Foe by John Maxwell Coetzee

This Blog-post is a response to the Thinking activity task on 'Foe' given by our professor made Miss Yesha Bhatt. 

• About the Author: 

John Maxwell Coetzee is a very prominent name in post-colonial discourse. He was awarded Nobel Prize in Literature in 2003. He became one of the most critically acclaimed and decorated English literature authors. Coetzee is a South African–Australian novelist, essayist, linguist, and translator. 

His first book, Dusklands, was published in South Africa in 1974. In the Heart of the Country (1977) won South Africa’s then principal literary award, the CNA Prize, and was published in Britain and the USA. Waiting for the Barbarians (1980) received international notice. His reputation was confirmed by Life & Times of Michael K (1983), which won Britain’s Booker Prize. It was followed by Foe (1986), Age of Iron (1990), The Master of Petersburg (1994), and Disgrace (1999), which again won the Booker Prize.

Coetzee also wrote two fictionalized memoirs, Boyhood (1997) and Youth (2002). The Lives of Animals (1999) is a fictionalized lecture, later absorbed into Elizabeth Costello (2003). White Writing (1988) is a set of essays on South African literature and culture. Doubling the Point (1992) consists of essays and interviews with David Attwell. Giving Offense (1996) is a study of literary censorship. Stranger Shores (2001) collects his later literary essays. (From Nobel Prize Website)

'Foe' is the prequel to another novel, 'Robinson Crusoe' by Daniel Defoe. In this novel, there are many changes done by the author which presents a new reading of the Post-Colonial studies. In this novel, the entire story is led by a Female protagonist as in the Colonial aspect. This is Cotzee's satirical reinvention of Robinson Crusoe. The novel is Divided into four chapters. 

How would you differentiate the character of Cruso and Crusoe?

Robinson Crusoe was written in the early 1700s. The novel presents a colonial mindset in the protagonist Crusoe. How he treated or command the master to Friday. Though in the prequel it id remains as same, as Susan Barton said “I presented myself to Crusoe, in the days when he still ruled over the island, and became his second subject, the first being his manservant Friday”  The word like 'ruled' is might be showing the colonial power. So if we go with this pattern that there may be no differentiations in both characters. Hence in Foe, Cruso's character seems minor while we already know him in the previous text. Though, still, something that missing in both the same characters is their presence in the novel and their timing. In Robinson Crusoe, we can see that he is the center character and ordering the scenes, while in Foe there is a change in his timing in ordering the scenes. Another notable point is that in Foe, Cruso didn't mention how many years or days he spent on the island, while in Defoe's text Robinson Crusoe spent a total of 28 years, two months, and 19 days on the island according to notes he left in his journal. Susan's nervousness around Cruso is also we can be included in postcolonial aspects and the reading to support reading Friday's character. 

Friday’s characteristics and persona in Foe and in Robinson Crusoe.

Friday becomes the center character in both novels if we see it as a colonial aspect. In both novels, he becomes a servant again looking at the colonial aspect. Crusoe defines him as a friend and Friday also readily accepts it. While Cruso seems brutal with Friday because the narration is changes with the female persona. 

Friday in Robinson Crusoe

Friday in Foe

·     Nonwhite characters to be given a realistic, individualized, and humane portrayal in the English novel · He spends a number of years on the island with the main character, who saves him from cannibalistic death. Friday is basically Crusoe's protege, a living example of religious justification of the slavery relationship between the two men. His eagerness to be redone in the European image is supposed to convey that this image is indeed the right one.

·       Despite Friday not speaking, he is shown to express himself in different ways multiple times in the novel, such as by dancing in robes at Defoe's house and drawing on the chalkboard. Yet in general, his mind is left closed to Susan and Foe and therefore also to the reader. · When Susan, Cruso, and Friday are rescued from the island and Cruso dies, Friday follows Susan to and around England, with Susan assuming the role of master despite her verbal declarations that he is "free."