Isaac Bashevis Singer was a Polish American author of Jewish descent, noted for his short stories. He was one of the leading figures in the Yiddish literary movement, and received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1978. His memoir, "A Day Of Pleasure: Stories of a Boy Growing Up in Warsaw", won the U.S. National Book Award in Children's Literature in 1970, while his collection "A Crown of Feathers and Other Stories" won the U.S. National Book Award in Fiction in 1974.
鉁★笍馃挒Jacob is a slave because he is a Jew owned by a Gentile and made to work the man鈥檚 farmland and livestock from dawn to dusk.
He falls in love with the man鈥檚 daughter Wanda and she with him, but of course this is something that cannot be known. A Gentile woman in love with a Jew. When Jacob instructs her in the ways of the Jewish faith it just makes matters worse - in Poland it is a capital offense to make a Christian convert to another faith.
So, they run. Take on assumed identities. Anything it takes to be together. Their love for each other consumes them. As the Hebrew Scriptures relate: 鈥渓ove is as strong as death.鈥�
They marry and live with others in a Jewish community. No one suspects she is a convert. Because Wanda has never mastered Yiddish she pretends to be mute and deaf. All is going well. Until she has a difficult childbirth and begins to cry out in Polish. Which people believe is a miracle. And then .. they are not sure .. and things begin to unravel.
But not their love.
It is a journey story in terms of geographical movement, love and spirituality. The latter is hampered by religious rituals and rules and laws. In Singer鈥檚 work there is always this battle between the two - often we see grace and mercy trampled by what religion proscribes. Jacob and Wanda struggle with this discrepancy all the time - a villain keeps kosher but treats people like dirt; someone else knows the Torah inside and out, but beats his servants.
This incongruity between faith and practice is evident in Enemies, A Love Story, as well. It may be a perpetual theme of Singer鈥檚 fiction. Along with magical realism - his novels are replete with ghosts and demons and Baba Yaga and visions of the dead in heavenly splendor - and an ongoing debate about why God permits suffering, there is another ongoing debate about whether God actually exists. Singer鈥檚 work is very theological and very philosophical.
馃挒Yet written with beauty, strength and a true storyteller鈥檚 touch. I love his novels, but they are so intense I am emotionally exhausted by the end of each one and thinking, pondering, always trying to grasp the riddles of the universe and what might swirl beyond the fabric of material existence.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Superb. A love story between a Jew and a gentile set during a series of pogroms.
Isaac Bashevis Singer's first published stories are full of demons and devils and sprites. Here he uses his knowledge of Judaism 鈥� he came from a family of rabbis 鈥� cabala and medieval superstition to set a story in mid 1600s Poland, just after the Polish-Cossack wars known as the Khmelnytsky Uprising.
Jacob is a Jewish slave and Wanda is the Christian daughter of his master. They love each other but despite his smoldering lust Jacob insists on his religious prerogatives and won't touch her. He recites the Talmud from memory, since war has parted him from the accoutrement of his faith (prayer shawl, phylacteries, etc.) He is a righteous man living among uncouth slobs.
He doesn't even have a calendar to observe holy days. It's a miracle, Wanda says, no one has killed him yet 鈥� being a descendent of Christ killers. The Christian village is filled with dirt poor families and their so-called bastards. Incest is rife. The girls flash Jacob their bits and say: "lay me." But his religious discipline is unyielding.
"Jacob . . . was now past twenty-nine, so he had lived a seventh of his life in this remote mountain village, deprived of family and community, separated from books, like one of those souls who wander naked in Tophet. And here it was the end of summer; the short days, the cold nights had come. He could reach out his hand and actually touch the darkness of Egypt, the void from which God's face was absent. Dejection is only one small step from denial. Satan became arrogant and spoke to Jacob insolently: 'There is no God. There is no world beyond this one.' He bid Jacob become a pagan among the pagans; he commanded him to marry Wanda or at the very least to lie with her." (p. 54)
The Slave reminds me of Bernard Malmud's impressive . Though set at a different time that book, too, is filled with an ever-present genocidal atmosphere for Jews. Both books are in their way lessons about how we got to today's homicidal antisemitism. When Jacob sleeps with Wanda his prayers mix with a newfound bodily astonishment.
"How could he have known that such passion and love as Wanda's existed? He again heard Wanda's voice, the words she had whispered to him, her groans, the swift intake of her breath, and he again felt the touch of her tongue and the sharpness of her teeth. She had left marks on his body. She was willing to flee with him across the mountains in the middle of the night. She spoke to him exactly as Ruth had spoken: 'Where thou goest, I go. Thy people are my people. Thy God is my God.'" (p. 71)
This novel is like any other that carries you to a strange and mysterious realm: i.e. Neil Gaiman, Stephen King, Hilary Mantel, etc. It's , , . No single people have a monopoly on virtue; these are people, good and bad, whether Jew or gentile.
Later, when ransom is paid and he is brought back to his village, Jacob thinks of Wanda, who is far away. She is, he believes, a manifestation of the devil for which he constantly upbraids himself. Yet he cannot stop thinking about her. Jacob tries to focus on the Jews all around him who have been maimed and crippled by the Cossacks, but inevitably his thoughts drift to Wanda, and self-hatred. Finally, he gives in, travels back to the village in which he was a slave, and takes her with him.
