(2009) is the third volume of J. M. Coetzee’s autobiographical trilogy begun with

(1999) and

(2002). As is common to all three volumes, the technical approach employed in

is strangely divorced from the familiar autobiographical mode in which the author simply outlines a series of notably events from her/his life in the first-person past-tense. The premise behind the text is that the “Coetzee” of

has died sometime after the completion of

(2007) – instead of a memoir, the text purports to be a collection of materials assembled by an English academic named only as “Vincent”, which reads as an unfinished manuscript for an…

2780 words

Citation: Hyde, Franklyn. "Summertime". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 14 February 2011 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=28550, accessed 25 April 2024.]