Dissertation Blog Index

The following is a complete index of the posts published on the J.M. Coetzee dissertation blog:

Sobriquet #37 (December, 2007)

Sobriquet 37.1: The first post in the blog project serves as a mission statement.

Sobriquet 37.2: A discussion of the rationale behind the blog.

Sobriquet 37.3: The struggle is real! Reading Age of Iron.

Sobriquet 37.4: Finishing Age of Iron.

Sobriquet 37.5: Notes on Georg M. Gugelberger's "'Heralding' the New 'Age of Iron': J. M. Coetzee, Homelessness, Migrancy, and Nomadology."

Sobriquet 37.6: Notes on Johan Geertsema's "'We Embrace To Be Embraced': Irony in an Age of Iron" and Susan Thornton's "In Pursuit of the State: Uses of the Detective Novel Form in Recent South African Fiction."

Sobriquet 37.7: Notes on Rosemary Jolly's "Voyages in J. M. Coetzee's Novels: Narrative Conquests in Foe, Narrative Exploration in Age of Iron," Mike Marais's "Writing with Eyes Shut: Ethics, Politics, and the Problem of the Other in the Fiction of J. M. Coetzee," Sheila Roberts's "'City of Man': The Appropriation of Dante's Inferno in J M Coetzee's Age of Iron," and Gilbert Yeoh's "Love and Indifference in J. M. Coetzee's Age of Iron."

Sobriquet 37.8: Notes on Michiel Heyns's "Houseless Poverty in the House of Fiction: Vagrancy and Genre in Two Novels by J. M. Coetzee" and Fiona Probyn's "J. M. Coetzee: Writing with/out Authority."

Sobriquet 37.9: Notes on Lidan Lin's "J. M. Coetzee and the Postcolonial Rhetoric of Simultaneity" and Mike Marais's "Places of Pigs: The Tension between Implication and Transcendence in J. M. Coetzee's Age of Iron and The Master of Petersburg."

Sobriquet 37.10: Notes on Geoffrey Baker's "The Limits of Sympathy: J. M. Coetzee's Evolving Ethics of Engagement."

Sobriquet 37.11: Notes on Travis V. Mason's "Dog Gambit: Shifting the Species Boundary in J. M. Coetzee's Recent Fiction" and Frank Schulze-Engler's. "Literature and Civil Society in South Africa."

Sobriquet 37.12: Notes on David E. Hoegberg's "'Where Is Hope?': Coetzee's Rewriting of Dante in Age of Iron" and Linda Hutcheon's A Theory of Parody: The Teachings of Twentieth-Century Art Forms.

Sobriquet 37.13: Notes on Ina Gräbe's "Voices in Contemporary South African Narrative: An Exploration of Narrative Strategies for Engaging with Current Socio-Political Issues."

Sobriquet 37.14: Notes on Ian Duncan's "Narrative Authority in J. M. Coetzee's Age of Iron."

Sobriquet 37.15 Notes on Myrtle Hooper's "'Sweets for My Daughter': Coetzee, Eliot and the Private Mode," Mary Kinzie's "The Cure of Poetry: On the Discipline of Word and Spirit in Conditions of Dryness: An Essay with Admonishments from the Works of Louise Bogan, J. M. Coetzee, and Other Poets," Sheila C. Whittick's "In the Shadow of Last Things-The Voice of the Confessant in J. M. Coetzee's Age of Iron," and Gilbert Yeoh's "J. M. Coetzee and Samuel Beckett: Ethics, Truth-Telling, and Self-Deception."

Sobriquet 37.16: Notes on Derek Attridge's "Trusting the Other: Ethics and Politics in J. M. Coetzee's Age of Iron" and Ina Gräbe's "Fictionalization of Current Socio-Political Issues in J.M. Coetzee's Writing: Narrative Strategies in Age of Iron and Foe."

Sobriquet 37.17: A brief late-night update.

