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A superb collection of essays by an author who has won the Booker Prize twice.

About the Author

J.M. Coetzee's work includes Waiting for the Barbarians, Life & Times of Michael K, Boyhood, Youth, Disgrace, Summertime and The Childhood of Jesus. He was the first author to win the Booker Prize twice and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2003.

Reviews

The scale of Coetzee's reading makes most British criticism seem dully provincial
*Daily Telegraph*

To read him on Kafka and on the deficiencies of the English translation of the work is to be put in touch with criticism at its most attentive and creative
*Irish Indepedent*

This is exemplary writing - balanced, clear, direct and profound
*Literary Review*

'What is a Classic?'...is a marvellous essay, and the book is worth buying for it alone. Coetzee the critic is every bit as good as Coetzee the novelist
*Irish Times*

The scale of Coetzee's reading makes most British criticism seem dully provincial -- Andrew Marr * Daily Telegraph *
To read him on Kafka and on the deficiencies of the English translation of the work is to be put in touch with criticism at its most attentive and creative * Irish Indepedent *
This is exemplary writing - balanced, clear, direct and profound * Literary Review *
'What is a Classic?'...is a marvellous essay, and the book is worth buying for it alone. Coetzee the critic is every bit as good as Coetzee the novelist * Irish Times *

Tackling works by Rushdie, Naguib Mahfouz, Doris Lessing, Borges and A.S. Byatt, Stranger Shores: Literary Essays collects critical work by South African author and two-time Booker-winner J.M. Coetzee. Coetzee posits in "What Is a Classic" that "[c]riticism... is duty-bound to interrogate the classic" and thereby "may be what the classic uses to define itself and ensure its survival." None of these thoughtful, deft and erudite essays, all but one of which were previously published, land heavily or obviously (if at all) on any side of a literary, critical or political issue like Coetzee's poised fiction. (Aug. 27) Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.