The aim of this article is to investigate Coetzee’s decades-long, multifaceted, and, essentially, transnational dialogue with Poland and its cultural production—from Coetzee’s encounter of Polish poetry in the early 1960s until his 2022 novel El polaco. It intends to argue that Coetzee’s preoccupation with Polish literature and culture is part of a larger strategy of seeking new alliances and partnerships across the north-south/east-west divide, of building an alternative “affective community,” and of, simultaneously, de- and reprovincializing oneself and one’s oeuvre. Most importantly, Coetzee’s dialogue with Poland will be interpreted as an attempt to seek one’s rightful ancestry: literary and cultural, as well as genetic. The article will argue that the figure of the Pole is not simply a literary trope or the subject of Coetzee’s scholarly/readerly interest, but an instrument of both: self-defacement and identification with his Polish heritage.

本文的目的是调查库切与波兰及其文化生产长达数十年的、多方面的、本质上是跨国的对话——从库切在 1960 年代初接触波兰诗歌到他 2022 年的小说《El polaco》。它试图论证库切对波兰文学和文化的关注是一个更大战略的一部分，该战略旨在跨越南北/东西方界限寻求新的联盟和伙伴关系，建立一个替代性的“情感社区”，同时， - 重新定位自己和自己的作品。最重要的是，库切与波兰的对话将被解释为寻求自己合法血统的尝试：文学和文化，以及遗传。文章将论证，波兰人的形象不仅仅是一个文学比喻或库切学术/读者兴趣的主题，而是两者的工具：自我污损和对其波兰传统的认同。