Literary Cynics: Borges, Beckett, Coetzee

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Focusing on work by Jorge Luis Borges, Samuel Beckett and J.M. Coetzee, Literary Cynics explores the relationship between literature and cynicism to consider what happens when authors write themselves into their art, against the rhetoric of authority. Rose takes as his starting point three moments of aesthetic crisis in the careers of these literary cynics: Borgess parables of the 1950s, Becketts plays of the 1980s, and Coetzees pedagogic novels of the 2000s. In their transition to late style, the works reflect their writers abiding concern with particular conceptions of rhetoric and aesthetic form. Literary Cynics combines accounts of these late works with classic, lesser known, and archival texts by the three writers, from Coetzees Disgrace to Becketts letters, as well as detailed analysis of cynicism, both ancient and modern, as a philosophical and political movement.

Reviews

Concentrated and cerebral, it is also deeply embroiled in a conversation with existing scholarship. It is without a doubt a vital addition to studies of Borges, Beckett and Coetzee, however; and of literary cynicism itself. * Times Literary Supplement *
An elaborate and admirably argued monograph ... Rose gives fascinating insight into the interrelations between each writer and his work by demonstrating how Borges, Beckett, and Coetzee exploit style [and form] ... An illuminating study. * Journal of Modern Literature *
Literary Cynics: Borges, Beckett, Coetzee is a study that will serve scholars of any of these respective authors looking for a thematic connection across continents. More meaningfully, it is revelatory in its theoretical discussion of revolution at its thresholds. * A Contracorriente *
Rose writes in the same way he lectures, with great authority ... fluency, flair, and self-assurance. * Review 31 *
Here is an urbane polemic, a quietly cynical response to critical practices that ground authorial authority. * Mike Marais, Professor of English, Rhodes University, South Africa, in Safundi: The Journal of South African and American Studies *

Author Bio

Arthur Rose is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of English Studies, and the Centre for Medical Humanities, at Durham University, UK.