The Slow Philosophy of J. M. Coetzee

by Jan Wilm

Overview

In The Slow Philosophy of J.M. Coetzee Jan Wilm analyses Coetzee's singular aesthetic style which, he argues, provokes the reader to read his works slowly. The effected 'slow reading' is developed into a method specifically geared to analyzing Coetzee's singular oeuvre, and it is shown that his works productively decelerate the reading process only to dynamize the reader's reflexion in a way that may be termed philosophical. Drawing on fresh archival material, this is the first study of its kind to explore Coetzee's writing process as already slow; as a program of seemingly relentless revision which brings forth his uniquely dense and crystalline style. Through the incorporation of material from drafts and notebooks, this study is also the first to combine an exploration of the writer's stylistic choices with a rigorous analysis of the reader's responses. The book includes close readings of Coetzee's popular and lesser known work, including Disgrace, Waiting for the Barbarians, Elizabeth Costello, Life and Times of Michael K and Slow Man.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781474256452
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	06/16/2016
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

Jan Wilm is a Lecturer in English Literature at Goethe University Frankfurt, Germany. He is co-editor, with Mark Nixon, of Samuel Beckett und die deutsche Literatur (2013).

Table of Contents

1. Teacher of Slow Reading – An Introduction
2. I do not normally write in a rushed manner – Coetzee as a Slow Writer
3. A goblin: why? – Coetzee's Questions
4. The sentence he will recognize at once – Coetzee's Slowing Syntax
5. Meerlust – Coetzee and Literalness
6. We make a leap – Coetzee's Gaps
7. The legacy of Socrates – Dialogue in and with Coetzee
8. A strange ending to a strange talk – Coetzee's Open-Ended Endings
9. An empty cube – Coetzee's Irreal Worlds
10. When all else fails, philosophize – A Philosophizing Conclusion
Bibliography
Index

Editorial Reviews

[An] excellent new book ... Wilm shows that [Coetzee's] books "go beyond the mere provision of philosophical topics" and reveal their import through an act of "slow reading".
Times Literary Supplement

By elaborating an approach that is at once both intriguingly conventional (slow reading) and excitingly innovative (slow philosophising), Wilm's work constitutes a nuanced addition to the burgeoning field of Coetzee Studies, making the monograph exemplary of the work of that which Coetzee terms the 'truly creative critic'.
Brief Encounters

"Slowness is Beauty†?: Pound's Cantos echo Binyon's dictum and turn it into a modernist motto. Jan Wilm's alert and thoughtful book energizes the motto by joining fictional syntax and philosophical meditation in patient analyses of the manuscripts. The craft of slowness is shown to underpin the work of Coetzee as he rethinks high modernism. The point is to frustrate a naïve wish to rush to conclusions or reach simple ideas about life, ethics and aesthetics. By learning to read more slowly, we read up on a dauntingly complex world, letting its beauty shine while discriminating between equivocal values.
Jean-Michel Rabaté, University of Pennsylvania, USA

From the Publisher