The Books of Jacob

17.98 MB·English

by  Olga Tokarczuk

Cover Page: ii
Title Page Page: v
Copyright Page: vi
Dedication Page: vii
Contents Page: viii
Map Page: xxii
Prologue Page: 965
I. The Book of FOG Page: 963
Chapter 1 Page: 961
1752, Rohatyn Page: 961
Chapter 2 Page: 940
Of calamitous leaf springs and Katarzyna Kossakowska’s feminine complaint Page: 940
Of bloodstained silks Page: 938
The white end of the table at Starosta Łabęcki’s Page: 935
Chapter 3 Page: 928
Of Asher Rubin and his gloomy thoughts Page: 928
The beehive, or: The home of the Shorr family in Rohatyn Page: 926
In the beth midrash Page: 920
Yente, or: Not a good time to die Page: 916
What we read in the Zohar Page: 911
Of the swallowed amulet Page: 910
Chapter 4 Page: 906
Pharo and Mariage Page: 906
Polonia est paradisus Judaeorum . . . Page: 903
Of the presbytery in Firlejów and the sinful pastor living in it Page: 900
Father Chmielowski tries to write a letter to Mrs. Drużbacka Page: 889
Elżbieta Drużbacka writes to Father Chmielowski Page: 888
Bishop Kajetan Sołtyk writes a letter to the papal nuncio Page: 886
Zelik Page: 882
II. The Book of SAND Page: 875
Chapter 5 Page: 873
Of how the world was born of God’s exhaustion Page: 873
Scraps, or: A story born of travel’s exhaustion, by Nahman Samuel ben Levi, Rabbi of Busk. Where I come from Page: 868
My youth Page: 863
Of the caravan, and how I met Reb Mordke Page: 858
My return to Podolia, and a strange vision Page: 856
On an expedition with Mordechai to Smyrna, due to a dream of goat droppings Page: 854
Chapter 6 Page: 848
Of a strange wedding guest in white stockings and sandals Page: 848
Nahman’s Tale: Jacob’s first mention Page: 846
Isohar’s School, and who God really is: The next installment in the story of Nahman ben Levi of Busk Page: 840
Of Jacob the simpleton and taxes Page: 836
Of Nahman’s appearance to Nahman, or: The pit of darkness and the seed of light Page: 832
Of stones and the runaway with the horrible face Page: 829
Of how Nahman winds up with Yente and falls asleep on the floor by her bed Page: 826
Of Yente’s onward wanderings through time Page: 820
Of the terrible consequences of the amulet’s disappearance Page: 817
What the Zohar says Page: 815
Pesel’s tale of the Podhajce goat and the strange grass Page: 813
Father Chmielowski writes a letter to Mrs. Drużbacka, whom he holds in such high esteem, in January 1753, from Firlejów Page: 812
Chapter 7 Page: 808
Yente’s story Page: 808
Chapter 8 Page: 794
Honey, and not eating too much of it, or: Isohar’s school in Smyrna, in the Turkish land Page: 794
Scraps: What we were doing in Smyrna in the Jewish year 5511 and how we met Moliwda, and also, how the spirit is like a needle that pokes a hole in the world Page: 792
Chapter 9 Page: 782
Of the wedding in Nikopol, the mystery under the huppah, and the advantages of being foreign Page: 782
In Craiova: Of trade on holy days and of Hershel, faced with the dilemma of the cherries Page: 774
Of a pearl and Hana Page: 768
Chapter 10 Page: 764
Who the person is who gathers herbs on Mount Athos Page: 764
Chapter 11 Page: 755
How in the town of Craiova Moliwda-Kossakowski runs into Jacob Page: 755
The story of His Lordship Moliwda, or Antoni Kossakowski, of the Ślepowron coat of arms, which is also known as Korwin Page: 752
Of what draws persons together, and certain clarifications regarding the transmigration of souls Page: 747
Jacob’s story about the ring Page: 742
Scraps: What we saw among Moliwda’s Bogomils Page: 740
Chapter 12 Page: 734
Of Jacob’s expedition to the grave of Nathan of Gaza Page: 734
Of how Nahman follows in Jacob’s footsteps Page: 733
Of how Jacob faces off with the Antichrist Page: 728
The appearance of ruah haKodesh, when the spirit descends into man Page: 725
Of why Salonika does not care for Jacob Page: 722
Scraps: Of the curse of Salonika and Jacob’s molting Page: 719
Scraps: Of triangles and crosses Page: 714
Scraps: Of meeting Jacob’s father in Roman, and also of the starosta and the thief Page: 711
Of Jacob’s dance Page: 708
III. The Book of THE ROAD Page: 703
Chapter 13 Page: 701
Of the warm December of 1755, otherwise known as the month of Tevet 5516, of the country of Polin, and pestilence in Mielnica Page: 701
