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andKuniversalist”overtones.Thatistosay,whentheenigmawas
playedoutwithinaspaceofextremity,includingsubjectivedestitu-
tionastheoutcomeoftorture,war,etc.,therefusaltoKexplain”
couldbetakenasa(oreventhe)narrativeincarnationofrespect
forthesufferingother,evenifitsometimessmackedofcapitulation
beforetheinevitabilityofsufferinginthehandsofonepoweror
anotherasbelongingtohumancondition.However,whensuchcir-
cumstancesareabsent,alltheKexistential”implicationsseemtofind
theirproperplaceandcomebackwithavengeance.InSlowMan,
whichtakesplaceinsafeAustralia,thecentralKenigma”(oroneof
thetwo)isRayment’srefusaltowearaprosthesis:heKinexplicably”
declinestobehavelikeotherpeopleandbecomeKable”againthanks
tosuchKunnatural”means,deridinghisnewKreduced”lifeandsup-
portinghisrefusalintermsofsavinghisKhonour.”AlthoughMichael
KcouldradiateacertainKgrandeur”refusingtoacceptfoodoffered
tohimwithinthespaceofcolonialdiscourseandbecomeinthisway
asublimefigureofresistance/truthforthemedicalofficeraswellas
forthereader,thiswaspossibleonlybecauseoftheveryextremity
ofhissituationandacarefulmanipulationoftheallegoricaland
metaphorisingcontextbyCoetzee.3when,however,thisKestrang-
ing”frameworkisremoved,weencounternothingbutanarcissistic
caricatureinwhichtheundersideoftheKenigmatic”discoursecomes
moreclearlytolight–Rayment’shonourablefidelityturnsoutto
beafidelitytohisidealisedimageofamanwholacksnothing,not
evenrespectfortheother.withouttherebeinganextremecontext
ofviolencesuchidentificationwithwhatisinhimmorethanhimself
becomesnakedlyridiculouswhenitisincarnatedinhisrepeated
claimsthatwithouthalfofoneofhislegshebecomeslesshuman
–ifonewantsonemoreexampleofwhatthehumantruthstands
forinthiscontext,wehaveithereinathoroughlyindecentman-
ner:theidentificationwithone’sKnatural”imageofwholenessas
immortality.
AndtofilloutthisteleologicalscenarioofCoetzee’sdevelopment
asawriter–admittedlyartificial,asallnarrativesofthissorthave
tobe–wecanaddthatalthoughhisfirsttwobooksareaesthetic
3
Inthissenseallofthenovelsthatwillbeanalysedinthisbookareaesthetic-
allysuccessful(apartfromAgeofIronandSlowManwhichfailforreasonsalready
mentioned);notwithstandingthequestionable(becauseultimatelynarcissistic)Khu-
manist”attitudetheyrepresent,CoetzeeuseshisdevicestoproduceKtranscendence”
veryskilfullyandthereaderismanipulatedintoassumingthesurplusofineffable
meaning.
~13~
