1. J. M. Coetzee Foe (3) Writing, Identity and History

2. Outline Structure of the Novel Starting QuestionsStarting Questions (1) Story-telling and writing Susan ’ s desire & purposes Her story-telling Her story-telling and Her writing Her writing vs. Foe ’ sFoe ’ s The central mysteries Ways of making sense of the past Starting QuestionsStarting Questions (2) Friday and his language Diving into the Wreck Conclusion

3. Foe: Structure Chap 1: her experience on the island; (Barton ’ s “ speech ” to Foe) Chap 2: Barton and Friday in London (epistolary form-- Writing To Foe ) 1. – in Clock Lane, writing letters to Foe (talking to him about authorship and “ going ” into his house) 2. Foe ’ s attic in Newington; still waiting 3. the young girl pp. 72 – 77; 4. Friday in his ‘ mopes ’ ; S ’ s Speech to Friday 79-87 5. To Foe pp. 87 – on writing; 6. To the forest with the girl 89 – 7. To Foe -- Robe and Friday ’ s dance 8. Attempts to teach Friday – music 95- 98; 9. Journey to Bristol: to set Friday free without success 99- (dangers met on the road) //but gaining strength from dancing. 103

4. Foe: Structure Chap 3: Barton & Friday in Foe ’ s hiding place, Struggle for authorship (B ’ s narration) 1.Susan and Foe discussion of plot; Three parables of women and writing: 1) death- bed confession; 2) daughter as a way to extend one ’ s life; 3) Barton ’ s: Muse as both goddess and begetter Meeting the girl again Muse and sex 2.Friday ’ s silence -- The untold stories buried in Friday teaching him to write “ Africa, ” “ House ” “ Mother ”

5. Foe: Structure Chap 4: from Foe ’ s attic to “ dive into the sea wrecks ” ; a first-person narration Repetition – in the attic and under the sea; listening for Friday ’ s voice. Variation – from voices of the island to an ongoing stream

6. Starting Questions (1) 1. Susan Barton as a character and writer: 1. Why does she say that she is a woman ‘ without ’ substance? (51) Why does she have to get the story of the island written down? (58) 2. What do you think of her rejection of the young girl named Susan Barton? (e.g. 72-76; 91) 3. As one producing ‘ letters ’ and paintings, ’ what does she think about artistic representation? 2.Island everywhere: how do we deal with our own Island-isolation (71); confinement (81); lack of knowledge about the past; (e.g. 83- 87) Emptiness & “ substance ” of existence. (51; 82; 152)

7. Barton’s Desire and Purposes Sense of urgency, getting the story told is her primary concern Purposes: 1. Meaning of her existence: 1)Memory – longing for the island (home 50); 2)Survival thru ’ communication and sympathy (against emptiness and lethargy/sleep 82); p. 85 (tongue//heart) 3)Fame and Immortality; 2. Money to survive and to send Friday back to Africa; 3. Identity & Self-Determination: acquire “ substance ” of her identity (51) – not just a fictional character

8. Barton as a story-teller (review) sense of immediacy: address to “ you ” – Foe, the girl, Friday expecting audience response (7) Re-telling the stories to remember them (repetition p. 5; 11; Friday ’ s tongue) Wants her story to be “ truthful ” 40; acknowledge her ignorance. “ imagine ” things into existence: p. 49; 51-53, 60, etc. (  the novel as a re-vision)

9. Barton as a writer/painter: self-reflexive and aware of multiple interpretation 1. Moment to assume writing position: p. 65; to deny Foe ’ s ability to invent p. 72 2. Avoid over-dramatizing her story: p. 67 (vs. Foe ’ s adding the daughter plot and cannibal) 3. Need to explain Friday ’ s loss of tongue (blank page)  multiple interpretation (Cruso or slave trader, mutilation or tribal customs) Two paintings & Friday ’ s past pp. 68-69; 84- 4. Needs responses: e.g. the use of “ kiss ” and “ desire ” in communicating with Friday p. 79;-81;

10. Barton’s writing: reconstruction Like their work on the terraces 87 Like a painter – a. adding hues to show contrast//selecting, composing and rendering particulars. B. divining and teasing out of the episodes their hidden meanings Establishing the poles, the here and there, and then the words take form, journey and flow.  easy 93

11. Barton’s writing vs. Foe’s Foe ’ s -- the more “ dramatic ” elements – cannibal, musket, carpenter ’ s chest, younger Cruso, love for Barton p. 83 Susan – wants to be her own author different plots – reunion of mother and daughter, or survival on an island; Chap 3 – p. 129 meets the young girl with her nurse Amy  struggle for authorship/ownership

