The Books of Jacob Read online

  ABOUT THE BOOK

  The Nobel Prize-winner Olga Tokarczuk’s richest and most ambitious novel yet follows the comet-like rise and fall of a messianic religious leader as he blazes his way across eighteenth-century Europe.

  As new ideas—and a new unrest—begin to sweep the Continent, a young Jew of mysterious origins arrives in a village in Poland. Visited by what seem to be ecstatic experiences, Jacob Frank casts a spell that attracts a fervent following. He reinvents himself again and again, converts to Islam, then Catholicism, is pilloried as a heretic, revered as the Messiah, and wreaks havoc on the conventional order, Jewish and Christian alike, with scandalous rumours of his sect’s secret rituals and the spread of his iconoclastic beliefs.

  The story of Frank—a real historical figure, a divisive yet charismatic man—is the perfect canvas for the genius and unparalleled reach of Olga Tokarczuk. Narrated through the perspectives of his contemporaries—those who revere him, those who revile him, the friend who betrays him, the lone woman who sees him for what he is—The Books of Jacob captures a world on the cusp of precipitous change, searching for certainty and longing for transcendence.

  For my parents

  Cover Page

  About the Book

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Map

  Prologue

  I. THE BOOK OF FOG

  1.

  1752, Rohatyn

  2.

  Of calamitous leaf springs and Katarzyna Kossakowska’s feminine complaint

  Of bloodstained silks

  The white end of the table at Starosta Łabęcki’s

  3.

  Of Asher Rubin and his gloomy thoughts

  The beehive, or: The home of the Shorr family in Rohatyn

  In the beth midrash

  Yente, or: Not a good time to die

  What we read in the Zohar

  Of the swallowed amulet

  4.

  Pharo and Mariage

  Polonia est paradisus Judaeorum

  Of the presbytery in Firlejów and the sinful pastor living in it

  Father Chmielowski tries to write a letter to Mrs. Drużbacka

  Elżbieta Drużbacka writes to Father Chmielowski

  Bishop Kajetan Sołtyk writes a letter to the papal nuncio

  Zelik

  II. THE BOOK OF SAND

  5.

  Of how the world was born of God’s exhaustion

  Scraps, or: A story born of travel’s exhaustion, by Nahman Samuel ben Levi, Rabbi of Busk. Where I come from My youth

  Of the caravan, and how I met Reb Mordke

  My return to Podolia, and a strange vision

  On an expedition with Mordechai to Smyrna, due to a dream of goat droppings

  6.

  Of a strange wedding guest in white stockings and sandals

  Nahman’s Tale: Jacob’s first mention

  Isohar’s School, and who God really is: The next installment in the story of Nahman ben Levi of Busk

  Of Jacob the simpleton and taxes

  Of Nahman’s appearance to Nahman, or: The pit of darkness and the seed of light

  Of stones and the runaway with the horrible face

  Of how Nahman winds up with Yente and falls asleep on the floor by her bed

  Of Yente’s onward wanderings through time

  Of the terrible consequences of the amulet’s disappearance

  What the Zohar says

  Pesel’s tale of the Podhajce goat and the strange grass

  Father Chmielowski writes a letter to Mrs. Drużbacka, whom he holds in such high esteem, in January 1753, from Firlejów

  7.

  Yente’s story

  8.

  Honey, and not eating too much of it, or: Isohar’s school in Smyrna, in the Turkish land

  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

  9.

  Of the wedding in Nikopol, the mystery under the huppah, and the advantages of being foreign

  In Craiova: Of trade on holy days and of Hershel, faced with the dilemma of the cherries

  Of a pearl and Hana

  10.

  Who the person is who gathers herbs on Mount Athos

  11.

  How in the town of Craiova Moliwda-Kossakowski runs into Jacob

  The story of His Lordship Moliwda, or Antoni Kossakowski, of the Ślepowron coat of arms, which is also known as Korwin

  Of what draws persons together, and certain clarifications regarding the transmigration of souls

  Jacob’s story about the ring

  Scraps: What we saw among Moliwda’s Bogomils

  12.

