J. M. Coetzee and the English Department at the University of Cape Town

J. M. Coetzee's activities lecturing English in the University of Cape Town have received relatively little examination. Drawing on unpublished letters to and from Coetzee, this article examines the reasons for his criticism of the English Department during the 1970s and 1980s. It suggests that the reasons for Coetzee's dissatisfaction stemmed in part from his background in the American academy as the values of intellectual ferment, diversity, and research drive he had found in Texas and Buffalo were lacking in the vision for the English Department held by Professor David Gillham. Though Gillham purported to represent studying literature as an overwhelmingly moral activity, Coetzee's critique was of the failure of intellectuals to carry out their moral duty to do research and teach effectively.