This book analyses strategies applied by J.M. Coetzee for the representation of South African spaces. Subversive treatment of literary spatial conventions (e.g. the pastoral mode) results in the creation of postmodern heterogenous, fluid and open spaces. Alternative topographies reverse the colonizing project and redefine relations with the other.

Katarzyna Karwowska studied English Language and Literature at the Wroc?aw University. Her main scholarly interests include postcolonial writing and theory, postmodern theories of space, cultural geography and environmental criticism.

Contents: J.M. Coetzee – South Africa – Spatial conventions – Pastoral – Anti-pastoral – Post-pastoral – Plaasroman – Eco-criticism – Space – Place – Postmodern spatial theories – Heterotopias – Smooth space – Non-place – Michel Foucault – Marc Augé – Félix Guattari – Gilles Deleuze – Becoming – House – Farm – The city – The country – The other – Unhomeliness – Micro place – Descartes.