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Al marchar hacia el exilio, la filósofa Simone Weil escribió un texto enigmático, Prologue, que pone de manifiesto dos cuestiones: la importancia de la vulnerabilidad en su vida y en su obra (cuestión que teorizó a través del concepto «desdicha») y el clima de violencia de esa época (que define con la idea de «fuerza»). La búsqueda de la verdad contribuye a esclarecer la relación entre vulnerabilidad y violencia. When going into exile, philosopher Simone Weil wrote an enigmatic text, “Prologue”, which reveals the importance of vulnerability in her life and in her works – an issue she theorized through the concept of ‘disgrace’ – and the climate of violence of her time that she defines with the idea of ‘force’. The search for the ‘truth’ contributes to clarifying the relationship between vulnerability and violence.

Est abordée ici la question de la retraite et de la disgrâce du chancelier Michel de L’Hospital sous l’angle littéraire, humain et philosophique de la quête d’une vie pour soi et de la (re)conquête d’une liberté intérieure. Sont convoqués les modèles horatiens, pliniens, stoïciens et chrétiens pour examiner comment s’opère une conversion des motifs de la retraite champêtre et de l’ataraxie vers un idéal de vertu chrétienne et d’élévation spirituelle par la grâce.

Denna studies syfte och forskningsfråga är att undersöka och besvara hur J.M. Coetzees roman Onåd kan förstås med utgångspunkt i de intersektionella kategorierna kön, ras och klass samt hur man som pedagog kan tillämpa romanen i den svenska gymnasieskolan för att diskutera och undervisa om jämställdhet och människors lika värde. För att nå syftet och frågeställningen undersöks kritiska delar av romanen med hjälp av diskursanalys. Tidigare forskning används också för att undersöka romanen. Metoden är utvald för att synliggöra de strukturer som omger karaktärerna i romanen och handlingsutrymmet de får. Romanen undersöks sedan intersektionellt för att påvisa hur kön, ras och klass påverkar människors livsvillkor. Analysen bedrivs med målet att påvisa hur romanen kan användas för undervisning om människors lika värde och jämställdhet. Resultatet visar att diskursanalysen är ett bra sätt att närma sig romanen genom, för att undervisa om jämställdhet och människors lika värde. Om läraren undervisar med hjälp av diskursanalys lyfts diskussionen om romanen till att handla om hur uttryck och handlingar påverkar och fastställer människors handlingsutrymmen. Det ger även en förståelse för hur människor positioneras i en diskurs. Eleverna får genom detta en möjlighet att se och förstå hur uttryck och handlingar placerar människor i olika makthierarkiska positioner, och att detta inte behöver spegla människans faktiska kvalitéer eller kunskaper. Så småningom kan denna förståelse användas för atti frågasätta stereotyper och normer som förtrycker människor. Genom Skolverkets ämnesspecifika formulering som handlar om att förstå människors livsvillkor med hjälp av litteratur kan läraren nå den ämnesövergripande formuleringen som handlar om att främja jämställdhet och människans lika värde.

Jacques Derrida’s politics of hospitality explores the tension and interdependency that exist between hosts and guests. This article uses Derrida’s idea of hospitality and attempts to understand how it applies to the 21st century refugee crisis in the context of human displacement, state of refugee and immigration. We turn to the help of fiction as a critical tool in scrutinizing current political discourses. Specifically, we offer an analysis of J.M Coetzee’s novel Disgrace in light of Derrida’s theme of hospitality. Coetzee – who was awarded the Nobel Prize – presents a vivid portrait of post-apartheid South Africa that offers a contradictory perspective to Nelson Mandela’s vision of democracy in South Africa. His novel suggests that the inherent violence of colonialism can neither be resolved nor dissolved merely by expressions of regret and forgiveness. By extension, we ask if liberal democracies and international humanitarian law can offer a policy of hospitality that is both morally anchored and practical., Law, Culture and the Humanities, vol. 18, no. 1, p. 114

