Olga Tokarczuk

[Leseratte]

I thought Drive Your Plow was a lot of fun - though I did read it rather quickly.

I also thought House of Day, House of Night was amazing. It feels like a companion piece to Flights but confess that I actually preferred it to the latter.

She's also got a couple of short stories in English translation scattered about the web. Here's one of my favorites.

Thanks for the link!

 

[Abhi]

I found Drive Your Plow to be entertaining. The narratorial voice, as some of you pointed out, is probably the most appealing thing about the book. Those who are turned off by the fragmentary nature of  Flights might prefer Drive Your Plow since the latter has a plot in the traditional sense. Though Drive Your Plow has some really, really engrossing turns of events, I wasn't as impressed after finishing the book to think it's Nobel-worthy. But an entertaining read if you're into elements of ecological thriller.

Has anyone seen the film adaptation of Drive Your Plow? How is it?

 

[Bartleby]

I lfound Drive Your Plow to be entertaining. The narratorial voice, as some of you pointed out, is probably the most appealing thing about the book. Those who are turned off by the fragmentary nature of  Flights might prefer Drive Your Plow since the latter has a plot in the traditional sense. Though Drive Your Plow has some really, really engrossing turns of events, I wasn't as impressed after finishing the book to think it's Nobel-worthy. But an entertaining read if you're into elements of ecological thriller.

Has anyone seen the film adaptation of Drive Your Plow? How is it?

Oh, I somehow thought I’d posted it here, but it turns out I’d just “composed” the post in my mind... anyway, it’s been a couple of weeks, but I’ve watched:

the adaptation of Tokarczuk’s Drive your plow, called Spoor, and it’s a very good movie, it’s beautifully shot and deserves to be seen on that basis alone. It’s fairly identical to the novel in terms of plot, there’s just a bit more of backstory to one of the characters, and some of the flashbacks of the book take place at the beginning here as a way of introducing the story and characters, but overall it’s all the same. There isn’t much of voiceover tho, so that, Janina’s musings are mostly there on the dialogues, but that makes sense for a film, sometimes too much verbal exposition can damage it.

 

[tiganeasca]

Forgive me: I did not go through every post for the past six pages to ensure that this hasn't already been posted in some form. However, even if this post is duplicative, I think it's worth calling this list to everyone's attention. It is taken from a website culture.pl. As the website itself explains, it is "the flagship brand of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, a state-run cultural institution under the auspices of the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage, which promotes Poland and Polish culture worldwide. Featuring over 40,000 articles in Polish, English, Ukrainian and Russian, Culture.pl features the best of Polish literature, design, visual arts, music, film and more, with over 6 million visitors a year across 80 countries."

With that introduction, I offer you a link to an article entitled "10 Need-to-Know Books by Olga Tokarczuk." It was posted on their site in January 2020 and so, clearly, does not include later works. NOTE: this is NOT a list of 10 books available in English because I am virtually certain that some (many?) of them are not translated into English. However, they may well be translated into other languages. And since we have folks here who speak and read many different languages, I think this article is well worth psoting. It's a nice summary of some of her work and a foretaste, one hopes, of things to look forward to in English. Happy reading!

P.S. You may well find (many) other articles worth you time on the general culture.pl website; I'd encourage you to visit.

​

 

[Ben Jackson]

Forgive me: I did not go through every post for the past six pages to ensure that this hasn't already been posted in some form. However, even if this post is duplicative, I think it's worth calling this list to everyone's attention. It is taken from a website culture.pl. As the website itself explains, it is "the flagship brand of the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, a state-run cultural institution under the auspices of the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage, which promotes Poland and Polish culture worldwide. Featuring over 40,000 articles in Polish, English, Ukrainian and Russian, Culture.pl features the best of Polish literature, design, visual arts, music, film and more, with over 6 million visitors a year across 80 countries."

With that introduction, I offer you a link to an article entitled "10 Need-to-Know Books by Olga Tokarczuk." It was posted on their site in January 2020 and so, clearly, does not include later works. NOTE: this is NOT a list of 10 books available in English because I am virtually certain that some (many?) of them are not translated into English. However, they may well be translated into other languages. And since we have folks here who speak and read many different languages, I think this article is well worth psoting. It's a nice summary of some of her work and a foretaste, one hopes, of things to look forward to in English. Happy reading!

P.S. You may well find (many) other articles worth you time on the general culture.pl website; I'd encourage you to visit.

​

That website is where I read the biographies of many famous Polish cultural icons: Sienkiewicz, Gombrowicz, Herbert, Szymborska, Leopold Staff and so many others. But thanks for the sharing the link on Tokarczuk I really appreciate, at least I know what to read after Flights and Books of Jacob.

 

[Bartleby]

Olga Tokarczuk's first novel after winning the Nobel Prize is going to be published this year's September. It has been translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones. Here are two articles about it:

Fitzcarraldo Editions scoops four books by Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk

Fitzcarraldo Editions has snapped up four novels by Olga Tokarczuk, the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate, including The Empusium- the author’s first novel since she won the prize.

www.thebookseller.com

Fitzcarraldo Editions has snapped up four novels by Olga Tokarczuk, the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate, including The Empusium- the author’s first novel since she won the prize.