They blend into a new, post-pogrom village. Wanda is now Dumb Sarah, pretending to be a mute, and pregnant. Jacob teaches in the school and builds a house. Naturally, the villagers try to make out their story. The couple fear exposure more than anything.
"Sarah's presence in Pilitz imperiled the town. If the Polish authorities learned that a Christian girl had been seduced into Judaism, there would be reprisals. God knows what accusations would be made. The priests only wanted a pretext. And if the Jews got wind of it, the elders would immediately investigate the circumstances of the conversion and would guess correctly that Sarah had left her own religion because of Jacob 鈥� women being little interested in speculative matters; and Jacob would be ex-communicated." (p. 156)
She's smart. The passage when they're lying in bed and whispering about the law, while she asks trenchant questions, is gripping. Theirs is a profound but anxious happiness. Will they be found out? What about the child? When the peasants see her they make a slitting-the-throat gesture. Will the Cossacks return? My God, the tension! And this vague synopsis covers only half the book. Please read it...
This is a stunning work. I can't do it justice. But I'll try with what enfeebled abilities I have. But first the whole story I got this book and took too long to read it.
I first became a "serious reader" in my mid to late high school years. I remember it was George Orwell and Anthony Burgess who, first, introduced to me the idea that books could be more than just fodder thrown by unfulfilled public school teachers at a sneering and half conscious student body to keep them busy and adhere to arbitrary academic standards. Orwell's "Animal Farm" and "1984" as well as Burgess' "A Clockwork Orange" were the first novels to evidence the ability of literature to cut deep and excite, to teach and to terrify, and, most profoundly, entertain and revivify.
From there I slowly made my winding way through the annals of many books. Not as many as I'd like, not as many as some friends (both current and former) but many enough to whittle away hours, months, days, years. And amid all that I took slow steps into the realm of Jewish Fiction. There was no direction, no guiding ethos, I just read what I could find and what was recommended to me. Philip Roth was a perverted and neurotic maestro of prose, Saul Bellow was a bloviating dilettante not without his share of genius, Kafka was the patron saint of Jewish misery and 'the guilt without source'. Of course Norman Mailer was the robber baron of arrogance and unparalleled literary ambition. And then the Jews of European and Israeli origins. The list goes on. But with all of that the name Isaac Bashevis Singer popped up in random spots, a soft whisper resonant of a Jewish life and mentality that had all but ceased to be. This need be evidenced no more than by his choice (and superb ability) to write in Yiddish. Not English, not German, not Hebrew, but Yiddish; a writer of the old language, emblematic of diaspora and all that came with it. And that he was awarded the nobel prize of literature and a Jew of orthodoxy (and a vegetarian to boot!) only added to his mystique and appeal.
So I read Singer's "Gimpel the Fool" and enjoyed it. Much later I read "The Penitent" which, while skillfully written, was unfortunately brought down by the noxious pedantry and sententious elitism of its protagonist. But all along his novel "The Slave" remained on the backburner. A more or less self-published novelist, an American Jew living in Israel who become very religious and conservative, derided the novel as well written but borderline pornographic. Having been at the stage where I was just simply angry, I bought the book almost as an act of spite against a man I'd never met but who seemed to embody the worst of my then current neuroses and shortcomings, and dreams and aspirations as well. But years have gone by and my obsessions and weaknesses have shifted. And still "The Slave" remained on my perpetual 'to read' pile.
When I finally sat down to read the book I consumed it quickly and deeply. The story of Jacob the Polish Jew who is sold into slavery after a horrific pogrom that leaves most of his family dead and his village destroyed, is told in bitter but never embittered terms. It's a superb recitation of a black historical incident. Jacob is exiled to the Polish mountains where he barely ekes out an existence among people who, at best, distrust him, and, at worst, want him dead for the crime of living. But still Jacob maintains, to the best of his ability, his religious Jewish life. This would have been and could have been a monastic tale of personal strength in a time of diaspora but Singer introduces the love interest: the non-Jewish Polish woman Wanda, who proves to be the impetus for Jacob's transformation into one the most tragic, beautiful, and fully realized protagonists in world Jewish literature.
Singer pulls no punches here. The non-Jewish Poles are depicted in various states of savagery and depredation, as well as with spots of humanity belying their downtrodden circumstances. Jacob's fellow Jews are trenchantly delineated with a similarly even hand, showing both the beauty and the hypocrisy inherent within the Jewish religious lifestyle under the aegis of ambivalent (at times) and evil (at times) host culture. The true characters in this work are Jacob and Wanda (later Sarah) who, through their doomed love and passionate dedication to each other, create a tableau of such meaning and profundity that's hard to believe this book isn't at the top of more 'best of' lists.
Jacob and Wanda, for me, represent the ethereal and complex, the damning and revelatory aspects of love better than anything I've yet read. They aren't meant to be. And they will be torn from each other and destroyed. But like a postlapsarian Adam and Eve, theirs is a love of creation amid a dark world of Lilith and Satan, a fire to be snuffed but to shine brilliantly while it can.
This is a sad novel. But it possesses a nobility and an elan in form I've never seen before. It's human. It's love made real in all its maddening perplexities and hypocrisies. Read this if you want a taste of what it is to love, be damned by that love, but to love anyway, because it's human, and the joy is the misery is the joy.
