In 2018, the Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature and became famous, despite the fact that even before the big prize she was respected at the international level. And in Greek, her book Primitive and Other Times was published in 2017 by Kastaniotis, from whom all her books are published in Greek. In 2020, The Planets came out, this year, Drive Your Plow Through the Bones of the Dead, and in a few days, The Books of Jacob, which are considered her outstanding work, are expected. “Aletri” was translated by Anastasia Hatzigiannidis, the other three – by the tireless translator (German, Russian, Polish…) Alexandra Ioannidou. We asked her to introduce us to the universe of a new book by a Polish Nobel Prize winner.

Book Title: Refers to its main character, Jacob Frank, a real historical figure. Jacob Frank or otherwise Jacob Leibowitz (1726-1791), a Jew from Poland, who continued in the 18th century the tradition of Sabatai Khevi (or Khevi) known in Greece and mainly in Thessaloniki and who, in turn, strove to prove that all religions turn to the same God , he founded the sect “Frankism”, whose followers moved from one religion to another. The name, of course, refers to the Christian religion, but the plural alludes to more than one book, more than one “Bible.” This is a historical novel that seeks to recreate as accurately as possible the atmosphere of the multicultural world of the three great empires of the 18th century Enlightenment. It contains few fictional elements and is heavily based on historical sources and detailed study. It took Tokarczuk seven years to write this book.

“Multi-romance”: I wouldn’t call it that, in the sense that it sticks to the same story unfolding over a long period of time – the life story of Jacob Frank. Through the life of the protagonist, the whole world is depicted, or rather, many worlds – West and East, Catholics, Orthodox, Jews, Muslims, cities and villages, travel, conversations, trade, government, the position of women, enlighteners and obscurantists, mores, prejudices, superstitions . The plots of the novel take place both in the Polish village and in large cities – shopping centers of that time (Izmir, Thessaloniki, Vienna, etc.), the descriptions are not only convincing, they are fascinating, the characters develop throughout life. . Coherence is achieved by tracking specific individuals, and above all, of course, Jacob and his family. The book stands out as a masterpiece because it manages with extraordinary skill to portray another era convincingly and bow down to historical figures with sensitivity, empathy and a critical spirit at the same time.

Alexandra Ioannidou, who translated it into Greek, introduces us to the universe of the new book by the Polish Nobel Prize winner, The Books of James.

Why read it: To immerse yourself in the most vivid, realistic and touching literary representation of the 18th century, to draw the necessary comparisons, to reflect on the timelessness of the human condition, human anguish, but also about happiness, to turn your heart upside down perception of history as a fruitless memorization of dates, battles, the names of its prominent characters. And, of course, enjoy the writing skills of Tokarczuk.

Translation difficulties: several. For example, historical geographical names that change from era to era and from language to language. Tokarczuk keeps track of changes in his own language – a place may be called differently in different chapters of the book or by different characters. In Greek, these changes do not match. There were terms that confused me.

My personal problem was that I was able to work between chemos during my breast cancer journey last year. However, in this case, I was also told what seemed to me incredible: the specific gene mutation shown in the study is observed exclusively in Polish Jewish populations. Grandmother Rosa, who came from Smyrna and died in Athens from this type of cancer, could, after all, be of Jewish origin. It is possible that Jacob Frank knew her most distant ancestors, who probably moved from Poland at some point to settle in Smyrna and convert to Christianity.