About Coetzee’s Foe: islands and other aspects

Essay aus dem Jahr 2010 im Fachbereich Englisch - Literatur, Werke, Sprache: Deutsch, Abstract: The story is written from the perspective of Susan, a castaway on the same island as Cruso and Friday. It’s a story of islands: Cruzo’s island, the ship, Foe’s house, England. In addition the actors are islands too: they are isolated individuals, living in their own world. The result is an almost autistic silence. In this essay, the main characters are described as islands in an archipelago, seperated characters, condemned to each other. Susan’s story, an oral story, is a central theme in the novel. It becomes gradually clear that she is telling her story to the author Foe. Susan fails in her attempt to produce her story in a book. Friday is the footprint of Robinson Crusoe and every Robinsonade. Coetzee foregrounds Friday’s silence. By doing so, he undermines the hegemony of the colonial discourse that presupposes European racial superiority. Friday (black) and Susan (woman) are both colonised subjects by the male colonizing characters, (both male and white): Cruso on his island and Foe, whose trade is in books, not in truth.