Sobriquet 37.18: Making candles and notes on Annunciata Arfiero's "The Vain Quest for the Word: Redemptive Silence in Age of Iron," Ina Gräbe's "Writing as Exploration and Revelation: Experiencing the Environment, Whether Local or Global, as Envisioned by Different Role-Players in J. M. Coetzee's Latest Novels," Brian Macaskill and Jeanne Colleran's "Interfering with 'The Mind of Apartheid'" and Nicholas Meihuizen's "Beckett and Coetzee: The Aesthetics of Insularity," and Kay Sulk's "'Visiting Himself on Me'-The Angel, the Witness and the Modern Subject of Enunciation in J. M. Coetzee's Age of Iron."

Sobriquet #38 (January, 2008)

Sobriquet 38.1: Notes on Michael Marais's "'Who Clipped the Hollyhocks?': J. M. Coetzee's Age of Iron and the Politics of Representation."

Sobriquet 38.2: Processing Age of Iron.

Sobriquet 38.3: Notes on Graham Huggan's "Evolution and Entropy in J. M. Coetzee's Age of Iron."

Sobriquet 38.4: Notes on David Attwell's "'Dialogue' and 'Fulfilment' in J.M. Coetzee's Age of Iron" and Benita Parry's "Speech and Silence in the Fictions of J. M. Coetzee."

Sobriquet 38.5: Reading Sue Kossew's chapter on Age of Iron in Pen and Power.

Sobriquet 38.6: A day of transcribing notes.

Sobriquet 38.7: Transcribing notes and reading a little bit of The Master of Petersburg.

Sobriquet 38.8: Transcribing notes and celebrating publishing a short story.

Sobriquet 38.9: Notes on Saikat Majumdar's "The Alien Insider" and Laura Wright's Writing Out of All the Camps: J. M. Coetzee's Narratives of Displacement.

Sobriquet 38.10: Writing the first chapter and reading The Master of Petersburg.

Sobriquet 38.11: Writing the first chapter and reading The Master of Petersburg.

Sobriquet 38.12: Struggling with fatigue and reading The Master of Petersburg.

Sobriquet 38.13: Writing the first chapter and reading The Master of Petersburg.

Sobriquet 38.14: Writing the first chapter and reading The Master of Petersburg.

Sobriquet 38.15: Writing the first chapter and reading The Master of Petersburg.

Sobriquet 38.16: Struggling with outlining and reading some more of The Master of Petersburg.

Sobriquet 38.17: Reviewing notes on the first chapter and reading The Master of Petersburg.

Sobriquet 38.18: Pushing through frustration, writing the first chapter, and reading The Master of Petersburg.

Sobriquet 38.19: Finishing The Master of Petersburg.

Sobriquet 38.20: Writing the first chapter and appreciating the result of the much-maligned outline.

Sobriquet 38.21: Writing a few more pages.

Sobriquet 38.22: Writing three more pages and wondering how boring the blog must be for readers.

Sobriquet 38.23: Struggling to write one, single paragraph. Celebrating the discovery that the amount of critical writing on The Master of Petersburg is smaller than that on Age of Iron.

Sobriquet 38.24: Taking a break from writing to read a few essays on The Master of Petersburg and work on a bibliography.

Sobriquet 38.25: Writing a bit more of the first chapter and reading Graham Pechey's "The Post-Apartheid Sublime: Rediscovering the Extraordinary."

Sobriquet 38.26: Writing a few pages and reworking a handful of previous bits. Celebrating getting linked from The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Sobriquet 38.27: Transcribing notes and socializing.

Sobriquet 38.28: Notes on Margaret Scanlan's "Incriminating Documents: Nechaev and Dostoyevsky in J. M. Coetzee's The Master of Petersburg."

Sobriquet 38.29: Managing to read a very short article on Coetzee despite being very tired.

Sobriquet 38.30: Going medieval: a power outage necessitates reading literary criticism by candlelight.

Sobriquet 38.31: Reading criticism.

Sobriquet 38.32: Reading another article on The Master of Petersburg while writing a bit more about Age of Iron.

Sobriquet #39 (February, 2008)

Sobriquet 39.1: Enjoying a snow day and reading Rachel Lawlan's "The Master of Petersburg: Confession and Double Thoughts in Coetzee and Dostoyevsky." Notes on Gerald Gaylard's "Mastering Arachnophobia: The Limits of Self-Reflexivity in African Fiction," Rachel Lawlan's "The Master of Petersburg: Confession and Double Thoughts in Coetzee and Dostoyevsky," T. Kai Norris Easton's "Text and Hinterland: J. M. Coetzee and the South African Novel," and Steven Watson's "'The Writer and the Devil': J. M. Coetzee's The Master of Petersburg."