Ovo je jedan izuzetan roman smje拧ten 1648, u vrijeme nakon masakra nekoliko tisu膰a 沤idova od strane koza膷kih hordi. Glavni je lik pobo啪an i obrazovan 沤idov Jakov koji u tom masakru gubi svoju porodicu, zarobljen je i postaje rob u hri拧膰anskoj porodici. Lijepo se prema njemu ophodi jedino prelijepa Wanda, k膰i njegovog gospodara. I naravno, po膷inje romansa... ali kakva! Neobi膷na i dirljiva, napisana na jedan stvarno vrhunski na膷in. Ovo je dirljiva, tragi膷na i izuzetno tmurna pri膷a ljubavi, strasti, ali i vjere, pobo啪nosti i duhovnosti. Ovo je divno, predivno napisana knjiga puna 啪ivota i nabijena emocijama. Opet nas Singer uvjerava u svoja ube膽enja 鈥� preko discipline, vjere, kulture i tradicije mo啪e se istrajati uprkos svemu. Li膷no me fascinira ta 沤idovska vjera i tradicija. Iako po ube膽enju ateist, rasla sam uz njegove knjige i shvatam njegova nastojanja koja gravitiraju natrag u tradiicju koja je zbog svega nabrojanog odolela brojnim napadima i antisemitizmu, poku拧aj da se iza膽e iz slijepe ulice modernog i da se spasi taj veliki duh i vrline. Wanda i Sara 鈥� dva imena jedne 啪ene koja se zbog ljubavi odri膷e svega i zbog koje se Jakob bori sa samim sobom, ali i zbog koje stvara svoju du拧u ponovo i makar i na kratko do啪ivljava sre膰u zbog koje opstaje. Jakov je rob Jana Bizika, u isto vrijeme rob vjere, tradicije, rituala da bi postao rob ljubavi, 啪udnje i strasti.... Svaka me je re膷enica odu拧evila. Ova je knjiga dragulj u svijetskoj knji啪evnosti!
Translated from the Yiddish by the author and Cecil Hemley
Description: Four years after the Chmielnicki massacres of the seventeenth century, Jacob, a slave and cowherd in a Polish village high in the mountains, falls in love with Wanda, his master's daughter. Even after he is ransomed, he finds he can't live without her, and the two escape together to a distant Jewish community. Racked by his consciousness of sin in taking a Gentile wife and by the difficulties of concealing her identity, Jacob nonetheless stands firm as the violence of the era threatens to destroy the ill-fated couple.
Opening: A single bird call began the day. Each day the same bird, the same call.
An unusual love story, yet one, thankfully, that doesn't hover on sentimental hogwash. If you love bizarre superstitions including succubi, vampires, Dizwosina and Skrots, then this may just be the book for you.
Drowning Baba Yaga.
Thoroughly disconcerted as to why Poland has willingly returned to media censorship after they fought so hard to slough off the yoke, I go searching for answers in past fiction, well, 'pointers' to be more exact. I read Turkish literature for the same reason, why, after Atat眉rk's splendid ideals, are there Islamists in government there. So many questions to ponder over, so little time.
Chmielnicki: the Cossack-Polish War 1648-1657: mass atrocities committed by Cossacks against civilian population, especially against the Roman Catholic clergy and the Jews. Relevent to today's world is thisbit snaffled from wiki: it [this war] led to the eventual incorporation of eastern Ukraine into the Tsardom of Russia.
A rich, poignant, deep, tragic and somber novel of love, faith and spirituality. Four years after the Chmielnicki massacres of 1648 in which tens of thousands of Jews were massacred by Cossack hordes, a pious Jew Jacob, exists as a slave ,captured during the massacres in the mountains of Poland for gentile, peasants. Treated like a beast, he is shown mercy and tenderness by his master's beautiful daughter Wanda, who he falls in love with. When he returns to how own Jewish town, Jacob cannot forget Wanda and brings her back to his home as a convert to Judaism. But as conversion was forbidden in that time and place, he cannot reveal her gentile birth and to cover up this, and not let this be revealed by her Polish accent, he must pass her off as a mute. Her name is now Sarah.
Despite her great reservoir of kindness, and piety she is ill treated by most of the community. Jacob has to also forebear the capricious cruelty of the local Polish nobleman Adam Pilsidsky. Before Wanda dies in childbirth she reveals that she is of gentile birth. As a result of pressure from the narrow minded hypocrites within the community especially the execrable Gershon, Sarah is given a donkey's burial, and the baby boy she has delivered declared not a part of the community. But he is looked after by a good hearted couple and is fetched by his father who takes him to the Land of Israel. 20 years pass before Jacob returns and a great miracle takes place to show that Sarah's (Wanda) soul was indeed that of a daughter of Israel. Full of spiritual phenomena, as well as the rich superstitions of the time, this novel will excite those interested in such subjects and is a classic and jewel of Jewish literature by a master in that craft.
Pokajanjem grijeh mo啪e da se preobrati u pobo啪nost, a pravda u milosr膽e. I neko ogrije拧enje mo啪e, ponekad, da vodi ka dobru.
