Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
New York : Noonday Press, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1962
Description
Four years after the Chmielnicki massacres of the seventeenth century, Jacob, a slave and cowherd in a Polish village high in the mountains, falls in love with Wanda, his master's daughter. Even after he is ransomed, he finds he can't live without her, and the two escape together to a distant Jewish community. Racked by his consciousness of sin in taking a Gentile wife and by the difficulties of concealing her identity, Jacob nonetheless stands firm as the violence of the era threatens to destroy the ill-fated couple.
User reviews
LibraryThing member rocketjk
The opening setting of The Slave is the remote rural mountains of southern Poland in the late 17th Century in the years immediately following the Chmielnicki (often spelled Khmelnytsky) Uprising, an invasion by Cossack forces in rebellion against Polish domination. In Jewish history, these events
For five years Jacob spends his winters in a high mountain cabin tending to Bzik's cattle. His only source of food and water is what is brought up the mountain to him daily by Bzik's daughter, Wanda. Far from Jewish community and the holy books he loves, Jacob strives to maintain a pious Jewish life as best he can, and that include resisting the strong physical attraction that Jacob and Wanda feel for each other. Jacob would surely be excommunicated by the rabbis for cohabitating with a Gentile, and either or both of the two could be burned alive by the Church. Marriage is out of the question. Well, but as we know, such temptation cannot be resisted forever, and certainly not in fiction.
Well, I don't want to give away any plot developments.The storyline drew me in and made The Slave an active, enjoyable reading experience for me. As is often the case with Singer, although not as strongly as in others of his novels, there is a touch of magical realism, at least as seen though the characters' eyes, and there is also a bit of a fable like quality. Wanda and Jacob's love, and the peril it brings them, provides the momentum. The Jewish community rebounds from the massacres, but goes quickly back to its former, all too human ways, scrupulously following the slightest rabbinical dicta regarding dress, prayer and diet while ignoring biblical commandments about how to treat one's neighbors. Singer, examines this phenomenon in depth through Jacob and Wanda, who experience it all first hand. And though Singer's (and Jacob's) observations are often scathing (Singer himself turned from religious Judaism to a much more secular philosophy and lifestyle in early adulthood), nevertheless he retains an underlying compassionate perspective on both the frailties of humanity and the value of faith.
As The Slave was published in 1962, the resonance of the Holocaust and its aftermath within the narrative is unmistakable. Singer weaves together themes of identity, isolation, faith, religion, superstition, love, cruelty and compassion, separation and renewal into a rich and memorable novel.
Here is a quote I like:
"Ceaselessly he had prayed for death; he had even contemplated self-destruction. But now that mood had passed, and he had become inured to living among strangers, distant from his home, doing hard labor. As he drowsed, he heard pine cones falling and the coo of a cuckoo in the distance. He opened his eyes. The web of branches and pine needles strained the sunlight like a sieve, and the reflected light became a rainbow-colored mesh. A last drop of dew flamed, glistened, exploded into thin moten fibers. There was not a cloud to sully the perfect blue of the sky. It was difficult to believe in God’s mercy when murderers buried children alive. But God’s wisdom was evident everywhere."
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are known as the Chmielnicki Massacres, as the Cossack forces, aided often by the Poles themselves, perpetrated widespread and massive pogroms. Whole villages were essentially obliterated. Our protagonist, Jacob, is a survivor of one such attack on his native village, Josefov. His wife and three children, he believes, have been murdered, but instead of being killed himself, Jacob is captured and sold into slavery to Jan Bzik, a farmer in remote mountain town. Escape into the mountains, whose ways are unknown to him, means certain death, and the villages have sworn to kill Jacob on sight if he is spotted on the wrong side of the river that borders Bzik's land. Bzik himself, it should be noted, is not portrayed as a cruel man. For five years Jacob spends his winters in a high mountain cabin tending to Bzik's cattle. His only source of food and water is what is brought up the mountain to him daily by Bzik's daughter, Wanda. Far from Jewish community and the holy books he loves, Jacob strives to maintain a pious Jewish life as best he can, and that include resisting the strong physical attraction that Jacob and Wanda feel for each other. Jacob would surely be excommunicated by the rabbis for cohabitating with a Gentile, and either or both of the two could be burned alive by the Church. Marriage is out of the question. Well, but as we know, such temptation cannot be resisted forever, and certainly not in fiction.
