Coetzee on Post-Colonialism

Edward Said’s “Culture and Imperialism” reveals imperialistic Western tendencies in a modern post-colonial environment. J.M Coetzee’s novel “Disgrace” is a fictional exploration of this reality.
The early chapters of this novel are critical in setting up the protagonist, Professor David Lurie, as a prototypical, white, imperialistically inclined male. Said explains the white supremacist understanding, “Independence was for white and Europeans, the lesser or subject peoples were to be ruled” (374). These supremacists rely on generalizations, stereotyping and objectifying any non-white group. This is the character sketch being recreating in David Lurie, most clearly seen with his relationship with the black prostitute, Soraya. Obviously, lumping together various ethnicities under a general “exotic” label is an example. I thought it interesting as well that Lurie, although equally complicit in promiscuity with a prostitute, is dubious about her morals, without seeing fault in his own actions. Lurie wonders about her “opinions [being] surprisingly moralistic” (1). The white male inherently considers himself superior.
Furthermore, in just a few short pages we witness Lurie twice attempting to assert his male superiority over two weaker women. First, Lurie invades Soraya’s privacy in hiring a private detective to find her and then calling her. Next, Lurie abuses his power as a professor in his arguable rape of a student, Melanie. Significantly, Melanie’s small size is mentioned numerous times, exaggerating the evidence of male superiority over-exerting itself. Interestingly, the white males who preside over Lurie’s “committee of inquiry” do not sharply reprimand him, but instead are interested in an outward admission of repentance. Nevertheless, Edward Said promised that “even if you prevail over them [an imperialized nation] they are not going to concede to you your essential superiority or your right to rule them despite your evident wealth and power” (369). This truth is indicated in both Lurie’s relationships. Soraya threatens Lurie never to contact her again when he boldly exploits her privacy. Similarly, Melanie emerges from her meek submissiveness, in filing a complaint against her superior.
Without having yet reached the heart of Coetzee’s “Disgrace” already the reader can identify what Said expressed as “residues of imperialism” (370).