Autre-Biography: Poetics of Self in J. M. Coetzee's Fictionalized Memoirs
Book
This study explores the poetics and politics of self in J. M. Coetzee's "autre"-biographical works...
Merissa (12051 KP) created a post
Sep 3, 2020
Lirahlu (37 KP) shared Suswatibasu 's rating
Mar 15, 2018
For one, it claims to be an anti-self-help book but in fact it is, not only that it repeats phrases that other books use often but it reiterates it in a much more uglier fashion by replacing every other word with "f**k".
Secondly, the author is actually incredibly sexist throughout the whole book - revealing that this book is for a privileged white, male audience. He flashes his wealth throughout the book by even saying "I come from a wealthy family" and 'this doesn't apply to an Indian family who need an extra $10'. And then talks about his sexual exploits with women, saying that one of his former goals was to "be with more women" - like women are collective objects. He's boastful about sleeping around throughout, referring to women in a derogatory way.
The chapter on false memories and child sexual abuse is shocking, absolutely no disclaimers, just a rookie spouting off information that he clearly had no idea about. He discounts thousands of horrific accounts as if they're something imagined up and to be gotten over with. An extremely precarious viewpoint.
The irony is that the author describes himself perfectly here: "People declare themselves experts, entrepreneurs, inventors, innovators, mavericks, and coaches without any real-life experience. And they do this not because they actually think they are greater than everybody else; they do it because they feel that they need to be great to be accepted in a world that broadcasts only the extraordinary." And this pretty much sums up the book.
The Rise of the Working-Class Writer
News, reviews, videos and articles celebrating the rise of the Working-Class writer.
Working-Class literature Working -Class writers Working-Class voices Dialect Vernacular Working-Class memoir
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Sep 29, 2017
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