Allegory vs Allegory: The divorce of different modes of allegorical perception in Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians.

Abstract

In this paper, the allegorical mode of Coetzee's novels is situated in the context of contem­porary constructions of allegory. This is done by tracing the points of intersection between Waiting for the Barbarians and those theories of allegory produced by contemporary readings of Walter Benjamin's The Origin of German Tragic Drama, by Paul de Man in "The Rhetoric of Temporality", and by Lacanian psychoanalytic theory. It is suggested that allegory constitutes a paradigm for interpretive practice and that in Waiting for the Barbar­ians a "Benjaminian" mode of allegorical perception acts as a corrective to a "Hegelian" mode of allegorical perception, which tends to offer definitive meanings and to posit a relatively stable connection between the allegorical signifier and extra-textual reality.

Opsomming
In hierdie artikel word die wyse waarop Coetzee die allegorie in sy roman uitdruk geplaas in die konteks van die kontemporere vertolking van die allegorie. Dit word gedoen deur die opsporing van raakpunte tussen Waiting tor the Barbarians en die allegorieteoriee soos dit vergestalt word in die kontemporere opvattings van Walter Benjamin se The Origin of German Tragic Drama, deur Paul de Man in "The Rhetoric of Temporality," asook deur die psigoanalitiese teorie van Lacan. Daar word voorgestel dat die allegorie 'n paradigma vorm vir interpretasie, en dat in Waiting for the Barbarians 'n "Benjaminiaanse" begrip van die allegorie dien as 'n middel tot die verbetering van 'n "Hegeliaanse" begrip daarvan, wat neig om be!slissende betekenisse te bied, en om 'n relatief stabiele verband te bewerkstel­lig tussen die allegoriese betekenaar en die buitetekstuele realiteit.