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韦伪 尾喂尾位委伪 蟿慰蠀 螜伪魏蠋尾
1752. 螚 魏伪蟽蟿蔚位维谓伪 螝伪蟿伪味委谓伪 螝慰蟽伪魏蠈蠁蟽魏伪 魏伪喂 畏 蟽蠀谓慰未蠈蟼 蟿畏蟼, 畏 蟺慰喂萎蟿蟻喂伪 螘位味渭蟺喂苇蟿伪 螡蟿蟻慰蠀味渭蟺维蟿蟽魏伪, 蠁蟿维谓慰蠀谓 蟽蟿慰 巍慰蠂维蟿喂谓 蟿慰蠀 螤慰谓蟿蠈位. 螆谓伪蟼 伪蟺蠈 蟿慰蠀蟼 魏伪位蔚蟽渭苇谓慰蠀蟼 蟽蟿慰 未蔚委蟺谓慰 蠀蟺慰未慰蠂萎蟼 蟿慰蠀蟼 蔚委谓伪喂 慰 喂蔚蟻苇伪蟼 螠蟺蔚谓苇谓蟿喂魏蟿 围渭喂蔚位蠈蠁蟽魏喂. 螒蠀蟿蠈蟼 魏伪喂 畏 蟺慰喂萎蟿蟻喂伪, 维谓胃蟻蠅蟺慰喂 蟺慰蠀 伪纬伪蟺慰蠉谓 蟿伪 尾喂尾位委伪, 尾蟻委蟽魏慰蠀谓 渭喂伪 魏慰喂谓萎 纬位蠋蟽蟽伪 魏伪喂 尉蔚魏喂谓慰蠉谓 渭喂伪 蟽蠀味萎蟿畏蟽畏 蟿畏谓 慰蟺慰委伪 胃伪 蟽蠀谓蔚蠂委蟽慰蠀谓 伪蟻纬蠈蟿蔚蟻伪 蟽蟿喂蟼 蔚蟺喂蟽蟿慰位苇蟼 蟿慰蠀蟼. 螞委纬慰 渭蔚蟿维 蔚渭蠁伪谓委味蔚蟿伪喂 蔚魏蔚委 苇谓伪蟼 蠈渭慰蟻蠁慰蟼 魏伪喂 蠂伪蟻喂蟽渭伪蟿喂魏蠈蟼 螘尾蟻伪委慰蟼, 慰 螜伪魏蠋尾 螞蔚蠆渭蟺蠈尾喂蟿蟼 桅蟻伪谓魏. 螣 渭蠀蟽蟿畏蟻喂蠋未畏蟼 谓蔚慰蠁蔚蟻渭苇谓慰蟼 伪蟺蠈 蟿畏 危渭蠉蟻谓畏 伪蟻蠂委味蔚喂 谓伪 未喂伪未委未蔚喂 喂未苇蔚蟼 蟺慰蠀 纬蟻萎纬慰蟻伪 未喂蠂维味慰蠀谓 蟿畏谓 蔚尾蟻伪蠆魏萎 魏慰喂谓蠈蟿畏蟿伪. 螕喂伪 蟿慰蠀蟼 渭蔚谓 苇谓伪蟼 伪喂蟻蔚蟿喂魏蠈蟼, 纬喂伪 蟿慰蠀蟼 未蔚 苇谓伪蟼 蟽蠅蟿萎蟻伪蟼, 蟺慰蠀 未蔚谓 伪蟻纬蔚委 谓伪 蟽蠀纬魏蔚谓蟿蟻蠋蟽蔚喂 苇谓伪谓 魏蠉魏位慰 伪蠁慰蟽喂蠅渭苇谓蠅谓 渭伪胃畏蟿蠋谓. 韦慰 胃苇渭伪 蔚委谓伪喂 蠈蟿喂 畏 伪谓伪蟿伪蟻伪蠂萎 蟺慰蠀 蟺蟻慰魏伪位蔚委 胃伪 渭蟺慰蟻慰蠉蟽蔚 谓伪 伪位位维尉蔚喂 蟿慰谓 蟻慰蠀 蟿蠅谓 蟺蟻伪纬渭维蟿蠅谓.
螚 螌位纬魏伪 韦慰魏维蟻蟿蟽慰蠀魏 伪谓蟿位蔚委 伪蟺蠈 蟿畏谓 蟺伪蟻维未慰蟽畏 蟿慰蠀 喂蟽蟿慰蟻喂魏慰蠉 渭蠀胃喂蟽蟿慰蟻萎渭伪蟿慰蟼 魏伪喂 蟽蠀纬蠂蟻蠈谓蠅蟼 蟿慰 未喂蔚蠀蟻蠉谓蔚喂. 螤蟻慰蟽畏位蠅渭苇谓畏 蟽蟿畏 位蔚蟺蟿慰渭苇蟻蔚喂伪, 蟺伪蟻慰蠀蟽喂维味蔚喂 蟿伪 未蔚未慰渭苇谓伪 蟿畏蟼 蔚蟺慰蠂萎蟼, 伪蟺蠈 蟿畏谓 伪蟻蠂喂蟿蔚魏蟿慰谓喂魏萎 蠅蟼 蟿喂蟼 渭蠀蟻蠅未喂苇蟼. 螘蟺喂蟽魏蔚蟺蟿蠈渭伪蟽蟿蔚 渭伪味委 蟿畏蟼 伪蟻蠂慰谓蟿喂魏维 伪蟻喂蟽蟿慰魏蟻伪蟿蠋谓, 魏伪胃慰位喂魏维 蟺蟻蔚蟽尾蠀蟿苇蟻喂伪 魏伪喂 蔚尾蟻伪蠆魏维 蟽蟺喂蟿喂魏维 蟺慰蠀 蟺蟻慰蟽蔚蠉蠂慰谓蟿伪喂 尾蠀胃喂蟽渭苇谓伪 蟽蟿畏 渭蔚位苇蟿畏 蟿蠅谓 纬蟻伪蠁蠋谓. 螚 委未喂伪 蠀蠁伪委谓蔚喂 蟿畏谓 蔚喂魏蠈谓伪 蟿畏蟼 蟺伪位喂维蟼 螤慰位蠅谓委伪蟼, 蟺蟻喂谓 伪蟺蠈 蟿慰蠀蟼 未喂伪渭蔚位喂蟽渭慰蠉蟼 蟿畏蟼, 蠈蟺慰蠀 蟽蠀谓蠀蟺萎蟻蠂伪谓 未喂伪蠁慰蟻蔚蟿喂魏苇蟼 胃蟻畏蟽魏蔚委蔚蟼.
螒蟺位蠅渭苇谓伪 蟽蔚 慰蠂蟿伪魏蠈蟽喂蔚蟼 魏伪喂 蟺位苇慰谓 蟽蔚位委未蔚蟼, 蟿伪 螔喂尾位委伪 蟿慰蠀 螜伪魏蠋尾 蟽伪纬畏谓蔚蠉慰蠀谓 渭蔚 蟿畏谓 蟺慰位位伪蟺位蠈蟿畏蟿伪 蟿蠅谓 蔚蟺喂蟺苇未蠅谓 魏伪喂 蟿蠅谓 未蠀谓畏蟿喂魏蠋谓 蔚蟻渭畏谓蔚喂蠋谓 蟿慰蠀蟼. 螆谓伪 伪谓伪蟽蟿慰蠂伪蟽蟿喂魏蠈 魏伪喂 渭蠀蟽蟿喂魏喂蟽蟿喂魏蠈 苇蟻纬慰 纬喂伪 蟿畏谓 委未喂伪 蟿畏谓 喂蟽蟿慰蟻委伪, 蟿喂蟼 伪谓伪蟿蟻慰蟺苇蟼 魏伪喂 蟿伪 纬蠀蟻委蟽渭伪蟿维 蟿畏蟼 蟺慰蠀 魏伪胃慰蟻委味慰蠀谓 蟿畏 渭慰委蟻伪 慰位蠈魏位畏蟻蠅谓 位伪蠋谓. 危蟿伪 渭苇蟽伪 蟿慰蠀 18慰蠀 伪喂蠋谓伪, 蟽蟿慰谓 伪喂蠋谓伪 蟿慰蠀 螖喂伪蠁蠅蟿喂蟽渭慰蠉, 畏 蟽蟺慰蠀未伪委伪 蟽蠀纬纬蟻伪蠁苇伪蟼 伪谓蟿喂魏伪胃蟻蔚蠁蟿委味蔚喂 蟿畏 蟽畏渭蔚蟻喂谓萎 渭慰蟻蠁萎 蔚谓蠈蟼 渭蔚纬维位慰蠀 蟿渭萎渭伪蟿慰蟼 蟿畏蟼 螘蠀蟻蠋蟺畏蟼.
螚 螌位纬魏伪 韦慰魏维蟻蟿蟽慰蠀魏 伪谓蟿位蔚委 伪蟺蠈 蟿畏谓 蟺伪蟻维未慰蟽畏 蟿慰蠀 喂蟽蟿慰蟻喂魏慰蠉 渭蠀胃喂蟽蟿慰蟻萎渭伪蟿慰蟼 魏伪喂 蟽蠀纬蠂蟻蠈谓蠅蟼 蟿慰 未喂蔚蠀蟻蠉谓蔚喂. 螤蟻慰蟽畏位蠅渭苇谓畏 蟽蟿畏 位蔚蟺蟿慰渭苇蟻蔚喂伪, 蟺伪蟻慰蠀蟽喂维味蔚喂 蟿伪 未蔚未慰渭苇谓伪 蟿畏蟼 蔚蟺慰蠂萎蟼, 伪蟺蠈 蟿畏谓 伪蟻蠂喂蟿蔚魏蟿慰谓喂魏萎 蠅蟼 蟿喂蟼 渭蠀蟻蠅未喂苇蟼. 螘蟺喂蟽魏蔚蟺蟿蠈渭伪蟽蟿蔚 渭伪味委 蟿畏蟼 伪蟻蠂慰谓蟿喂魏维 伪蟻喂蟽蟿慰魏蟻伪蟿蠋谓, 魏伪胃慰位喂魏维 蟺蟻蔚蟽尾蠀蟿苇蟻喂伪 魏伪喂 蔚尾蟻伪蠆魏维 蟽蟺喂蟿喂魏维 蟺慰蠀 蟺蟻慰蟽蔚蠉蠂慰谓蟿伪喂 尾蠀胃喂蟽渭苇谓伪 蟽蟿畏 渭蔚位苇蟿畏 蟿蠅谓 纬蟻伪蠁蠋谓. 螚 委未喂伪 蠀蠁伪委谓蔚喂 蟿畏谓 蔚喂魏蠈谓伪 蟿畏蟼 蟺伪位喂维蟼 螤慰位蠅谓委伪蟼, 蟺蟻喂谓 伪蟺蠈 蟿慰蠀蟼 未喂伪渭蔚位喂蟽渭慰蠉蟼 蟿畏蟼, 蠈蟺慰蠀 蟽蠀谓蠀蟺萎蟻蠂伪谓 未喂伪蠁慰蟻蔚蟿喂魏苇蟼 胃蟻畏蟽魏蔚委蔚蟼.
螒蟺位蠅渭苇谓伪 蟽蔚 慰蠂蟿伪魏蠈蟽喂蔚蟼 魏伪喂 蟺位苇慰谓 蟽蔚位委未蔚蟼, 蟿伪 螔喂尾位委伪 蟿慰蠀 螜伪魏蠋尾 蟽伪纬畏谓蔚蠉慰蠀谓 渭蔚 蟿畏谓 蟺慰位位伪蟺位蠈蟿畏蟿伪 蟿蠅谓 蔚蟺喂蟺苇未蠅谓 魏伪喂 蟿蠅谓 未蠀谓畏蟿喂魏蠋谓 蔚蟻渭畏谓蔚喂蠋谓 蟿慰蠀蟼. 螆谓伪 伪谓伪蟽蟿慰蠂伪蟽蟿喂魏蠈 魏伪喂 渭蠀蟽蟿喂魏喂蟽蟿喂魏蠈 苇蟻纬慰 纬喂伪 蟿畏谓 委未喂伪 蟿畏谓 喂蟽蟿慰蟻委伪, 蟿喂蟼 伪谓伪蟿蟻慰蟺苇蟼 魏伪喂 蟿伪 纬蠀蟻委蟽渭伪蟿维 蟿畏蟼 蟺慰蠀 魏伪胃慰蟻委味慰蠀谓 蟿畏 渭慰委蟻伪 慰位蠈魏位畏蟻蠅谓 位伪蠋谓. 危蟿伪 渭苇蟽伪 蟿慰蠀 18慰蠀 伪喂蠋谓伪, 蟽蟿慰谓 伪喂蠋谓伪 蟿慰蠀 螖喂伪蠁蠅蟿喂蟽渭慰蠉, 畏 蟽蟺慰蠀未伪委伪 蟽蠀纬纬蟻伪蠁苇伪蟼 伪谓蟿喂魏伪胃蟻蔚蠁蟿委味蔚喂 蟿畏 蟽畏渭蔚蟻喂谓萎 渭慰蟻蠁萎 蔚谓蠈蟼 渭蔚纬维位慰蠀 蟿渭萎渭伪蟿慰蟼 蟿畏蟼 螘蠀蟻蠋蟺畏蟼.
866 pages, Hardcover
First published October 23, 2014
4,548 people are currently reading
52.5k people want to read
About the author
Olga Tokarczuk
72听books7,664听followersOlga Nawoja Tokarczuk is a Polish writer, activist, and public intellectual. She is one of the most critically acclaimed and successful authors of her generation in Poland. She was awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature as the first Polish female prose writer for "a narrative imagination that with encyclopedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life".
For her novel Flights, Tokarczuk was awarded the 2018 Man Booker International Prize. For Flights and The Books of Jacob, she won the Nike Awards, Poland's top literary prize, among other accolades; she won the Nike audience award five times.
Her works have been translated into almost 40 languages, making her one of the most translated contemporary Polish writers. The Books of Jacob, regarded as her magnum opus, was released in the UK in November 2021 after seven years of translation work, followed by release in the US in February 2022. In March that year, the novel was shortlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize.
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Photo: 艁ukasz Giza
For her novel Flights, Tokarczuk was awarded the 2018 Man Booker International Prize. For Flights and The Books of Jacob, she won the Nike Awards, Poland's top literary prize, among other accolades; she won the Nike audience award five times.
Her works have been translated into almost 40 languages, making her one of the most translated contemporary Polish writers. The Books of Jacob, regarded as her magnum opus, was released in the UK in November 2021 after seven years of translation work, followed by release in the US in February 2022. In March that year, the novel was shortlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize.
Source:
Photo: 艁ukasz Giza
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,595 reviews
September 26, 2023
The Books of Jacob is a monumental work, featuring a superb English translation by Jennifer Croft. This is rightly regarded as Olga Tokarczuk鈥檚 masterwork, an immersive historical novel that breathes life into the old Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth on the brink of partition. The society Tokarczuk presents is fluid and permeable. Languages and customs proliferate. What we, 250 years later, regard as fixed - ethnic identity, religious dogma, borders, language - is shown to be in a constant state of flux. It is only afterwards that history gives us a narrative, with labels and boundaries and a trajectory that didn鈥檛 exist for those living at the time. The Books of Jacob is a powerful rejoinder to a mode of thought that looks for fixed identities and tidy narratives. Some may find fault with the excessive length and lethargic pace, but the immersive experience and flat narrative arc are key to the journey. The shifting world Tokarczuk brings to life, and its implications for how we should understand ethno-nationalism, make this an unforgettable reading experience.
February 28, 2025
If you like (very) wide-ranging historical novels, this is the thing for you; if you don't, I guess you'd better refrain. For more than 900 pages Olga Tokarczuk immerses us in 18th-century Greater Poland which then covered large parts of Eastern Europe. Seen from the West, it was a perifere area, but it stood in intense contact with the Eastern Ottoman Empire, which at that time still controlled almost the entire Balkans. Tokarczuk sketches dozens of characters who constantly go back and forth between those two regions. Most of them are Jews, and the author examines that Jewish world in great detail.
Her central story focuses on a Jewish heretic movement which actually existed in the middle of the 18th century. The movement was led by Jacob Frank, an Ottoman Jew. He was a very unlikely guru, but had an enormous charisma and managed to get tens of thousands of Jews behind his 'Trinity Faith'. He seduced them with an eclectic mix of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, which was particularly attractive because it offered the Jews, with their always precarious position in Catholic Poland, the prospect of civil rights through baptism.
Olga Tokarczuk is the most acclaimed Polish writer of the moment (twice the Nik茅 prize, once the Man Booker International prize, and, of course, the Nobel Prize 2018), but with this book she has had a really difficult time in her own country. Her focus on the Catholic discrimination against Jews in Greater Poland was not appreciated by the right-wing, conservative government currently in power in Warsaw. Also the picture she paints of an extremely diversified Polish nation, with a jumble of ethnicities and religious movements that lived together, contradicts the homogenic Polish identity that has been cultivated since the 2nd world war.
But that is precisely what makes this book extremely interesting. The way Tokarczuk brings all these different movements, cultures and ethnicities to life is a feast for the reader's eye. Her narrative style even has a certain Marquezian flair, with a dash of magical realism through the character of the old Yenta who remains in a state of coma for hundreds of pages, and - stepped out of herself - glides through space and time, guiding the story a step further. In the same way, a lot of characters move to and through different regions, making this a novel in which borders (not only physical ones) are lifted.
But there is a downside to this verbal firework, and to this physical and spiritual mobility: the immersion in all those worlds, the dozens of characters, the constant changes in perspective and time, all this makes reading this very bulky book a real ordeal. For instance, it takes a quarter of the book, almost 250 pages, before the story about the heresy of Jacob Frank takes off; until then Tokarczuk builds up, with constantly new characters, and travels back and forth between Poland, the Balkans and Smyrna (present-day Izmir in Turkey). Also the sometimes very intense theological discussions among the Jewish rabbis, diving into kabbala, demand a lot from the reader.
Again: this historical novel is quite a tour de force, not only in terms of size and depth. For me, the charm of the reading was mainly in the Chagal-like character of the visual language of Tokarczuk: she regularly sketches dreamy scenes with the comatose Yenta that floats over time and space and oversees everything. But in the long run it鈥檚 all a bit too much: the story just lingers on, endlessly, and I missed a real existential story, with people of flesh and blood. Hence the slightly lesser rating. But I'm definitely going to dive into Tokarczuk's other work!
Her central story focuses on a Jewish heretic movement which actually existed in the middle of the 18th century. The movement was led by Jacob Frank, an Ottoman Jew. He was a very unlikely guru, but had an enormous charisma and managed to get tens of thousands of Jews behind his 'Trinity Faith'. He seduced them with an eclectic mix of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, which was particularly attractive because it offered the Jews, with their always precarious position in Catholic Poland, the prospect of civil rights through baptism.
Olga Tokarczuk is the most acclaimed Polish writer of the moment (twice the Nik茅 prize, once the Man Booker International prize, and, of course, the Nobel Prize 2018), but with this book she has had a really difficult time in her own country. Her focus on the Catholic discrimination against Jews in Greater Poland was not appreciated by the right-wing, conservative government currently in power in Warsaw. Also the picture she paints of an extremely diversified Polish nation, with a jumble of ethnicities and religious movements that lived together, contradicts the homogenic Polish identity that has been cultivated since the 2nd world war.
But that is precisely what makes this book extremely interesting. The way Tokarczuk brings all these different movements, cultures and ethnicities to life is a feast for the reader's eye. Her narrative style even has a certain Marquezian flair, with a dash of magical realism through the character of the old Yenta who remains in a state of coma for hundreds of pages, and - stepped out of herself - glides through space and time, guiding the story a step further. In the same way, a lot of characters move to and through different regions, making this a novel in which borders (not only physical ones) are lifted.
But there is a downside to this verbal firework, and to this physical and spiritual mobility: the immersion in all those worlds, the dozens of characters, the constant changes in perspective and time, all this makes reading this very bulky book a real ordeal. For instance, it takes a quarter of the book, almost 250 pages, before the story about the heresy of Jacob Frank takes off; until then Tokarczuk builds up, with constantly new characters, and travels back and forth between Poland, the Balkans and Smyrna (present-day Izmir in Turkey). Also the sometimes very intense theological discussions among the Jewish rabbis, diving into kabbala, demand a lot from the reader.
Again: this historical novel is quite a tour de force, not only in terms of size and depth. For me, the charm of the reading was mainly in the Chagal-like character of the visual language of Tokarczuk: she regularly sketches dreamy scenes with the comatose Yenta that floats over time and space and oversees everything. But in the long run it鈥檚 all a bit too much: the story just lingers on, endlessly, and I missed a real existential story, with people of flesh and blood. Hence the slightly lesser rating. But I'm definitely going to dive into Tokarczuk's other work!