Strasno napisana ljubavna pri膷a koja svoju egzaltaciju dobija u mu膷enju i progonu. Poljska i masakr nad Jevrejima u 17. stolje膰u. Singer je izvukao Biblijske naratore, i sve ono 拧to oni nose sa sobom, sve mane i vrline utkao je u figuru po imenu Jakov. On 膰e padati u odre膽ena isku拧enja, pojedine izjave zvu膷a膰e kao jeres, ali Singer koristi tu knji啪evnu slobodu i mije拧a je sa nekim od na膷ela svojih svetih knjiga. Kod Singera je sve u nekoj simbolici, odre膽ene stvari mogu da se sa raznih strana sagledavaju i tuma膷e. 膶esto apostrofira i pravi religiozne digresije po pitanju dobra i zla. Njegove suptilne sentence o bogu i njegovom odricanju ili prihvatanju u najte啪im trenucima, promi拧ljanja o samoj vjeri te kako se i za拧to ona gubi, ispitivanje kauzalnosti jeste neka vrsta goriva koja pokre膰e ovaj roman. Likovi nisu u crno-bijeloj varijanti, njihov sa啪ivot je stvaran, barem oku na拧e svakodnevne stvarnosti, i ona je prikazana bez ukra拧avanja sa svom svojom svirepo拧膰u. Singer iako nije sklon patetici i nekoj tugaljivosti, nekako ima istan膷anost da sentiment prenese na 膷itaoca i ostavi neki gorko-slatki ukus. Sve u svemu, 鈥濺ob鈥� je jedna tragi膷na pri膷a, te膷na do samog kraja. Ona svoj pedigre nalazi u savremenom 膷ovjeku u ne拧to malo izmjenjenijim okolnostima spolja拧nje egzistencije.
Questo romanzo, scritto da Isaac Bashevis Singer [1903-1991], nel 1962 e ambientato nella Polonia del XVII secolo, ha per protagonista Jacob, un ebreo che 猫 riuscito a sfuggire a un pogrom del suo villaggio a prezzo della perdita della giovane moglie, dei figlioletti e del poco che aveva di suo e infine anche della libert脿, perch茅 all鈥檌nizio del romanzo lo conosciamo gi脿 schiavo da tempo di una famiglia polacca a cui 猫 stato venduto: egli conduce in montagna una vita grama e solitaria confinato in una stalla, si occupa della cura dei bovini dei padroni, i giovinastri della zona a volte lo prendono in giro, ma pur ossessionato dai ricordi e da sogni di improbabile libert脿, non d脿 eccessivo credito nemmeno alla giovane Wanda, l鈥檜nica della famiglia dei padroni a trattarlo con umanit脿, addirittura con amore finch茅 non gli si apre una inattesa opportunit脿 che gli permetterebbe di cominciare una nuova vita lontano, daccapo uomo libero stimato e rispettato e amato鈥a c鈥櫭� davvero per l鈥檜manit脿 una seconda possibilit脿? Romanzo indimenticabile a tinte forti, colorato dal sangue di vittime innocenti, dagli incendi appiccati da anni di intolleranza, dall鈥檕dio di razza e di religione, in un tempo apparentemente lontano dal nostro eppure cos矛 vicino, cos矛 simile all鈥檕ggi, teso a farci comprendere che l鈥檜omo con i suoi sentimenti peggiori non cambier脿 mai.
Fra i suoi diciotto romanzi, 鈥淟o schiavo鈥� 猫 sicuramente uno di quelli da non farsi sfuggire; pubblicato nel 鈥�62 partecipa con peso specifico alla prolifica stagione creativa che, dal primo romanzo 鈥淪atana a Goraj鈥�, porta l鈥檃utore, passando per il successo di critica e di pubblico de 鈥淟a famiglia Moskat鈥�, al premio Nobel del 鈥�78. 脠 una storia ambientata nel 1600, in una Polonia sferzata da venti gelidi e cosacchi a cavallo, piegata inoltre da una miriade di credenze superstiziose che si vorrebbero derivate dalle grandi religioni monoteiste, senza derivazione alcuna in realt脿. La gente 猫 povera, subisce la prepotenza di pochi che la governano, l 鈥榚breo, in questo contesto, patisce ancor di pi霉 per i ripetuti pogrom e la superstizione aiuta gli animi a sopportare le violenze e le sopraffazioni. Simbolo della condizione ebraica, racchiusa in un ampio raggio che va dalla sottomissione a Dio, alla ritualit脿 passando per l鈥檌ntrinseca condizione di esule senza patria, 猫 Jacob, un giovane uomo al quale i cosacchi sterminano la famiglia, moglie e figli, e che in seguito viene venduto a cristiani che, in qualit脿 di schiavo, lo sfruttano per il lavoro nei campi e con gli animali, mentre la comunit脿 del villaggio ospitante ne fa il capro espiatorio di ataviche paure. Pende su Jacob una condizione di eterna precariet脿, potrebbe essere ammazzato per nulla, mentre rassegnato coltiva, per quanto possibile, la sua fede in Dio, mantenendo o recuperando il patrimonio di conoscenze e di riti che la sua precedente condizione di benestante gli aveva assicurato. Ora 猫 un povero schiavo e solo la fede lo consola; l鈥檌ncontro con Wanda e il successivo legame amoroso-al quale si opporr脿 con tutte le sue forze perch茅 猫 vietato per un ebreo legarsi con una gentile- lo porteranno a vivere gioie e dolori, a scontrarsi con le ipocrisie delle due comunit脿 religiose e a sperimentare una nuova condizione servile, rimpiangendo in lui e negli altri la possibilit脿 di godere di piena libert脿. Rimarr脿 sempre un uomo giusto trascendendo le prescrizioni imposte dalla legge religiosa, seguendo una morale e un鈥檈tica che, pare dire Singer, appartiene prima all鈥檌ndividuo poi alla fede. Il romanzo contempla tutta la sua esistenza mentre l鈥檈pilogo, bellissimo, ne consegna il suo profondo significato. Magistrale rappresentazione realistica di un mondo crudele: si fa in fretta a opporlo al nostro, progredito e civile e a distanziarlo cos矛 tanto da chiedersi se in fondo in questo nostro mondo, immutato nelle intolleranze religiose, incapace ancora di perseguire il bene, specchio di una finitezza umana misera e votata all鈥檕dio, ci siano poi degli uomini giusti che possano farci da guida.
