"Più Malamud toglie più noi acquisiamo. Questo significa scrivere."

Così scrive Piperno alla fine della prefazione de L'uomo di Kiev di Bernard Malamud.
È una storia realmente accaduta agli inizi del '900 a Kiev e che Malamud romanza in maniera dilaniante. Yakov Bok è vittima di un'enorme ingiustizia giudiziaria.
La sua sola colpa è di essere ebreo e di essersi trovato nel luogo sbagliato al momento sbagliato.
Un uomo che sulla sua pelle subisce le torture più atroci, pur essendo innocente.
La storia di Yakov è solo l'anticipazione delle atrocità che si svilupperanno poi qualche decennio dopo nei campi di concentramento voluti da Hitler.

همانطور که در مقدمه‌ی مترجم آمده‌ است از این کتاب فیلمی توسط جان فرانکن هایمر در سال ۱۹۶۸، با بازی آلن بیتس ساخته شد است.
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«دنیای ما، دنیای از هم‌گسیخته و در هم شکسته‌ی ما، به رمان‌های اگزیستانسیالیستی بیشتری نیاز دارد. رمان‌هایی که چیزی ارزشمندتر و فراتر از امید به ما ارائه بدهند: رمان‌هایی که به‌ مثابه‌ی فراخوانی برای عمل و حرکت باشند.» (جاناتان سافران فوئر). مقدمه‌ی مترجم. صفحه ۶ کتاب
قهرمان‌های مالامود از رنج فرار نمی‌کنند، بلکه آن را به‌ مثابه‌ی واقعیت وجود انسان و تنها راه رستگاری او می‌پذیرند. مالامود همواره در آثارش نشان داده که رهایی حقیقی، تنها از راه رنج میسر می‌شود و در تعمیرکار این باور را به کامل‌ترین شکل ممکن تجلی بخشیده است. جاناتان یاردلی، منتقد واشینگتن پست، معتقد است «استعداد ذاتی مالامود چنین است که یک داستان تخیلی که به بزرگداشت -بله، بزرگداشت! - رنج می‌پردازد، به هیج وجه مغموم نیست.» مقدمه‌ی مترجم. صفحه‌ی ۸ کتاب
مالامود برای پدید آوردن فضای فانتزی چند بن‌مایه‌ی ثابت را در آثارش به‌ کار می‌برد، که در اینجا مهم‌ترین آنها زندان است. خود او در یکی از مصاحبه‌هایش در این‌باره می‌گوید «زندان استعاره‌ای برای مخمصه‌ای است که انسان در طول تاریخ به آن دچار است. جبر اولین زندان بشری است، هر چند میوه‌هایش به چشم همگان نمی‌آید. بی‌عدالتی اجتماعی، بی‌رحمی و نادانی هم زندان‌های ساخته‌ی دست بشرند… خارق‌العاده‌ترین اختراع ما آزادی بشر است.» مقدمه‌ی مترجم. صفحه ۹ کتاب
چه کسی به سوراخ‌های سقف خانه‌اش اهمیت می‌دهد وقتی می‌تواند از آنجا خدا را دید بزند؟ صفحه‌ی ۱۷ کتاب
وقتی تمام عمرت هیچ نداشته‌ای، زیاد داشتن وحشت‌زده‌ات می‌کند. صفحه ۵۷ کتاب
اگر شما فقیر باشید، تمام وقتتان صرف کارهایی می‌شود که نیازی به گفتنش نیست. آن‌ وقت نگرانی درباره‌ی جزئیات و زیر و زبر سیاست را می‌سپارید دست آنهایی که توانش را دارند. صفحه ۸۲ کتاب
هیچ کس نمی‌تواند حقیقت را تا ابد مخفی کند. حتی اگر ناقوس زن بمیرد، باد ناقوس را به صدا درمی‌آورد. صفحه ۱۳۱ کتاب
به نظرم کشوری که در آن انسان صاحب انسان باشد، یک جورهایی نفرین‌ شده است. بوی تعفن چنین فسادی هیچ‌ وقت از مشام روح یک ملت نمی‌رود، و این بوی تعفن بدی‌های آینده است. صفحه ۱۶۵ کتاب
انتظار می‌کشی. در لحظات امیدواری و روزهای ناامیدی انتظار می‌کشی. گاه فقط انتظار می‌کشی و هیچ توهینی از این بزرگ‌تر نیست. صفحه ۲۰۲ کتاب
مرگ از بعضی آدم‌ها فاصله می‌گیرد. تمام مصیبت‌ها و محنت‌ها، فقر، اشتباهات در قبال آدم‌های دیگر، ضربات سرنوشت؛ همه و همه از زندگی بود. زندگی کردی، زجر کشیدی، اما زندگی کردی. صفحه ۳۱۰ کتاب
​۱۴۰۳/۱۱/۱۴