December 23, 2021
A Grudge Against Creation
We tend to blame the rise of conspiracy theories on the internet and access to social technologies. Of course this is merely down to unawareness of history. Conspiracy has never needed a high-tech enabler to rush around a population. The primitive technology of the human voice can overcome any cultural or political barrier. And when conditions are right the conspiracy is suddenly visible and sucks its adherents from one world into another.
Historically the most ambitious conspiracy theory ever advanced doesn鈥檛 involve child-trafficking, stolen elections or the evils of chemical-additive to the water supply. These are trivial claims compared with the rather cosmic conspiracies of the ancient Manicheans and Gnostics. In these theories the scam being run is not by people on each other but by God on all of humanity.
According to the Gnostics, the world that we inhabit is the result of an evil plot carried out by a 鈥减辞飞别谤-蝉测蝉迟别尘鈥�, with either divine approval or acquiescence, in order to torture humanity. This can be demonstrated empirically by simply looking around. The substance of this world is human suffering, not accidental or intermittent suffering, but intentional and unrelenting. As Olga Tokarczuk puts it through one of her characters: 鈥減ain is the emperor of this world.鈥�
The Books of Jacob is about this all-encompassing, ancient tale of Gnostic conspiracy updated for use in the modern world. The factual proof, the theoretical explanation, and the available remedies are all here. So are the psychological and sociological reasons for the acceptance of such otherwise outrageous tales. Target audiences are identified and their motivations matched with appropriate media messages. In fact the book is a sort of how-to guide, a play-book, for starting and promoting conspiracy theories effectively.
Gnostics hate the world they inhabit. As Nahman, a follower of Jacob Frank, the principle subject rather than the main character of Ms Tokarczuk鈥檚 story, nicely summarises the sentiment, 鈥溾€� from childhood on, I, too, absorbed this eternal grudge against creation.鈥� Some Gnostics want to be elsewhere, usually in a realm of light whose existence is confirmed by the pinpricks of light we can see in the firmament of the night sky. This sort of hopeful emigrant to the stars is sullen but benign. He minds his own business, reads a great deal, and keeps on the lookout for escape. The rest of us hardly notice.
But the other sort of Gnostic, the permanent residents as it were, would prefer a replacement for this world. They are activists. Despite their pessimism, they are also idealists who have a vision, not a vision of some desired end-state but of change, revolution, disruption of the status quo. they want to belong to a movement, religious hippies, perhaps. As Nahman says of himself, he 鈥渉as the sense that he鈥檚 a part of something bigger, something unprecedented and unique.鈥� These gnostics also want revenge and will not be deterred by factual evidence contrary to their views..
Gnostics differ from nihilists in that in that they believe that under new management (theirs) the world could be habitable. But they share with mere destroyers of society ignorance of any positive virtues which new social structures should have. They are aware of their ignorance. They know they鈥檝e been deceived: 鈥淐ertain facts have been concealed from us, no doubt, and this is why we cannot assemble the world as we know it into a single whole. There has to be a secret somewhere to explain it all.鈥� The Messiah knows the inside story:
Resident Gnostics, consequently, tend toward a Messiah figure in whom they have confidence for working out all the details of social change. Jacob Frank was such a Chosen One in that strange region at the nexus of the Polish, Hapsburg, Ottoman, and Russian empires in the 18th century. As Joseph Roth described the populace so succinctly 200 years later: "...fatherland for them is whatever country decides to conscript them." The Messianic call represents a chance to belong, to be settled, to be recognised. Incredibly Frank got himself recognised by the Priests and hated by the Rabbis - quite a feat for a self-proclaimed Saviour.
The concept of the Messiah is of course Jewish in origin. He is the spiritual and political leader of a new world order. Messiahs act; they preach; they attract crowds; they take control; they confront authority. This is the Judaic ideal. But the apotheosis of the messianic ideal in practice is certainly Christian, having been worked out both spiritually and politically over many generations. The Christian Messiah knows how to rule through his church. Consequently, Jewish Messiahs have proven rather less adept in their Gnostic ambitions than the more established Christian competition.
Messianism always starts as a populist movement. It then moves to infiltrate the establishment. Its ultimate success however depends on its ability to overthrown the establishment in which it has become a junior partner. This is a tricky business. Christians got lucky with Constantine; the Mormons with Eisenhower. But Jacob Frank was rather less so with the Polish bishops. Tokarczuk does a pretty good job of explaining why. Gnostic movements tend to fragment and their Messiahs become increasingly radical as they believe their own press. Like Jesus they are then liquidated. Unlike Jesus, they leave no Gnostic St. Paul to organise the survivors.
One can only hope that QAnon, the various neo-Nazi factions, Steve Bannon and the other Trumpist Republicans don鈥檛 read Books of Jacob for tips on subversion. Thinking about it, I consider this a fairly certain bet.
We tend to blame the rise of conspiracy theories on the internet and access to social technologies. Of course this is merely down to unawareness of history. Conspiracy has never needed a high-tech enabler to rush around a population. The primitive technology of the human voice can overcome any cultural or political barrier. And when conditions are right the conspiracy is suddenly visible and sucks its adherents from one world into another.
Historically the most ambitious conspiracy theory ever advanced doesn鈥檛 involve child-trafficking, stolen elections or the evils of chemical-additive to the water supply. These are trivial claims compared with the rather cosmic conspiracies of the ancient Manicheans and Gnostics. In these theories the scam being run is not by people on each other but by God on all of humanity.
According to the Gnostics, the world that we inhabit is the result of an evil plot carried out by a 鈥减辞飞别谤-蝉测蝉迟别尘鈥�, with either divine approval or acquiescence, in order to torture humanity. This can be demonstrated empirically by simply looking around. The substance of this world is human suffering, not accidental or intermittent suffering, but intentional and unrelenting. As Olga Tokarczuk puts it through one of her characters: 鈥減ain is the emperor of this world.鈥�
The Books of Jacob is about this all-encompassing, ancient tale of Gnostic conspiracy updated for use in the modern world. The factual proof, the theoretical explanation, and the available remedies are all here. So are the psychological and sociological reasons for the acceptance of such otherwise outrageous tales. Target audiences are identified and their motivations matched with appropriate media messages. In fact the book is a sort of how-to guide, a play-book, for starting and promoting conspiracy theories effectively.
Gnostics hate the world they inhabit. As Nahman, a follower of Jacob Frank, the principle subject rather than the main character of Ms Tokarczuk鈥檚 story, nicely summarises the sentiment, 鈥溾€� from childhood on, I, too, absorbed this eternal grudge against creation.鈥� Some Gnostics want to be elsewhere, usually in a realm of light whose existence is confirmed by the pinpricks of light we can see in the firmament of the night sky. This sort of hopeful emigrant to the stars is sullen but benign. He minds his own business, reads a great deal, and keeps on the lookout for escape. The rest of us hardly notice.
But the other sort of Gnostic, the permanent residents as it were, would prefer a replacement for this world. They are activists. Despite their pessimism, they are also idealists who have a vision, not a vision of some desired end-state but of change, revolution, disruption of the status quo. they want to belong to a movement, religious hippies, perhaps. As Nahman says of himself, he 鈥渉as the sense that he鈥檚 a part of something bigger, something unprecedented and unique.鈥� These gnostics also want revenge and will not be deterred by factual evidence contrary to their views..
Gnostics differ from nihilists in that in that they believe that under new management (theirs) the world could be habitable. But they share with mere destroyers of society ignorance of any positive virtues which new social structures should have. They are aware of their ignorance. They know they鈥檝e been deceived: 鈥淐ertain facts have been concealed from us, no doubt, and this is why we cannot assemble the world as we know it into a single whole. There has to be a secret somewhere to explain it all.鈥� The Messiah knows the inside story:
鈥淭he world doesn鈥檛 come from a kind or caring God,鈥� God created all of this by accident, and then he was gone. That is the great mystery. The Messiah will come quietly when the world is submerged in the greatest darkness and the greatest misery, in evil and in suffering. He will be treated like a criminal. So the prophets have foretold.鈥�
Resident Gnostics, consequently, tend toward a Messiah figure in whom they have confidence for working out all the details of social change. Jacob Frank was such a Chosen One in that strange region at the nexus of the Polish, Hapsburg, Ottoman, and Russian empires in the 18th century. As Joseph Roth described the populace so succinctly 200 years later: "...fatherland for them is whatever country decides to conscript them." The Messianic call represents a chance to belong, to be settled, to be recognised. Incredibly Frank got himself recognised by the Priests and hated by the Rabbis - quite a feat for a self-proclaimed Saviour.
The concept of the Messiah is of course Jewish in origin. He is the spiritual and political leader of a new world order. Messiahs act; they preach; they attract crowds; they take control; they confront authority. This is the Judaic ideal. But the apotheosis of the messianic ideal in practice is certainly Christian, having been worked out both spiritually and politically over many generations. The Christian Messiah knows how to rule through his church. Consequently, Jewish Messiahs have proven rather less adept in their Gnostic ambitions than the more established Christian competition.
Messianism always starts as a populist movement. It then moves to infiltrate the establishment. Its ultimate success however depends on its ability to overthrown the establishment in which it has become a junior partner. This is a tricky business. Christians got lucky with Constantine; the Mormons with Eisenhower. But Jacob Frank was rather less so with the Polish bishops. Tokarczuk does a pretty good job of explaining why. Gnostic movements tend to fragment and their Messiahs become increasingly radical as they believe their own press. Like Jesus they are then liquidated. Unlike Jesus, they leave no Gnostic St. Paul to organise the survivors.
One can only hope that QAnon, the various neo-Nazi factions, Steve Bannon and the other Trumpist Republicans don鈥檛 read Books of Jacob for tips on subversion. Thinking about it, I consider this a fairly certain bet.
Read
May 10, 2022DNF at 30%
Translated from Polish by the wonderful Jennifer Croft
I tried, I really did. It was my 2nd unsuccessful attempt with Olga Tokarczuk and I will stop here. She is not for me, that's certain.
For the first 100 pages or so I thought there were some good chances that I will enjoy this doorstopper. It was a nice mix of historical documentation, beautiful writing, Jewish mysticism and magical realism. Then Jacob entered the scene and ruined everything. Not only was the character insufferable but the structure seemed to me to disintegrate. Soon, I was sick of weddings, trips and chance encounters between characters.
I understand and appreciate the work that went into writing and translating this novel but the effort to finish it surpasses the payoff. For me, obviously.
Translated from Polish by the wonderful Jennifer Croft
I tried, I really did. It was my 2nd unsuccessful attempt with Olga Tokarczuk and I will stop here. She is not for me, that's certain.
For the first 100 pages or so I thought there were some good chances that I will enjoy this doorstopper. It was a nice mix of historical documentation, beautiful writing, Jewish mysticism and magical realism. Then Jacob entered the scene and ruined everything. Not only was the character insufferable but the structure seemed to me to disintegrate. Soon, I was sick of weddings, trips and chance encounters between characters.
I understand and appreciate the work that went into writing and translating this novel but the effort to finish it surpasses the payoff. For me, obviously.
April 27, 2023
Deservedly shortlisted for the International Booker Prize 2022
Jennifer Croft has been working on this long-awaited translation of Olga Tokarczuk鈥檚 epic historical novel for several years, and the result is well worth the wait. To quote from the citation from the Nobel Committee who awarded her the 2019 Literature Prize: 鈥�Her magnum opus so far is the historical novel The Books of Jacob, portraying the eighteenth century mystic and sect leader Jacob Frank. The work also gives us a remarkably rich panorama of an almost neglected chapter in European history.鈥�
The full title, a lovely 18th century pastiche, is:
鈥�The Books of Jacob
Or
A fantastic journey across seven borders, five languages and three major religions, not counting the minor sects.
Told by the dead, supplemented by the author, drawing from a range of books and aided by imagination, the which being the greatest natural gift of any person.
That the wise might have it for a record, that my compatriots reflect, laypersons gain some understanding and melancholy souls obtain some slight enjoyment.鈥�.
The book runs to well over 900 pages, of which the core story occupies 865. This is split into seven Books, of which the middle five are the longest, plus a one page Prologue and a brief author鈥檚 end note which lists sources and explains why the pages are numbered backwards.
Much of the story is factual, but there are also fanciful and magic realist elements, most notably the omniscient and not quite dead Yente, who observes everything and is introduced in the prologue page. The story often returns to Yente at key moments 鈥� its focus frequently switches between characters.
The whole is surprisingly readable, for which Croft has to take great credit, and I enjoyed it greatly, which was one of the main reasons I managed to finish it in less than a week. Some of the detail, particularly the background to the religious beliefs of the Frankists, can be a little more difficult to follow, and I learned a lot of history and historical geography while reading it. The meticulous research and detail is reminiscent of Hilary Mantel's Cromwell trilogy, but at times the story has the exotic flavour of , though that book felt much more episodic and incomplete. One link between the two is Athanasius Kircher, whose writings are mentioned early on in Book One.
There are also pictures and maps from various historical sources - in most cases their relevance to the text is rather more obvious than was the case for the maps that appear in . The two most useful historical maps are on pages 817-816 (of southern Poland-Lithuania and western Russia) and 729-728 (Eastern Europe and Anatolia under the Ottoman empire) - one intriguing aspect of that map is that Romania appears south of Bulgaria (modern Romania was then mostly Wallachia).
What follows is a very sketchy attempt to summarise the structure, but the book is so full of detail that it barely scratches the surface:
The first book The Book of Fog is largely there to establish some of the more incidental characters in the reader鈥檚 mind before the main story gets going, first of all Father Benedykt Chmielowski, vicar forane and dean of Rohatyn in Podolia, who is important to Tokarczuk as the author of New Athens, which was effectively the first Polish 鈥渆ncyclopaedia鈥�. We also meet the poet El偶bieta Dru偶backa, whose imagined correspondence with Chmielowski is quoted, the aristocrat and socialite Katarzyna Kossakowska and the Shorrs of Rohatyn, a Jewish family with Sabbatean links, and Bishop Katejan Soltyk, whose actions are largely driven by his gambling debts.
In the second part The Book of Sand, the core story, which is mostly told chronologically, is introduced with the first mention of the main protagonist Jacob Frank. This story is largely told through the writings of one of Frank鈥檚 acolytes Nahman Samuel Ben Levi. We hear about Frank鈥檚 rebellious childhood and his early travels in the Ottoman empire and Greece. Here he attracts a loyal group of followers and starts to form the ideas that underpin the community. They then travel north, first to Nikopol on the Danube where he meets and marries Hana, a local merchant鈥檚 daughter then to Craiova in Wallachia, eventually attempting to return to Poland.
The third part The Book of the Road starts with the community crossing the Dniester back into Poland, where they travel around Podolia attracting followers, coming into conflict with the local Jewish community. The bishop in Kaminiec arranges a disputation to settle the matter and decides in the Frankists favour, but when the bishop suddenly dies they are persecuted and the group is partially disbanded. Eventually they are allowed to form an idealistic community at Ivanie in which all possessions are shared.
The fourth part The Book of the Comet starts with Frank and his acolytes settled in Ivanie, where some of the eccentric rites of the community are described in comic detail. Here Frank decides to convert to Catholicism and negotiates to get them baptised in Lvov. The book finishes with Frank leading an increasingly lavish lifestyle in Warsaw as he attempts to petition the king in search of land for the community to settle, where Frank is eventually arrested and convicted of heresy.
The fifth part The Book of Metal and Sulphur starts with Frank in prison in the monastery at Cz臋stochowa, where his acolytes eventually gather and concludes with his release when the Russians gain control of the city.
The sixth part The Book of the Distant Country covers Frank鈥檚 later life after he left Poland, firstly in Br眉nn (now Brno), where he makes frequent trips to Vienna while his daughter becomes a mistress of the emperor) and later in Offenbach in Germany. During this period the colony lived a lavish aristocratic lifestyle and amassed large debts, largely funded by donations from followers who remained in Poland.
The short final part The Book of Names describes what happened to Frank鈥檚 family and followers after his death.
A few links to Wikipedia pages which may help with the background:
People:
Jacob Frank:
Sabbatai Zevi:
Benedykt Chmielowski:
El偶bieta Dru偶backa:
Places/Historical geography:
Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth:
Podolia:
Rohatyn:
Kamieniec:
Smyrna:
Salonika:
The Ottoman Empire:
Nikopol:
Craiova:
尝飞贸飞:
Lublin:
颁锄臋蝉迟辞肠丑辞飞补:
叠谤眉苍苍:
Offenbach:
Religious background:
Sabbateans:
Kabbalah:
PS I should also say that it seemed a little unfair but rather lucky for me that I received my copy (a pre-order through Waterstones) nearly a week before it reached some of Fitzcarraldo's long term subscribers in the UK.
Jennifer Croft has been working on this long-awaited translation of Olga Tokarczuk鈥檚 epic historical novel for several years, and the result is well worth the wait. To quote from the citation from the Nobel Committee who awarded her the 2019 Literature Prize: 鈥�Her magnum opus so far is the historical novel The Books of Jacob, portraying the eighteenth century mystic and sect leader Jacob Frank. The work also gives us a remarkably rich panorama of an almost neglected chapter in European history.鈥�
The full title, a lovely 18th century pastiche, is:
鈥�The Books of Jacob
Or
A fantastic journey across seven borders, five languages and three major religions, not counting the minor sects.
Told by the dead, supplemented by the author, drawing from a range of books and aided by imagination, the which being the greatest natural gift of any person.
That the wise might have it for a record, that my compatriots reflect, laypersons gain some understanding and melancholy souls obtain some slight enjoyment.鈥�.
The book runs to well over 900 pages, of which the core story occupies 865. This is split into seven Books, of which the middle five are the longest, plus a one page Prologue and a brief author鈥檚 end note which lists sources and explains why the pages are numbered backwards.
Much of the story is factual, but there are also fanciful and magic realist elements, most notably the omniscient and not quite dead Yente, who observes everything and is introduced in the prologue page. The story often returns to Yente at key moments 鈥� its focus frequently switches between characters.
The whole is surprisingly readable, for which Croft has to take great credit, and I enjoyed it greatly, which was one of the main reasons I managed to finish it in less than a week. Some of the detail, particularly the background to the religious beliefs of the Frankists, can be a little more difficult to follow, and I learned a lot of history and historical geography while reading it. The meticulous research and detail is reminiscent of Hilary Mantel's Cromwell trilogy, but at times the story has the exotic flavour of , though that book felt much more episodic and incomplete. One link between the two is Athanasius Kircher, whose writings are mentioned early on in Book One.
There are also pictures and maps from various historical sources - in most cases their relevance to the text is rather more obvious than was the case for the maps that appear in . The two most useful historical maps are on pages 817-816 (of southern Poland-Lithuania and western Russia) and 729-728 (Eastern Europe and Anatolia under the Ottoman empire) - one intriguing aspect of that map is that Romania appears south of Bulgaria (modern Romania was then mostly Wallachia).
What follows is a very sketchy attempt to summarise the structure, but the book is so full of detail that it barely scratches the surface:
The first book The Book of Fog is largely there to establish some of the more incidental characters in the reader鈥檚 mind before the main story gets going, first of all Father Benedykt Chmielowski, vicar forane and dean of Rohatyn in Podolia, who is important to Tokarczuk as the author of New Athens, which was effectively the first Polish 鈥渆ncyclopaedia鈥�. We also meet the poet El偶bieta Dru偶backa, whose imagined correspondence with Chmielowski is quoted, the aristocrat and socialite Katarzyna Kossakowska and the Shorrs of Rohatyn, a Jewish family with Sabbatean links, and Bishop Katejan Soltyk, whose actions are largely driven by his gambling debts.
In the second part The Book of Sand, the core story, which is mostly told chronologically, is introduced with the first mention of the main protagonist Jacob Frank. This story is largely told through the writings of one of Frank鈥檚 acolytes Nahman Samuel Ben Levi. We hear about Frank鈥檚 rebellious childhood and his early travels in the Ottoman empire and Greece. Here he attracts a loyal group of followers and starts to form the ideas that underpin the community. They then travel north, first to Nikopol on the Danube where he meets and marries Hana, a local merchant鈥檚 daughter then to Craiova in Wallachia, eventually attempting to return to Poland.
The third part The Book of the Road starts with the community crossing the Dniester back into Poland, where they travel around Podolia attracting followers, coming into conflict with the local Jewish community. The bishop in Kaminiec arranges a disputation to settle the matter and decides in the Frankists favour, but when the bishop suddenly dies they are persecuted and the group is partially disbanded. Eventually they are allowed to form an idealistic community at Ivanie in which all possessions are shared.
