'Recent years have witnessed a steep rise in studies and monographs on the work of J. M. Coetzee. Many of them have been prompted by the publication of what has come to be known as the Jesus Trilogy, made up of the novels The Childhood of Jesus (2013), The Schooldays of Jesus (2016) and The Death of Jesus (2019), which in their highly original form and distinctive concerns have opened up the field to new readings and critical approaches to Coetzee’s fiction. Coetzee’s manuscripts at the Ransom Center of the University of Texas at Austin have also contributed to this increase in critical responses, with lots of critics turning to the exploration of the archive as a new way of analysing different aspects of Coetzee’s life and literary production.' (Introduction)