Most Popular Books by J. M. Coetzee

A pianist falls grandly, helplessly in love in this elegant new novella from the twice-Booker Prize winner The Pole tells the story of Wittold Walccyzkiecz, a vigorous, white-haired pianist, who becomes infatuated with Beatriz, a stylish patron of the arts, after she helps organize his Barcelona concert. Although Beatriz, who is married, is initially unimpressed by Wittold, she soon finds herself pursued and ineluctably swept into his world. As he sends her letters, extends countless invitations to travel, and even visits her husband''s summer home in Mallorca, their unlikely relationship blossoms, though only on her terms. As the power struggle between them intensifies -- Is it Beatriz who limits their passion by controlling her emotions? Or is it Wittold, trying to force into life his dream of love? Evocative of Joyce''s ''The Dead,'' The Pole is a haunting work, evoking the ''inexhaustible palette of sensations, from blind love to compassion'' (El País) typical of Coetzee''s finest novels. Published together with five exceptional stories, this new work from one of our greatest writers is a must for all literary connoisseurs.

Lit Hub''s Most Anticipated Books of 2025 In this provocative dialogue, a Nobel laureate novelist and a leading translator investigate the nature of language and the challenges of translation. "An intelligent, moving, and supremely humane act of criticism that reveals just how difficult and wondrous it can be to inhabit a language that is not your own." -- Merve Emre

J.M. Coetzee''s latest novel, The Schooldays of Jesus, is now available from Viking. Late Essays: 2006-2016 will be available January 2018. J.M. Coetzee: What relationship do I have with my life history? Am I its conscious author, or should I think of myself as simply a voice uttering with as little interference as possible a stream of words welling up from my interior? Arabella Kurtz: One way of thinking about psychoanalysis is to say that it is aimed at setting free the narrative or autobiographical imagination. The Good Story is a fascinating dialogue about psychotherapy and the art of storytelling between a writer with a long-standing interest in moral psychology and a psychotherapist with training in literary studies. Coetzee and Kurtz consider psychotherapy and its wider social context from different perspectives, but at the heart of both of their approaches is a concern with narrative. Working alone, the writer is in control of the story he or she tells. The therapist, on the other hand, collaborates with the patient in developing an account of the patient''s life and identity that is both meaningful and true. In a meeting of minds that is illuminating and thought-provoking, the authors discuss both individual psychology and the psychology of the group: the school classroom, gangs and the settler nation, in which the brutal deeds of ancestors are accommodated into a national story. Drawing on great writers like Cervantes and Dostoevsky and psychoanalysts like Freud and Melanie Klein, Coetzee and Kurtz explore the human capacity for self-examination, our wish to tell our own life stories and the resistances we encounter along the way.

When you travel across the ocean on a boat, all your memories are washed away and you start a completely new life. That is how it is. There is no before. There is no history. The boat docks at the harbour and we climb down the gangplank and we are plunged into the here and now. Time begins. Davíd is the small boy who is always asking questions. Simón and Inés take care of him in their new town Estrella. He is learning the language; he has begun to make friends. He has the big dog Bolívar to watch over him. But he''ll be seven soon and he should be at school. And so, Davíd is enrolled in the Academy of Dance. It''s here, in his new golden dancing slippers, that he learns how to call down the numbers from the sky. But it''s here too that he will make troubling discoveries about what grown-ups are capable of. In this mesmerising allegorical tale, Coetzee deftly grapples with the big questions of growing up, of what it means to be a parent, the constant battle between intellect and emotion, and how we choose to live our lives.

A masterful new novel completes an incomparable trilogy from J. M. Coetzee, Nobel laureate and two-times winner of the Booker Prize In The Childhood of Jesus, Simòn found a boy, David, and they began life in a new land, together with a woman named Inès. In The Schooldays of Jesus, the small family searched for a home in which David could thrive. In The Death of Jesus, David, now a tall ten-year-old, is spotted by Julio Fabricante, the director of a local orphanage, playing football with his friends in the street. He shows unusual talent. When David announces that he wants to go and live with Julio and the children in his care, Simòn and Inès are stunned. David is leaving them, and they can only love him and bear witness. With almost unbearable poignancy J. M. Coetzee explores the meaning of a world empty of memory but brimming with questions.

A beautiful collector''s edition of J. M. Coetzee''s Nobel Prize lecture In his acceptance speech for the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature, J. M. Coetzee delivered an intriguing and enigmatic short story, "He and His Man." The story features Robinson Crusoe, long after his return from the island, reflecting on death and spectacle, writing and allegory, solitude and sociability, as he searches his mind for some true understanding of the "man" who writes of and for him. In the spare and powerful prose for which Coetzee is renowned, The Nobel Lecture in Literature, 2003 is a provocative testament to the uncompromising vision of one of the world''s most profound writers.