What is gleaned by the sharp gaze of every variety of spy Page: 698
“Three things are too wondrous for me; the fourth I can’t understand.” —Book of Proverbs 30:18 Page: 694
The Lord’s female guardians Page: 689
Scraps by Nahman of Busk kept secret from Jacob Page: 687
Of secret acts in Lanckoroń and an unfavorable eye Page: 684
How Gershon caught the heretics Page: 682
Of the Polish princess Gitla Pinkasówna Page: 680
Of Pinkas and his shameful despair Page: 678
Chapter 14 Page: 676
Of the Bishop of Kamieniec Mikołaj Dembowski, who doesn’t realize he is merely passing through this whole affair Page: 676
Of Father Chmielowski’s defense of his good name before the bishop Page: 670
What Elżbieta Drużbacka writes to Father Chmielowski in February of 1756 from Rzemień on the Wisłoka Page: 666
Father Chmielowski to Elżbieta Drużbacka Page: 664
What Pinkas records, and what goes unrecorded Page: 662
Of the Seder HaHerem, or the order of the curse Page: 658
Of Yente, who is always present and sees all Page: 656
The Bishop of Kamieniec Mikołaj Dembowski writes a letter to the papal nuncio Serra, while his secretary adds a little something from himself Page: 652
Bishop Dembowski writes to Bishop Sołtyk Page: 649
Meanwhile . . . Page: 646
How Gitla’s stepmother’s pessimistic predictions come true Page: 645
Chapter 15 Page: 642
How the old minaret in Kamieniec turns into a column with the Holy Mother on top Page: 642
What Bishop Dembowski ponders as his face is being shaved Page: 639
Of Hayah’s two natures Page: 635
The shapes of the new letters Page: 632
Of Krysa and his plans for the future Page: 629
Chapter 16 Page: 626
Of the year 1757 and of the establishment of certain age-old truths over the summer at the Kamieniec Podolski disputation Page: 626
Of burning books Page: 623
Of Father Pikulski’s explanation to the nobles of the rules of gematria Page: 620
Of newly appointed Archbishop Dembowski, who is preparing for a journey Page: 616
Of the life of dead Yente in the winter of 1757, also known as the year the Talmud was burned, followed by the books of those who burned the Talmud Page: 612
Of Asher Rubin’s adventures with light, and his grandfather’s with a wolf Page: 607
Of the Polish princess in Asher Rubin’s house Page: 602
Of the reversal of circumstances: Katarzyna Kossakowska writes to Bishop Kajetan Sołtyk Page: 600
Pompa funebris: January 29, 1758 Page: 598
Of spilled blood and hungry leeches Page: 596
Mrs. Elżbieta Drużbacka to Father Chmielowski, or: Of the perfection of imprecise forms Page: 593
The Vicar Forane Benedykt Chmielowski writes to Elżbieta Drużbacka Page: 591
Of the unexpected guest who comes in the night to Father Chmielowski Page: 589
Of the cave in the shape of the alef Page: 587
Chapter 17 Page: 584
Scraps: My heart’s quandary Page: 584
How in Giurgiu we talked Jacob into returning to Poland Page: 580
Father Benedykt weeds the oregano Page: 569
The runaway Page: 567
The runaway’s tale: Jewish purgatory Page: 565
Cousins putting up a unified front and launching their campaign Page: 562
Moliwda sets out and beholds the kingdom of the vagabonds Page: 553
How Moliwda is made messenger in the service of a difficult cause Page: 549
Of useful truths and useless truths, and the mortar post as a means of communication Page: 546
Mrs. Kossakowska, wife of the castellan of Kamieniec, writes to Senator Łubieński, Bishop of Lwów Page: 542
Father Pikulski writes to Senator Łubieński, Bishop of Lwów Page: 540
From Antoni Moliwda-Kossakowski to His Excellency Bishop Łubieński Page: 538
Knives and forks Page: 536
Chapter 18 Page: 533
Of how Ivanie, a little village on the Dniester, becomes a republic Page: 533
Of the sleeves of Sabbatai Tzvi’s holy shirt Page: 530
Of the working of Jacob’s touch Page: 527
Of the women’s talk while plucking chickens Page: 526
Of which of the women will be chosen Page: 525
Hana’s gloomy gaze notes these details of Ivanie Page: 523
Of Moliwda’s visit to Ivanie Page: 521
Divine grace, which calls out from the darkness into the light Page: 513
The supplication to Archbishop Łubieński Page: 508
Of the everlasting interconnectedness between divinity and sinfulness Page: 505
Of God Page: 503
“The miller grinds the flower” Page: 501
IV. The Book of THE COMET Page: 495
