J. M. Coetzee, Dusklands

Franklyn Hyde (Booth University College)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 7.2.3.03: South Africa and other Southern Writing and Culture.
Vol. editors: Helen Rachel Cousins (Birmingham Newman University), David Firth (University of Manchester)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1974

Places

South Africa (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Since its original publication in 1974, J.M. Coetzee’s debut novel

Dusklands

has been variously credited with bringing a new sophistication and critical self-consciousness to the South African novel. Dominic Head writes that “it has become a truism in criticism of Coetzee that

Dusklands

introduces a new postmodernist strain in the novel from South Africa” (28) and, indeed, the novel remains dauntingly complex for the casual reader in both form and aspect even within the context of Coetzee’s reputation as a “challenging” author. Produced in a period of three years between 1970-4 in both the United States and South Africa, the text is composed of two conjoined novellas: “The Vietnam Project”, a story centring on Eugene Dawn, an American mythographer employed to produce a…

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3020 words

Citation: Hyde, Franklyn. "Dusklands". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 16 May 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5477, accessed 19 April 2024.]

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