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Costas extrañas: Ensayos 1986-1999
Un apasionado recorrido por obras esenciales de la literatura universal y una invitación su lectura.
Existen libros que remiten a otros libros, a otros autores e historias. Son obras de gran calado que invitan a continuar por la senda que trazan con sus reflexiones algunos maestros indiscutibles de la literatura y la crítica. Este es el caso de Costas extrañas, donde el premio Nobel J.M. Coetzee repasa con agudo conocimiento crítico y ternura hacia sus maestros tanto las novelas que le hicieron soñar como los personajes inolvidables que constituyen su memoria de escritor. Desde una reflexión sobre qué es un clásico hasta un estudio minucioso y brillante sobre la personalidad de Robinson Crusoe, el premio Nobel sudafricano recrea y analiza novelas o cuentos esenciales de autores como Kafka, Turgueniev, Dostoievski, Musil, Lessing, Brodsky, Borges o Rushdie, descubriendo aspectos hasta ahora desconocidos de su producción literaria.
Gracias al lúcido sentido literario de Coetzee y a su penetrante capacidad de observación, este conjunto de ensayos podría definirse como la mejor aproximación a la lectura de la mano de uno de los más importantes escritores contemporáneos.
«Costas extrañas es una fiesta de la inteligencia. Que una colección de notas de lectura se convierta en un libro tan brillante, tan oportuno, no deja de ser la confirmación de la grandeza de Coetzee.»
JUAN BONILLA
423 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 27, 2001
26 people are currently reading
651 people want to read
About the author
J.M. Coetzee
184 books5,268 followersJ. M. Coetzee is a South African writer, essayist, and translator, widely regarded as one of the most influential authors of contemporary literature. His works, often characterized by their austere prose and profound moral and philosophical depth, explore themes of colonialism, identity, power, and human suffering. Born and raised in South Africa, he later became an Australian citizen and has lived in Adelaide since 2002.
Coetzee’s breakthrough novel, Waiting for the Barbarians (1980), established him as a major literary voice, while Life & Times of Michael K (1983) won him the first of his two Booker Prizes. His best-known work, Disgrace (1999), a stark and unsettling examination of post-apartheid South Africa, secured his second Booker Prize, making him the first author to win the award twice. His other notable novels include Foe, Age of Iron, The Master of Petersburg, Elizabeth Costello, and The Childhood of Jesus, many of which incorporate allegorical and metafictional elements.
Beyond fiction, Coetzee has written numerous essays and literary critiques, contributing significantly to discussions on literature, ethics, and history. His autobiographical trilogy—Boyhood, Youth, and Summertime—blends memoir with fiction, offering a fragmented yet insightful reflection on his own life. His literary achievements were recognized with the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2003.
A deeply private individual, Coetzee avoids public life and rarely gives interviews, preferring to let his work speak for itself.
Coetzee’s breakthrough novel, Waiting for the Barbarians (1980), established him as a major literary voice, while Life & Times of Michael K (1983) won him the first of his two Booker Prizes. His best-known work, Disgrace (1999), a stark and unsettling examination of post-apartheid South Africa, secured his second Booker Prize, making him the first author to win the award twice. His other notable novels include Foe, Age of Iron, The Master of Petersburg, Elizabeth Costello, and The Childhood of Jesus, many of which incorporate allegorical and metafictional elements.
Beyond fiction, Coetzee has written numerous essays and literary critiques, contributing significantly to discussions on literature, ethics, and history. His autobiographical trilogy—Boyhood, Youth, and Summertime—blends memoir with fiction, offering a fragmented yet insightful reflection on his own life. His literary achievements were recognized with the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2003.
A deeply private individual, Coetzee avoids public life and rarely gives interviews, preferring to let his work speak for itself.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
March 16, 2014
I started reading J. M. Coetzee's Stranger Shores: Essays 1986-1999 thinking, "Well, I'll just give it a try." I found myself being enthralled by the author's South African perspective of both the West and his own native land. Then, too, most of the essays were about writers with whom I wasn't familiar, largely from the Netherlands, Germany, Israel and the Middle East, and finally South Africa.
Years ago, I had read two or three of Coetzee's novels and found them interesting, particularly Waiting for the Barbarians. I am delighted to find a contemporary essayist whose work I can use to send me off in some new directions. I have already purchased Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook and am looking for a good edition of Breyten Breytenbach's Dog Heart.
