The Books of Jacob

The Books of Jacob
First edition cover (Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2014)
AuthorOlga Tokarczuk
Original titleKsięgi Jakubowe
TranslatorJennifer Croft
LanguagePolish
GenreHistorical fiction
PublisherWydawnictwo Literackie
Publication date
October 2014
Publication placePoland
Published in English
15 November 2021
Media typePrint (hardcover)
Pages912
AwardsNike Award (2015)
ISBN978-83-08-04939-6
OCLC898158997
891.8538
LC ClassPG7179.O37 K75 2014

The Books of Jacob[a] (Polish: Księgi Jakubowe[b][c]) is an epic historical novel[5] by Olga Tokarczuk, published by Wydawnictwo Literackie in October 2014.[6] It is Tokarczuk's ninth novel and is the product of extensive historical research, taking her seven years to write.[7]

The Books of Jacob is a 912-page novel divided into seven books. It begins in 1752 in Rohatyn and ends in Holocaust-era Korolówka.[8] Its title subject is Jacob Frank, a Polish Jew who claimed to be the messiah. The novel combines dozens of third-person perspectives of those connected to Jacob Frank.[9]

Upon publication, it was an instant best-seller and won Poland's most prestigious literary prize, the Nike Award.[9] By October 2015, the novel's circulation had reached 100,000 copies.[10] When Tokarczuk was awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature, the Nobel Committee said that it was "very impressed" by The Books of Jacob.[5] An English translation by Jennifer Croft was published by Fitzcarraldo Editions on 15 November 2021.[11][12] Croft won a 2015 PEN/Heim Translation Fund Grant for The Books of Jacob.[13] A US publication by Riverhead Books was released on 1 February 2022.[14]

  1. ^ @FitzcarraldoEds (26 February 2021). "We have some news! THE BOOKS OF JACOB by Olga Tokarczuk, translated by @jenniferlcroft , is out 15 November 2021" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  2. ^ "The Nobel Prize in Literature 2018 – Bio-bibliography". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 13 October 2020.
  3. ^ Rojcewicz, Stephen (2020). "Olga Tokarczuk: The Right Time and Place". Reviews. Delos: A Journal of Translation and World Literature. 35 (1) (Spring 2020: Special Issue on Performance and Translation ed.) (published 6 May 2020): 101–115. doi:10.5744/delos.2020.1009.
  4. ^ Sosnowski, Jerzy (10 December 2019). "Księga totalna". Więź (in Polish). Retrieved 13 October 2020.
  5. ^ a b "Olga Tokarczuk and Peter Handke win Nobel Prize for Literature for 2018 and 2019". BBC News. 10 October 2019. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  6. ^ "Księgi Jakubowe". Wydawnictwo Literackie. Archived from the original on 20 January 2021. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  7. ^ Tausinger, Rona (14 April 2020). "'I wrote about a charismatic man, a psychopath, a charmer. A fraud'". Israel Hayom. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  8. ^ Croft, Jennifer (March 2020). "Frozen Time". Frieze. No. 209.
  9. ^ a b Franklin, Ruth (29 July 2019). "Olga Tokarczuk's Novels Against Nationalism". The New Yorker. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  10. ^ "Nakład "Ksiąg Jakubowych" przekroczył 100 tysięcy". www.tokarczuk.wydawnictwoliterackie.pl (in Polish). 29 October 2015. Archived from the original on 18 October 2020. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  11. ^ "The Books of Jacob". Fitzcarraldo Editions. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  12. ^ Flood, Alison (26 February 2021). "Olga Tokarczuk's 'magnum opus' finally gets English release – after seven years of translation". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
  13. ^ Tokarczuk, Olga (22 October 2015). "The Books of Jacob". pen.org. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  14. ^ "The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk: 9780593087480". Penguin Random House. Retrieved 15 November 2021.


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).