Authority and Fiction

The thirtieth in a series of ‘strong opinions,’ Señor C's contribution to the volume pronouncing ‘what is wrong with today's world,’ is entitled ‘On authority in fiction’ and addresses an issue that has always been at the very core of Coetzee's writing, both fiction and non-fiction. In this short piece, the major character of Diary of a Bad Year analyses the relationship between the notion of authority and works of fiction, declaring Tolstoy to be the exemplary writer whose oeuvre proves the significance of the former. Señor C speaks against the announcements of Roland Barthes and Michel Foucault and their claim that ‘the authority of the author has never amounted to anything more than a bagful of rhetorical tricks.’ On the contrary, he appears to be supporting the view that the effect the writings of Tolstoy and other great masters have on the readers can by no means be reduced to, and understood as, a consequence of the author's rhetorical skills. ‘What the great authors are masters of is authority,’ he announces and, consequently, poses the following questions: