Olga Tokarczuk

[Leseratte]

I think you'll enjoy the Books of Jakob.

 

[Morbid Swither]

I think you'll enjoy the Books of Jakob.

I can’t wait.

 

[Leseratte]

I just wonder why they took so much time to translate it.

 

[hayden]

I just wonder why they took so much time to translate it.

Who knows.

 

[Leseratte]

Lol! Yes I know it's about 1200 pages and there's the pandemic. But the German translation appeared last year.

 

[Bartleby]

Jennifer Croft’s written an article on the surface about translating The Books of Jacob, but ends up covering some things more. The interesting thing about it, together with some info on what the novel covers, and her calling the book unquestionably Tokarczuk’s masterpiece, is that she finished the translation of it on 12 January (her actual deadline was 31 December 2019). How long the editing process is! For the book won’t come out until March 2021. I wasn’t aware of the time it took in delivering a book.

The thing that’s really astonishing to me is how long the revisions and editing took! As you can see from this article, the translation itself was ready almost two years ago!

 

[Leseratte]

Jennifer Croft’s written an article on the surface about translating The Books of Jacob, but ends up covering some things more. The interesting thing about it, together with some info on what the novel covers, and her calling the book unquestionably Tokarczuk’s masterpiece, is that she finished the translation of it on 12 January (her actual deadline was 31 December 2019). How long the editing process is! For the book won’t come out until March 2021. I wasn’t aware of the time it took in delivering a book.

Thanks for the article, as you say it reallly gives an idea of the content of the novel. The editing process can be very long. I translated a Kafka novel about three years ago and it is probably in the hands of some revisor. Because of pandemics and because other projects are more urgent.

 

[Bartleby]

Thanks for the article, as you say it reallly gives an idea of the content of the novel. The editing process can be very long. I translated a Kafka novel about three years ago and it is probably in the hands of some revisor. Because of pandemics and because other projects are more urgent.

Oh, that's so nice! I hope it gets published soon!
If you don't mind telling, which book was it? And for what publisher (sorry if I'm being too nosy)?

 

[Leseratte]

Certainly not, Bartleby! Amérika for Martin Claret.

 

[Michael!]

The Penguin edition of The Books of Jacob is being released on February 1st. Really looking forward to it.

 

[Bartleby]

A (somewhat long) B+ review from The Complete Review

The Books of Jacob - Olga Tokarczuk

A review, and links to other information about and reviews of The Books of Jacob by Olga Tokarczuk.

www.complete-review.com

 

[redhead]

Here’s a new essay by Jennifer Croft about translating The Books of Jacob:

The Order of Things: Jennifer Croft on Translating Olga Tokarczuk

Olga Tokarczuk’s twelfth book, the novel The Books of Jacob, first published in Poland in 2014 to great acclaim and considerable controversy, kicks off in 1752 in Rohatyn, in what is now western Uk…

lithub.com

 

[Leseratte]

One more review of "The Books of Jacob" but better to be read after the novel as it contains spoilers. And one has to register to read the articles of NYT:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/02/books/review/the-books-of-jacob-olga-tokarczuk.htmlThe Books of Jacob.

I´m a bit confused. It seems there are two different editions in English of the book: One with a blue cover (Goodreads) and this one:

Amazon.com

 

[Bartleby]

I´m a bit confused. It seems there are two different editions in English of the book: One with a blue cover (Goodreads) and this one:

Amazon.com

The one with the blue cover is the English edition, by Fitzcarraldo Editions, the one you link is the American one, by Riverhead Books (a Penguin imprint).

 

[Leseratte]

Thanks, @Bartleby. Do you know, if they were released simultaneously? I mean, many readers were anxious for the release. They had to wait quite a lot of time and now there are two.

 

[Leseratte]

The English edition:

The Books of Jacob

Author: Olga Tokarczuk Translator: Jennifer Croft Publisher: Fitzcarraldo Editions Paperback Staff Pick! So Says… Or possibly the book of the millennium! If you’re feeling a bit it’s-the-end-of-the-world and/or want to know more about Ukrainian borders and/or love a mind-bending historical...

burleyfisherbooks.com

 

[Bartleby]

Thanks, @Bartleby. Do you know, if they were released simultaneously? I mean, many readers were anxious for the release. They had to wait quite a lot of time and now there are two.

It's pretty common for books in English to be released on different days in different countries - this if we're talking about popular books; sometimes an independent publishing house in, let's say, the UK, won't have its books published in the US (and vice versa). Last year, when he won the Nobel, Gurnah's latest novel Afterlives (2020) hadn't yet been published in the States...

 

[Leseratte]

And the translator is the same!
I am linking this new article by Jennifer Croft. It is not the same as the other one and it is actually a "class" on good translation:

The Order of Things: Jennifer Croft on Translating Olga Tokarczuk

Olga Tokarczuk’s twelfth book, the novel The Books of Jacob, first published in Poland in 2014 to great acclaim and considerable controversy, kicks off in 1752 in Rohatyn, in what is now western Uk…

lithub.com

 

[Bartleby]

A new interview with the author in the wake of the English publication of The Books of Jacob:

Olga Tokarczuk: Redefining the Novel

The Nobel laureate reflects on writing her visionary new book.

yalereview.org

 

[Bartleby]

The presence of a synopsis also acknowledges this epic novel’s demands on contemporary reviewers, who have many other books in their inboxes and on their desks and often must reduce a complex text, on deadline, to brief paragraphs. Tokarczuk maintains her novel’s pace with section breaks, narrating her characters’ psychological development with the tension of discovery, the slow but progressive movement of their thoughts. But still this novel is long, complicated, and about a strange religious movement from a strange time and place. One could say it is written against our times, in defiance of our short attention spans, the spinning news cycle, the pithy tweet, and the rapid scroll. The novel poses a challenge to our literature, too: we do not explore Tokarczuk’s private life in this text, and she does not shy from exploring her characters’ spiritual and mystical beliefs. This reader’s guide, then, intercedes as a defense of The Books of Jacob, as well as an encouragement to trust this unusual, stimulating text.

Reading “The Books of Jacob” with — and Against — the Riverhead Reader’s Guide: A Reader’s Guide | Los Angeles Review of Books

Marek Makowski wends his way through Jennifer Croft’s translation of “The Books of Jacob,” a novel by Nobel laureate Olga Tokarczuk....

lareviewofbooks.org