.png) First edition cover (Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2014) | |
| Author | Olga Tokarczuk |
|---|---|
| Original title | Księgi Jakubowe |
| Translator | Jennifer Croft |
| Language | Polish |
| Genre | Historical fiction |
| Publisher | Wydawnictwo Literackie |
Publication date | October 2014 |
| Publication place | Poland |
Published in English | 15 November 2021 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 912 |
| Awards | Nike Award (2015) |
| ISBN | 978-83-08-04939-6 |
| OCLC | 898158997 |
| 891.8538 | |
| LC Class | PG7179.O37 K75 2014 |
The Books of Jacob[a] (Polish:Księgi Jakubowe[b][c]) is anepichistorical novel[4] byOlga Tokarczuk, published byWydawnictwo Literackie in October 2014.[5] It is Tokarczuk's ninth novel and is the product of extensive historical research, taking her seven years to write.[6]
The Books of Jacob is a 912-page novel divided into seven books. It begins in 1752 inRohatyn and ends in Holocaust-eraKorolówka.[7] Its title subject isJacob Frank, aPolish Jew whoclaimed to be the messiah. The novel combines dozens of third-person perspectives of those connected to Jacob Frank.[8]
Upon publication, it was an instant best-seller and won Poland's most prestigious literary prize, theNike Award.[8] By October 2015, the novel's circulation had reached 100,000 copies.[9] This work formed the basis of Tokarczuk receiving the 2018Nobel Prize in Literature, which was awarded to her "for a narrative imagination that with encyclopaedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life"[4] An English translation byJennifer Croft was published byFitzcarraldo Editions on 15 November 2021.[10][11] Croft won a 2015PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant forThe Books of Jacob.[12] A US publication byRiverhead Books was released on 1 February 2022.[13]
The extensive historical novel is divided into seven books that illuminate the life of Jakob Frank and his followers from different perspectives. The story is set mainly in Podolia, in the borderland between present-day Poland and Ukraine, during the time of theFirst Polish Republic (1569-1795), theKingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria (1772-1918), and thePrincipality of Moldavia (1359-1859).
Book I: The Book of Fog
The story begins in Rohatyn, where the Catholic priest and encyclopedist Benedykt Chmielowski meets the Jewish scholar Elischa Schor and begins an exchange about religious writings. Chmielowski gives Schor a copy of his encyclopedia "The New Athens," whereupon Schor presents him with the "Kabbala Denudata." During his journey to Rohatyn, Chmielowski meets the Baroque poet Elzbieta Druzbacka, with whom he maintains an active correspondence.
A central element of this section is the story of Jenta, Jakob Frank's grandmother. When she is about to die at a wedding celebration in Elischa Schor's house, a kabbalistic amulet is placed in her mouth to delay her death until after the wedding. Unintentionally, this puts Jenta in a state between life and death – she becomes immortal and can see everything that happened in the past and will happen in the future.
Book II: The Book of Sand
The second book describes Jakob Frank's early years through the eyes of Nachman Samuel Ben Levi, one of his early followers. After studying in Smyrna, Jakob gains his first trading experience inCraiova before turning to caravan trading and traveling toThessaloniki andSmyrna. He comes into contact with Sabbatian circles and encounters various mystical movements, including ShiiteSufi-Bektashi andAlevis.
In 1752, Jakob marries the 14-year-old Chana, daughter of the respected Jew Jehuda Tor ha-Levi. This marriage produces two children: Lejba (later Emmanuel) and Awacza (later Ewa or Ewunia). In Thessaloniki, Jakob opens a school (Beth Midrash) in 1754, where he spreads mystical teachings and practices a dance similar to the Samā' of the Mevlevi. The first signs of his messianic ambitions become apparent.
Book III: The Book of Roads
In the third book, Gitla, a freedom-loving young woman who resists an arranged marriage, becomes Jakob Frank's bodyguard. The novel describes the journeys of Jakob and his followers through Rohatyn, Busk, and Lanckorun, as well as his arrest and later release through Ottoman intervention, as he is considered an Ottoman subject.During this phase, Jakob begins to advocate for conversion to Christianity, which attracts the interest of the Catholic clergy. His unconventional teachings, combining elements ofJudaism,Islam, andChristianity, gain increasing followers amongEastern European Jews.
