The Books of Jacob
A Novel
(Sprache: Englisch)
"In the mid-eighteenth century, as new ideas...begin to sweep the Continent, a young Jew of mysterious origins arrives in a village in Poland. Before long, he has changed not only his name but his persona; visited by what seem to be ecstatic experiences,...
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"In the mid-eighteenth century, as new ideas...begin to sweep the Continent, a young Jew of mysterious origins arrives in a village in Poland. Before long, he has changed not only his name but his persona; visited by what seem to be ecstatic experiences, Jacob Frank casts a charismatic spell that attracts an increasingly fervent following. In the decade to come, Frank will traverse the Hapsburg and Ottoman empires with throngs of disciples in his thrall as he reinvents himself again and again, converts to Islam and then Catholicism, is pilloried as a heretic and revered as the Messiah, and wreaks havoc on the conventional order, Jewish and Christian alike, with scandalous rumors of his sect's secret rituals and the spread of his increasingly iconoclastic beliefs"--
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1.1752, Rohatyn
It's early morning, near the close of October. The vicar forane is standing on the porch of the presbytery, waiting for his carriage. He's used to getting up at dawn, but today he feels just half awake and has no idea how he even ended up here, alone in an ocean of fog. He can't remember rising, or getting dressed, or whether he's had breakfast. He stares perplexed at the sturdy boots sticking out from underneath his cassock, at the tattered front of his faded woolen overcoat, at the gloves he's holding in his hands. He slips on the left one; it's warm and fits him perfectly, as though hand and glove have known each other many years. He breathes a sigh of relief. He feels for the bag slung over his shoulder, mechanically runs his fingers over the hard edges of the rectangle it contains, thickened like scars under the skin, and he remembers, slowly, what's inside-that heavy, friendly form. A good thing, the thing that's brought him here-those words, those signs, each with a profound connection to his life. Indeed, now he knows what's there, and this awareness slowly starts to warm him up, and as his body comes back, he starts to be able to see through the fog. Behind him, the dark aperture of the doors, one side shut. The cold must have already set in, perhaps even a light frost already, spoiling the plums in the orchard. Above the doors, there is a rough inscription, which he sees without looking, already knowing what it says-he commissioned it, after all. Those two craftsmen from Podhajce took an entire week to carve the letters into the wood. He had, of course, requested they be done ornately:
HERE TODAY AND GONE TOMORROW.
NO USE TO MILK IS YOUR SORROW
Somehow, in the second line, they wrote the very first letter backward, like a mirror image. Aggravated by this for the umpteenth time, the priest spins his head around, and the sight is enough to make him fully awake. That backward . . . How could they be so negligent? You
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really have to watch them constantly, supervise their each and every step. And since these craftsmen are Jewish, they probably used some sort of Jewish style for the inscription, the letters looking ready to collapse under their frills. One of them had even tried to argue that this preposterous excuse for an N was acceptable-nay, even preferable!-since its bar went from bottom to top, and from left to right, in the Christian way, and that Jewish would have been the opposite. The petty irritation of it has brought him to his senses, and now Father Benedykt Chmielowski, dean of Rohatyn, understands why he felt as if he was still asleep-he's surrounded by fog the same grayish color as his bedsheets; an off-white already tainted by dirt, by those enormous stores of gray that are the lining of the world. The fog is motionless, covering the whole of the courtyard completely; through it loom the familiar shapes of the big pear tree, the solid stone fence, and, farther still, the wicker cart. He knows it's just an ordinary cloud, tumbled from the sky and landed with its belly on the ground. He was reading about this yesterday in Comenius.
Now he hears the familiar clatter that on every journey whisks him into a state of creative meditation. Only after the sound does Roshko appear out of the fog, leading a horse by the bridle; after him comes the vicar's britchka. At the sight of the carriage, Father Chmielowski feels a surge of energy, slaps his glove against his hand, and leaps up into his seat. Roshko, silent as usual, adjusts the harness and glances at the priest. The fog turns Roshko's face gray, and suddenly he looks older to the priest, as though he's aged overnight, although in reality he's a young man yet.
Finally, they set off, but it's as if they're standing still, since the only evidence of motion is the rocking of the carriage and the soothing creaks it makes. They've traveled this road so many times, over so many years, that
Now he hears the familiar clatter that on every journey whisks him into a state of creative meditation. Only after the sound does Roshko appear out of the fog, leading a horse by the bridle; after him comes the vicar's britchka. At the sight of the carriage, Father Chmielowski feels a surge of energy, slaps his glove against his hand, and leaps up into his seat. Roshko, silent as usual, adjusts the harness and glances at the priest. The fog turns Roshko's face gray, and suddenly he looks older to the priest, as though he's aged overnight, although in reality he's a young man yet.
