Imagined Nations: Coetzee and DeLillo

J. M. Coetzee, chronicler of pre- and post-apartheid South Africa, asserts that “when the order of justice collapses in the state, it collapses in the heart too.” But to what extent can art and literature remedy a culture’s disease? Don DeLillo, examiner of America’s hyper-commercialized soul, fears the extinction of the writer’s individual voice in a world where “the future belongs to crowds.” Geographically worlds apart, Coetzee and DeLillo are united by an unsparing commitment to diagnose their respective nations’ social maladies and to assess literature’s imperiled relevance amid the postmodern condition. We will read the best of both authors, including Waiting for the Barbarians, Disgrace, White Noise, and Mao II. 3 hrs. sem.