Book IV: The Book of the Comet
Jakob Frank and his followers establish a commune in the village of Iwanie on theDniester. This "Republic of True Believers" practices a form of communal living, sharing goods, meals, work, and even sexuality. Jakob's alleged healing powers through the laying on of hands contribute to his growing reputation.
The Frankists adopt Christian names and are supported by influential personalities such as Antoni Moliwda-Kossakowski and Katarzyna Kossakowska. A mass baptism of the Frankists takes place in theLviv Cathedral. In parallel, the Lviv Rabbi Chaïm Kohen Rapaport writes treatises against the "heretics" and "dissidents."
A key scene is the disputation of Kaminiets, followed by a second disputation in the Cathedral of Lviv in September 1759. The Frankists fuel the ritual murder legend by accusing Jews of using Christian blood for thePassover feast. This leads to persecution and boycotts of Jewish merchants.
The conversion to Catholicism begins in 1759, when Jakob is baptized as Jozef Frank, with KingAugust III of Poland as his godfather. The number of converts rapidly increases from 500 in 1759 to 1000 in 1760, reaching about 24,000 throughout Poland by 1790.
When it emerges that Jakob's conversion may not be sincere, he is arrested and imprisoned by the Bernardines. Nachman betrays Jakob by revealing his true intentions, believing that Jakob is losing sight of the true goal due to the temptations of success and that martyrdom could lead him back to the right path to fulfill his role as savior.
Book V: The Book of Metal and Sulfur
Jakob Frank is accused of false conversion and spreading heresy and is imprisoned in the monastery of the Częstochowa fortress. During his imprisonment, his followers come to Częstochowa to support him. Nachman and Jakob reconcile.
The imprisonment in Częstochowa becomes a mystical center: The cave beneath the fortress is associated with the Cave of Machpelah (Tomb of the Patriarchs) and the spiritual center of the world. The dead are buried here, including Chana, Jakob's wife, who dies in Częstochowa. Jakob is only released whenRussian troops occupy the region.
Book VI: The Book of the Distant Land
After his release, Jakob settles with his now 18-year-old daughter Ewa inBrno, near the Dobruzka/Gutenfeld family fromProssnitz. Here, the "Brotherhood" or "Havurah" develops, and Jakob establishes the "Ladies' Service," where young women are expected, among other things, to warm his bed.
Between 1776 and 1785, Jakob joins the Freemasons on the recommendation of friends. Jakob and Ewa receive an audience with EmperorJoseph II andMaria Theresa of Austria, who favor the promotion of Jews in theHabsburg Empire.
In 1786, the community moves from Brno toOffenbach am Main, where they take up residence in Isenburg Castle. The approximately 400 followers live on funds sent by members of the brotherhood from Poland andMoravia.
Jakob dies in 1791, on the same day as Gitla. Despite enormous debts, the community continues under the leadership of Jakob's daughter Ewa. She is virtually under house arrest but receives a visit from the Russian Emperor Alexander.
Book VII: The Book of Names
The last part of the novel deals with the legacy of the Frankists and the fate of their descendants. Ewa Frank protects Offenbach from Napoleonic plunder, and it is suggested what happens to Chmielowski's library.
A temporal leap leads to 1942, when five families (38 people) refuse to register as Jews with the German authorities. They flee to the cave where Jenta has found her last resting place, and survive there until April 1944, when they are notified of the German withdrawal.
The novel includes numerous historical personalities:
Jakob Frank: Born as Jakób Lejbowicz in Podolia, he sees himself as a messiah in the tradition of Kabbalists and Sabbatians. He flees the shtetl, goes to the Ottoman Empire, and calls himself Jakob Frank. He unites thousands of Eastern European Jews in his Frankist movement and induces them to convert to Catholicism. After his arrest and imprisonment in Częstochowa, he receives asylum in Offenbach, where he dies in 1791.
Elisha Shorr: Rabbi of Rohatyn (Ukraine), head of a Beth Misrahi school and an early follower of Jakob. He shares with Chmielowski a passion for books.
