Universidades de Madrid

Prueba de Aptitud - Bachillerato LOGSE

Junio 2004
Coetzee wins Nobel Prize

The 2003 Nobel Prize for Literature was won by the South African novelist J.M. Coetzee. This is
wonderful news, Coetzee, 63, is unquestionably among the greatest living writers in English.

The Nobel has often been misapplied. It evaded Tolstoy, Chekhov, Joyce, Kafka and Nabokov. It
was won, on the other hand, by Bjornstjerne Bjornson, José Echegaray, Rudolf Eucken and others
now wholly forgotten. In many cases, the judges seem to have been influenced by political, rather
than literary factors. But in choosing Coetzee, the judges have got it right and ignored the fact that
Coetzee has many things to say that do not sit comfortably with liberal political assumptions.

His books deal with difficult, painful matters – betrayal, the abuse of power, the nature of evil, our
cruel treatment of animals- and ultimately they express deep scepticism over whether or not any of
us are capable of true empathy with others. Coetzee presents these unwelcome truths with a
rigour and purity that cannot be ignored.

Coetzee was born in Cape Town in 1940 and trained as a computer scientist, coming to London in
the Sixties to work for IBM, a period recollected in a superb autobiographical novel. He then
became a professor of literature in the United States, initially using his computing skills for verbal
analysis of writers, before returning to Cape Town in the early Seventies, where he has continued
to teach and publish literary criticism. His first fiction, Dusklands, was published in 1794, followed
by In The Heart of The Country and Waiting for Barbarians, which swiftly won him international
recognition.

1. READING COMPREHENSION (2 points) Are the following statements TRUE or FALSE?

Copy the evidence from the text. No marks are given for only TRUE or FALSE answers.

a) Many years ago Tolstoy was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature.
b) Coetzee has not yet written any book based on his life.

2. EXPRESSING THE MAIN IDEAS (2 points, 1 each correct answer) According to the text
and using your own words, answer the following questions:

a) Why has the Nobel Prize been sometimes wrongly awarded?

b) What did Coetzee do professionally before he wrote his first novel?

3. Find the words in the text that mean (1 point):

a) without doubt (paragraph 1)

b) completely (paragraph 2)
c) ideas (paragraph 2)
d) quickly (paragraph 4)
4. Complete the following sentences. Use the appropriate form of the word in brackets
when given. (2 points)

a) Coetzee, _______ was born in South Africa in 1940, won the Nobel Prize ______ year.
b) Before _______ (win) the Nobel Prize, Coetzee ______ (receive) international recognition.
c) James Joyce, _______ works are still universally known, ________ (not choose) for the Nobel
Prize during his lifetime.
d) The German Rudolf Eucken, a Nobel Prize winner, wrote _______ ethics and religion. But
______ works are almost forgotten today.

5. Write about 100 to 150 words on one of the following topics. (3 points)

A) What is the last book you have read? Give reasons why you did or you didn´t like it.
B) How can winning a prize affect people´s lives?
Answers

Question 1:

a) False. The Nobel has often been misapplied. It evaded Tolstoy...

b) False. ....a period recollected in a superb autobiographical novel.

Question 2:

a) On some occasions, the Nobel Prize for Literature has been granted to writers who are no
longer remembered nowadays. However, other great writers such as Tolstoy or James Joyce
have never won this prestigious award. Judges seem to consider political aspects rather than
literary ones.
b) He studied computer science in Cape Town, where he was born in 1940. Then, in the 60s he
moved to London to work for IBM. After that, he worked as a professor of literature in the
United States. And finally, in the 70s, he went back to his home town in South Africa and
published his first novel in 1974.

Question 3:

a) unquestionably
b) wholly
c) assumptions
d) swiftly

Question 4:

a) who / last
b) winning / had received
c) whose / was not chosen
d) about / his

Question 5:

This is a possible composition on option A.

What is the last book you have read? Give reasons why you did or didn´t like it.

The last book I have read is The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje. It is set in Italy right after
World War II in a big villa. At he beginning, the only inhabitants of the house are a young Canadian
nurse and her patient, an Englishman whose body is completely burned.

The villa was used as a hospital during the last part of the war, and the nurse refused to leave and
preferred to stay and take care of the Englishman, who tells strange stories from his life. Then, a
friend of the nurse´s father arrives to the villa. He´s is love with her but doesn´t confess it. Also an
Indian army man comes to dismantle the mines hidden in the area. He and the nurse fall in love
and start a relationship. But in the end, he decides to go back to India and become a doctor.

I liked the novel because all the characters seem to have several secrets in their lives and we only
know them little by little. The biggest mystery is the English patient, who in the end turns out to be
a Hungarian man who explored the African desserts. And it is also interesting to read about how
hard this war was and all the experiences the characters went through.