It is too easy for a reader such as myself to get into a rut: I think Coetzee's Stranger Shores may be an antidote.
Years ago, I had read two or three of Coetzee's novels and found them interesting, particularly Waiting for the Barbarians. I am delighted to find a contemporary essayist whose work I can use to send me off in some new directions. I have already purchased Doris Lessing's The Golden Notebook and am looking for a good edition of Breyten Breytenbach's Dog Heart.
It is too easy for a reader such as myself to get into a rut: I think Coetzee's Stranger Shores may be an antidote.
June 23, 2015
A collection of literary criticism essays? Must be my first; well, maybe about half a century ago, in high school, I had to read a few essays when preparing for the rigorous graduation exam. Yet if the essays have been written by one of my favorite authors, J.M. Coetzee, I just had to try. "Stranger Shores. Literary Essays 1986 - 1999" totally captivates: another great work of the master. The twenty six essays deal with a wide spectrum of writers, for instance, Borges, Defoe, Dostoyevsky, Kafka, Mulisch, Oz, Rilke, Rushdie, Turgenev, and a number of South African authors and writers with roots in Africa, including Nadine Gordimer and Doris Lessing, both - like Coetzee - Nobel Prize winners.
"Stranger Shores" is a rather loose collection of essays whose common denominator is their extremely high quality: incisive depth and superb writing. Thus, in this review (characterized by lack of depth and lame writing) I will just offer somewhat random comments on a few essays with which I have stronger thematic connections because of my heritage and background. No organizing theme can be discerned in this review
The novel "In the Dutch Mountains" (from the essay "Cees Nooteboom, Novelist and Traveler") instantaneously made my To Read list. Let's quote Coetzee: "This version of the Snow Queen story constitutes the pre-text of Nooteboom's novel. But the pre-text is surrounded by a substantial frame, namely the story of how the Snow Queen story gets to be told [...]" A must read.
In the essay about R.M. Rilke ("William Gass's Rilke") Coetzee quotes the German poet's vibrant passage "We are the bees of the invisible, [...] Tremulously we gather in the honey of the visible to store up in the great golden hive of the Invisible". And that refers to the American-style mass production of items that were flooding European market in the early 1900s, items that no longer were like the originals, the ones "into which the hopes and pensiveness of our forefathers have been transfused..."
In the piece entitled "The Essays of Joseph Brodsky" Coetzee writes, among many other issues, about how Brodsky suggests to Vaclav Havel, the first president of the free Czechoslovakia, to "drop the pretense that Communism in Central Europe was imposed from abroad and acknowledge that it was the result of 'an extraordinary anthropological backslide'". Regardless of whether we agree with Brodsky or not, it quite strikes me that a South African writer, a citizen of Australia, writes with great insight about the subtle differences of opinions between Brodsky, Havel, and Solzhenitsyn.
"The Autobiography of Doris Lessing" is a fascinating essay, with strong contemporary relevance. Coetzee explores Lessing's Communist phase and emphasizes the unfashionable yet deeply moral questions she raised: Why did many Western intellectuals who supported Stalin and Stalinism believed Soviet lies against the evidence of their own eyes? And even more important "Why does no one any longer care?" Further, Coetzee praises Lessing's unwillingness to bend to the political correctness climate of the 1990s and points out that she herself rightly traces the correctness to the Party and the Party line.
To me, the first essay, "What Is A Classic?: A Lecture" stands out. Its starting point is a lecture that Thomas Stearns Eliot gave in 1944, in which he argued that the civilization of Western Europe is a single civilization that is descended from Rome, thus making Aeneid, Virgil's epic of Rome, the originary classic. Coetzee uses the example of Bach's music as "some kind of touchstone because [Bach] has passed the scrutiny of hundreds of thousands of intelligences before me, by hundreds of thousands of fellow human beings." Yet for the "most serious" answer to the question "What is a classic?" Coetzee follows the lead of Zbigniew Herbert, who - drawing from Polish history - provides a dramatic definition of a classic. Coetzee summarizes it saying that a classic is "what survives the worst of barbarism, surviving because generations of people cannot afford to let go of it and therefore hold on to it at all costs."
I can't wait to read Coetzee's other collections of essays.
Four and a half stars.
