Ellinor Bent Dalbye

The Silence of the Suffering Body: J.m.coetzee and Pain As Counter-discourse Ellinor Bent Dalbye

J. M. Coetzee once said: The standard is the body. Whatever else, the body is not ''that which is not'', and the proof that it is is the pain that it feels. [...] it is not that one grants authority to the suffering body: the suffering body takes this authority: that is its power. Using this statement as a departure point this book examines how the suffering body functions as a deconstructive trope in J. M. Coetzee?s novels Waiting for the Barbarians and Age of Iron. It has been argued that it is impossible to find a space outside discourse where one can create a true counter-discursive narrative. However, this reading claims that the trope of the suffering body acts as counter-discourse regardless of these issues because its efforts rest not on language, but on silence. The study makes use of a deconstructive theoretical basis and narrative analysis to refute previous claims both within the critical reception of J. M. Coetzee?s works and within the field of post-colonial studies. The study should be of interest to anyone who is looking for an original approach to one of the most complex and critically acclaimed authors of our time.