LIFE & TIMES OF MICHAEL K.

London: Secker & Warburg, 1983. First Edition, third impression. Cloth. Fine/Near Fine. SIGNED by the Author on the title page and INSCRIBED by him to Greg Gatenby, 8vo (8 7/8"x 5 3/4"), black textured cloth with gold lettering on spine, Mylar-protected photographic dust jacket (unclipped) with purple negative image of a bearded man wearing a hat by Marcus Wilson-Smith, [vi] + 250 pages. SIGNED by the author on the title page and INSCRIBED by the reclusive author to Greg Gatenby with "Best wishes." Gatenby is a Canadian author, literary impresario, and founder of the International Festival of Authors. He was instrumental in securing the notoriously private Coetzee's participation in the Festival in 1984. John Maxwell Coetzee (born 1940) is a South African-born novelist-turned-Australian. He is also a very distinguished essayist, linguist, and translator. He won the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature. Its press release cited his "well-crafted composition, pregnant dialogue and analytical brilliance," while focusing on the moral nature of his work. Among many other honors, Coetzee has twice won the BOOKER PRIZE: once in 1983 for LIFE & TIMES OF MICHAEL K. This novel is a story of a man named Michael K, who makes an arduous journey from Cape Town to his mother's rural birthplace amid a fictitious civil war during the apartheid era. As an outsider who finds his place in life as a humble gardner, he believes that, "A man must live so that he leaves no trace of his living."--Wikipedia adapted A SPLENDID SIGNED copy with a fine literary association. Tight, bright, clean copy in a Near Fine unclipped and sharp dust jacket with a trace of edgewear. Minor bump to spine extremities.