Chapter I Waiting for the Barbarians：the Marginalized Other in the Era of Colonial Hegemony

J.M．Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians（1980）is an internationally acclaimed novel which wins James Tait Black Memorial Prize and Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize．In the form of postmodern political allegory，Coetzee tells an “ahistorical”story with no determination of time and space or distinction between past and future，“often leave [leaving] open the possibility of different interpretations”（Canepari-Labib 15）.

Critics have varied responses to Coetzee's unique and unparalleled allegorical writing．Gabriel Garcia Marquez，the author of One Hundred Years of Solitude（1967），read through the English，Italian and Spanish versions of the novel at one go and couldn't help calling the dramatist Michel Fitzgerald in excitement，commenting it as “one of the great achievements in fiction”（Fitzgerald 24）．Some critics compare this novel with Waiting for Godot（1948）by Samuel Beckett；others link it to The Tartar Steppe（1940）by Italian novelist Dino Buzzati．Some Marxist-sympathetic critics accuse Coetzee of “being politically evasive”（Chapman 58），while others argue that the novel has strong political implications，becoming a “historical epitome of racial and national conflicts”（Han 68）．Some scholars，in probing into Coetzee's deliberately solitary lifestyle，contend that the allegorical writing style should be attributed to his reluctance to be involved in the social realities in South Africa. Some critics point out that Coetzee aims at accomplishing “the deconstruction of realism”and his allegorical writing “is evidently intended …… as an act of decolonialization”（Watson，“Colonialism and the Novels”18）．Others，however，suggest “a nonallegorical reading”of the novel（Attridge，“Against Allegory”67）.

This chapter argues that Coetzee employs a virtual Empire to expose the nature of imperial civilization，and to display the wretched situation of the racial Other，sex Other and identity Other in the era of colonial hegemony．More importantly，the author makes use of the marginalized Other who used to represent the interests of Empire to observe and speculate on the grim reality as the first-person narrator from a different perspective with a different standpoint．The speculations，demonstrated sometimes through soliloquy，sometimes through seemingly objective comment and sometimes through subjective narration，focus upon the subjects of history，justice，civilization and humanity，reflecting the novelist's philosophical thinking about the above topics，exposing the masked truth in the era of colonial hegemony and revealing the author's yearning for equality，justice and freedom by means of the dreams of the protagonist.

1．Era of Colonial Hegemony

As is mentioned above，Coetzee employs in Waiting for the Barbarians a kind of writing style which Teresa Dovey calls as “allegory of allegories”（“Allegory of Allegories”138）．This kind of writing，which deliberately blurs the setting of the novel，is ascribed to the strict censorship in South Africa．Just as a South African writer says，“Censorship imposed itself on simply in the banning of books，but in the creation of a climate of fear，suspicion and insecurity”（Brink 46）．Coetzee also mentioned personally that

Having lived through the heyday of South African censorship，seen its consequences not only on the careers of fellow-writers but on the totality of public discourse，and felt within myself some of its more secret and shameful effects，I have every reason to suspect that whatever infected Arenas or Mangakis or Kis，whether real or delusional，has infected me too（“Giving Offense”37）.

The background for the events that occur in the novel is obscure，characterized with “timeless，spaceless，nameless，universal”（Levin 44），offering many a possibility of narrative implications for researchers to explore.

The time setting is of much importance for the interpretation of the story and different deciphering strategies taken by various researchers may result in different conclusions．In the course of decoding，some scholar defines the setting flatly as “the last years of the Empire — the old Empire”（Gao，“Discourse Analysis”41）．It is true that Coetzee mentions 43 times the word “empire”，which proves unmistakably significant in his mind．However，no evidence is found in the novel to support that the story happens definitely in the old Empire and the research fails to offer convincing evidences，either．Virtually，the only place where Coetzee mentions the old Empire is on page 150．Colonel Joll，spokesman of the virtual Empire，takes brutal measures to force the old Magistrate to confess his guilt of collaboration with barbarians and to admit that wooden slips are the tools through which they exchange messages．In deciphering the wooden slips，the old Magistrate mentions that “they can be …… read as a history of the last years of the Empire-the old Empire”. In effect，it is unmistakable that “the old Empire”here indicates the time when the wooden slips were made rather than the time when the story happens．Some scholar mentions the background of the novel's publication in decoding the intentions of Coetzee's allegorical writing，arguing that Coetzee employs this writing style to present his reflection upon imperial hegemony for the novel came out in the context of the publication of Orientalism（1978）which，“theoretically based upon the concepts such as ‘cultural hegemony’ by Antonio Gramsci and ‘power’ and ‘discourse’ by Michel Foucault，”stimulates “a radical transformation in terms of the research in the world-wide academia（both the East and the West）”（J.H．Wang 153）.

