Author guide
J. M. Coetzee Books in Order
John Maxwell Coetzee was born in Cape Town in 1940 and has written novels, novellas, fictionalized memoirs, essays, literary criticism, short stories, lectures, and correspondence. His fiction is noted for its ethical, political, and formally experimental engagement with colonialism, apartheid, language, animal rights, authorship, and the limits of representation. He won the Booker Prize for Life & Times of Michael K and Disgrace, and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2003.
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J. M. Coetzee's Newest Book
Not sure where to begin?
Start with one of these
Disgrace
A concise, widely representative standalone novel and an accessible entry into Coetzee’s ethical and political fiction.
Boyhood: Scenes from a Provincial Life
The natural starting point for the Scenes from Provincial Life trilogy.
The Lives of Animals
A compact introduction to Coetzee’s essayistic and philosophical writing.
Read in order
Books by series
trilogy · complete
Scenes from Provincial Life
A trilogy of fictionalized memoirs comprising Boyhood, Youth, and Summertime.
trilogy · complete
The Jesus Trilogy
A trilogy following David, Simón, and Inés in an allegorical Spanish-speaking world.
Outside the series
Bibliography by category
Novels (12)
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DusklandsAmazon ↗novella-collection · 1974
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In the Heart of the CountryAmazon ↗novel · 1977
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Waiting for the BarbariansAmazon ↗novel · 1980
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Life & Times of Michael KAmazon ↗novel · 1983
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FoeAmazon ↗novel · 1986
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Age of IronAmazon ↗novel · 1990
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The Master of PetersburgAmazon ↗novel · 1994
- DisgraceAmazon ↗
novel · 1999
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Elizabeth Costello: Eight LessonsAmazon ↗novel · 2003
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Slow ManAmazon ↗novel · 2005
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Diary of a Bad YearAmazon ↗novel · 2007
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The Good Story: Exchanges on Truth, Fiction and PsychotherapyAmazon ↗nonfiction · 2015
Short fiction (2)
Essays and speeches (11)
- Truth in AutobiographyAmazon ↗
essay · 1984
- White Writing: On the Culture of Letters in South AfricaAmazon ↗
essay-collection · 1988
- Doubling the Point: Essays and InterviewsAmazon ↗
essay-collection · 1992
- Giving Offense: Essays on CensorshipAmazon ↗
essay-collection · 1996
- What Is Realism?Amazon ↗
essay · 1997
- The Lives of AnimalsAmazon ↗
essay-collection · 1999
- The Humanities in AfricaAmazon ↗
lecture · 2001
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Stranger Shores: Literary Essays, 1986–1999Amazon ↗essay-collection · 2001
- Lecture and Speech of Acceptance, upon the Award of the Nobel Prize, Delivered in Stockholm in December 2003Amazon ↗
lecture · 2004
- Inner Workings: Literary Essays, 2000–2005Amazon ↗
essay-collection · 2007
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Late EssaysAmazon ↗essay-collection · 2017
Other (1)
- Here and Now: Letters, 2008–2011Amazon ↗
letters · 2013