

fraught

with

complex problems. The segregation of human

beings on the basis of co lour is Berger' s sc reeni ng taken to its

most horrific extreme. Then

there

is the screen the S ou th A f r i c a n

government sets up by de nying journal ist s the freedom to report

events

as they see them and by banning books whose

messages

mi gh t reveal too much . These are only some of the most obv ious

obstacles

that

make it

difficult

for writers inside to

t e l l

the stories

o f

South

A f r i c a

to the

world

outside. In such a situation, a writer



70

K E L L Y HEWSON

mi g h t co nsid er it one of his or her respons ibili ties to attempt to

break th ro ugh the screen. G o rd i m e r shows us one w ay in her

commi tment to

cr i t ica l

re ali sm an d the re lianc e i n her novel s o n

actual history, a reliance, no doubt, that has bee n respo nsible for

the fact that several of her books have been banned in South

Africa .

C oet zee gives us anoth er va ri at io n o n resp onsib ility . B y its

auto nom y, i ts freedom from any dist inct l y pol i t ica l pro gram me , a

novel

like Life and Times of Michael K c an slip th ro ugh the

censor's net to help re m i nd us, his W es te rn audience , that oppres

sion

and injustice are not

l imi ted

to South

Af r i ca ,

that

i n som e

sense

they are ete rnal. H e helps rem in d us of this w it ho ut al low

i n g us to sink in to cynic ism or indiffe rence. H e helps rem in d us,

th roug h the p art i cular sensibi l i ty of

M i c h a e l

K , that h um an desire

c a n be, at b ot to m , not a desire for some ide ali ze d transc ende nce,

but for life i n its simp lest, most o rd ina ry

form.

NOTES

1

N a d i n e G o r d i m e r , T h e E s s e n ti a l G e s t u r e in Gr anta 15

(1985)

:

137-51.

2

G o r d i m e r a ls o

casts

the q u e s t i o n in o t h e r w o r d s , C a m u s ' w o r d s : h o w

does

a w r i t e r r e c o n c i l e the d e m a n d f r o m w i t h o u t to be m o r e t h a n a w r i t e r

w i t h t h e d e m a n d f r o m w i t h i n to be o n l y a w r i t e r ?

3

The s o c i a l d e m a n d s m a d e o n the w r i t e r in N o r t h A m e r i c a , fo r i n s t a n c e ,

w o u l d not be l i k e the d e m a n d s m a d e o n the w r i t e r in S o u t h A f r i c a , a n d

t h e p r o b l e m of h o w t h ey w o u l d be m e t m i g h t n o t be as c r i t i c a l a o n e for

N o r t h A m e r i c a n w r it e rs as for S o u t h A f r i c a n w r i te r s . The s o c i a l d e m a n d

o n

a w r i t e r in S o u t h A f r i c a m i g h t , fo r e x a m p l e ,

c a l l

u p o n her to w r i t e o n

a s u b j e c t t h a t w o u l d r e s u l t in her b e i n g b a n n e d , d e t a i n e d o r f o r c e d i n t o

e x i l e . As G o r d i m e r e x p l ai n s in t h e

essay,

t h e r e is no r e s p o n s i b i l i t y a r i s i n g

o u t of the s t a t u s of the w r i t e r as s o c i a l b e i n g t h a t c o u l d

c a l l

u p o n S a u l

B e l l o w , K u r t V o n n e g u t , S u s a n S o n t a g , T o n i M o r r i s o n o r J o h n B e r g e r to

w r i t e o n a s u b j e c t t h a t w o u l d r e s u l t i n t h e s a m e ( 1 3 8 ) .

4

N a d i n e G o r d i m e r , L i v i n g i n the I n t e r r e g n u m in The New York Review

of Books 20 J a n . 1 9 8 3 : 21. The t i t l e of G o r d i m e r ' s essay is t a k e n f r o m

A n t o n i o G r a m s c i ' s Prison Notebooks, a n d it serves, i n p a r t , as t h e e p i g r a p h

to her n o v e l , July's

People

( 1 9 8 1 ). The e n t i r e e p i g r a p h r e a d s : T h e o l d

i s d y i n g a nd the new c a n n o t be b o r n ; in t h i s i n t e r r e g n u m t h e r e a r is e s a

great d i v e r s i t y of m o r b i d s y m p t o m s .

5

N a d i n e G o r d i m e r , A p p r e n t i c e s of F r e e d o m R e l e v a n c e a n d C o m m i t m e n t

i n

S o u t h A f r i c a n A r t s in The Writer and Hum an Rights, ed . T o r o n t o

A r t s G r o u p fo r H u m a n R i g h t s ( T o r o n t o : U of T o r o n t o P, 1 9 8 4 ) 21.