татья посвящена связи между онтологией иэтикой вконтексте зарождения западноевропейской рациональности. Объектом исследования стал кризис мифологического сознания VIIVIвв. дон. э. Особое внимание уделяется возникновению философии как альтернативы мифологическим способам внесения определенности. Ситуация зарождения западноевропейской рациональности анализируется через экзистенциальные переживания вины ипозора. Вина понимается как индивидуальная ответственность заоснования ипоследствия собственных действий, позор как обращение кфигуре Другого. Основным выводом исследования является тезис обэтике как базовой структуре познания, как вгенетическом, так ивструктурном аспектах. Ситуация кризиса мифологического сознания VIIVIвв. дон. э. показывается как парадигматическая для западноевропейской рациональности, The article is devoted to the relationship between ontology and ethics in the context of the origin of Western European rationality. The object of study is the crisis of the mythological consciousness of the VIIVI centuries BC. Special attention is paid to the origin of philosophy as an alternative to mythological ways to create certainty. The situation of the origin of Western European rationality is analyzed through existential experiences of guilt and disgrace. Guilt is understood as individual responsibility for the grounds and consequences of ones own actions, disgrace as an appeal to the figure of Another. The main conclusion of the study is the thesis of ethics as the basic structure of knowledge, both in genetic and structural aspects, №20 (2019)

In this paper, I contend that reading and analyzing the style of great authors is at the root of writing and being. Writing and style are part and parcel in the style of Coetzee in Disgrace. Thanks to the use of an impersonal Deleuzian style “pushing language to its limits”, the Beckettian and Kafkaian author (involuntarily) gives a stylistic adaptation of Barthes’s concept of “The Neutral”. Coetzee’s “neutral style” addresses many issues for all those interested in the interaction between literature, language and style, but also in writing, thinking and being in an ever-changing and terrifying world. Cet article défend la thèse selon laquelle la lecture et l’analyse du style de grands auteurs est l’enfance de l’écriture et de l’être-au-monde. L’écriture et le style sont intimement liés dans le style du roman Disgrace de Coetzee. Grâce au recours d’un style impersonnel qui, selon Deleuze, « pousse le langage à sa limite », l’auteur beckettien et kafkaïen opère une adaptation stylistique (involontaire) du concept de « Neutre » chez Barthes. Le style neutre de Coetzee s’attaque à de nombreuses questions qui intéressent tout autant les spécialistes (et les amateurs) de littérature, du langage et du style, que ceux qui s’interrogent sur les rapports entre écriture, conceptualisation et être-au-monde dans un monde terrifiant, sans cesse en cours de remaniement.

L’humiliation est abordée dans les écrits scientifiques, mais rares sont ceux qui considèrent les conséquences de l’atteinte à l’apparence dans ce type d’avilissement qui est loin d’être anodin. L’enlaidissement a donc souvent été manié comme moyen de dégrader certains groupes de personnes. La fabrication de la laideur s’est inscrite avec force dans l’histoire du féminin : l’humiliation subie par les femmes tondue en est une des formes.

In a time when patriarchal culture became entrenched in Sweden’s national project through laws, reforms and norms, abortion was a common issue for female writers. This article examines how women’s reproductive choices are depicted in Swedish fiction – written by under-researched working-class and middle-class women writers – published in the 1940s and 1950s. I examine the ways in which these texts either challenge or reproduce the legal and social norms of the time concerning reproduction and abortion, as well as their depictions of gender and class differences pertaining to reproductive choices. I also touch upon the reception of literary depictions of abortion. I build on research that deals with the role of the nation in the construction of gender, and the importance of motherhood to national identity. My analyses show that abortions and reproductive choices should be regarded as closely related to the nation and its role in the construction of gender and power relations, where men’s power to honor or dishonor women(’s bodies) is central.

