De galeislaaf

by Drago Jančar, Roel Schuyt (Translator)

In een koortsachtige en meeslepende stijl schildert de Sloveense auteur de avontuurlijke belevenissen van de vreemdeling Johan Ott. Ze bieden een kaleidoscopisch beeld van het Europa in de vroege 16e eeuw; een tijd vol historische en metafysische verwarring; een tijd vol pestdamp, duivelvrees en heksenangst. De beklemmende sfeer van deze tijd wordt door Jancar bijzonder overtuigend weergegeven. Een goed geslaagde historische roman, die een breed lezerspubliek aan zal spreken.

Op het omslag een fragment van een schilderij van Pieter Bruegel.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction

349 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1978

About the author

Drago Jančar je končal Višjo pravno šolo v Mariboru. Med študijem je bil kulturni, glavni in odgovorni urednik študentskega lista Katedra. Po študiju je bil najprej zaposlen kot novinar pri dnevniku Večer, nato je bil svobodni pisatelj, za tem dramaturg pri Viba filmu in nazadnje tajnik in urednik pri založbi Slovenska matica v Ljubljani. Študijsko je večkrat bival v tujini, v ZDA, Veliki Britaniji, Nemčiji. Od leta 2001 je redni član SAZU. Je največkrat prevajani sodobni slovenski pisatelj.
Jančar je najprej začel s pisanjem pripovednih del v modernistični pripovedni tehniki in pod vplivom francoskega novega romana. V pripovednih delih obravnava spore posameznika z aktualnim družbenim okoljem (roman Petintrideset stopinj, novele O bledem hudodelcu) in pripoveduje o tragičnem spopadu med individualno človeško eksistenco in kaosom objektivnega sveta (romana Galjot, Severni sij, novele Smrt pri Mariji Snežni).
V Jančarjevih pripovednih delih v osemdesetih letih dvajsetega stoletja so opazne postmodernistične prvine, pozneje pa se tem pridruži še tematski premik k intimnim eksistencialno odločilnim problemom (novele Pogled angela, roman Posmehljivo poželenje). Pisatelj je v svojih delih uporabil tudi zgodovinsko tematiko (romana Galjot, Katarina, pav in jezuit).
Jančar v svojem dramskem opusu upodablja posameznika, ki v sporu s posplošujočim in neobčutljivim sistemom praviloma propade. Pri tem izbira predvsem zgodovinsko snov in jo alegorično povzdigne (Disident Arnož in njegovi, Veliki briljantni valček, Dedalus, Klementov padec, Halštat). Groteska Zalezujoč Godota je variacija besedila S. Becketta. Pomembna je tudi Jančarjeva esejistika, ki se ukvarja z eksistencialnimi in političnimi vprašanji intelektualcev v sodobnem, posebej socialističnem svetu.
Drago Jančar je za svoj književni opus prejel številne nagrade: leta 1982, 1985, 1989, 1995 Grumovo narado, leta 1979 nagrado Prešernovega sklada, leta 1993, 1995 Rožančevo nagrado, leta 1993 Prešernovo nagrado, leta 1999, 2001 nagrado kresnik, leta 1994 evropsko nagrado za kratko prozo in leta 2003 Herderjevo nagrado.

Reviews

[Argos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jancar’ın akıcı ancak birbiriyle çok da ilgili olmayan etkileyici cümleleriyle yeni bir romanı bu kez farklı bir konu ve tarihte geçiyor. Zaman 14. ve 15. yüzyıllar, yani Ortaçağ. Mekan yazarın ülkesinin toprakları yani bugünkü Slovenya merkez olmak üzere tüm Avrupa. Konu iki bela: kara bela “veba” ile beyaz bela “papa” yani katolik Hristiyanlık.

Ortaçağda insanları kırıp geçiren veba ile insanları işkence ve baskı altında inleten Papa’nın, roman kahramanımız Johannes Ot üzerinden geliştirilen maceraları anlatılıyor bu öyküde. Sonunda kürek mahkumiyetine çarptırılan Ot, romana adını vermiş. Romanın örgüsü veba ve engizisyon üzerine kurulurken şeytana kananlar, içine iblis girenler, sapkınlar, tarikatlar, biraderlikler, mezhepler bir tarafta; karantina, veba komiserleri, iksirciler, kuş gagalı maske takan doktorlar, ardıç otu, sarımsak ve başka ilaçları kullananlar diğer tarafta romanın kurgusunu tamamlıyorlar.

Konu güzel, anlatım güzel ama gel gör ki romanı uzattıkça çok sık tekrarlara düşmesi, aynı olayları defalarca anlatması okumayı oldukça sıkıcı hale getiriyor. Herşeyden önce Drago Jancar okumak isteyenler bu kitapla sakın ola ki başlamasınlar. Daha önce okuduğum üç kitaba göre biraz daha zor bir okuma oldu benim için, 3.5’dan 4.