The fourth part The Book of the Comet starts with Frank and his acolytes settled in Ivanie, where some of the eccentric rites of the community are described in comic detail. Here Frank decides to convert to Catholicism and negotiates to get them baptised in Lvov. The book finishes with Frank leading an increasingly lavish lifestyle in Warsaw as he attempts to petition the king in search of land for the community to settle, where Frank is eventually arrested and convicted of heresy.
The fifth part The Book of Metal and Sulphur starts with Frank in prison in the monastery at Cz臋stochowa, where his acolytes eventually gather and concludes with his release when the Russians gain control of the city.
The sixth part The Book of the Distant Country covers Frank鈥檚 later life after he left Poland, firstly in Br眉nn (now Brno), where he makes frequent trips to Vienna while his daughter becomes a mistress of the emperor) and later in Offenbach in Germany. During this period the colony lived a lavish aristocratic lifestyle and amassed large debts, largely funded by donations from followers who remained in Poland.
The short final part The Book of Names describes what happened to Frank鈥檚 family and followers after his death.
A few links to Wikipedia pages which may help with the background:
People:
Jacob Frank:
Sabbatai Zevi:
Benedykt Chmielowski:
El偶bieta Dru偶backa:
Places/Historical geography:
Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth:
Podolia:
Rohatyn:
Kamieniec:
Smyrna:
Salonika:
The Ottoman Empire:
Nikopol:
Craiova:
尝飞贸飞:
Lublin:
颁锄臋蝉迟辞肠丑辞飞补:
叠谤眉苍苍:
Offenbach:
Religious background:
Sabbateans:
Kabbalah:
PS I should also say that it seemed a little unfair but rather lucky for me that I received my copy (a pre-order through Waterstones) nearly a week before it reached some of Fitzcarraldo's long term subscribers in the UK.
March 16, 2023
Shortlisted for the EBRD Literature Prize 2023
Shortlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize
They鈥檙e just trading supposed wisdoms. They read out whole pages from books, then translate them, and it takes a long time, and everybody gets bored. No one understands what鈥檚 going on.
In 2018 I had the pleasure to meet the author and translator of the magnificent Flights, and award them our Man Booker International Shadow Jury Prize, the day before the official Jury concurred with our decision.
But this was a 1,137 page (in the Kindle edition) ordeal. Books of Jacob - the title is semi-accurate as this is several books worth in page count terms, but less than a book in terms of worthwhile material, the ideas and creativity of Flights replaced with Mantelesque padding.
That this was singled out by the Nobel Prize jury, ahead of the much superior Flights and Primeval and Other Times, speaks volumes (literally) to the fetishisation of long novels that blights much of literary culture.
How often does one see a novella referred to as an author鈥檚 magnum opus? It almost always in literary fiction circles seems to be associated with a very long work. But the origin of the term isn鈥檛 about size. For example in the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths (one of our sister Worshipful Companies in the City) it would be about exquisite skills and hence typically a small refined piece.
Perhaps the term's use in offers some justification for its application to heavily research work, but the output of the process was what mattered, the Philosopher's stone and ultimately a nugget of gold. Whereas here, as with Jacob's own unsuccessful attempts unfortunately, they are unable to produce a single piece of gold or even silver by March. In the innumerable vessels and jars, all that appears from time to time are stinking liquids and every possible type of ash.
Authors, editors and translators should instead be praised for cutting material. As Michelangelo almost said: The novella is already complete within the tome, before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.
I am also a massive fan of publisher Fitzcarraldo Editions, I subscribe to their books and have read every one of their 44 blue-covered novels. 听However, I will call them out here for their tone deaf response to campaign for translator's names to be featured on the cover of novels, particularly as it was begun by the translator of this very tome. They've managed to print this book in a larger size, add a Nobel Prize logo on the front, add reference to an English PEN award, but not to add the words "translated by Jennifer Croft".
Disappointing all round.
Shortlisted for the 2022 International Booker Prize
They鈥檙e just trading supposed wisdoms. They read out whole pages from books, then translate them, and it takes a long time, and everybody gets bored. No one understands what鈥檚 going on.
In 2018 I had the pleasure to meet the author and translator of the magnificent Flights, and award them our Man Booker International Shadow Jury Prize, the day before the official Jury concurred with our decision.
But this was a 1,137 page (in the Kindle edition) ordeal. Books of Jacob - the title is semi-accurate as this is several books worth in page count terms, but less than a book in terms of worthwhile material, the ideas and creativity of Flights replaced with Mantelesque padding.
That this was singled out by the Nobel Prize jury, ahead of the much superior Flights and Primeval and Other Times, speaks volumes (literally) to the fetishisation of long novels that blights much of literary culture.
How often does one see a novella referred to as an author鈥檚 magnum opus? It almost always in literary fiction circles seems to be associated with a very long work. But the origin of the term isn鈥檛 about size. For example in the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths (one of our sister Worshipful Companies in the City) it would be about exquisite skills and hence typically a small refined piece.
Perhaps the term's use in offers some justification for its application to heavily research work, but the output of the process was what mattered, the Philosopher's stone and ultimately a nugget of gold. Whereas here, as with Jacob's own unsuccessful attempts unfortunately, they are unable to produce a single piece of gold or even silver by March. In the innumerable vessels and jars, all that appears from time to time are stinking liquids and every possible type of ash.
Authors, editors and translators should instead be praised for cutting material. As Michelangelo almost said: The novella is already complete within the tome, before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.
I am also a massive fan of publisher Fitzcarraldo Editions, I subscribe to their books and have read every one of their 44 blue-covered novels. 听However, I will call them out here for their tone deaf response to campaign for translator's names to be featured on the cover of novels, particularly as it was begun by the translator of this very tome. They've managed to print this book in a larger size, add a Nobel Prize logo on the front, add reference to an English PEN award, but not to add the words "translated by Jennifer Croft".
Disappointing all round.
March 22, 2023
The messianic machine, how it works
This has taken me six weeks to read but I think this was the right approach for me as this is a book which is monotone in its pacing: much happens but there is no plot as such, no quickening up and slowing down, no fast and slow chapters - it feels sedate though, I should add, never tiresomely so.
The story begins and ends in a somewhat arbitrary way and I'd guess that's part of OT's point: that history doesn't fall into neat named segments (e.g. the Renaissance, the Enlightenment) and is only reconstructed in that way with hindsight and the urge to narrativise, with possibly a politicised agenda either consciously or unknowingly. And narrativisation, story-telling and even myth-making is one of the key themes that jumped out to me when reading this, though there are many others and different readers will attach to various other ideas.
At the purported heart of the book is the 'messiah' Jacob Frank but, cleverly, OT never allows us access to Jacob's own thoughts or feelings: we see him only from the outside, via his actions and through what other people think and say about him. Narratives and points of view proliferate via letters to and from various characters, the book one of Jacob's adherents is writing, debates and discussions. There is no omniscient narrator and while Jacob's grandmother, Yente, floats magically over the story, seeing everything, she has no voice or viewpoint of her own: she's like the proverbial omniscient (i.e. godlike in being all knowing) narrator but with the power to speak withheld. For me, this was a comment on the human construct of stories, something which the book performs.
So, in some sense, this is an unmoored story, free from narratorial (if not authorial) shaping which makes it both unrelentingly postmodern and also wide open to readerly interpretations. It is a book which thinks about what 'history' is, who has the power to write it and how that is done and, as such, is an ideal companion to Mantel's trilogy which also asks intelligent questions about how we construct the past, though Mantel's strong, witty, interventionist voice is not a route that OT pursues.
What I loved alongside the intellectual questions that this book wrestles with is the immersive nature of the world and story-telling. There is real ambition in the breadth of the world that OT recreates: almost like a Breughel painting, the world bustles and individual lives play out quite apart from the way in which they intersect with the story of Jacob. Characters feel 'real' even when they walk into a scene and out again, and the majority of their lives is submerged from our view though we feel the presence of that roundedness.
The other thing that struck me about the quality of the writing is the generous humanity of OT's vision: she is gently humorous at times but also immensely empathetic to, for want of a better phrase, 'the human condition' (yuck!).
So, a book for everyone? Definitely not. But a book that feels like it comes from a Nobel winner? For sure.
June 7, 2023
To by艂a d艂uga przeprawa, ale... warto. "Literatura to szczeg贸lny rodzaj wiedzy, to doskona艂o艣膰 form nieprecyzyjnych".
February 1, 2022
Polish author Olga Tokarczuk was not a household name in the United States when she won the 2018 Nobel Prize for literature. It didn鈥檛 help that the Swedish Academy centered its praise on 鈥淭he Books of Jacob,鈥� an arduous-sounding novel that wasn鈥檛 available in English.
It especially didn鈥檛 help that the academy announced Tokarczuk鈥檚 award along with the 2019 Nobel Prize for Peter Handke, an Austrian writer sympathetic to Yugoslavia鈥檚 late genocidal leader, Slobodan Milosevic. That controversy sucked up attention for days and risked rendering Tokarczuk merely 鈥渢he other winner.鈥�
But nothing should overshadow Tokarczuk鈥檚 literary presence in the United States now. 鈥淭he Books of Jacob鈥� is finally available here in a wondrous English translation by Jennifer Croft, and it鈥檚 just as awe-inspiring as the Nobel judges claimed when they praised Tokarczuk for showing 鈥渢he supreme capacity of the novel to represent a case almost beyond human understanding.鈥� In terms of its scope and ambition, 鈥淭he Books of Jacob鈥� is beyond anything else I鈥檝e ever read. Even its voluminous subtitle is a witty expression of Tokarczuk鈥檚 irrepressible, omnivorous reach. . . .
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
It especially didn鈥檛 help that the academy announced Tokarczuk鈥檚 award along with the 2019 Nobel Prize for Peter Handke, an Austrian writer sympathetic to Yugoslavia鈥檚 late genocidal leader, Slobodan Milosevic. That controversy sucked up attention for days and risked rendering Tokarczuk merely 鈥渢he other winner.鈥�
But nothing should overshadow Tokarczuk鈥檚 literary presence in the United States now. 鈥淭he Books of Jacob鈥� is finally available here in a wondrous English translation by Jennifer Croft, and it鈥檚 just as awe-inspiring as the Nobel judges claimed when they praised Tokarczuk for showing 鈥渢he supreme capacity of the novel to represent a case almost beyond human understanding.鈥� In terms of its scope and ambition, 鈥淭he Books of Jacob鈥� is beyond anything else I鈥檝e ever read. Even its voluminous subtitle is a witty expression of Tokarczuk鈥檚 irrepressible, omnivorous reach. . . .
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
September 19, 2022
A little joke for my Jewish friends鈥�.(for those who have not read this book yet) 鈥�..
鈥egin reading before the High Holy days:
God will grant you lots of extra Mitzvah points 鈥�.
for good behavior鈥�(erases at least a dozen sins from the past year)鈥�.
鈥�.. Shana Tova 馃崗馃嵂
Jacob Frank (1726-1791) 鈥�
An 18th century merchant led a controversial mystical and quasi-Christian movement whose devotees believed orgies were religious acts.
Jacob Frank 鈥榖oasted鈥� his ignorance of the Talmud (Hebrew teachings and commentaries of the Torah that form the basis for Jewish law)鈥�.
and instead started preaching a variation on Shabbatean theology, (from the charismatic-proclaimed Messiah鈥擲habbetai Zevi 鈥攁 century before him)鈥�
who was believed by many to be the ultimate redeemer and an incarnate aspect of the kabbalistic godhead鈥�
who displayed a particular interest in women and was especially attracted to them.
Married? Attached to another love-partner?
贬补鈥�.
like his preceder, Jacob didn鈥檛 believe in sexual boundaries.
Polygamy 101鈥ould be said to have been created by Jacob Frank.
鈥�..[count our blessings today in 2022, ladies! 馃拑]
翱办鈥� getting serious 鈥�
I mean this is a serious Noble Prize winning novel 鈥� a sleek 900+ page historical novel 鈥� or perhaps you prefer 40+ hours of listening 鈥�
( or both: read and listen as I did)鈥�.
Twice as long - twice rewarded!
I figure I put in my 鈥楳itzvah Points鈥� (haha)reading this book before the Jewish High Holidays 鈥� coming up soon.
I鈥檓 preparing for the day of atonement- shedding my sins - getting a head start before the day of atonement: Yom Kippur.
贬补鈥�.
Note: Paul wanted to know my deep secrets of everything I did wrong this past year? 鈥� am I going to whip my tush in punishment too?
鈥�..No鈥�.I am not telling my sinful secrets 鈥攐r whipping my own ass 鈥斺€�
reading this door-stopper was my spiritual cleansing: (my repentance and amends to all this past years wrongdoings)
Gotta laugh at ourselves - a little when we commit ourselves to reading this book. 鈥�..I figure if I understood half of it - God rewards me鈥�.
Seriously though鈥�..this book is as ambitious and astonishing as the Big Boys and Women have told us it is鈥�.
IT鈥橲 NOT A BOOK FOR THOSE who run from history, religion, laws, Kabbalhaism, mysticism, cultural storytelling fiction, rich details of every cup and saucer, superstitions, ethnocentric nationalism political issues, socialism, competition among states, people, believers, and non-believers. 鈥�.
or a book with challenging Polish names -Latin and Hebrew names -
However 鈥�
if in the right mood 鈥� ready to role up your sleeves 鈥�
and are up for the challenge to read, study, reflect, and examine the impact that nationalism gave to people, (a sense of identity)鈥�.
Kabbalistic, Shabbatean, Christian beliefs, and antinomianism (any view that rejects laws or legalism and argues against moral, religious, or social norms)鈥�.
salvation- faith - divine grace 鈥� and humor鈥�
following along with Jacob鈥檚 followers鈥�
who believed that they were obligated to break free from the restraints of Jewish Law鈥�..
and
participating in orgies were religious acts鈥�..
Then this book is for 鈥榶ou鈥�.
贬补鈥�
Doesn鈥檛 this book sound fun?
A walk along the beach?
翱办鈥�
sure it was long, hard at times - but so much was fascinating鈥�
鈥擨n the face of persecution from the organized Jewish community, group members saw protection from the Catholic church telling the local Catholic bishop that they rejected the Talmud and recognized only the Zohar, a Jewish mystical text.
They also told Catholic authorities that they recognized the Messiah as part of the Trinity.
I found myself going to Google 鈥� wanting to understand for myself the beliefs in the doctrine of the Trinity 鈥� (a word not found anywhere in the Bible)鈥�.as it is completely incongruous with scriptural understanding of God. 鈥淕od is not three persons. There is only one God and it is the father鈥�.
It seemed to me the further my own research went into understanding 鈥楾he Trinity鈥� 鈥�..[Catholics believe in one single God, who made himself known to the world (revelation) to three separate persons: God the Father, God the son (Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit. 鈥�
But Jews believe in one God鈥�.(not three) 鈥�.
Christians and Messianic Jews empathically believe in one God and only one God.
I found myself spinning off into reading about the meanings behind religious rituals and beliefs: Hebrew roots 鈥�.Baptism鈥�
moral ambiguities鈥�. Polish nobility鈥檚鈥�. Jews living under Christian rule before the Holocaust鈥�.
I also needed to read - and study Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (high levels of ethnic diversity)鈥�. and Warsaw Confederation鈥︹€︹€�
I thought about the difference鈥檚 today 鈥� and in 1791 鈥� between Catholicism being the dominate religion unlike the Warsaw Confederation Act -1573 - where religious freedom varied over time.
Then I looked up 鈥淢odeling the Future of Religion in America鈥濃€�.in 2022..
The article I read was interesting and was written just five days ago.
鈥淪ince the 1990鈥檚, large numbers of Americans have left Christianity to join a growing ranks of U. S. adults who describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or 鈥榥othing in particular鈥�. This accelerating trend is reshaping a U.S. religious landscape, leading many people to wonder what the future of religion and American might look like鈥�.
So 鈥�..
鈥�.what did I take away from 鈥楾he Books of Jacob鈥濃€�.Jacob Frank, and his followers? 鈥�..
AS MUCH AS I COULD!
鈥�.About 鈥�.
鈥�.the Polish Jew Jacob Frank,
鈥�.Yente鈥�..(our storyteller)鈥acob鈥檚 grandmother,
鈥�.Religious laws and old customs of old books:
鈥淗e who reads those old books and observes those laws and customs, it is as if he鈥檚 always facing backward, and yet he must move forward. That is why he will stumble and ultimately fall. Since everything that has been has come from the side of death. A wise man, meanwhile, will look ahead, through death, as though this were merely a muslin curtain, and he will stand on the side of life鈥�.
鈥�.village life in Poland (loved all the descriptions in the market place and Bazaar鈥�.of silks, leathers, tapestries, etc. etc)鈥�
鈥�.Frontiers of the Ottoman Empire
鈥�.Laws and hierarchies
鈥�.Multi-cultural society: Jews, Catholics Armenians, Poles, Ruthenians, etc.
鈥淎 fantastic journey across seven borders, five languages, and three major religions, not counting minor sects鈥�
鈥�.Profound history 鈥� mysticism and superstitions 鈥�..
Political issues related and defined by various ethnicities: religion, language, ethnic, romantic, civic, cultural, state, Socialism, ideology, loyalty, devotion, alliances, obligations, anarchism, liberal and revolutionary nationalism, Diaspora鈥�.
鈥�. Challenging names: Polish, Latin, Hebrew, German鈥�.
(I felt warmth with the familiar Jewish names: Nachman, Mordecai, Asher, Leah, Tovar鈥�.etc鈥tc..)鈥�.
鈥�.鈥滱 colossal work - an epic, a fable, a history, sometimes a satire, always a magnum opus鈥�
鈥斺赌擭笔搁
鈥�.鈥滷unny, tragic, comprehensive, and at times hilariously graphic . . . both earthy and ethereal鈥�
鈥斺€擝oston Globe
A few excerpts 鈥� sample writings I picked to share鈥�..
鈥淎t least the floozy has the decency to die on her third day in childbed, as often happens with older women, their time having obviously passed. She is survived by a little girl, tiny bit in perfect health, whom Princess Jabtonowska is ready to give to the peasants in the village and maintain from a far. But Mrs. Kossakowaka鈥檚 arrival in Busk causes the matter to take a different course. For Mrs. Kossakowska, having no children her self, had been thinking about setting up an orphanage, with the help of Bishop Sottyk, but somehow the idea had never quite become a priority. Now she asks Princess Jantonowska to keep the infant on her estate for a little while, until she can ready the shelter鈥�.
鈥淛acob plays with the children. He makes silly faces, and the children love it. After the communal meals, the afternoons are dedicated to the children; The youngest are accompanied by their mothers, and they鈥攐nly barely out of childhood themselves鈥攍ike playing too. They squeal and compete over who can make the scariest face. It is hard to make little children鈥檚 faces disgusting, but Jacob鈥檚 face can truly transform.
Shrieks resound when he is playing monsters and demons, when he acts like the limping batakaben do. When the children have calmed down, he has them sit down around him, and he tells them complicated fairytales, about princesses on glass mountains, simpletons, and princes. There are adventures at sea and evil wizards who turn people into animals. The ending he often puts off until the next day, leaving the whole of Ivanie鈥檚 younger population distracted, living for what morrow will bring. Will the hero be able to free himself from the donkey鈥檚 body to which he was condemned by a jealous woman?鈥�
Jacob Frank, and the Frankists鈥�.. [extremists] 鈥� members of the sect were constantly being impelled against their will by their protectors to assist in the preparation of anti-Jewish propaganda, and to formulate declarations which were intended to wreck destruction upon Polish Jewry鈥�.
鈥︹€�.but was Frank and his followers all bad?
鈥︹€鈥檒l leave this question sitting鈥�.
But note .
Frank was arrested 鈥�.
I recommend reading this for a powerful reading experience 鈥� (take what you can from it)
it鈥檚 deeply penetrating 鈥� affecting鈥� eye opening - thought provoking 鈥� and just one hell of a MASTERFUL profound novel and reading undertaking 鈥�..
but as one reviewer said:
鈥淚f you struggled with Ulysses, this is not for you鈥�
( gotta laugh for a dozen reasons)鈥︹€�
But truthfully anyone can read it (thank you to Google, other reviews and commentaries, friends to discuss this with)鈥�.
尝补蝉迟鈥�.
congratulations to Olga Tokarczuk 鈥�.. (Brilliance is Born)!
And Jennifer Croft 鈥�..outstanding translation!
鈥egin reading before the High Holy days:
God will grant you lots of extra Mitzvah points 鈥�.
for good behavior鈥�(erases at least a dozen sins from the past year)鈥�.
鈥�.. Shana Tova 馃崗馃嵂
Jacob Frank (1726-1791) 鈥�
An 18th century merchant led a controversial mystical and quasi-Christian movement whose devotees believed orgies were religious acts.