Sobriquet 39.2: Writing a few more pages about Age of Iron.

Sobriquet 39.3: Reading and old review of The Master of Petersburg.

Sobriquet 39.4 Notes on Michael Marais's "Death and the Space of the Response to the Other in J. M. Coetzee's The Master of Petersburg."

Sobriquet 39.5: Finished writing the thirty-page section on Age of Iron.

Sobriquet 39.6: Worrying about supervisor's response to writing on Age of Iron. Discussing Michiko Kakutani's comments on Coetzee after he won the Nobel Prize.

Sobriquet 39.7: Transcribing notes and contemplating next steps.

Sobriquet 39.8: Reading criticism on The Master of Petersburg.

Sobriquet 39.9: Supervisor liked the section on Age of Iron so much that she suggested the entire dissertation focus on Coetzee. Arguably the moment I became a Coetzee scholar. Read more criticism on The Master of Petersburg.

Sobriquet 39.10: Notes on Derek Attridge's "Expecting the Unexpected in Coetzee's Master of Petersburg and Derrida's Recent Writing," Sue Kossew's. "The Anxiety of Authorship: J. M. Coetzee's The Master of Petersburg (1994) and Andre Brink's On the Contrary (1993)," and Thomas Walz's "Crones, Dirty Old Men, Sexy Seniors: Representations of the Sexuality of Older Persons."

Sobriquet 39.11: Responding to supervisor's assessment of the "section" on Age of Iron as the "first chapter" in my dissertation on Coetzee. Realizing that I could write a dissertation. More transcription.

Sobriquet 39.12: Reflections on transcription and Thomas Walz's "Crones, Dirty Old Men, Sexy Seniors: Representations of the Sexuality of Older Persons." Introduction of a punk rock blog project.

Sobriquet 39.13: Looking ahead to an appointment with dissertation supervisor. More transcription.

Sobriquet 39.14: Reflections on meeting with supervisor. The decision to move from a multi-author study to a single-author study. Worrying about the academic job market.

Sobriquet 39.15: Reflections on current events and starting to re-read The Master of Petersburg.

Sobriquet 39.16: A quick post to "assign" a task for the day.

Sobriquet 39.17: Re-reading The Master of Petersburg and drawing connections to the critical essays I'd read about it.

Sobriquet 39.18: Re-reading The Master of Petersburg and ordering Doubling the Point, Dusklands and In the Heart of the Country.

Sobriquet 39.19: Thinking about how what was initially intended to be a brief section on The Master of Petersburg could be expanded into a full chapter.

Sobriquet 39.20: Re-reading The Master of Petersburg and hanging out with punk friends.

Sobriquet 39.21: Deciding to read all of Coetzee's published work.

Sobriquet 39.22: Reading a bit and contemplating work-life balance.

Sobriquet 39.23: Re-reading The Master of Petersburg.

Sobriquet 39.24: Transcription, struggling with fatigue, and looking forward to enjoying reading more Coetzee.

Sobriquet 39.25: Reading Dusklands and longing for a snow day.

Sobriquet 39.26: Transcription and reading "The Vietnam Project."

Sobriquet 39.27: Finished reading "The Vietnam Project."

Sobriquet #40 (March, 2008)

Sobriquet 40.1: Reading "The Narrative of Jacobus Coetzee."

Sobriquet 40.2: Reading "The Narrative of Jacobus Coetzee."

Sobriquet 40.3: Reading "The Narrative of Jacobus Coetzee." Reflections on role-playing games.

Sobriquet 40.4: Reading and transcription.

Sobriquet 40.5: Finished reading "The Narrative of Jacobus Coetzee."

Sobriquet 40.6: Reading In The Heart of the Country and some criticism.

Sobriquet 40.7: Reading Derek Attridge and In the Heart of the Country.

Sobriquet 40.8: Reading criticism on The Master of Petersburg and making some progress in In the Heart of the Country.

