Complexities of the feminine voice in J. M. Coetzee’s in the heart of the country, foe, and age of iron

Abstract

Between the years of 1976 and 1990, J. M. Coetzee’s In the Heart of the Country, Foe, and Age of Iron were published. These three novels – the subjects of this dissertation – stand out within Coetzee’s oeuvre because of their narrative voices. Although Coetzee presents strong women with strong and powerful voices in most of his novels, these three are the only novels that use a feminine narrator. In order to study Coetzee’s writing successfully, a reader must understand the political background that Coetzee comes from, but when considering his novels narrated by a feminine voice, this political understanding becomes even more complex. A deep understanding of the existing patriarchal systems at play is critical, as well as a thorough examination of the feminine voice and its relationships with other characters, and the complexities that exist. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the theories used in the study and introduces the core issues that are met in critical studies of Coetzee’s feminine narrated novels, such as gender ventriloquism and cultural assumptions. In Chapter 2, I examine In the Heart of the Country and the way in which Magda uses her own imagined and re-imagined narrative to establish herself in a society (or indeed a micro-society) in which she has disappeared into because of her gender. In Chapter 3 I examine Susan Barton’s relationships with Foe, Cruso, and then Friday, in Foe. I look at silences within these relationships, and issues of authority and authorship. Finally, I examine in Chapter 4 the complexities in the character of Mrs Curren in Age of Iron as she allows herself to love in world that she has come to hate. By examining the feminine voices within these novels, I reveal a strength in Coetzee’s female voices – a strength that marks the male voices with which each female interacts and indeed other male voices in other novels as somewhat superficial in comparison. Coetzee’s feminine voices are the ones that carry power and complex messages within.