WRITING IN THE ERA OF GLOBALIZATION AND COSMOPOLITANISM: THE FICTION OF J.M. COETZEE

Abstract

While nuanced redefinitions of cosmopolitanism can be achieved through the reading of Coetzee’s later fictions vis-à-vis the paradigm of cosmopolitanism, this thesis does not restrict itself to the paradigm of cosmopolitanism alone in its analysis of the global world order represented in Elizabeth Costello and Diary. Rather, it employs both the paradigms of globalization and cosmopolitanism in its study of the global world order in Coetzee’s later fictions for each of these paradigms differs inherently and, hence, poses different conditions and challenges to the writer. In this respect, this thesis is primarily concerned with the writer’s relation to an increasingly globalized world and the act of writing vis-à-vis globalization and cosmopolitanism. More specifically, this thesis argues that Coetzee attributes an ethical obligation to the figure of the writer to either resist the disparaging culture of globalization, or advance a more ethical cosmopolitanism, through the act of writing. This thesis will also show that Coetzee espouses a particular kind of writing that is associated with the notions of performativity, performance and liminality.