J. M. Coetzee in Context and Theory: (Continuum Literary Studies)

Nobel Laureate and the first author to win the Booker Prize twice, J.M. Coetzee is perhaps the world's leading living novelist writing in English. Including an international roster of world leading critics and novelists, and drawing on new research, this innovative book analyses the whole range of Coetzee's work, from his most recent novels through his memoirs and critical writing. It offers a range of perspectives on his relationship with the historical, political, cultural and social context of South Africa. It also contextualises Coetzee's work in relation to his literary influences, colonial and post-colonial history, the Holocaust and colonial genocides, the ‘politics' and meaning of the Nobel prize in South Africa and Coetzee's very public move from South Africa to Australia. Including a major unpublished essay by leading South African novelist André Brink, this book offers the most up-to-date study of Coetzee's work currently available.

Table of Contents:
Foreword: Elleke Boehmer, Robert Eaglestone, Katy Iddiols Part I: Context  1. Post-Apartheid Literature: A Personal View, André Brink 2. Elizabeth Costello as Post-Apartheid Literature, Louise Bethlehem (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) 3. Coetzee and Gordimer, Karina Szczurek 4. Wordsworth and the Recollection of South Africa, Pieter Vermeulen (University of Leuven) 5. Border Crossings: self and text, Sue Kossew (University of New South Wales) 6. Sex, Comedy, and Influence: Coetzee's Beckett, Derek Attridge (University of York)  Part 2: Theory 7.  Writing Desire Responsibly, Rosemary Jolly (Queen's University) 8. Literature, History and Folly, Patrick Hayes (University of Oxford) 9. Queer Bodies, Elleke Boehmer (University of Oxford) 10. Eating (Dis)Order, Kyoko Yoshida (Keio University) 11. Acts of Mourning, Russell Samolsky (University of California, Santa Barbara) 12. Sublime Abjection, Mark Mathuray (Royal Holloway, University of London) 13. Authenticity: Diaries, Chronicles, Records as Index-Simulations, Anne Haeming 14. Disrupting Inauthentic Readings: Coetzee's Strategies, Katy Iddiols (Royal Holloway, University of London) Index

About the Author :
Elleke Boehmer is professor of world literature in English at the University of Oxford, and Governing Body Fellow at Wolfson College. Internationally renowned for her research in post-colonial theory and the literature of empire, Professor Boehmer currently works on questions of migration, identity, and resistance in both colonial and post-colonial literature (sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia). She has published over eighteen books, including four novels; her best-selling biography of Nelson Mandela has been translated into Arabic, Portuguese, and Thai. She obtained her doctorate from Oxford University, where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar. Robert Eaglestone is Professor of Contemporary Literature and Thought at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK. Katy Iddiols teaches at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK.

Review :
J. M. Coetzee in Context and Theory stands out among the growing number of works focusing on the work of the 2003 Nobel Prize winner as a comprehensive and innovative contribution to the author's critical writing, novels and memoirs.