Facts about J.M. Coetzee
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Born in Cape Town in 1940, J.M. Coetzee studied mathematics and English literature as an undergraduate before pursuing a career in computing in London.
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Coetzee's 1977 novel In the Heart of the Country won the Central News Agency Literary Award, South Africa's most prestigious literary honor at the time.
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Coetzee's 1974 debut The Dusklands was initially published in South Africa under severe apartheid censorship restrictions limiting its distribution.
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Coetzee taught English literature at the University of Cape Town for over two decades, from 1972 until his departure to Australia in 2002.
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Coetzee earned his doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin in 1969 with a dissertation on the English phonology of Ford Madox Ford's novels.
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Elizabeth Costello, a novella published in 2003, was later expanded into a full novel in 2013 featuring a fictional philosopher protagonist delivering lectures on animal rights and ethics.
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His 1980 debut novel Dusklands explored psychological torture and colonialism through paired narratives set in South Africa and eighteenth-century frontier territories.
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Waiting for the Barbarians, Coetzee's 1980 novel, was banned by the South African government during apartheid for its allegorical critique of state violence and oppression.
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Disgrace, published in 1999, won the International Booker Prize and established Coetzee as a major literary figure exploring post-apartheid South African themes.
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Australian citizenship was adopted by Coetzee in 2006, three years after he won the Nobel Prize in Literature and relocated from South Africa to Melbourne.
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Coetzee's 1986 novel Foe was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, making it his second nomination for that prestigious award within four years.
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In 1983, J.M. Coetzee won the Booker Prize for Life & Times of Michael K, his third novel and first major international literary award.
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Two Nobel Prizes in Literature were awarded to South African authors before J.M. Coetzee won in 2003, making him the third from that nation.