En este artículo se contrastan los casos de dos mujeres a quienes se les echaba la culpa de hacer mal, y que como consecuencia se veían calificadas de «desgraciadas»: Rosaura de Trujillo, víctima de violación, y Teresa, la criada castigada por Dios por su falta de caridad para con los pobres. Ambos casos pertenecen al género de los pliegos sueltos, forma de literatura popular en España, su origen es el siglo XVIII, y volvieron a publicarse repetidas veces hasta bien entrado el XIX. Al caer fuera de las normas de lo que habitualmente se considera cultural y moralmente aceptable, los casos de estas dos mujeres reafirman precisamente esas normas. Al intentar interpretar estos casos, sin embargo, vemos hasta qué punto revelan las complejidades de la situación de la mujer. Por sugestivos que sean acerca de las normas culturales de la época en que tuvieron su origen, los casos de Rosaura y Teresa también poseen características que perduran hasta nuestros días, y que podrían explicar por qué continuaron siendo populares., This article contrasts the cases of two women blamed for wrongdoing, and classified as «desgraciadas»: the rape victim, Rosaura de Trujillo and Teresa, the maid who suffers divine punishment for her failure to be charitable to the poor. The examples come from pliegos sueltos, a form of popular literature in Spain, and come from the eighteenth century, with numerous nineteenth-century reprints. By falling outside the boundaries of what is culturally and morally acceptable, each of these women reaffirms those boundaries. In terms of how we interpret them, however, each reveals the complexities of the position of woman as represented in this popular literature. While they are suggestive about the cultural norms of the original date of composition, these cases also have certain generalities that suggest the reasons for their continued popularity

Paradoxal Bussy-Rabutin ! Son Histoire amoureuse des Gaules beneficie de reeditions regulieres ; les historiens ne se lassent pas de citer ses Memoires, a la fois precis et elegants ; il a enfin associe son nom a la marquise de Sevigne dont il reste le correspondant le plus important, et ses propres lettres soigneusement rassemblees par Ludovic Lalanne, representent l’un des sommets de l’art epistolaire. Un seul de ces livres aurait suffi a sa gloire, et pourtant Roger de Rabutin, comte de Bu...

Le présent inventaire constitue un outil de travail. Les lettres y sont classées dans l’ordre chronologique, pour tous les correspondants. Elles sont ensuite identifiées par le lieu d’écriture, s’il est connu, puis par le nom du destinataire : cette présentation impose une autre image de Bussy : les conversations avec le P. Bouhours, par exemple, n’ont rien d’exclusif et il est piquant de constater que l’exilé écrit à Mme de Sévigné en même temps qu’à d’autres correspondantes… Toujours pour ...

Lettres a l’œuvre, lettres hors œuvre S’il est un signe de la reussite d’une ecriture, n’est-ce pas sa resistance aux transformations que ses editeurs lui ont imposees ? Alors que la Suite des Memoires a eu de rares lecteurs, les lettres ont connu un succes durable, certaines d’entre elles beneficiant meme d’une diffusion separee ou de reprises car, meme pendant ses eclipses, Bussy a continue a figurer dans les anthologies : d’abord loue pour son esprit, c’est-a-dire pour ses « tours », il a...

Lettres retrouvées 1643-s.d., à Mme de Toulonjon Madame ma très chère Cousine,Il faut que je vous entretienne le plus longtemps que je pourrai et que je vous réitère les assurances que je vous ai données que je suis à vous. Je pars dans cette résolution si forte que rien ne peut la changer. Je tenterai l’impossible pour que les choses succèdent selon mon désir, et quand je serais assez malheureux pour ne pouvoir faire condescendre mes parents à ce que je souhaite, je romprai avant que de ne v...

Oz (120-150 kelime) ve yukaridaki kutucuga anahtar kelimeler (5-7 kelime) Ingilizce oz ve anahtar kelimeler de ayni sinirlar cercevesinde yazilmalidir. Bu makalede, Osmanli’nin zirve donemi âlimlerinden olan Taskoprizâde’nin, insani ahlâki yonuyle merkeze alan bir risalesini analiz ve sentez yontemiyle incelemeye calistik. Risale, insanin irâdi eylemlerinin toplamindan olusan, ahlâk, ev idaresi ve siyaset seklinde uc temel ayagi bulunan ameli hikmeti, Islam kanunu uzere incelemektedir. Insanin ozgur olmakla beraber sorumlu olan yonetici kimliginin on plana ciktigi risalede bazi konularda sorgulayici, bazi konularda da asiri kaderci tutumun izleri rahatlikla gorulebilir. Kisinin hem ic dunyasinda hem de cevresinde denge ve duzeni saglayabilmesi kuvvetli bir sorumluluk bilincine baglanmistir. Muellifin devraldigi bilgi birikimini harmanlayarak aktarmadaki basarisi ve eklektik kisiligi bizlere, doneminin insan algisi hakkinda derli toplu bilgiler sunmustur.

