UNIVERSITE DE LA REUNION | Waiting For the Barbarians | J.M COETZEE | | [Tapez le résumé du document ici. Il s'agit généralement d'une courte synthèse du document. Tapez le résumé du document ici. Il s'agit généralement d'une courte synthèse du document.] |

After so many readings and so many reflections upon Coetzee’s Waiting For The Barbarians we shall agree that the novel cannot be reduced to a mere historical illustration of South African troubles from whom it has disfranchised to become an allegory. An allegory which gives a symbolical representation of human history shaped by wars and oppression. As a consequence It is because of the author’s “allegiance with the discourse of the novels and not with the discourse of politics” that Waiting For The Barbarians has universal scope and is so powerful.
It is the reason why language will be at the core of my presentation.
While discussing its power and limitations, first I will focus on the relation between language and Truth and then I will deal with the power of language itself when freed from oppression and fear. 1. Language and Truth
Language is the human ability to communicate his thoughts and feelings through as system of linguistic signs or not linguistics such as voice , sounds , gestures or written symbols. All these components are to found in Waiting For The Barbarians. But more specifically I have chosen to discuss language in relation with truth and pain. In the novel we have in one hand the “devotees of Truth, doctors of interrogation” (page 9) and the beggar of Truth namely Colonel Joll, Mandel and The Magistrate. But to some extent both fail in their charge due to their blindness. To illustrate this idea I will refer to the two prisoners who are captured by newly-arrived Colonel Joll : the old man and the boy. Eventually after the elder’s death the boy who has been tortured makes a false confession whose veracity is questioned by the Magistrate.
“Listen,” I say. “They tell