Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                
Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 38 views

    Coetezee Wins Nobal Prize

    Uploaded by

    Yvonne Carlile
    The 2003 Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to South African novelist J.M. Coetzee. Coetzee, 63 at the time, was universally recognized as one of the greatest living English writers. While the Nobel Prize has sometimes been politically motivated in its choices, the judges chose rightly in awarding Coetzee. His books tackle difficult subjects like betrayal, abuse of power, and humanity's cruelty, expressing skepticism about empathy. Coetzee was born in South Africa and worked as a computer scientist and professor before publishing his first novel in 1974.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Coetezee Wins Nobal Prize

    Uploaded by

    Yvonne Carlile
    38 views3 pages
    The 2003 Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to South African novelist J.M. Coetzee. Coetzee, 63 at the time, was universally recognized as one of the greatest living English writers. While the Nobel Prize has sometimes been politically motivated in its choices, the judges chose rightly in awarding Coetzee. His books tackle difficult subjects like betrayal, abuse of power, and humanity's cruelty, expressing skepticism about empathy. Coetzee was born in South Africa and worked as a computer scientist and professor before publishing his first novel in 1974.

    Original Title

    coetezee wins nobal prize

    Copyright

    © © All Rights Reserved

    Available Formats

    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    The 2003 Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to South African novelist J.M. Coetzee. Coetzee, 63 at the time, was universally recognized as one of the greatest living English writers. While the Nobel Prize has sometimes been politically motivated in its choices, the judges chose rightly in awarding Coetzee. His books tackle difficult subjects like betrayal, abuse of power, and humanity's cruelty, expressing skepticism about empathy. Coetzee was born in South Africa and worked as a computer scientist and professor before publishing his first novel in 1974.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    38 views3 pages

    Coetezee Wins Nobal Prize

    Uploaded by

    Yvonne Carlile
    The 2003 Nobel Prize for Literature was awarded to South African novelist J.M. Coetzee. Coetzee, 63 at the time, was universally recognized as one of the greatest living English writers. While the Nobel Prize has sometimes been politically motivated in its choices, the judges chose rightly in awarding Coetzee. His books tackle difficult subjects like betrayal, abuse of power, and humanity's cruelty, expressing skepticism about empathy. Coetzee was born in South Africa and worked as a computer scientist and professor before publishing his first novel in 1974.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 3

    Universidades de Madrid

    Prueba de Aptitud - Bachillerato LOGSE

    Junio 2004
    Coetzee wins Nobel Prize

    The 2003 Nobel Prize for Literature was won by the South African novelist J.M. Coetzee. This is
    wonderful news, Coetzee, 63, is unquestionably among the greatest living writers in English.

    The Nobel has often been misapplied. It evaded Tolstoy, Chekhov, Joyce, Kafka and Nabokov. It
    was won, on the other hand, by Bjornstjerne Bjornson, José Echegaray, Rudolf Eucken and others
    now wholly forgotten. In many cases, the judges seem to have been influenced by political, rather
    than literary factors. But in choosing Coetzee, the judges have got it right and ignored the fact that
    Coetzee has many things to say that do not sit comfortably with liberal political assumptions.

    His books deal with difficult, painful matters – betrayal, the abuse of power, the nature of evil, our
    cruel treatment of animals- and ultimately they express deep scepticism over whether or not any of
    us are capable of true empathy with others. Coetzee presents these unwelcome truths with a
    rigour and purity that cannot be ignored.

    Coetzee was born in Cape Town in 1940 and trained as a computer scientist, coming to London in
    the Sixties to work for IBM, a period recollected in a superb autobiographical novel. He then
    became a professor of literature in the United States, initially using his computing skills for verbal
    analysis of writers, before returning to Cape Town in the early Seventies, where he has continued
    to teach and publish literary criticism. His first fiction, Dusklands, was published in 1794, followed
    by In The Heart of The Country and Waiting for Barbarians, which swiftly won him international
    recognition.

    1. READING COMPREHENSION (2 points) Are the following statements TRUE or FALSE?


    Copy the evidence from the text. No marks are given for only TRUE or FALSE answers.

    a) Many years ago Tolstoy was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature.
    b) Coetzee has not yet written any book based on his life.

    2. EXPRESSING THE MAIN IDEAS (2 points, 1 each correct answer) According to the text
    and using your own words, answer the following questions:

    a) Why has the Nobel Prize been sometimes wrongly awarded?


    b) What did Coetzee do professionally before he wrote his first novel?

    3. Find the words in the text that mean (1 point):

    a) without doubt (paragraph 1)


    b) completely (paragraph 2)
    c) ideas (paragraph 2)
    d) quickly (paragraph 4)
    4. Complete the following sentences. Use the appropriate form of the word in brackets
    when given. (2 points)

    a) Coetzee, _______ was born in South Africa in 1940, won the Nobel Prize ______ year.
    b) Before _______ (win) the Nobel Prize, Coetzee ______ (receive) international recognition.
    c) James Joyce, _______ works are still universally known, ________ (not choose) for the Nobel
    Prize during his lifetime.
    d) The German Rudolf Eucken, a Nobel Prize winner, wrote _______ ethics and religion. But
    ______ works are almost forgotten today.

    5. Write about 100 to 150 words on one of the following topics. (3 points)

    A) What is the last book you have read? Give reasons why you did or you didn´t like it.
    B) How can winning a prize affect people´s lives?
    Answers

    Question 1:

    a) False. The Nobel has often been misapplied. It evaded Tolstoy...


    b) False. ....a period recollected in a superb autobiographical novel.

    Question 2:

    a) On some occasions, the Nobel Prize for Literature has been granted to writers who are no
    longer remembered nowadays. However, other great writers such as Tolstoy or James Joyce
    have never won this prestigious award. Judges seem to consider political aspects rather than
    literary ones.
    b) He studied computer science in Cape Town, where he was born in 1940. Then, in the 60s he
    moved to London to work for IBM. After that, he worked as a professor of literature in the
    United States. And finally, in the 70s, he went back to his home town in South Africa and
    published his first novel in 1974.

    Question 3:

    a) unquestionably
    b) wholly
    c) assumptions
    d) swiftly

    Question 4:

    a) who / last
    b) winning / had received
    c) whose / was not chosen
    d) about / his

    Question 5:

    This is a possible composition on option A.

    What is the last book you have read? Give reasons why you did or didn´t like it.

    The last book I have read is The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje. It is set in Italy right after
    World War II in a big villa. At he beginning, the only inhabitants of the house are a young Canadian
    nurse and her patient, an Englishman whose body is completely burned.

    The villa was used as a hospital during the last part of the war, and the nurse refused to leave and
    preferred to stay and take care of the Englishman, who tells strange stories from his life. Then, a
    friend of the nurse´s father arrives to the villa. He´s is love with her but doesn´t confess it. Also an
    Indian army man comes to dismantle the mines hidden in the area. He and the nurse fall in love
    and start a relationship. But in the end, he decides to go back to India and become a doctor.

    I liked the novel because all the characters seem to have several secrets in their lives and we only
    know them little by little. The biggest mystery is the English patient, who in the end turns out to be
    a Hungarian man who explored the African desserts. And it is also interesting to read about how
    hard this war was and all the experiences the characters went through.

    You might also like