J. M. Coetzee
J. M. Coetzee
John Maxwell "J. M." Coetzeeis a South African novelist, essayist, linguist, translator and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature. He relocated to Australia in 2002 and lives in Adelaide. He became an Australian citizen in 2006...
NationalitySouth African
ProfessionAuthor
Date of Birth9 February 1940
world
It is a world of words that creates a world of things.
different consciousness humans
The mode of consciousness of nonhuman species is quite different from human consciousness.
belief unbelief
Unbelief is a belief.
life hero character
Become major, Paul. Live like a hero. That's what the classics teach us. Be a main character. Otherwise what is life for?
love-is light beloved
Truth is not spoken in anger. Truth is spoken, if it ever comes to be spoken, in love. The gaze of love is not deluded. It sees what is best in the beloved even when what is best in the beloved finds it hard to emerge into the light.
reading lexicon may
The masters of information have forgotten about poetry, where words may have a meaning quite different from what the lexicon says, where the metaphoric spark is always one jump ahead of the decoding function, where another, unforeseen reading is always possible.
book sea frozen
A book should be an axe to chop open the frozen sea inside us.
knowledge barbarians too-much
I know somewhat too much; and from this knowledge, once one has been infected, there seems to be no recovering.
desire coins language
Words are coin. Words alienate. Language is no medium for desire. Desire is rapture, not exchange.
thinking ready-to-die ready
I don't think we are ready to die, any of us, not without being escorted.
falling-in-love sight firsts
In my experience poetry speaks to you either at first sight or not at all. A flash of revelation and a flash of response. Like lightning. Like falling in love.
ignorance certain blindness
We must cultivate, all of us, a certain ignorance, a certain blindness, or society will not be tolerable.
womens-beauty world doe
Because a women's beauty does not belong to her alone. It is a part of the bounty she brings into the world. She has a duty to share it.
failing when-all-else-fails
When all else fails, philosophize.