The Pole and Other Stories
1st US edition
AuthorJ. M. Coetzee
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
PublisherLiveright
Publication date
September 19, 2023
Media typePrint (Hardcover)
Pages176
ISBN9781324093862
OCLC1398511342
Preceded byThe Death of Jesus 

The Pole and Other Stories is a 2023 book by J.M. Coetzee. In the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada it was published as the novella "The Pole" along with five short stories.[1][2] In the United States it was published as a stand-alone novel, titled The Pole, and did not include the short stories.

Brief summary

The novel (or novella)[1] The Pole centres around a Polish pianist, Witold, who even travels to Mallorca to be with Beatriz, a woman he has fallen in love with.[3][4]

All but one of the additional five stories collected along side “The Pole” (in some published editions), centre around the character of Elizabeth Costello,[5] a character who has appeared before in Coetzee’s work and is sometimes described as Coetzee’s own alter ego.[1]

Publication history

The novel was first published in a Spanish translation by Mariana Dimópoulos under the title El Polaco by the Argentinian publisher El Hilo de Ariadna.[6][3] This was Coetzee's third book whose initial publication was in the Southern Hemisphere. Coetzee explains that this is deliberate on his part because "the symbolism of publishing in the South before the North is important to me".[6]

The Pole was also his second book to originally appear in Spanish translation. Coetzee says the Spanish translation of the novel provides a more accurate portrayal of his objectives than the English.[4] An English edition was published in July, 2023.[7][8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Banville, John (13 October 2023). "The Pole and Other Stories by JM Coetzee review – a late love affair | JM Coetzee | The Guardian". amp.theguardian.com.
  2. The Pole and Other Stories. October 28, 2023. Archived from the original on 2023-10-28.
  3. 1 2 "'The Pole': J.M. Coetzee sets his latest novel in Barcelona". Al Día News. Retrieved 2023-06-07.
  4. 1 2 Marshall, Colin (2022-12-08). "J. M. Coetzee's War Against Global English". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 2023-06-07.
  5. Liu, Max (26 October 2023). "The Pole and Other Stories shows J M Coetzee is one of the world's greatest writers".
  6. 1 2 Harbour, Berna González (2022-09-13). "J. M. Coetzee: 'After many years of practice, I write good English sentences'". EL PAÍS English. Retrieved 2023-06-07.
  7. Kossew, Sue (2023-07-17). "In J.M. Coetzee's latest story collection, questions of the soul become urgent as the body becomes frail". The Conversation. Retrieved 2023-07-24.
  8. Harmon, Steph; Cain, Sian; Wyndham, Susan; Fry, Declan; Touma, Rafqa; Lam, Yvonne C. (2023-07-05). "'Exciting', 'bold', 'laugh out loud': the best Australian books out in July". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-07-24.
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