J.M. Coetzee became the first author to win the Booker twice with this tale set in post-apartheid South Africa, where a professor’s complacency contributes to his utter downfall
By J.M. Coetzee
The Booker Prize 1999
J.M. Coetzee became the first author to win twice, following up his 1983 victory with Disgrace, an uncomfortable story of post-apartheid South Africa and sexual politics.
The novel, which combines heavyweight themes and spare prose, is widely regarded as one of the most significant works of modern fiction, although Coetzee has spoken little about the book or the motivation behind it. Two years after the win Coetzee moved to Australia and shortly afterwards was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
The judges later had a public falling out when one of them, John Sutherland, ignored the omertà of the judging conclave and claimed there was a gender split over the final decision.
Disgrace
Winner of The Booker Prize 1999
- By
- J.M. Coetzee
- Published by
- Secker & Warburg
J.M. Coetzee became the first author to win the Booker twice with this tale set in post-apartheid South Africa, where a professor’s complacency contributes to his utter downfall
The shortlist
Anita Desai’s intricate family drama examines the different ways in which two cultures assuage human hungers, desires and appetites
By Anita Desai
Michael Frayn’s ingeniously comic art thriller about a young philosophy lecturer’s obsessive hunt for a missing masterpiece
Andrew O’Hagan’s poignant and powerful debut novel: a moving examination of memories and loss, set against Glasgow’s changing urban landscape
Ahdaf Soueif expertly weaves together two tales of love across different cultures and generations that reveal startling parallels with each other
By Ahdaf Soueif
Three generations of women arrive at an uneasy peace after years of strife, in Colm Tóibín’s resonant and complex family drama
By Colm Tóibín
