Life & Times of Michael K. London: Secker & Warburg, 1983.

J.M. COETZEE (b.1940)
Life & Times of Michael K. London: Secker & Warburg, 1983.
First edition of the Booker Prize-winning novel, signed and inscribed by the author with a 32-word recipe for pumpkin soup. Life & Times of Michael K concerns the trials of a young gardener, Michael K, side-lined by his mother and society at large due to a cleft lip, who finds himself caught up in civil war in South Africa. Coetzee’s simple spicy pumpkin soup recipe consists of just six ingredients – pumpkin, onion, garlic, coriander, cumin, and nutmeg – though he also offers advice on possible substitutions or additions. Inscribed upon a blank endleaf opposite the final page of text, the inscription echoes the title character’s delight at eating his own pumpkins, which he cultivates after escaping to the countryside and attempting to live off the land: “Such pumpkin, he thought, such pumpkin I could eat every day of my life and never want anything else” (p.156).

Octavo. Original black cloth, pictorial dust jacket.

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