JOHANNESBURG: South African-born author J.M. Coetzee, who won the Nobel Literature Prize on Thursday, has been hailed as the “great heir to Kafka” and an inspiration to young African writers.

He received accolades from politicians to literature experts across the world on Thursday for his emphatic works born out of experiences of the apartheid regime.

“It is about time,” said Michael Marais, a Johannesburg-based professor who completed his doctorate on Coetzee. “He is too good a writer to be continued to be ignored.”

Academics from the University of Adelaide in Australia, where Coetzee now lives, to literature experts in Africa and the United States, where he is currently attending a conference, expressed delight with the Swedish Academy’s choice.

But Coetzee himself, known for his reclusiveness — he did not even travel to London when he made history by twice winning Britain’s coveted Booker Prize — has not said a word.

His editor in Britain, Jeff Mulligan, said the white South African “was delighted, very delighted” to have won the prize, but the author would not give interviews himself.

Stephen Watson, head of the English department at the University of Cape Town, who worked alongside Coetzee for 30 years, likened him to the Czech existentialist Franz Kafka.

“He is in any terms the great heir to Kafka, whether focusing on South Africa or places of no location,” Watson told the SAPA news agency.

“He manages to bring into focus, as few of his contemporaries have done, some of the more imponderable questions of existence.”

The vice chancellor of the University of Adelaide, James McWha, said he was “absolutely thrilled” by the news.

“His presence at the university has been a huge shot in the arm for the humanities discipline and a huge inspiration for many aspiring writers.”

Outspoken Portuguese novelist Jose Saramago, who won the Nobel literature prize in 1998, said Coetzee deserved the award this year.

He said Coetzee’s novel “Disgrace”, which won the Booker Prize and deals bleakly with issues surrounding post-apartheid South Africa, was one of his favourites.

“These are hard, hard books because the reality of life in South Africa is more than hard, it is terrible,” Saramago said.

Coetzee won the Booker Prize twice — for “Disgrace,” and for “Life and Times of Michael K” in 1984, a gripping depiction of racial tensions through the lense of a mentally disabled black man.

He wrote than eight novels and several non-fiction works, including two autobiographies which have been criticized for being too impersonal.—AFP