The Politics of Allegory in J.M. Coetzee's The Master of Petersburg

Abstract

The present research is an interactive study of J.M Coetzee’s novel The Master of Petersburg from the perspective of the allegory and irony in which the title, characters, setting and so on are allegorically used. The setting of the novel is late nineteenth century pre-revolutionary Russia which reflects the late twentieth century South African apartheid society in which the native people are against the autocratic rule of the white people. The protagonist of the novel Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky is a Russian writer who stands for writer himself who writes in the favor of the South African people. Other characters such as Anna Sergeyvna and Sergei Gennavervich Nechaev are the Russian people who resist against the domination of the Russian ruler which also reflects the revolutionary thoughts of the South African people who want to establish their own rule in South Africa.