Jako dobar stil pripovijedanja, to me odu拧evilo iako se, tu i tamo, ponavlja. Odli膷an prikaz 膷ovjeka koji je cijeli 啪ivot bio robom - svoga gospodara, ljubavi prema 啪eni i kona膷no vlastite vjere.
Autor je tako fino iskritizirao sukob religija - mr啪nju i netrpeljivost prema pripadnicima druge vjere. Bog je samo jedan (samo ga razli膷ito imenujemo) i ne vjerujem da nas mrzi i ka啪njava zbog svake na拧e pogre拧ke. Tako to izgleda kada mi sami interpretiramo bo啪ju rije膷 i pitam se: za拧to bi sve trebalo biti negativno. Za拧to ne vidimo samo ljubav i svjetlost? Bilo bi nam lak拧e.
Premda mu je radnja sme拧tena u Poljskoj u 17.veku, roman "Rob" Isaka Singera podse膰a na biblijsku fabulu, protkanu motivima svetih knjiga ali prisnijeg narativa, 膷ime ljubavna pri膷a dobija na neposrednosti. Potla膷enik Jakov i udovica Vanda i ose膰anja koja kuljaju izme膽u njih uprkos svim preprekama, samo su jedna od tema ovog slojevitog romana, 膷iji me je autor, ve膰 u prvim stranicama, kupio svojim bravuroznim ume膰em pripovedanja. Singer 膰e svojim junacima prirediti svakakva isku拧enja, a nama nepredvidiv narativ, pri膷u pune simbolike, teolo拧kih diskursa, hri拧膰anske mitologije, ali i poljskog folklora, jazi膷estva, magijskih rituala i totemizma. Ali, kada se u obzir uzmu okolnosti vremena koja se na ovaj ili onaj na膷in odra啪avaju na bistvovanje protagonista, njihova unutra拧nja kolebanja nalaze univerzalnu primenu i u savremenom dobu. Pisac je uspeo u nameri da ih nam pribli啪i, savladav拧i vremenski hijatus od 膷etiri veka izme膽u doba u kojem 啪ive neprikosnoveni, savesni i hrabri Singerovi junaci, Jakov i Vanda i nas koji u啪ivamo ili 膰emo tek u啪ivati u njihovoj pri膷i.
"Ya艧am谋m boyunca bir 艧ey 枚臒rendim: hi莽bir 艧eye ba臒lanmayacaks谋n." (s.235)
Sular ak谋yor 艧谋r谋l 艧谋r谋l seyrek a臒a莽l谋 tepelerden... G眉ne艧in 谋艧谋臒谋 莽iseliyor sabaha kar艧谋. Vist眉l Nehri 枚yle k枚t眉 kokuyor ki s眉r眉kledi臒i cesetlerden 枚t眉r眉... Bogdan Chmielnicki, (ismi yerin dibine bats谋n) boydan boya ku艧atm谋艧t谋 k枚t眉l眉臒眉yle Ukrayna'y谋 ve 枚ld眉rm眉艧t眉 say谋s谋z Yahudiyi, s谋rf Yahudi olduklar谋 i莽in.
脰yle bir d眉nya ki, olanca g眉zelli臒ine kar艧谋n, masmavi g枚臒眉ne, p谋r谋l p谋r谋l renklerine kar艧谋n; i莽inde bitmek bilmez kini, 枚fkeyi, h谋rs谋 ta艧谋yan ve ufuksuz cehaletiyle insansoyu taraf谋ndan say谋s谋z k枚t眉l眉臒眉n i艧lenmesine sahne olmu艧. Bir insan nedir ki? K谋sac谋k 枚mr眉yle nedir bir insan? Nedir ya艧am? 脰l眉m眉 bile anlayamad谋k hen眉z. 脰l眉m眉n anlam谋n谋... Ya艧am谋n anlam谋n谋 anlayabilelim.
