This work draws on a wide range of theoretical ideas and approaches to illuminate Coetzee's texts including: deconstruction and the 'school of singularity', ethics and power, gender studies, queer theory, issues surrounding the body and animal rights.Nobel Laureate and the first author to win the Booker Prize twice, J.M. Coetzee is perhaps the world's leading living novelist writing in English. Including an international roster of world leading critics and novelists, and drawing on new research, this innovative book analyses the whole range of Coetzee's work, from his most recent novels through his memoirs and critical writing. It offers a range of perspectives on his relationship with the historical, political, cultural and social context of South Africa. It also contextualises Coetzee's work in relation to his literary influences, colonial and post-colonial history, the Holocaust and colonial genocides, the 'politics' and meaning of the Nobel prize in South Africa and Coetzee's very public move from South Africa to Australia. Including a major unpublished essay by leading South African novelist Andre Brink, this book offers the most up-to-date study of Coetzee's work currently available. J. M. Coetzee in Context and Theory stands out among the growing number of works focusing on the work of the 2003 Nobel Prize winner as a comprehensive and innovative contribution to the author's critical writing, novels and memoirs.--,Foreword: Elleke Boehmer, Robert Eaglestone, Katy Iddiols; Part I: Context; 1. Post-Apartheid Literature: A Personal View, Andre Brink (University of Cape Town); 2. Elizabeth Costello as Post-Apartheid Literature, Louise Bethlehem (Hebrew University of Jerusalem); 3. Post-Apartheid Literature and Elizabeth Costello, Karina Magdalena Szczurek; 4. South Africa and The Nobel Laureate, Neelika Jayawardane (SUNY Oswego); 5. Coetzee, Wordsworth and South African Prose, Pieter Vermeulen (Flemish Fund for Scientific Research); 6. Coetzee and Genocide, Robert Eaglestone (Royal Holloway, University of London); 7. Australia?, Sue Kossew (University of New South Wales); Part 2: Theory; 8. Coetzee's Artists, Coetzee's Art, Derek Attridge (University of York); 9. Desire and ethics, Rosemary Jolly (Queen's University); 10. Comedy, Patrick Hayes (St John's College, Oxford); 11. Coetzee's Queer Body, Elleke Boehmer (Royal Holloway, University of London); 12. Eating, Kyoko Yoshida (Keio University); 13. Mourning, Russell Samolsky (University of California, Santa Barbara); 14. Validation and Narration, Katy Iddiols (Royal Holloway, University of London); 15. Authenticity, Anne Haeming (University of Konstanz); Bibliography; Index.