Coetzee 'heir to Kafka'
2003-10-02 16:12
Johannesburg - South Africa's second Nobel literature prize winner, JM Coetzee was "the great heir to Kafka", said Stephen Watson, head of the University of Cape Town's English Department on Thursday.
John Maxwell Coetzee's accolade was announced at 13:00 on Thursday by the Swedish Academy.
"He was a very valued colleague of mine who taught here for 30 years," said Watson. "He taught American and English literature and linguistics."
Asked to comment on Coetzee's particular literary style, Watson said: "He is in any terms the great heir to Kafka, whether focusing on South Africa or places of no location. He manages to bring into focus, as few of his contemporaries writers have done, some of the more imponderable questions of existence."
Franz Kafka (1883 - 1924), a Czech, was an existentialist whose work, with its themes of alienation from society and a general anxiety over just being alive, had a strong influence on European intellectuals.
Watson said Coetzee related extremely well to students during his tenure at UCT.
Much admired
"He was too formidable a presence to be popular in the usual sense, but he was much admired."
Watson's comment added to the excitement that came from Coetzee's publishers.
Stephen Johnson, MD of Random House SA, which distributes his books - which are published by the same company in the United Kingdom - said the company was "very excited and thrilled".
"For the author there is extraordinary prestige being a Nobel Laureate. The man is a genius. He says so much with so few words."
Johnson said Coetzee relocated to Australia some time ago and apart from this latest accolade, had also won Britain's premier literary honour, the Booker Prize.
The academic said the newly-appointed Nobel prize winner enjoyed cycling and did so frequently, all over the world.
"For someone who professed to hate travelling, he spent a lot of time in the air," said Watson.
Coetzee joins Nadine Gordimer in winning the prize. She took the accolade in 1991.
- SAPA