Offers an account of J M Coetzee's literary career. From "Dusklands" to "Disgrace" and from "Waiting for the Barbarians" to "Elizabeth Costello", this work traces how Coetzee rehearses and revises his understanding of the ethics of intellectualism in parallel with the emergence of the 'new South Africa'. 'Poyner's formulation and elaboration of the paradox of postcolonial authorship is compelling in Coetzee's case, and likely to prove a widely applicable paradigm for the study of other literatures dealing with the legacy of the colonial situation, which includes Australian literature.' Australian Literary Studies '... this is a well-researched and highly relevant book.' Notes and Queries