J. M. Coetzee - by Anthony Uhlmann (Paperback)

About the Book

"In this major reassessment of J. M. Coetzee, which looks at Coetzee's full writing career thus far, Anthony Uhlmann illuminates the intellectual and philosophical interests that drive Coetzee's writing. In doing so, Uhlmann makes the case for Coetzee as an important and original thinker in his right. Whilst looking at Coetzee's writing career, from his dissertation through to The Schooldays of Jesus (2016), and interpreting running themes and scenarios, style, and evolving attitudes to form and genre, Uhlmann also offers revealing glimpses, informed by archival research, of Coetzee's writing process. Among the main themes that Uhlmann draws out from Coetzee's writing, and which remain highly relevant today, are the ideas that there is truth in fiction, or that fiction can provide valuable understandings of real world problems, and there are also fictions of the truth: that we are surrounded, in our everyday lives, with stories we tell ourselves which we wish to believe are true"--

Book Synopsis

J. M. Coetzee: Truth, Meaning, Fiction illuminates the intellectual and philosophical interests that drive Coetzee's writing. In doing so, it makes the case for Coetzee as an important and original thinker in his own right. Whilst looking at Coetzee's writing career, from his dissertation through to The Schooldays of Jesus (2016), and interpreting running themes and scenarios, style and evolving attitudes to literary form, Anthony Uhlmann also offers revealing glimpses, informed by archival research, of Coetzee's writing process.

Among the main themes that Uhlmann sees in Coetzee's writing, and which remains highly relevant today, is the awareness that there is truth in fiction, or that fiction can provide valuable insights into real world problems, and that there are also fictions of the truth: that we are surrounded, in our everyday lives, by stories we wish to believe are true. J. M. Coetzee: Truth, Meaning, Fiction offers a revealing new account of one of arguably our most important contemporary writers.

Review Quotes

"Without question the best informed book on Coetzee's oeuvre, J. M. Coetzee: Truth, Meaning, Fiction approaches Coetzee in the newest and most revolutionary light, blending philosophy, archives and manuscripts, ethology, and epistemology. A genuine theoretical and critical coup, this is a brilliant volume that is also an audacious theory of knowledge." --Bruno Clément, Emeritus Professor at Université Paris 8, France, and former President of the Collège international de philosophie

"In this courageous study, Anthony Uhlmann deftly engages the formidable genius of J. M. Coetzee, tracing the paths of truth in fiction through the demonstration of the veridical power of emotion and imagination in literature. This erudite work is an exemplar of provocative thinking in and through fiction." --Moira Gatens, Challis Professor of Philosophy, The University of Sydney, Australia

"The depth of his thinking and erudition, combined with his extraordinary philosophical and literary agility, allow Uhlmann to work deep into the difficult terrain that is the province of the Coetzean experience. In doing so, he brings Coetzee's writing to life, as only the best criticism can. This book will change the way we read Coetzee; it will also change the way we understand how literature thinks." --Peter Boxall, Professor of English, University of Sussex, UK

About the Author

Anthony Uhlmann is Director of the Writing and Society Research Centre at Western Sydney University, Australia. He is the author of three books, including Samuel Beckett and the Philosophical Image (2006) and Thinking in Literature (Bloomsbury, 2011). He was shortlisted for the Australian University Heads of English Prize for Literary Scholarship for 2020.