Den evige jøde

by Bergljot Hobæk Haff

En levende og fargesterk historisk idéroman fra vår store forteller Bergljot Hobæk Haff. Handlingen i Den evige jøde er lagt til 1500-tallets Europa, og med klare streker risser Haff opp den dramatiske og omskiftende livshistorien til hjelperabbineren, legen, glassmesteren og boktrykkeren Isak Juan da Costa, som også kaller seg Cartophilus - et av navnene den evige jøde har vært kjent under. Vi møter Isak sammen med datteren Juana, forkledd som gutt, på vandring mot Amsterdam. Her får han arbeid på et glassverk, treffer maleren Brueghel, og her forfatter han kjetterske skrifter som bare Juana får lese. Også hennes liv er dramatisk. Hvor lenge kan hun holde sin identitet skjult? Og hvem er hun egentlig? Bak det gripende menneskelige dramaet Isak og Juanas livsskjebner utgjør, og bak det levende bildet som tegnes av den brytningstiden 1500-tallet var, tematiserer Bergljot Hobæk Haff i denne rike romanen også hvordan den frie tenkning knebles av religiøs intoleranse - og slik trekkes forbindelseslinjer frem til vår tid.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Fiction

233 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Bergljot Hobæk Haff was a Norwegian novel writer. Upon completing her education, she traveled to Denmark, and taught there for 24 years before returning to Oslo. She made her debut with the novel Raset in 1956. Her books are translated into languages as English, French, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Swedish and Lithuanian.

Bergljot Hobæk Haff was awarded the Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature in 1962 for Bålet (Fire), and both the Brage Prize and the Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature in 1996 for Skammen (Shame). She received the Dobloug Prize in 1985, the Norwegian Academy Prize in 1988 and the Aschehoug Prize in 1989. She aslo was awarded the Brage Prize in 1996 for Skammen, the Norwegian Critics Prize for Literature 1996, for Skammen and the Riksmål Society Literature Prize in 1996. She has been nominated twice for the Nordic Council's Literature Prize, once for Den guddommelige tragedie and again for Renhetens pris.

Reviews

[Berit Espe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Middelalder. Italia. Munker. GOD historie.

[Josiane Cunen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting story about a man and the times he lives in, the Renaissance, a period where knowledge, new sciences and a quest for the truth and religious questions seem to rule western societies.
The main character represents all this, as well as his own Jewish heritage. His young daughter is supposed to take over this quest but she finally opposes this predestination.
The form reminds me of a fable and I kept thinking about Maalouf’s Leo the African, also a man of his times. I also thought about L’œuvre au noir ( The abyss) by Margueritte Yourcenar where Zeno is the perfect Renaissance scholar tormented by his own quest.
I did not give it the best of ratings because of its end. Many things happen very rapidly then without making much sense from a psychological point of view but perhaps a fable does not have to comply to such rules.