Summertime (2009) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit

Write a ridiculously simplified synopsis.

Characters/People edit see section history

• John Coetzee: The author, although in this autre-biography he is dead and his life being researched by another
• Mr. Vincent: A young English biographer working on a book about the 'late' writer John Coetzee
• Dr. Julia Frankl: A nieghbour of Coetzee's with whom he had a brief affair, Mr. Vincent interviews her for his book
• Mrs Margo Jonker: Coetzee's cousin, another whom Mr. Vincent is interviewing for his book
• Senhora Adriana Nascimento: A Brazilian ballet dancer who, while resident in South Africa, met Coetzee when he was teaching English to her daughter, also interviewed for the book
• Maria Regina: Senhora Nascimento's daughter, perhaps 16, being tutored in English by Coetzee. Described as "a very pretty girl" by her mother, and as having "true beauty" by Coetzee.
• Martin J.: A colleague of Coetzee's when he was teaching at university, also an interview subject
• Mme. Sophie Denoel: A French academic who had had an affair with Coetzee while they were colleagues at the university, another interview subject
• Jack Coetzee: John's father, with whom John lives during the period that the novel is covering, at the end of the novel he is close to death but his relationship with his son is never close.
• Breyten Breytenbach: A South African writer and painter with French citizenship whose wife was also French of Vietnamese ancestry, referenced as a contrast to John Coetzee a number of times during the novel
• Mark: Add a description of this character.
• Lukas
• Carol
• Michiel
• Hendrik
• Chrissie
• Margot
• Christie
• Klaus
• Margie
• David Truscott
• Mario
• Neruda

Quotes edit see section history

• “The ranks of the teaching profession are, as you must know, full of refugees and misfits. (p.214)”

  Martin

• “Mme Denoel, I have been through the letters and diaries. What Coetzee writes there cannot be trusted, not as a factual record - not because he was a liar but because he was a fictioneer. In his letters he is making up a fiction of himself for his correspondents; in his diaries he is doing much the same for his own eyes, or perhaps for posterity. As documents they are valuable, of course; but if you want the truth you have to go behind the fictions they elaborate and hear from people who knew him directly, in the flesh. (p.226)”

  Mr. Vincent

• “In his case, would you say that the habit you describe, of treating feelings as provisional, of not committing himself emotionally, extended beyond relations with the land of his birth into personal relations too? -- I don't know. You are the biographer. If you find that train of thought worth following up, follow it.”

  Mr. Vincent and Martin

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• South Africa
• Cape Town
• America
• Brazil
• Hong Kong
• Durban
• Afrikaans
• Merweville
• Calvinia
• Karoo
• France
• Tokai Road
• England
• Schubert
• Angola
• Canterbury
• Paris

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Series & Lists edit see section history

Preceded by Youth.

Preceded by The 9/11 Commission Report, and followed by Samuel Pepys.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. J. M. Coetzee (Author)

Other Contributors:

1. Peter Bergsma (Translator)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• Man Booker Prize (Finalist, 2009, shortlist)
• New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards (2010: Christina Stead prize for Fiction)
• Queensland Premier's Literary Award (2010: Fiction)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: Add the Library of Congress Classification.
• Dewey: 823.914

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › World Literature › African › Central & South African
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Authors, A-Z › ( C ) › Coetzee, J.M.
• Books › Literature & Fiction › Literary