Serious fiction

En savoir plus sur le livre

This exploration delves into the novels of J.M. Coetzee, engaging with significant European literary works and contemporary global literature to articulate an ethico-aesthetic ideal for the modern novel. The term "serious" draws from Aristotle’s definition of tragedy, emphasizing the communal and political-ethical responsibilities of art. "Fiction," also rooted in Aristotelian thought, highlights the playful aspect of art, contrasting with the seriousness of daily life. By referencing post-Enlightenment thinkers like Schiller, Arnold, Leavis, and Auerbach, the discussion maintains a balance between seriousness as a moral criterion for literary evaluation and playfulness as essential to artistic creation. This includes the formal and epistemological duties of the realist novel, which dominated the long nineteenth century. Coetzee emerges as a contemporary exemplar of serious fiction, harmonizing realism with imagination, tragedy with the mundane, and aesthetic autonomy with ethical obligation. Key works by Coetzee, such as "Waiting for the Barbarians," "Life & Times of Michael K.," "Disgrace," and "Diary of a Bad Year," are analyzed alongside influential traditional and modern authors, including Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Joyce, Kafka, Beckett, Imre Kertész, W.G. Sebald, Eimear McBride, Cormac McCarthy, and Jiang Rong.