J M Coetzee: a Life in Writing - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1868424952 ISBN 13: 9781868424955

Synopsis

J.M. Coetzee: a life in writing is the first biography of Nobel laureate J.M. Coetzee. A global publishing event of the rarest kind, the book has been written with the full cooperation of Coetzee, who granted the author interviews and put him in touch with family, friends, and colleagues who could talk about events in Coetzee’s life.

For the first time, Coetzee allowed complete access to his private papers and documents, including the manuscripts of his 16 novels. J.C. Kannemeyer has also made a study of the enormous body of literature on Coetzee, and through archival research has unearthed further information not previously available.

The book deals in depth with Coetzee’s origins, early years, and first writings; his British interlude from 1962–1965; his time in America from 1965–1971; his 30 years back in South Africa, when he achieved international recognition and won the Booker prize; and his Australian years since 2002, during which time he won the Nobel Prize in Literature.

J.M. Coetzee: a life in writing is a major work that corrects many of the misconceptions about Coetzee, and that illuminates the genesis and implications of his novels.This magisterial biography will be an indispensable source for everybody concerned with Coetzee’s life and work.

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Review

In the astonishingly short space of three years, Kannemeyer wrote this revealing and thorough volume ... Coetzee s fame and his reclusiveness guarantee the book will attract enormous interest ... This important biography ... sheds more light on a great writer than anything that has appeared previously. --Peter Alexander (The Age)

This book deserves a medal for bravery ... in scrutinising Coetzee's manuscripts [Kannemeyer] excels. --Peter Kemp, The Sunday Times

'A valuable document ... Throughout this biography, Coetzee s work, his letters and lectures are quoted extensively and the classicism of his writing is evident in every sentence. Wisely, Kannemeyer does not try to compete. Instead, he suggests that what Coetzee wrote of Beckett might well be applied to Coetzee himself: Beckett was an artist possessed by a vision of life without consolation or dignity or promise of grace, in the face of which our only duty inexplicable and futile of attainment, but a duty nonetheless is not to lie to ourselves. That's why he matters --David Sexton, London Evening Standard

About the Author

J.C. Kannemeyer was professor of Afrikaans and Dutch at Stellenbosch University. He was the author of a two-volume history of Afrikaans literature, as well as of six extensive biographies of Afrikaans authors. Professor Kannemeyer died on 25 December 2011.

Michiel Heyns is a South African author, translator, and academic. He has won numerous awards for his reviews, translations, and novels.

Edition details

• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1868424952
• ISBN 13: 9781868424955
• Binding: Hardcover