Chapter 19 Page: 493
Of the comet that augurs the end of the world and brings about the Shekhinah Page: 493
Of Yankiel of Glinno and the terrible smell of silt Page: 490
Of Strange Deeds, holy silence, and other Ivanie diversions Page: 486
A tale of two tablets Page: 481
Scraps, or: Eight months in the Lord’s community of Ivanie Page: 478
Of doubles, trinities, and foursomes Page: 476
Of candles put out Page: 472
A man who does not have a piece of land is not a man Page: 471
Of stablehands and the study of the Polish language Page: 470
Of new names Page: 469
Of Pinkas, who descends into hell in search of his daughter Page: 466
Antoni Moliwda-Kossakowski writes to Katarzyna Kossakowska Page: 461
Katarzyna Kossakowska to Antoni Moliwda-Kossakowski Page: 459
Of the cross and dancing in the abyss Page: 458
Chapter 20 Page: 456
What Yente sees from the vault of Lwów cathedral on July 17, 1759 Page: 456
Of Asher’s familial bliss Page: 452
The seventh point of the disputation Page: 450
Of secret hand and eye signals and hints Page: 445
Katarzyna Kossakowska writes to Bishop Kajetan Sołtyk Page: 443
Of the troubles of Father Chmielowski Page: 441
Of Pinkas, who cannot understand what sin he has committed Page: 438
Of the human deluge that overwhelms the streets of Lwów Page: 436
The Mayorkowiczes Page: 433
Nahman and his raiment of good deeds Page: 432
Father Mikulski’s bills and the market of Christian names Page: 430
Of what happens to Father Chmielowski in Lwów Page: 428
At the printing press of Paweł Józef Golczewski, His Majesty the King’s preferred typographer Page: 423
Of proper proportions Page: 419
The baptism Page: 417
Of Jacob Frank’s shaved beard, and the new face that emerges from underneath it Page: 415
Chapter 21 Page: 413
Of the plague that descends upon Lwów in the autumn of 1759 Page: 413
What Moliwda writes to his cousin Katarzyna Kossakowska Page: 406
In which Katarzyna Kossakowska dares to disturb the powerful of this world Page: 404
Of the trampling of coins and using a knife to make a V formation of cranes make a U-turn Page: 402
Scraps: At Radziwiłł’s Page: 398
Of sad turns in Lublin Page: 393
Chapter 22 Page: 386
The inn on the right bank of the Vistula Page: 386
Of events in Warsaw and the papal nuncio Page: 383
Of Katarzyna and her dominion over Warsaw Page: 379
Katarzyna Kossakowska writes to her cousin Page: 376
What is served for Christmas Eve dinner at Mrs. Kossakowska’s Page: 375
Avacha and her two dolls Page: 372
A doll for Salusia Łabęcka, and Father Chmielowski’s tales of a library and a ceremonious baptism Page: 370
Father Gaudenty Pikulski, a Bernardine, interrogates the naive Page: 364
Father Gaudenty Pikulski writes to Primate Łubieński Page: 359
The cornflower-blue żupan and the red kontusz Page: 356
What was going on in Warsaw when Jacob disappeared Page: 354
Spit on this fire Page: 352
An ocean of questions that will sink even the strongest battleship Page: 351
Chapter 23 Page: 340
What hunting is like at Hieronim Florian Radziwiłł’s Page: 340
Scraps: Of the three paths of the story and how telling a tale can be its own deed Page: 335
Hana, consider in your heart Page: 329
V. The Book of METAL AND SULFUR Page: 325
Chapter 24 Page: 323
The messianic machine, how it works Page: 323
Of Jacob’s arrival, on a February night in 1760, in Częstochowa Page: 322
What Jacob’s prison is like Page: 318
The flagellants Page: 315
The holy picture that conceals without revealing Page: 312
A letter in Polish Page: 309
A visit to the monastery Page: 308
Upupa dicit Page: 303
Of Jacob’s learning to read and where the Poles come from Page: 301
Of Jan Wołowski and Mateusz Matuszewski, who are the next to come to Częstochowa, in November of 1760 Page: 299
Elżbieta Drużbacka to Father Benedykt Chmielowski, Vicar Forane of Rohatyn, Tarnów, Christmas, 1760 Page: 297
Elżbieta Drużbacka’s heavy golden heart offered to the Black Madonna Page: 296
Chapter 25 Page: 293
Yente sleeping under stork wings Page: 293
Of Yente’s measurement of graves Page: 291
A letter from Nahman Jakubowski to the Lord in Częstochowa Page: 289
Gifts from the Besht Page: 285
The larch manor in Wojsławice and Zwierzchowski’s teeth Page: 281
Of torture and curses Page: 279
How Hayah prophesies Page: 276