"Stranger Shores" is a rather loose collection of essays whose common denominator is their extremely high quality: incisive depth and superb writing. Thus, in this review (characterized by lack of depth and lame writing) I will just offer somewhat random comments on a few essays with which I have stronger thematic connections because of my heritage and background. No organizing theme can be discerned in this review
The novel "In the Dutch Mountains" (from the essay "Cees Nooteboom, Novelist and Traveler") instantaneously made my To Read list. Let's quote Coetzee: "This version of the Snow Queen story constitutes the pre-text of Nooteboom's novel. But the pre-text is surrounded by a substantial frame, namely the story of how the Snow Queen story gets to be told [...]" A must read.
In the essay about R.M. Rilke ("William Gass's Rilke") Coetzee quotes the German poet's vibrant passage "We are the bees of the invisible, [...] Tremulously we gather in the honey of the visible to store up in the great golden hive of the Invisible". And that refers to the American-style mass production of items that were flooding European market in the early 1900s, items that no longer were like the originals, the ones "into which the hopes and pensiveness of our forefathers have been transfused..."
In the piece entitled "The Essays of Joseph Brodsky" Coetzee writes, among many other issues, about how Brodsky suggests to Vaclav Havel, the first president of the free Czechoslovakia, to "drop the pretense that Communism in Central Europe was imposed from abroad and acknowledge that it was the result of 'an extraordinary anthropological backslide'". Regardless of whether we agree with Brodsky or not, it quite strikes me that a South African writer, a citizen of Australia, writes with great insight about the subtle differences of opinions between Brodsky, Havel, and Solzhenitsyn.
"The Autobiography of Doris Lessing" is a fascinating essay, with strong contemporary relevance. Coetzee explores Lessing's Communist phase and emphasizes the unfashionable yet deeply moral questions she raised: Why did many Western intellectuals who supported Stalin and Stalinism believed Soviet lies against the evidence of their own eyes? And even more important "Why does no one any longer care?" Further, Coetzee praises Lessing's unwillingness to bend to the political correctness climate of the 1990s and points out that she herself rightly traces the correctness to the Party and the Party line.
To me, the first essay, "What Is A Classic?: A Lecture" stands out. Its starting point is a lecture that Thomas Stearns Eliot gave in 1944, in which he argued that the civilization of Western Europe is a single civilization that is descended from Rome, thus making Aeneid, Virgil's epic of Rome, the originary classic. Coetzee uses the example of Bach's music as "some kind of touchstone because [Bach] has passed the scrutiny of hundreds of thousands of intelligences before me, by hundreds of thousands of fellow human beings." Yet for the "most serious" answer to the question "What is a classic?" Coetzee follows the lead of Zbigniew Herbert, who - drawing from Polish history - provides a dramatic definition of a classic. Coetzee summarizes it saying that a classic is "what survives the worst of barbarism, surviving because generations of people cannot afford to let go of it and therefore hold on to it at all costs."
I can't wait to read Coetzee's other collections of essays.
Four and a half stars.
September 26, 2025
Έχω λοιπόν την εντύπωση ότι ο Κούτσι υπήρξε καλύτερος δοκιμιογράφος από συγγραφέας. Το συγκεκριμένο βιβλίο έχει πολύ καλές στιγμές, και δείχνει άνθρωπο με βαθιά γνώση της λογοτεχνίας.
November 30, 2016
To write a review about Strangers Shores - essays feels a bit like a Droste: most of the essays are so close to reviews that it’s hard to distinguish between the two. That’s not implying that Coetzee doesn’t reach a certain depth like one expects in essays, but he does remain superficial now and then, notating not much more than what’s in the reviewed books and ending with a summing up of some of it’s faults. If I would condense his criticism to stars I’d say he gives most three stars.
Another thing that I noticed is the order of the essays. Though his interests range from
Tolstoy to the South African rugby championship of 1995, most of the less intellectual subjects come at the end of the book. There seems to be a need to rank Coetzee as a serious intellectual with a casual interest in more plain themes. Strangely the more popular subjects lend them very good for his way of analyzing. He has a smart eye and wide range of interests to write about someone like William Gass, but there’s always the competition with another great writer that you can read in his words. Being the great writer Coetzee is more interesting to see analyzing the lesser, like Daphne Rook – of whom I’d never heard – or Thomas Pringle. It seems also that the more local his subjects become – like Noël Mosterts book on the history of the Eastern Cape Frontier – the further back they are in the collection. This is clearly with an international audience in mind, but those essays captivate me more since I hardly know anything about them.
