Showing results by author "Olga Tokarczuk" in All Categories

In a remote Polish village, Janina devotes the dark winter days to studying astrology, translating the poetry of William Blake, and taking care of the summer homes of wealthy Warsaw residents. Her reputation as a crank and a recluse is amplified by her not-so-secret preference for the company of animals over humans. Then, a neighbor, Big Foot, turns up dead. Soon, other bodies are discovered, in increasingly strange circumstances. As suspicions mount, Janina inserts herself into the investigation, certain that she knows whodunit. If only anyone would pay her mind....

In a remote Polish village, Janina Duszejko, an eccentric woman in her 60s, recounts the events surrounding the disappearance of her two dogs. She is reclusive, preferring the company of animals to people; she’s unconventional, believing in the stars; and she is fond of the poetry of William Blake, from whose work the title of the book is taken. When members of a local hunting club are found murdered, Duszejko becomes involved in the investigation.

September 1913. A young Pole suffering from tuberculosis arrives at Wilhelm Opitz’s Guesthouse for Gentlemen in the village of Görbersdorf, a health resort in the Silesian mountains. Every evening the residents gather to imbibe the hallucinogenic local liqueur and debate the great issues of the day: Monarchy or democracy? Do devils exist? Are women born inferior? War or peace? Meanwhile, disturbing things are happening in the guesthouse and the surrounding hills. Someone—or something—seems to be watching, attempting to infiltrate this cloistered world.

In the mid-eighteenth century, as new ideas—and a new unrest—begin to sweep the Continent, a young Jew of mysterious origins arrives in a village in Poland. Before long, he has changed not only his name but his persona; visited by what seem to be ecstatic experiences, Jacob Frank casts a charismatic spell that attracts an increasingly fervent following.

Una novela única, ligera y honda a la vez, que indaga en las posibilidades del género para hablar sobre el cuerpo, el mundo y las estrategias siempre insuficientes con que intentamos cartografiarlos. Al principio de Los errantes, la narradora esboza un autorretrato que es también una poética: "A todas luces yo carecía de ese gen que hace que en cuanto se detiene uno en un lugar por un tiempo más o menos largo, enseguida eche raíces. (...) Mi energía es generada por el movimiento.

Chopin's heart is carried back to Warsaw in secret by his adoring sister. A woman must return to her native Poland in order to poison her terminally ill high school sweetheart, and a young man slowly descends into madness when his wife and child mysteriously vanish during a vacation and just as suddenly reappear. Through these brilliantly imagined characters and stories, interwoven with haunting, playful, and revelatory meditations, Flights explores what it means to be a traveler, a wanderer, a body in motion not only through space but through time.

When the narrator of House of Day, House of Night arrives with her husband in a village in remote southwest Poland, she knows no one. Before long, though, she discovers that everyone--and everything—there has a story. With the help of her neighbor, the eccentric Marta, she pieces together the fragments of the living and the dead. There’s the drunk Marek Marek, who discovers he shares his body with a bird, and Franz Frost, whose nightmares come to him from a newly discovered planet.

Flights, a novel about travel in the 21st century and human anatomy, is Olga Tokarczuk’s most ambitious to date. It interweaves travel narratives and reflections on travel with an in-depth exploration of the human body, broaching life, death, motion and migration. With her signature grace and insight, Olga Tokarczuk guides the reader beyond the surface layer of modernity and towards the core of the very nature of humankind.

In September 1913, a young Pole suffering from tuberculosis arrives at Wilhelm Opitz’s Guesthouse for Gentlemen, a health resort in the Silesian mountains. Every evening the residents gather to imbibe the hallucinogenic local liqueur and debate the great issues of the day: monarchy or democracy? Do devils exist? Are women born inferior? War or peace? Meanwhile, disturbing things are happening in the guesthouse and the surrounding hills.

Im Sommer tummeln sich wohlhabende Städter auf dem Hochplateau an der polnisch-tschechischen Grenze. Im Winter hütet die ehemalige Englischlehrerin Janina Duszejko deren Häuser und widmet sich der Astrologie und der Lyrik von William Blake. Man hält die ältere Dame für verschroben, wenn nicht gar für verrückt, auch weil sie die Gesellschaft von Tieren der von Menschen vorzieht. Dann gibt es einen Toten. Und es bleibt nicht bei einer Leiche .Janina ermittelt auf eigene Faust und scheint der Polizei immer einen Schritt voraus zu sein.

Un medic scoţian din secolul al XVII-lea, ajuns în slujba regelui Poloniei, descoperă o rasă ciudată de copii vegetali. O familie formată din patru femei identice primeşte vizita unui cuplu de bărbaţi similari. Un bătrîn văduv, însingurat şi tipicar, observă într-o dimineaţă că lumea din jur s-a transformat aleatoriu (sau, dacă nu, că şi-a pierdut el minţile). O lume degradată, dintr-un viitor nedefinit, îşi păstrează stabilitatea graţie sacrificiului unui personaj misterios, aparent nemuritor, ce suferă pentru oameni de peste trei sute de ani.