"Ya艧am nedir ki? Beklersin, g眉nler ge莽er, 枚l眉m gelir ve hepsi sona erer." (s.192)
Elimde tuttu臒um bask谋, bu kitab谋n ilk ve son bask谋s谋 olan 1979 Alt谋n Kitaplar bask谋s谋. 艦枚mizli sert kapak, diki艧siz yap谋艧t谋rma cilt. 脟evirisini de, baz谋 yerlerde mesela so臒an yerine "sovan" diye 莽eviren ilgin莽 diliyle verimli 莽evirmen Mehmet Harmanc谋 yapm谋艧. Daha 枚nce onun 莽evirilerinden birka莽 kitap daha okumu艧tum. Kitab谋n 艧枚mizinin kapa臒谋nda bir nehir var Vist眉l oldu臒unu tahmin ediyorum. 艦枚mizin alt谋ndaki sert kapa臒谋 ise suni deri mukavva. S谋rt谋nda da yanaklar谋nda da hi莽bir yaz谋 yok. Bask谋 kalitesi idare eder ama elimdeki bu bask谋n谋n 40 ya艧谋nda oldu臒unu d眉艧眉n眉rsek olduk莽a iyi dayanm谋艧 bunca y谋la. Diki艧siz oldu臒u i莽in de cildi biraz ayr谋lm谋艧 sadece.
Bu kitab谋n 1962'de yay谋nland谋臒谋n谋 d眉艧眉n眉rsek, 1965 y谋l谋nda yaz谋lan 'a baz谋 y枚nlerden ilham vermesi olas谋. Konular farkl谋 olsa dahi, ya艧ananlar谋 anlat谋m tarz谋 ve bu ya艧anan olaylardaki trajik unsurlar benzer. Boyal谋 Ku艧'ta da haf谋zam beni yan谋ltm谋yorsa Kazaklar bir sahnede 莽谋k谋yordu kar艧谋m谋za. Bu kitap elbette 17. y眉zy谋ldaki Bogdan Chmielnicki'nin katliamlar谋n谋 merkeze ald谋ysa da 莽izdi臒i toplum resimleri ortak.
Bu kitaptaki 颈苍蝉补苍肠谋办濒补谤谋苍 ya艧ad谋klar谋 d眉nya "b眉t眉n眉yle inan莽lar" 眉zerine in艧a edilecek olas谋 bir d眉nyan谋n ne olaca臒谋 hakk谋nda 莽ok iyi bir ipucu veriyor. Zira bir zamanlar her 艧ey zaten b枚yleydi. Bu kitapta da g枚rd眉臒眉m眉z gibi, insanlar her 艧eyi; hemen her 艧eyi dini kurallar 眉zerine in艧a etmeye 莽al谋艧谋yorlar, onlar谋n yetersiz oldu臒u noktalarda bat谋l inan莽lar, pagan inan莽lar谋, 莽e艧itli dini objeler (relics) ve kanaat 枚nderlerinin d眉艧眉nceleri belirliyor hayat谋n her 艧eyini. Ger莽ek d眉nyan谋n b眉t眉n fizik olaylar谋 bu insanlar i莽in cinlerin, perilerin, b眉y眉lerin eseri. Anlayamad谋klar谋 her 艧eyden korkuyla uydurma metafizik alemine s谋臒谋n谋yorlar.
Ger莽ek d眉nya, zaten yeterince 莽etrefilli iken, bir de ikinci bir d眉nyayla m眉cadele etmek ne kadar fazla bir y眉k, insan i莽in.
Bu kitaptan 莽ok 艧ey 枚臒rendim. 陌nsanlar谋n bilim olmayan bir d眉nyada nas谋l ya艧ayaca臒谋n谋 g枚rd眉m. Bir defa daha ya艧ad谋臒谋m hayata 艧眉k眉rler ettim. Ya艧ad谋臒谋m zamana, sahip oldu臒umuz bilime, bug眉ne kadar d眉nyay谋 daha iyi bir yer yapmak i莽in durmak bilmeden 莽al谋艧an ve bizleri bu "b眉y眉lerle, cinlerle, perilerle" dolu d眉nyadan kurtaran bilim insanlar谋na o kadar 莽ok 艧ey bor莽luyuz ki! Onlar olmasayd谋 e臒er bizler de bu kitaptaki gibi bat谋l inan莽lara, cehalete 办枚濒别 olurduk.
K枚le, bir metafor. Ger莽e臒in de 枚tesinde, insan谋n kulluk etti臒i her 艧eyin metaforu. 陌nanma, kand谋rma, kand谋r谋lma, ba臒lanma mecburiyeti, bedeni ihtiya莽lar, 艧ehevi arzular... Asl谋nda, insan her zaman 办枚濒别dir.
Yeni ke艧fetti臒im bir kahve sayesinde geceleri biraz daha 莽ok 莽alabiliyorum uykudan. Ah evet, 办枚濒别si oldu臒umuz uykudan. Belki daha 莽ok okumal谋. Daha 莽ok anlamal谋.
'den sonra bu y谋l谋n Nobel 枚d眉ll眉 yazar谋 olan ikinci eser oldu bu okuma.
I realize that this is a love story. What I found charming about this particular love story is that I couldn't understand why it was called one. That is, until the end. The end is beautiful. I've read so many endings; endings that end with a sigh, with a cry, or with a laugh. But this one was perfect. I must admit I was sleepy when I read that last sentence, but I don't think I could've reacted to the finish of this book anyways. It was perfect.
Like I said, for me, this was mostly a ...moreI realize that this is a love story. What I found charming about this particular love story is that I couldn't understand why it was called one. That is, until the end. The end is beautiful. I've read so many endings; endings that end with a sigh, with a cry, or with a laugh. But this one was perfect. I must admit I was sleepy when I read that last sentence, but I don't think I could've reacted to the finish of this book anyways. It was perfect.
