WRITER

J. M. Coetzee

1940 - Today

Photo of J. M. Coetzee

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John Maxwell Coetzee FRSL OMG (born 9 February 1940) is a South African and Australian novelist, essayist, linguist, translator and recipient of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature. He is one of the most critically acclaimed and decorated authors in the English language. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of J. M. Coetzee has received more than 1,964,105 page views. His biography is available in 93 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 90 in 2019). J. M. Coetzee is the 324th most popular writer (down from 307th in 2019), the 6th most popular biography from South Africa and the 2nd most popular South African Writer.

J. M. Coetzee is most famous for his novel Disgrace, which was the 1999 winner of the Booker Prize.

Memorability Metrics

  • 2.0M

    Page Views (PV)

  • 69.76

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 93

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 8.75

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 4.90

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Notable Works

Foe
1986
Boyhood
1997
Waiting for the Barbarians
1980
Life & times of Michael K
1983
Youth
London (England)
A searing portrait of a young colonial in early 1960s London -- from the two-time winner of the Booker Prize. Youth’s narrator, a student in 1950s South Africa, has long been plotting an escape from his native country. Studying mathematics, reading poetry, saving money, he tries to ensure that when he arrives in the real world he will be prepared to experience life to its full intensity, and transform it into art. Arriving at last in London, however, he finds neither poetry nor romance. Instead he succumbs to the monotony of life as a computer programmer from which random, loveless affairs offer no relief. Devoid of inspiration, he stops writing and begins a dark pilgrimage in which he is continually tested and continually found wanting. Youth is a remarkable portrait of a consciousness turning in on itself. J.M. Coetzee explores a young man’s struggle to find his way in the world, with tenderness and a fierce clarity.
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Among WRITERS

Among writers, J. M. Coetzee ranks 324 out of 7,302. Before him are Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, Michael Ende, Czesław Miłosz, Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, Archilochus, and Friedrich Schlegel. After him are France Prešeren, Peter Drucker, Ève Curie, Pär Lagerkvist, André Malraux, and Théophile Gautier.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1940, J. M. Coetzee ranks 20. Before him are Qaboos bin Said al Said, Bartholomew I of Constantinople, Frank Zappa, Wangari Maathai, Gao Xingjian, and Muhammad Yunus. After him are Carlos Slim, Joseph Brodsky, Michel Temer, Saparmurat Niyazov, Brian De Palma, and Martin Sheen.

Others Born in 1940

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In South Africa

Among people born in South Africa, J. M. Coetzee ranks 6 out of 454. Before him are Nelson Mandela (1918), J. R. R. Tolkien (1892), Elon Musk (1971), Miriam Makeba (1932), and Sarah Baartman (1788). After him are F. W. de Klerk (1936), Nadine Gordimer (1923), Shaka (1787), Desmond Tutu (1931), Christiaan Barnard (1922), and Cyril Ramaphosa (1952).

Others born in South Africa

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Among WRITERS In South Africa

Among writers born in South Africa, J. M. Coetzee ranks 2. Before him are J. R. R. Tolkien (1892). After him are Nadine Gordimer (1923), Peter Abrahams (1919), André Brink (1935), Ronald Harwood (1934), Laurence Oliphant (1829), Laurens van der Post (1906), Breyten Breytenbach (1939), Deon Meyer (1958), Ingrid Jonker (1933), and Alan Paton (1903).

South African born Writers

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