Winner of the Booker McConnell Prize

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

Secker & Warburg, London : 1983

The First UK printing published by Secker & Warburg, London in 1983. 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 in near fine condition, just a touch bruised to the spine tips; ; The WRAPPER with a hint of toning, else also fine. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. First UK printing bound in the UK by Biddles Ltd. This copy double signed (without dedication) by the Nobel Laureate author, both to a tipped-in bookplate, and directly to the 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 scarce Booker McConnell Prize shortlist Bookmark is also loosely inserted. This first title won author J. M. Coetzee the Booker Prize. His 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 the prize 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