Marcin Wodziński, the head of the University of Wrocław’s Jewish studies department, said it is precisely this orientation that makes Tokarczuk stand out in Poland.

“Her entire project is about recreating a world in which many different languages and cultures intersect and interact,” Croft told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Polish scholars of Judaism see Tokarczuk, who won a Nobel Prize in Literature in 2018 largely on the strength of “The Books of Jacob,” as perennially interested in the experience of outsiders and those on the periphery of society. (One more critical reader has also called the experience of reading it a “thunderslog.”) But her book has also revived discussions around the creators and consumers of Jewish culture in Poland, most of whom are not Jewish themselves. Tokarczuk’s now-global audience has gone one step further, declaring “The Books of Jacob” to be not just a great Polish book, but Poland’s great Jewish novel. Mixing historical detail with an intricately developed fictional narrative, the book was immediately hailed as an important work of contemporary Polish writing. Frank leads his followers in a rebellion against the era’s rabbinate, at one point orchestrating a mass conversion into Catholicism, as the various myths and legends of his life converge via his beholders. The novel’s central figure is Jacob Frank, a real-life 18th-century Jewish messianic cult leader, told through the eyes of those around him. This week, the book’s English translation, by Jennifer Croft, was released in the United States, bringing the many debates over its sheer spectacle, side-eyed depiction of Poland’s attitude toward Jews, and unorthodox vision of 18th-century Jewish life to an even broader audience. That reaction has only intensified in the years since, as the novel - a nearly 1,000-page journey into the life of a Jewish messianic cult leader - was translated into several languages including Hebrew, became a global phenomenon and helped win its author the Nobel Prize in Literature. ( JTA) - When Polish writer Olga Tokarczuk published “The Books of Jacob” in Poland in 2014, she drew critical acclaim from the Polish left and an intense backlash from the country’s right wing.

The book of jacob novel