Auf den ersten Blick scheint dieser Roman nichts mit Schwarzafrika zu tun zu haben. Susan Barton, von meuternden Matrosen auf einer Insel irgendwo im Atlantik ausgesetzt, trifft auf Robinson und Freitag. Doch anders als in dem berühmten Roman von Defoe gibt es auf der Insel keine Abenteuer zu bestehen, gibt es keine wilden Tiere und keine Kannibalen. Robinson, bei Coetzee ein alter Mann, ist nicht sonderlich erfolgreich bei der Feldbestellung. Er konnte Freitag auch nichts beibringen, denn Freitag war stumm. Schließlich wird das Trio gerettet (Robinson hat gar keine Lust mehr, in die Zivilisation zurückzukehren und stirbt auf der Rückreise nach London). Susan Barton, in Begleitung von Freitag, will jetzt vom Schriftsteller Foe ihre Geschichte aufschreiben lassen, die Geschichte der ''ersten englischen Schiffbrüchigen''. Mr. Foe hat als professioneller Schreiber freilich ganz andere Vorstellungen von der (Aus-)Gestaltung der Geschichte als die Erzählerin. Eigentliche Hauptperson ist Freitag, der wichtigste Zeuge, der steht aber nicht zur Verfügung, er kann nicht sprechen. Ihm hatte man - wie den Schwarzen in Südafrika - die Sprache gestohlen.

J. M. Coetzee, Premi Nobel de Literatura 2003, és, a parer de molts, l''escriptor més important dels nostres temps. Poques vegades havia parlat de si mateix fins que el 1997 va sorprendre tothom amb Infantesa, el primer lliurament d''una ficció autobiogràfica que van seguir Joventut i Temps d''estiu.Per primera vegada, presentem en un sol volum la trilogia d''aquestes ficcions autobiogràfiques, les Escenes de la vida a províncies, revisades per l''autor, que posen en relleu la relació inquietant entre la realitat de la vida i la ficció dels llibres i conformen un magnífic retrat de l''artista. L''obra comença en una petita vila de la Sud-àfrica dels anys quaranta: un noi intenta trobar el seu lloc al món sota la tutela d''un pare distant i una mare que l''estima incondicionalment. Ja de jove, estudia matemàtiques a Ciutat del Cap, escriu poesia i viatja a Europa amb pretensions artístiques. La realitat, però, l''obliga a tocar de peus a terra i a treballar com a programador informàtic. La seva vida d''adult la coneixem gràcies al seu biògraf, un tal Mr. Vincent, que reconstrueix la vida del novel·lista en què s''ha convertit J. M. Coetzee passats els anys.

An eminent, seventy-two-year-old Australian writer is invited to contribute to a book entitled Strong Opinions. It is a chance to air some urgent concerns. He writes short essays on the origins of the state, on Machiavelli, on anarchism, on al Qaida, on intelligent design, on music. What, he asks, is the origin of the state and the nature of the relationship between citizen and state? How should the citizen of a modern democracy react to the state''s willingness to set aside moral considerations and civil liberties in its war on terror, a war that includes the use of torture? How does the state handle outsiders? The treatment of asylum seekers at the Baxter facility in the South Australian desert brings to his mind Guantanamo Bay. He is troubled by Australia''s complicity with America and Britain in their wars in the Middle East; an obscure sense of dishonour clings to him. In the laundry-room of his apartment block he encounters an alluring young woman. When he discovers she is ''between jobs'' he claims failing eyesight and offers her work typing up his manuscript. Anya has no interest in politics but the job provides a distraction, as does the writer''s evident and not unwelcome attraction toward her. Her boyfriend, Alan, an investment consultant who understands the world in harsh neo-liberal economic terms, has reservations about his trophy girlfriend spending time with this 1960s throwback. Taking a lively interest in his affairs, Alan begins to formulate a plan. Diary of a Bad Year is an utterly contemporary work of fiction from one of our greatest writers and deepest thinkers. It addresses the profound unease of countless people in democracies across the world.

Quan el fotògraf Paul Rayment perd una cama en un accident de bicicleta, la seva solitària vida canvia de manera irrevocable. Amb tossuderia, rebutjant una pròtesi, Paul torna al seu apartament de solter a Adelaida, incòmode per la seva nova situació de dependència dels altres. Entre successius atacs de desesperació i resignació, Paul comença a repassar els seus seixanta anys de vida, però aviat s’anima en enamorar-se de la Marijana, la infermera croata pràctica i realista que lluita per pujar la seva família en una terra estrangera. Mentre Paul pensa com conquistar el seu cor, el visita la misteriosa escriptora Elizabeth Costello, que el desafia a prendre un paper actiu en la seva pròpia vida.A Home lent, la veu clara i inflexible de J.M. Coetzee ofereix una meditació profunda sobre el que ens fa humans, sobre què vol dir fer-se gran, i reflexiona sobre com hem viscut les nostres vides. Una història profundament commovedora sobre l’amor i la mortalitat que sorprèn el lector a cada pàgina. J. M. Coetzee (Ciutat del Cap, 1940) va estudiar ciències informàtiques i filologia a Sud-àfrica i als Estats Units. La seva primera novel·la va ser Dusklands, seguida d’In the Heart of the Country, que va guanyar el premi literari més important de Sud-àfrica, el CNA. És autor també d’Esperant els bàrbars —guardonada amb el CNA, el Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize i el James Tait Black Memorial Prize—, Vida i època de Michael K (Booker Prize i Prix Étranger Fémina), The Master of Petersburg, Les vides dels animals, Desgràcia (Booker Prize), L’Edat de ferro (Premi Llibreter 2003) i Elizabeth Costello, i és autor dels llibres de memòries Boyhood: Scenes from Provincial Life i Youth. A J. M. Coetzee li van concedir el Jerusalem Prize l’any 1987, el Lannan de Ficció el 1998 i, recentment, el Premi Nobel de Literatura 2003 en reconeixement a una llarga trajectòria d’una qualitat literària indiscutible.