Finally, they set off, but it's as if they're standing still, since the only evidence of motion is the rocking of the carriage and the soothing creaks it makes. They've traveled this road so many times, over so many years, that
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Autoren-Porträt von Olga Tokarczuk
Olga Tokarczuk; Translated by Jennifer Croft
Bibliographische Angaben
- Autor: Olga Tokarczuk
- 2023, 992 Seiten, Masse: 16,4 x 23,3 cm, Kartoniert (TB), Englisch
- Übersetzer: Jennifer Croft
- Verlag: Riverhead Books
- ISBN-10: 059308750X
- ISBN-13: 9780593087503
- Erscheinungsdatum: 19.06.2023
Sprache:
Englisch
Pressezitat
Praise for The Books of Jacob:Sophisticated and ribald and brimming with folk wit. . . The comedy in this novel blends, as it does in life, with genuine tragedy. Dwight Garner, The New York Times
Monumental . . . could help the Swedish Academy restore its rather tattered reputation as an arbiter of serious literature. Tokarczuk is as comfortable rendering the world of the Jewish peasantry as that of the Polish royal court. . . . Incalculably rich in learning and driven by a faith in the numinous properties of knowledge. Wall Street Journal
It s just as awe-inspiring as the Nobel judges claimed. . . . Miraculously entertaining and consistently fascinating. Despite his best efforts, Frank never mastered alchemy, but Tokarczuk certainly has. . . . Haunting and irresistible. The Washington Post
Yes, there s a miracle in these pages. It s not about the Virgin Mary or the false Messiah Jacob Frank, however, but the way Tokarczuk can make a period so distant from us in every way feel so completely alive. Los Angeles Times
Tokarczuk aims high, spinning a layered, majestic, polyphonic novel based on a real-life figure. . . . A golden age of historical fiction is upon us: Tokarczuk links arms with Hilary Mantel and Colson Whitehead, connecting our own perilous moment with the past. Oprah Daily
A colossal work - an epic, a fable, a history, sometimes a satire, always a magnum opus. NPR
Funny, tragic, comprehensive, and at times hilariously graphic both earthy and ethereal. Boston Globe
You can practically smell the damp earth, the household fires, the dry paper of Nobel laureate Tokarczuk s epic set across the villages of 18th-century Poland. Everything about The Books of Jacob, including Tokarczuk s generous, comfortable style, is vast but meticulously detailed. Vulture
Olga Tokarczuk is one of our greatest living fiction writers,
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Jennifer Croft s translations are always magnificent, and this epic thousand-page novel is said to be their magnum opus. . . . This could well be a decade-defining book akin to Bolaño s 2666. AV Club
Contains an entire overflowing, sensual world to get lost in. . . . truly bewitching account of untold fissures in history, minor religions, little lives, and splinterings-off. It is rich, strange, astonishing in scope, and delightfully enigmatic. . . . Tokarczuk s magnum opus shows us a world on the precipice of a great change, one hand clinging to certainty while the other reaches for transcendence. World Literature Today
Truly an epic historical novel. Hey Alma
Deeply researched [and] fascinating. . . [it] has the power to both enlighten and unnerve, especially in its eerie reflection of the rampant prejudices and inequalities that roil our world today. Hadassah Magazine
[A] subtle and sensuous masterpiece. . . . Readers are rewarded throughout with tender and ebullient moments. . . . In the hands of Tokarczuk and Croft, these concerns feel real and vital. . . . This visionary work will undoubtedly be read and talked about by lovers of literature for years to come. Publishers Weekly (starred review)
A massive achievement that will intrigue and baffle readers for years to come. Kirkus (starred review)
Nobel laureate Tokarczuk s magnum opus. . . . With language that s engaging, erudite, and spiced with witty colloquialisms and wonderful turns of phrase via Jennifer Croft s supple translation, Tokarczuk explores the state of being an outsider in places with fixed cultural boundaries. . . . A wealth of fine quotidian detail and brilliantly connected narrative threads draw the reader in. . . . masterful. Booklist (starred review)
As crowded as a Bruegel painting. . . visionary. . . . Tokarczuk is wrestling with the biggest philosophical themes: the purpose of life on earth, the nature of religion, the possibility of redemption, the fraught and terrible history of eastern European Jewry. . . . A landmark. The Guardian
A kind of literary miracle. The Times (UK)
Contains an entire overflowing, sensual world to get lost in. . . . truly bewitching account of untold fissures in history, minor religions, little lives, and splinterings-off. It is rich, strange, astonishing in scope, and delightfully enigmatic. . . . Tokarczuk s magnum opus shows us a world on the precipice of a great change, one hand clinging to certainty while the other reaches for transcendence. World Literature Today
Truly an epic historical novel. Hey Alma
Deeply researched [and] fascinating. . . [it] has the power to both enlighten and unnerve, especially in its eerie reflection of the rampant prejudices and inequalities that roil our world today. Hadassah Magazine
[A] subtle and sensuous masterpiece. . . . Readers are rewarded throughout with tender and ebullient moments. . . . In the hands of Tokarczuk and Croft, these concerns feel real and vital. . . . This visionary work will undoubtedly be read and talked about by lovers of literature for years to come. Publishers Weekly (starred review)
A massive achievement that will intrigue and baffle readers for years to come. Kirkus (starred review)
Nobel laureate Tokarczuk s magnum opus. . . . With language that s engaging, erudite, and spiced with witty colloquialisms and wonderful turns of phrase via Jennifer Croft s supple translation, Tokarczuk explores the state of being an outsider in places with fixed cultural boundaries. . . . A wealth of fine quotidian detail and brilliantly connected narrative threads draw the reader in. . . . masterful. Booklist (starred review)
As crowded as a Bruegel painting. . . visionary. . . . Tokarczuk is wrestling with the biggest philosophical themes: the purpose of life on earth, the nature of religion, the possibility of redemption, the fraught and terrible history of eastern European Jewry. . . . A landmark. The Guardian
A kind of literary miracle. The Times (UK)
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