A Literary Antidote to Dignity-Based Conflict: J. M. Coetzee's Ethics of Natural- Rather than Public-Spiritedness

Malek Hardan Mohammad

A Literary Antidote to Dignity-Based Conflict: J. M. Coetzee's Ethics of Natural- Rather than Public-Spiritedness

Malek Hardan Mohammad

English

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

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Abstract

South-African Novelist J. M. Coetzee's fiction promotes the ethical potential of the shamanic sense of the body and nature which should replace traditionally valorized stances such as resistance, self-sacrifice, and public-spiritedness. For Coetzee, the latter (apparently heroic) stances are based in egotism (disguised behind a more palatable "dignity") rather than altruism and are thus a self-destructive and unsound grounds for ethics. Coetzee's writings subscribe to what could be labeled natural-spiritedness as opposed to public-spiritedness. While public-spiritedness is predicated on political activism that cannot work without some form of intransigent resistance to the other, natural-spiritedness places ultimate value in natural oneness with and "surrender" to the other. This paper mainly focuses on Coetzee's novels In the Heart of the Country (1977) and Waiting for the Barbarians (1980).

Original language	American English
Title of host publication	The Asian Conference on Literature & Librarianship 2014
Subtitle of host publication	Official Conference Proceedings
Place of Publication	Osaka
Publisher	The International Academic Forum (IAFOR)
Pages	196-206
Number of pages	10
Volume	2186
Edition	229X
State	Published - Apr 2014

Publication series

Name	Proceedings of the Asian Conference on Literature & Librarianship 2014
Publisher	The International Academic Forum (IAFOR)
ISSN (Print)	2186-229X

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities
SDG 13 Climate Action
SDG 15 Life on Land
SDG 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

Keywords

conflict
fiction
dignity
Coetzee
ethics
Nature inspired

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A Literary Antidote to Dignity-Based Conflict

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Mohammad, M. H. (2014). A Literary Antidote to Dignity-Based Conflict: J. M. Coetzee's Ethics of Natural- Rather than Public-Spiritedness. In The Asian Conference on Literature & Librarianship 2014: Official Conference Proceedings (229X ed., Vol. 2186, pp. 196-206). (Proceedings of the Asian Conference on Literature & Librarianship 2014 ). The International Academic Forum (IAFOR).

Mohammad, Malek Hardan. / A Literary Antidote to Dignity-Based Conflict : J. M. Coetzee's Ethics of Natural- Rather than Public-Spiritedness. The Asian Conference on Literature & Librarianship 2014: Official Conference Proceedings. Vol. 2186 229X. ed. Osaka : The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), 2014. pp. 196-206 (Proceedings of the Asian Conference on Literature & Librarianship 2014 ).

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title = "A Literary Antidote to Dignity-Based Conflict: J. M. Coetzee's Ethics of Natural- Rather than Public-Spiritedness",

abstract = "South-African Novelist J. M. Coetzee's fiction promotes the ethical potential of the shamanic sense of the body and nature which should replace traditionally valorized stances such as resistance, self-sacrifice, and public-spiritedness. For Coetzee, the latter (apparently heroic) stances are based in egotism (disguised behind a more palatable {"}dignity{"}) rather than altruism and are thus a self-destructive and unsound grounds for ethics. Coetzee's writings subscribe to what could be labeled natural-spiritedness as opposed to public-spiritedness. While public-spiritedness is predicated on political activism that cannot work without some form of intransigent resistance to the other, natural-spiritedness places ultimate value in natural oneness with and {"}surrender{"} to the other. This paper mainly focuses on Coetzee's novels In the Heart of the Country (1977) and Waiting for the Barbarians (1980).",

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Mohammad, MH 2014, A Literary Antidote to Dignity-Based Conflict: J. M. Coetzee's Ethics of Natural- Rather than Public-Spiritedness. in The Asian Conference on Literature & Librarianship 2014: Official Conference Proceedings. 229X edn, vol. 2186, Proceedings of the Asian Conference on Literature & Librarianship 2014 , The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Osaka, pp. 196-206.

A Literary Antidote to Dignity-Based Conflict: J. M. Coetzee's Ethics of Natural- Rather than Public-Spiritedness. / Mohammad, Malek Hardan.
The Asian Conference on Literature & Librarianship 2014: Official Conference Proceedings. Vol. 2186 229X. ed. Osaka: The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), 2014. p. 196-206 (Proceedings of the Asian Conference on Literature & Librarianship 2014 ).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

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Mohammad MH. A Literary Antidote to Dignity-Based Conflict: J. M. Coetzee's Ethics of Natural- Rather than Public-Spiritedness. In The Asian Conference on Literature & Librarianship 2014: Official Conference Proceedings. 229X ed. Vol. 2186. Osaka: The International Academic Forum (IAFOR). 2014. p. 196-206. (Proceedings of the Asian Conference on Literature & Librarianship 2014 ).

A Literary Antidote to Dignity-Based Conflict: J. M. Coetzee's Ethics of Natural- Rather than Public-Spiritedness

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Keywords

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