Edom is shaken to its foundations Page: 275
Of how the interregnum translates into the traffic patterns of the carriages on Krakowskie Przedmieście Page: 273
Pinkas edits the Documenta Judaeos Page: 271
Who Pinkas runs into at the market in Lwów Page: 269
A mirror and ordinary glass Page: 267
Daily life in prison and of keeping children in a box Page: 262
The hole that leads to the abyss, or a visit from Tovah and his son Hayim Turk in 1765 Page: 258
Elżbieta Drużbacka writes from the Bernardine monastery in Tarnów a last letter to the canon Benedykt Chmielowski in Firlejów Page: 252
Of bringing Moliwda back to life Page: 248
Of wandering caves Page: 244
Of failed legations and history laying siege to the monastery walls Page: 241
Of the passing of Lady Hana in February of 1770 and of her final resting place Page: 235
Scraps: Being under siege Page: 232
VI. The Book of THE DISTANT COUNTRY Page: 227
Chapter 26 Page: 225
Yente reads passports Page: 225
Of the Dobrushka family in Prossnitz Page: 221
Of new life in Brünn and the ticking of clocks Page: 216
Of Moshe Dobrushka and the feast of the Leviathan Page: 211
Of the house by the cathedral and the delivery of maidens Page: 207
Scraps: How to catch a fish in muddied waters Page: 201
The Lord’s words Page: 197
The bird that hops out of a snuffbox Page: 195
A thousand compliments, or: Of the wedding of Moshe Dobrushka, or Thomas von Schönfeld Page: 192
Of the emperor and people from everywhere and nowhere Page: 190
Of the bear from Avacha Frank’s dream Page: 186
Of the high life Page: 184
A machine that plays chess Page: 180
Chapter 27 Page: 175
How Nahman Piotr Jakubowski is appointed an ambassador Page: 175
The return of Bishop Sołtyk Page: 171
What’s happening among the Lord’s Warsaw machna Page: 170
Eine Anzeige, or: A denunciation Page: 163
Coffee with milk: The effects of consumption Page: 159
A hernia, and the Lord’s words Page: 154
Of a proclivity for secret experiments on substances Page: 150
Every variety of ash, or: Recipes for homemade gold Page: 146
How the Lord’s dreams see the world Page: 144
Of the lovemaking of Franciszek Wołowski Page: 140
Of Samuel Ascherbach, son of Gitla and Asher Page: 138
Chapter 28 Page: 136
Asher in a Viennese café, or: Was ist Aufklärung? 1784 Page: 136
Of the healthful aspects of prophesying Page: 130
Of figurines made out of bread Page: 128
The rejected proposal of Franciszek Wołowski the younger Page: 126
A final audience with the emperor Page: 123
Thomas von Schönfeld and his games Page: 120
Scraps: Jacob Frank’s sons, and Moliwda Page: 115
Last days in Brünn Page: 110
Moliwda in search of his life’s center Page: 108
The next chapter in the history of His Lordship Antoni Kossakowski, also known as Moliwda Page: 103
Chapter 29 Page: 97
Of the little insect-like people who inhabit Offenbach am Main Page: 97
Of Isenburger Schloss and its freezing residents Page: 95
Of boiled eggs and Prince Lubomirski Page: 91
How Zwierzchowska the She-Wolf maintains order in the castle Page: 88
The knife set with turquoise Page: 85
Of the dollhouse Page: 81
The dangerous smell of the raspberry bush and muscatel Page: 78
Of Thomas von Schönfeld’s big plans Page: 72
Who the Lord is when he is no longer who he is Page: 69
Of Roch Frank’s sins Page: 65
Of neshika, God’s kiss Page: 63
Gossip, letters, denunciations, decrees, and reports Page: 59
Chapter 30 Page: 55
The death of a Polish princess, step by step Page: 55
A Warsaw table for thirty people Page: 51
Of ordinary life Page: 50
Heiliger Weg nach Offenbach Page: 47
Of women soaking their legs Page: 41
Scraps: Of the light Page: 38
VII. The Book of NAMES Page: 31
Chapter 31 Page: 29
Jakubowski and the books of death Page: 29
Eva Frank saves Offenbach from Napoleonic looting Page: 27
The skull Page: 26
Of a meeting in Vienna Page: 25
Samuel Ascherbach and his sisters Page: 24
The Załuski Brothers’ Library and Canon Benedykt Chmielowski Page: 23
The martyrdom of Junius Frey Page: 22
The children Page: 19
A lovely little girl plays the spinet Page: 17
Of a certain manuscript Page: 16
The travels of New Athens Page: 14
Yente Page: 13
A Note on Sources Page: 7
Author’s Acknowledgments Page: 3
Translator’s Acknowledgments Page: 1
About the Author and Translator Page: 1