Jacob Frank 鈥榖oasted鈥� his ignorance of the Talmud (Hebrew teachings and commentaries of the Torah that form the basis for Jewish law)鈥�.
and instead started preaching a variation on Shabbatean theology, (from the charismatic-proclaimed Messiah鈥擲habbetai Zevi 鈥攁 century before him)鈥�
who was believed by many to be the ultimate redeemer and an incarnate aspect of the kabbalistic godhead鈥�
who displayed a particular interest in women and was especially attracted to them.
Married? Attached to another love-partner?
贬补鈥�.
like his preceder, Jacob didn鈥檛 believe in sexual boundaries.
Polygamy 101鈥ould be said to have been created by Jacob Frank.
鈥�..[count our blessings today in 2022, ladies! 馃拑]
翱办鈥� getting serious 鈥�
I mean this is a serious Noble Prize winning novel 鈥� a sleek 900+ page historical novel 鈥� or perhaps you prefer 40+ hours of listening 鈥�
( or both: read and listen as I did)鈥�.
Twice as long - twice rewarded!
I figure I put in my 鈥楳itzvah Points鈥� (haha)reading this book before the Jewish High Holidays 鈥� coming up soon.
I鈥檓 preparing for the day of atonement- shedding my sins - getting a head start before the day of atonement: Yom Kippur.
贬补鈥�.
Note: Paul wanted to know my deep secrets of everything I did wrong this past year? 鈥� am I going to whip my tush in punishment too?
鈥�..No鈥�.I am not telling my sinful secrets 鈥攐r whipping my own ass 鈥斺€�
reading this door-stopper was my spiritual cleansing: (my repentance and amends to all this past years wrongdoings)
Gotta laugh at ourselves - a little when we commit ourselves to reading this book. 鈥�..I figure if I understood half of it - God rewards me鈥�.
Seriously though鈥�..this book is as ambitious and astonishing as the Big Boys and Women have told us it is鈥�.
IT鈥橲 NOT A BOOK FOR THOSE who run from history, religion, laws, Kabbalhaism, mysticism, cultural storytelling fiction, rich details of every cup and saucer, superstitions, ethnocentric nationalism political issues, socialism, competition among states, people, believers, and non-believers. 鈥�.
or a book with challenging Polish names -Latin and Hebrew names -
However 鈥�
if in the right mood 鈥� ready to role up your sleeves 鈥�
and are up for the challenge to read, study, reflect, and examine the impact that nationalism gave to people, (a sense of identity)鈥�.
Kabbalistic, Shabbatean, Christian beliefs, and antinomianism (any view that rejects laws or legalism and argues against moral, religious, or social norms)鈥�.
salvation- faith - divine grace 鈥� and humor鈥�
following along with Jacob鈥檚 followers鈥�
who believed that they were obligated to break free from the restraints of Jewish Law鈥�..
and
participating in orgies were religious acts鈥�..
Then this book is for 鈥榶ou鈥�.
贬补鈥�
Doesn鈥檛 this book sound fun?
A walk along the beach?
翱办鈥�
sure it was long, hard at times - but so much was fascinating鈥�
鈥擨n the face of persecution from the organized Jewish community, group members saw protection from the Catholic church telling the local Catholic bishop that they rejected the Talmud and recognized only the Zohar, a Jewish mystical text.
They also told Catholic authorities that they recognized the Messiah as part of the Trinity.
I found myself going to Google 鈥� wanting to understand for myself the beliefs in the doctrine of the Trinity 鈥� (a word not found anywhere in the Bible)鈥�.as it is completely incongruous with scriptural understanding of God. 鈥淕od is not three persons. There is only one God and it is the father鈥�.
It seemed to me the further my own research went into understanding 鈥楾he Trinity鈥� 鈥�..[Catholics believe in one single God, who made himself known to the world (revelation) to three separate persons: God the Father, God the son (Jesus) and God the Holy Spirit. 鈥�
But Jews believe in one God鈥�.(not three) 鈥�.
Christians and Messianic Jews empathically believe in one God and only one God.
I found myself spinning off into reading about the meanings behind religious rituals and beliefs: Hebrew roots 鈥�.Baptism鈥�
moral ambiguities鈥�. Polish nobility鈥檚鈥�. Jews living under Christian rule before the Holocaust鈥�.
I also needed to read - and study Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (high levels of ethnic diversity)鈥�. and Warsaw Confederation鈥︹€︹€�
I thought about the difference鈥檚 today 鈥� and in 1791 鈥� between Catholicism being the dominate religion unlike the Warsaw Confederation Act -1573 - where religious freedom varied over time.
Then I looked up 鈥淢odeling the Future of Religion in America鈥濃€�.in 2022..
The article I read was interesting and was written just five days ago.
鈥淪ince the 1990鈥檚, large numbers of Americans have left Christianity to join a growing ranks of U. S. adults who describe their religious identity as atheist, agnostic or 鈥榥othing in particular鈥�. This accelerating trend is reshaping a U.S. religious landscape, leading many people to wonder what the future of religion and American might look like鈥�.
So 鈥�..
鈥�.what did I take away from 鈥楾he Books of Jacob鈥濃€�.Jacob Frank, and his followers? 鈥�..
AS MUCH AS I COULD!
鈥�.About 鈥�.
鈥�.the Polish Jew Jacob Frank,
鈥�.Yente鈥�..(our storyteller)鈥acob鈥檚 grandmother,
鈥�.Religious laws and old customs of old books:
鈥淗e who reads those old books and observes those laws and customs, it is as if he鈥檚 always facing backward, and yet he must move forward. That is why he will stumble and ultimately fall. Since everything that has been has come from the side of death. A wise man, meanwhile, will look ahead, through death, as though this were merely a muslin curtain, and he will stand on the side of life鈥�.
鈥�.village life in Poland (loved all the descriptions in the market place and Bazaar鈥�.of silks, leathers, tapestries, etc. etc)鈥�
鈥�.Frontiers of the Ottoman Empire
鈥�.Laws and hierarchies
鈥�.Multi-cultural society: Jews, Catholics Armenians, Poles, Ruthenians, etc.
鈥淎 fantastic journey across seven borders, five languages, and three major religions, not counting minor sects鈥�
鈥�.Profound history 鈥� mysticism and superstitions 鈥�..
Political issues related and defined by various ethnicities: religion, language, ethnic, romantic, civic, cultural, state, Socialism, ideology, loyalty, devotion, alliances, obligations, anarchism, liberal and revolutionary nationalism, Diaspora鈥�.
鈥�. Challenging names: Polish, Latin, Hebrew, German鈥�.
(I felt warmth with the familiar Jewish names: Nachman, Mordecai, Asher, Leah, Tovar鈥�.etc鈥tc..)鈥�.
鈥�.鈥滱 colossal work - an epic, a fable, a history, sometimes a satire, always a magnum opus鈥�
鈥斺赌擭笔搁
鈥�.鈥滷unny, tragic, comprehensive, and at times hilariously graphic . . . both earthy and ethereal鈥�
鈥斺€擝oston Globe
A few excerpts 鈥� sample writings I picked to share鈥�..
鈥淎t least the floozy has the decency to die on her third day in childbed, as often happens with older women, their time having obviously passed. She is survived by a little girl, tiny bit in perfect health, whom Princess Jabtonowska is ready to give to the peasants in the village and maintain from a far. But Mrs. Kossakowaka鈥檚 arrival in Busk causes the matter to take a different course. For Mrs. Kossakowska, having no children her self, had been thinking about setting up an orphanage, with the help of Bishop Sottyk, but somehow the idea had never quite become a priority. Now she asks Princess Jantonowska to keep the infant on her estate for a little while, until she can ready the shelter鈥�.
鈥淛acob plays with the children. He makes silly faces, and the children love it. After the communal meals, the afternoons are dedicated to the children; The youngest are accompanied by their mothers, and they鈥攐nly barely out of childhood themselves鈥攍ike playing too. They squeal and compete over who can make the scariest face. It is hard to make little children鈥檚 faces disgusting, but Jacob鈥檚 face can truly transform.
Shrieks resound when he is playing monsters and demons, when he acts like the limping batakaben do. When the children have calmed down, he has them sit down around him, and he tells them complicated fairytales, about princesses on glass mountains, simpletons, and princes. There are adventures at sea and evil wizards who turn people into animals. The ending he often puts off until the next day, leaving the whole of Ivanie鈥檚 younger population distracted, living for what morrow will bring. Will the hero be able to free himself from the donkey鈥檚 body to which he was condemned by a jealous woman?鈥�
Jacob Frank, and the Frankists鈥�.. [extremists] 鈥� members of the sect were constantly being impelled against their will by their protectors to assist in the preparation of anti-Jewish propaganda, and to formulate declarations which were intended to wreck destruction upon Polish Jewry鈥�.
鈥︹€�.but was Frank and his followers all bad?
鈥︹€鈥檒l leave this question sitting鈥�.
But note .
Frank was arrested 鈥�.
I recommend reading this for a powerful reading experience 鈥� (take what you can from it)
it鈥檚 deeply penetrating 鈥� affecting鈥� eye opening - thought provoking 鈥� and just one hell of a MASTERFUL profound novel and reading undertaking 鈥�..
but as one reviewer said:
鈥淚f you struggled with Ulysses, this is not for you鈥�
( gotta laugh for a dozen reasons)鈥︹€�
But truthfully anyone can read it (thank you to Google, other reviews and commentaries, friends to discuss this with)鈥�.
尝补蝉迟鈥�.
congratulations to Olga Tokarczuk 鈥�.. (Brilliance is Born)!
And Jennifer Croft 鈥�..outstanding translation!
July 5, 2022
Extraordinary how strong an achievement BOOKS OF JACOB ended up being - the more I think about the scope and ambition of the project, the better it seems to me. It鈥檚 the story of a cult - a real one, Jacob Frank - and the first 250 pages or so are about the collection of the figures of the cult. The boldness of the text (it counts backward instead of forward, is narrated by a woman who can鈥檛 die, has interpolated photos and pictures and many forms of prose), the transportive quality of the research, and the plot, which really gets its hooks in as it goes, is all very notable. And what a translation by Croft! Very grateful to have read it
March 11, 2022
Update: It was long-listed for the International Booker Prize 2022.
Someone said: "History is what a certain time period notices in the other.鈥�. This book has made me thinking once more what is a historical novel. There are two broad ways how to look at it. A historical novel might be a book when the author takes a certain time period, creates a bunch of fictional characters to show how this time period would affect the thoughts and actions of these imaginary people. The main idea might be to show the historical forces in play and their affect on the individual lives. This is not such a novel.
This is closer to something which Javier Cercas defines as a non-fiction novel. Olga T takes the lives of people that really existed, adheres to the facts of those lives as close as she could. But at the same time, she uses the techniques that are expected from a novel. She pays huge attention to the narrative voices. And the novel is totally poly-vocal. She also uses a complex structure when the narrative is developing in three separate layers complementing each other. The structure holds together by the voice or rather gaze of Yente, the women who cannot die and sees everything from above. Olga T. calls this 鈥渢he 4th person narration鈥�. I guess Yente is the only character Olga T. Has fully created as opposed to rediscovering from history. The novel is full of diaries, old books extracts, letters and even poems. I found also the included contemporary illustrations add to atmosphere.
Her characters are the 18th century Eastern European Jews, catholic priests and some Polish aristocracy. The main subject is Frankism - the heresy founded around Jacob Frank who considered himself a Messiah and had built a movement with the help of his disciples. They believed among other things that the conversion into Christianity is the necessary step to achieve their religious goals.
Sects and their power is a strange subject that might feel even alien for some readers. Olga T does not seem to be interested in creating the awareness of the broader context or attracting the readers through some cheap tricks like imaginary plot twists. She seems to be interested in investigate exactly this - strangeness. Her characters exits on the margins of their societies and cultures constantly transcending those margins geographical, religious and social. They are eternal strangers:
鈥淭here is something wonderful in being a stranger, in being foreign, something to be relished, something as alluring as sweets. It is good not to be able to understand a language, not to know the customs, to glide like a spirit among others who are distant and unrecognisable. Then a particular kind of wisdom awakens 鈥� an ability to surmise, to grasp the things that aren鈥檛 obvious.鈥�
This novel is very successful in demonstrating this and showing how something potentially new is painfully appearing through the cracks in the old.
This novel focuses on the individuals. There are so many of them. Olga T. takes equal care in depicting an old catholic priest writing an encyclopaedia, a Jewish woman maintaining the accounts for Jacob and being the one of his many mistresses or an assimilated Jewish convert who becomes a lawyer and revolutionary to be subsequently executed by the French Commune. All these people have names. Many of them even have two sets of names as they鈥檝e converted. Sometimes, it was hard to follow who is who. But at some stage I stopped caring that much. And the lasting impression it has created on me was of polyphony, being totally absorbed by the chorus of those voices. They have become the real people of me. Olga T. convinced me of their past existence. It is quiet a poignant feeling. It reminded me of where the author contemplates whether to quote the letters of her deceased relatives. To quote them would be to bring once more their existence into the spotlight before the eternal darkness. Not to quote would mean let them fade forever without a trace. I had a similar feeling here. Olga T. has successfully brought these ordinary people back from that darkness where they鈥檝e been for centuries .
What I struggled with is a relative obscurity of Jacob鈥檚 Frank鈥檚 character. He is represented in the novel only through the eyes of his followers. And, at the end I was not totally convinced what was that uniqueness that has attracted them to him or his teaching. From an interview I鈥檝e read I understood Olga T just could not find a voice to deal with such type of a personality. And because of it, there is an empty space in the middle of the novel. There is also a symbol for it - a cave. There was a special cave into which Jacob went as a boy to hide in Korolevka. HIs wife was also buried in a cave. The cave is a good symbol of his ambivalence. More generally, it is a good metaphor for the the absence of dichotomy of good and evil. A cave could be a place to be lost forever. Buy equally it could be a place of refuge. Interestingly enough, this particular cave in Korolevka was just this. During the Nazi鈥檚 occupation, a few dozen Jews were hiding there for two years. It saved their lives.
This story of a relatively obscure Jewish movement in pre-modern times has made me think how we all need the other to understand ourselves better. But also how easily the persecuted could turn the coats and become the persecutors themselves, and even more generally - the fluidity of any identity perceived as a cast in stone.
Overall the impression I鈥檝e got from this novel that is full of strangeness but also full of energy. And by the end, I was immersed in its atmosphere. She builds it with a lot of details. Sometimes it felt excessive. Sometimes I would miss the voice of the character I liked while reading the voices I cared less. But it adds up into the whole. Olga T. said:
鈥淪ometimes I think about this type of writing as panoptic. I like to create a scene, and characters, and let them live. I like to look down on relationships from above; I believe that reality is not a series of individual, isolated subjects and objects but the infinite quantity of relations between them. I see reality as the stage for these relationships鈥攏ot only those between the subjects, but also their relationships with objects, and with nature. It would be hard to give an account of any kind of social process without incorporating this multiplicity of points of view, this interaction of so many energies.鈥�
I could see that this book could not be everyone鈥檚 cup of tea. It is probably not a page-turner. But it is a stylish novel that has a lot to say about the traces of the vanished world in our present and takes its time to do so.
PS:
I've found this wonderful article, the translation of Olga's essay "How I wrote The Book of Jacob". I think it would be helpful to anyone who plans to read or indeed has read this novel:
Someone said: "History is what a certain time period notices in the other.鈥�. This book has made me thinking once more what is a historical novel. There are two broad ways how to look at it. A historical novel might be a book when the author takes a certain time period, creates a bunch of fictional characters to show how this time period would affect the thoughts and actions of these imaginary people. The main idea might be to show the historical forces in play and their affect on the individual lives. This is not such a novel.
This is closer to something which Javier Cercas defines as a non-fiction novel. Olga T takes the lives of people that really existed, adheres to the facts of those lives as close as she could. But at the same time, she uses the techniques that are expected from a novel. She pays huge attention to the narrative voices. And the novel is totally poly-vocal. She also uses a complex structure when the narrative is developing in three separate layers complementing each other. The structure holds together by the voice or rather gaze of Yente, the women who cannot die and sees everything from above. Olga T. calls this 鈥渢he 4th person narration鈥�. I guess Yente is the only character Olga T. Has fully created as opposed to rediscovering from history. The novel is full of diaries, old books extracts, letters and even poems. I found also the included contemporary illustrations add to atmosphere.
Her characters are the 18th century Eastern European Jews, catholic priests and some Polish aristocracy. The main subject is Frankism - the heresy founded around Jacob Frank who considered himself a Messiah and had built a movement with the help of his disciples. They believed among other things that the conversion into Christianity is the necessary step to achieve their religious goals.
Sects and their power is a strange subject that might feel even alien for some readers. Olga T does not seem to be interested in creating the awareness of the broader context or attracting the readers through some cheap tricks like imaginary plot twists. She seems to be interested in investigate exactly this - strangeness. Her characters exits on the margins of their societies and cultures constantly transcending those margins geographical, religious and social. They are eternal strangers:
鈥淭here is something wonderful in being a stranger, in being foreign, something to be relished, something as alluring as sweets. It is good not to be able to understand a language, not to know the customs, to glide like a spirit among others who are distant and unrecognisable. Then a particular kind of wisdom awakens 鈥� an ability to surmise, to grasp the things that aren鈥檛 obvious.鈥�
This novel is very successful in demonstrating this and showing how something potentially new is painfully appearing through the cracks in the old.
This novel focuses on the individuals. There are so many of them. Olga T. takes equal care in depicting an old catholic priest writing an encyclopaedia, a Jewish woman maintaining the accounts for Jacob and being the one of his many mistresses or an assimilated Jewish convert who becomes a lawyer and revolutionary to be subsequently executed by the French Commune. All these people have names. Many of them even have two sets of names as they鈥檝e converted. Sometimes, it was hard to follow who is who. But at some stage I stopped caring that much. And the lasting impression it has created on me was of polyphony, being totally absorbed by the chorus of those voices. They have become the real people of me. Olga T. convinced me of their past existence. It is quiet a poignant feeling. It reminded me of where the author contemplates whether to quote the letters of her deceased relatives. To quote them would be to bring once more their existence into the spotlight before the eternal darkness. Not to quote would mean let them fade forever without a trace. I had a similar feeling here. Olga T. has successfully brought these ordinary people back from that darkness where they鈥檝e been for centuries .
What I struggled with is a relative obscurity of Jacob鈥檚 Frank鈥檚 character. He is represented in the novel only through the eyes of his followers. And, at the end I was not totally convinced what was that uniqueness that has attracted them to him or his teaching. From an interview I鈥檝e read I understood Olga T just could not find a voice to deal with such type of a personality. And because of it, there is an empty space in the middle of the novel. There is also a symbol for it - a cave. There was a special cave into which Jacob went as a boy to hide in Korolevka. HIs wife was also buried in a cave. The cave is a good symbol of his ambivalence. More generally, it is a good metaphor for the the absence of dichotomy of good and evil. A cave could be a place to be lost forever. Buy equally it could be a place of refuge. Interestingly enough, this particular cave in Korolevka was just this. During the Nazi鈥檚 occupation, a few dozen Jews were hiding there for two years. It saved their lives.
This story of a relatively obscure Jewish movement in pre-modern times has made me think how we all need the other to understand ourselves better. But also how easily the persecuted could turn the coats and become the persecutors themselves, and even more generally - the fluidity of any identity perceived as a cast in stone.
Overall the impression I鈥檝e got from this novel that is full of strangeness but also full of energy. And by the end, I was immersed in its atmosphere. She builds it with a lot of details. Sometimes it felt excessive. Sometimes I would miss the voice of the character I liked while reading the voices I cared less. But it adds up into the whole. Olga T. said:
鈥淪ometimes I think about this type of writing as panoptic. I like to create a scene, and characters, and let them live. I like to look down on relationships from above; I believe that reality is not a series of individual, isolated subjects and objects but the infinite quantity of relations between them. I see reality as the stage for these relationships鈥攏ot only those between the subjects, but also their relationships with objects, and with nature. It would be hard to give an account of any kind of social process without incorporating this multiplicity of points of view, this interaction of so many energies.鈥�
I could see that this book could not be everyone鈥檚 cup of tea. It is probably not a page-turner. But it is a stylish novel that has a lot to say about the traces of the vanished world in our present and takes its time to do so.
PS:
I've found this wonderful article, the translation of Olga's essay "How I wrote The Book of Jacob". I think it would be helpful to anyone who plans to read or indeed has read this novel:
April 10, 2022
This is a massive achievement. Imagine Hilary Mantel鈥檚 Thomas Cromwell series, but in an all-in-one volume and with the emphasis not necessarily on its main character, but on many others. 鈥淢any others鈥� is an understatement. There are a ton (a slight exaggeration) of characters, some with the same first names, and many who change names when they change religions, though Tokarczuk (and Croft too, I鈥檓 sure) does an amazing job helping the reader to keep it all together.