Esta dissertação trata dos Estudos Animais, área que se desenvolve como um rico campo de interdisciplinaridade já em sua origem. Mas para que não se julgue aprioristicamente um campo em suas particularidades, há que se esclarecer pontos em comum aos teóricos das mais diversas origens acadêmicas que compõem os Estudos animais e traçar planos para um futuro significativo. Após estabelecer os necessários diálogos entre teoria e campo social, passo à análise de certos pontos das obras Desonra e Elizabeth Costello, com o objetivo de evidenciar o potencial deste corpus para o desenvolvimento da crítica das categorias de humanidade e animalidade segundo os aportes do Pós-humanismo e inserindo-a no campo dos Estudos Animais. O teórico fundamental para este trabalho é Jacques Derrida, principalmente em sua obra O animal que logo sou. Após apresentar um panorama dos Estudos Animais, sobretudo sob a abordagem de Paul Waldau, trago ao encontro desses autores a pós-humanista Rosi Braidotti, de cuja obra The Post-human retiro as categorias do devir-planetário e devir-animal, as quais dão consequência às análises do corpus literário deste trabalho. Dialogo, ainda, com a Mitleidsethik, a ética da compaixão de Schopenhauer. Concluo que as tarefas dos Estudos Animais e do Pós-humanismo se assemelham no que toca à maior compreensão das interações interespecíficas, para a proposição consequente de novas formas de conviver num mundo mais-que-humano. This dissertation deals with the Animal Studies, an area that develops as a rich field of interdisciplinarity already in its origin.. But in order not to make an aprioristic judgement of a field in its particularities, it is necessary to clarify points in common to the theoreticians of the most diverse academic origins that compose the Animal Studies and to draw up plans for a significant future. After establishing the necessary dialogues between theory and social field, I proceed to the analysis of certain points of the works Disgrace and Elizabeth Costello, with the objective of highlighting the potential of this corpus for the development of the critique of the categories of humanity and animality according to the contributions of Posthumanism and inserting it in the field of Animal Studies. The fundamental theorist for this work is Jacques Derrida, mainly in his work O animal que logo sou. After presenting an overview of the Animal Studies, especially under the approach of Paul Waldau, I bring to the meeting the post-humanist Rosi Braidotti, whose work The post-human retreat the categories of becoming-earth and becoming-animal, which give consequence to the analysis of the literary corpus of this work. I also dialogue with the Mitleidsethik, the ethic of compassion of Schopenhauer. I conclude that the tasks of Animal Studies and Post-humanism are similar in relation to the greater understanding of the inter-species interactions, for the consequent proposition of new ways of living in a more-than-human world.

The article analyses Disgrace as one of Coetzee’s most interesting works to dramatize the imbrications of trauma, vulnerability and responsibility in the private and public sphere. While all of his previous output offer a powerful staging of vulnerability and precarious lives, with a specic focus on aging, disability and dependency in Elizabeth Costello, Slow Man and Diary of a Bad Year, Disgrace is probably the most forceful fictional dramatization of an embedded vulnerability, a vulnerability that affects the protagonists in several predicaments and that subsumes gender, historical and anthropologic perspectives, in so far as it hinges on vulnerability and trauma as conditions of the ethical encounter with the other, and on the bond between vulnerability and responsibility.