6

B o t h G o r d i m e r a n d Coetzee w o u l d p r o b a b l y o b j e c t to b e i n g i n t r o d u c e d as

w h i t e S o u t h A f r i c a n n o v e l i s t s . G o r d i m e r s it u at e s h e r s el f in a n A f r i c a n

t r a d i t i o n as is m a d e c l e a r in The Black Interpreters ( J o h a n n e s b u r g :

R a v a n P r e s s ,

1973).

A n d Coetzee r e s i s t s t h e l a b e l w h i c h he feels is f o r c e d



M A K I N G T H E


G E S T U R E 71

o n h i m b y t h e vast a n d w h o l l y i d e o l o g i c a l s u p e r s t r u c t u r e c o n s t i t u t e d b y

p u b l i s h i n g ,

r e v i e w i n g a n d

c r i t i c i s m .

S e e h i s i n t e r v i e w i n From

South

Africa, a s p e c i a l i s s u e o f TriQuarterly 6 9 ( 1 9 8 7 ) : 4 6 0 .

S e e, f o r e x a m p l e , R i c h a r d M a r t i n ' s N a r r a t i v e , H i s t o r y a n d I d e o l o g y : A

S t u d y o f Waiting for the Barbarians a n d Burger's Daughter i n Ariel 17.

3 (1986) : 3 - 2 1 . S e e a ls o P a u l R i c h ' s A p a r t h e i d a n d t h e D e c l i n e o f th e

C i v i l i z a t i o n I d e a : A n E s s a y o n N a d i n e G o r d i m e r ' s July's People a n d

J

M .

Coetzee's

W aiting for the Barbarians i n Research in African Litera

tures,

15. 3 (1984) : 3 6 4 - 9 1 -

N a d i n e G o r d i m e r , T h e I d e a o f G a r d e n i n g i n The New York Review of

Books 2 F e b . 1 9 8 4 : 3 - 6 .

G e o r g L u k á c s , P r e fa c e t o

Studies

in European Realism ( N e w Y o r k :

G r o s s et a n d D u n l a p , 1 9 6 4 ) .

S ee A C o n v e r s a t i o n w i t h N a d i n e G o r d i m e r i n Salmagundi, 6 2

(1984)

i n w h i c h s h e t e l l s R o b e r t B o y e r s t h a t t h e d e c i s i o n t o b e s i n c e r e is a n

a r t i s t i c o n e . . . . S o m e t i m e s w h e n I ' m w r i t i n g , t h e r e w i l l b e a c h a r a c t e r

w h o b e l o n g s t o ' m y ' s i d e , t h e s i d e o f r a d i c a l o p p o s i t i o n t o a p a r t h e i d , b u t

w h o i s d e v i o u s , p e r h a p s e x h i b i t i o n i s t i c , a n d re p r e s e n ts c e r t a i n li e s t o l d o n

m y s i d e , t o o , f o r e x p e d i e n c e . I f I were

L i o n e l

B u r g e r I w o u l d n o d o u b t

say, ' W e l l , w h a t

does

a r t i s ti c s i n c e r i t y a n d i n t e g r i t y m a t t e r ? W h a t m a t t e rs

is th e cause.' B u t I d o n ' t accept t h a t . A s a w r i t e r , I f e e l t h a t m y f i r s t d u t y

is i n t e g r i t y as a n a r t i s t ( 4 - 5 ) .

R o b e r t B o ye rs , N a d i n e G o r d i m e r : P u b l i c a n d P r i v a t e i n Atrocity and

Amn esia: The Political Novel

since

1945 ( O x f o r d : O U P , 1 9 8 5 ),

121-46.

N a d i n e G o r d i m e r , The Conservationist ( L o n d o n : C a p e ,

1974).

S u b s e

q u e n t references t o t h e t e x t w i l l f o l l o w t h e q u o t a t i o n i n p a r e n t h e s e s .

N a d i n e

G o r d i m e r , P o l i t i c s as F a t e i n The Black Interpreters ( J o h a n n e s

b u r g :

R a v a n Pr es s,

1973).

S h e takes th e p h r a s e f r o m I r v i n g H o w e :

W h e r e f r e e d o m i s a b s e n t , p o l i t i c s is f a t e .

J o h n B e r g e r , T h e S c r e e n a n d The Spike i n The Sense of Sight ( N e w

Y o r k : P a n t h e o n B o o k s , 1 9 8 5 ) 2 5 3 - 6 0 .

