Flights (novel)

Flights
First English edition
AuthorOlga Tokarczuk
Original titleBieguni
TranslatorJennifer Croft
LanguageEnglish
GenreFiction
Set in17th–21st century
Published
Publisher
Media typePrint, digital
Pages416
Awards
ISBN1910695432 (Fitzcarraldo Editions)

Flights (Polish: Bieguni, lit. 'runners') is a 2007 fragmentary novel by the Polish author Olga Tokarczuk. The book was translated into English by Jennifer Croft.[1] The original Polish title refers to runaways (runners, bieguni), a sect of Old Believers, who believe that being in constant motion is a trick to avoid evil.[2]

Set between the 17th and 21st centuries, the novel is a "philosophical rumination on modern-day travel".[3] It is structured as a series of vignettes, some fictional, and some based on fact – among them that of the Dutch anatomist Philip Verheyen's study of the achilles tendon, and the story of Ludwika Jędrzejewicz, the sister of the Polish composer Frédéric Chopin, transporting his heart back to Warsaw.[4][5]

The novel won the Man Booker International Prize in 2018, marking the first time a Polish author received the award.[3][6] The chair of the judging panel, Lisa Appignanesi, described Tokarczuk as a "writer of wonderful wit, imagination, and literary panache".[7] Tokarczuk and Croft shared the £50,000 prize.[8]

  1. ^ Tokarczuk, Olga (2017-05-17). Flights. Translated by Croft, Jennifer. Fitzcarraldo Editions. ISBN 9781910695432.
  2. ^ "Bieguni". Booklips (in Polish). 30 August 2011.
  3. ^ a b "Olga Tokarczuk of Poland Wins Man Booker International Prize". The New York Times. 2018-05-22. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-05-28.
  4. ^ Flood, Alison (2018-05-22). "Olga Tokarczuk's 'extraordinary' Flights wins Man Booker International prize". the Guardian. Retrieved 2018-05-23.
  5. ^ Tokarczuk, Olga (2018). Flights (Expected release: 8/2018 ed.). Penguin Publishing Group. ISBN 9780525534198.
  6. ^ Flood, Alison (2018-05-22). "Olga Tokarczuk's 'extraordinary' Flights wins Man Booker International prize". The Guardian. Retrieved 2018-05-28.
  7. ^ "First Polish writer wins global Booker". BBC News. 2018-05-22. Retrieved 2018-05-28.
  8. ^ "Olga Tokarczuk becomes first Polish winner of International Man Booker Prize". BT.com. Retrieved 2018-05-23.