Străveacul şi alte vremi este considerată cea mai reuşită carte a scriitoarei poloneze. Olga Tokarczuk construieşte o vastă alegorie despre forţa distructivă a timpului, povestind optzeci de ani din viaţa locuitorilor unui sat mitic. Sensul său profund este reprezentat de modul în care omul se poate plasa în istorie pentru a se redescoperi. Îmbinînd realismul cu magicul, ignorînd aspectele (post)moderne ale unei societăţi, scriitoarea reuşeşte să dea romanului său o dimensiune universală.

1913, Niederschlesien. Am Fuße der Berge steht ein Sanatorium für Lungenkrankheiten. Mieczysław, Student aus Lemberg, hofft, dass eine neuartige Behandlung seine Schwindsucht heilen wird. Wie auf Thomas Manns »Zauberberg« sprechen die versammelten Kranken aus ganz Europa unermüdlich miteinander – mit Vorliebe bei einem Gläschen Likör. Ob es Krieg geben werde in Europa, welche Staatsform die beste sei? Und darüber, dass die Frau des Pensionswirts gerade Selbstmord begangen hat.

Un anatomist olandez din secolul al şaptesprezecelea descoperă tendonul lui Ahile secţionîndu-şi propriul picior amputat. Inima lui Chopin călătoreşte clandestin spre locul odihnei veşnice, dusă la Varşovia de sora lui preaiubită. O femeie trebuie să se întoarcă în Polonia natală ca să-şi otrăvească iubitul din adolescenţă. Un tînăr simte că o ia razna cînd soţia şi fiul lui dispar misterios în timpul unei vacanţe, apărînd apoi ca şi cum nimic nu s-ar fi întîmplat.

Într-un cătun de la graniţa Poloniei cu Cehia, unde trăiesc aproape izolaţi de lume un grup de localnici şi cîţiva proprietari ai unor case de vacanţă, au loc o serie de crime. Victimele se dovedesc a fi vînători pasionaţi, iar dacă e să ascultăm opinia bătrînei doamne Duszejko, a cărei voce spune întreaga poveste, animalele sălbatice nu sînt tocmai străine de crime.

"Bizarre fortællinger" er ti uforudsigelige historier, som kombinerer urovækkende surrealisme med poetisk skønhed. En stavefejl på et henkogningsglas for fatale konsekvenser, i 1600-tallets Polen vækker fundet af mosdækkede plantefolk afsky og fascination, og blandt kinesiske bjergtempler søger en europæisk mand sandheden om sit transplanterede hjerte. Hver af historierne er som et kikhul ind til en virkelighed lige bag vores, hvad enten de foregår i genkendelige rammer eller på steder, som ikke figurer på noget landkort.

Mutter, Tochter, Enkelin. Drei Frauen auf der Suche nach einem Ort - im Leben und im Sterben. Ida möchte noch einmal in ihr Elternhaus. Doch sie hat einen Unfall im Schneetreiben und findet Unterschlupf bei einem älteren Ehepaar. Dort erscheint ihr ihre Mutter Paraskewia. Nach langer Ehe ist Paraskewias Mann gestorben, in ihrem Haus oben auf dem Berg, das im Winter von der Außenwelt abgeschnitten ist. Und so schreibt sie die Nachricht von seinem Tod in den Schnee. Ihre Enkelin Maja erlebt das Sterben ganz anders.

Dagens hus nattens hus er en mangetydig og farverig roman om mennesker og menneskeskæbner i grænselandet mellem Polen og Tjekkiet. En magisk fortalt lag-på-lag fortælling hvor personer og historier ligesom lægges oven over hinanden. Med jævne mellemrum møder man f.eks. en middelalderlig kvindelig helgen ved navn Kummernis der som ung fik Kristus ansigt for at undslippe et uønsket ægteskab. En anden genkommende figur er den transseksuelle munk Paschalis som er den der skriver Kummernis historie.

"Rejsende" er en mosaik af fortællinger fra nær og fjern, nutid og fortid. En roman om at flytte sig og skifte opholdssted eller søge nye veje. Om at emigrere over de syv have, lægge sprog og religion bag sig eller bare forsvinde. En rejse rundt i verden og samtidig en rejse ind i kroppen. Romanens mange små historier griber på uforudsigelig vis ind i hinanden og lader hele tiden læseren møde nye, fascinerende sammenhænge - og en mangfoldighed af mennesker.

I en afsides del af Polen nær den tjekkiske grænse lever Janina en tidligere lærerinde og ingeniør. Hun har påtaget sig den opgave at holde opsyn med de lokale sommerhusejeres vintertomme huse. Men mest er hun optaget af at lægge horoskoper oversætte Blake og at holde skarpt øje med den vilde omgivende naturs dyreliv.