Nachman Samuel ben Lévi: Rabbi of Busk and admirer of Baal Shem Tov. He writes a biography of Sabbatai Zevi and later becomes Jakob's chronicler. Eventually, he betrays Jakob, reconciles with him, and takes the name Piotr Jakobovski.
Benedykt Chmielowski: Priest of Firlej and Dean of Rohatyn, the first Polish encyclopedist and author of "The New Athens" (1745-1746). He is interested in Jewish books and maintains a correspondence with the poet Elzbieta Druzbacka.
Katarzyna Kossakowska: Influential castellan and mistress of Elizabeta Druzbacka, who supports the Frankists, hosts them on her estates, and temporarily takes in Jakob Frank's wife and daughter.
Elzbieta Druzbacka: Baroque poet who corresponds with Chmielowski and advises him to write his works in Polish in the future for better accessibility.
Bishop Soltyk: A gambling-addicted bishop who promotes antisemitic prejudices and, after gambling losses, instigates a pogrom against the Jewish community.
This ensemble is complemented by numerous fictional characters who contribute perspectives that are often underrepresented in official historiography.
Jenta: Jakob's grandmother from Korolowka, who is put into a state between life and death through a kabbalistic ritual. She becomes an object of ongoing folk veneration.
Gitla: Daughter of the secretary of the Lviv rabbi, who resists her arranged marriage and becomes Jakob's bodyguard and lover. Later, she lives with the physician Ascher Rubin and dies on the same day as Jakob.
Jan: A repeatedly escaped serf who is found half-dead in the snow. The Jewish community rescues and cares for him, despite his facial features distorted by frostbite. Later, along with valuable books, he is delivered by Elisha Shorr and his relatives to Chmielowski, who is supposed to take care of him while the Frankists flee from persecution by the Talmudists.
The novel "The Books of Jacob" addresses numerous socio-political, historical, and philosophical themes that relate to both the depicted era and contemporary discourse:
A central motif is the portrayal of historical Poland as a multicultural, multiethnic, and multireligious entity. Tokarczuk paints a nuanced picture of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, where various languages (Polish, Yiddish, German, and others) were spoken and different religious communities coexisted. Judaism, in particular, is given extensive attention, which forms a conscious contrast to the current portrayal of Poland as a homogeneous Catholic country under the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party.[14]
Despite fragmentation into different communities, Tokarczuk depicts the intensive translation and trade traffic that served as infrastructure for the spread of enlightenment and knowledge, underscoring the importance of cultural exchange for social progress.[15]
According to Florian Baranyi, the novel functions as a parable for today's social conditions. The pluralistic but unequal society of historical Poland-Lithuania reflects challenges of our present, where encounter, exchange, intolerance, and egoism exist side by side. As Tokarczuk emphasized in her Nobel Prize speech, she uses the literary form of parable to convey timeless truths.[16]
A central motif of the novel is the constant crossing of boundaries in various dimensions. The protagonist Jakob Frank continuously crosses geographical, religious, and cultural boundaries. He breaks with the traditions of Torah and Talmud, betrays his former Jewish brethren, and goes so far as to confirm the antisemitic lie about Jewish ritual murder.[14]
Tokarczuk portrays the Frankists as "fanatics in a fanatical, apocalyptically-minded time." They live in a kind of commune with their own rules, which include promiscuity and free-thinking, but also problematic practices like child abuse.[17] The regressive-physical rituals of this religious community lead to social conflicts.[15]
In her portrayal of the Frankist community, Tokarczuk reveals a fundamental paradox of social utopias: The attempt to break through social conventions and enable new freedoms often breeds unexpected new constraints. The Frankists' overcoming of established religious and social boundaries does not lead to pure liberation but creates a complex structure of new hierarchies and power structures. This tension becomes particularly evident in the situation of women within the community.[15] The women in the Frankist community "speak, calculate, argue along" and fight for "the right to say no" – while paradoxically being denied exactly this right in relation to Jakob Frank.[17]
This motif of boundary crossing reflects, at least in its emancipatory potential, Tokarczuk's own stance: At the Frankfurt Book Fair, she expressed that she considers borders between countries and cultures to be nonsensical and absurd.[18]
In "The Books of Jacob," Tokarczuk unfolds a multi-layered panorama of the 18th century, where mystical traditions and enlightenment impulses collide and paradoxically condition each other.