Like I said, for me, this was mostly a story on humanity. On how complex and hideous humanity can be, but how sometimes God and good shine through and how misunderstood that can be. Jacob never thought of himself as good; he lived with the assurance that he would go to hell because he had married Wanda, or Sarah, and thus he was resigned. Having determined that he would go to hell, he could have been as evil and corrupt as he wanted. But he was so good, so perfectly good that it becomes unbelievable, laughably novel-like. (This is, by the way, the only fault I can find in the book.) And the beauty of the main character's disposition gives the whole tale so much bitter-sweetness. The love story is opaqued.
Also, Isaac Bashevis Singer is a genius. This is the first novel of his I have read; I had read short stories before, such as "In my Father's Court." I don't know if it's the brilliance of the translation, but I think that there were some passages that one truly had to re-read, because the language used was heart-wrenching, the landscapes painted fairy-like. How rare and beautiful that is.
All in all, this was a book that, although smeared with tragedy, was beautiful. I think I may have to reread it.
艩to napisati o romanu koji me je odu拧evio ? 膶itaju膰i ga sa 17 godina, duboko sam pro啪ivljavala sve 拧to je u djelu napisano, sve 拧to su pro啪ivljavali glavni likovi, a i sporedni ), sve 拧to je re膷eno bilo mi je za膷u膽uju膰e dobro. I onda se odlu膷ih pro拧le godine ponovo ga 膷itati. Nisam ni拧ta o膷ekivala. Zapravo sam mislila da me se ne膰e tako dojmiti kao prije, jer sam dosta skepti膷na kada neko djelo 膷itam drugi put. Rijetko koje mi ponovo 鈥瀕egne鈥� Ovaj put sam se prevarila, jer za膷udo, nije bilo tako. Ve膰 na po膷etku romana osjetila sam opet onu staru privla膷nost, koja vas ve啪e za neko djelo dok ga 膷itate, neku nevidljivu nit, koja vas spaja i koja koja vas prosto dr啪i da roman ne ispustite iz ruku. Drugim rije膷ima 鈥� Rob鈥� mi se zalijepio za prste i nije me pustio do samog kraja. Za one koji ne znaju 鈥濺ob鈥� je predivno ispisana pri膷a o ljubavi i o 啪rtvi iz ljubavi i zbog ljubavi. I ne samo to. U sredi拧tu romana je seoska djevojka Vanda, kr拧膰anka i rob Jakov 沤idov, koji se bezuvjetno zaljubljuje u nju. I upravo ve膰 na po膷etku romana imate dojam da ova ljubavna pri膷a ne膰e zavr拧iti sretno.Jakov je rob ne samo kod Vandinog oca, ve膰 je rob ljubavi i moralnih na膷ela s jedne strane i svetog na膷ina razmi拧ljanja s druge. Vanda je djevojka koja ga prihva膰a i voli, te pristaje po膰i s njim u njegovu 啪idovsku zajednicu. Tu se ona 啪rtvuje u ime ljubavi i zbog ljubavi, glume膰i gluhonijemu 啪enu samo zato da je drugi 沤idovi ne bi prozreli, jer nije znala njihov jezik. Sam 啪ivot u 啪idovskoj komuni nije za Vandu ni malo lak, tako da ona u poodmakloj trudno膰i radi sve poslove zbog sigurnosti, te trpi razna vrije膽anja koje joj druge 啪ene govore, a ona ih 膷uje ). Cijelo vrijeme dok sam 膷itala roman, prepoznavala sam da su Jakov i Vanda netipi膷ni junaci koji su u stalnom sukobu sa svojim moralnim na膷elima, pa i bogom.Jakov se kroz cijelo djelo preispituje 拧to je dobro, a 拧to ne , smatraju膰ei da je upravo ljubav prema Vandi grijeh koje treba okajati i iskupiti, te se ka啪njava nekim zemaljskim , obi膷nim 啪rtvama., kao 拧to je spavanje na kamenu, strogi post, 啪ivot po strogim 啪idovskim pravilima i religiji. Za拧to me se roman po drugi puta dojmio? Singerove re膷enice pune su personifikacija, opisi krajolika su za膷u膽uju膰e uvjerljivi tako da prosto pred svojim o膷ima stvarate pejza啪e i slike , a tako i ljude i doga膽aje. 膶itaju膰i ga nau膷it 膰ete puno o 啪idovskoj kulturi i obi膷ajima, ali i o ljubavi kao glavnom pokreta膷u kroz roman. Nau膷it 膰ete da je ljubav 啪rtva koja je u stvarnom 啪ivotu jako potrebna , ljubav koja pokre膰e lavinu doga膽aja. Ali isto tako da ljubav ne mora uvijek zavr拧iti sretno da bi se definirala kao prava ljubav. Ovo je roman koji vas ne mo啪e ostaviti ravnodu拧nim. Ili ga volite ili ne. Nema izme膽u. Ja vam savjetujem da ga pro膷itate ako do sada niste, ali ako od njega o膷ekujete 膷istu ljubavnu pri膷u, sladunjavu i jednostavnu, odmah odustanite. Jer 鈥濺ob鈥� to zasigurno nije.
