Tag Archives: J.M. Coetzee

Ransom Center Nabs Laureate

J. M. Coetzee signs the authors' door of the Ransom Center during a visit in May 2010. Photo by Pete Smith. Image courtesy of Harry Ransom Center.

One has to wonder how they do it.

The Harry Ransom Center has just announced a major addition to their stellar collection of contemporary writers, and yet another Nobel laureate, no less.

The archive of UT alumnus J.M. Coetzee is now part of the Ransom Center’s vast holdings of original manuscripts and source materials from major modern works of literature. The archive includes materials from all of Coetzee’s works, including his two Man Booker award-winning novels, Life & Times of Michael K (1983) and Disgrace (1999).

The South African Coetzee has a fifty-year history with the university, earning his Ph.D. in English, linguistics and Germanic languages in 1969. He’s kept close ties with UT, teaching at the Michener Center for Writers in 1995, and most recently, visiting campus last year to give a lecture as part of the Graduate School’s 1910 Society Lecture Series, which celebrated the 100th anniversary of the school.

Nobel Laureate and UT Alum J.M. Coetzee Speaks

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On May 5, Nobel Prize winning author J.M. Coetzee, who earned a Ph.D. degree in 1969 from The University of Texas at Austin, will be speaking at the LBJ Auditorium as part of the Centennial Celebration of the Office of Graduate Studies.

An acclaimed novelist, academic, and literary critic, Coetzee is one of the university’s most distinguished alumni.  Said to be influenced by his own personal history of growing up in South Africa, Coetzee writes with strong anti-imperialist feelings. He has published 13 books, including The Life and Times of Michael K in 1983 and Disgrace in 1999. Both books were awarded the Booker Prize, making him the first author to be given the award twice. His novel Waiting for the Barbarians was adapted into an opera composed by Philip Glass.

The event runs from 6-7:30 pm.  Click here for more information about this free event and to RSVP.

Check out J.M. Coetzee’s work at the Libraries.

Meghan Sitar is Instruction & Outreach Librarian for the University of Texas Libraries.

(Cross-posted at News for Undergraduates)