Writing and Translating on the Margins: Dissonance in J. M. Coetzee’s The Pole

Abstract

The article explores the theme of dissonance in J. M. Coetzee’s latest novel The Pole (2023). First published in its Spanish translation El polaco in 2022, Coetzee’s novel centers around the role of music in framing various moments of cultural and linguistic encounters. By drawing from the Coetzee’s previous reflections on languages and music, I read The Pole not only as a multilingual novel but also as a polyphonic composition by showing how Coetzee uses artistic and linguistic blending to create a multilevel dissonance that addresses issues of marginality and displacement. The “dissonating” interplay among various arts and languages in The Pole also reflects the marginal mindset of a perpetual migrant, who turns a musical novel into a modern allegory about writing and translating on the margins in the multilingual age.