J. M. Coetzee won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2003 and is the author of twenty-two books, which have been translated into many languages. He was the first author to twice win the Booker Prize. A native of South Africa, he now lives in Adelaide, Australia.
“[The Schooldays of Jesus is] a kind of fusion genre blending the
energy of philosophical dialogue, the warmth and unprogrammed humor
of father-son repartee, the emotional potency of a family romance
and finally the uncanny suggestion of allegory (womb as ship, birth
as disembarkation). The result is rich, dense, often amusing and,
above all, full of inner tension and suspense.”—New York Times Book
Review
“Freed from literary convention, Coetzee writes not to provide
answers, but to ask great questions.” —The Economist
“The Schooldays of Jesus is a powerful novel that steamrolls
through the reader’s mind with many striking ideas and beliefs.
Propelled by the battle between two different philosophies, the
philosophy of the higher realm of passion and fantasy and the
philosophy of the orderly, measurable world of rationality, The
Schooldays of Jesus explores a striking quest for meaning.”—New
York Journal of Books
“Coetzee has an impeccable ear for the tender patter between a
curious child and a conscientious father figure who never wants to
lose his patience . . . There’s no denying the haunting quality of
Coetzee’s measured prose, his ability to suspend ordinary events in
a world just a few degrees away from our own." —The Washington
Post
“Coetzee delivers a beautiful sequel in The Schooldays of Jesus . .
. They are tender, supple works written by a man who engages with
the world in a range of moods: from the serious political and
ethical thrust of his South African novels to the artistically
playful temper of his late style . . . pure poetry.”—Charleston
Post and Courier
“Many scenes have the qualities of miniature Socratic dialogues.
Their pleasures are pure, as Coetzee has cleared away modern
prejudices and stripped his characters’ philosophical conversations
to a skeletal core . . . there’s a stark beauty to these novels of
ideas and the haunting images that infuse them: a young boy
pondering a bird with a broken wing, a beautiful woman turned blue
by death, an old man trying to dance.” —New York Magazine
“As compelling, and confounding, as its predecessor.” —Booklist
(starred)
Praise for J.M. Coetzee and The Childhood of Jesus
“[The Childhood of Jesus] plunges us at once into a mysterious and
dreamlike terrain. . . . A Kafka-inspired parable of the quest for
meaning itself.” —Joyce Carol Oates, The New York Times Book Review
(front page)
“A return to form . . . [Coetzee’s] most brisk and dazzling book.”
—Benjamin Lytal, The Daily Beast
“Compelling—eerie, tautly written.” —Los Angeles Times
“[Coetzee] is a consummate withholder, one of the great masters of
the unsaid and the inexplicit.” —The New York Review of Books
“Gripping from the very first page.” —Bookforum
“[Coetzee’s] great talent has always been to make the reader . . .
feel as though he is writing for her alone, challenging her to ask
herself the same questions he puts to his characters. . . . The
Childhood of Jesus . . . explores the enduring question of what a
just and compassionate world might look like.” —The Nation
“[Coetzee] uses his icy, pitch-perfect prose to create a
mysterious, Kafkaesque world. . . . . Utterly enigmatic.” —Mother
Jones (Best Books of 2013)
“[The Childhood of Jesus] is the story of a boy named Davíd. . . .
His character is both uniquely and universally profound. In one
moment, he is like no child to have ever existed. In the next
moment, he captures perfectly the essence of all children,
everywhere.” —The Atlantic (Best Books Read This Year)
“The Childhood of Jesus—this cryptic, mythic, haunting fable—ranks
among J. M. Coetzee’s best.” —Chicago Tribune
“Captivating and provocative . . . Coetzee’s precise prose is at
once rich and austere, lean and textured, deceptively
straightforward and yet expansive, as he considers what is
required, not just of the body, but by the heart.” —Publishers
Weekly (starred review)
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