Here, for the first time in one volume, is J. M. Coetzee's majestic trilogy of fictionalised memoir, Boyhood, Youth and Summertime. Scenes from Provincial Life opens in a small town in the South Africa of the 1940s. We meet a young boy who, at home, is ill at ease with his father and stifled by his mother's unconditional love. At school he passes every test that is set for him, but he remains wary of his fellow pupils, especially the rough Afrikaners. As a student of mathematics in Cape Town he readies himself to escape his ...
Read More
Here, for the first time in one volume, is J. M. Coetzee's majestic trilogy of fictionalised memoir, Boyhood, Youth and Summertime. Scenes from Provincial Life opens in a small town in the South Africa of the 1940s. We meet a young boy who, at home, is ill at ease with his father and stifled by his mother's unconditional love. At school he passes every test that is set for him, but he remains wary of his fellow pupils, especially the rough Afrikaners. As a student of mathematics in Cape Town he readies himself to escape his homeland, travel to Europe and turn himself into an artist. Once in London, however, the reality is dispiriting: he toils as a computer programmer, inhabits a series of damp, dreary flats and is haunted by loneliness and boredom. He is a constitutional outsider. He fails to write. Decades later, an English biographer researches a book about the late John Coetzee, particularly the period following his return to South Africa from America. Interviewees describe an awkward man still living with his father, a man who insists on performing dull manual labour. His family regard him with suspicion and he is dogged by rumours: that he crossed the authorities in America, that he writes poetry. Scenes from Provincial Life is a heartbreaking and often very funny portrait of the artist by one of the world's greatest writers.
Read Less
Add this copy of Scenes from Provincial Life to cart. $27.39, new condition, Sold by Ria Christie Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Uxbridge, MIDDLESEX, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2018 by Vintage.
Add this copy of Scenes From Provincial Life to cart. $31.18, new condition, Sold by Kennys.ie rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Galway, IRELAND, published 2018 by Vintage.
Add this copy of Scenes from Provincial Life to cart. $32.30, new condition, Sold by Booksplease rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Southport, MERSEYSIDE, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2018 by Vintage.
Add this copy of Scenes From Provincial Life to cart. $50.73, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hialeah, FL, UNITED STATES, published 2018 by Vintage.
Add this copy of Scenes From Provincial Life to cart. $80.44, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Hialeah, FL, UNITED STATES, published 2011 by Harvill Secker.
Add this copy of Scenes From Provincial Life ++++ a Superb Signed Uk to cart. $456.94, like new condition, Sold by Zeitgeist Books rated 3.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Twickenham, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2011 by Harvill Secker.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Fine in Fine jacket. 1st Printing. A fine UK first edition, first printing hardback in a fine dustjacket (not price-clipped) fitted with a removable, clear mylar sleeve-All my books are always securely packed with plenty of bubblewrap in professional boxes and promptly dispatched (within 2-3 days)-SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR-Pictures available upon request.
