Identity Crisis And Identity Reconstruction In J.M.Coetzee’s Jesus Series

J.M.Coetzee,a distinguished and prolific South African-Australian novelist,enjoys a considerable prestige for his rich style and illuminating content in his works,making outstanding contribution to South African,Australia and the world literature.In his later writing,Coetzee is more concerned with the characters in the marginal and non-mainstream cultural context with plain language and blurred ideas,especially as is manifested in The Childhood of Jesus(2013)and The Schooldays of Jesus(2016).Current studies concerning the series mainly explore the interrelationship with other writers or texts from the perspective of intertextuality,or address the protagonists’identity issues in combination of ethical theory.However,few scholars explore the protagonists’ identity problems in the aspect of diaspora identity and Coetzee’s concern of "the provincial." On account of this,the present thesis aims to probe into Coetzee’s idea of "the provincial" and his reflection on the issues of ethics and religious beliefs.In addition,it combines Stuart Hall’s theory of diaspora identity,Emmanuel Levinas’s ethics of the Other and Jurgen Habermas’s discussion of post-secularism to interpret the identity crisis and identity reconstruction of "the provincial" in the Jesus series and to reveal the implied meaning of being "the provincial" in the texts.The thesis first analyzes the diaspora experiences of David and Simon and explores the representations and reasons of their identity crisis.As is indicated,the identity crisis of "the provincial" lies in the disharmonious relationship with the self and the other.David and Sim6n are the representatives of "the provincials." The oppression of the mainstream culture deprives them of their history memory and mother language,causing their displacement and rootlessness both in physical and psychological sense.Meanwhile,the failure of an emotional connection with others in the new land aggravates their psychological displacement so that they resist to identify with the native and completely become "the provincials" in identity crisis.Then the discussion moves onto how Simon reconstructs his identity through dealing with the relationship with the other in the family and in the society.It argues that instead of treating the other as an enemy,"the provincial" should respect the"alterity" of the other.In the family Simon shoulders an absolute responsibility for David and loves him in the way of not possessing the otherness.In the society he learns that only unconditional respect for the other can help avoid the violence from the other.A harmonious ethical relationship between the self and the other promotes the identity reconstruction of "the provincial."Finally,the thesis expounds how David constructs his identity through the spiritual connection with the self in the secular life such as the events of learning,reading and art.Apart from a harmonious ethical relationship with the other,the identity reconstruction of "the provincial" also demands a harmonious spiritual relationship with the self.David initially experiences the self expression of spirituality in his imaginative space of language learning and literature reading,and then eventually establishes a spiritual connection with the self in music and dance.This thesis proposes that through the exploration of two "provincials," Coetzee shows that the provincial’s identity crisis is the ultimate result of the disharmonious relationship with the self and the other.The search for identity not only requires a harmonious ethical relationship with the other,but also a harmonious spiritual relationship with the self.