An indelible tale of life, love, death, and Chopinâfrom the Novel Prizeâwinning author of Disgrace.
Renowned for his sparse yet powerful prose, J. M. Coetzee is unquestionably among the most influentialâand provocativeâauthors of our time. With characteristic insight and a âbrittle wit that forces our attention on the common terrors we donât want to think aboutâ (Ron Charles, Washington Post), Coetzee here challenges us to interrogate our preconceptions not only of love, but of truth itself.
Exacting yet unpredictable, pithy yet complex, Coetzeeâs The Pole tells the story of Wittold Walccyzkiecz, a vigorous, extravagantly white-haired pianist and interpreter of Chopin who becomes infatuated with Beatriz, a stylish Spanish patron of the arts, after she helps organize his concert in Barcelona. Although Beatriz, a married woman, is initially unimpressed by Wittold and his âgleaming dentures,â she soon finds herself pursued and ineluctably swept into his world. As the journeyman performer sends her countless letters, extends invitations to travel, and even visits her husbandâs summer home in Mallorca, their unlikely relationship blossoms, though only on Beatrizâs terms.
The power struggle between them intensifies, eventually escalating into a fullfledged battle of the sexes. But is it Beatriz who limits their passion by paralyzing her emotions? Or is it Wittold, the old man at his typewriter, trying to force intolife his dream of love? Reinventing the all-encompassing love of the poet Dante for his Beatrice, Coetzee exposes the fundamentally enigmatic nature of romance, showing how a chance meeting between strangersâeven âa Pole, a man of seventy, a vigorous seventy,â and a stultified âbankerâs wife who occupies her days in good worksââcan suddenly change everything.
Reminiscent of James Joyceâs âThe Deadâ in its exploration of love and loss, The Pole, with lean prose and surprising feints, is a haunting work, evoking the âinexhaustible palette of sensations, from blind love to compassionâ (Berna GonzĂĄlez Harbour, El PaĂs) typical of Coetzeeâs finest novels.