The theme of the cast-away has inspired numerous literary works. This paper develops a philosophical reading of two important examples, Coetzee＇s Foe （1987） and Bowles＇ The Sheltering Sky （1951）, in terms of the...The theme of the cast-away has inspired numerous literary works. This paper develops a philosophical reading of two important examples, Coetzee＇s Foe （1987） and Bowles＇ The Sheltering Sky （1951）, in terms of themes such as isolation, silence and truth. But who authors, or authorizes ＂truth＂？ As Merleau-Ponty （1970） saw, the ego cogito of phenomenology symbolizes the quest for ＂global truth＂ where ＂what is evident for him＂ is or could be for all, for he ＂speaks for everyone＂. These two works, however, challenge the standard that ＂he speaks＂, and she does not： that women ＂as such＂, as it would seem, have always already been spoken for. Instead, the focus here is on ＂the self＇ not as neutral ground but as always engendered, in every sense of that word--always emergent as well as creative always acculturated, situated, embodied, sexed or de-sexed--always speaking, or remaining stubbornly silent, and always refusing, like truth itself, to be ＂pinned down＂展开更多
文摘The theme of the cast-away has inspired numerous literary works. This paper develops a philosophical reading of two important examples, Coetzee＇s Foe （1987） and Bowles＇ The Sheltering Sky （1951）, in terms of themes such as isolation, silence and truth. But who authors, or authorizes ＂truth＂？ As Merleau-Ponty （1970） saw, the ego cogito of phenomenology symbolizes the quest for ＂global truth＂ where ＂what is evident for him＂ is or could be for all, for he ＂speaks for everyone＂. These two works, however, challenge the standard that ＂he speaks＂, and she does not： that women ＂as such＂, as it would seem, have always already been spoken for. Instead, the focus here is on ＂the self＇ not as neutral ground but as always engendered, in every sense of that word--always emergent as well as creative always acculturated, situated, embodied, sexed or de-sexed--always speaking, or remaining stubbornly silent, and always refusing, like truth itself, to be ＂pinned down＂
