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- ISSN: 2382-6282 (Print); 2972-3108 (Online)
- Abbreviated Title: Int. J. Lang. Lit. Linguist.
- Frequency: Bimonthly
- DOI: 10.18178/IJLLL
- APC: 500 USD
- Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Jason Miin-Hwa Lim
- Managing Editor: Shira.W.Lu
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IJLLL 2025 Vol.11(6): 253-258
DOI: 10.18178/IJLLL.2025.11.6.611
DOI: 10.18178/IJLLL.2025.11.6.611
The Chronotope of the Tower and Spatial Narrative in J.M. Coetzee’s Diary of a Bad Year
Shiya Yang
Department of English Language and Literature, College of Foreign Languages, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, China
Email: 1098589754@nuaa.edu.cn (S.Y.Y.)
Email: 1098589754@nuaa.edu.cn (S.Y.Y.)
Manuscript received July 7, 2025; accepted October 26, 2025; published November 24, 2025.
Abstract—In Diary of a Bad Year, J.M. Coetzee constructs the chronotope of the tower and a fictional-real chronotope to reproduce the power space of modern capitalist society, exposing the flaws in its operational logic. Through this, he enacts Gilles Deleuze’s theory of “line of flight” in literature, conveying his postmodern artistic stance of anti-authoritarianism and anti-constructivism. By employing multiple narrative perspectives, juxtaposing narrative elements, and introducing “fragmented” plots, Coetzee creates a sense of disruption, fracture, and reorganization in the narrative progression, along with a shifting of meaning, presenting readers with a nonlinear process of truth-seeking. Furthermore, he foregrounds the narrative space, utilizes space to organize the narrative, and endows space with meaning-generating functions, thereby challenging the constructed truths of history and authorship, subverting traditional linear narration, and intensifying the spatiality of the novel.
Keywords—J. M. Coetzee, Diary of a Bad Year, chronotope, spatial narrative
Cite: Shiya Yang, "The Chronotope of the Tower and Spatial Narrative in J.M. Coetzee’s Diary of a Bad Year," International Journal of Languages, Literature and Linguistics, vol. 11, no. 6, pp. 253-258, 2025.
Cite: Shiya Yang, "The Chronotope of the Tower and Spatial Narrative in J.M. Coetzee’s Diary of a Bad Year," International Journal of Languages, Literature and Linguistics, vol. 11, no. 6, pp. 253-258, 2025.
Copyright © 2025 by the authors. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0).