  Of Jacob’s expedition to the grave of Nathan of Gaza

  Of how Nahman follows in Jacob’s footsteps

  Of how Jacob faces off with the Antichrist

  The appearance of ruah haKodesh, when the spirit descends into man

  Of why Salonika does not care for Jacob

  Scraps: Of the curse of Salonika and Jacob’s molting

  Scraps: Of triangles and crosses

  Scraps: Of meeting Jacob’s father in Roman, and also of the starosta and the thief

  Of Jacob’s dance

  III. THE BOOK OF THE ROAD

  13.

  Of the warm December of 1755, otherwise known as the month of Tevet 5516, of the country of Polin, and pestilence in Mielnica

  What is gleaned by the sharp gaze of every variety of spy

  “Three things are too wondrous for me; the fourth I can’t understand.” —Book of Proverbs 30:18

  The Lord’s female guardians

  Scraps by Nahman of Busk kept secret from Jacob

  Of secret acts in Lanckoroń and an unfavorable eye

  How Gershon caught the heretics

  Of the Polish princess Gitla Pinkasówna

  Of Pinkas and his shameful despair

  14.

  Of the Bishop of Kamieniec Mikołaj Dembowski, who doesn’t realize he is merely passing through this whole affair

  Of Father Chmielowski’s defense of his good name before the bishop

  What Elżbieta Drużbacka writes to Father Chmielowski in February of 1756 from Rzemień on the Wisłoka

  Father Chmielowski to Elżbieta Drużbacka

  What Pinkas records, and what goes unrecorded

  Of the Seder HaHerem, or the order of the curse

  Of Yente, who is always present and sees all

  The Bishop of Kamieniec Mikołaj Dembowski writes a letter to the papal nuncio Serra, while his secretary adds a little something from himself

  Bishop Dembowski writes to Bishop Sołtyk

  Meanwhile

  How Gitla’s stepmother’s pessimistic predictions come true

  15.

  How the old minaret in Kamieniec turns into a column with the Holy Mother on top

  What Bishop Dembowski ponders as his face is being shaved

  Of Hayah’s two natures

  The shapes of the new letters

  Of Krysa and his plans for the future

  16.

  Of the year 1757 and of the establishment of certain age-old truths over the summer at the Kamieniec Podolski disputation

  Of burning books

  Of Father Pikulski’s explanation to the nobles of the rules of gematria

  Of newly appointed Archbishop Dembowski, who is preparing for a journey

  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

  Of Asher Rubin’s adventures with light, and his grandfather’s with a wolf

  Of the Polish princess in Asher Rubin�
��s house

  Of the reversal of circumstances: Katarzyna Kossakowska writes to Bishop Kajetan Sołtyk

  Pompa funebris: January 29, 1758

  Of spilled blood and hungry leeches

  Mrs. Elżbieta Drużbacka to Father Chmielowski, or: Of the perfection of imprecise forms

  The Vicar Forane Benedykt Chmielowski writes to Elżbieta Drużbacka

  Of the unexpected guest who comes in the night to Father Chmielowski

  Of the cave in the shape of the alef

  17.

  Scraps: My heart’s quandary

  How in Giurgiu we talked Jacob into returning to Poland

  Father Benedykt weeds the oregano

  The runaway

  The runaway’s tale: Jewish purgatory

  Cousins putting up a unified front and launching their campaign

  Moliwda sets out and beholds the kingdom of the vagabonds

  How Moliwda is made messenger in the service of a difficult cause

  Of useful truths and useless truths, and the mortar post as a means of communication

  Mrs. Kossakowska, wife of the castellan of Kamieniec, writes to Senator Łubieński, Bishop of Lwów

  Father Pikulski writes to Senator Łubieński, Bishop of Lwów

  From Antoni Moliwda-Kossakowski to His Excellency Bishop Łubieński

  Knives and forks

  18.

