J.M. Coetzee was born in South Africa and has lived in many places, including England, the United States and Australia, where he currently resides. He started his career as a computer programmer in England, before receiving a PhD in literature from the University of Texas at Austin, and he has taught English at Harvard, Johns Hopkins, the University of Capetown and elsewhere. These frequent moves--one could almost call them wanderings--contribute a worldly yet highly moral perspective in his work, and it is this rather than the two Booker Prizes or 2003 Nobel Prize that will likely keep his books on shelves indefinitely.
Coetzee's themes are universal and timeless. In Disgrace (1999), one of his best-loved novels, David Lurie tries to find meaning in his relationships with a lover, friends and his ex-wife. When the search for meaning fails and David goes to stay with his daughter Lucy, Coetzee delves into a strained relationship between father and daughter. Waiting for the Barbarians (1982) focuses on war and its treatment of prisoners, while in Life and Times of Michael K (1983) the main character tries to escape war by moving himself and his mother to the countryside, only to see it follow them to their retreat. Though written over twenty years ago, these books are still applicable to current events, such as prisoner treatment at Guantanamo Bay and the war in Iraq. A South African descendant of Dutch settlers, it seems only a matter of course for Coetzee to take on the topic of racism (In the Heart of the Country, 1982). More surprising is a historical novel based on the life of Dostoyevsky (The Master of Petersburg, 1995).
Coetzee has been called a recluse, an academic monk who does not drink, speaks little, and seldom laughs. But this recluse has reached out to readers all over the world. And I believe he will for many years to come.
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