Coetzee was born in Cape Town in February 1940, and grew up in the vast desert and semi-desert area of the Cape province known as the Karoo. His parents were professional people (his father was a lawyer; his mother a schoolteacher), and his family spoke English at home, though with other relatives he conversed in Afrikaans. He studied English and Mathematics at the University of Cape Town, graduating in 1961, and in 1962 he left for England where he worked as a computer programmer for four years. During this time he wrote a thesis on Ford Madox Ford for an MA which was awarded by the University of Cape Town in 1963.

In 1965 Coetzee moved to the University of Texas at Austin to write a doctoral dissertation on the style of Samuel

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First published 28 October 2000

Citation: Head, Dominic. "J. M. Coetzee". The Literary Encyclopedia. 28 October 2000.
[http://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=934, accessed 20 November 2009.]