[lyell bark · Rating 4 out of 5]

good book about being covered in sludge and dirt.

[Mirrani · Rating 5 out of 5]

I simply can't say enough how easily I found myself falling deeply under the spell of Jancar (and I would assume some of Biggins as well, being the translator) as I turned the pages of this book. Simply telling other readers that I couldn't put the book down is not description enough for how I felt as I read the Galley Slave. Every word seemed to help you hang on until the one that followed it. The main character, in fact, doesn't become a galley slave until well through the book, however, the words "when are they going to get to it?" never crossed my mind. The entire story was a beautiful curiosity and an amazing journey through a time of witch burning, church complications, and plague, where the city and state gradually lose control of all that they are used to holding and discover there may be no way back to the order everyone is expecting.

The main character is Johan Ot, a stranger with a questionable past who has a very unique life after we meet him, let alone what we learn about him as the story progresses. The author puts us easily into Ot's head, helping us to realize the horrors of watching people tormented for being who they are, or watching officials get what they want, no matter what. When threats of torture are thrown on him, it is our hearts that pound in anticipation of the pain and anguish that is to come. If anyone asks if it is possible to write a beautiful book about a tormented soul, this would be the book I would point to.

[ajda · Rating 5 out of 5]

a bi jančarja ubilo če bi enkrat uporabu navednice

[Esma T · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yazar ortaçağın kötü taraflarını (veba, cadılar, insanlıkdışı idamlar vb.) kendi üslubu ile harmanlamış ve romanlaştırmış. Kitabın giriş bölümü hem akıcı hem de merak uyandırıcı idi ve okura bir çok şeyi bir anda veriyordu ancak sayfalar ilerledikçe yazarın ve olayların tempous düştü. Kitabın başında aldığım tadı geri kalanında alamadım ne yazık ki. Kitabın konusu (ortaçağın karanlık yüzü) dışında geriye kalan şeyler ne çarpıcı ne de çok etkileyiciydi, hatta zaman zaman sıkıcı oluyordu. Genel olarak güzel olsa da seçtiği konu karşısında zayıf kalmış bir eser olduğunu düşünüyorum. Tüm bunların yanında ortaçağın tüm kötülüklerini bir arada okumak da tüyler ürpertici olabiliyor, aşırı dindarların birilerini suçlu ilan edip onları yakarak ya da benzeri bir yolla yok etmeye çalışması, toplumsal fanatizmin ortaya çıkardığı büyük yıkım gerçekten korkunç.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Slovenian government made an arrangement with Dalkey Archive to publish translations of its literature. One can only hope that other entries in the series are less dark. Johann Ot, the protagonist, forced from his home and his native land under circumstances that are horrific in his memory if not clearly explained for the reader, travels across a pre-modern Europe as fake merchant, fugitive, and as the galley slave of the title, haunted by his memories when not actively pursued by rotten judges, soldiers, the plague and superstitious villagers. Everything seems out to kill him, but Ot, except for those rare moments when he enjoys a bit of good favor, never develops much of a character beyond his desire to survive and his clear perception that to ally oneself with anyone else is to perish. It is a grim world that Jancar has created here, one that examines what happens to those at the periphery while those in the corridors of power play their games of thrones, smashing everyone else in their wake. The relentless series of forces that pursue this almost-blank hero make sense coming from a part of the world whose experience of World War II involved occupation by no less than three Axis powers (Germany, Italy and Hungary), only to emerge into the iron grip of Tito's Marxism. Given those circumstances, the bleakest view of power and fate may very well be logical.

[Elif Sena Ergin · Rating 3 out of 5]

"'Şu an her şey son bulsaydı, başımdan geçenler fazlasıyla yeterdi' dedi Johan Ot. 'Ama son bulmayacak' diye sürdürdü." (s. 128/384). Tüm kitabın özeti bu cümle olabilir.
Johan Ot'un yaşadığı dönemde tam bir kaos havası hakim. Romanın da anlatımı yer yer kopuk, olaylar ardısıra cereyan ediyor. Ama 17. yüzyıl Avrupası'nın atmosferi daha iyi anlatılabilir miydi bilmiyorum. Bir yandan cadı avları, bir yandan savaşlar, bir yandan veba. İç karartıcı, karanlık ve mide bulandırıcı.

[Simona · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story is set in the 17th century, and we follow the life of the Johan Ot, who moves from the Germany to Slovene with the desire for a new beginning. Because of his interests and thinking, he is a very suspicious foreigner. The main themes of the story are the inquisition, witch-haunting, plague, corruption ... and because this is a modernist (late modernism) novel, the story is, of course, very metaphorical and open to various interpretations of the content.

