LITERARY CHARACTERS AND INTERDISCURSIVITY IN THE NOVEL “THE BOOKS OF JACOB” BY OLGA TOKARCZUK

• Authors: Krupowies Walentyna
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

This article includes an analysis of selected characters in The Books of Jacob (Księgi Jakubowe [2014] 2019) by Olga Tokarczuk from the context of discourse. The analysis is based on the concept of literary characters as the “common ground” for a discourse in literature, existing within the Polish theory of literature, as well as a discourse on extra-literary reality. In Tokarczuk’ s novel, there is a clash of two major discourses: rationalistic and metaphysical-messianic. The former appears at times as scientific-medical, represented by one of the background characters, Rubin Asher. The character is the quickest to emancipate himself, in his community, impersonating the modernity and rationality of the Enlightenment. The character who plays the role of the “common ground” for metaphysical-messianic discourse is Jacob Frank. Molivda-Kossakovski is situated at the intersection of several discourses. His multi-discursivity combines rationalistic, metaphysical, ethnic and multi-cultural discourses, of which the latter plays a critical role for the former ethnic one. The interdiscursivity of the work puts forward the knowledge of the origins of modernity in remote periphery, of the beginnings of modern ways of world categorization and generates critical discourse.

Keywords

EN

LITERARY CHARACTERS; SOCIAL DISCOURSES; LITERARY DISCOURSE; OLGA TOKARCZUK

• Publisher: Institute of World Literature, Slovak Academy of Sciences
• Journal: World Literature Studies
• Year: 2021
• Volume: 13
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 94 - 105

Contributors

author

Krupowies Walentyna

• Institute of Linguistics and Literary Studies, Siedlce University of Natural Sciences and Humanities, Konarskiego str. 2, 01-110 Siedlce, Poland

• https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1013-7708

Identifiers

DOI

https://doi.org/10.31577/WLS.2021.13.4.8