David Attwell，a prominent scholar in South African literature research，finds after some exploration into South Africa and the politics of writing that “Coetzee's Empire represents a continuation of the frontier hypothesis in colonial thinking since the eighteenth century，but specific features connect it to South Africa of the period when the novel was written”，concluding that “Coetzee's Empire is a parody of the apartheid regime，in its paranoia and attempted control of history”（“J.M．Coetzee”73）．As a matter of fact，the novel was written and published in the period when the apartheid（1948-1994）was rampant before its decline and it is no surprise for Dominic Head to think that “it is impossible not to agree with David Attwell”（“Cambridge Introduction”50）．In an interview in 1978，Coetzee remarked that he was inclined “to see the South African situation [today] as only one manifestation of a wider historical situation to do with colonialism，late colonialism，neo-colonialism”（Watson，“Colonialism and the novels”13）．Stephen Watson explicitly expresses his ideas about the novel that “Waiting for the Barbarians，to my mind Coetzee's finest novel to date，is a novel of an imaginary empire，of an imperialism which is merely an extension of colonization”（ibid 14）．This chapter tends to put aside the discussion of the highly disputable and obscure setting，and shed light on the real intention of Coetzee's application of allegorical writing from the dimension of colonial hegemony by referring to the grand historical context.

It is observed from the novel that Coetzee has taken the allegorical Empire as a symbol of dominant discourse and revealed the truth through dialogues among characters that colonialists invaded the land before gradually obtaining hegemony — the virtual Empire center is far away but incessantly expanding：“We have been here more than a hundred years，we have reclaimed land from the desert and built irrigation works and planted fields and built solid homes and put a wall around our town……”（55）．This is a typical process of colonial expansion to obtain hegemony．According to the colonialists' logic，the occupied land has naturally become “part of our Empire”（ibid）．How the land was violently and inexorably usurped is obliterated from historical memories．They overlook the deterioration of the environment：the sweet spring water becomes sour and bitter，the land is destroyed and everything around is worsening．Their concern is that these places should be “our outpost，our settlement，our market centre”（ibid），for that will guarantee the vested and potential interests of Empire．Thus，they establish an absolutely dominant discourse with the help of the seemingly invincible army，unprecedentedly powerful weaponry and immoral means．Here Empire is highly allegorical with great significance of its time.

For the convenience of discussion this chapter substitutes the era of colonial hegemony，an objective term in broad sense，for imperial era，post-imperial era or late imperial era．This reading will render the typical allegorical story with a universal significance in that，be it Roman Empire，Ottoman Empire，British Empire in history or superpowers in contemporary world，they are all characterized with hegemony.

As is known，“hegemony”，derived from ancient Greece，originally indicates the domination of big city-states over other smaller ones．Later it refers to propositions，policies or actions aiming at acquiring the power to dominate the world affairs by sacrificing or offending other countries' sovereignty in the course of colonial and imperial practice．In the famous essay “Imperialism：the Highest Stage of Capitalism”，Vladimir Lenin gives an incisive analysis of the nature，characteristic and basic conflicts of imperialism，and reveals the objective law of its birth，development and inevitable doom with the conclusion that “hegemony”is a “vital characteristic of imperialism”（653）．In Waiting for the Barbarians，Coetzee employs a virtual Empire to demonstrate how it implements and maintains the dominant discourse，indicating the irreversible overall peak-to-trough decline of Empire significantly implied in imperial guards' failure to sustain hegemony by attempting to persecute and eradicate the “barbarians”.

2．The Other in the Era of Colonial Hegemony

The era of colonial hegemony is featured with power politics，with an apparent distinction between center and margin，Subject and the Other．In the novel，Coetzee displays allegorically the degradation and degeneration of civilization with dominant mainstream discourse．Hegemony is embodied through the military force of the virtual Empire，with Colonel Joll as a typical representative who oppresses the locals brutally in maintaining the dominant discourse power．And his opposite is obviously the racial Other in remote areas．Hegemony is also observed in how a “barbarian”girl，the sex Other，is maltreated by this symbolic character with dominant discourse power．The most impressive is that Coetzee focuses on the relationship between the old Magistrate，Empire and the “barbarians”，highlighting his status of identity Other.

Coetzee arranges first of all in the novel for Empire with dominant discourse power the racial Other，who，according to Boehmer，“is unfamiliar and extraneous to a dominant subjectivity，the opposite or negative against which an authority is defined”（“Colonial and Postcolonial Literature”22）．The Other here is the imaginary enemy of Empire，without whom Empire's authority would not have been established.

Readers may well realize that Coetzee has borrowed the title from Constantine Cavafy's poem “Waiting for the Barbarians”（1904）for his novel．This reference is by no means a coincidence though the novelist does not make any explanation to it．However，a comparison，or intertexual study might be necessary since both Cavafy and Coetzee employ the image of marginalized barbarians in their separate writings，with reference to the proposition that “all discourse is an intertextual play of signifiers”（qtd．in Chen 216）deduced from Derrida's “differance”．It is hoped that the knowledge of the marginalized Other in the two pieces published with a time interval of about 80 years by two different writers may help find out that Coetzee's so doing at least has the element of parody，which would further the theme of Cavafy's poem.

Cavafy points out in his poem that the highly civilized society has betrayed its degeneration because the society，losing its objective，becomes monotonous without anyone willing to make up for the civilization．People in the mainstream society，be it senators，emperors，magistrates or orators，lose faith in civilization，wasting their time in the fancy that the status quo would be transformed by external forces from the barbarians — the marginalized Other．The remark of Karl Marx may reinforce Cavafy's idea：