[Caleb Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

History as a closed loop of mud, mold, plague, paranoia, xenophobia, and extreme personal misfortune. However, not without fleeting humor and specks of brightness and hope! Though perhaps the chummy, concerned narrator, who is prone to ironic understatement about torture and madness, makes it even more horrific.

[Kobe Bryant · Rating 4 out of 5]

now thats a fantasy world

[Peyton · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 50% (nearly 200 pages) after two separate attempts to read through, once this spring and again this fall. I thought the premise of this book sounded fascinating, having greatly enjoyed books with similar themes such as Tyll, The Hangman's Daughter, All Men Are Mortal and The Apprentice's Masterpiece. The Galley Slave disappointingly suffers from many of the same failings as Narcissus and Goldmund, namely a hedonistic, unremarkable male protagonist and a repetitive, unfocused plot. The stakes feel remarkably low for a book about fleeing the Inquisition. I kept reading The Galley Slave despite its flaws because there are many beautiful landscape descriptions and turns of phrase, but ultimately felt it was not worth my time to continue.

[camtucker555 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finishing this book felt like a breakup. Nazadnje me je Alamut tak prevzel s slogom in ubesedovanjem, ampak tale Jancar je pa prekasu vsa druga dela, ki sem jih prebrala, si upam trdit, v zivljenju. Nobena knjiga, ki sm ji dala 5 zvezdic, se ne more primerjat s to. Ta si zasluzi 10 zvezdic.
Kot zgodovinska navdusenka sem itak vedla, da mi bo knjiga zanimiva, ampak nism si pa misnla, da bo tak popolno napisana. Skoz celo knjigo spremljamo razpadanje Johana Ota, najprej pozicijsko, pol pa se dobesedno. Njegovo zivljenje je blo kot tak panoptikon, skos se je bal in pazu nase, ceprav ga v resnici vecino casa ni nihce bolj vneto preganju kot on sam. Res ne morm dovolj prehvalit temeljitega in prepricljivega opisovanja vseh johanovih obcutkov in zaznav. Johan je bil ves cas v objemu zelo krute realnosti, ampak je avtor znal tut najbolj absurdne in ogabne prizore ubesedit na zlo prepricljiv, vcasih celo humoren (grotesken) nacin. Skos sm se smejala vmes, od gnusa trepetala, v zadnjih poglavjih pa cutla tok neke empatije in zelje, da johanu uspe in da lahko zazivi srecno.
Se mi zdi da je ta zgodba v prenesenem pomenu zlo aktualna tut za danasnje case. Oblast ma vedno prav - to vidmo ze v zacetku, ko ga zaslisujejo in obtozujejo za brez veze, sam zato, kr je tujec. Tut dans je tak z migranti, ki so prikazani kot gresni kozel, na katerga mecemo vso krivdo druzbenih problemov, ki pa so v resnici bolj sistemski. Nihce se ne sprasuje, zakaj so tle, ne isce izvora problema. “Primer Johana Ota je bil poučen. Zdaj bo ljudstvo vedelo, koga se mora varovati, pred kom čuvati svoje imetje, žene in otroke, svoja polja, živino in pridelke, svoje duše navdezadnje: pred tujci.” My boy Johan je sam hotu zivet v miru, brez norih in brutalnih ukrepov oblasti in cerkve, ki sta veljali za edini absolutni resnici. Ko so si zmisnli neki o teb, jim nisi mogu dokazat nasprotno. Ljudje so res zblojeni.

[Darko Ilin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Huh, teško je pisati o ovom romanu, koji budi veoma oprečna osećanja. Naime, u pogovoru prevoda iz 1980. godine Marija Mitrović tvrdi da je ovo jedna od onih knjiga u koje se vrlo lako utone i sa čijim likovima (ili bolje reći likom) se čitalac vrlo brzo sprijatelji i postane pristan. Smešten u 17. stoleće u tadašnjim slovenačkim zemljama, roman opisuje veoma turbulentno doba lova na veštice, kuge i sveprisutne jeresi, kao i svojevrsne inkvizicije. Pripovedač je na nenametljiv način angažovan, te se stav prema junaku, kao i pripovedanju same priče veoma jasno čita. Naturalistički opisi raspadanja ljudskih tela i bolesti, životinjskog seksa (N.B. položaj žena u romanu je veoma zanimljiv, one su samo bedra koja iz muškarca cede tečnosti) spajaju se sa misterijom i nekom vrstom magijskog realizma čine pikaresknu priču o lutanju Johana Ota. Na momente suviše podroban u opisima, suviše intenzivan za čitanje, ali sve u svemu, jedan veoma dobar roman, dugo se nisam osećao ovako posle čitanja.

