J. M. 쿳시의 소설에 나타난 공동체의 정치학

J. M. Coetzee is often blamed for his alleged adoption of a liberal aesthetics, which, according to critics, has caused his novel to represent `a retreat from a commitment to political solutions.` The diverse accusations against Coetzee are summed up in Nadine Gordimer`s criticism that Coetzee excludes `social destiny.` from his work of art. This study, however, directs attention to the critique of both Afrikaner regime and white liberals embedded in Waiting for the Barbarians and Age of Iron. Coetzee uses liberal whites as the protagonists of his works; however, this employment of a white liberal voice is intended as exposing the inadequacy of white liberalism as an alternative to racism. For instance, in Waiting for the Barbarians, Coetzee, through the perspective of his liberal white hero, brings to the fore the inadequacy of liberal whites as an agent of bringing forth substantial changes against the naked militancy of an imperial regime. In Age of Iron, Coetzee, through the political awakening of Mrs. Curren, exposes liberal whites` complicity in racial crimes and highlight the need for their sacrifice and negation of a white identity. For instance, Mrs. Curren, bravely abandoning the comforts of bourgeois life, puts her life in danger in protest against police violence. This call for sacrifice is what, this study asserts, distinguish Coetzee`s political stance from liberalism. As Wolfgang Palaver argues, liberalism, which `can be characterized by its rejection of sacrifice,` prioritizes the inviolability of the individual over anything, including the communal good and justice. The conclusion of this study is that Coetzee`s novel has a vision going beyond liberalism and toward a genuine community which the author once called `a pool in which differences wash away.`