Статья посвящена истории вотчинных владений А. В. Голицына в Нижегородском уезде. Впервые вводимые в научный оборот источники, в том числе описные и отказные книги, позволили исследовать размеры и границы вотчины, охарактеризовать входившие в нее поселения, проанализировать особенности системы сельского расселения, рассмотреть категории зависимого населения и его основные занятия. Заволжская вотчина рассматривается в общем контексте землевладения Голицыных в период наибольшего их политического могущества., This paper is dedicated to the history of manorial estates of A. V. Golitsyn in the Nizhny Novgorod uezd. Sources that are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time, including opisnye knigi and otkaznye knigi, allowed to explore the dimensions and boundaries of estates, characterized its settlements, analyze the characteristics of rural settlement system and review the category of dependent people and their basic training. Zavolzhskaya votchina is analyzed in the overall context of Golytsyns' landownership during the period of their biggest political power.

Данная статья сопровождается публикацией уникального для характеристики политических процессов XVIII в. источника личного происхождения записки графа Петра Андреевича Толстого с распоряжениями по поводу ссылки его в Соловецкий монастырь. Оригинал документа хранится в Российском государственном архиве древних актов (РГАДА). Текст писан скорописью, очень неразборчиво, почерк размашистый, некоторые буквы имеют нехарактерное написание. Есть основания предполагать, что П. А. Толстой писал «записку» собственноручно. Документ ранее не публиковался. Имеется только обширная цитата «записки» дореволюционным историком Н. П. Павловым-Сильванским. Документ не имеет даты. Основанием для датировки может служить содержание «записки». Документ написан не ранее 6 мая 1727 г. и датирован в соответствии с указом Екатерины I о ссылке графа Толстого в Соловецкий монастырь. «Записка» адресована племяннику графа, Борису Ивановичу Толстому. П. А. Толстой извещает родственника о постигшей его опале и просит оказать ему помощь в приготовлениях к отъезду в монастырь. Для знатного вельможи, сподвижника Петра Великого, члена совета верховников и главы Тайной канцелярии определенное указом место заключения станет могилой., This article includes the publication of the personal source unique for the description of political processes of the 18th century, the note by count Peter Andreyevich Tolstoy with some orders concerning his exile to the Solovetsky Monastery induced under the decree of Catherine the First in May 1727. The original of the document is kept in the Russian State Archive of Ancient Documents. The text is hardly decipherable, written in old handwriting (skoropis). The handwriting is sprawling, some letters have indistinctive spelling. It is reasonable to suppose that P. A. Tolstoy wrote this «note» with his own hand. The document hasn't been published before. There is only an extensive quotation of the «note» by a prerevolutionary historian N. P. Pavlov-Sylvansky. The document is not dated. The content of the «note» may serve as a ground for dating. Thus, the document was written not earlier than on May 6, 1727 and dated in accordance with Catherine's decree («ukase») on the exile of the count Tolstoy to the Solovetsky Monastery. The «note» is addressed to B. I. Tolstoy, the nephew of the count. In this «note» P. A. Tolstoy informs his relative about his disgrace and asks to lend him support in preparation for departure to the monastery. An outstanding nobleman, Peter the Great's supporter, a member of the Supreme Privy Council, the head of the Secret Chancellery will be doomed to perish miserably in exile.

