JOHN Maxwell Coetzee, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature yesterday, has a small dilemma on his hands. Between now and 10 December, the media-shy South African has to decide whether to turn up to the ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden, to receive in person the world’s most prestigious literary award and the £780,000 cheque that goes with it. Coetzee, who won the Booker Prize in 1983 with The Life and Times of Michael K, and again in 1999 with Disgrace, did not attend the award ceremony on either occasion. Scotland has a slightly better record in luring Coetzee for such ceremonies. Even though he apparently stayed away from Edinburgh when he won the James Tait Black award in 1980 - one of the first major prizes in his career - he did turn up when the University of Strathclyde made him an honorary DLitt five years later. Coetzee, 63, long a favoured contender for the Nobel, was cited for the award for his ability to write stories that "in innumerable guises portray the surprising involvement of the outsider". His novels, the Nobel academy added, are characterised by their well-crafted composition, pregnant dialogue and analytical brilliance. "But at the same time, he is a scrupulous doubter, ruthless in his criticism of the cruel rationalism and cosmetic morality of western civilisation."