12. Barton’s authorship vs. Foe’s 1.The “ daughter ” episode: p. 131 “ I am a free woman who asserts her freedom by telling her story according to her own desire. ” (p. 133 daughter like ghost coming back to life - - losing her sense of authorship ) – “ now all my life grows to be story and there is nothing of my own left to me. ” 2.Three stories  muse as begetter 3.Sex: Foe ’ s “ preying ” on the living; p. 150 Foe as a slaver turning his deaf ear to Susan p. 152 Susan thinks of Foe “ as a mistress, as a wife. ”

13. Acknowledges her lack of understanding The central mysteries pp. 83- 87 the terraces – like tombs The tongue pp. 84; Friday ’ s submission No desire The scattering of petals

14. Ways of making sense of the past Foe – p. 135 -- also lost in the maze of doubting Make a sign of one ’ s blindness and return to it all the time. “ plant a sign or marker in the ground where I stand so that in my future wanderings I shall have something to return to,...the more often I come back to the mark,...the more certainly I know I am lost... ” (135-36)

15. Starting Questions (2) 3.What do you think about the depiction of Friday? Should he be so mute and irresponsive? And Susan ’ s attempt to teach him? (e.g. p. 98 her failure) Is their lack of communication more realistic than, say, that between Pocahontas and John Smith? What do you think about the ending? Who is the narrator? Why is it repetitive?

16. Friday and his language/silence Multiple interpretation of his (lack of) response (1) Forever enslaved After the “ unnatural years ” with Cruso, he is like “ an animal wrapt entirely in itself ” (70) ; eternal obedience? 98;

17. Friday and his language/silence (2) His silence= loss 1.Tongue (vs. heart) – a member of play (85) 2.“ defenseless ” silence (p. 121) (3) His silence = his defense 1.Like a whale and a spider p. 59; 2.Connection to the time before Cruso p. 60; true stories buried in him (118)

18. Friday’s languages & Identity (4) Has his languages but cannot communicate with them 1. Dance – 92 2. Bass recorder 3. Dance like Friday 103-104 — understanding him –” seeing ” 119

19. Teaching Friday Teaching him to write – is teaching him white ’ s language a way to establish identity? (logo-centric?) Susan — understands & sympathizes with him, and acknowledges her lack of complete understanding: Is he stupid or laughing at me? 146; Foe – not teaching him is to keep his desires dark to us; Susan – “ He desires to be liberated, and I do too. ” 148

20. Friday’s languages & identity Susan – teaches him but questions language How does he know “ freedom ” ? How is Friday to recover his freedom? Are we free? “ There will always be a voice in him to whisper doubts, whether in words or nameless sounds or tunes or tones. ” (149) Friday is not free, but he is not in subjection. 150

21. Diving into the “Wreck” Three Times (p. 142 “ It is for us to open Friday ’ s mouth and hear what it holds: silence, perhaps, or a roar, ” Foe. “ Who? ” ) 1. to Foe ’ s house; 2.P. 155 “ With a sigh ” – to the book, then the house and then the island; 3.P. 155 “ With a sigh ” – to the wrecked ship.

22. Diving into the “Wreck” =artistic re- vision of the silenced The couple – 1)1st -- straw-and-paper-like existence; their bodies not touching; 2)2nd – A plague of the “ author ” with writing too small to read;  the couple facing each other, Susan ’ s head in Foe ’ s arm.  entangling sea weeds 3)3rd – Susan and the captain, hands held out in blessing; a place where bodies are their only signs.

23. Diving into the “Wreck” Three times Friday 1st – F: with a faint pulse; the narrator ignore his heartbeat to listen to Friday. 2nd -- Scar on his neck; (Susan ’ s writing)  the narrator diving to see the kraken, shark (or a guardian wrapped in rotting fabric) –  Susan and the captain –He opens his mouth. –Why the sea but not the island, or Africa?  the Middle Passage

24. Conclusion In re-writing a colonial history, Coetzee uses an author-surrogate (Susan Barton) to make us/him understand more about the various aspects of living on an island, and different ways (rational order – with yearning, understanding and attempts at communication and escape) of survival; the interrelation between Writing and Power on the one hand, and silence and absence on the other. the omission and dramatization of traditional colonial narratives. English or verbal language is not the only language for communication.

25. Crusoe in England I felt a deep affection for the smallest of my island industries. No, not exactly, since the smallest was a miserable philosophy. Because I didn't know enough. Why didn't I know enough of something? Greek drama or astronomy? The books I'd read were full of blanks; the poems-- well, I tried reciting to my iris-beds, "They flash upon that inward eye, which is the bliss..."the bliss of what?

26. Crusoe in England Friday was nice. Friday was nice, and we were friends. If only he had been a woman! I wanted to propagate my kind,