The Dilemma Of Romanticism In The Postcolonial Context:Self-identity Quest Through Reading And Writing In Disgrace

As the most successful work of J.M.Coetzee,Disgrace has attracted lots of attention at home and abroad since its publication in 1991.Many scholars have done profound studies about its multiple features,among which the most attractive and popular perspective is the postcolonial point of view.Based on previous studies,this thesis intends to apply postcolonial theory to study the protagonist's quest for self-identity.Taking the romantic text as an entry point,with the analysis of Lurie's identity dilemmas,the thesis aims to contend the romantic reading as the foundation of Lurie's self-identity construction,and the romantic writing as the demonstration of his self-identity deconstruction.Disgrace mainly deals with the protagonist's self-quest experience in the postcolonial background.Lurie,as a white professor ingrained with western ideology,cannot adapt himself to the post-Apartheid context,thus trapped in several dilemmas.In terms of love,he claims himself to be pursuing nature rather than violating others;confronting the public,he refuses to confess his sin but defends his principle;to his family,he is an outsider rather a protector;with animals,he serves as a savior,while being laughed at as a loser.Through these dilemmas,Lurie loses his self-identity.This thesis studies the protagonist's self-identity quest from a postcolonial perspective.The first chapter provides the theoretical framework centered on“Subject-Object”,which introduces the implications and relations of“Subject-Object”in the category of Identity,Romantic Consciousness and Postcolonialism.Chapter two offers a meticulous analysis of Lurie's identity dilemmas.Then in Chapter three,with a focused interpretation of poetry,it is demonstrated that Lurie's identity construction is based on Eurocentrism represented by Romanticism,and therefore the roots of his dilemmas are traced to his ingrained ideology of the Other and his neglect of the contextual differences.The fourth chapter focuses on the presentation of Lurie's self-identity deconstruction through his opera writing.The dissolution of his identity based on Romanticism implies that in the postcolonial context,Romanticism is destined to decline in its power to influence the individual quest for self-identity.