A Quest for the 'New Man' in Times of Transition: Faith, Unfaith and the Pitfalls of Utopia in JM Coetzee's The Master of Petersburg. Issue 2 (2nd July 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dimitriu, Ileana
• Is Part Of: Current writing. Volume 28:Issue 2(2016)
• Page Start: 159
• Page End: 172
• Publication Date: 2016-07-02
• Subjects: JM Coetzee -- The Master of Petersburg; 'religion without religion' -- utopia and delusion; Southern African literature (English) -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 820.996805
• DOI: 10.1080/1013929X.2016.1202045
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1013-929X

Abstract

Abstract : I offer a re-reading of JM Coetzee's novel, The Master of Petersburg (1994 ), according to which I seek to answer the question: Why return to this particular novel today? In pursuing the question, I accord a greater directness than hitherto to both religious and political reference. My point is to locate the novel, both locally and internationally, in a current climate of religious-cum-political demagoguery and conviction. I argue that, in retrospect, we may appreciate Coetzee's uncanny prescience: a vision that evokes the temper of the world today. Central to my analysis is the figure of the 'new man'; forged in radicalised political times and treading a precarious path between faith and unfaith, utopia and delusion, revolutionary fervour and collective amnesia.