STOCKHOLM, Oct 2: South African novelist J.M. Coetzee won the Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday, a choice hailed by critics who described him as an elusive man but accessible writer, both literary and politically engaged.

A white South African raised in an English-speaking home and writing in English despite his Afrikaans background, he portrays a desolate vision of his racially divided country with a lean, allegorical style compared with Franz Kafka and Samuel Beckett.

The Swedish Academy, announcing the prize, said Mr Coetzee was “ruthless in his criticism of the cruel rationalism and cosmetic morality of Western civilization”.

“I would hope I made one or two people think twice about whether they want to discard the past wholesale,” was the author’s own modest comment on his achievements in one rare interview.

“It is a superb choice,” said Michael Gorra, professor at Smith College in Massachusetts. He said Mr Coetzee was “accessible to anybody who reads serious fiction” and called “Disgrace” “one of the most piercing novels I have read in many years”.

Despite critical acclaim — he was the first author to win the Booker Prize twice, in 1983 with “The Life and Times of Michael K” and in 1999 for “Disgrace” — the 63-year-old writer shuns the spotlight and did not turn up for the Booker awards.

“It came as a complete surprise — I was not even aware the announcement was pending,” Coetzee said in a statement in Chicago.—Reuters