Inner Workings: Literary Essays 2000-2005

In his second volume of literary essays, following Stranger Shores (2001), Nobel laureate Coetzee conducts deep readings primarily of major twentieth-century European and American writers. Cosmopolitan in range and erudite in texture, Coetzee's biocritical explications delve into the art, times, and humanity of, among others, Italo Svevo, Robert Musil, Paul Celan, Gunter Grass, Graham Greene, and W. G. Sebald. As a South African expat, Coetzee is attuned to literature under pressure as writers write in lands other than home, contending with language gaps and facing a world in violent upheaval. In his American essays, Coetzee brings an unusual perspective to Walt Whitman's eroticism, Faulkner's vision of the South, Philip Roth's Plot show more against America, and Arthur Miller's screenplay for The Misfits. In each case, Coetzee tells a story as much as he interprets the work, riding in the slipstream of his subject's life and writings as he parses matters personal, technical, aesthetic, moral, and political with both subtlety and vigour. show less

In addition to being one of the most acclaimed and accomplished fiction writers in the world, Nobel Prize winner J. M. Coetzee is also a literary critic of the highest caliber. In this collection of twenty essays, Coetzee examines the work of some of the twentieth-century’s greatest writers—from Samuel Beckett and Günter Grass to Gabriel García Márquez and Philip Roth. Brilliantly insightful, challenging yet accessible, these pieces demonstrate Coetzee’s sharp eye and unwavering critical acumen. Written with great clarity and precision, they offer a window into twenty immortal texts that will be of major interest to all readers of international literature, as well as to Coetzee’s many fans.

This book is primarily a collection of essays that were originally published in the New York Review of Books, but it also includes some book introductions. Most worthwhile are the essays on less well-known authors like Hugo Claus, Bruno Schulz, and Robert Walser. Although Walser like Marai has become better known over the past decade. Some of my personal favorites like Robert Musil, Samuel Beckett, and Joseph Roth are included. English language writers are well represented from Whitman through Gordimer. Specific works by Arthur Miller and Philip Roth are discussed along with Gabriel Garcia Marquez and V. S. Naipaul. Coetzee is a well read author who writes intelligent, interesting essays. This collection is one worth exploring.

So impressed with the literary essays of Coetzee. I had no idea he was this brilliant and well-read. Plus this book had in it some of my favorite writers including Robert Walser and Max Sebald. Reading this book has now led me to writers I knew little about including Italo Svevo and Gabriel Garcia Marquez.