Untenable Boundaries: J.M. Coetzee’s Summertime and the Autobiography of All Writing

Presenter Information

Sarah Westbrook, Oberlin College

Location

Science Center, A262

Document Type

Presentation

Start Date

4-24-2015 1:30 PM

End Date

4-24-2015 2:30 PM

Abstract

This project seeks to understand the traditional binary of fiction and nonfiction, as well as the origin and use of genre, via J.M. Coetzee’s assertion that “all writing is autobiography.” In Summertime, Coetzee achieves an interrogation of binaries and pursues a kind of truth by accessing many different voices and perspectives. Coetzee complicates narrative responsibility by implicating the reader in the formation of genre as a mode of reading and understanding.

Notes

Session 1, Panel 7 - Generative Cases: New Considerations of Puccini, Lewis Carroll, and J.M. Coetzee
Moderator: James O’Leary, Assistant Professor of Musicology

Major

Creative Writing; English

Advisor(s)

Sylvia Watanabe, Creative Writing
Natasha Tessone, English

Project Mentor(s)

T.S. McMillin, English

April 2015

This document is currently not available here.

Share

COinS
 
Apr 24th, 1:30 PM Apr 24th, 2:30 PM

Untenable Boundaries: J.M. Coetzee’s Summertime and the Autobiography of All Writing

Science Center, A262

This project seeks to understand the traditional binary of fiction and nonfiction, as well as the origin and use of genre, via J.M. Coetzee’s assertion that “all writing is autobiography.” In Summertime, Coetzee achieves an interrogation of binaries and pursues a kind of truth by accessing many different voices and perspectives. Coetzee complicates narrative responsibility by implicating the reader in the formation of genre as a mode of reading and understanding.