The Pursuit Of True Self

The South African writer J. M. Coetzee as well as his works has attracted a lot ofattention of many a reader and critics, especially since2003Coetzee being thelaureate of Nobel Literature Prize. His works are characterized by multiple-themesand multiple points of view. Meanwhile, Coetzee also pays much attention toportraying the human beings and humanity. Faced with ups and downs in life,different people may react diametrically differently; different behaviors are the veryexplicit expression of one’s inner world. Whatever happened, people must makechoice and find a way to keep on forward, which is also a characteristic of Coetzee’sworks. This feature can be easily caught in the very novel Disgrace, in which Coetzeeplainly presents us the pleasure Lurie the protagonist has achieved by means ofreckless self-indulgence, the unbearable sufferings and torture Lurie has got to gothrough from the robbery of the farm and his daughter Lucy’s miserable experience aswell as the final inner tranquility Lurie has obtained through apologizing for hisprevious wrongdoings, facing the reality, taking the responsibility and regaininghimself. In the ending part, the author portrays a scene where there is harmonybetween mankind and nature, which is also the explicit illustration of the harmonybetween one and himself, one and others and one and nature. This thesis adopts theFreudian Psycho-Analysis to attempt to study the protagonist Lurie in Disgrace,especially the relationship between the personality structure theory and Lurie’sbehavior transformation. It is hoped that this thesis can offer a new angle tounderstand Coetzee’s masterpiece, and simultaneously contributing to helping us havea crystal awareness of human beings ourselves and humanity.