‘Books of Jacob’ gets lost, and then found, in translation

Assembling a timeline of for Olga Tokarczuk’s fiction requires some diligence. Her “new” book — released in the States last November — is “The Books of Jacob.” But she published the book in her native Poland eight years ago.

“The Books of Jacob” is widely considered the author’s magnum opus, a nearly 1,000-page beast full of history, mythology and dark wit that tells an inventive story about Jacob Joseph Frank, a historical figure who treads in a mystical space between religious and cult leader.

“The Books of Jacob” played a significant role in Tokarczuk receiving the Nobel Prize in literature in 2018. But at the time, an English-language version wasn’t available. Turns out, Jennifer Croft was working on the translation.

Croft’s name appears on the jacket for “The Books of Jacob,” a significant recognition of the labored process creating such a translation. She’d translated Tokarczuk’s “Flights,” published in Poland in 2007 and in the States in 2018. But, she says, “there’s a sense of delay present in any translation, of course.”

She started translating small swaths of the book. But because of the way the industry works, Croft’s work wasn’t simply getting the book into English. Translators often must also serve as a book’s advocate. The process for Croft included applying for grants. She also served as its representative, trying to get publishers in the U.K. and U.S. interested in the work.

“I pitched ‘Jacob’ at a publishing party in New York,” Croft says. “Individual translators have to play the role of scout and agent, too. I’m just happy to get it out into the world.”

Croft admits the process is almost more aligned with sorcery than a science. “Every process is different, but you think a lot about rhythm, especially with an author like Olga, who has such a beautiful, lyrical style. Some of it is instinct. And there’s this mystical element, where you lose yourself in the work.”

Croft has worked with Tokarczuk for 20 years. “I feel like you need to know the author as well as possible,” she says. “That’s why I only work with living authors.”

A telling example of the variety involved in such work can be found in a translation of a Fyodor Dostoevsky’s novel, frequently titled

“The Possessed” until Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky’s 1995 translation eliminated the passive nature of the title in favor of “Demons.”

“Intricate things can change everything, and little details add up,” Croft says. “They can reshape the way the reader thinks about the book.”

She points out that “Flights” doesn’t appear in the title of Tokarczuk’s book in the author’s native tongue. “The title is this weird word in Polish that has to do with running. This 18th-century Russian orthodox sect believed you had to stay in motion constantly to escape the devil. ‘Runners’ didn’t sound evocative enough. I thought about that title for years. ‘Flights’ felt nice, though. It could refer to a lot of things at once: travel, fleeing, escaping, flights of fancy. So I chose that.”

Croft also will receive royalties rather than a flat fee for her work on the book, perhaps an indication that American publishers see increasing value in works from around the world.

Croft grew up monolingual in Tulsa, Okla. A teenage interest in Russian literature proved her portal into poetry and fiction created outside the U.S. The University of Iowa offered a Master of Fine Arts degree in Polish, which put her on a path to meeting and befriending Tokarczuk.