It’s off course nice to read essays from his point of view about big Dutch writers like Nooteboom, Mulisch and Emants, but I have the feeling they don’t hold up very well. Mulisch was the only one I got more interested in by reading Coetzee. It seems our writers have a very regional appeal and limited reach compared to other international writers Coetzee talks about. Or is it just that he sounds so authorative and is one of the few who English speakers who can read Dutch that I am impressed more than I need to be? We do need more critics from abroad judging Dutch books, that’s clear. There is something to win by joining the larger languages like English.
Another thing that I noticed is the order of the essays. Though his interests range from
Tolstoy to the South African rugby championship of 1995, most of the less intellectual subjects come at the end of the book. There seems to be a need to rank Coetzee as a serious intellectual with a casual interest in more plain themes. Strangely the more popular subjects lend them very good for his way of analyzing. He has a smart eye and wide range of interests to write about someone like William Gass, but there’s always the competition with another great writer that you can read in his words. Being the great writer Coetzee is more interesting to see analyzing the lesser, like Daphne Rook – of whom I’d never heard – or Thomas Pringle. It seems also that the more local his subjects become – like Noël Mosterts book on the history of the Eastern Cape Frontier – the further back they are in the collection. This is clearly with an international audience in mind, but those essays captivate me more since I hardly know anything about them.
It’s off course nice to read essays from his point of view about big Dutch writers like Nooteboom, Mulisch and Emants, but I have the feeling they don’t hold up very well. Mulisch was the only one I got more interested in by reading Coetzee. It seems our writers have a very regional appeal and limited reach compared to other international writers Coetzee talks about. Or is it just that he sounds so authorative and is one of the few who English speakers who can read Dutch that I am impressed more than I need to be? We do need more critics from abroad judging Dutch books, that’s clear. There is something to win by joining the larger languages like English.
January 26, 2012
Exactly how does one of the greatest living practitioners of the novel feel about other great novelists? J.M.Coetzee rarely gives interviews. So, it is a real joy to read his thoughts on literature. STRANGER SHORES: ESSAYS 1986 TO 1999 is a real gem.
It contatins 29 essays from Coetzee's lecture called 'What is a Classic?' to brilliant pieces on Kafka, Borges, Rushdie, A.S.Byatt, Caryl Philips, and Dostoevsky. Coetzee even ventures outside his obscession to dwell on photography and the Rugby World Cup of 1995.
My favourite essay is called 'The Autobiography of Dorris Lessing.' This really made me want to read one of South Africa's greatest writers. It is pleasing to read this sentence: "Lessing has never been a great stylist - she writes too fast and prunes too lightly for that." It is views like these that reveal a lot about Coetzee himself. He, as most of his readers would know, is the opposite of Lessing in terms of prose.
I would recommend this book to anyone who has a serious interst in how great novelists feel about their fellow soldiers in the battlefield of literature with a capital 'L'.
It contatins 29 essays from Coetzee's lecture called 'What is a Classic?' to brilliant pieces on Kafka, Borges, Rushdie, A.S.Byatt, Caryl Philips, and Dostoevsky. Coetzee even ventures outside his obscession to dwell on photography and the Rugby World Cup of 1995.
My favourite essay is called 'The Autobiography of Dorris Lessing.' This really made me want to read one of South Africa's greatest writers. It is pleasing to read this sentence: "Lessing has never been a great stylist - she writes too fast and prunes too lightly for that." It is views like these that reveal a lot about Coetzee himself. He, as most of his readers would know, is the opposite of Lessing in terms of prose.
I would recommend this book to anyone who has a serious interst in how great novelists feel about their fellow soldiers in the battlefield of literature with a capital 'L'.
March 4, 2020
Wow. Fantastische, sensitieve, gelaagde lezingen van andere auteurs om de vraag te beantwoorden of er zoiets bestaat als 'het klassieke', en, zo ja, wat dat dan is. Het essay over Zbigniew Herbert hoort tot het beste wat ik heb gelezen dit jaar.