[Maša Bratuša · Rating 5 out of 5]

najbolj neprijetna knjiga, ki jo boste prebrali brez da bi se ob branju ne boste počutili neprijetno. lahko bi trdila, da je avtor uporabil srednjeveško umestitev zato, da bi eksistencializem sijal s vso abstraktnostjo. barvit jezik in slog, ki dogajanje seklja na zgolj najbolj močne dražljaje, slikata podobe skozi katere res začutimo kako-je-biti brez korenin, brez obstanka. morda tudi svarilo o tem kako izpolnjujoče je lahko živeti za idejo, kot tudi brez njih. vrhunec slednjega najdemo v poglavjih o življenju na galeji, kjer johan ot začasno izgubi ime in postane zgolj galjot, zgolj zobnik v duhu nekega časa. ne morem si pomagati, da se mi ne bi zazdelo, da je ta roman najboljši način, da se vživimo v človeške obiskovalce nezemeljskega srednjega veka kot ga prikaže film "hard to be a god".

delo, ki se v dobrih časih bere kot opomin, da je sreča opoteča in v slabih časih, da je vedno lahko še slabše. označila sem samo pet strani, a to ne pomeni, da so druge slabe - vse so nujne, da se zgodba izteče.

[Larry Ggggggggggggggggggggggggg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book with lots of puking, dampness, flies, rats

[Michele Benson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Slovenia. According to Goodreads this book took me exactly one torturous month to read. It seems like much longer. Ot is subjected to torture as a witch, imprisonment as a heretic, years as a galley slave, and then dies of the plague. This is a meandering,depressing book. I’m sure it is meant as an allegory of some kind, but it was so drawn out that it lost whatever meaning it was supposed to impart. If you can find another book from Slovenia, read it instead.

[Karen Serles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book while travelling in Slovenia. Drago Jančar is one of their most renowned writers. There’s mud and rot and superstition and plague - unlike anything I’ve read - and I liked it very much. Through the squalor and foreboding, there’s the lush green Slovenian landscape and one man’s intrepid journey.

[Kaliaa · Rating 3 out of 5]

even though it was so slowpaced i was trying very hard not to fall asleep while reading it, this book just really stuck with me. im very glad i conquired it. Some parts were just really interesting and the writing style portrayed the medievial times in a realistic way

[Svetlana Zakharova · Rating 3 out of 5]

goed vertaald, maar op dit moment te langdradig en te zwaar voor mij

[hay man · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book begins with trudging through slime and muck and then it just sticks with the slime and muck. If ain't broke I guess.

[Braekeveldt · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I loved the previous Jançar very much, this was somewhat sobering my appetite for more.

[Frey · Rating 2 out of 5]

The not good very bad life journey of Vil Coyote in the middle of a plague in Middle Age Europa.
With Benny Hill theme.

[MoranGSam · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book makes me happy

[Zarja · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bolan stil

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Galley Slave depicts a rural 17th century Europe where everyone is equally helpless in the face of epidemics and superstition reigns for the majority of the population. Does hanging a legless rat in your doorway ward off the Devil? Does rubbing yourself down with pulped garlic prevent deadly buboes? Are clouds of chattering flying vermin and sea monster attacks as tangible threats as bandits and the inquisition? All this is filtered through a narrator who maintains a facade of sly irony in the face of barbarity, but he is also empathetic to its inhabitants since it's obvious that there's no hope of coping with the world through either intuition or empiricism. One explanation, one scheme is as good as another except that some might arbitrarily bring an investigation by Catholic thugs down on your head, or a lynching from your otherwise-sympathetic peers and neighbors.

Through all this chaos, Johan Ot flees from place to place and career to career. Among others, his jobs include physician, merchant, protestant spy and of course galley slave. Some of these roles he falls into willingly but they all come from random circumstances which force him to shed one after another. This novel reminded me of the nonfiction study The Return of Martin Guerre even though it takes place a century later, in how both books examine the question of identity in a pre-modern Europe. Russel Hoban's medieval sci-fi novels also come to mind (especially Pilgermann).

[Kerrie · Rating 1 out of 5]

couldn't get into it, really wanted to.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome, breugelesque, plague epic

[Niko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, intimate tale of one individual in 1600's middle/southern/ Mediterrenian Europe. Highly reccommended!

[Lukas Evan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can unequivocally say that this is the best Slovenian novel I've ever read.

[Thunder_road · Rating 3 out of 5]

Obdobje zgodovine, ki ponuja toliko možnosti za literarno ustvarjanje. Dobra osnova, a žal, po mojem mnenju, neposrečena izvedba.