Abraham (Biblical figure), 189

Adelaide, South Australia, 3, 14, 60–61, 64, 194

aesthetics, , 123, 142

Afrikaans, 15, 100–104, 108, 115, 117, 169

Afrikaners, 15, 36, 68, 74, 100–101

aging, 25, 27, 57–59, 96, 132, 137, 139–144, 147, 153, 164, 168, 174, 181, 193–195

allegory, 2, 5, 41, 46–47, 51, 74, 124, 128–129, 132, 134, 160, 182, 185, 191–193

animals, 22–25, 56, 78, 115–116, 131, 146, 169, 189, 191–192

apartheid, 7–9, 11, 30, 78, 168, 174–175, 197

Attridge, Derek, 1–3, 10, 51, 62, 88

Attwell, David, 1, 9, 12, 36, 88

Auster, Paul, 3

Australia, 14, 25, 27, 30, 57–58, 63–65, 118, 129, 193

autobiography, 10, 14, 20, 30, 53–55, 62, 65, 69–70, 123, 125, 151, 157, 167, 178, 181, 186, 196

Bach, J. S., 17, 111–112

Bachmann, Ingeborg, 18

Barnard, Rita, 5, 93, 121, 189

Beckett, Samuel, 18, 86–89, 110

Beethoven, Ludwig van, 17

belief, 4, 24–25, 27, 33, 64, 76, 191

Bellow, Saul, 79

bilinguality, 100–102, 106–109

Boehmer, Elleke, 174–175, 179, 197

Booker Prize, 7, 11

Brodsky, Joseph, 18

Brooks, Peter, 171–172

Buruma, Ian, 74–76

Bushmen (African people), 37

Byron, George Gordon, Lord, 113–114, 134, 140–141

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, 18

Canepari-Labib, Michela, 1, 40–41

Chaucer, Geoffrey, 119

childhood, 5, 14–16, 25, 30, 54, 108, 118, 166, 168–170, 175, 186

childlessness, 152–156, 158

children, 5, 54, 64, 142, 148, 150–170, 179

Coetzee, J. M.

Age of Iron, 10, 21, 50–51, 61, 78, 81, 89, 94, 102–107, 112, 116–117, 119–120, 124–125, 157–158, 160–164, 170, 174, 184–185

Boyhood, 10, 14–16, 19–20, 53–54, 62, 84, 94, 100–101, 115, 118, 125, 135, 144, 151, 156–158, 166–169, 186–188

Diary of a Bad Year, 4, 14, 27–28, 49, 62–65, 88, 98–100, 108–112, 120, 124–125, 132–133, 147, 153–154, 158, 168, 174, 194–198