July 22, 2022
Compilación de ensayos literarios en donde el autor aborda algunos libros y personalidades de la literatura universal. De carácter técnico, es un libro un poco árido, pero muy interesante ya que la estructura de los ensayos es bastante consistente y se ve que está.muy bien documentado ya que cuenta con traducciones directas de los textos, notas y referencias puntuales (aglomerados al final del libro, que a mí parecer dificultan un poco la lectura y verificación de las citas), y un índice analítico.
De los autores que habla van desde Salman Rushdie y Doris Lessing (que en el ensayo logro convencerme de echarle un ojo a su obra), hasta Dostoievski (a quien prácticamente le dedico un libro). La estructura de los ensayos más o menos va de la siguiente manera. Por lo general se habla de un autor y una obra referente del mismo, da una breve introducción biográfica del autor y habla un poco sobre la edición y el carácter de la traducción del libro y aborda un tema que es central en la obra y como se maneja en el libro o como se relaciona con el contexto del autor. La estructura me gusta, por qué siendo yo una persona un ignorante sobre la forma de como se reseña un libro ofrece un orden consistente y fácil de seguir y el tema.a tratar lo aborda desde un interés general, aunque con comentarios literarios, como los errores en las traducciones o posibles interpretaciones de la obra. Sin embargo leyendo todos los ensayos de corrido se vuelve un poco tediosa la lectura, incluso abrumadora.
De.los temas que habla son desde la relación de.los.autores y las obras con el contexto sudafricano (siendo el de esa nación creo que es.muy valioso por qué aborda comentarios y notas históricas interesantes), sobre la labor del traductor, el racismo y la discriminación, pero sobretodo sobre el carácter literario de las obras que seguro un especialista o alguien mejor informado que yo podría sacar mejor provecho y una reflexión más profunda. Desde el punto de vista de un lector no especializado, como es mi caso, siempre he creído que la lectura de este tipo de libros y el mérito que tiene es el de poder introducir al lector a obras y autores desconocidos y ofrecer un contexto para que uno mismo vaya pensando y sacando sus propias conclusiones o pueda repensar obras ya leídas, y en ese sentido creo que este libro es extraordinario y cumple con dicho objetivo, sin embargo si se vuelve.oesafo por momentos. Lectura recomendable para estudiantes de literatura o quienes desean profundizar en el contexto de las obras que aquí se marcan, y a menos de que un lector casual quiera hacer un esfuerzo importante para documentarse y expandir sus panoramas literarios (que creo que es algo que todos los lectores deberían intentar hacer) creo que está lectura puede ser un poco monótona y pesada, pero lo vale.
De los autores que habla van desde Salman Rushdie y Doris Lessing (que en el ensayo logro convencerme de echarle un ojo a su obra), hasta Dostoievski (a quien prácticamente le dedico un libro). La estructura de los ensayos más o menos va de la siguiente manera. Por lo general se habla de un autor y una obra referente del mismo, da una breve introducción biográfica del autor y habla un poco sobre la edición y el carácter de la traducción del libro y aborda un tema que es central en la obra y como se maneja en el libro o como se relaciona con el contexto del autor. La estructura me gusta, por qué siendo yo una persona un ignorante sobre la forma de como se reseña un libro ofrece un orden consistente y fácil de seguir y el tema.a tratar lo aborda desde un interés general, aunque con comentarios literarios, como los errores en las traducciones o posibles interpretaciones de la obra. Sin embargo leyendo todos los ensayos de corrido se vuelve un poco tediosa la lectura, incluso abrumadora.
De.los temas que habla son desde la relación de.los.autores y las obras con el contexto sudafricano (siendo el de esa nación creo que es.muy valioso por qué aborda comentarios y notas históricas interesantes), sobre la labor del traductor, el racismo y la discriminación, pero sobretodo sobre el carácter literario de las obras que seguro un especialista o alguien mejor informado que yo podría sacar mejor provecho y una reflexión más profunda. Desde el punto de vista de un lector no especializado, como es mi caso, siempre he creído que la lectura de este tipo de libros y el mérito que tiene es el de poder introducir al lector a obras y autores desconocidos y ofrecer un contexto para que uno mismo vaya pensando y sacando sus propias conclusiones o pueda repensar obras ya leídas, y en ese sentido creo que este libro es extraordinario y cumple con dicho objetivo, sin embargo si se vuelve.oesafo por momentos. Lectura recomendable para estudiantes de literatura o quienes desean profundizar en el contexto de las obras que aquí se marcan, y a menos de que un lector casual quiera hacer un esfuerzo importante para documentarse y expandir sus panoramas literarios (que creo que es algo que todos los lectores deberían intentar hacer) creo que está lectura puede ser un poco monótona y pesada, pero lo vale.
