Dr Jarad Zimbler's latest book J. M. Coetzee and the Politics of Style, shortlisted for the University English Book Prize, has been 'highly commended' by the judging panel.

Reasons for the shortlist and commendation:

J. M. Coetzee and the Politics of Style cover

"This erudite, wide-ranging, intellectually ambitious work makes a significant contribution not only to Coetzee studies but also to Postcolonialist studies and contemporary fiction studies more broadly. As one judge commented, ‘Coetzee critics are an intelligent crowd and Jarad Zimbler should be commended for adding another dimension to Coetzee studies in his claim for form as a defining element of political writing’. It’s extremely assured in terms of its knowledge base (ranging from primary [including manuscript] sources of South African fiction and non-fiction and existing literary criticism, through linguistic and narratological methods to historical and political contexts). The insistent but unforced attention to what Zimbler calls ‘those subtle shifts in tense and tone, vocabulary and register’ in order to make visible ‘a politics of style’ will inform other literary critics grappling with how not to reduce the aesthetic qualities that help constitute politically-charged writings both within and beyond postcolonial studies."