Publisher Jacques Testard bought UK and Commonwealth rights, excluding Canada, Australia and New Zealand, to The Empusium, alongside backlist titles House of Day, House of Night (Granta Books/ Northwestern University Press), Primeval and Other Times (Twisted Spoon Press) and Anna In in the Catacombs, from Tokarczuk’s agent Laurence Laluyaux at RCW.

Antonia Lloyd-Jones will revise her existing translations of House of Day, House of Night and Primeval and Other Times, ahead of publication "no sooner" than 2025, and will translate Anna In in the Catacombs into English for the first time.

The Empusium will be published on 26th September 2024 in Lloyd-Jones’ translation, with Becky Saletan at Riverhead publishing in North America, and Penny Hueston at Text Publishing in Australia. "In The Empusium, Olga Tokarczuk revisits Thomas Mann territory and lays claim to it, blending horror story, comedy, folklore and feminist parable with brilliant storytelling," the synopsis says.

The synopsis adds: "In September 1913, Mieczysław Wojnicz, a student suffering from tuberculosis, arrives at Wilhelm Opitz’s Guesthouse for Gentlemen, a health resort in what is now western Poland. Every day, its residents gather in the dining room to imbibe the hallucinogenic local liqueur, to obsess over money and status, and to discuss the great issues of the day: Will there be war? Monarchy or democracy? Do devils exist? Are women inherently inferior?

"Meanwhile, disturbing things are beginning to happen in the guesthouse and its surroundings... Little does Mieczysław realise, as he attempts to unravel both the truths within himself and the mystery of the sinister forces beyond, that they have already chosen their next target."

The book will be Tokarczuk’s fourth novel with Fitzcarraldo Editions, following Flights, translated by Jennifer Croft, which won the 2017 International Booker Prize, as well as Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones, and The Books of Jacob, translated by Jennifer Croft.

Tokarczuk is Fitzcarraldo Editions’ bestselling author to date. She is the author of nine novels, three short story collections, and has been translated into more than 50 languages. She has sold just under 171,000 copies for £1.7m for all editions combined. Almost all (£1.6m) is Fitzcarraldo-published. Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead (97,000 units for £886,000, Antonia Lloyd-Jones, trans) and Flights (47,000 and £461,000, Jennifer Croft, trans) account for the lion’s share. She’s also sold £55,000 worth of Polish language titles in the UK.

Of The Empusium, Tokarczuk said: "My story is clad in the conventions of horror while taking the culture of misogyny to task. But I hope my readers will enjoy its humour, and will have fun getting to the bottom of a certain mystery."

Translator Lloyd-Jones added: "Translating this book was a delight—an exotic setting, an intriguing plot, some bizarrely compelling characters, magic mushrooms, mystery, danger and death, all described in exquisite style."

Testard added: "I am delighted that we will be publishing another four novels by Olga Tokarczuk. She is an extraordinary, world-class novelist with an incredible range. I am very excited for readers to get their hands on The Empusium, which has the same propulsive energy and immersive storytelling as Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, and which has been translated with exceptional style and verve by Antonia Lloyd-Jones."

The American edition cover (and some comments from the its designer about it) can be seen here:

A detailed synopsis from the publisher page:

The Nobelist’s latest masterwork, set in a sanitarium on the eve of World War I, probes the horrors that lie beneath our most hallowed ideas.

In September 1913, Mieczysław, a student suffering from tuberculosis, arrives at Wilhelm Opitz’s Guesthouse for Gentlemen, a health resort in what is now western Poland. Every day, its residents gather in the dining room to imbibe the hallucinogenic local liqueur, to obsess over money and status, and to discuss the great issues of the day: Will there be war? Monarchy or democracy? Do devils exist? Are women inherently inferior?

Meanwhile, disturbing things are beginning to happen in the guesthouse and its surroundings. As stories of shocking events in the surrounding highlands reach the men, a sense of dread builds. Someone–or something–seems to be watching them and attempting to infiltrate their world. Little does Mieczysław realize, as he attempts to unravel both the truths within himself and the mystery of the sinister forces beyond, that they have already chosen their next target.

A century after the publication of The Magic Mountain, Tokarczuk revisits Thomas Mann territory and lays claim to it, blending horror story, comedy, folklore, and feminist parable with brilliant storytelling.

 

[Elie]

Olga Tokarczuk's first novel after winning the Nobel Prize is going to be published this year's September. It has been translated by Antonia Lloyd-Jones. Here are two articles about it:

Fitzcarraldo Editions scoops four books by Nobel Prize winner Olga Tokarczuk

Fitzcarraldo Editions has snapped up four novels by Olga Tokarczuk, the 2018 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate, including The Empusium- the author’s first novel since she won the prize.

www.thebookseller.com

The American edition cover (and some comments from the its designer about it) can be seen here:

A detailed synopsis from the publisher page:

About flipping time! Fitzcarraldo acquired these ages ago, at least last year if not before. And I met Olga and Antonia Lloyd-Jones at an event I think in 2018 or 2019 and they told me then that the translation of Anna in the Catacombs was complete and they were just looking for a publisher. Why such a long wait I wonder?