To carry me over until the American publication of Tokarczuk's "richest, most sweeping and ambitious novel" The Books of Jacob (scheduled for February), I picked up this earlier novel of hers in a very nice edition from Twisted Spoon Press.
Primeval and Other Times takes place in a Polish village from the beginning of the First World War through 1990 or so. It is divided into four- or five-page vignettes from the point of view of one of the inhabitants, often written in a fairy-tale style. Some of the vignettes come from non-human characters, such as the trees, a guardian angel, or God.
Surely some enterprising literature student has written a thesis about the interaction between Catholic imagery (God, guardian angels, human spirits) and animist imagery in this book. The combination provides a full-bodied portrait of Primeval.
In March, when the ground becomes warm, the orchard begins to vibrate and digs its claw-like, underground paws into the earth's flesh. The trees suck the earth like puppies, and their trunks become warmer.
Even at this early stage in her career, Tokarczuk provides forceful images that shift the reader's perspective. The book remains anchored to everyday life. We never travel outside of the village and see world-changing events from its limited perspective; for example, Genowefa witnesses the Germans rounding up the Jews as she is washing her laundry in the river.
The book is more successful at creating a meditative mood than at telling a compelling story. Its fragmentary nature causes it to lack narrative momentum. Periodically the language felt awkward –– such as the misplaced modifier in the sentence below –– but I suspect it's an artifact of translation.
In the spring they found the half decomposed body of Bronek Malak in Wodenica, whom everyone thought had gone to America.
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