Immunological Poetics and Postcolonial Echoes: Traversing the Medical Narratives From T.S. Eliot to J.M. Coetzee

Abstract

This article explores the intersection of immunological discourse and literary narrative through the works of T.S. Eliot and J.M. Coetzee. The paper examines the early twentieth-century shift from holistic disease models to germ theory, paralleling this scientific evolution with Eliot's use of chemical metaphors in “Tradition and the Individual Talent.” Eliot's essay is analyzed alongside scientific insights from scholars like Michael Whitworth and Kevin Brazil, highlighting the blend of personal insight and historical awareness in poetic and scientific innovation. This analysis extends to Coetzee's Age of Iron, contrasting Eliot's impersonal poetics with Coetzee's nuanced exploration of cancer, apartheid, and racial and gendered bodies. Through an immunological lens, the paper delves into how literature can challenge canonical boundaries, advocate for inclusive narratives, and foster cross-racial empathy. By drawing parallels between medical narratives and literary expressions of illness and identity, it proposes literature as a means to navigate and reconcile the divides between health, the body, and the postcolonial other.