  Of how Ivanie, a little village on the Dniester, becomes a republic

  Of the sleeves of Sabbatai Tzvi’s holy shirt

  Of the working of Jacob’s touch

  Of the women’s talk while plucking chickens

  Of which of the women will be chosen

  Hana’s gloomy gaze notes these details of Ivanie

  Of Moliwda’s visit to Ivanie

  Divine grace, which calls out from the darkness into the light

  The supplication to Archbishop Łubieński

  Of the everlasting interconnectedness between divinity and sinfulness

  Of God

  “The miller grinds the flower”

  IV. THE BOOK OF THE COMET

  19.

  Of the comet that augurs the end of the world and brings about the Shekhinah

  Of Yankiel of Glinno and the terrible smell of silt

  Of Strange Deeds, holy silence, and other Ivanie diversions

  A tale of two tablets

  Scraps, or: Eight months in the Lord’s community of Ivanie

  Of doubles, trinities, and foursomes

  Of candles put out

  A man who does not have a piece of land is not a man

  Of stablehands and the study of the Polish language

  Of new name

  Of Pinkas, who descends into hell in search of his daughter

  Antoni Moliwda-Kossakowski writes to Katarzyna Kossakowska

  Katarzyna Kossakowska to Antoni Moliwda-Kossakowski

  Of the cross and dancing in the abyss

  20.

  What Yente sees from the vault of Lwów cathedral on July 17, 1759

  Of Asher’s familial bliss

  The seventh point of the disputation

  Of secret hand and eye signals and hints

  Katarzyna Kossakowska writes to Bishop Kajetan Sołtyk

  Of the troubles of Father Chmielowski

  Of Pinkas, who cannot understand what sin he has committed

  Of the human deluge that overwhelms the streets of Lwów

  The Mayorkowiczes

  Nahman and his raiment of good deeds

  Father Mikulski’s bills and the market of Christian names

  Of what happens to Father Chmielowski in Lwów

  At the printing press of Paweł Józef Golczewski, His Majesty the King’s preferred typographer

  Of proper proportions

  The baptism

  Of Jacob Frank’s shaved beard, and the new face that emerges from underneath it

  21.

  Of the plague that descends upon Lwów in the autumn of 1759

  What Moliwda writes to his cousin Katarzyna Kossakowska

  In which Katarzyna Kossakowska dares to disturb the powerful of this world

  Of the trampling of coins and using a knife to make a V formation of cranes make a U-turn

  Scraps: At Radziwiłł’s

  Of sad turns in Lublin

  22.

  The inn on the right bank of the Vistula

  Of events in Warsaw and the papal nuncio

  Of Katarzyna and her dominion over Warsaw

  Katarzyna Kossakowska writes to her cousin

  What is served for Christmas Eve dinner at Mrs. Kossakowska’s

  Avacha and her two dolls

  A doll for Salusia Łabęcka, and Father Chmielowski’s tales of a library and a ceremonious baptism

  Father Gaudenty Pikulski, a Bernardine, interrogates the naive

  Father Gaudenty Pikulski writes to Primate Łubieński

  The cornflower-blue żupan and the red kontusz

  What was going on in Warsaw when Jacob disappeared

  Spit on this fire

  An ocean of questions that will sink even the strongest battleship

  23.

  What hunting is like at Hieronim Florian Radziwiłł’s

  Scraps: Of the three paths of the story and how telling a tale can be its own deed

  Hana, consider in your heart

  V. THE BOOK OF METAL AND SULFUR

  24.

  The messianic machine, how it works

  Of Jacob’s arrival, on a February night in 1760, in Częstochowa

  What Jacob’s prison is like

  The flagellants

  The holy picture that conceals without revealing

  A letter in Polish

  A visit to the monastery

  Upupa dicit

  Of Jacob’s learning to read and where the Poles come from

  Of Jan Wołowski and Mateusz Matuszewski, who are the next to come to Częstochowa, in November of 1760

  Elżbieta Drużbacka to Father Benedykt Chmielowski, Vicar Forane of Rohatyn, Tarnów, Christmas, 1760

  Elżbieta Drużbacka’s heavy golden heart offered to the Black Madonna

  25.

