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This study traces, in J.M. Coetzee’s fictional and non-fictional production, an imaginative and intellectual masterplot deriving from Coetzee’s perception of European presence in (South) Africa as having its origin in an act of illegitimate penetration and fraudulent visitation. In Coetzee’s novels, the historical and political problem of a hostile occupation and unfair distribution of the land finds a correspondence in the domestic space of house and farm, and the uneasy cohabitation of its occupants, along with the relation between hosts and guests. The seminal dimension of the categories of penetration and visitation is highlighted, as these are shown to operate not only on a spatial level but also on an epistemological, physical, psychological, hermeneutic, metafictional and ethical one: we encounter literary and psychological secrets that resist decipherment, bodies that cannot be penetrated, writers depicted as intruders, parents that ask to be welcomed by their children. This study also identifies, in Coetzee’s narrative, an ethical proposal grounded on a logic of excess and unconditionality – a logic of ‘not enough’ – lying behind certain acts of hospitality, friendship, kindness, care, and guidance to the gate of death, acts that may transform prevailing unequal socio-historical conditions and hostile personal relationships, characterized by a logic of parasitism and intrusion. As the figure of the writer progressively gains explicit prominence in Coetzee’s literary production, special attention will be paid to it, as it alternately appears as secretary and master, migrant and intruder, pervert and foe, citizen and neighbour. Overall, Acts of Visitation analyzes how Coetzee’s works depict the (South) African land, the Karoo farm, the familial household or the writer’s and literary character’s house as simultaneously contending and redemptive sites in which urgent historical, ethical, and metafictional issues are spatially explored and dramatized.

Literature. --- Belles-lettres --- Western literature (Western countries) --- World literature --- Philology --- Authors --- Authorship --- Coetzee, J. M., --- Coetzee, John Maxwell M. --- Coetzee, J. M. --- Coetzee, J.M. --- Coetzee, John M. --- Кутзее, Дж. М. --- Kutzee, Dzh. M. --- קוטזי, ג׳. מ., --- Кутзее, Джон Максвелл --- Kutzee, Dzhon Maksvell --- Coetzee, John M., --- Kutzee, Dzh. M., --- Kutzee, Dzhon Maksvell, --- Criticism and interpretation. --- South Africa --- South Africa. --- África del Sur --- África do Sul --- Afrika Selatan --- Afrique du Sud --- Azania --- Dél-Afrika --- Dél-Afrikai Köztársaság --- Derom Afriḳah --- Dorem-Afriḳe --- Güney Afrika --- Güney Afrika Cumhuriyeti --- iRiphabhulikhi yeNingizimu Afrika --- iRiphabhuliki yaseNingizimu Afrika --- iRiphabliki yeSewula Afrika --- iRiphabliki yomZantsi Afrika --- I͡U.A.R. --- I͡UAR --- I͡Uzhno-Afrikanskai͡a Respublika --- I͡Uzhno-Afrikanskiĭ Soi͡uz --- Janūb Ifrīqiy --- Jihoafrická republika --- Juhoafrická republika --- Jumhūrīyat Janūb Ifrīqiy --- Južná Afrika --- Južnoafrički savez --- Minami Afurika Kyōwakoku --- Nan Fei --- Nan Fei Gongheguo --- Nanfei --- Nanfei Gongheguo --- Repabliki ya Afrika-Borwa --- Rephaboliki ya Aforika Borwa --- Rephaboliki ya Afrika Borwa --- Repubblica del Sud Africa --- Republic of South Africa --- República da África do Sul --- República de Sudáfrica --- Republiek van Suid-Afrika --- Republik Südafrika --- Republik Suedafrika --- Republika Południowej Afryki --- République Sud Africaine --- Riphabliki ya Afrika Dzonga --- Riphabul̳iki ya Afurika Tshipembe --- RSA --- Sud África --- Sudáfrica --- Südafrika --- Suid-Afrika --- Unie van Suid-Afrika --- Union of South Africa --- In literature.