J. M. Coetzee and Ethics: Philosophical Perspectives on Literature

Introduction: Coetzee and Philosophy, by Anton Leist and Peter SingerPart I. People, Human Relationships, and Politics 1. The Paradoxes of Power in the Early Novels of J. M. Coetzee, by Robert Pippin2. Disgrace, Desire, and the Dark Side of the New South Africa, by Adriaan van Heerden3. Ethical Thought and the Problem of Communication: A Strategy for Reading Diary of a Bad Year, by Jonathan Lear4. Torture and Collective Shame, by Jeff McMahanPart II. Humans, Animals, and Morality 5. Converging Convictions: Coetzee and His Characters on Animals, by Karen Dawn and Peter Singer6. Coetzee and Alternative Animal Ethics, by Elisa Aaltola7. Writing the Lives of Animals, by Ido Geiger8. Sympathy and Scapegoating in J. M. Coetzee, by Andy LameyPart III. Rationality and Human Lives 9. Against Society, Against History, Against Reason: Coetzee's Archaic Postmodernism, by Anton Leist10. Coetzee's Critique of Reason, by Martin Woessner11. J. M. Coetzee, Moral Thinker, by Alice Crary12. Being True to Fact: Coetzee's Prose of the World, by Pieter VermeulenPart IV. Literature, Literary Style, and Philosophy 13. Truth and Love Together at Last: Style, Form, and Moral Vision in Age of Iron, by Samantha Vice14. The Lives of Animals and the Form-Content Connection, by Jennifer Flynn15. Irony and Belief in Elizabeth Costello, by Michael Funk Deckard and Ralph Palm16. Coetzee's Hidden Polemic with Nietzsche, by Alena DvorakovaList of ContributorsIndex

Anton Leist is professor of philosophy at the Ethics-Center of the University of Zurich. His books include A Question of Life, Good Action, Ethics of Social Relationships, and Action in Context. Peter Singer is Ira W. DeCamp Professor of Bioethics in the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University and Laureate Professor at the University of Melbourne. His books include Animal Liberation, Practical Ethics, Rethinking Life and Death, and The Life You Can Save.

"This collection takes stock of J. M. Coetzee¿s impact on philosophy from a number of interesting angles, including animals, sexuality, race, and reason. The time is truly ripe for such a volume. Philosophers who are interested in Coetzee¿s work will find these essays useful for their own research, and readers of Coetzee who share an interest in philosophy will be able to further explore those interests." ¿ Matthew Calarco, California State University at Fullerton, and author of Zoographies: The Question of the Animal from Heidegger to Derrida