This is the sixth book I have read by Bernard Malamud. In every one his writing has been strong and affecting. The Fixer was the #6 bestseller in 1966 and won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award the following year.

One of this author's themes is Jewish life. This time he moves out of American Jewish life and back in time. Yakov Bok is a handyman, a "fixer." After his wife leaves him, he ventures out of the shtetl where he has always lived to seek his fortune.

At first he has good luck, gets a well paying job in Kiev and even attention from a woman. But he has been hiding the fact that he is a Jew. It is 1911 and anti-Semitism is in full force along with much superstition and mysticism.

When a 12-year-old Christian boy is found stabbed to death, his blood drained, Yakov is accused of a ritual murder, arrested and imprisoned without even an indictment.

Most of the book concerns his years in prison and his state of mind. It is quite gripping. The Fixer shows the evil that follows from prejudice and discrimination. It is based on the true case of Menahem Mendel Beilis. As medieval as the setting is, the novel felt eerily relevant to today.

Well that was depressing. There may have been a time or two I have been this relieved that I have finally finished a book, but it hasn't happened often. It was such a relief to close that book knowing I never have to open it again. I know that "The Fixer" has won both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, just knowing that made me go and find out what it takes to win either of these awards and this is what I found just in case you're interested:

"Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life.

National Book Award: Its mission is "to celebrate the best of American literature, to expand its audience, and to enhance the cultural value of good writing in America."

I trust that "The Fixer" deserves both of these awards, I still hated it. I know that lots and lots and lots of people love the book, I still hated it.

"The Fixer" was written by Bernard Malamud and published in 1966. What I find even more depressing than the novel is that it is a fictionalized version of something that really happened. Menahem Mendel Beilis was a Jewish man unjustly imprisoned in Tsarist Russia. The "Beilis trial" of 1913 caused an international uproar and Russia backed down in the face of this indignation. The only good thing, two good things I guess about this real event is that there was an international uproar and that Russia backed down, although why they were doing terrible things to Jewish people in the first place is beyond me. Of course why anyone does terrible things to anyone else is beyond me. Maybe doing terrible things to entire big groups of people astonishes me even more, even if you don't like one or two people what can you possibly have against all of them?. I'm not going to tell you if the awful people doing awful things to our main character back down in the face of indignation at the end or not, just in case you want to read the book and would rather not have the ending spoiled.

As to the story, in the novel our main character is Yakov Bok, a Jewish handyman or "fixer". The book begins in a shtetl, a Russian village, (yes I looked it up) where Yakov lives with his father-in-law, Shmuel. Yakov’s wife, Raisl, has left him for another man. The marriage was troubled mainly because the couple did not have a child. Yakov has made a decision to leave the shtetl and go elsewhere where hopefully his luck will improve. Well he's wrong about that one. He loads a few things onto a wagon and heads to Kiev. However when Yakov reaches Kiev, he has difficulty making a living, there are just no jobs for Jews. Then one evening he finds a man lying drunk in the snow and helps the man's daughter take him home. The man, Lebedev, rewards him for his help by offering him a job at a brickyard that he owns. Yakov needs the job but is troubled because to take it he will have to live at the brickyard and Jews aren't allowed to live in that section of the city, I don't know why- just add it to the list of things I don't understand. He does take the job not telling Lebedev he is Jewish or his real name. Eventually some of the workers there find out he is Jewish, so when Yakov is arrested he thinks he is being arrested for living in a restricted area off-limits to Jews. At first he is unaware of the actual accusations which are of "ritual murder of a child". A twelve year old boy has been found dead in a cave with many stab wounds in the body.

