Winner of the Booker McConnell Prize

COETZEE, J. M. ~ Life & Times of Michael K : Double Signed by the Author : With A Booker Prize Shortlist Bookmark

Ravan Press, Johannesburg : 1983

The First printing published by Ravan Press, Johannesburg in 2017. Original black publisher's boards, lined and lettered in gilt to spine; together in the wrapper, which features a photograph by Marcus Wilson-Smith, and a black and white photograph of the author by Geraldine Farley to the lower flap; The BOOK is near fine, just a touch rubbed at spine tips; with bookseller sticker to the lower rear paste-down; The WRAPPER just a touch toned to the spine with some very light fading to the lower spine end colouring, else near fine. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. This is the first issue of the Booker prize winning novel which was printed and bound in the UK by 'Biddles', for the South African publisher, The Ravan Press. This edition precedes the British edition, which was published a little later in the same year for Secker and Warburg, having also been printed and bound by 'Biddles'. This copy double signed (without dedication) by the Nobel Laureate author, both to a tipped-in bookplate, and directly to title page. This signed bookplate was provided by The Oak Tree Fine Press. 'J M Coetzee was instrumental in establishing Oak Tree Fine Press and has generously signed many books to assist our efforts. The provenance of the signature is thus guaranteed' (Oak Tree Fine Press). A Booker McConnell Prize bookmark is also loosely inserted. This title won author J. M. Coetzee his first Booker Prize when it was published by Secker & Warburg, London later in the same year. This powerful novel based around the titular protagonist who makes a difficult journey through war-torn South Africa with his mother, to a better life in the countryside. Set during apartheid in the 1970s/80s, the harrowing tale follows the arduous trek and the various hardships that Michael K suffers along the way, including imprisonment, bereavement, starvation, and displacement, and some critics have drawn comparisons between Michael and Josef K. in Kafka's 'The Trial', who both depict characters put in unexpected positions of great hardship. As one 'New York Times' reviewer wrote upon the book's publication, "One comes away feeling that one's eye has been sharpened, one's hearing vivified, not only for the bright proliferations of nature, but for human unexpectedness." In 2023 'Life and Times of Michael K' was adapted into a well-reviewed play by Lara Foot, in which the characters were depicted as puppets, created and designed by Adrian Kohler. In 1999 Coetzee was awarded the prize a second time with 'Disgrace', making him the first author to have won twice. "He thought of himself not as something heavy that left tracks behind it, but if anything, as a speck upon the surface of an earth too deeply asleep to notice the scratch of ant feet, the rasp of butterfly teeth, the tumbling of dust.” Scarce with these attributes.

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Near Fine
JACKET: Near Fine