The author draws on Gershom Scholem's seminal study "Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism," which attributes to Jakob Frank's mystical heresy's nihilism and religious anarchism a significant role in the internal preparation for enlightenment and later reform in 19th-century Judaism. This historical significance had long been underestimated – both due to resistance from Jewish orthodoxy and the reluctance of enlightenment thinkers to be associated with a Jewish sect considered irrational.[15]
The novel illustrates how the Frankists' radical break with Jewish tradition could dialectically pave the way for more modern forms of Judaism. Tokarczuk shows how mystical extremism and enlightenment reason did not simply exist as opposites but drove social change as dialectically connected forces.
In the opening scence, Benedykt Chmielowski visits Rabbi Elischa Schor hoping to exchange books with him. Despite significant language barriers – Chmielowski with his Latin and Polish, the Rabbi with Hebrew and Yiddish – a connection forms over Athanasius Kircher's "Turris Babel," which Chmielowski brought as a "lure."[17]
In parallel, Tokarczuk shows various figures who write or talk "obsessively" to find orientation in an increasingly complex world. The obsessive recording of thoughts, experiences, and insights is portrayed as an existential strategy through which the characters try to order the chaos of their surroundings and give it meaning.[17]
The pages of the novel are numbered in descending rather than ascending order. Tokarczuk explains this decision in her closing remarks as "a bow to Hebrew books," which are traditionally read from right to left. Simultaneously, this deliberate departure from Western conventions conveys a deeper philosophical message – Tokarczuk wants to remind us "that any order is a matter of habit." The descending numeration also creates a special narrative effect - it generates "the pull of a massive countdown that spans the period between 1752 and World War II."[17]
Also noteworthy is the use of visual elements: The text is "richly illustrated," reminiscent of the tradition of illuminated manuscripts and religious works.[19]
Tokarczuk's novel is characterized by a complex narrative structure that interweaves various storytelling techniques and perspectives – events are narrated from the inner views of different characters from Jakob Frank's circle, supplemented by letters, newspaper reports, excerpts from various sources, and numerous maps and engravings.[16] This kaleidoscopic narrative approach enables the author to paint a multi-layered picture of the historical epoch, encompassing different voices, worldviews, and social positions.
The main character Jakob Frank functions as the "gravitational center of the novel" but "is the only character described exclusively from the perspective of his surroundings."[17] Through this narrative device, Frank remains consistently "alien" and eludes definitive evaluation. "It is precisely through this portrayal that Tokarczuk can convey Frank's fascination, who is alternately perceived as a reformer or cult leader, without having to take a position."[16]
The narrative voice operates with an temporal double perspective, speaking "in the logic of the time, the late 18th century, but with a grain of laconic irony from today's narrator." This technique creates a productive tension between historical empathy and critical distance, as evident in ironic comments, for instance, regarding Gitla, one of Jakob Frank's followers: "Her father was careless enough to educate her – and there you have it, these are the consequences. A learned woman is a source of countless worries."[15]
The novel includes supernatural elements reminiscent of magical realism. The author uses "interspaces" "to leave the level of realism and ascend into ghostly spheres."[18] This aspect manifests primarily in the character of Jenta, Jakob Frank's grandmother, who "not dead, not alive, sees everything from above."[19]
Jenta takes on a central narrative function as "the connecting narrative voice of the novel," who "hallucinates between life and death, between times and places in her agony."[16] This overarching narrative construction lends the novel a transcendent dimension: "All voices and characters the reader encounters over roughly 1,200 pages are presumably a product of the memory of this dying old woman, whose spirit moves through time and space."[16]
In her Nobel Prize speech, Tokarczuk critically reflected on prevailing narrative modes and called for a 'sensitive' narrative perspective. She noted that contemporary literature is teeming with first-person narratives that "affirm autonomy as an individual but simultaneously establish an 'opposition between the self and the world'" and thereby "increasingly fail to show what connects us." With the character of Jenta, "who sees everything and casts a clear but benevolent gaze on everything," Tokarczuk realizes her own poetological demand for a "sensitive narrator" as a "connecting narrative model."[16]
"The Books of Jacob" deliberately positions itself as a counter-narrative to traditional Polish historiography and historical fiction that have shaped the image of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth over generations. While earlier literary depictions often tended to idealize the Rzeczpospolita, Tokarczuk undertakes a critical revision of this historical image.