Sobriquet 40.9: Feeling exhausted from working so much. Reading a bit more of In the Heart of the Country.

Sobriquet 40.10: More exhaustion and more reading of In the Heart of the Country.

Sobriquet 40.11: Reading more.

Sobriquet 40.12: Continuing to read. Writing some music reviews.

Sobriquet 40.13: Reading and re-reading critical essays on The Master of Petersburg.

Sobriquet 40.14: Finishing both In the Heart of the Country and re-reading critical essays on The Master of Petersburg.

Sobriquet 40.15: Feeling sick and planning to transcribe.

Sobriquet 40.16: Feeling sick and transcribing notes.

Sobriquet 40.17: Transcribing quotations and notes about The Master of Petersburg.

Sobriquet 40.18: Transcribing notes.

Sobriquet 40.19: Pre-writing for chapter on The Master of Petersburg. Reflections on the process. Starting to reread Waiting for the Barbarians.

Sobriquet 40.20: Some reflections on Waiting for the Barbarians.

Sobriquet 40.21: Stressing over the academic job market and writing the dissertation. Reading and enjoying Waiting for the Barbarians.

Sobriquet 40.22: A short entry to keep track of the process. Still enjoying Waiting for the Barbarians.

Sobriquet 40.23: Mourning the death of my computer. Still enjoying Waiting for the Barbarians.

Sobriquet 40.24: Still enjoying Waiting for the Barbarians.

Sobriquet 40.25: Still enjoying Waiting for the Barbarians. Outlining the next chapter,

Sobriquet 40.26: Still enjoying Waiting for the Barbarians. Enjoying new computer.

Sobriquet 40.27: Still enjoying Waiting for the Barbarians.

Sobriquet #41 (April, 2008)

Sobriquet 41.1: Feeling sick and finishing Waiting for the Barbarians.

Sobriquet 41.2: Beginning the chapter on The Master of Petersburg and stressing over academic life.

Sobriquet 41.3: Writing a bit more about The Master of Petersburg.

Sobriquet 41.4: Wrestling with nostalgia and continuing to write the chapter on The Master of Petersburg.

Sobriquet 41.5: Focusing on non-academic life for a bit. Starting to reread Disgrace.

Sobriquet 41.6: Continuing to write the chapter on The Master of Petersburg and reading Disgrace.

Sobriquet 41.7: Exhausting day.

Sobriquet 41.8: Continuing to reread Disgrace.

Sobriquet 41.9: Reflections on structuring an unstructured life. Continuing to reread Disgrace.

Sobriquet 41.10: Finished rereading Disgrace and photocopying a massive pile of literary criticism.

Sobriquet 41.11: Writing a bit more of the chapter on The Master of Petersburg.

Sobriquet 41.12: Reading a bit of Life and Times of Michael K. Notes on Charles Sarvan's "Disgrace: A Path to Grace?"

Sobriquet 41.13: Slowly writing a bit more of the chapter on The Master of Petersburg and reading a little more of Life and Times of Michael K.

Sobriquet 41.14: Frustrated with post-structuralist criticism.

Sobriquet 41.15: Appreciating Sue Kossew's criticism.

Sobriquet 41.16: A day of writing.

Sobriquet 41.17: Reflections on Pamala Cooper's "Metamorphosis and Sexuality: Reading the Strange Passions of Disgrace."

Sobriquet 41.18: Writing a bit more of the chapter on The Master of Petersburg and reading another fifth of Life and Times of Michael K.

Sobriquet 41.19: Reflections on Mike Kissack and Michael Titlestad's "Humility in a Godless World: Shame, Defiance and Dignity in Coetzee's Disgrace."

Sobriquet 41.20: Continuing to write the chapter on The Master of Petersburg.

Sobriquet 41.21: A quick post to set a plan for the next day.

Sobriquet 41.22: Continuing to read Life and Times of Michael K.

Sobriquet 41.23: Continuing to write the chapter on The Master of Petersburg and rewarding myself with a computer game.

Sobriquet 41.24: Reflections on Elizabeth Lowry's "Like a Dog."

Sobriquet 41.25: Struggling to get started for the day and, finally, writing a bit more of the chapter on The Master of Petersburg.

Sobriquet #42 (May, 2008)