Rape is a recurrent motive in J. M. Coetzee’s fiction, it being present in novels such as Disgrace (1999), Diary of a bad year (2007) and Elizabeth Costello (2003). This work’s objective is to analyze each representation of rape in those novels to discuss the views on violence and disgrace presented. I also relate them to Coetzee’s own views such as his vison of what – despite his denial of censorship – might better remain unsaid. In Disgrace, David Lurie sees himself as falling into disgrace after he is charged by the student with whom he had an abrupt affair. Later, his daughter, Lucy, is brutally raped and chooses to keep it as a private affair. She ends up questioning male sexuality as a whole. In Diary of a bad year, Anya believes dishonor to fall over those who raped her, and not over her. However, Señor C disagrees, seeing dishonor as miasma. Finally, in Elizabeth Costello, the protagonist remembers an experience with evil she passed through with a man. She then defends that some things should not be read or written and discusses the risk that writers go through by exploring darker areas of human experience, a view which echoes Coetzee’s own. *O estupro na ficção de J. M. Coetzee: Desonra, Diário de um ano ruim e Elizabeth Costello*O estupro é um tema recorrente na ficção de J. M. Coetzee, estando presente em romances como Desonra (1999), Diário de um ano ruim (2007) e Elizabeth Costello (2004). O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar cada representação de estupro desses romances para discutir as visões de violência e de desgraça apresentadas, relacionando-as às visões do próprio Coetzee, como a do quê – apesar de ele negar a censura – talvez seja melhor não ser dito. Em Desonra, David Lurie se vê caindo em desgraça após ser acusado pela aluna com quem teve um caso abrupto. Mais tarde, sua filha, Lucy, é brutalmente estuprada e prefere manter o incidente como privado. Ela acaba questionando a sexualidade masculina como um todo. Em Diário de um ano ruim, Anya acredita que a desonra recai sobre aqueles que a estupraram, e não sobre ela. Entretanto, Señor C discorda, vendo a desonra como miasma. Finalmente, em Elizabeth Costello, a protagonista relembra uma experiência com o mal pela qual passou com um homem. Ela então defende que algumas coisas não deveriam ser lidas ou escritas e discute o risco pelo qual escritores passam ao explorar áreas mais sombrias da experiência humana, visão que ecoa a de Coetzee.

The aim of this essay is to analyse J. M. Coetzee’s Boyhood (1997), Life & Times of Michael K (1983), and Disgrace (1999) from a socio-political point of view. This critical approach will prove useful in demonstrating the pervasive presence of apartheid within Coetzee’s texts, as well as his criticism to this socio-political situation from its inception and evolution to its aftermaths in the “new South Africa.” Thus, although Boyhood was written when the TRC hearings were coming to an end, its story is set around 50 years earlier, at the beginning of apartheid. The text reflects the palpable unbalanced social situation in the country as it rewrites the pastoral Afrikaner myth, describes the presence of prevalent violence in everyday life, and questions the racist categorisation of people promoted by the government. Next, in the analysis of Life & Times of Michael K, the thread of Coetzee’s criticism is taken from the beginning of apartheid in Boyhood to its core. This section of the analysis focuses on recurrent themes like violence and categorisation, but it also highlights new ones such as the political power of silence. Finally, the study advances to the transition period after apartheid in Disgrace. By tracing the evolution of a mature protagonist, David, the essay analyses the novel’s depiction of the violent inheritance of a racist social system and, more particularly, the prevalence of sexual offences against women. Traballo fin de mestrado (UDC.FIL). Literatura, cultura e diversidade. Curso 2014/2015

Le caractère légendaire du récit de la comparution et de la mort d’Agnès ne doit pas nous amener à négliger l’un des épisode les plus connus de son martyre, l’exposition dont elle fut l’objet, nue, sous les arcades du stade de Domitien. La confrontation de cette anecdote, inventée par Prudence, avec les conditions de la prostitution et les pratiques pénales en vigueur dans l’Empire entre le IIe et le IVe siècle, montre que cette scène, qui n’a rien d’invraisemblable, ne correspond pas à la pratique d’une condamnation à la prostitution. De telles condamnations ont pu être prononcées ; mais les pièces du dossier habituellement invoquées pour en attester la réalité invitent à conclure qu’il s’agit, la plupart du temps, d’une exposition dans le cadre traditionnel du procès (préparation du corps pour l’interrogatoire sous la torture) ou des suites du procès (mise à mort, envoi aux mines), occasions dans lesquelles le corps de la femme est mis à nu, outragé voire utilisé. The legendary character of the story of Agnes’ court appearance and death must not lead us to neglect one of the most famous episode of her martyrdom, the exhibition of her naked body under the arches of Domitian’s stadium. The confrontation of this episode, invented by Prudence, with the conditions of prostitution and practices of criminal law in the Empire between the IInd and the IVth century, shows that this scene, although not improbable, is not what we should call a sentence to prostitution. Such sentences may have been imposed, but the documents usually invoked to attest their reality lead to the conclusion that, most of the time, what happened was an exhibition in the traditional trial (preparation of the body for interrogation under torture) or the consequences of the trial (death, condemnation to hard labour), occasions in which the body of women were exposed, outraged, and even used.