B e r g e r

uses

t h i s p h r a s e t o c h a r a c t e r i z e t h e state of a n i n d i v i d u a l w h o

chooses t o p l a c e a s c r e e n b e t w e e n h i m s e l f a n d r e a l i t y .

M e h r i n g a l s o i g n o r e d h i s t o r y , b u t t h e m a i n t h r u s t o f The Conserv ationist

is to p o i n t o u t t h e i n a d e q u a c y o f s u c h a c o n s c io u s n e s s . M i c h a e l K ' s p a s s i

v i t y , o n th e o t h e r h a n d , c a n b e s e en as p o t e n t i a l l y h e r o i c i n Coetzee's

n o v e l .

J M . Coetzee i n t e r v i e w e d b y S t e p h e n W a t s o n . S p e a k i n g J . M . Coetzee

i n

Speak M a y / J u n e 1 9 7 8 : 2 3 .

J M . Coetzee, A l e x L a G u m a a n d th e R e s p o n s i b i l it i e s o f t he S o u t h

A f r i c a n

W r i t e r i n Journal of New African Literature and the Arts

W i n t e r / S p r i n g C o m b i n e d ( 1 9 7 1 ) : 5 -1 1 . Coetzee sets o u t i n t h i s essay to

assert t h a t d e s p i t e i t s n a t u r a l i s t i c a s s u m p t i o n s a n d d o o m - l a d e n a t m o s

p h e r e , L a G u m a ' s A Walk in the Night i s n o t n a t u r a l i s t i c . Coetzee r e a d s

L a

G u m a as a c r i t i c a l r e a l i s t a n d

sees

e m b e d d e d i n t h e n o v e l a n

a n a l y s i s o f t h e p o l i t i c a l

weaknesses

o f [ t h e p r o l e t a r i a t i n ] C o l o u r e d s o c ie t y

i n S o u t h A f r i c a ( 9 ) . F o r Coetzee, t h i s a n a l y s i s p r o v i d e s a n e x p l a n a t i o n

of the negativeness o f a f i c t i o n th a t r e a l i s t i c a l l y p o r t r a y s t h a t s o c i e t y ( 9 ) .

T h e m o s t c o m p r e h e n s i v e p o l i t i c a l s ta t em e n t L a G u m a m a k e s , says Coetzee,

is

t h a t A W alk in the Night i s a n o v e l w i t h o u t a h e r o , a l t h o u g h i t i s c l e a r l y




i n d i c a t e d w h o t h e p o t e n t i a l h e r o i s . A l t h o u g h G o r d i m e r ' s p o i n t is t h a t i t

is w r o n g t o d o s o , i t i s p o s s i b l e t o u n d e r s t a n d Life and Times of Michae l

K i n t h e s a m e w a y Coetzee u n d e r s t a n d s A W alk in the Night, a n d t o

suggest t h a t t h e r e a s o n t h e r e i s n o active p r o t a g o n i s t i n Coetzee's n o v e l i s

t h a t , a s f a r a s h e is c o n c e r n e d , t h e c o n d i t i o n s h a v e n ' t a r i s e n f o r o n e . H i s

l i t e r a r y a c t m i g h t b e d e s c r i b e d , i n p a r t , i n t h e w o r d s h e uses to d e s c r i b e

L a G u m a ' s : w h i l e t h e n o v e l i s t c a n n o t f a l s i f y h i s s u b j e c t b y c r e a t i n g

heroes w h e r e n o n e as y e t have a r i s e n , h e c a n e x p l a i n w h y t h e y have n o t

a r i s e n a n d p o i n t t o p o t e n t i a l i t i e s f o r p o l i t i c a l a c t i o n ( 1 1 ) .

J M . Coetzee, Life and Times of Michae l K ( L o n d o n : S e ek e r a n d W a r

b u r g ,

1 9 8 3 ) . S u b s e q u e n t references t o t h e t e x t w i l l f o l l o w t h e q u o t a t i o n

i n p a r e n t h e s e s .

M i c h a e l ' s

s u r n a m e , o f c o u r s e , gives h i m g re a t e r s y m b o l i c w e i g h t t h a n t h e

a f o r e m e n t i o n e d a l lo w s . K h a s tie s w i t h J o s e p h K i n K a f k a ' s The Trial

a n d w i t h t h e s u r v e y o r K i n The Castle. A n o t h e r a l l u s i o n to K a f k a is f o u n d

i n t h e D o c t o r ' s r e f e r e n c e to t h e C a s t l e i n Life and

Times

of Michael K

a s t h e p l a c e f r o m w h i c h h i s b i z a r r e o r d e r s i s s u e .

