Power and DominationIn J. M. Coetzee’s In the Heart of the Country

This paper examines J. M. Coetzee’s preoccupation with the distortion of inter-human relationships and character deformation. To reveal the nature of this distortion and deformation, this study draws a parallel between Coetzean notion of social deformation and Frommian theories about systematization of sadism and masochism. What Coetzee could mean by apartheid’s madness and deformed relations is interpreted in terms of Fromm’s theory of symbiotic attachments to others: Coetzean characters are morally and psychologically deformed since they are sadists and masochists in the Frommian sense. These dominant unproductive orientations spring from the borderline character of apartheid regime which excludes the possibility of productive connectedness. Such a relationality forms the foundation of all authoritative regimes like apartheid. The paper holds in In the Heart of the Country (۱۹۷۷), the nameless father and Hendrik are sadistically deformed and Magda is morally crippled due to her sadomasochistic tendencies. Moreover, the novel anticipates Coetzee’s concerns about post-apartheid period in that it dramatizes the violent revenge the servants harbor against their masters in the form of a repressed sadism.

Keywords:

J. M. Coetzee , Erich Fromm , apartheid , sadism , masochism