This revisionist stance becomes particularly clear in contrast toHenryk Sienkiewicz, whose historical novels significantly shaped Polish national consciousness. Unlike Sienkiewicz, "Tokarczuk presents no romantic-nostalgic picture of a multicultural state."[18]" While Sienkiewicz deliberately focused on the 17th century, when the noble republic conducted three successful campaigns against the Ukrainian Cossacks, the Swedes, and the Turks, which sufficed for generations of readers to glorify that time," Tokarczuk deliberately chooses an era of decline.[19]
The contrast between both literary depictions could hardly be clearer: Tokarczuk shows the noble republic as a politically weak feudal state, characterized by abuse of power by the high nobility and clergy, oppression of ethnic minorities, Jewish pogroms, and slave-like exploitation of serfs.[19]
In a reflection on the genesis of her novel, Tokarczuk describes how she became aware of the historical void left by World War II and particularly the destruction of Jewish culture in Poland.[20]
She compares this recognition of a fundamental gap in Poland's cultural fabric to the striking image of a carpet: "The discovery of the Jewish underpinning in one's own life, the folding back of a carpet corner, only to see that on the underside there are twin forms of the weaving patterns, a little different, a little modified, sometimes indecipherable, sometimes running in opposite directions, making the pattern on the surface stand out more sharply – for me a formative experience that became an insight."[20]
Simultaneously, Tokarczuk reflects on her regional origin as a defining factor for her specific perspective: "Possibly it had to do with my biography, with the fact that I was born in Lower Silesia and, like many Lower Silesians, perceived history differently, as it hadn't been conveyed to me in 'Polish Poland.'"[20] As an inhabitant of a region that only became part of Poland after World War II and previously had a complex German-Polish-Czech history, Tokarczuk brings a perspective that is inherently sensitized to cultural overlays and historical ruptures.
Writing forGazeta Wyborcza,Przemysław Czapliński [pl] wrote that the novel "revolutionizes the image of religious life in the 18th century, but also changes the perception of thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth."[21]
Writing forPolityka,Justyna Sobolewska [pl] wrote that "Tokarczuk proved that it is possible to write an over 900-page novel, full of pictorial descriptions, religious disputes and letters, which keeps you in suspense" and called it an "extremely interesting panorama of 18th-century Poland."[22]
In regard to the historical and ideological divides ofPolish literature, the novel has been characterized as anti-Sienkiewicz. It was soon acclaimed by critics and readers alike, but its reception has been hostile in some Polishnationalistic circles and Olga Tokarczuk became a target of an internet hate and harassment campaign.[23][24]
The publication of "The Books of Jacob" sparked a controversial and politically charged debate in Poland. With the subtitle "for fellow countrymen to reflect upon," Tokarczuk deliberately appealed to a reflective historical consciousness among her Polish fellow citizens. The novel is considered a direct counter-narrative to the current political instrumentalization of history in Poland, as it calls on readers to become aware of the country's heterogeneous past and to oppose a one-dimensional, nationalistically shaped view of history.[16]
While Tokarczuk was awarded the Nike, Poland's most important literary prize, for "The Books of Jacob" in autumn 2015, a political upheaval was taking place simultaneously: The change in government marked the beginning of the era of the national-conservative Law and Justice party (PiS), which from the start propagated a historical interpretation aimed at self-glorification and strengthening patriotism. In this political climate, Tokarczuk was increasingly viewed as an enemy of the state.[19]