I started this book feeling slightly mad about all the religious righteousness; by the end, my heart was shattered. I think it is going to take a while to recover. Highly recommend! Please break your hearts like I did.
Le due parti che, prima di un breve ma importante epilogo, compongono questo gran romanzo di Isaac Singer sono significativamente intitolate ai due nomi femminili che scopriremo identificare la medesima donna, l鈥檃ppassionata amante e poi moglie di Jacob. Infatti Lo Schiavo 猫 anche (e forse soprattutto) una storia d鈥檃more, oltre che romanzo storico e drammatica cronistoria di un鈥檈sistenza che attraversa decenni fra conflitti di religione, pogrom, superstizioni, riti di stampo quasi tribale.
E鈥� un romanzo storico nell鈥檃ccezione pi霉 estesa del termine, poich茅 sa ritrarre fino a renderla palpabile l鈥檃tmosfera di un luogo (la lontana provincia polacca quasi al confine con le steppe russe) in un periodo, il 鈥�600, caratterizzato in quelle lande da scorrerie dei cosacchi, miseria e intolleranza religiosa. E la religione 猫 a sua volta un altro punto cardinale del racconto, sia per l鈥檌nsistenza e l鈥檌nvadenza dei rituali e delle privazioni cui lo stesso protagonista si sottopone costantemente, sia per le riflessioni che anche la gente pi霉 umile elabora sui temi della divinit脿, della persistenza del male, della colpa e dell鈥檈spiazione.
In parallelo con i contrasti religiosi, soprattutto fra cristiani ed ebrei e non senza una persistenza tenace del paganesimo, prospera la superstizione, al punto che tutto il paese e soprattutto la natura circostante sembra pullulare, nell鈥檌mmaginazione popolare, di spettri, entit脿 maligne, spiriti ancestrali che incombono sulla miserabile esistenza della povera gente.
Va da s茅 che un simile contesto costituisce una persistente minaccia per la precaria esistenza dell鈥檈breo Jacob, un uomo mite e colto sfuggito al pogrom che ne ha sterminato la famiglia, venduto poi come schiavo, sfruttato come mandriano e lacerato da un conflitto interiore fra la rigidit脿 dei dogmi e dei testi sacri cui si impone di obbedire e le pulsioni affettive e sessuali verso Wanda, l鈥檜nica persona che lo assiste nel suo forzato isolamento nella capanna fra i pascoli sulla montagna.
Per la coppia che l鈥檌pocrisia della comunit脿 giudica dannata ed eretica, in quanto lui ebreo e lei cristiana, la fuga alla ricerca di una nuova identit脿 costituisce l鈥檜nica speranza di futuro ma non permetter脿 di sfuggire al destino avverso.
Il racconto, descritto dall鈥檃utore con lucida coerenza ed uno stile impeccabile, si intreccia a tante altre storie in un mondo tragico e ostile dove l鈥檜manit脿 si aggrappa alla religione o alla superstizione come surrogati di un鈥檈sistenza tranquilla e serena che sembra irraggiungibile: solo dopo la morte Jacob riuscir脿 a ricongiungersi con la persona amata in un epilogo imprevedibile e commovente.
Labai gera knyga, kurios vienu pris臈dimu niekaip neb奴膷iau perskai膷iusi. Nes joje man per daug to, ko pati so膷iai turiu - u啪sispyrimo (kent臈ti, kankintis, mokytis, tik臈ti, myl臈ti ir gyvent savaip). Tod臈l reik臈davo pertraukos, bet trumpos, nes ir v臈l nor臈davosi gr寞啪ti. Ir nors nebuvo lengva, buvo tikrai 寞domu ir vietomis netgi labai pikta, kad negalima ka啪kaip papras膷iau to gyvenimo sud臈lioti.
I have not yet read anything by I B Singer I did not love. The Slave is no exception. Singer was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1978 and always wrote in Yiddish until his death in 1991, in Surfside, FL.
After all my reading this year about slavery in America, I come to this reminder that slavery is as old an institution as prostitution. Both seem to be inherent in the human story.
The Slave is an epic in 311 pages. Jacob was a learned and pious Jew, son of wealthy parents, who found himself a slave to a farmer in a remote mountain village. His birthplace, Josefov, was a Polish town that lay in the path of Ukrainian Cossacks in the 17th century. The ensuing massacres had cleared the town of Jews. Jacob fled, thinking his parents, wife and children dead, then fell into the hands of robbers who sold him into slavery.
Though he desperately strove to stay true to his faith, Jacob began to love the farmer's daughter. Wanda was a step above her environment, a practically prehistoric milieu of pagan superstition, tooth and claw existence, and rural poverty. But she was a Gentile and therefore forbidden. Her passion for him finally overcame his religious scruples and they planned to escape.
Of course, that plan fell through on the first attempt. Jacob's life from then on is one of perils and his search for redemption, taking him all the way to Israel as part of the early Zionist movement, at last reuniting with Wanda, and on to his final days where he finds peace and wisdom.
Besides being a beautiful love story, the novel is also a contemplation of the place of religion in human society including the contradiction that it condemns believers who do not follow its commandments while it honors the phenomenon that spirituality can lift us above our animal nature. The result is a timeless tale.
How interesting that Singer published a novel called The Slave just as the Civil Rights Movement was catching fire in America, his adopted country since 1935.