This thesis constitutes a study of the fictional and critical universe of the contemporary writer J.M. Coetzee, centered on a few elements pointed as leitmotifs of his work. The study highlights central elements of the author s fiction and criticism as if they constituted an ethnographic experience. We especially focus on three elements as follows: the body, literature itself as a constant reference, and a condition we call by the inadequacy of some main characters. Inadequacy is a term suggested only on the context of this thesis to interpret a trait shared by many of Coetzee s characters. The analysis of the above-mentioned elements is achieved through a dialogue with several literary critics and a series of versions and interpretations of Coetzee s work, relating side by side different points of view, including the essays of the author and even his alter-egos, trying to sustain a more dialogic perspective. Besides, the thesis is a proposal of a literary critic exercise, using as well particularities and resources of other types of narratives, as a mixed experience, incorporating rhetoric effects from the traveler s diary, ethnography, interview and fiction itself.