The writer Elizabeth Costello was a character in Coetzee`s 1999 novel THE LIVES OF ANIMALS. In this novel, the eponymous Elizabeth, now aging, gives lectures, writes about other people`s books, and participates in a variety of literary and philosophical conversations--all of which not only reveal her as a human being but mirror Coetzee`s own recent nonfiction works. A New York Times Notable Book for 2003.