April 10, 2016
I love Coetzee. He is one of my top three favorite living authors and his books have greatly influenced me. Because of this, I had high hopes for his literary essays. But instead of discussing anything noteworthy to fans of the author (i.e., his assessment of the current state of literature, the evolution as he sees it of storytelling in the last few decades), these essays deal with obscure topics that mainly focus on other modern literary critiques. If you want to read critiques of critiques, this is for you. I was never able to become invested in anything the essays focused on and gave up before finishing, which I almost never do, and certainly not for one of my favorite authors. Very disappointing.
Want to read
November 22, 2014Essays over de romankunst aan de hand van "klassieke" romans.
Read
April 1, 2020Not my cup of tea. First essay is a dry writing on what is a classic. Most of the rest of the essays are about authors I am not familiar with so I quit.
August 27, 2023
He leído mucho a Coetzee pero no sus ensayos o más precisamente, críticas literarias que me las habían recomendado. Recordemos que Coetzee es profesor de literatura en la Universidad del Cabo, es crítico literario y es lingüista. Las críticas de autores que admiro (Lessing, Borges, Turgueniev, Dostoievski) están correctas pero no me han iluminado. Las otras, de autores que en muchos casos desconozco totalmente (Oz, Cees Nooteboom, Thomas Pringle), no me dieron demasiadas ganas de leerlos. Hay un énfasis especial en el trabajo del traductor que puede ser interesante para algunos lectores, no fue mi caso. En términos generales, aunque disfruto mucho los ensayos y críticas literarias, las de Coetzee no son mis preferidas. Las encuentro pesadas, provistas de información pero con falta de alma. El opuesto de los prólogos Borgianos que me fascinan, llenos de alma y a veces increíblemente desprovistos de información.
August 20, 2025
Literary & social discourses that carry stong intuition and reveal a - beyond stiff mainstream scholarship - character that took the pains and extended his proclivity to bring a well- polished theory to his audience, away from unnecessary additions and plagiarism.
The greatest chunk of the book is dealing with certain writers' accomplishments and physiognomy and how they did unfold in time , while in the last hundred pages he focuses on his native land writers , political personas, and historical entities that moulded the luck of South Africa.
It is telling that his corpus is extended and finely contemplated.
He is an attractive stylist and a soul searcher at the same moment.
He's in addition a source for further reading to people that will feel affinity with his subject, namely politics, psychology and the art of fiction writing.
A joy to delve at
The greatest chunk of the book is dealing with certain writers' accomplishments and physiognomy and how they did unfold in time , while in the last hundred pages he focuses on his native land writers , political personas, and historical entities that moulded the luck of South Africa.
It is telling that his corpus is extended and finely contemplated.
He is an attractive stylist and a soul searcher at the same moment.
He's in addition a source for further reading to people that will feel affinity with his subject, namely politics, psychology and the art of fiction writing.
A joy to delve at
April 20, 2018
The title: I liked that. But it turns out it's not my kind of lit crit. I remember preferring Calvino, Gracq & Kundera: they write about what they love. Didn't feel that with Coetzee.
I had read and studied only 2 of the authors he wrote about (Kafka & Musil), vaguely come across a few more during my studies (Richardson, Defoe, Borges), read Lessing & Rushdie by myself, had heard of another handful (Dostoevsky, Gordimer, Amos Oz, Mahfouz)... and became aware of the existence of a few more (the Dutch & lesser known South African writers) through reading the book.
He's a harsh critic and seldom made me want to read what he was writing about.
I had read and studied only 2 of the authors he wrote about (Kafka & Musil), vaguely come across a few more during my studies (Richardson, Defoe, Borges), read Lessing & Rushdie by myself, had heard of another handful (Dostoevsky, Gordimer, Amos Oz, Mahfouz)... and became aware of the existence of a few more (the Dutch & lesser known South African writers) through reading the book.
He's a harsh critic and seldom made me want to read what he was writing about.
April 12, 2024
Lang geleden dat ik dit werk nog eens las. Ik herinnerde me niet dat Coetzee zo streng was. In mijn herinnering was hij milder, maar een herlezing op oudere leeftijd deed me anders kijken.