I鈥檓 the kind of reader that needs to remind myself of a character鈥檚 exact role if I鈥檝e forgotten, so I was paging back quite a bit, or rather using the Kindle鈥檚 search function, which came in handy when I thought I couldn鈥檛 remember a character only to discover the name was mentioned the once. Don鈥檛 let that put you off though, as the main characters do rise to the top.
At times the details may seem overwhelming, but it鈥檚 a fascinating historical account. Some of my favorite sections are of Yente, an arguably superfluous element that even I wondered if she was necessary at one juncture. But I read Tokarczuk for her meaningful flights of whimsy, of so-called magical realism (See ); for her trademark metaphors like games and mushrooms (See ); her bringing together of fragments (See ). The fragments here are 鈥渟craps鈥� written by one of Jacob鈥檚 earliest and most fervent followers. The impact of books, of libraries, of writing, of translation (certainly all relevant to the needed research into this opus) is another thing I loved.
Though I never got a sense of why Jacob was able to attract such devoted followers鈥攚ho can explain such a phenomenon?鈥攖his story from the mostly 18th century into the 19th with a brief jump to the 20th century for the beautiful tying-up of the Yente story has tremendous relevance for the 21st.
I鈥檓 the kind of reader that needs to remind myself of a character鈥檚 exact role if I鈥檝e forgotten, so I was paging back quite a bit, or rather using the Kindle鈥檚 search function, which came in handy when I thought I couldn鈥檛 remember a character only to discover the name was mentioned the once. Don鈥檛 let that put you off though, as the main characters do rise to the top.
At times the details may seem overwhelming, but it鈥檚 a fascinating historical account. Some of my favorite sections are of Yente, an arguably superfluous element that even I wondered if she was necessary at one juncture. But I read Tokarczuk for her meaningful flights of whimsy, of so-called magical realism (See ); for her trademark metaphors like games and mushrooms (See ); her bringing together of fragments (See ). The fragments here are 鈥渟craps鈥� written by one of Jacob鈥檚 earliest and most fervent followers. The impact of books, of libraries, of writing, of translation (certainly all relevant to the needed research into this opus) is another thing I loved.
Though I never got a sense of why Jacob was able to attract such devoted followers鈥攚ho can explain such a phenomenon?鈥攖his story from the mostly 18th century into the 19th with a brief jump to the 20th century for the beautiful tying-up of the Yente story has tremendous relevance for the 21st.
October 6, 2018
In the "Books of Jacob", Olga Tokarczuk reiterates the point made by the great Jewish Theologian Gershom Scholem that study of the Talmud is the very foundation of Judaism. Mystical practices such as Kabbalah have the potential to lead the practitioner into heresy. Unfortunately if one is not interested in becoming a better Jew, Tokarczuk's novel can be quite tedious. The great of success of the "Books of Jacob" is due to the fact that it also recounts the decline and fall of the Polish Commonwealth (1569-1795). The "Books of Jacob" offers the reader two tracks, both will be difficult for the Anglo-Saxon reader.
The primary focus of the novel is to tell the story Frankism a heretical Jewish schism that at the time of the French Revolution may have had as many as 500,000 followers in the Polish Commonwealth. Jacob Frank the leader of this movement was born in Podolia (a region found in today's Ukraine). Frank's family had been members of the millenarian Sabbatian movement which had called on its members to convert to Islam because Mosaic Law no longer applied at the "End of Days".
Frankism was essentially a continuation of the previous heresy. Frank began his mission in the 1750's. Frank proposed that a Trinity of Messiahs existed. The first was Sabbata茂 Tsevi, the founder of Sabbatianism. Barukhia (the successor to Sabbata茂 Tsevi was the second while Frank himself was the third. The Frankists called themselves antitalmudists. They converted to Catholicism, took Christian names and generally enraged conventional Jews.
Frank extracted large amounts of money from his followers that he used to maintain a large court which he hoped would impress a Christian monarch to ennoble him and grant him a territory where he could live with his group. Over 20 years, he approached in turn the Polish Monarch, the Austrian Emperor and the Russian Tsar. Frank died in 1791. At this point, the European dynasties were too distracted by the French revolution to pay any intention to Frank. Frank's daughter, Ewa, maintained a court in Offenbach am Main until her death in 1816 after which the Frankist movement dissolved rapidly.
Tokarczuk tells us nothing good about Frank. He was an apostate Jew and a completely insincere Catholic. He liked to humiliate those in his entourage and financially exploited his flock. He was an unrestrained profligate who pushed his daughter into the bed of the Austrian emperor in search of a title and a land grant.
The brilliance of Tokarczuk is how she situates Frankism in the Polish Commonwealth which after two centuries is about to crumble and disappear. Frank grows up in the Ukrainian part of the Polish Commonwealth speaking Yiddish, Ladino and Turkish. He will not start to learn Polish until he begins to lobby the Polish king for land. He will never learn Ukrainian. He has no understanding of the literature or culture of Catholic Europe.
The ignorance of the Poles with respect to the Jews is as great. None speak Yiddish or have any knowledge of the Jewish religion. Although they have accorded the Jews a place in their Respublica, they have horrible prejudices and pogroms occur on an intermittent basis.
The Poles have mismanaged their affairs. The Polish Commonwealth has become a political condominium controlled by Russia and Prussia. Over the time frame of the novel, the Poles will stage two revolts causing their country to be formally partitioned by Austria, Russia and Prussia.
The Poles are quite confused as to what they are culturally. Latin is the language of the courts and the main markets. Their poets and other writers are unsure whether to use Latin or to infuse large number of Latin words into Polish so as to modernize it.
The Poles do not know what to do with the Frankists. For the most part they do not wish to see them convert to Christianity and in practical terms have no way to accommodate them. The Jews have their own parliament (diet) and courts. Eighty-five percent (85%) of them are agricultural workers who live in Shtetls where they are assigned to a Rabbi who is responsible for paying a head tax to the Polish King for every adult male in his care. Once Christianized then the Jews in the Shtetls should become serfs. In fact some of the Polish nobles generously agree to accept them. Frank of course wants none of this. He wants to have a title and to make his followers his serfs. Ultimately, the Polish king will reject Frank's request and put him in prison for 13 years. (What Tokarczuk does not explain is that after the Napoleonic wars, those Jews who had been in Shtetls prior to converting to Christianity were simply sent back.)
At times Tokarczuk paints a picture of Poles that is not very flattering. In particular, she devotes a lot time to the blood libel according to which Jews were in the practice of killing Christian children so as to add their blood to Passover matzos. Early in the novel Bishop Kajetan Ignacy So艂tyk (1715-1788) who has heavily indebted himself to a Jewish moneylender to cover his gambling losses has the moneylender and six other Jews executed on the charge of having killed a peasant child to use his blood for ritual purposes. The Vatican is outraged. The Pope writes to all the Polish bishops to remind them that the blood libel has no basis in fact and orders that they stop disseminating it. In fact the blood libel will continue to be propagated throughout the novel. The Pope will rebuke them on every occasion but will never be able to enforce his authority. Tokarczuk is presumably trying to get her readers to see the parallels with the present day as the Vatican is waging a constant battle to suppress anti-Semitic and xenophobic comments from certain organizations who proclaim themselves to be Catholic.
The "Books of Jacob" is a masterpiece of literature of this century. However, for someone unfamiliar with the history of Poland and of Poland's Jews in the second half of the eighteenth century, it will be a very tough slog. I would advise reading Gershom Scholem's "Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism" and Norman Davies' "Gods Playground" before undertaking the daunting challenge of reading this book.
The primary focus of the novel is to tell the story Frankism a heretical Jewish schism that at the time of the French Revolution may have had as many as 500,000 followers in the Polish Commonwealth. Jacob Frank the leader of this movement was born in Podolia (a region found in today's Ukraine). Frank's family had been members of the millenarian Sabbatian movement which had called on its members to convert to Islam because Mosaic Law no longer applied at the "End of Days".
Frankism was essentially a continuation of the previous heresy. Frank began his mission in the 1750's. Frank proposed that a Trinity of Messiahs existed. The first was Sabbata茂 Tsevi, the founder of Sabbatianism. Barukhia (the successor to Sabbata茂 Tsevi was the second while Frank himself was the third. The Frankists called themselves antitalmudists. They converted to Catholicism, took Christian names and generally enraged conventional Jews.
Frank extracted large amounts of money from his followers that he used to maintain a large court which he hoped would impress a Christian monarch to ennoble him and grant him a territory where he could live with his group. Over 20 years, he approached in turn the Polish Monarch, the Austrian Emperor and the Russian Tsar. Frank died in 1791. At this point, the European dynasties were too distracted by the French revolution to pay any intention to Frank. Frank's daughter, Ewa, maintained a court in Offenbach am Main until her death in 1816 after which the Frankist movement dissolved rapidly.
Tokarczuk tells us nothing good about Frank. He was an apostate Jew and a completely insincere Catholic. He liked to humiliate those in his entourage and financially exploited his flock. He was an unrestrained profligate who pushed his daughter into the bed of the Austrian emperor in search of a title and a land grant.
The brilliance of Tokarczuk is how she situates Frankism in the Polish Commonwealth which after two centuries is about to crumble and disappear. Frank grows up in the Ukrainian part of the Polish Commonwealth speaking Yiddish, Ladino and Turkish. He will not start to learn Polish until he begins to lobby the Polish king for land. He will never learn Ukrainian. He has no understanding of the literature or culture of Catholic Europe.
The ignorance of the Poles with respect to the Jews is as great. None speak Yiddish or have any knowledge of the Jewish religion. Although they have accorded the Jews a place in their Respublica, they have horrible prejudices and pogroms occur on an intermittent basis.
The Poles have mismanaged their affairs. The Polish Commonwealth has become a political condominium controlled by Russia and Prussia. Over the time frame of the novel, the Poles will stage two revolts causing their country to be formally partitioned by Austria, Russia and Prussia.
The Poles are quite confused as to what they are culturally. Latin is the language of the courts and the main markets. Their poets and other writers are unsure whether to use Latin or to infuse large number of Latin words into Polish so as to modernize it.
The Poles do not know what to do with the Frankists. For the most part they do not wish to see them convert to Christianity and in practical terms have no way to accommodate them. The Jews have their own parliament (diet) and courts. Eighty-five percent (85%) of them are agricultural workers who live in Shtetls where they are assigned to a Rabbi who is responsible for paying a head tax to the Polish King for every adult male in his care. Once Christianized then the Jews in the Shtetls should become serfs. In fact some of the Polish nobles generously agree to accept them. Frank of course wants none of this. He wants to have a title and to make his followers his serfs. Ultimately, the Polish king will reject Frank's request and put him in prison for 13 years. (What Tokarczuk does not explain is that after the Napoleonic wars, those Jews who had been in Shtetls prior to converting to Christianity were simply sent back.)
At times Tokarczuk paints a picture of Poles that is not very flattering. In particular, she devotes a lot time to the blood libel according to which Jews were in the practice of killing Christian children so as to add their blood to Passover matzos. Early in the novel Bishop Kajetan Ignacy So艂tyk (1715-1788) who has heavily indebted himself to a Jewish moneylender to cover his gambling losses has the moneylender and six other Jews executed on the charge of having killed a peasant child to use his blood for ritual purposes. The Vatican is outraged. The Pope writes to all the Polish bishops to remind them that the blood libel has no basis in fact and orders that they stop disseminating it. In fact the blood libel will continue to be propagated throughout the novel. The Pope will rebuke them on every occasion but will never be able to enforce his authority. Tokarczuk is presumably trying to get her readers to see the parallels with the present day as the Vatican is waging a constant battle to suppress anti-Semitic and xenophobic comments from certain organizations who proclaim themselves to be Catholic.
The "Books of Jacob" is a masterpiece of literature of this century. However, for someone unfamiliar with the history of Poland and of Poland's Jews in the second half of the eighteenth century, it will be a very tough slog. I would advise reading Gershom Scholem's "Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism" and Norman Davies' "Gods Playground" before undertaking the daunting challenge of reading this book.
January 26, 2022
孝褍褌 薪械 胁懈褋褌邪褔邪褦 蟹褨褉芯褔芯泻, 褖芯斜 芯褑褨薪懈褌懈 褋懈谢褍 屑芯褦褩 谢褞斜芯胁褨 写芯 褑褨褦褩 泻薪懈谐懈. 袟邪泻褨薪褔懈谢邪 褔懈褌邪褌懈 褨 褖械 锌褨胁谐芯写懈薪懈 锌褉芯褋褌芯 褋懈写褨谢邪 胁 褌懈褕褨. 携泻芯褋褜 蟹斜械褉褍褋褟 薪邪锌懈褋邪褌懈 褖芯褋褜 蟹屑褨褋褌芯胁薪械 锌褉芯 薪械褩, 邪 蟹邪褉邪蟹 锌褉芯褋褌芯 褋泻邪卸褍, 褖芯 胁芯薪邪 锌褉械泻褉邪褋薪邪 馃挃
December 19, 2021
Yente watches all of this - the similarity of the events draws her attention. Over time, moments occur that are very similar to one another. The threads of time have their knots and tangles, and every so often there is a symmetry, every once in a while something repeats, as if refrains and motifs were controlling them, a troubling thing to notice. Such order tends to overburden the mind, which cannot know how to respond. Chaos has always seemed more familiar and safe, like the disarray in your own drawer.
I really don鈥檛 feel qualified to comment on this book. It is 900 large pages of smallish print with substantial chunks taking the form of correspondence which is in an even smaller font and italics. This is part of the reason why it is a hard book to read: I have to acknowledge that my 61 year old eyes needed frequent breaks because they got very tired whilst reading this.
But this is also a complex book and I really do defy anyone to hold the plethora of perspectives together for the full duration of the book. The Jacob of the title is Jacob Frank who, in 18th century Poland, declared himself to be the messiah and established a following whilst creating quite a stir. And in this book a picture of Jacob Frank emerges via the perceptions of a host of other people. For someone who is supposedly the central subject of the book, it is notable that we never spend time alone with him, never hear his thoughts, but always have things filtered through the viewpoint of others. One of the key characters, a narrative device that holds the whole book together, is Yente, Jacob鈥檚 grandmother, who spends most of the book hovering in a space between life and death and also hovering, in an 鈥渙ut of body experience鈥� kind of way, above all the events that are recounted. Yente can move around in space and time and dips in and out of people鈥檚 stories. Overall, the book moves forward chronologically, but, within that, it makes frequent time jumps backwards to recount events from different perspectives. This combination of multiple story threads and jittering timeline make for a disorienting read, especially when it is maintained over almost 900 pages.
For me, the reviewer at The Sunday Times does a good job of summarising, although I lost a bit of confidence in her (Antonia Senior) when she referred to the backwards counting pages as starting at 892 and ending at 1. In fact, the book finishes on page 27, so I wonder if this reviewer actually made it as far as the end. Or perhaps she felt it was just too long-winded in a review to try to explain about finishing at page 27. And I think I am proving her right. The backwards counting is a nod to books written in Hebrew, as well as a reminder that every order, every system, is simply a matter of what you鈥檝e got used to. The reason for finishing at page 27 is not explained.
Here鈥檚 what Antonia Senior has to say which expresses it far better than I could:
I can understand those who take the opposite view and see this as hubris rather than genius. But for me, a 900 page book that I feel I would like to read again can only mean one thing: 5 stars.
Oh, and literature is an important theme in this book. The first section discusses reading books, for example, and the second writing them. There's discussion of translation and interpretation.
For what are we to do with such a brittle stuff as paper? What can come of writing books?
I really don鈥檛 feel qualified to comment on this book. It is 900 large pages of smallish print with substantial chunks taking the form of correspondence which is in an even smaller font and italics. This is part of the reason why it is a hard book to read: I have to acknowledge that my 61 year old eyes needed frequent breaks because they got very tired whilst reading this.
But this is also a complex book and I really do defy anyone to hold the plethora of perspectives together for the full duration of the book. The Jacob of the title is Jacob Frank who, in 18th century Poland, declared himself to be the messiah and established a following whilst creating quite a stir. And in this book a picture of Jacob Frank emerges via the perceptions of a host of other people. For someone who is supposedly the central subject of the book, it is notable that we never spend time alone with him, never hear his thoughts, but always have things filtered through the viewpoint of others. One of the key characters, a narrative device that holds the whole book together, is Yente, Jacob鈥檚 grandmother, who spends most of the book hovering in a space between life and death and also hovering, in an 鈥渙ut of body experience鈥� kind of way, above all the events that are recounted. Yente can move around in space and time and dips in and out of people鈥檚 stories. Overall, the book moves forward chronologically, but, within that, it makes frequent time jumps backwards to recount events from different perspectives. This combination of multiple story threads and jittering timeline make for a disorienting read, especially when it is maintained over almost 900 pages.
For me, the reviewer at The Sunday Times does a good job of summarising, although I lost a bit of confidence in her (Antonia Senior) when she referred to the backwards counting pages as starting at 892 and ending at 1. In fact, the book finishes on page 27, so I wonder if this reviewer actually made it as far as the end. Or perhaps she felt it was just too long-winded in a review to try to explain about finishing at page 27. And I think I am proving her right. The backwards counting is a nod to books written in Hebrew, as well as a reminder that every order, every system, is simply a matter of what you鈥檝e got used to. The reason for finishing at page 27 is not explained.
Here鈥檚 what Antonia Senior has to say which expresses it far better than I could:
So, genius or hubris? Tokarczuk shows impressive skill in recreating an entire era and world, which ranges from Poland to Smyrna and Vienna. Yet her real genius lies in the cast of characters she has conjured up; dozens, each fully realised, from an emperor downwards. Old rabbis and young mothers, a gambling addicted bishop and a dying grandmother, aristocrats and jealous wives, a female poet and a melancholy doctor.
She is also ambitious in her willingness to ask (and sometimes answer) extraordinarily large questions through these character studies. Why are people willing to believe in charlatans? Why do humans long for salvation? How can you reconcile God with the squalor of His creation? What is the relationship between the human and the divine? The only question she does not answer is: what does this self-proclaimed messiah believe?
Holding it all together for 900 pages is incredible, but that is not what makes this book great. Tokarczuk, unafraid and ambitious, creates a very fallible messiah, yet makes it seem reasonable and human to believe in his divinity. That is a kind of literary miracle.
I can understand those who take the opposite view and see this as hubris rather than genius. But for me, a 900 page book that I feel I would like to read again can only mean one thing: 5 stars.
Oh, and literature is an important theme in this book. The first section discusses reading books, for example, and the second writing them. There's discussion of translation and interpretation.
For what are we to do with such a brittle stuff as paper? What can come of writing books?
November 6, 2017
Pierwsza powie艣膰 Olgi Tokarczuk na kt贸r膮 si臋 zdecydowa艂am i ... wci膮gn臋艂a mnie! Opisy i atmosfera niesamowita, historie kt贸re nie pozwalaj膮 zapomnie膰 o sobie.
Shelved as 'abandoned'
May 24, 2022No rating, it's a DNF
I made it to page 99 (of 992 pages) and am throwing in the towel. I love Olga听Tokarczuk's but this?听
1. It's boring.
2. There are many characters and I'm struggling to keep track of who is whom. This is partly because the names are unfamiliar to me and I have no clue how to pronounce them (not the author's fault), making them hard to remember.听
3. There are letters and books written by the characters and these are in teeny-tiny print that even my twenty year old eyes would have struggled听to read, let alone my middle aged eyes. Why? Why do authors do this? It's just as bad as putting entire paragraphs or pages in italics.听
Do authors who subject us to this hate their readers, wanting to strain our eyes and induce migraines?
As for #2, yes, I know. I could probably find pronunciations on google or youtube. I can't get interested enough in these characters to do that though, which is unlike me. When I don't care how to pronounce a character's name, it's a pretty good sign that... it's boring.
I made it to page 99 (of 992 pages) and am throwing in the towel. I love Olga听Tokarczuk's but this?听
1. It's boring.
2. There are many characters and I'm struggling to keep track of who is whom. This is partly because the names are unfamiliar to me and I have no clue how to pronounce them (not the author's fault), making them hard to remember.听
3. There are letters and books written by the characters and these are in teeny-tiny print that even my twenty year old eyes would have struggled听to read, let alone my middle aged eyes. Why? Why do authors do this? It's just as bad as putting entire paragraphs or pages in italics.听
Do authors who subject us to this hate their readers, wanting to strain our eyes and induce migraines?
As for #2, yes, I know. I could probably find pronunciations on google or youtube. I can't get interested enough in these characters to do that though, which is unlike me. When I don't care how to pronounce a character's name, it's a pretty good sign that... it's boring.
December 23, 2021
127th book of 2021. All pictures in the review are from Vol.co.
