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Kings College London

The computer poetry of J. M. Coetzee’s early programming career

June 28, 2017 - Rebecca Roach

Writer J. M. Coetzee’s early poetry is almost undecipherable. That’s because it was written in computer code.

Coetzee’s global reputation rests on his literary output, for which he received a Nobel Prize in 2003. Before he embarked on a career as a scholar and writer, the South African–born writer was a computer programmer in the early years of the industry’s development (1962–1965). I believe that this experience, while short, was vital for the development of Coetzee’s writerly project. While visiting the Ransom Center on a research fellowship, I examined Coetzee’s papers, which offer tantalizing clues about his neglected “other career.” [Read more…] about The computer poetry of J. M. Coetzee’s early programming career

Filed Under: Authors, Books + Manuscripts, Research + Teaching Tagged With: Abby Adams, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Research Fellowship Endowment, Atlas 2, Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Born Digital, code, computer, computer poetry, computer programmer, computer programming, computing, digital archive, Fellowships, J. M. Coetzee, Kings College London, Nobel Prize, Rebecca Roach, South Africa, Youth

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