J.M. Coetzee Wins 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature

J.M. Coetzee

The 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded on Thursday, October 2, to South Africa's J.M. Coetzee. The author's themes, set against the backdrop of apartheid, are directed mainly at situations where moral distinctions, while clear, can be viewed to serve no end. His novels were cited by the Swedish Academy for their "well-crafted composition, pregnant dialogue, and analytical brilliance," and include Disgrace, Waiting for the Barbarians, Dusklands, Life & Times of Michael K., and Age of Iron (all Penguin Group USA). This year, the Nobel Prize in Literature is worth $1.3 million.

Coetzee has won the Booker Prize twice: for Life & Times of Michael K., in which the protagonist faces the ineluctable growing disorder of war, and Disgrace, a novel that poses questions about the nature of history. His most recent novel Elizabeth Costello (October) tells the story of an Australian author who finds herself tired of public life and is drawn instead toward a more contemplative existence.

The academy describes the writer as a "scrupulous doubter, ruthless in his criticism of the cruel rationalism and cosmetic morality of Western civilization" and said of his work, "No two books ever follow the same recipe. Extensive reading reveals a recurring pattern, the downward spiraling journeys he considers necessary for the salvation of his characters. His protagonists are overwhelmed by the urge to sink but paradoxically derive strength from being stripped of all external dignity."

As reported by the Associated Press, Horace Engdahl, the permanent secretary of the academy, said the decision to award Coatzee with the prize was easy. "We were very much convinced of the lasting value of his contribution to literature. I'm not speaking of the number of books, but the variety, and the very high average quality," he said. "I think he is a writer ... that will continue to be discussed and analyzed and we think he should belong to our literary heritage."

In its press announcement, the Swedish Academy also praised Coetzee for "his intellectual honesty [which] erodes all basis of consolation and distances itself from the tawdry drama of remorse and confession."

John Maxwell Coetzee was born in Cape Town in 1940. In 1969 he received a Ph.D. from the University of Texas for computer-generated language. He is currently a visiting professor at the University of Chicago.