Firstly, I gotta say I'm a big Tokarczuk fan and respect her as much (or more) after reading this beast. This beast is too long and I've got my problems with it, but what a novel to have written. Spanning the 18th century, and beyond, and the historical figure Jacob Frank, a man believed to be the Messiah. Though the novel is certainly centred around him, Jacob floats in and out of the narrative (in fact, he doesn't actually appear in the narrative for the first 200 or so pages) and instead we get a sweeping 'panorama of an almost neglected chapter in European history', as said by the Nobel Committee. The novel crosses several borderlines and characters, including the most interesting character, Yente, Tokarczuk's 'fourth-person narrator', the woman who cannot die and instead flies about the novel's events as an omnipresent 'eye'.
There are pictures interspersed through the novel as her Flights was, there are letters, and diaries too. It is a sometimes overwhelming experience reading the novel, being physically larger than paperback size and big-enough-to-wrestle in length. Its most overwhelming feature is down to its first flaw. The Books of Jacob is readable enough, Tokarczuk doesn't bog it down with historical exposition or long religious ideas, but she does tell the novel in a very detached and unemotional way. For mostly 900-odd pages the tone of the novel stays the same, there's no rise or fall, nothing: it is like one very long road which is oftentimes interesting and oftentimes simply exhausting. Did it need to be so long? I'd say No. If it were shorter it would probably be a better novel. There are so many characters, so many plots, we hear about what they are doing, thinking, moving around, marrying, it is a constant barrage of stuff, fictional or not. And when it comes to wondering what is historical truth in the novel and what isn't, Tokarczuk answers that herself in a way. When a character asks another character to write a novel about the Frankists and how it was, he asks, ''But how were things? Is there anybody still around who could tell me?'' and the friend answers, ''You're a writer, just make up whatever's missing.''
Tokarczuk certainly does that with the depth of the novel and the characters like Yente. For those daunted by the size, it is wonderfully readable, almost simple in prose. There are moments of beauty but I would say it is almost entirely character-driven. This is ironic as Jacob Frank is unlikeable at almost every point. Fans of Tokarczuk should read it simply because it is hailed as her magnum opus and maybe it is. It's ambitious and ambitious writing always gains my respect whether I like it or not. It is a portrait into an interesting part of the world for me, an interesting time period, and focused on men accused of being Jews, but then becoming Muslims, but then being taken into the Catholic faith. If you like big books on history and religion then really look no further. Otherwise, it depends how much time you have and how much you like Olga. I'll add more thoughts when they are better organised but for now I can say it was a good experience but I'm glad it's over and back on the bookcase smiling the 'I've been read'-smile.
Firstly, I gotta say I'm a big Tokarczuk fan and respect her as much (or more) after reading this beast. This beast is too long and I've got my problems with it, but what a novel to have written. Spanning the 18th century, and beyond, and the historical figure Jacob Frank, a man believed to be the Messiah. Though the novel is certainly centred around him, Jacob floats in and out of the narrative (in fact, he doesn't actually appear in the narrative for the first 200 or so pages) and instead we get a sweeping 'panorama of an almost neglected chapter in European history', as said by the Nobel Committee. The novel crosses several borderlines and characters, including the most interesting character, Yente, Tokarczuk's 'fourth-person narrator', the woman who cannot die and instead flies about the novel's events as an omnipresent 'eye'.
There are pictures interspersed through the novel as her Flights was, there are letters, and diaries too. It is a sometimes overwhelming experience reading the novel, being physically larger than paperback size and big-enough-to-wrestle in length. Its most overwhelming feature is down to its first flaw. The Books of Jacob is readable enough, Tokarczuk doesn't bog it down with historical exposition or long religious ideas, but she does tell the novel in a very detached and unemotional way. For mostly 900-odd pages the tone of the novel stays the same, there's no rise or fall, nothing: it is like one very long road which is oftentimes interesting and oftentimes simply exhausting. Did it need to be so long? I'd say No. If it were shorter it would probably be a better novel. There are so many characters, so many plots, we hear about what they are doing, thinking, moving around, marrying, it is a constant barrage of stuff, fictional or not. And when it comes to wondering what is historical truth in the novel and what isn't, Tokarczuk answers that herself in a way. When a character asks another character to write a novel about the Frankists and how it was, he asks, ''But how were things? Is there anybody still around who could tell me?'' and the friend answers, ''You're a writer, just make up whatever's missing.''
Tokarczuk certainly does that with the depth of the novel and the characters like Yente. For those daunted by the size, it is wonderfully readable, almost simple in prose. There are moments of beauty but I would say it is almost entirely character-driven. This is ironic as Jacob Frank is unlikeable at almost every point. Fans of Tokarczuk should read it simply because it is hailed as her magnum opus and maybe it is. It's ambitious and ambitious writing always gains my respect whether I like it or not. It is a portrait into an interesting part of the world for me, an interesting time period, and focused on men accused of being Jews, but then becoming Muslims, but then being taken into the Catholic faith. If you like big books on history and religion then really look no further. Otherwise, it depends how much time you have and how much you like Olga. I'll add more thoughts when they are better organised but for now I can say it was a good experience but I'm glad it's over and back on the bookcase smiling the 'I've been read'-smile.
May 18, 2020
Ta powie艣膰 to bez w膮tpienia wielkie dzie艂o. Wielkie Dzie艂o.
Wielkie Dzie艂a s膮 zwykle wymagaj膮ce wobec czytelnik贸w i tak jest z t膮 powie艣ci膮. Nie mam wra偶enia, 偶e zawsze stawa艂em na wysoko艣ci zadania. Zachwyci艂a mnie rozmachem. Ale niestety tak og贸lnie mnie nie zachwyci艂a.
Dla ka偶dego, kto - tak jak ja - lubi obcowa膰 z pi臋kn膮 narracj膮 Tokarczuk, z jej soczystym, barwnym j臋zykiem - ta powie艣膰 b臋dzie uczt膮. To wielka epopeja, pe艂na niezwyk艂ych postaci - z kt贸rych bynamniej nie tytu艂owy Jakub Frank jest najciekawszy. Czyta艂em j膮 bardzo d艂ugo, bo tyle samo co czytanie, zabra艂o mi grzebanie w poszukiwaniu informacji o bohaterach. Musz臋 przyzna膰, 偶e bardzo mnie pobudzi艂a intelekutalnie i wzbogaci艂a, je偶eli chodzi o wiedz臋 o tych czasach. Do tego jest zadbana formalnie. Bardzo to lubi臋 w literaturze.
Natomiast nie ukrywam, 偶e lektura tej ksi膮偶ki bywa ci臋偶ka. Lawina bohater贸w, kt贸rzy w dodatku w pewnym momencie zmieniaj膮 nazwiska, wi臋c ka偶dego trzeba zapami臋ta膰 dwa razy - potrafi przyt艂oczy膰. Tytu艂owy Jakub Frank - to dziwna posta膰. Sekciarz, wielbiony przez swoich wyznawc贸w, kt贸rych bezustannie wykorzystuje finansowo, oraz wyznawczynie, kt贸re wykorzystuje seksualnie. Nie b贸jmy si臋 tego s艂owa - w uj臋ciu autorki Frank jest tak偶e pedofilem, gwa艂c膮cym nawet w艂asn膮 c贸rk臋. Ale to nie jest powie艣膰 o pedofilii. Nawet nie wiem, czy to jest powie艣膰 o Franku, bo jego przemy艣lenia, filozofia, religia - s膮 jedynie t艂em powie艣ci. Nawiasem m贸wi膮c - ilekro膰 zaczyna rozwa偶ania religijne, to raczej ma si臋 wra偶enie, 偶e to dyrdyma艂y.
I prawd臋 m贸wi膰 nie bardzo wiem, o czym jest ta powie艣膰. By膰 mo偶e o tolerancji (czy 艣wiecie bez niej). Lub o tym jak niewiele trzeba by w imi臋 wiary zacz膮艂a si臋 la膰 krew. A mo偶e o czym艣 innym, czego nie uda艂o mi si臋 uchwyci膰, albo co mi ukn臋艂o w tej powodzi pi臋knych zda艅. A mo偶e kto艣 z czytelnik贸w mi podopowie - ch臋tnie o tym porozmawiam...
Ja jestem z pokolenia "Stu lat samotno艣ci". To jest dla mnie przyk艂ad powie艣ci totalnej, do kt贸rej m贸g艂bym por贸wna膰 "Ksi臋gi Jakubowe" gdyby do mnie trafi艂y, tak jak "SLS". Ale nie trafi艂y. Co w niczym nie zmienia faktu, 偶e delektowa艂em si臋 ka偶dym s艂owem.
Wielkie Dzie艂a s膮 zwykle wymagaj膮ce wobec czytelnik贸w i tak jest z t膮 powie艣ci膮. Nie mam wra偶enia, 偶e zawsze stawa艂em na wysoko艣ci zadania. Zachwyci艂a mnie rozmachem. Ale niestety tak og贸lnie mnie nie zachwyci艂a.
Dla ka偶dego, kto - tak jak ja - lubi obcowa膰 z pi臋kn膮 narracj膮 Tokarczuk, z jej soczystym, barwnym j臋zykiem - ta powie艣膰 b臋dzie uczt膮. To wielka epopeja, pe艂na niezwyk艂ych postaci - z kt贸rych bynamniej nie tytu艂owy Jakub Frank jest najciekawszy. Czyta艂em j膮 bardzo d艂ugo, bo tyle samo co czytanie, zabra艂o mi grzebanie w poszukiwaniu informacji o bohaterach. Musz臋 przyzna膰, 偶e bardzo mnie pobudzi艂a intelekutalnie i wzbogaci艂a, je偶eli chodzi o wiedz臋 o tych czasach. Do tego jest zadbana formalnie. Bardzo to lubi臋 w literaturze.
Natomiast nie ukrywam, 偶e lektura tej ksi膮偶ki bywa ci臋偶ka. Lawina bohater贸w, kt贸rzy w dodatku w pewnym momencie zmieniaj膮 nazwiska, wi臋c ka偶dego trzeba zapami臋ta膰 dwa razy - potrafi przyt艂oczy膰. Tytu艂owy Jakub Frank - to dziwna posta膰. Sekciarz, wielbiony przez swoich wyznawc贸w, kt贸rych bezustannie wykorzystuje finansowo, oraz wyznawczynie, kt贸re wykorzystuje seksualnie. Nie b贸jmy si臋 tego s艂owa - w uj臋ciu autorki Frank jest tak偶e pedofilem, gwa艂c膮cym nawet w艂asn膮 c贸rk臋. Ale to nie jest powie艣膰 o pedofilii. Nawet nie wiem, czy to jest powie艣膰 o Franku, bo jego przemy艣lenia, filozofia, religia - s膮 jedynie t艂em powie艣ci. Nawiasem m贸wi膮c - ilekro膰 zaczyna rozwa偶ania religijne, to raczej ma si臋 wra偶enie, 偶e to dyrdyma艂y.
I prawd臋 m贸wi膰 nie bardzo wiem, o czym jest ta powie艣膰. By膰 mo偶e o tolerancji (czy 艣wiecie bez niej). Lub o tym jak niewiele trzeba by w imi臋 wiary zacz膮艂a si臋 la膰 krew. A mo偶e o czym艣 innym, czego nie uda艂o mi si臋 uchwyci膰, albo co mi ukn臋艂o w tej powodzi pi臋knych zda艅. A mo偶e kto艣 z czytelnik贸w mi podopowie - ch臋tnie o tym porozmawiam...
Ja jestem z pokolenia "Stu lat samotno艣ci". To jest dla mnie przyk艂ad powie艣ci totalnej, do kt贸rej m贸g艂bym por贸wna膰 "Ksi臋gi Jakubowe" gdyby do mnie trafi艂y, tak jak "SLS". Ale nie trafi艂y. Co w niczym nie zmienia faktu, 偶e delektowa艂em si臋 ka偶dym s艂owem.
August 7, 2023
袧邪锌懈褋邪薪芯 屑薪芯谐芯 泻薪懈谐, 锌芯褋胁褟褖械薪薪褘褏 芯褋薪芯胁薪褘屑 褉械谢懈谐懈褟屑, 薪芯 褋芯胁褋械屑 屑邪谢芯, 锌芯褋胁褟褖械薪薪褘褏 褉邪蟹谢懈褔薪褘屑 械褉械褋褟屑. "袣薪懈谐懈 携泻芯胁邪" 胁芯褋锌芯谢薪褟械褌 褝褌芯褌 锌褉芯斜械谢, 锌褍褋褌褜 褝褌芯 懈 褏褍写芯卸械褋褌胁械薪薪邪褟 谢懈褌械褉邪褌褍褉邪, 褌械屑 薪械 屑械薪械械 褌邪泻芯泄 褔械谢芯胁械泻 褋褍褖械褋褌胁芯胁邪谢 胁 褉械邪谢褜薪芯褋褌懈.
袨谢褜谐邪 孝芯泻邪褉褔褍泻 锌褉芯写械谢邪谢邪 斜芯谢褜褕芯泄 褌褉褍写, 懈蟹褍褔懈胁 懈褋褌芯褔薪懈泻懈 懈 薪邪锌懈褋邪胁 锌芯懈褋褌懈薪械 芯谐褉芯屑薪褘泄 懈 锌芯 芯斜褗械屑褍 懈 锌芯 褉械谐懈芯薪邪谢褜薪芯屑褍, 胁褉械屑械薪薪芯屑褍 懈 泻芯薪褎械褋褋懈芯薪邪谢褜薪芯屑褍 芯褏胁邪褌褍 胁 泻芯薪泻褉械褌薪芯屑 懈褋褌芯褉懈褔械褋泻芯屑 泻芯薪褌械泻褋褌械 袪械褔懈 袩芯褋锌芯谢懈褌芯泄, 谐褉邪薪懈褑褘 泻芯褌芯褉芯泄 锌褉芯褋褌懈褉邪谢懈褋褜 胁锌谢芯褌褜 写芯 袨褋屑邪薪褋泻芯泄 懈屑锌械褉懈懈, 懈 锌芯褋谢械写褍褞褖械谐芯 褌褉芯泄薪芯谐芯 褉邪蟹写械谢邪 褋褌褉邪薪褘.
携泻芯胁 肖褉邪薪泻 胁褘褋褌褍锌邪械褌 褋谢芯卸薪芯泄 谢懈褔薪芯褋褌褜褞, 褋 薪械褋芯屑薪械薪薪芯 褋懈谢褜薪褘屑 褏邪褉邪泻褌械褉芯屑, 芯写薪芯胁褉械屑械薪薪芯 锌褉芯褌懈胁芯褉械褔懈胁褘屑 懈 谐懈斜泻懈屑, 懈 褋褍屑邪褋褕械写褕械泄 褏邪褉懈蟹屑芯泄. 袨薪 芯斜褗褟胁懈谢 褋械斜褟 袦械褋褋懈械泄 懈 懈蟹胁谢械泻邪谢 懈蟹 褝褌芯谐芯 胁褋械 胁芯蟹屑芯卸薪褘械 胁褘谐芯写褘.
袪芯屑邪薪 懈褋锌芯谢薪械薪 谐谢褍斜芯泻芯泄 褌芯谢械褉邪薪褌薪芯褋褌懈, 褝褌芯 褋 芯写薪芯泄 褋褌芯褉芯薪褘 褉邪写褍械褌, 邪 褋 写褉褍谐芯泄 - 斜褘谢芯 谢懈 褝褌芯 薪邪 褋邪屑芯屑 写械谢械? 袧邪 写邪谢褜薪械屑 锌谢邪薪械 孝芯泻邪褉褔褍泻 薪械懈蟹屑械薪薪芯 薪邪锌芯屑懈薪邪械褌 芯 锌芯谐褉芯屑邪褏, 薪芯 谐械褉芯懈 泻薪懈谐懈 懈蟹斜械卸邪谢懈 褌邪泻芯泄 褍褔邪褋褌懈.
袩械褉械褏芯写 锌芯褋谢械写芯胁邪褌械谢械泄 肖褉邪薪泻邪 胁 泻邪褌芯谢懈褑懈蟹屑, 锌褉懈褔械屑 胁褋械泄 芯斜褖懈薪芯泄, 褔褌芯 锌褉械褌械薪写芯胁邪谢芯 薪邪 泻褉褍锌薪械泄褕械械 锌芯 屑邪褋褕褌邪斜褍 胁械褉芯芯褌褋褌褍锌薪懈褔械褋褌胁芯, 褔褌芯 薪械 屑芯谐谢芯 薪械 褑械薪懈褌褜褋褟 泻邪褌芯谢懈褔械褋泻芯泄 褑械褉泻芯胁褜褞, 褋芯锌褉芯胁芯卸写邪谢褋褟 薪械斜褘胁邪谢芯泄 锌芯写写械褉卸泻芯泄 锌芯谢褜褋泻芯泄 蟹薪邪褌懈, 泻芯谐写邪 蟹薪邪褌薪褘械 锌邪薪褘 写邪胁邪谢懈 褋胁芯懈 谐褉芯屑泻懈械 褎邪屑懈谢懈懈 薪芯胁芯芯斜褉邪褖褢薪薪褘褏 褏褉懈褋褌懈邪薪邪屑. 袧芯 谐械褉芯懈 写芯 泻芯薪褑邪 褋芯褏褉邪薪褟谢懈 写胁芯泄薪褘械 懈屑械薪邪.
袘芯谢褜褕芯泄 懈薪褌械褉械褋 胁褘蟹胁邪谢 褎邪泻褌 写懈褋锌褍褌芯胁 屑械卸写褍 芯褉褌芯写芯泻褋邪谢褜薪褘屑懈 褉邪胁胁懈薪邪屑懈 懈 褎褉邪薪泻懈褋褌邪屑懈. 袨斜褘褔薪芯 褋 械褉械褌懈泻邪屑懈 薪械 写懈褋泻褍褌懈褉褍褞褌.
袣薪懈谐邪 蟹邪懈薪褌械褉械褋芯胁邪谢邪 谐谢褍斜芯泻懈屑 锌芯谐褉褍卸械薪懈械屑 胁 懈褋褌芯褉懈褞 袩芯谢褜褕懈 懈 械械 胁邪卸薪芯泄 懈 斜芯谢褜褕芯泄 褋芯褋褌邪胁薪芯泄 褔邪褋褌懈 - 械胁褉械泄褋泻芯泄 芯斜褖懈薪褘.
袨谢褜谐邪 孝芯泻邪褉褔褍泻 锌褉芯写械谢邪谢邪 斜芯谢褜褕芯泄 褌褉褍写, 懈蟹褍褔懈胁 懈褋褌芯褔薪懈泻懈 懈 薪邪锌懈褋邪胁 锌芯懈褋褌懈薪械 芯谐褉芯屑薪褘泄 懈 锌芯 芯斜褗械屑褍 懈 锌芯 褉械谐懈芯薪邪谢褜薪芯屑褍, 胁褉械屑械薪薪芯屑褍 懈 泻芯薪褎械褋褋懈芯薪邪谢褜薪芯屑褍 芯褏胁邪褌褍 胁 泻芯薪泻褉械褌薪芯屑 懈褋褌芯褉懈褔械褋泻芯屑 泻芯薪褌械泻褋褌械 袪械褔懈 袩芯褋锌芯谢懈褌芯泄, 谐褉邪薪懈褑褘 泻芯褌芯褉芯泄 锌褉芯褋褌懈褉邪谢懈褋褜 胁锌谢芯褌褜 写芯 袨褋屑邪薪褋泻芯泄 懈屑锌械褉懈懈, 懈 锌芯褋谢械写褍褞褖械谐芯 褌褉芯泄薪芯谐芯 褉邪蟹写械谢邪 褋褌褉邪薪褘.
携泻芯胁 肖褉邪薪泻 胁褘褋褌褍锌邪械褌 褋谢芯卸薪芯泄 谢懈褔薪芯褋褌褜褞, 褋 薪械褋芯屑薪械薪薪芯 褋懈谢褜薪褘屑 褏邪褉邪泻褌械褉芯屑, 芯写薪芯胁褉械屑械薪薪芯 锌褉芯褌懈胁芯褉械褔懈胁褘屑 懈 谐懈斜泻懈屑, 懈 褋褍屑邪褋褕械写褕械泄 褏邪褉懈蟹屑芯泄. 袨薪 芯斜褗褟胁懈谢 褋械斜褟 袦械褋褋懈械泄 懈 懈蟹胁谢械泻邪谢 懈蟹 褝褌芯谐芯 胁褋械 胁芯蟹屑芯卸薪褘械 胁褘谐芯写褘.
