The Allegorical Text and History: J.M. Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians

Abstract

This article attempts to move beyond what are perceived to be the limitations of both Lukacsian Marxist and Deconstructionist accounts of J.M. Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians.
If a Lukacsian Marxism has correctly introduced the category of "history" into the analyses of the novel, it has done so only to berate Coetzee for its absence. Teresa Dovey's Deconstructionist analyses have helpfully focused attention on the novel's intertextual critique of the South African liberal novel. However, her criticism is deformed by its inability to confront the complexities of the text's meditation upon its relationship with "history".
The linguistic theory of Saussure, and Walter Benjamin's theory of allegory, are used to analyse that relationship. While the allegoric form acts as a critique of "classic realist" writing, this does not signal the text's refusal of "history". Rather, it affirms its location as a signifying "interpretation" of the real that recognises its discursive specificity.
The novel examines the South African formation when, in a reaction to the Soweto Uprising of 1976, the apartheid State turned to the military option. Coetzee identifies this transition as a systemic crisis of the colonial order that proclaims the superannuation of liberal discourse.
The article hopes to invigorate South African Marxist criticism with elements of post-structuralist theory that will enable a break with outmoded notions of "truth" and "history".

Opsomming

In hierdie artikel word daar gepoog om die beperkings te deurbreek wat aan sowel 'n Lukacs-Marxistiese as a dekonstruktivitiese lees van J.M. Coetzee se Waiting for the Barbarians ten grondslag le.

Alhoewel Lukacs-Marxisme tereg die kategorie van "geskiedenis" in romananalise invoer, word dit slegs gedoen om die afwesigheid daarvan by Coetzee te betreur. Eweneens is Teresa Dovey se dekonstruktivistiese analise - ten spyte van die tydige uitwys van die roman se intertekstuele kritiek van die Suid-Afrikaanse liberale roman - ontoereikend, weens haar onvermoe om die kompleksiteite van die teks se besinning oor sy verhouding met "geskiedenis" die hoof te bied.
In hierdie artikel word so 'n verhouding geanaliseer met behulp van sowel Saussure se linguistiese teorie as Walter Benjamin se teorie van die allegorie. Alhoewel die allegoriese vorm as 'n kritiek van "klassiek-realistiese" skrywe funksioneer, is dit nie sonder meer 'n aanduiding van die teks se verwerping van "geskiedenis" nie. Dit is eerder 'n bevestiging van die teks se posisie as betekenende "interpretasie" van die werklikheid, waardeur juis erkenning verleen word aan die diskursiewe spesifiekheid van die teks.
Die roman ondersoek die tydperk in Suid-Afrika toe die apartheidstaat in reaksie op die Soweto-opstand van 1976 'n militere opsie uitgeoefen het. Vir Coetzee is so 'n wending 'n teken van die koloniale opset se sistemiese krisis, waardeur die uitgediendheid van liberale diskoers blootgele word.
In hierdie artikel word 'n poging aangewend om Suid-Afrikaanse Marxistiese kritiek op so 'n manier met post-strukturalistiese elemente te vernuwe, dat weggebreek sal kan word van uitgediende opvattings oor "waarheid" en "geskiedenis".