AustLit

'The purpose of this article is to redress the silence imposed on the character of Marilyn Dawn, wife of the protagonist in the first novella of J. M. Coetzee’s Dusklands (1974). Her husband Eugene is a military analyst who suffers a nervous breakdown while researching how to advance US involvement in the war in Vietnam. Marilyn is rendered voiceless through his intensive, first-person narration, which is condescending and often degrading to her. Rather than analyse Marilyn’s characterisation in the novel, which would present her through Eugene’s eyes, this article rewrites their story from Marilyn’s perspective – an act of creative criticism that calls into question how we approach an artwork. Although Coetzee’s novel will always remain intact, we can at least imagine a way for Marilyn to break away from the confines of a patriarchal, abusive narrative, if only for a few pages.' (Publication abstract)