THE MASTER OF PETERSBURG

250 pp., paperback, Reprint, London, (1994) 2004

This novel won the Irish Times International Fiction Award.

J.M. Coetzee imagines the life of Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky. Set in 1869, when Dostoevsky was summoned from Germany to St Petersburg by the sudden death of his stepson.

"A stunning account of the relation of writers and events. A harsh and eloquent critique of the human condition. It is also a subtle, powerful, superbly written personal testament. The bleakness of vision is tempered only by the certainty that life can be material for art. This is art. The case is proven" Sunday Times

"Both a gripping mystery and a meditation on the relationship between art and life" BBC History Magazine

 J.M. Coetzee’s work includes Waiting for the Barbarians, Life & Times of Michael K, Boyhood, Youth, Disgrace, Summertime, FOe and the Jesus Trilogy. He was the first author to win the Booker Prize twice and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2003.