Desalniettemin weet hij't helder te brengen en houdt het steek. Ik vroeg me af wat't voor de (Nederlandse) auteurs geweest moet zijn om Coetzee's oordeel over hun werk te moeten lezen.
Desalniettemin weet hij't helder te brengen en houdt het steek. Ik vroeg me af wat't voor de (Nederlandse) auteurs geweest moet zijn om Coetzee's oordeel over hun werk te moeten lezen.
February 23, 2018
uneven, but interesting.
May 22, 2020
I read only the essays about author I knew and they were interesting but very difficult.
Ho letto solo i saggi sugli autori che conoscevo ed erano piuttosto difficili, ma interessanti.
Ho letto solo i saggi sugli autori che conoscevo ed erano piuttosto difficili, ma interessanti.
March 22, 2025
I liked the essays on Breyten Breytenbach, Daniel Defoe, Gordimer/Turgenev, and Doris Lessing
October 15, 2025
to follow the animals, or the smells of the wind, or the figures of his imagination, into an uncertain future
March 7, 2013
Análisis muy sobrios por parte de J. M. Coetzee, sobre los contextos afectivos y socio-políticos en los que se desenvolvieron los diversos autores -la mayoría surafricanos- que nos presenta.
Un viaje por diversas costas que nos enseñan mucho sobre las disputas de derechas e izquierdas, liberalismos y conservadurismos que han marcado los últimos siglos sin someterse a las pasiones; y a su vez, un viaje que le enseña al extranjero un poco de la historia desconocida de Suráfrica.
Un viaje por diversas costas que nos enseñan mucho sobre las disputas de derechas e izquierdas, liberalismos y conservadurismos que han marcado los últimos siglos sin someterse a las pasiones; y a su vez, un viaje que le enseña al extranjero un poco de la historia desconocida de Suráfrica.
June 8, 2015
Insightful essays that perhaps aren't as academic as those found in his previous essay collections, but they are just as challenging and insightful. I don't know where he has the time to read all of this and form such tight opinions (ouch to Caryl Phillips and AS Byatt; well done Breyten Breytenbach [hmm...] and Aharon Appelfeld). The questions of 'What is a Classic?' and how to film Richardson's Clarissa are of particular interest.
December 29, 2024
First essay, "What is a Classic", and the second, on Robert Louis Stevenson, are great. I also enjoyed the essays on Musil's Diaries, Dostoevsky and his biographer Joseph Frank, and Joseph Brodsky's essay collection "Less Than One". The rest are essentially book reviews, or commentary on South Africa, and were of lesser interest.
Coetzee writes intelligently with a clear and clean style, especially in his nonfiction, and it is a pleasure to read.
Coetzee writes intelligently with a clear and clean style, especially in his nonfiction, and it is a pleasure to read.
July 6, 2013
Here is a fine book of literary criticism by a true scholar. Coetzee displays wide and deep knowledge of novelists and poets from around the world and from many eras. It was wonderful to read a critic who obviously loves literature and cares enough about his subject to know what he's talking about and to give the works and their authors a fair shake.
February 1, 2016
More than a bit of a bore compared to my earlier read of Inner Workings: Literary Essays 2000-2005 which was fantastic. Nothing much of interest to me here keeping me glued to the pages.
August 20, 2011
Fare la recensione a un libro che raccoglie le recensioni di Coetzee, premio Nobel della letteratura, bhé mi sembra un tantino presuntuoso.
Non posso fare altro che consigliare di leggerlo.
Si impara tantissimo.
Non posso fare altro che consigliare di leggerlo.
Si impara tantissimo.
August 26, 2014
Apart from the first essay, `What is a Classic`(which is also the best piece imo), these essays are really more highly specific book reviews than anything else. Still, came across some writers I would like to read from Coetzee`s reviews, and a few interesting points on some familiar writers.
October 15, 2007
Heran nggak senikmat fiksinya...
March 29, 2012
Coetzee's essay on Rushdie is the greatest essay written in the last 30 years bar none. Very few can scold Rushdie like a school boy and be taken seriously.
June 10, 2012
Confirms my impression of Coetzee as "hard" - the essays provide information but aren't particularly illuminating, if you compare him to other writer-critics like Josipovici and Kundera.
Read
September 21, 2012If you want to know anything about Dutch and African literature it's a good start.
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