Yakov is jailed without being officially charged and denied visitors or legal counsel. When he asks for a lawyer he is told that it is not possible at this stage. The indictment must come first and the indictment won't come until there is a preliminary examination by the Investigating Magistrate and the Prosecuting Attorney. If they agree there should be an indictment they write one and it is sent to the District Court where it is either confirmed or disapproved by the judges. After all this the prisoner is given a copy of it and then within a week or two, possibly more, the accused may select his counsel and inform the court. What a terrible legal system this is. A man could be in jail for years just waiting for the indictment which is what happens to Yakov. Not only that, but no one believes that Yakov committed the murder in the first place. I don't believe it, the prosecutor doesn't believe it, or other prisoners, or the warden, or the guards or anyone else in the book, but no one cares, they want to convict Yakov of the crime because he is Jewish. I probably said this ten times already but I'm saying it again, why they are determined to arrest and torment a Jewish person is beyond me.

There were words in the book used fairly often that I looked up just to be sure of what they meant, one of them was pogrom; lots of people running around in this book wanted to have a pogrom and here it is:

"an organized massacre of a particular ethnic group, in particular that of Jews in Russia or eastern Europe."

An organized massacre?? Who would organize a massacre? Who would want to do this? Again, I don't know. Then we have "matzo", which is "an unleavened bread traditionally eaten by Jewish people during the week-long Passover holiday." There seems to be nothing wrong with this only these horrible book people claim that Yakov and all the other Jewish people make it with the blood of Christians to cure their diseases or some such absolutely stupid reason. Then there is Father Anastasy, a priest who is a self-proclaimed expert - also insane in my opinion - on ritual murder. He tells us:

"In the recorded past,' said Father Anastasy in his nasally musical voice, ' the Jew has had many uses for Christian blood. He has used it for purposes of sorcery and witches' rituals, and for love potions and well poisoning, fabricating a deadly venom that spread the plague from one country to another, a mixture of Christian blood from a murdered victim, their own Jewish urine, the heads of poisonous snakes, and even the stolen mutilated host - the bleeding body of Christ himself."

I'm not sure how crazy Father Anastasy thinks the Jewish people are supposed to get their hands on the body of Christ bleeding or otherwise since at this moment He is in heaven with our Father, but I don't really care of Father Anastasy's ideas on that anyway. I could add many more horrible quotes like that one but I don't want to, thinking of this book makes my head hurt. Then we get to read of Yakov being in prison and eating soup with cockroaches in it, of getting beat not just by guards but also by prisoners who beat him either because they believe him guilty or because he's Jewish, you decide which one.

At one point in this "lovely" book Yakov's feet get sores on them, the sores become infected and swollen and the pain and swelling begins to move up his legs, he also becomes feverish. Finally the warden sends him to the infirmary but no one is allowed to help him get there and he has to crawl the entire way. There are these atrocious body searches that the evil deputy warden has done to Yakov six times a day even though he is kept in solitary confinment and chained to a wall. What in the world are they searching for?

I don't want to think about this book any more so I'm done with this. I know it won awards and all that and because of that it must be a wonderful book, so take their word for it and not mine. I read that it is "wonderfully written", "one of the world's richest novels", "a literary event in any season". All kinds of things like that, but I don't know or care when a book is "wonderfully written" I just know I hate it. I hate that people can do things like this to each other. I refuse to give it more than one star because of how it made me feel no matter how many awards it won, I do however, recommend it to everyone, after all you will have to like it better than I did.

This is one of those rare books that shake you to the core. Amazing.

Bellissimo...alla fine si ha bisogno di spalancare una finestra e prendere aria...

روایت شکنجه شدن یک یهودی آزاداندیش بخت‌برگشتهٔ غوطه‌ور در رنج و بی‌عدالتی در یک کشور مریض که تنها جرمش یهودی بودنش بود. با الهام از یک شخصیت حقیقی.
متن کتاب به قدری روان و جذاب است که به سختی کتاب رو برای کارها و پروژه‌های روزانه کنار می‌ذارید... .
با هر پرونده‌سازی‌ای که در زنجیرهٔ بی‌پایانی از رویدادهای مصیبت‌بار گریبان‌گیر یاکوف‌بُک می‌شد, یاد زندانی‌های سیاسی این‌روزهای مرز و بوم خودم میوفتادم. کشور را تبدیل به یک گور دسته‌جمعی کرده‌اند. و ای وای ای وای!

