The Pole and Other Stories

These six stories by Nobel-Prize-winning J. M. Coetzee remind us that he is a writer whose language explores moral and emotional quandaries, often with wry humour. In the lead story, ‘The Pole’, set in Spain, concert pianist Witold attempts to play out a romantic fantasy with local music devotee Beatriz, who is considerably younger and whose marriage has gone cold. In person and in their correspondence, he is persistent, she resistant, but curious. It doesn’t end quite as she might have imagined.

The redoubtable character of Elizabeth Costello, now in her seventies, appears in four stories, engaging in philosophical discussions about death, motherhood and ethics with her adult children, in particular her son John. In the last story, ‘The Dog’, a young woman confronts a vicious dog: ‘“Curse you to hell!” she says. Then she mounts her bicycle and sets off up the hill.’

The Pole and Other Stories will make you think differently about life, death and animals.

J. M. Coetzee was the first author to win the Booker Prize twice and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2003. His work includes Waiting for the Barbarians, Life & Times of Michael K, The Master of Petersburg, Disgrace and Diary of a Bad Year. His most recent writing is a trilogy of novels: The Childhood of Jesus, The Schooldays of Jesus and The Death of Jesus. He lives in Adelaide.

‘To be hilarious about Heidegger is quite an achievement, but J.M. Coetzee pulls it off in one of these stories. Others, written in his beautifully limpid prose, raise profound questions about love, romantic and unromantic, growing old, and how we relate to animals. A marvellous collection that will delight and surprise you.’ Peter Singer

‘One of the finest authors writing in the English language today.’ Times