J.M. Coetzee. Elizabeth Costello. London: Vintage, 2004. [Book Review]

Classifications made by literary theory are brought into question when a text like Elizabeth Costello is examined, since its creation is so different to that of any other. The novel’s ability to break the bonds of conventional classification indicates that it could be classified as “post-modern,” since post-modernist works are said to undermine the classification of any work under any broad label. Ironically, however, if Elizabeth Costello does create a new genre, it still succumbs to the convention of being classified.