از متن کتاب:
«یا خدا اختراع ماست و کار خاصی از دستش بر نمی‌آید, یا این‌که نیرویی است در طببعت اما نه در تاریخ. او فقط یک نیروست, نه پدر انسان.»
«به هر حال دانستن بهتر از ندانستن است. انسان باید یاد بگیرد, این در ذاتش است.»
«هر جا تلاشی برای رسیدن به آزادی نباشد, آزادی وجود ندارد.»
«اسپینوزا چه می‌گوید؟ اگر دولت رفتارهایی مغایر با ذات انسانی داشته باشد, صلاح آن است که نابودش کنیم.»

Okuyalı 6 ayı geçmiş, hala ara sıra aklıma geliyor. Şimdi Foucault'nun Hapishanenin Doğuşu kitabını okurken yine arka planda Tamirci'yi düşündüğümü farkettim. Sanırım ben bu kitabı tekrar okuyacağım.

Konusu itibariyle, benim zihnimde Dostoyevski'nin Suç ve Ceza'sı, Musil'in Niteliksiz Adam'ı ve Malamud'un Tamirci'si adeta bir bütün oluşturuyor. Hukuk okumuş olmamdan mı kaynaklanıyor diye düşündüm ama değil. Hukuk sistemi bu kitapların çok küçük bir kısmında ve son derece tali. Esas mevzu başka ve çok daha hayati...

Toplumsal adalet, önyargı ve algılar konusunda düşünmeyi seven herkes okumalı.

Uno dei libri più duri che abbia mai letto. Spesso l'angoscia era così forte da obbligarmi a sospendere la lettura. Nonostante ciò, è valsa sicuramente la pena di leggere questa storia, ispirata a un fatto realmente accaduto, per riflettere sulle ingiustizie perpetrate ai danni del popolo ebraico ben prima dell'arrivo del nazismo.

In the Ocean of This World, Justice is Just a Minnow

My grandparents fled Tsarist Russia and I've never been under any illusions why. All my life I have thanked them and blessed them in my heart. America may be far from perfect, maybe it has grown into a fat, arrogant bully wallowing in corruption and "fake news", but if you want to know a worse alternative, read Malamud's THE FIXER. A Jew, guilty only of the "crime" of living in a district of Kiev forbidden to Jews, is framed for a murder. Not just an ordinary murder, it is claimed, but a ritual one. Yakov Bok, who earned his living fixing things for people (hence the title), is charged by an anti-Semitic legal and social system with murdering a Christian boy in order to use his blood to make Passover matzos. The whole weight of government, church, and society is brought to bear on a poor Jew, who can discuss Spinoza and wallpaper apartments, but can find no way out of his frightful dilemma. Where is reason ? he asks as he spends years in prison with no action taken, where is justice ? "What a strange and extraordinary thing for someone like himself....to have as his sworn and bitter enemies the Russian State, through its officials and Tsar, for no better reason than that he was born a Jew, therefore their appointed enemy...." (p.223) Malamud constantly uses dreams and visions to illustrate a situation beyond all practical imagining. The novel is not for readers who want light, optimistic fare---the dark side of human nature is never more evident than here. If Toni Morrison were Jewish, she would have written on a similar topic. At the end, in an inner dialogue with the Tsar himself, the imprisoned Bok condemns the Tsar and Malamud asserts, in effect, that the revolution was inevitable. Was all the evil of that old system expunged ? Unfortunately, no, it was preserved by a failed attempt at change that froze so many pre-1917 values.
As I read, thunder rolled in the great dark clouds of my mind, my anger boiled over continually. How could they be so evil ? How could people keep repeating the same rubbish today ? How can Russian fascists keep these ugly tales of fantasy alive ? But anger is not the answer. In another compartment of my mind, this novel reminded me constantly, consistently of only one thing---the treatment of African Americans through most of the history of America. So, let's not point fingers, but understand what ignorance, bigotry, and hate may wreak. This is a most powerful subject and a most powerful novel, probably Malamud's best.

