JM Coetzee takes the art of contradiction to its ultimate expression

Let’s put it bluntly: this latest work is not JM Coetzee’s best. The Polisha short story, it does not have the disturbing power ofWaiting for the barbarians nor the prodigious virtuosity of Misfortune (Umbral, 1987 and 2002). But as the Palestinian-American critic Edward Said (1935-2003) demonstrated in his eponymous essay (Actes Sud, 2012), the “late style” Although it does not necessarily embody the apotheosis of a technique or a form, it constitutes, for many great artists, musicians or writers, a fertile reserve of lessons.

This is the case of Coetzee, born in 1940, winner of the Nobel Prize in 2003 and, on two occasions, of the prestigious Booker Prize. Written in English in 2022 but originally published in Spanish, The Polish It appeared in a few countries as part of a collection of short stories. In France, Le Seuil preferred to premiere it alone, “stringing it together” in a way, to further accentuate its complex strangeness.

Being a man and a woman. She, Beatriz, in her forties, the discreet wife of a banker, works in a circle that organises concerts in Barcelona. He, Witold, 72 years old, is a Polish pianist. “whose name has so many wyz that no member of the committee dares to pronounce it.” Chopin specialist, he plays it without sentimentality and shows his compatriot “an aspect that outsiders will never be able to understand” – That’s why he was invited to Catalonia: for his “proofreading” of the composer who, according to the established expression, “deserves to be praised”.

It all starts after the concert. But nothing fits. Beatriz has to have dinner with the artist – she replaces a friend who usually does this task – and it is a thought for her. Not only is she not impressed with Witold, but she even wonders if he is “The hours you spend patiently listening to the tinkling of piano keys or the scraping of horsehair on the hoses when you could be walking the streets helping the poor are not a waste of time.” Did he give her a CD? She immediately forgets about it and stops listening to it. In short, with his usual tact and amused distance, Coetzee immediately dismisses any threat of stereotypical love at first sight under the sign of a romantic and dreamlike nocturnality.

such fixation

However, it is not Witold’s fault that he lets himself be captivated by Beatriz. He writes to her, returns to Spain to give her a master class and offers to follow him to Brazil. Nothing to do. She feels nothing. If this old lover is not worth seeing “ridiculous and dangerous to himself” to have such a fixation on his person. “Maybe he calls it love?” She doesn’t. » And if Coetzee sprinkles his text with references to Dante – which here rhymes with “independent” – it is to amuse himself with the parallel with this anti-Beatrice who has decidedly not “no desire to be splashed by a wave of male passion.”

You have 33.74% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.