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.

The few of us who read Coetzee's novel found it to be an interesting work on a single theme: the idea of a muse. The Pole is a story about Beatriz, an arts patron, who become reluctantly and conflictedly connected with a controversial pianist, Wittold. Half of the story is a odd courtship between Beatriz and Wittold where Wittold experience deep admiration and longing for Beatriz and somewhat inexplicably Beatriz keeps spending time with him and eventually chooses to gift him with short affair. The second half of the story takes place after Wittold's death as Beatriz is contacted to claim some of Wittold's property that was left for her. The first half of the novel is confusing due to Beatriz's conflicting feelings and general lack of interest in Wittold, but the whole novel lands after Wittold dies and we realize that his confessions of love were completely vapid expressions of his own ego and that Beatriz served as an almost anonymous muse for poetry he wrote. The use of 'Beatrice' as a muse has obvious literally reference, but seeing the story from Beatriz's perspective makes it clear how sexist and pitiful that whole process was. What makes the novel compelling is that the entire story is part insult and part ego trip for Beatriz who clearly acts against much of her better judgment to continue to connect to Wittold even though there's nothing really worth it in Wittold as a lover or an artist. (The end of novel is particularly hilarious on this point.) Look, it's a short novel and there's not a lot going on here. But it's well written and makes interesting choices with its theme. The Pole isn't going to be the most powerful or profound novel you're going to read this year, but it's solid work that aims at a small target and hits it with style and cleverness.