袪芯屑邪薪 懈褋锌芯谢薪械薪 谐谢褍斜芯泻芯泄 褌芯谢械褉邪薪褌薪芯褋褌懈, 褝褌芯 褋 芯写薪芯泄 褋褌芯褉芯薪褘 褉邪写褍械褌, 邪 褋 写褉褍谐芯泄 - 斜褘谢芯 谢懈 褝褌芯 薪邪 褋邪屑芯屑 写械谢械? 袧邪 写邪谢褜薪械屑 锌谢邪薪械 孝芯泻邪褉褔褍泻 薪械懈蟹屑械薪薪芯 薪邪锌芯屑懈薪邪械褌 芯 锌芯谐褉芯屑邪褏, 薪芯 谐械褉芯懈 泻薪懈谐懈 懈蟹斜械卸邪谢懈 褌邪泻芯泄 褍褔邪褋褌懈.
袩械褉械褏芯写 锌芯褋谢械写芯胁邪褌械谢械泄 肖褉邪薪泻邪 胁 泻邪褌芯谢懈褑懈蟹屑, 锌褉懈褔械屑 胁褋械泄 芯斜褖懈薪芯泄, 褔褌芯 锌褉械褌械薪写芯胁邪谢芯 薪邪 泻褉褍锌薪械泄褕械械 锌芯 屑邪褋褕褌邪斜褍 胁械褉芯芯褌褋褌褍锌薪懈褔械褋褌胁芯, 褔褌芯 薪械 屑芯谐谢芯 薪械 褑械薪懈褌褜褋褟 泻邪褌芯谢懈褔械褋泻芯泄 褑械褉泻芯胁褜褞, 褋芯锌褉芯胁芯卸写邪谢褋褟 薪械斜褘胁邪谢芯泄 锌芯写写械褉卸泻芯泄 锌芯谢褜褋泻芯泄 蟹薪邪褌懈, 泻芯谐写邪 蟹薪邪褌薪褘械 锌邪薪褘 写邪胁邪谢懈 褋胁芯懈 谐褉芯屑泻懈械 褎邪屑懈谢懈懈 薪芯胁芯芯斜褉邪褖褢薪薪褘褏 褏褉懈褋褌懈邪薪邪屑. 袧芯 谐械褉芯懈 写芯 泻芯薪褑邪 褋芯褏褉邪薪褟谢懈 写胁芯泄薪褘械 懈屑械薪邪.
袘芯谢褜褕芯泄 懈薪褌械褉械褋 胁褘蟹胁邪谢 褎邪泻褌 写懈褋锌褍褌芯胁 屑械卸写褍 芯褉褌芯写芯泻褋邪谢褜薪褘屑懈 褉邪胁胁懈薪邪屑懈 懈 褎褉邪薪泻懈褋褌邪屑懈. 袨斜褘褔薪芯 褋 械褉械褌懈泻邪屑懈 薪械 写懈褋泻褍褌懈褉褍褞褌.
袣薪懈谐邪 蟹邪懈薪褌械褉械褋芯胁邪谢邪 谐谢褍斜芯泻懈屑 锌芯谐褉褍卸械薪懈械屑 胁 懈褋褌芯褉懈褞 袩芯谢褜褕懈 懈 械械 胁邪卸薪芯泄 懈 斜芯谢褜褕芯泄 褋芯褋褌邪胁薪芯泄 褔邪褋褌懈 - 械胁褉械泄褋泻芯泄 芯斜褖懈薪褘.
November 10, 2023
In his review for the NY Times, Dwight Garner described this book as 鈥渦nruly, overwhelming, vastly eccentric novel鈥� sophisticated and ribald and brimming with folk wit.鈥� Other reviewers have used words like 鈥渕onumental,鈥� 鈥渋mmersive,鈥� 鈥渧isionary,鈥� 鈥渆pic,鈥� and of course 鈥渓ong.鈥� Nearly 1,000 pages long.
Sounds exactly right, all of it.
鈥淭he Books of Jacob鈥� is a challenging book. Let's start with that. The narrative moves primarily forward in time but there are frequent eddies where the story folds back on itself as the omniscient narrator gives way to the musings of one character or another. There are long, difficult to understand passages where characters debate Jewish mysticism, Talmud, God and the messiah, salvation. Sometimes I could follow what was being said, sometimes not. I was confused by peoples鈥� names and sometimes lost track of who was who. What鈥檚 more, the names change. Jacob鈥檚 followers must take on Christian names. Shalom Shorr, for example, becomes Franciszek Wolowski. It was often confusing in the moment, but as I read I learned to just let it go and put myself in the author鈥檚 hands. Definitely the right choice.
The Jacob in the title was a real person who lived in eighteenth century eastern Europe. Named Jakub Leybowics at birth (the book says at one point he was called Yankiel), he changed his name to Jacob Frank and announced himself to be the messiah. (He will later take on the name Ahmed Frank and, after his baptism in 1759, Joseph.) His fame spread among Jews and non-Jews alike, and he gathered around him a large following of believers that included thousands of Jews who converted at his instruction to Roman Catholicism.
It鈥檚 a fascinating tale in its own right -- but in Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk鈥檚 telling, Jacob鈥檚 story takes on a depth that transcends its temporal and physical setting. Tellingly, Jacob Frank spreads his message during what we now call the Age of Reason, where old ways of understanding the world clash with the new modes of perception and inquiry. The book makes reference to Mosaic and Christian tradition and kabbalah and alchemy and Baal Shem Tov, but names like Isaac Newton, Denis Diderot, Moses Mendelssohn, Immanuel Kant, Haydn, Mozart pop up, heralds of a new age.
The mysteries confounding humanity before the Age of Reason didn't go away simply because a new age was announcing itself, of course. In the experiences of the book鈥檚 many characters we see enacted questions that lie at the heart of all human experience: Why is the world the way it is? If God truly exists and God is good, then why do evil, death, and pain exist? Is there a point to our suffering? Do our questions even have answers? Who and what should we believe? In a very real and important way, 鈥淭he Books of Jacob鈥� is a chronicle of people struggling with these very questions.
Jacob鈥檚 鈥渕inistry鈥� itself covers a period of roughly 40 years from the moment he announced himself the Messiah, through his conversion to Islam, then Catholicism (or more accurately, 鈥淐atholicism鈥� 鈥� like everything else involving Frank, it was eccentric), his 13 year imprisonment, his 鈥淎nti-Talmudist鈥� war with traditional Jews, his interactions with bishops, rabbis, rulers, and empresses. One strand even takes us into the twentieth century, to surprising -- even shocking -- effect. There is an objective narrator present here but most of Frank鈥檚 story comes to us through the voices of his followers and others with whom he interacts. Tokarczuk explained why she did this in an interview: 鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 understand him. So I decided to present Jacob Frank through the eyes of others, without daring to go too close, though the longer I was involved with him, the more he aroused my sympathy.鈥�
Tokarczuk has created a densely populated world filled with vivid detail about daily life in mid- to late-18th century eastern Europe, about family connections and marriage, about caravans and how people earn their living, about the feel of places, the smell of the air. ("The odor of horse urine and droppings and sweat mixes with the smoke that comes out of the inn鈥檚 crooked chimney and bursts out its open door. Two women in red skirts and short sheepskin coats thrown over their white holiday shirts stand at the doorway, carefully examining all who enter鈥�")
We read too of angry, resentment-filled conflicts among Frank鈥檚 followers and within families, of Catholic bishops hungry for the acclaim that would come to them from the conversion of thousands of Jews, of traditional Jewish leaders (and parents) incensed by Frank鈥檚 apostasy. Of poets and priests and princes. We witness Frank controlling the lives of his followers, forcing husbands and wives to have sex with others, having his followers walk in a circle around a bare-breasted woman. Frank did outrageous things and yet people flocked to him. Why? What did Frank provide them? (Gershom Scholem, the great historian of Jewish messianism, wrote, 鈥淓ven more than the psychology of the leader, it is the psychology of the led that demands to be understood.鈥� Indeed. In light of the spread of authoritarian governments around the world in recent years, the question of why people will follow certain kinds of charismatic leaders is a pressing one. The question is implicit in Tokarzcuk鈥檚 treatment of the Frankists.)
One answer is given by an acolyte who says, 鈥淲herever he shows up, everything takes on a meaning, comes together like it has been tidied up.鈥� Another writes: "There is nothing that brings greater relief than the certainty that there is someone who really knows. For we ordinary people never have such certainty." It's a powerful thing, this "meaning" and "certainty" Frank offered. The novel is set in a very difficult place and time, particularly for Jews. Their relations with Christians are generally calm, but the threat of violence is always there. Accusations of blood libel come up in the book, people are tortured until they confess. There are pogroms, book burnings, rapes. Aristocrats and church officials frequently treat Jews with disdain but rely on and pressure them for money, which of course breeds resentment. And then there are the universal evils of the time: war, poverty, outbreaks of plague that indiscriminately kill thousands, women commonly dying in childbirth, and large numbers of the children dying young.
In short, people are frightened and confused. A character asks: 鈥淲hy, if God so cherishes us, is there so much suffering in the world? You have only to go so far as the market square in Busk, and your legs will buckle under the weight of all that pain. If He cherishes us so, then why are we not healthy, why are we not preserved from hunger, and not only us鈥攚hy not others, as well, so that we don鈥檛 have to gaze upon illness and death?鈥�
The kabbalistic exercises in the book have this mystery at their hearts. Surely, people think (and hope), there are answers that can be discovered. Perhaps if the Torah is read a certain way, or if hidden numerical connections can be discovered between one word and another. 鈥漈he Torah and the world entire are composed of God鈥檚 names,鈥� we hear someone say. 鈥淓very word is his name, every thing. The Torah is woven from God鈥檚 names like a fabric鈥� No one knows which is the thread and which the warp, nor can anyone discern the pattern on the right or its relation to the pattern on the left.鈥� Another character thinks, 鈥溾€he plaintive rumble of the sea is a lament and that all of nature is taking part in this process of mourning those gods of whom the world has been in such desperate need. There is no one here. God created the world, and the effort of doing so killed him.鈥�
Jacob Frank鈥檚 appearance offers people hope, a foundation for their understanding of their place in the world, a promise of redemption. Some believe in him immediately, some come to belief slowly, and others think him a 鈥渃on man,鈥� as one character says of him. Some think him handsome, others find him ugly, even deformed. He does strange, inexplicable things, and obliges his followers to do likewise. He tells his followers that redemption can only be attained through sin. The old laws of Moses and Christ and Mohamed must be overthrown and replaced. And why should people not believe him? "The refugees, the widows and the agunot [a Jewish woman separated from her husband but unable to get a divorce], the orphaned children, the crippled鈥攁ll irrefutable proof that the end was on its way and the world would soon give birth to the Messiah, that the birthing pains had already begun.鈥�
Frank is a complicated and not terribly likable person, the author鈥檚 鈥渟ympathy鈥� notwithstanding. Charismatic but also a bully, flexible in his sexual appetites. He鈥檚 manipulative, hot-tempered, even abusive. And yet people are drawn to him. They believe outrageous things about him: He can heal the sick and impregnate a woman just by brushing his finger against her. He has two penises, or at least he does when he wants to. And it appears, astonishingly, he truly can perform magic.
If I were to go on (as I'm obviously doing) I鈥檇 talk about the women in the book, the powerful and important roles they play, of Madonna and Shekinah, seer and mother and daughter, of Yente (Jacob's grandmother) who 鈥渟ees all鈥� and is kept from dying by some kind of hastily performed magical intervention. I鈥檇 talk about and share the gorgeous and evocative language that comes when human voices grow silent. (鈥淲ind is the vision of the dead as they gaze upon the world from where they are.鈥�) About the tension between those who want to believe that the world makes sense, and those who dismiss such ways of thinking as delusional. One character 鈥� a doctor 鈥� thinks, 鈥淢ost people are truly idiots and鈥� it is human stupidity that is ultimately responsible for introducing sadness into the world.鈥� And about the abundant, often ribald, humor throughout the book.
There is one more passage I鈥檒l share. Jacob鈥檚 followers -- after living for years as persecuted outsiders, as Jews in a Catholic realm, which is to say as less than a true "person" --are uncertain about what conversion to Christianity will mean to them. They feel a measure of guilt, like they are betraying themselves, some important part of who they are. Tokarczuk describes their conflicted feelings with poignant sensitivity: 鈥淟ate at night, yet another aspect of the idea, which they hadn鈥檛 really taken into consideration before, occurs to them鈥攖hat once they are baptized, they will cease to be Jews, at least as far as anyone can tell. They will become people鈥擟hristians. They will be able to purchase land, open shops in town, send their children to any schools they wish听.听.听. Their heads spin with possibilities, for it is as though they have suddenly been given a strange, almost inconceivable gift.鈥� Tokarczuk is not Jewish, so one of the questions I ponder is why she chose to write a book about this man, this time, these people. The amount of research she had to do is staggering. It would make for an interesting discussion, but at 1,000 pages I don't see "The Books of Jacob" being chosen by many (any) book groups.
鈥淭he Books of Jacob鈥� demands thought, attention, patience, and most of all, a willingness to believe that questions are as, if not more, important than answers. The reader will finish the book, think about it, and flip idly through the pages. Doing so, something will catch their attention, something they didn't see before, and they'll feel an urge to read it again.
Postscript: Shortly after 鈥淭he Books of Jacob鈥� was first published, the author received death threats from Polish nationalists because in an interview she criticized the country鈥檚 refusal to discuss the darker elements of its past. It's a sensitive topic there, not unlike heated arguments over race and slavery in the US. In 2018, Poland passed a law making assertions of Polish complicity in the Holocaust a crime punishable by up to three years in prison. After international criticism, the law was amended to remove the threat of prison. Subsequently, the prime ministers of Poland and Israel issued a joint statement that made a distinction between the actions of individual Poles and the Polish state, saying, "We acknowledge and condemn every single case of cruelty against Jews perpetrated by Poles during the World War II." Interviews of the author and other interesting pieces are available online. I recommend three in particular: Jasmine Liu's article in The Chicago Review of Books (2/28/2022), the interview in The Yale Review (1/31/2022), and "How I Wrote The Books of Jacob" in The Calvert Journal (01/19/2022).
Sounds exactly right, all of it.
鈥淭he Books of Jacob鈥� is a challenging book. Let's start with that. The narrative moves primarily forward in time but there are frequent eddies where the story folds back on itself as the omniscient narrator gives way to the musings of one character or another. There are long, difficult to understand passages where characters debate Jewish mysticism, Talmud, God and the messiah, salvation. Sometimes I could follow what was being said, sometimes not. I was confused by peoples鈥� names and sometimes lost track of who was who. What鈥檚 more, the names change. Jacob鈥檚 followers must take on Christian names. Shalom Shorr, for example, becomes Franciszek Wolowski. It was often confusing in the moment, but as I read I learned to just let it go and put myself in the author鈥檚 hands. Definitely the right choice.
The Jacob in the title was a real person who lived in eighteenth century eastern Europe. Named Jakub Leybowics at birth (the book says at one point he was called Yankiel), he changed his name to Jacob Frank and announced himself to be the messiah. (He will later take on the name Ahmed Frank and, after his baptism in 1759, Joseph.) His fame spread among Jews and non-Jews alike, and he gathered around him a large following of believers that included thousands of Jews who converted at his instruction to Roman Catholicism.
It鈥檚 a fascinating tale in its own right -- but in Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk鈥檚 telling, Jacob鈥檚 story takes on a depth that transcends its temporal and physical setting. Tellingly, Jacob Frank spreads his message during what we now call the Age of Reason, where old ways of understanding the world clash with the new modes of perception and inquiry. The book makes reference to Mosaic and Christian tradition and kabbalah and alchemy and Baal Shem Tov, but names like Isaac Newton, Denis Diderot, Moses Mendelssohn, Immanuel Kant, Haydn, Mozart pop up, heralds of a new age.
The mysteries confounding humanity before the Age of Reason didn't go away simply because a new age was announcing itself, of course. In the experiences of the book鈥檚 many characters we see enacted questions that lie at the heart of all human experience: Why is the world the way it is? If God truly exists and God is good, then why do evil, death, and pain exist? Is there a point to our suffering? Do our questions even have answers? Who and what should we believe? In a very real and important way, 鈥淭he Books of Jacob鈥� is a chronicle of people struggling with these very questions.
Jacob鈥檚 鈥渕inistry鈥� itself covers a period of roughly 40 years from the moment he announced himself the Messiah, through his conversion to Islam, then Catholicism (or more accurately, 鈥淐atholicism鈥� 鈥� like everything else involving Frank, it was eccentric), his 13 year imprisonment, his 鈥淎nti-Talmudist鈥� war with traditional Jews, his interactions with bishops, rabbis, rulers, and empresses. One strand even takes us into the twentieth century, to surprising -- even shocking -- effect. There is an objective narrator present here but most of Frank鈥檚 story comes to us through the voices of his followers and others with whom he interacts. Tokarczuk explained why she did this in an interview: 鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 understand him. So I decided to present Jacob Frank through the eyes of others, without daring to go too close, though the longer I was involved with him, the more he aroused my sympathy.鈥�
Tokarczuk has created a densely populated world filled with vivid detail about daily life in mid- to late-18th century eastern Europe, about family connections and marriage, about caravans and how people earn their living, about the feel of places, the smell of the air. ("The odor of horse urine and droppings and sweat mixes with the smoke that comes out of the inn鈥檚 crooked chimney and bursts out its open door. Two women in red skirts and short sheepskin coats thrown over their white holiday shirts stand at the doorway, carefully examining all who enter鈥�")
We read too of angry, resentment-filled conflicts among Frank鈥檚 followers and within families, of Catholic bishops hungry for the acclaim that would come to them from the conversion of thousands of Jews, of traditional Jewish leaders (and parents) incensed by Frank鈥檚 apostasy. Of poets and priests and princes. We witness Frank controlling the lives of his followers, forcing husbands and wives to have sex with others, having his followers walk in a circle around a bare-breasted woman. Frank did outrageous things and yet people flocked to him. Why? What did Frank provide them? (Gershom Scholem, the great historian of Jewish messianism, wrote, 鈥淓ven more than the psychology of the leader, it is the psychology of the led that demands to be understood.鈥� Indeed. In light of the spread of authoritarian governments around the world in recent years, the question of why people will follow certain kinds of charismatic leaders is a pressing one. The question is implicit in Tokarzcuk鈥檚 treatment of the Frankists.)
One answer is given by an acolyte who says, 鈥淲herever he shows up, everything takes on a meaning, comes together like it has been tidied up.鈥� Another writes: "There is nothing that brings greater relief than the certainty that there is someone who really knows. For we ordinary people never have such certainty." It's a powerful thing, this "meaning" and "certainty" Frank offered. The novel is set in a very difficult place and time, particularly for Jews. Their relations with Christians are generally calm, but the threat of violence is always there. Accusations of blood libel come up in the book, people are tortured until they confess. There are pogroms, book burnings, rapes. Aristocrats and church officials frequently treat Jews with disdain but rely on and pressure them for money, which of course breeds resentment. And then there are the universal evils of the time: war, poverty, outbreaks of plague that indiscriminately kill thousands, women commonly dying in childbirth, and large numbers of the children dying young.
In short, people are frightened and confused. A character asks: 鈥淲hy, if God so cherishes us, is there so much suffering in the world? You have only to go so far as the market square in Busk, and your legs will buckle under the weight of all that pain. If He cherishes us so, then why are we not healthy, why are we not preserved from hunger, and not only us鈥攚hy not others, as well, so that we don鈥檛 have to gaze upon illness and death?鈥�
The kabbalistic exercises in the book have this mystery at their hearts. Surely, people think (and hope), there are answers that can be discovered. Perhaps if the Torah is read a certain way, or if hidden numerical connections can be discovered between one word and another. 鈥漈he Torah and the world entire are composed of God鈥檚 names,鈥� we hear someone say. 鈥淓very word is his name, every thing. The Torah is woven from God鈥檚 names like a fabric鈥� No one knows which is the thread and which the warp, nor can anyone discern the pattern on the right or its relation to the pattern on the left.鈥� Another character thinks, 鈥溾€he plaintive rumble of the sea is a lament and that all of nature is taking part in this process of mourning those gods of whom the world has been in such desperate need. There is no one here. God created the world, and the effort of doing so killed him.鈥�
Jacob Frank鈥檚 appearance offers people hope, a foundation for their understanding of their place in the world, a promise of redemption. Some believe in him immediately, some come to belief slowly, and others think him a 鈥渃on man,鈥� as one character says of him. Some think him handsome, others find him ugly, even deformed. He does strange, inexplicable things, and obliges his followers to do likewise. He tells his followers that redemption can only be attained through sin. The old laws of Moses and Christ and Mohamed must be overthrown and replaced. And why should people not believe him? "The refugees, the widows and the agunot [a Jewish woman separated from her husband but unable to get a divorce], the orphaned children, the crippled鈥攁ll irrefutable proof that the end was on its way and the world would soon give birth to the Messiah, that the birthing pains had already begun.鈥�
Frank is a complicated and not terribly likable person, the author鈥檚 鈥渟ympathy鈥� notwithstanding. Charismatic but also a bully, flexible in his sexual appetites. He鈥檚 manipulative, hot-tempered, even abusive. And yet people are drawn to him. They believe outrageous things about him: He can heal the sick and impregnate a woman just by brushing his finger against her. He has two penises, or at least he does when he wants to. And it appears, astonishingly, he truly can perform magic.
