Description
Book SynopsisA pianist falls grandly, helplessly in love in this elegant new novella from the twice-Booker Prize winner
The Pole tells the story of Witold Walczykiewicz, a vigorous, white-haired pianist, who becomes infatuated with Beatriz, a stylish patron of the arts, after she helps organize his Barcelona concert.
Although Beatriz, who is married, is initially unimpressed by Wittold, she soon finds herself pursued and ineluctably swept into his world. 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 only on her terms.
As the power struggle between them intensifies -- Is it Beatriz who limits their passion by controlling her emotions? Or is it Witold, 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.
Published together with five exceptional stories, this new work from one of our greatest writers is a must for all literary connoisseurs.
Trade ReviewIf The Pole and Other Stories were his [Coetzee's] final work, it would be astonishing... Beneath plain-spoken surfaces unexpected depths are often revealed, glinting with flashes of playful seriousness, humour, and grand, existential strangeness * Guardian *
[In this] late-in-life collection by the South African master…
not a phrase [is] wasted, everything sharp and back-to-the-bone * Financial Times, *Books of the Year* *
[A] blend of languor and heartache… a fittingly warm farewell * Daily Telegraph, *Books of the Year* *
Perhaps the greatest novelist alive… Coetzee’s prose, apparently simple, is so perfected at every turn that it is moving to read, line after line * Sunday Times, *Books of the Year* *
The Pole is one of the best books of the year by any author of any age, exhibiting not the slightest diminution in his powers… here is not a sentence that is difficult to understand, and yet
the book provokes thought and wonder on every page * Critic, *Books of the Year* *
