Untitled - Memorial University of Newfoundland

CHAPTER 1 • INTRODUCTION
Postc olooiaJ Theory and tbe Rewriting oCCano nized Western Texts
ApolIcx1orus records an ancient Greek myth about Philomela and her sister,
Procne, daughters of Pandion . king of Athens. In return for assistin g him during the
war against Thebes . Pandion gives Procnein marriage to the Thracian king, Tereus.
After a few years, Tereus goes to Athens to bring Philomela to Th.raceon the pretence
that Procae was dead. On their arrival, Tereus rapes Philo mela and cuts off her
tongue to prevent ber from revealing what happened . However . Philomela finds out
that Procne is alive and co mmunicates with her by weaving a tapestry depictin g her
violation (ill.nv.S).t Centuries later , in 1986. 1. M. Coetzee rewrites Defoe's
Robinson Crusoe in a novel entitled Foe, in which the character , Friday , is a slave
who has been castrated. and his tonguecut off. Friday's owners attempt to teach him
to write English words . but instead of imitating the letters . be writes rows and rows of
the letter 0 tightly packed together like a stone wall (152 ).2
Although in different ways, the characters of Philom ela and Friday symbolize
the resistance to violence and liberation from a dominating power . While Philomela
exposesTereus' violence which freesher from her condemnation to silence, Friday,
by refusing to write: like his masters, resists being formed into their image or being
drawn in to their mode of representation. Instead, he uses the ability to write that he
hasacquired as a means of creating his own images. Coetzee reverses one of the
dominant motifs of the topes • Philomela -speaks - despite her -silencing - - Friday