At her appearance at the Frankfurt Book Fair, the author emphasized: "Poland emerged from an interweaving of diverse cultures." In her texts, she spans a broad arc of ethnic, religious, and cultural differences and strongly criticizes their denial or marginalization. Shortly after the publication of "The Books of Jacob," she said that the novel questions Polish myths of historical tolerance and cosmopolitanism: "One must face one's own history and try to rewrite it a little, without hiding all the terrible things we have done, as colonizers, as a national majority that persecuted a minority, as slave owners or murderers of Jews."[25]
This statement provoked massive outrage. Right-wing media accused her of "attacking Polish history," arguing that she should be prosecuted. It was also claimed that she only wanted to make money with such provocations. Nationalist waves surged in internet comment sections: There were demands that she should leave Poland, that she should be deported, or that "Arab refugees should be set upon her."[25]
According toBook Marks, the book received "positive" reviews based on 40 critic reviews with 26 being "rave" and nine being "positive" and four being "mixed" and one being "pan".[26] In the Mar/Apr 2022 issue ofBookmarks, a magazine that aggregates critic reviews of books, the book received a rating of 3.5 out of 5 based on critic reviews with a critical summary saying, "True to its title,The Books of Jacob reads like scripture: more than one critic described the novel as both dense and arcane."[27] Globally,Complete Review saying on the consensus "Big, wide-ranging, detailed; not quite a consensus on how successful it all is".[28]
Upon publication in theUK, the book garnered critical acclaim. InThe Guardian,Marcel Theroux writes that, "[d]ense, captivating and weird,The Books of Jacob is on a different scale from either" of her previous novels translated into English. "It is a visionary novel that conforms to a particular notion of masterpiece – long, arcane and sometimes inhospitable. Tokarczuk is wrestling with the biggest philosophical themes [...]." He goes on to compare it toJohn Milton'sParadise Lost and concludes that the novel is one that "will be a landmark in the life of any reader with the appetite to tackle it."[29] Anthony Cummins ofThe Observer writes that the book is a "panorama of early Enlightenment Europe that doubles as an open-minded study in the mysteries of charisma, it is perhaps above all – and aptly – a gargantuan act of faith, a novel in which your reading has barely begun by the time you’ve turned the last of its 900 pages."[30]Catherine Taylor, writing forProspect, callsThe Books of Jacob an "extraordinary 1,000-page novel", comparing it toLeo Tolstoy'sWar and Peace andHilary Mantel'sThomas Cromwell trilogy. Of the English translation, Taylor has the following to say: "Huge credit must be given to Croft, whose magnificent, lively translation is also a work of pure scholarship: the multiple voices, styles, landscapes and inventories she renders into English bring this lost world vividly to life." Concluding, she singles out the subject of Jewish life in Poland of Frank's time as being at the core of the novel: "Tokarczuk's determination in this tremendous work to recast and restore to Poland's past its vanished Jewish culture has never been more necessary."[31] Antonia Senior, inThe Times, calls the book "a work of genius."[32]
The Books of Jacob was awarded the 2015Nike Award Jury prize, Poland's most prestigious literary prize.[23] It also received Nike'sAudience award for 2015.[33]
The novel was shortlisted for the 2015Angelus Award.[34][35]
TheSwedish translation byJan Henrik Swahn [sv] was awarded in 2016 with the first international prize awarded by the Stockholm institutionKulturhuset Stadsteatern.[36]
The French translation by Maryla Laurent was awarded the 2018Jan Michalski Prize for Literature,[37][38] the 2018 Prix Transfuge for Meilleur roman européen[39] and the 2019Prix Laure Bataillon.[40] It was also a finalist in the second selection for the 2018Prix Femina étranger.[41]
Jennifer Croft's English translation was shortlisted for the 2022International Booker Prize.[42]
In 2020, an audiobook adaptation was released by Wydawnictwo Literackie (ISBN 978-83-08-06994-3). It has a runtime of 40 hours and 44 minutes. The novel's seven books are narrated by seven Polish actors and actresses:Danuta Stenka,Wiktor Zborowski,Jan Peszek,Agata Kulesza,Maja Ostaszewska,Adam Ferency andMariusz Bonaszewski [pl].[43][44]
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