The Pole
By J.M. Coetzee
2023
First Published
3.67
Average Rating
134
Number of Pages
A psychologically probing, compulsively readable novel about dogged love and the unpredictability of human relationships―from the Nobel Prize–winning author of Disgrace . Exacting yet maddeningly unpredictable, J. M. Coetzee’s The Pole tells the story of Wittold Walccyzkiecz, a vigorous, “extravagantly white-haired” Polish pianist who becomes infatuated with Beatriz, a stylish patron of the arts, after she helps organize his Barcelona concert. Although Beatriz, a married woman, is initially unimpressed by Wittold, she soon finds herself pursued and ineluctably swept into the world of the journeyman performer. As he sends her letters, extends countless invitations to travel, and even visits her husband’s summer home in Mallorca, their unlikely relationship blossoms, though, it seems, only on her terms. The power struggle between them intensifies― Is it Beatriz who limits their passion by controlling her emotions? Or is it Wittold, trying to force into life his dream of love? Evocative of Joyce’s “The Dead,” The Pole is a haunting work, evoking the “inexhaustible palette of sensations, from blind love to compassion” ( El País ) typical of Coetzee’s finest novels.
Avg Rating
3.67
Number of Ratings
4,380
5 STARS
18%
4 STARS
41%
3 STARS
31%
2 STARS
8%
1 STARS
2%
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Author
J.M. Coetzee
Author · 34 books
John Maxwell Coetzee is an author and academic from South Africa. He became an Australian citizen in 2006 after relocating there in 2002. A novelist and literary critic as well as a translator, Coetzee has won the Booker Prize twice and was awarded the 2003 Nobel Prize in Literature.
