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Coetzee honoured in Poznan

PR dla Zagranicy
John Beauchamp 10.07.2012 08:50
Nobel Prize-winning author John Maxwell Coetzee received an honorary doctorate from the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Monday.
J.M.Coetzee
J.M.Coetzee at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, 09.07.2012 Photo: PAP/Adam Ciereszko

A citation by the university senate speaks of the humanistic and universal character of his literary output and of his profound analysis of the problems of man’s guilt and the phenomenon of forgiveness.

Professor Tomaszkiewicz, dean of the university’s Faculty of Neophilology, compared Coetzee’s prose to that of Joseph Conrad and Gabriel Marquez.

In his remarks, the writer referred to his Polish ancestry. His maternal great-grandfather, Baltazar Dubiel was born in the village Czarnylas in Western Poland and attended school in the nearby Odolanow. Coetzee visited these places while in Poland six years ago. The oldest son of his great-grandfather, Albert du Biel, was one of the first Afrikaner writers.

J.M. Coetzee spent the past few days in Poznan as a guest of the Malta Arts Festival, whose programme included the world premiere of an opera based on his novel Slow Man.

Seventy two year-old Coetzee was born in Cape Town to parents of Afrikaner descent. He is now an Australian citizen and lives in Adelaide. (mk/jb)

tags: Coetzee, poznan
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