If I were to go on (as I'm obviously doing) I鈥檇 talk about the women in the book, the powerful and important roles they play, of Madonna and Shekinah, seer and mother and daughter, of Yente (Jacob's grandmother) who 鈥渟ees all鈥� and is kept from dying by some kind of hastily performed magical intervention. I鈥檇 talk about and share the gorgeous and evocative language that comes when human voices grow silent. (鈥淲ind is the vision of the dead as they gaze upon the world from where they are.鈥�) About the tension between those who want to believe that the world makes sense, and those who dismiss such ways of thinking as delusional. One character 鈥� a doctor 鈥� thinks, 鈥淢ost people are truly idiots and鈥� it is human stupidity that is ultimately responsible for introducing sadness into the world.鈥� And about the abundant, often ribald, humor throughout the book.
There is one more passage I鈥檒l share. Jacob鈥檚 followers -- after living for years as persecuted outsiders, as Jews in a Catholic realm, which is to say as less than a true "person" --are uncertain about what conversion to Christianity will mean to them. They feel a measure of guilt, like they are betraying themselves, some important part of who they are. Tokarczuk describes their conflicted feelings with poignant sensitivity: 鈥淟ate at night, yet another aspect of the idea, which they hadn鈥檛 really taken into consideration before, occurs to them鈥攖hat once they are baptized, they will cease to be Jews, at least as far as anyone can tell. They will become people鈥擟hristians. They will be able to purchase land, open shops in town, send their children to any schools they wish听.听.听. Their heads spin with possibilities, for it is as though they have suddenly been given a strange, almost inconceivable gift.鈥� Tokarczuk is not Jewish, so one of the questions I ponder is why she chose to write a book about this man, this time, these people. The amount of research she had to do is staggering. It would make for an interesting discussion, but at 1,000 pages I don't see "The Books of Jacob" being chosen by many (any) book groups.
鈥淭he Books of Jacob鈥� demands thought, attention, patience, and most of all, a willingness to believe that questions are as, if not more, important than answers. The reader will finish the book, think about it, and flip idly through the pages. Doing so, something will catch their attention, something they didn't see before, and they'll feel an urge to read it again.
Postscript: Shortly after 鈥淭he Books of Jacob鈥� was first published, the author received death threats from Polish nationalists because in an interview she criticized the country鈥檚 refusal to discuss the darker elements of its past. It's a sensitive topic there, not unlike heated arguments over race and slavery in the US. In 2018, Poland passed a law making assertions of Polish complicity in the Holocaust a crime punishable by up to three years in prison. After international criticism, the law was amended to remove the threat of prison. Subsequently, the prime ministers of Poland and Israel issued a joint statement that made a distinction between the actions of individual Poles and the Polish state, saying, "We acknowledge and condemn every single case of cruelty against Jews perpetrated by Poles during the World War II." Interviews of the author and other interesting pieces are available online. I recommend three in particular: Jasmine Liu's article in The Chicago Review of Books (2/28/2022), the interview in The Yale Review (1/31/2022), and "How I Wrote The Books of Jacob" in The Calvert Journal (01/19/2022).
October 10, 2019
4.5. Possibly longer review to come. Tokarczuk goes into more detail than you knew you wanted to know about 18th century Poland, lecturing with the light touch of Eco while occasionally going full Pynchon on us with all the interweaving characters, ideas and (of course) songs. There's a lot of weight in this, and not just physically, but she never makes any parallels or metaphors too overbearing, letting the reader choose how deeply they want to delve into what it all means.
He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy.
Then again, what is the messiah but a naughty boy?
.
He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy.
Then again, what is the messiah but a naughty boy?
.
March 2, 2022
Tokarczuk鈥檚 magnum opus delves into the swirling vortex of religion and politics present in 18th century Eastern Europe through the life of the self-proclaimed messiah, Jacob Frank. Tokarczuk stays close to the historical record, but includes fictionalized gospels and even a bit of magical realism through the spirit of Yente (Frank鈥檚 grandmother) who watches events from on high.
o The Book of Fog鈥擳okarczuk introduces her main characters, including Father Benedykt Chmielowski, the dean of Rohatyn and author of New Athens, the first Polish encyclopedia; and the Shorrs of Rohatyn, a Jewish family with Sabbatean links. [Sabbatai Zvi, was a self-proclaimed messiah in Jewish history that was tried for sedition by the Ottoman sultan in 1666.]
o The Book of Sand recounts the young life of Jacob Frank as told by Nahman Samuel Ben Levi.
o The Book of the Road records Frank鈥檚 conflict with the local Jewish community that is litigated in front of the local bishop, who decides in favor of the Frankists. The charismatic Jacob Frank creates an utopian community that reminded me of a 鈥楬ippie Commune鈥�.
o The Book of the Comet follows the conversion of Frank to Catholicism. He is eventually arrested and convicted of heresy.
o The Book of Metal & Sulphur鈥擩acob is released from prison when the Russians take over the city.
o The Book of the Distant Country records the frequent travels of Jacob Frank, including visits to Vienna where his daughter becomes the mistress of the emperor.
o The Book of Names relates what happens to his key followers and members of his family.
This narrative nonfiction account was a tremendous undertaking by Tokarczuk and was key to her receiving the Nobel Award for Literature in 2019. It is both brilliant and overwhelming.
o The Book of Fog鈥擳okarczuk introduces her main characters, including Father Benedykt Chmielowski, the dean of Rohatyn and author of New Athens, the first Polish encyclopedia; and the Shorrs of Rohatyn, a Jewish family with Sabbatean links. [Sabbatai Zvi, was a self-proclaimed messiah in Jewish history that was tried for sedition by the Ottoman sultan in 1666.]
o The Book of Sand recounts the young life of Jacob Frank as told by Nahman Samuel Ben Levi.
o The Book of the Road records Frank鈥檚 conflict with the local Jewish community that is litigated in front of the local bishop, who decides in favor of the Frankists. The charismatic Jacob Frank creates an utopian community that reminded me of a 鈥楬ippie Commune鈥�.
o The Book of the Comet follows the conversion of Frank to Catholicism. He is eventually arrested and convicted of heresy.
o The Book of Metal & Sulphur鈥擩acob is released from prison when the Russians take over the city.
o The Book of the Distant Country records the frequent travels of Jacob Frank, including visits to Vienna where his daughter becomes the mistress of the emperor.
o The Book of Names relates what happens to his key followers and members of his family.
This narrative nonfiction account was a tremendous undertaking by Tokarczuk and was key to her receiving the Nobel Award for Literature in 2019. It is both brilliant and overwhelming.
January 22, 2024
Monumental膬 cartea Olg膬i Tokarczuk. Din toate punctele de vedere. A葯a v膬d eu adev膬ratul roman istoric. Documentat la modul academic dar scris pentru a fi citit mai ales de profani, 卯n stilul 卯n care-o face autoarea, 卯n stilul cu care m-a cucerit 葯i Cromwell-ul lui Hilary Mantel. O fresc膬 a secolului al XVIII-lea a Europei dar minu葲ioas膬 pentru acea parte care acoper膬 Polonia, Ucraina, Bielorusia de azi, acel t膬r芒m vast, plin de pove葯ti 葯i magie, numit Yidishland. Dincolo de povestea lui Frank 葯i a frankismului este exhaustiv膬 zestrea etnologic膬 pe care ne-o relev膬 scriitura, istoria 葯i vi葲a cotidian膬 pe care o recompune cu acurate葲e 卯n cele mai filigranate detalii. Nu e o carte de aventuri, nici o lectur膬 de relaxare, abunden葲a personajelor, multitudinea numelor , a toponimelor a locurilor 葯i limbilor prin care se perind膬 acestea, presupune oarecare concentrare 葯i aten葲ie, dar, 卯n rest, capitolele scurte, secven葲iale confer膬 un ritm antrenant lecturii 葯i o poft膬 insa葲iabil膬 de citit.
July 15, 2023
A colossal work that chronicles the controversial life and legacy of religious leader Jacob Frank. All encompassing, poetic, and candid, the Books of Jacob holds nothing back regarding the powerful phenomenon of religious fervor, mass idealism, and cult like communities. This novel illuminates the vastly complicated Jacob Frank, as well as his closest followers and adversaries, which exemplifies how one persons charisma and ideas can alter an entire community鈥檚 way of thinking. A tour de force of research and speculation, expertly blending fact and fiction to give new life to a lesser know historical figure that to this day is mysterious and magnetic.
Shelved as 'paused'
February 22, 2022I was so desperate to read this right up til all 1000 pages of it showed up at my house 鈽狅笍
*Thanks to Riverhead Books for a finished copy!
*Thanks to Riverhead Books for a finished copy!
Read
April 7, 2023Video review:
August 23, 2023
De unde sa 卯ncepi 葯i ce s膬 spui mai 卯nt芒i despre acest roman de aproape 1000 de pagini? Poate titlul: "C膬r葲ile lui Iacob sau Marea c膬l膬torie peste 葯apte grani葲e, cinci limbi 葯i trei religii mari, f膬r膬 s膬 le punem la socoteal膬 pe cele mici, istorisit膬 de cei mor葲i 葯i ad膬ugit膬 de autoare prin metoda conjuncturii, culeas膬 din multe 葯i felurite c膬r葲i 葯i a葲芒葲at膬 de fantezie, care este cel mai mare har al omului: 卯n葲elep葲ilor 卯ntru pomenire, compatrio葲ilor 卯ntru reflec葲iune, laicilor 卯ntru 卯nv膬葲膬tur膬, iar nostalgicilor 卯ntru divertisment". Da, acesta este titlul complet 葯i totodat膬 rezumatul romanului scris de Olga Tokarczuk.
Volumul spune povestea unui personaj real care, 卯n Europa secolului al XVIII-lea, reu葯e葯te s膬 creeze 卯n jurul s膬u un adev膬rat cult, o mi葯care mesianic膬, o sect膬 care supravie葲uie葯te p芒n膬 卯n 1818. Iacob Frank este un antierou, profund antipatic, 葯arlatan (dup膬 cum 卯l consider膬 葯i unele personaje), dar carismatic care reu葯e葯te s膬 subjuge voin葲ei sale o 卯ntreag膬 comunitate de evrei. Al膬turi de ei 葯i cu ajutorul lor Iacob Frank/Mesia/Domnul face aceast膬 mare c膬l膬torie.
Cititorul este purtat prin jum膬tate de Europ膬 de la Rohat卯n, unde 卯ncepe povestea, la Smirna trec芒nd prin Istambul, Nicopole 葯i Vidin, Craiova, Bucure葯ti, Giurgiu, Ia葯i, Cern膬u葲i, Lvov, Var葯ovia, Viena 葯i alte cateva localit膬葲i, ca 卯n cele din urm膬 personajele s膬 sf芒r葯easc膬 la Offenbach. De asemenea, cititorul este purtat prin dispute 葯i dezbateri teologice 葯i teosofice 卯ntre evrei 葯i evrei 葯i evrei 葯i cre葯tini, se vor 卯nt芒lni cu cabali葯ti, clarv膬z膬tori 葯i doctori, cu 葲膬rani, negustori 葯i nobili, enciclopedi葯ti curio葯i, episcopi virtuo葯i 葯i vicio葯i, femei puternice 葯i c芒葲iva aventurieri, to葲i neputincio葯i 卯n fa葲a istoriei 葯i mor葲ii, totul legat intr-o poveste 葲esut膬 卯n mai multe ape: povestea principal膬 a lui Frank spus膬 la persoana a III-a, lupta politic膬 卯ntre biseric膬 葯i nobilimea polonez膬, preocup膬rile 葯i coresponden葲膬 primului enciclopedist polonez 葯i o poet膬, 卯nsemn膬rile la persoana I ale unuia dintre secretarii lui Frank 葯i ceea ce vede b膬tr芒n膬 Ienta, cea care nu poate s膬 moar膬.
Mare efortul de documentare al autoarei. Mare puterea ei de a 葲ine 卯n fr芒u destinul at芒tor personaje 葯i de a le da un sens 卯n toat膬 aceast膬 poveste. 葮i mai mare efortul traduc膬toarei, Cristina Gorun, care a transpus 卯n rom芒ne葯te aceast膬 monstruoas膬 carte.
"Totu葯i st膬 scris c膬 omul care se apleac膬 asupra ispr膬vile lui Mesia, chiar 葯i a celor ratate - fie 葯i numai pentru a le pove葯ti - , are acela葯i merit ca acela care cerceteaz膬 tainele str膬vechi ale luminii", 葯i chiar asta face Olga Tokarczuk.
Volumul spune povestea unui personaj real care, 卯n Europa secolului al XVIII-lea, reu葯e葯te s膬 creeze 卯n jurul s膬u un adev膬rat cult, o mi葯care mesianic膬, o sect膬 care supravie葲uie葯te p芒n膬 卯n 1818. Iacob Frank este un antierou, profund antipatic, 葯arlatan (dup膬 cum 卯l consider膬 葯i unele personaje), dar carismatic care reu葯e葯te s膬 subjuge voin葲ei sale o 卯ntreag膬 comunitate de evrei. Al膬turi de ei 葯i cu ajutorul lor Iacob Frank/Mesia/Domnul face aceast膬 mare c膬l膬torie.
Cititorul este purtat prin jum膬tate de Europ膬 de la Rohat卯n, unde 卯ncepe povestea, la Smirna trec芒nd prin Istambul, Nicopole 葯i Vidin, Craiova, Bucure葯ti, Giurgiu, Ia葯i, Cern膬u葲i, Lvov, Var葯ovia, Viena 葯i alte cateva localit膬葲i, ca 卯n cele din urm膬 personajele s膬 sf芒r葯easc膬 la Offenbach. De asemenea, cititorul este purtat prin dispute 葯i dezbateri teologice 葯i teosofice 卯ntre evrei 葯i evrei 葯i evrei 葯i cre葯tini, se vor 卯nt芒lni cu cabali葯ti, clarv膬z膬tori 葯i doctori, cu 葲膬rani, negustori 葯i nobili, enciclopedi葯ti curio葯i, episcopi virtuo葯i 葯i vicio葯i, femei puternice 葯i c芒葲iva aventurieri, to葲i neputincio葯i 卯n fa葲a istoriei 葯i mor葲ii, totul legat intr-o poveste 葲esut膬 卯n mai multe ape: povestea principal膬 a lui Frank spus膬 la persoana a III-a, lupta politic膬 卯ntre biseric膬 葯i nobilimea polonez膬, preocup膬rile 葯i coresponden葲膬 primului enciclopedist polonez 葯i o poet膬, 卯nsemn膬rile la persoana I ale unuia dintre secretarii lui Frank 葯i ceea ce vede b膬tr芒n膬 Ienta, cea care nu poate s膬 moar膬.
Mare efortul de documentare al autoarei. Mare puterea ei de a 葲ine 卯n fr芒u destinul at芒tor personaje 葯i de a le da un sens 卯n toat膬 aceast膬 poveste. 葮i mai mare efortul traduc膬toarei, Cristina Gorun, care a transpus 卯n rom芒ne葯te aceast膬 monstruoas膬 carte.
"Totu葯i st膬 scris c膬 omul care se apleac膬 asupra ispr膬vile lui Mesia, chiar 葯i a celor ratate - fie 葯i numai pentru a le pove葯ti - , are acela葯i merit ca acela care cerceteaz膬 tainele str膬vechi ale luminii", 葯i chiar asta face Olga Tokarczuk.
January 31, 2024
脠 scritto tuttavia che chi si affatica sulle questioni del Messia sia pure di quelli falliti - anche soltanto per raccontare la loro storia - sar脿 trattato come colui che studia gli eterni misteri della luce.
Due cose inizialmente mi avevano colpito e attratto: la mole del libro quasi vergognosa, con numerazione delle 1.100 pagine a ritroso in omaggio alla scrittura ebraica, e il titolo che occupa in caratteri grandi tutta la copertina:
I LIBRI DI JAKUB o Il grande viaggio
(Titolo principale che non pu貌 essere separato dal suo sottotitolo che mi preme riportare qui nella sua interezza)
Attraverso sette frontiere.
Cinque lingue.
E tre grandi religioni
senza contare quelle minori.
Narrato dai MORTI, e DALL'AUTRICE
completato col metodo della CONGETTURA
da molti e vari libri attinto.
E sorretto inoltre DALL'IMMAGINAZIONE
che dei doni naturali dell'uomo
猫 il pi霉 grande.
Memoriale per i Saggi, Riflessione per i Compatrioti,
Istruzioni per i Laici, e svago per i Malinconici.
Perch茅 davvero 猫 un titolo programmatico la cui lunghezza ricalca i titoli dei testi del settecento che incorporavano una sintesi del loro contenuto.
Tutte le intenzioni e i messaggi che Olga Tokarczuk voleva trasmettere vi sono espressi.
Tre grandi religioni: Ebraismo, Cristianesimo e religione Musulmana.
Sette frontiere: Polonia, Turchia, Ucraina, Moldavia, Austria, Germania, Grecia evidentemente non nel loro assetto geografico attuale.
Cinque lingue: latino, ebraico, yiddish, turco, polacco
Narrato con il metodo della Congettura perch茅 della storia narrata non vi 猫 certezza ma solo ipotesi storiche a cui Olga Tokarczuk ha attinto.
Sorretto dal metodo dell'Immaginazione perch茅 i fatti, realmente accaduti quindi storici, sono rielaborati in forma narrativa e romanzesca.
Riflessioni per i Compatrioti polacchi (Olga Tokarczuk 猫 il Nobel polacco del 2020) che hanno dimenticato una parte cospicua della loro storia nazionale.
Ma soprattutto l'esergo finale: Svago per i Malinconici perch茅 questo romanzo 猫 davvero uno svago per spirito, cuore e intelletto.
Non ha nulla, ma proprio nulla, nulla, nulla da invidiare alle grandi opere della letteratura universale cui pu貌 affiancarsi a testa alta e con immensa fierezza spadroneggiare sullo scaffale della propria libreria lignea (quella vera di casa, non la finta libreria anobiana)
脠 un romanzo epico, una letteratura in un movimento che non 猫 solo metaforico ma rappresentazione di come gente di origine ebraiche si trovi sempre e, comunque, nei punti caldi della storia.
Romanzo frutto di sette anni di studio e ricerca minuziosa da parte dell'autrice, che diventa ancora pi霉 attuale perch茅 si svolge prevalentemente in Podolia regione che allora comprendeva una parte dell'odierna Ucraina.
Ruota intorno alla figura, realmente esistita, di Frank Jakub un polacco ebreo che si autoproclama nuovo Messia degli ebrei e d脿 vita ad un'eresia definita frankismo.
Ha un seguito fortissimo di seguaci che lo venerano come un santo, lo obbediscono come un capo a suo tempo tiranno e dolce, il quale esercita il suo potere taumaturgico attraverso l'Impero Ottomano e l'Impero Asburgico in un afflato metafisico ed ecumenico che tenta di conciliare le due grandi religioni monoteistiche, con una conversione in massa di ebrei al cristianesimo, pur tuttavia mantenendo viva la loro duplice natura religiosa, causando ira e ostracismo da parte dei rabbini pi霉 ortodossi che lanceranno contro i frankisti un anatema, e grande curiosit脿 nelle alte sfere ecclesiastiche del mondo cattolico.
Un movimento con comparse di personaggi storici del calibro di Mozart, l'Imperatore d'Austria Giuseppe, lo zar Alessandro I.
Le pagine sono tante pi霉 di 1000, non le ho mai patite, personalmente sarei andata avanti ancora, per decine e decine.
L'ho letto in un fecondo Gdl dove le prospettive e i contributi di tutti i partecipanti hanno acclarato i punti oscuri, sostenuto gli affitti, spronato gli indecisi, perche tanti occhi e tante menti valgono pi霉 di una, ma la meta e la valutazione 猫 stata pressoch茅 unanime: un capolavoro.
Per chi vorr脿 affrontare questa meravigliosa scalata, se pu貌 interessare, potrei condividere lo schema dei personaggi principali che 猫 bene segnarsi fin dall'inizio per non smarrirsi e perdere la profonda bellezza di lettura.
Mi preme anche sottolineare che le prime cento pagine circa sono forse pi霉 teologiche ma servono a gettare le basi, a seguire il romanzo prende una china di discesa a rompicollo, avvincente come di un trhiller di Dan Brown (che non ho mai letto), con una tensione riflessiva che resta costante e non cede fino all'ultima pagina.
Va da s茅 che diventa uno dei miei libri del cuore, quindi un grazie infinito a chi lo ha scritto.
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