Yazarın okurlarına felaket üstüne felaket fırlatarak 340 sayfa boyunca Yakov’u sızlandırdığı bir kitap. Ben iki yıldız verdim çünkü bunları tekrar tekrar okumaktan bıktım. 120 sayfa bir kitap olsa da yazar her şeyi anlatırmış, bomboş uzatmış, bomboş okuru oyalamış. Bu kitabın bu kadar dört-beş yıldız almasını da overrated buluyorum. Mağduru okumak, 340 sayfa boyunca mağduru okumak... bunu sevmek... delirmişsiniz :(

Η ιστορία, η εξέλιξη, οι πρωταγωνιστες και ο ήρωας του βιβλίου επεκτείνονται πέρα απο κάθε σύνορο , κοσμικό και εξωκοσμικό. Αναπηδά απο τα παρελθόν στο παρόν με συνειρμικά σκέψεων και επινοημένες αναμνήσεις ή αληθινές παραστάσεις,βιωματικές.
Όλα μαζί προωθούνται στο μέλλον και επικαιροποιούνται με καθολική σημασία. Ένα θλιβερό και ενδιαφέρον μυθιστόρημα για την κατάσταση της ανθρωπότητας.
Ο πολυπαθής τεχνίτης, ο μάστορας των βασανιστηρίων και της κατάφορης αδικίας έζησε και μαρτύρησε στην τσαρική Ρωσία μεταξύ 1905-1908 όταν ένα κύμα αντισημιτισμού σάρωνε τη χώρα αλλά και την προσαρτημένη χώρα της Ουκρανίας.

Ο μάστορας είναι ένας πάμπτωχος μάρτυρας, ένας πατέρας χωρίς παιδιά, ένας σύζυγος χωρίς γυναίκα. Απεμπολεί την εβραϊκή του ταυτότητα και προσπαθεί να εργαστεί σε άγνωστο για αυτόν τόπο με ψεύτικα στοιχεία ταυτοποίησης για να ξεφύγει απο την οδυνηρή πραγματικότητα της ζωής του.

Ο μάστορας όμως αντιπροσωπεύει όλους τους Εβραίους, τη φυλή που είναι πάντα καταραμένη για τους χριστιανικούς χωροχρόνους.
Ξαφνικά και απρόσκοπτα κατηγορείται για την τελετουργική δολοφονία ενός μικρού Ρώσου.
Λέγεται ότι οι Εβραίοι χρησιμοποιούν χριστιανικό αίμα στις θρησκευτικές τους τελετουργίες καθώς προσπαθούν να υπονομεύσουν το κράτος.
Μέσω αυτής της συκοφαντίας αίματος,και φιλοσοφίας και μασονικής μυστικότητας, όλα τα δεινά της ρωσικής κοινωνίας περνάνε στο κατηγορητήριο του μάστορα.

Όταν φυλακίζεται παράνομα και καταχρηστικά πέρα απο κάθε νόμο και θεσμό δικαιοσύνης όλη σχεδόν η κοινωνία, από τους συγκρατούμενούς του, μέσω των δεσμοφυλάκων και των εισαγγελέων του, μέχρι τον Τσάρο, είναι ενωμένη στην καταδίκη και το μίσος τους για τον Μάστορα
Κακομεταχειρίζεται, βασανίζεται, γίνεται προσπάθεια να τον δηλητηριάσουν, και διάφορες μηχανορραφίες χρησιμοποιούνται για να προσπαθήσουν να τον κάνουν να υπογράψει μια ομολογία. Παρά τις περιστασιακές κρίσεις αυτο-τιμωρίας ο ετοιμοθάνατος πλέον φυλακισμένος επιμένει να διαμαρτύρεται για την αθωότητά του.
Δεμένος με σιδερένιες αλυσίδες ώστε να μη φτάνει το πέτρινο κρεβάτι για να καθίσει στη διάρκεια της ημέρας. Τη νύχτα χωρίς αλυσίδες και σκεπάσματα σχεδόν γυμνός, βρόμικος, πληγιασμένος, παγωμένος απο τις πολικές θερμοκρασίες και θεονήστικος προσπαθεί να κοιμηθεί μήπως έχει την τύχη της λύτρωσης του θανάτου.
Δυο χρόνια μετά, η ιστορία στην Ρωσία τραγουδάει καθαρά και όμορφα. Η δίκη είναι προ των πυλών η καταδίκη σχεδόν σίγουρη, η αθώωση προφανώς αποδεδειγμένη.
Μια οργιαστική λογοτεχνική εμπειρία που αφυπνίζει τα εκδικητικά ένστικτα και την συγκινησιακή φόρτιση κάθε αναγνώστη.



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