Special Author – J.M. Coetzee – 2014/15
Module Description
This module will explore the fiction and essays of the Nobel-Prize winning South African writer J.M.
Coetzee. It will consider a range of his work, from the early Dusklands to the most recent The
Childhood of Jesus, in relation to the particular socio-historical and cultural contexts in which it has
been produced and consumed. As such, students will explore his writing by attending to the specific
conditions of and discourses associated with Apartheid and post-Apartheid South Africa. In addition,
we will discuss Coetzee's subsequent emigration to Australia and how this has may have affected his
literary output. These speculations will resonate with longstanding debates concerning the 'ethics' of
his writing and our reading of it. Whilst the module will foreground Coetzee's fiction, students will also
engage with his non-fictional work, including essays which cover everything from the role of sport in
contemporary South Africa to the particularities of literary censorship under Apartheid. Given the
density and complexity of Coetzee's writing, this module will have a substantial theoretical
component, drawing on some of the most pioneering work being conducted in contemporary South
African literary studies, as well as postcolonial theory more broadly. This will enable us to address
the significant because significantly problematic question of whether it is appropriate to define
Coetzee as a postcolonial writer.
Learning Outcomes
Demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of Coetzee's oeuvre, including his major works of fiction,
essays and criticism.
Show an ability to situate Coetzee's work within the particular socio-political, historical, cultural,
ideological and intellectual contexts of its production and reception.
Show an awareness of the significance and contribution of Coetzee's work within a national (South
African) and international context, as well as the ways in which his reputation has been established
and reproduced via these networks.
Understand and critically analyse the formal and generic developments in Coetzee's work.
Organise complex material in an extended piece of written work, illustrating independent research, the
use of a bibliography et al.
Indicative Reading List
Week 1 - Introduction to Coetzee and debates within contemporary SA literature - selected essays
from Coetzee and other critics
Week 2 - Dusklands
Week 3 - In the Heart of the Country
Week 4 - Waiting for the Barbarians
Week 5 - Life and Times of Michael K
Week 6 - Foe
Week 7 - Assessment Week
Week 8 - Disgrace
Week 9 - Scenes from Provincial Life (3 novels in one collection - Boyhood, Youth and Summertime)
Week 10 - Elizabeth Costello
Week 11 - Diary of a Bad Year
Week 12 - The Childhood of Jesus
Indicative Resource List
Collections of Coetzee essays and interviews:
White Writing
Doubling the Point: Essays and Interviews
Giving Offense
Stranger Shores: Essays 1986-1999
Essential Critical Collections
Derek Attridge, J.M. Coetzee and the Ethics of Reading: Literature in the Event (2005)
David Attwell, J.M. Coetzee: South Africa and the Politics of Writing (1993)
Elleke Boehmer, Katy Iddiols and Robert Eaglestone, J.M. Coetzee in Context and Theory (2011)
Jarad Zimbler, J.M. Coetzee and the Politics of Style (2014) – ISNB-10: 1107046254
Katherine Hallemeir, J.M. Coetzee and the Limits of Cosmpolitanism (2013) – ISBN-10: 113735254X
A Companion to the Works of J.M. Coetzee, ed. Tim Mehigan (2014) – ISBN-10: 1571139028
Carrol Clarkson, J.M. Coetzee: Countervoices (2013) – ISBN-10: 1137357339
Dominic Head, The Cambridge Introduction to J.M. Coetzee (2009) – ISBN-10: 0521687098
Rosemary Jolly, Colonization, Violation and Narration in White South African Writing: Andre Brink,
Breyten Breytenbach and J.M. Coetzee (1996) – ISBN-10: 0821411314
Mike Marais, Secretary of the Invisible: The Idea of Hospitality in the Fiction of J.M. Coetzee (2009) –
ISBN-10: 9042027126
Susan Gallagher, A Story of South Africa: J.M. Coetzee’s Fiction in Context (2013) – ISBN-10:
0674281454
Strong Opinions: J.M. Coetzee and the Authority of Contemporary Fiction, eds. Chris Danta, Sue
Kossew and Julian Murphet (2013) – ISBN-10: 1623569583
Hania A.M. Nashef, The Politics of Humiliation in the Novels of J.M. Coetzee (2012) – ISBN-10:
041565260X
Please don’t hesitate to contact me should you have any outstanding concerns or questions about
this module.
John Masterson
j.e.masterson@sussex.ac.uk