S o m e c r i t i c s have c o m m e n t e d p a s s i o n a t e l y o n w h a t t h e y s ee as

Coetzee's

r a c i a l / h i s t o r i c a l / c l a s s b i a s o p e r a t i n g i n Life and Times of Michae l K.

T h e y m a k e t h e p o i n t t h a t t y p i c a l l y

Coetzee's

p r o t a g o n i s t s a r e w h i t e , a n d

t h a t t h e y a r e a l s o

l u c i d

a n d i n t el l ig e n t ( E u g e n e D a w n ; M a g d a ; th e

M a g i s t r a t e ) . W h a t i s d i s c o n c e r t i n g t o t h e m is t he fa c t t h a t o n th e o c c a

s i o n

Coetzee chooses t o w r i t e f r o m a n o n - w h i t e p e r s p e c t iv e , h e d e p i c t s a

fig ur e w h o i s i n a r t i c u l a t e a n d s i m p l e - m i n d e d . R e s t r a i n e d a s s h e is a b o u t

i t , I t h i n k t hi s is a l so G o r d i m e r ' s p r o b l e m w i t h t h e n o v e l . A t on e p o i n t i n

h e r r e v i e w o f i t , s h e asks w h y Coetzee h a s t o l a y i t o n so t h i c k . I t i s n o t

e n o u g h t h a t M i c h a e l K i s o n e o f t h e o p p r e s s e d a n d a s i m p l e t o n , h e h a s to

have a h a r e l i p w h i c h p r e v e n t s h i m f r o m s p e a k i n g c l e a r l y . W h y s i n g l e o u t

f o r a t t e n t i o n s u c h a n e c c e n t r i c , a t y p i c a l f ig ur e, s h e

seems

t o b e a s k i n g .

S e e J o s e p h i n e D o d d ' s The Crossroads of Power and Knowledge: Dis

cursive Policy and the Fiction of J. M.

Coetzee

f o r a d i s c u s s i o n o f t h e

i m p l i c a t i o n s

a s s h e u n d e r s t a n d s t h e m o f

Coetzee's

r a c i a l / h i s t o r i c a l / c l a s s

b ia s . U n p u b l i s h e d M . A . t he si s, U o f A l b e r t a , 1 9 8 7 .

T h e s e c o n d s e c t i o n o f t h e n o v e l ( i t i s d i v i d e d i n t o t h r e e s e c ti o n s ) is

f o c u s e d o n th e D o c t o r ' s r es p o n s e to M i c h a e l K . K i s i n h i s t h i r d c a m p ,

t h is t im e a r e h a b i l i t a t i o n c a m p i n w h i c h t h e D o c t o r w o r k s . I t is t h r o u g h

t h e D o c t o r t h a t w e g e t t h e s t r o n g e s t

sense

o f t h e a m b i v a l e n t r e s p on s e

M i c h a e l

K p r o v o k e s i n o t h e r s . F o r a l t h o u g h t h e D o c t o r i s a p p a l l e d b y

M i c h a e l s

( t h e n a m e , i t seems, o ff ic i a ls i n s i s t o n c a l l i n g h i m b y ) p h y s i

c a l

c o n d i t i o n a n d s p a r e e x i s te n c e , h e is n e v e r t h e l es s d r a w n to v i e w h i m a s

a h a r b o u r e r o f s o m e great t r u t h , a s a k i n d o f m e s s i a h . A n d w h i l e h e d i s

m i s se s M i c h a e l s as a s t i c k i n s e c t , t o o b u s y , t o o s t u p i d , t o o a b s o r b e d

t o l i s t e n t o t h e w h e e l s o f h i s t o r y , a t t h e s a m e t i m e h e i s i n t r i g u e d b y t h e

w a y K h a s m a n a g e d t o l i v e i n t h e o l d w a y , d r i f t i n g t h r o u g h t im e , o b s er v

i n g

th e seasons, n o m o r e t r y i n g t o change t h e c o u r s e o f h i s t o r y t h a n a

g r a i n o f s a n d d o e s ( 2 0 7 ) .

M e h r i n g s o u g h t a refuge f r o m h i s t o r y t h r o u g h a c o n n e c t i o n t o t h e e a r t h ,

a d e si re s h a r e d b y M i c h a e l K . B u t w h e r e t h a t d e s ir e is u n d e r s t o o d a n d

a c ce p ta b le i n M i c h a e l K ' s

case,

g i v e n h i s s i t u a t i o n a n d h i s i n n o c e n c e , i t i s

t h w a r t e d i n M e h r i n g ' s case p r e c i s e l y because o f h i s s i t u a t i o n a n d h i s

s o p h i s t i c a t e d i n n o c e n c e .

making the revolutionary gesture - gordimer and coetzee

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