Denne mastergraden er en intertekstuell og fortelleteknisk analyse av J. M. Coetzees Disgrace. Romanen forholder seg nært til et Sør-Afrika kort tid etter oppløsningen av apartheid. Den har blitt lest realistisk, og har blitt kraftig kritisert for å fremstille en pågående rasisme i Sør-Afrika. Denne avhandlingen leser romanen som en postmoderne tekst og bruker Gerrard Genette sine teorier om transtekstualitet for å vise hvor omfattende leken med litteratur er i Disgrace.

This essay deals with sexual power abuse in J.M Coetzee’s Disgrace. The essay focuses on the two characters David and Petrus and their way of acting. The question asked is simply: how do these two men use women to gain their power? And how do they deal with women? The result can be summarized in the following way: at the beginning the male characters tear women apart till they become totally insecure and thus they can control them completely. Petrus remains this way but as time goes by, David’s thoughts of women gradually changes. The essay also focuses on how David and Petrus shift in power. David, who started out as strong, becomes weak, and Petrus develops in the opposite direction and I am going to argue that this is a result of their relations to women. The essay uses a gender perspective and it can be considered a guide to the sexual abuse in Disgrace.

Can we really learn something about power and violence by reading two prize winning pieces of fiction, written by a Nobel laureate in literature, through the lenses of the late and controversial Collège de France Professor? In this paper I argue that we can. I first present a short reading of Waiting for the Barbarians, a dystopian story of a middle aged magistrate who gets caught into violent power operations on the borders of an unknown decadent empire. I ensue with the interpretation of Disgrace, which, on the contrary, offers a narrative firmly placed in the real political context of post-apartheid South Africa. There a university professor takes part in the two episodes of violence, both of them sexual and political in nature, neatly mirroring each other in the structure of the novel. Foucauldian reading made in the second part of the paper points to interesting similarities and differences in these stories of power, politics and violence: while the first novel exhibits the functioning of sovereign power and torture, the second novel is more easily located within the interpretive framework of violent popular justice, vividly depicted in Chateaubriand's memoirs of the French Revolution and famously scrutinized in Foucault's discussions with the Maoists and Noam Chomsky in the early 1970s. Both novels, however, clearly show the futility of subject’s escapism. The subject dreams of escape but is thoroughly enmeshed in the nets of power. Often outside of their explicit political awareness, this “mesh of power” constitutes the subjects, reshapes them and brings to their demise, usually in the episodes of political violence. In the final part, I draw some lessons from this reading for the hermeneutics of power, punishment and violence in our present.

Una anciana agoniza en el piso de su casa. En el transcurso de su muerte, recuerda su vida que paralelamente con su agonía, fue otra muerte: el padecer de lepra. Tomando a su conciencia como narradora, María escudriñará su existencia recogiendo todo su dolor para convertirlo en liberación. Conversará con los retratos de sus hijos que la rodean, en un duermevela que hace un paralelo entre la vida y la muerte; una situación límite como resumen de toda su vida. Abstract. An old woman is dying on the floor of her house. In the course of her death, she recalls her life that alongside her agony, it was another death: the suffering of leprosy. Taking her conscience as the narrator, Mary scrutinizes her existence by collecting all her pain to make it liberation. He will talk with the portraits of her children around her in a half sleep the makes a parallel between life and death; a limit situation as the summary of her life. Maestría

This essay deals with sexual power abuse in J.M Coetzee’s Disgrace. The essay focuses on the two characters David and Petrus and their way of acting. The question asked is simply: how do these two men use women to gain their power? And how do they deal with women? The result can be summarized in the following way: at the beginning the male characters tear women apart till they become totally insecure and thus they can control them completely. Petrus remains this way but as time goes by, David’s thoughts of women gradually changes. The essay also focuses on how David and Petrus shift in power. David, who started out as strong, becomes weak, and Petrus develops in the opposite direction and I am going to argue that this is a result of their relations to women. The essay uses a gender perspective and it can be considered a guide to the sexual abuse in Disgrace.