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Literature and Theology 2008 22(3):280-294; doi:10.1093/litthe/frn036
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press 2008; all rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

This article appears in the following Literature and Theology issue: Sexing the Text [View the issue table of contents]

Staging John Coetzee/Elizabeth Costello

Heather Walton

Centre for Literature, Theology and Arts, University of Glasgow

hew{at}arts.gla.ac.uk


  Abstract

This article reflects upon the persona of Elizabeth Costello as performed by John Coetzee in public lectures, articles and the novels Elizabeth Costello and Slow Man. The intimate association between the author and this female character has been the subject of much controversy and the article details the criticisms levelled against Coetzee for his repeated ‘stagings’ of Elizabeth Costello. Whilst there are many political issues raised when a man writes and speaks as a woman, I argue that in the case of Elizabeth Costello this device facilitates a penetrating display of the responsibilities and inevitable failings of writing to be presented. This moves beyond discussions of the ethics of authorship to a religious appreciation of the authorial process.


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