  Yente sleeping under stork wings

  Of Yente’s measurement of graves

  A letter from Nahman Jakubowski to the Lord in Częstochowa

  Gifts from the Besht

  The larch manor in Wojsławice and Zwierzchowski’s teeth

  Of torture and curses

  How Hayah prophesies

  Edom is shaken to its foundations

  Of how the interregnum translates into the traffic patterns of the carriages on Krakowskie Przedmieście

  Pinkas edits the Documenta Judaeos

  Who Pinkas runs into at the market in Lwów

  A mirror and ordinary glass

  Daily life in prison and of keeping children in a box

  The hole that leads to the abyss, or a visit from Tovah and his son Hayim Turk in 1765

  Elżbieta Drużbacka writes from the Bernardine monastery in Tarnów a last letter to the canon Benedykt Chmielowski in Firlejów

  Of bringing Moliwda back to life

  Of wandering caves

  Of failed legations and history laying siege to the monastery walls

  Of the passing of Lady Hana in February of 1770 and of her final resting place

  Scraps: Being under siege

  VI. THE BOOK OF THE DISTANT COUNTRY

  26.

  Yente reads passports

  Of the Dobrushka family in Prossnitz

  Of new life in Brünn and the ticking of clocks

  Of Moshe Dobrushka and the feast of the Leviathan

  Of the house by the cathedral and the delivery of maiden

  Scraps: How to catch a fish in muddied water

  The Lord’s words

  The bird that hops out of a snuffbox

  A thousand compliments, or: Of the wedding of Moshe Dobrushka, or Thomas von Schönfeld

  Of t
he emperor and people from everywhere and nowhere

  Of the bear from Avacha Frank’s dream

  Of the high life

  A machine that plays chess

  27.

  How Nahman Piotr Jakubowski is appointed an ambassador

  The return of Bishop Sołtyk

  What’s happening among the Lord’s Warsaw machna

  Eine Anzeige, or: A denunciation

  Coffee with milk: The effects of consumption

  A hernia, and the Lord’s words

  Of a proclivity for secret experiments on substances

  Every variety of ash, or: Recipes for homemade gold

  How the Lord’s dreams see the world

  Of the lovemaking of Franciszek Wołowski

  Of Samuel Ascherbach, son of Gitla and Asher

  28.

  Asher in a Viennese café, or: Was ist Aufklärung? 1784

  Of the healthful aspects of prophesying

  Of figurines made out of bread

  The rejected proposal of Franciszek Wołowski the younger

  A final audience with the emperor

  Thomas von Schönfeld and his games

  Scraps: Jacob Frank’s sons, and Moliwda

  Last days in Brünn

  Moliwda in search of his life’s center

  The next chapter in the history of His Lordship Antoni Kossakowski, also known as Moliwda

  29.

  Of the little insect-like people who inhabit Offenbach am Main

  Of Isenburger Schloss and its freezing residents

  Of boiled eggs and Prince Lubomirski

  How Zwierzchowska the She-Wolf maintains order in the castle

  The knife set with turquoise

  Of the dollhouse

  The dangerous smell of the raspberry bush and muscate

  Of Thomas von Schönfeld’s big plans

  Who the Lord is when he is no longer who he is

  Of Roch Frank’s sins

  Of neshika, God’s kiss

  Gossip, letters, denunciations, decrees, and reports

  30.

  The death of a Polish princess, step by step

  A Warsaw table for thirty people

  Of ordinary life

  Heiliger Weg nach Offenbach

  Of women soaking their legs

  Scraps: Of the light

  VII. THE BOOK OF NAMES

  31.