J. M. Coetzee
Author of Disgrace
About the Author
J.M. Coetzee's full name is John Michael Coetzee. Born in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1940, Coetzee is a writer and critic who uses the political situation in his homeland as a backdrop for many of his novels. Coetzee published his first work of fiction, Dusklands, in 1974. Another book, Boyhood, show more loosely chronicles an unhappy time in Coetzee's childhood when his family moved from Cape Town to the more remote and unenlightened city of Worcester. Other Coetzee novels are In the Heart of the Country and Waiting for the Barbarians. Coetzee's critical works include White Writing and Giving Offense: Essays on Censorship. Coetzee is a two-time recipient of the Booker Prize and in 2003, he won the Nobel Literature Award. (Bowker Author Biography) J. M. Coetzee's books include "Boyhood", "Dusklands", "In the Heart of the Country", "Waiting for the Barbarians", "Life & Times of Michael K", "Foe", & "The Master of Petersburg". A professor of general literature at the University of Cape Town, Coetzee has won many literary awards, including the CNA Prize (South Africa's premier literary award), the Booker Prize (twice), the Prix Etranger Femina, the Jerusalem Prize, the Lannan Literary Award, & The Irish Times International Fiction Prize. (Publisher Provided) show less
Series
Works by J. M. Coetzee
This Is Not a Border: Reportage & Reflection from the Palestine Festival of Literature (2017) 51 copies
Cripplewood / Kreupelhout: 55th International Art Exhibition: The Venice Biennale (Mercatorfonds) (2013) — Author — 17 copies
Brighton Rock 12 copies
Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe 2 copies
Las Manos De Los Maestros Vol 2 2 copies
O cio da terra 2 copies
Diario De Un Mal A-o 1 copy
Coetzee John Maxwell 1 copy
ASKUND 1 copy
איש איטי 1 copy
ගර්හාව 1 copy
යකඩ යුගය 1 copy
בלב הארץ 1 copy
A Walk in the Woods 1 copy
Itt és most 1 copy
Associated Works
The Poems, Short Fiction, and Criticism of Samuel Beckett: Volume IV of The Grove Centenary Editions (2006) — Introduction — 83 copies
New Beginnings: New Writing from Bestselling Authors Sold in Aid of the Indian Ocean Tsunami Earthquake Charities (2005) — Contributor — 45 copies
Translation and the Classic: Identity as Change in the History of Culture (Classical Presences) (2008) — Contributor — 17 copies
Nobel Lectures: 20 Years of the Nobel Prize for Literature Lectures (2007) — Contributor — 14 copies
Ten years of the Caine Prize for African writing : plus J.M. Coetzee, Nadine Gordimer and Ben Okri (2009) — Contributor — 12 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Coetzee, J. M.
- Legal name
- Coetzee, John Maxwell
- Birthdate
- 1940-02-09
- Gender
- male
- Nationality
- South Africa (birth)
Australia (naturalized 2006) - Birthplace
- Cape Town, Union of South Africa
- Places of residence
- Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
- Education
- University of Texas, Austin (Ph.D|1969 - Linguistics)
University of Cape Town (BA Hons|1960 - English; BA Hons|1961 - Mathematics; MA|1963 - Literature) - Occupations
- novelist
literary critic
translator
essayist
linguist - Relationships
- Driver, Dorothy (partner)
- Organizations
- University of Cape Town
State University of New York at Buffalo - Awards and honors
- Nobel Prize (Literature ∙ 2003)
Fellow, Royal Society of Literature (1988)
Jerusalem Prize (1987)
Irish Times International Fiction prize (1995)
Lannan Literary Award (1998)
Order of Mapungubwe, Gold Class (2005) (show all 15)
American Academy of Arts and Letters (2006)
CNA Prize (1977, 1980, 1983)
Prix Femina étranger (1985)
Booker Prize (1983, 1999)
James Tait Black Memorial Prize (1980)
Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize (1981)
Honorary Fellow, Australian Academy of the Humanities (2004)
Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Africa (1995, 2000)
American Philosophical Society (2006) - Agent
- Bruce Hunter (David Higham Associates)
Members
Discussions
July 2013: J.M. Coetzee in Monthly Author Reads (July 2019)
Coetzee in November in 2015 Category Challenge (November 2015)
Reviews
Lists
Five star books (2)
Franklit (1)
Unread books (1)
2017 Goal (1)
Shaking a Leg (1)
Florida (1)
to get (1)
Metafiction (1)
Reading Globally (1)
1980s (1)
Parallel Novels (1)
Big Jubilee List (1)
1990s (1)
Folio Society (1)
A Novel Cure (2)
Africa (2)
Booker Prize (5)
My TBR (6)
Favourite Books (1)
hopes (1)
Allie's Wishlist (1)
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 93
- Also by
- 28
- Members
- 38,260
- Popularity
- #470
- Rating
- 3.6
- Reviews
- 869
- ISBNs
- 1,133
- Languages
- 34
- Favorited
- 199
He's offered the standard-issue response: an apology, counseling, a break, but an eventual return assured. He refuses, simply capitulating, and leaves Cape Town for the countryside, where his daughter Lucy owns and runs a small farm. No sooner does he get somewhat accustomed to life there, though, than an episode of violence changes things forever. Three young black men attack David and Lucy, attempting to burn him and gang-raping her. The already-strained relationship between father and daughter becomes even more tense as both try to cope with their trauma in different ways.
It's obvious fairly early on that the characters and situations aren't intended to be always read as strictly realistic. There's a lot of allegory going on here about apartheid and the wounds that it left and the violence that was a crucial part of that system continuing to resonate. I found myself wishing I had more background in the history of South Africa, because I felt like there were layers and layers of meaning and some of them were out of my grasp. Disgrace is a fairly short book, not even 250 pages, but there is a lot going on in it because Coetzee is a master of his craft. Every word of this book was obviously carefully, deliberately chosen and he evokes so much by just letting his plot and characters speak for themselves. And speaking of characters, such a sticking point for me as a reader, this was a strange experience in that I didn't find anyone especially compelling but still found the book as a whole to be something that I was invested in.
So what I'm saying is that this is a very good book, but reader be warned: it is bleak. It is a story about a terrible person, who does some awful things. You almost wonder if he deserves it on some level, but even worse things happen to his daughter and she's just trying to live on her little piece of land and doesn't seem at first blush to be culpable. Or is she? Are all of those who benefit from systemic inequality culpable? There is a note of hope at the end with the promise of the birth of a biracial child, clearly meant to be symbolic of the way forward, but the circumstances leading to that hope are extremely cynical. This is a high quality book that I appreciated the experience of reading and am glad I read and have no plans to ever return to because it was hard. I would definitely recommend it, but go in expecting a downer (and be aware that there's violence toward animals/animal death in case you're sensitive to it).… (more)