Stranger Shores : Literary Essays, 1986-1999

by Coetzee, J. M.

• ISBN13: 9780670899821
• ISBN10: 0670899828
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2001-08-27
• Publisher: Viking Adult

Summary

Two-time Booker Prize-winner J. M. Coetzee is one of the world's greatest novelists. This thought-provoking collection gathers twenty-six of his essays on books and writing. In his opening piece, "What Is a Classic?," Coetzee asks, "What does it mean in living terms to say that the classic is what survives?" He explores the answer by way of T. S. Eliot, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Zbigniew Herbert. Coetzee goes on to discuss eighteenth- and nineteenth-century authors such as Defoe and Turgenev, the German modernists such as Rilke, Kafka, and Musil, and the giants of late-twentieth-century literature, among them Brodsky, Gordimer, Rushdie, and Lessing.

Author Biography

J. M. Coetzee's books include Dusklands, In the Heart of the Country, Waiting for the Barbarians, Life and Times of Michael K, Foe, Age of Iron, The Master of Petersburg, Boyhood, and Disgrace (all available from Penguin). A professor of general literature at the University of Cape Town, Coetzee has won many literary awards, including the CNA Prize, South Africa's premier literary award (three times), the Booker Prize (twice), the Prix Etranger Femina, the Jerusalem Prize, the Lannan Literary Award, and the Irish Times International Fiction Prize

Table of Contents

What Is a Classic?: A Lecture	1	(16)
Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe	17	(6)
Samuel Richardson, Clrissa	23	(11)
Marcellus Emants, A Posthumous Confession	34	(5)
Harry Mulisch, The Discovery of Heaven	39	(10)
Cees Nooteboom, Novelist and Traveler	49	(11)
William Gass's Rilke	60	(14)
Translating Kafka	74	(14)
Robert Musil's Diaries	88	(16)
Josef Skvorecky	104	(10)
Dostoevsky: The Miraculous Years	114	(13)
The Essays of Joseph Brodsky	127	(12)
J. L. Borges, Collected Fictions	139	(12)
A. S. Byatt	151	(9)
Caryl Philips	160	(9)
Salman Rushdie, The Moor's Last Sigh	169	(10)
Aharon Appelfeld, The Iron Tracks	179	(5)
Amos Oz	184	(7)
Naguib Mahfouz, The Harafish	191	(12)
The Poems of Thomas Pringle	203	(5)
Daphne Rooke	208	(11)
Gordimer and Turgenev	219	(13)
The Autobiography of Doris Lessing	232	(17)
The Memoris of Breyten Breytenbach	249	(12)
South African Liberals: Alan Paton, Helen Suzman	261	(11)
Noel Mostert and the Eastern Cape Frontier	272	(10)
notes	282

Excerpts

Stranger Shores, Table of Contents Contents one, What is a Classic?: A Lecture, 1 two, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe, 17 three, Samuel Richardson, Clarissa, 23 four, Marcellus Emants, A Posthumous Confession, 34 five, Harry Mulisch, The Discovery of Heaven, 39 six, Cees Nooteboom, Novelist and Traveler, 49 seven, William Gass's Rilke, 60 eight, Translating Kafka, 74 nine, Robert Musil's Diaries, 88 ten, Josef Skvorecky, 104 eleven, Dostoevsky: The Miraculous Years, 114 twelve, The Essays of Joseph Brodsky, 127 thirteen, J. L. Borges, Collected Fictions, 139 fourteen, A. S. Byatt, 151 fifteen, Caryl Phillips, 160 sixteen, Salman Rushdie, The Moor's Last Sigh, 169 seventeen, Aharon Appelfeld, The Iron Tracks, 179 eighteen, Amos Oz, 184 nineteen, Naguib Mahfouz, The Harafish, 191 twenty, The Poems of Thomas Pringle, 203 twenty-one, Daphne Rooke, 208 twenty-two, Gordimer and Turgenev, 219 twenty-three, The Autobiography of Doris Lessing, 232 twenty-four, The Memoirs of Breyten Breytenbach, 249 twenty-five, South African Liberals: Alan Paton, Helen Suzman, 261 twenty-six, No?el Mostert and the Eastern Cape Frontier, 272 notes, 282