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82nd out of 210 books
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Satan in Goray
As messianic zeal sweeps through medieval Poland, the Jews of Goray divide between those who, like the Rabbi, insist that no one can "force the end" and those who follow the messianic pretender Sabbatai Zevi. But as hysteria and depravity increase, it becomes clear that it is not the Messiah who has come to Goray.
Paperback, 256 pages
Published
July 31st 1996
by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
(first published 1955)
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Lovely historical novel about how the Jewish community in a small village in the outskirts of Poland fell prey to religious madness and the Sabbatai Zvi-sect during the aftermath of the Chmelnicki massacres. The writing is good (or at least my translation was), the subject matter itself is interesting & the story is wonderfully told. The moral is very interesting albeit debatable, being that people should not try to coerce god into bringing forth the end of the or salvation in this case even in ...more
In the wake of a pogrom, a 17th Century Jewish village in eastern Poland is further unsettled by a frantic enthusiasm for the Messiah from the east, Sabbatai Zevi. This is a very strange book--more like an elaborate folk tale than a traditional novel. It is also very wise, and it shows with frightening clarity how a society of good people can be destroyed by great misery followed by desperate hope.
I really liked this book. It gives the reader a good view of the lives of the European Jews in the early 17th century. I think the title is slightly misleading, but good enough. The way it is written makes it obvious that it was an oral story and in another language. At times you wonder why it jumps around so much, but keeping this in mind gets you through it. The last few chapters make you not want to put it down! I loved this novel and love how the 'fall of man' happens in this novel. On...more
Satan in Goray takes place in a Jewish village in 17th century Poland during the time of the pogroms. It is a tale: full of dark miracles and strange winds that blow in rumors and demons and turbulence. I did not enjoy reading this book, but I found it helpful in understanding both the medieval mindset, and also the vulnerability to deception which a people who have been persecuted might be prone to. Singer's bottom line message is that humans get into big trouble when they try to manipulate God...more
Not sure what I didn't like about this most...style or content. I had it built up to be fairly disturbing and it fell very short of that. Some dark territory but not all that much. The Folk tale style was also slightly tiring after a while. Could have gone with 2.5 stars if the option was there but truth be told I had to force myself through to the end of this one. (Sorry Isaac, you seem like such an interesting fellow I will promise to read more of your work) There now I feel better.
I'm sure this book is brilliant, Singer is a genius, and I understand the historical backdrop against which Singer was writing...but I've got to admit I didn't really enjoy it. I suspect that this is a personal problem on my part -- I think I simply don't like folktale-like novels. Goray is also a bit disjointed, and I think for that reason, too, it didn't do much for me.
When I finished this book I did not - nor do I now - know quite what to think. It is a tale about desperation, fervor, and false hope. One thing that made this novel so striking - to me at least - was the abrupt change in tone for the last two chapters. Most of the prose is narrated by a cool and detached voice that knows nearly all the goings-on in Goray, but has limited access to the characters' own minds. The reader remains at a distance from even the main characters. I was almost tempt...more
I liked that the antagonists were those that studied Kaballah and were not "learned"people. I disliked the very end when the author explained the moral of the story-I felt slightly insulted as a reader.Over all an excellent book.
Both an accomplished historical recreation and a darkly magical conjuring of the heights and depths of religious exaltation and despair, centered around a deeply sympathetic (though hardly uncritical) empathy for the always precarious life of 17th century Polish Jewry. Singer excels with moments of startling descriptive beauty and in the well judged ambiguity in his use of the imagery and atmosphere of folk tales and the supernatural.
Isaac B. Singer's typewriter worked as a time machine.
Destination:
Seventeenth century, Poland.
Coordinates:
an extremely believable choral portrait of superstitious dwellers in a Jewish shtetl in the middle of nowhere.
Co-starring:
-horns and drums-
the Messiah (he will show up himself).
Warning:
being the first novel Singer ever wrote (he was still in Poland at that time), there are just some minor details in style he...more
Destination:
Seventeenth century, Poland.
Coordinates:
an extremely believable choral portrait of superstitious dwellers in a Jewish shtetl in the middle of nowhere.
Co-starring:
-horns and drums-
the Messiah (he will show up himself).
Warning:
being the first novel Singer ever wrote (he was still in Poland at that time), there are just some minor details in style he...more
Quite simple story or metaphor narrated in the very expressive way. The evil is slowly crawling to the small jewish village of Goray, people are starting to believe in false prophets and the Messiah so the work of destruction could be done. Poor Rechele is most mysterious character in the book.
Drew
added it
Satan in Goray by Isaac Bashevis Singer (1966)
Good, but doesn't compare to The Slave.
Satan in Goray paints a vivid and mystical picture of Jewish rural life in the Poland of the 17th century, in a style far removed from the politicised drivel that one is often confronted with today.
The citizens of Goray are confronted with anti-semitic dangers, religious fervor and false messianism in tale that sharply analyses the processes of mass hysteria and apocalyptic thinking. All of this is set against a background highly charged with folklore and magic, making it particularl...more
The citizens of Goray are confronted with anti-semitic dangers, religious fervor and false messianism in tale that sharply analyses the processes of mass hysteria and apocalyptic thinking. All of this is set against a background highly charged with folklore and magic, making it particularl...more
Read for my Yiddish Lit class.
In a semester of depressing reading, this was possibly the most dismal and hopeless, but that's exactly what it was meant to convey. The story is somewhat from the point of view of the town of Goray itself, and at times this makes the personal repercussions of certain events hard to really get a grasp on (the most shocking moment in the book, for me, was never mentioned again), but overall a very intense, and fucking depressing, but extremely good book.
In a semester of depressing reading, this was possibly the most dismal and hopeless, but that's exactly what it was meant to convey. The story is somewhat from the point of view of the town of Goray itself, and at times this makes the personal repercussions of certain events hard to really get a grasp on (the most shocking moment in the book, for me, was never mentioned again), but overall a very intense, and fucking depressing, but extremely good book.
went in with high expectations, was kind of disappointed -- good parts detailing life in a small shtetl during the 17th century time of the false messiah sabbatai zevi, but overall the book had a rather disjointed structure i didn't love, and chose to be realistic where it should have been fanciful -- eg treated demons as real rather than as products of villagers' superstitions, which I found annoying ....
Very dark but so compelling. Reminded me of Dostoevsky with all the holy lunatics and criminals.
Modernist trappings mar but don't destroy this excellent depiction of religious memetic fervor in still-medieval middle Europe, the highpoint of which is a brilliant, terrifying demonic possession scene. I'm tempted to say that the devil really is in the details.
this novel will teach you how to read. The first Fiction novel by Singer, it is tempting to read it as a reaction to the Holocaust but it was written before the nazi invasion of poland.
I probably need to read this again now that I'm older and, hopefully, wiser (or at least more experienced).
Profoundly disturbing novelization of the false Messiah, Shabbatai Zvi.
I love everything by Singer
Bizarre
depressing
Foinacruz
added it
Nietzii Zagourovik
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Kjubejz
marked it as to-read
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Celebrated American Jewish writer. Awarded the 1978 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his impassioned narrative art which, with roots in a Polish-Jewish cultural tradition, brings universal human conditions to life."
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Dec 22, 2008 05:57am