|
Nobel Prize winner from Cape Town
The announcement of JM Coetzee as this year Nobel Prize
for Literature winner was greeted with excitement all over
the world, and in South Africa, especially at the University
of Cape Town where he taught. JM Coetzee, born and bred
in Cape Town, and former English professor at the University
of Cape Town, is now resident in Australia and teaching
at Chicago University.
The country of Coetzee's birth has now produced a second
Nobel Laureate for literature
| "He
pays the same attention to constructing a
sentence that other writers pay to constructing
a paragraph "
|
|
UCT vice-chancellor, Professor Njabulo S Ndebele, said:
"This prestigious award confirms Coetzee's sustained
international acclaim as one of the finest writers of the
twentieth century. We are proud to have shared in Coetzee's
brilliant contribution to South African literature over
many years. This is a proud moment for South Africa. The
country of Coetzee's birth has now produced a second Nobel
Laureate for literature
Not giving comments
Born to liberal parents, John Michael Coetzee would later
change his middle name to Maxwell. He's written several
novels that have won him praise from the critics. One of
them said: "He pays the same attention to constructing
a sentence that other writers pay to constructing a paragraph.
A day after the announcement was made Coetzee was still
not giving comments to the media even though he has received
praise from almost all corners of South Africa and the world.
Criticism from the ruling African National Congress
In 1983 he received his first Booker Prize for the novel
The Life and Times of Michael K which although it has comparisons
to South Africa is set in a fictional country in the midst
of a civil war. For all the praise heaped on him, Coetzee
received criticism from the ruling African National Congress
for his novel Disgrace which deals with issues currently
affecting South Africa.
The last South African recipient of the prize, Nadine
Gordimer, also congratulated Coetzee and said that she was
delighted for her friend.
Now being a nobel prize winner will surely drive sales of
his latest book Elizabeth Costello.
Whether the audience-shy Coetzee turns up at the award ceremony
in December is still not clear. The prize is worth more
than R900 000.
JM Coetzee bibliography
Youth: Scenes from Provincial Life II (2002)
The Novel in Africa (1999)
Disgrace (1999)
Boyhood: Scenes from Provincial Life (1997)
Giving Offense: Essays on Censorship (1996)
The Master of Petersburg (1994)
Doubling the Point: Essays and Interviews (1992)
Age of Iron (1990)
White Writing: On the Culture of Letters in South Africa
(1988)
Foe (1986)
Life & Times of Michael K (1983)
Waiting for the Barbarians (1980)
In the Heart of the Country (1977)
Dusklands (1974)
|
