RT Journal Article
T1 The limits of reason in J.M. Coetzee's The Schooldays of Jesus
T2 Los límites de la razón en The Schooldays of Jesus, de J. M. Coetzee
A1 Álvarez-Sánchez, Patricia
K1 Filosofía antigua
K1 Intertextualidad
AB This paper explores J.M. Coetzee’s latest novel, The Schooldays of Jesus (2016), and focuses on its intense dialogue with ancient philosophical ideas such as Plato’s Theory of Forms and some of the author’s literary precursors, such as Cervantes’ Don Quixote (1605) and Musil’s The Confusions of Young Törless (1906). It is also a tribute to Johann Sebastian Bach’s brilliant mind and music, which Coetzee has already commented upon on different occasions. The Schooldays is an intertextual story about the magic of numbers, dance and music and tells the story of Davíd, a rebellious child who is sent to Juan Sebastián Arroyo’s Academy of Dance (Arroyo is Bach’s name translated into Spanish), where he learns that music and dance can help us communicate with the universe and discover our true selves. It is the first time Coetzee incorporates magical elements and constant spiritual allusions in one of his plots, and I will argue that these, together with the intertextuality with other novels and texts and the characterization of the main characters, are used to show (once again) his ambivalence towards rationalism, but in a different style. This represents a turning point in his literary career.
PB Universidad de Zaragoza (Revista Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies)
YR 2019
FD 2019
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10630/33680
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10630/33680
LA eng
NO Álvarez Sánchez, P. (2019). Limits of Reason in J.M. Coetzee’s The Schooldays of Jesus. Miscelánea: A Journal of English and American Studies, 60, 107–126. https://doi.org/10.26754/ojs_misc/mj.20196294
DS RIUMA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Málaga
RD 24 ene 2026