WAITING FOR THE BARBARIANS

170 pp., paperback, Reprint, London, (1980) 2004

This novel won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the CNA Prize.

"Brilliant ... The story of an imaginary Empire, set in an unspecified place and time ... A realistic fable, at once exciting and economical ... A distinguished piece of fiction" New York Times

"I have known few authors who can evoke such a wilderness in the heart of man ... Coetzee knows the elusive terror of Kafka" Sunday Times

“J.M. Coetzee’s vison goes to the nerve-center of being. What he finds there is more than most people will ever know about themselves, and he conveys it with a brilliant writer’s mastery of tension and elegance.” Nadine Gordimer
 
“Coetzee, with laconic brilliance, articulates one of the basic problems of our time - how to understand the mentality behind brutality and injustice.” Anthony Burgess

J.M. Coetzee’s work includes Foe, Life & Times of Michael K, Boyhood, Youth, Disgrace, Summertime 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.