- Paperback: 256 pages
- Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux (Jun 2003)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0374529086
- ISBN-13: 978-0374529086
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14 x 1.5 cm
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
A fictional exploration of primitive history in which the battles for supremacy between peoples resisting civilization can be read as a comment on the modern world. The author also wrote "The Estate", "The Magician of Lublin", "The Family Moskat" and was awarded the 1978 Nobel Prize for literature.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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5 reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
good, but not the best from Singer
4 May 2000
Format:Paperback
This book deals with transition between the society of hunters and gatherers into society of peasants who worked the land. Changes are difficult, old beleifs die hard, and at the dawn of civilization there were many cruel things hapenning. I wish I could beleive that human beings have made significant progress, but unfortunately that probably isn't true.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
History?
10 Aug 2004
Format:Paperback
Over the years, I have read this novel a number of times. Contrary to many interpretations of this work, I did not view it as a historical novel, at least not the history that is represented on the surface. Instead, it is the history of Poland, Christianity and Judaism now, then and every time in between. Furthermore, it is a story of the human condition. One should not approach this novel in a literal sense. If you do, you are bound to be disappointed.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Singer Really is a Master Story Teller
31 Jan 2011
Format:Paperback
Many years ago, when I was a teenager, I read Singer's Enemies, A Love Story. Today, I barely remember the plot or the characters. What I do recall is the sense of beauty and strength in the writing, how it evoked strong feelings and emotions. I have meant to go back and re-read that book. Now after reading The King of the Fields, I definitely will.
In this novel, a story about a small tribe in pre-industrial Poland, the Lesniks, and their leader Cybula, Singer manages to evoke a good number of universal human experiences, in particular disturbing thoughts. For example, Cybula deals with his desire to die rather than confront the problems of daily life, as well as his discomfort with seeing his own daughter nude. He seeks truth but is constantly confused about what is true or not. His tribe believes in many gods, but this belief is tested when it encounters a Jew and later a Christian bishop. Who should he believe? As far as he can tell, his own gods did not protect him or his tribe from misfortune and the new gods seems to come with their own burden of contradiction, rules and cruelty. This basic questioning of religious faith - to believe or not, of so what to believe, and if so, how to deal with the contradictions and inconsistencies? - is something that most people confront and deal with at some point. Cybula's default is his god of death, who seems to be the final arbiter who gives peace when someone dies.
The religious aspect is but one of many different perspectives upon which the novel touches. There are also the plusses and minuses of industrialization, including the challenges and meaning of giving up a former way of life. There is also a lot of substance to be found on the meaning of relationships between men and women. Singer presents this in a very crude and raw form, as they probably were in those pre-modern times, with women being completely subservient to man. At the same time, Singer shows how this power relationship can be easily inverted given the right circumstances.
This is a powerful novel that will resonate with the reader for a long time. Read it and enjoy the work of this Nobel laureate who has been called a master story teller.
In this novel, a story about a small tribe in pre-industrial Poland, the Lesniks, and their leader Cybula, Singer manages to evoke a good number of universal human experiences, in particular disturbing thoughts. For example, Cybula deals with his desire to die rather than confront the problems of daily life, as well as his discomfort with seeing his own daughter nude. He seeks truth but is constantly confused about what is true or not. His tribe believes in many gods, but this belief is tested when it encounters a Jew and later a Christian bishop. Who should he believe? As far as he can tell, his own gods did not protect him or his tribe from misfortune and the new gods seems to come with their own burden of contradiction, rules and cruelty. This basic questioning of religious faith - to believe or not, of so what to believe, and if so, how to deal with the contradictions and inconsistencies? - is something that most people confront and deal with at some point. Cybula's default is his god of death, who seems to be the final arbiter who gives peace when someone dies.
The religious aspect is but one of many different perspectives upon which the novel touches. There are also the plusses and minuses of industrialization, including the challenges and meaning of giving up a former way of life. There is also a lot of substance to be found on the meaning of relationships between men and women. Singer presents this in a very crude and raw form, as they probably were in those pre-modern times, with women being completely subservient to man. At the same time, Singer shows how this power relationship can be easily inverted given the right circumstances.
This is a powerful novel that will resonate with the reader for a long time. Read it and enjoy the work of this Nobel laureate who has been called a master story teller.
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