Well, I don't want to give away any plot developments.The storyline drew me in and made The Slave an active, enjoyable reading experience for me. As is often the case with Singer, although not as strongly as in others of his novels, there is a touch of magical realism, at least as seen though the characters' eyes, and there is also a bit of a fable like quality. Wanda and Jacob's love, and the peril it brings them, provides the momentum. The Jewish community rebounds from the massacres, but goes quickly back to its former, all too human ways, scrupulously following the slightest rabbinical dicta regarding dress, prayer and diet while ignoring biblical commandments about how to treat one's neighbors. Singer, examines this phenomenon in depth through Jacob and Wanda, who experience it all first hand. And though Singer's (and Jacob's) observations are often scathing (Singer himself turned from religious Judaism to a much more secular philosophy and lifestyle in early adulthood), nevertheless he retains an underlying compassionate perspective on both the frailties of humanity and the value of faith.
As The Slave was published in 1962, the resonance of the Holocaust and its aftermath within the narrative is unmistakable. Singer weaves together themes of identity, isolation, faith, religion, superstition, love, cruelty and compassion, separation and renewal into a rich and memorable novel.
Here is a quote I like:
"Ceaselessly he had prayed for death; he had even contemplated self-destruction. But now that mood had passed, and he had become inured to living among strangers, distant from his home, doing hard labor. As he drowsed, he heard pine cones falling and the coo of a cuckoo in the distance. He opened his eyes. The web of branches and pine needles strained the sunlight like a sieve, and the reflected light became a rainbow-colored mesh. A last drop of dew flamed, glistened, exploded into thin moten fibers. There was not a cloud to sully the perfect blue of the sky. It was difficult to believe in God’s mercy when murderers buried children alive. But God’s wisdom was evident everywhere."
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LibraryThing member Blaise
This was a beautiful, touching story. It had the romance and tragedy of a love across cultures as well as an obscure historical setting and the enthralling minutae of the religious rites that Jacob, the main character, tried to follow in his enslavement in Poland. Having read the Old Testament, I
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was very interested to read about all the efforts he made to keep up his religion. I also cried bucketloads at the ending- which is one of my expressions of appreciation of great art :)- Show Less
LibraryThing member cookie_lover
The Slave is the heartwrenching tale of Jacob, a seventeenth century survivor of the nightmarish Cossacks attacks that killed tens of thousands of Jews in Poland. After his family is brutally murdered, Jacob flees the terror only to find himself a slave to backcountry gentile villagers. Against his
Jacob struggles throughout the story with his deep faith in the tenets of Judaism, while searching for meaning in his own suffering and the brutal treatment of his fellow Jews at the hands of their many persecutors. He also struggles with personal inner demons, trying to find a balance between adherence to religious law and an intense attraction to and love for his non-Jewish wife.
This was a beautiful story which unfolded like a fable. The narrative flowed at a brisk enough pace to keep most readers interested, and was quite suspenseful. I liked that nothing was left hanging at the end, and while sad, The Slave was overall an optimistic book. I will definitely read it again someday.
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better judgment and strict Torah upbringing, he allows himself to fall in love with Wanda, the daughter of his Polish owner. The unlikely couple escape the mountains to forge an unassuming life in a remote Jewish village. Jacob struggles throughout the story with his deep faith in the tenets of Judaism, while searching for meaning in his own suffering and the brutal treatment of his fellow Jews at the hands of their many persecutors. He also struggles with personal inner demons, trying to find a balance between adherence to religious law and an intense attraction to and love for his non-Jewish wife.
This was a beautiful story which unfolded like a fable. The narrative flowed at a brisk enough pace to keep most readers interested, and was quite suspenseful. I liked that nothing was left hanging at the end, and while sad, The Slave was overall an optimistic book. I will definitely read it again someday.
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LibraryThing member KamGeb
This is the first Isaac Bashevis SInger novel I have ever read and I was surprised that it was racier than I was expecting. It gave an interesting view of both Jewish and non-Jewish life in prewar Poland. I didn't love the translation, however. It used words like Pentecost instead of Shavuot and
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phylactery instead of tefillin. Show Less
Subjects
Awards
Audie Award (Finalist — 2003)
National Jewish Book Award (Winner — Fiction — 1963)
Nobel Prize in Literature (1978)
Notable Books List (1962)
Language
Original language
Yiddish
Original publication date
1962 (English)
Physical description
311 p.; 21 cm
ISBN
0374506809 / 9780374506803