Man of Few Words Everyone chases success, but not
all of US want to be famous. South African writer John Maxwell
Coetzee is (1) for keeping himself to himself.
When the 63-year-old was named the 2003 Nobel Prize winner for literature
earlier this month, reporters were warned that they would find him "particularly
difficult to (2) . Coetzee lives in
Australia but spends part of the year teaching at the University of Chicago. He
seemed (3) by the news he won the USS 1.3 million prize.
"It came as a complete surprise. I wasn’t even aware they were due to make the
announcement," he said. His (4) of privacy
led to doubts as to whether Coetzee will attend the prize, giving in Stockholm,
Sweden, on December 10. But despite being described as
(5) to track down, the critics agree that his writing is easy to get
to know. Born .in Cape Town, South Africa, to all
English-speaking family, Coetzee (6) his breakthrough in
1980 with the novel ’Waiting for the Barbarians. He (7) his
place among the world’s leading writers with two Booker Prize victories,
Britain’s highest honour for novels. He first (8) in 1983
for the "Life and Times of Michael K ". And his second title came in 1999 for
"Disgrace". A major theme in his work is South Africa’s former
apartheid system, which divided whites from blacks. (9)
with the problems of violence, crime and racial division that still exist in
the country, his books have enabled ordinary people to understand apartheid
(10) within. "I have always been more
interested in the past than the future," he said in a rare interview. "The
past (11) its shadow over the present. I hope I have made
one or two people think (12) about whether they want to
forget the past completely." In fact tiffs purity in his writing
seems to be (13) in his personal life. Coetzee is a
vegetarian, a cyclist rather than a motorist and doesn’t drink
alcohol. But what he has (14) to
literature, culture and the people of South Africa is far greater than the
things he has given up. "In looking at weakness and failure in life," the Nobel
prize judging panel said, "Coetzee’s work (15) the divine
spark in man." privacy n. 独居；不受干拢的自由 I
barbarian n. & adj. (野蛮人的),残暴的人(的) Apartheid n,
种族隔离;种族隔制 divine adj. 神圣的 panel n.
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