Towards an Archaeology of Dusklands

Abstract

If there’s an archaeology of the book, then the beginnings are deep under the surface, under the soil.
(Coetzee, in Scott 95)

This essay seeks to explore the question of origins: the beginnings of the
literary career of arguably South Africa’s most significant author, and the
development of a form of authorship that was, at its inception, situated both
locally and globally. An archaeology of the publication history of the debut
novel Dusklands (1974) can shed light on the emergence of a particularly
complex form of transnational authorship that J. M. Coetzee came to
assume, a form locating itself within the South African literary landscape
while simultaneously connecting itself to broader international literary
currents.