Customer Reviews

Satan in Goray: A Novel

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Consider that I.B. Singer wrote Satan in Goray at the age of 26 or so, and the impressiveness of this work becomes all the more clear. Few people of that age, or any age could evoke an historical era with such force or create a fractured narrative of such power. The world of religious conflict, superstition, and messianiac hysteria is Singer's main interest, subjects he would pursue for the rest of his life. Satan in Goray is a strong beginning, a prophetic book (written in the early 1930's) of a trapped people on the edge of a disaster.

The book takes place as the Jews of Gory attempt to recover from the Chelmelnicki massacres of the 1640's (the worst disaster for the Jews between the Crusades and the Holocaust). The Jews of Poland believe that, as Christian would say, the End Times are here, and expect the messiah to arrive. Shabbati Shevi appears on the scene, claiming to be the messiah. Many Jews fall under his sway, but the Rabbi of Goray resists and this further wracks the town. As these political and social disasters are played out, a young orphan, Rechele, who is insane, becomes the center of interest of the town, as she is unmarried. When a holy man, Itche Mates, arrives in Goray, he marries the unfortuate Rechele, who proceeds to be posessed by Satan and do things that make Linda Blair in the Excorsist look amateur.

The novel itself has some problems; it's birth as a serial leaves it episodic. One has the sense of threads stopping and starting without reason, and there really is not what could be called a plot. However, Singer's rich language, his pinpoint descriptions of people, places, and religious factions are stunning. Reading his work is an education.

Satan in Goray is a look into the hearts of Polish Jews right before World War II. The sense of helpless claustrophobia is appalling, the whiff of death overwhelming here. Satan was not just in Goray, and Singer knew it.

"Satan in Goray" is the first novel written by I.B.Singer and is characterized by its deep emotional and psychological content. Written at a time of troubles for the Jewish community in Eastern Europe, more specifically in Poland, it draws a parallel between the messianic disaster of Sabbatai Zevi and revolutionary ecstasies. In 1666, 18 years after the infamous Chmelniski massacres, a messianic movement developed in Eastern Europe, under the leadership of Sabbatai Zevi who proclaimed himself to be the long-awaited Messiah. The uncertainties and despair felt by the Jewish community, a deep-rooted belief in national redemption, and lack of strong traditional rabbinical leadership, all contributed to the initial success of messianism. The story takes place in a remote town by the name of Goray, and main character, a feeble-minded young woman by the name of Rechelle, personifies the forces of evil (messianism) taking root amongst the population and leading to the downfall of its members, bringing total chaos. I.B.Singer's story is an epic description of the struggle between the forces of evil and good, of reason and emotion, of traditional conservative Judaism and messianism. The narrative is strong, realistic, impulsive, almost suffocating; it truly depicts the spirit of collective hysteria.

When times are desperate as they have been in many eras and many places, people tend to resort to desperate measures. They cast their lot with prophets, dreamers, and seers who foretell a bright future--the coming of the millenium, it is often called----when all problems shall be solved, the rough made plain, the poor made rich, and sick shall be healed. Movements develop. They may die away in time or they may thrive and create great civilizations. Western civilization, after all, is based on one such movement. We generally refer to these movements as "cults", unless of course they are successful. In many, but not all, millenial movements, people anticipate the immanent arrival of the New Age so strongly that they throw away their possessions and engage in dissolute behavior: singing, dancing, drinking, engaging in previously-forbidden sex, and so on. Sometimes the "pure" remove themselves to isolated spots to await the end of the world or the Great Change, in extreme cases, they may even commit suicide. Anthropologists have studied many such groups or religions; others are found in history books or newspapers. Our times are not devoid of such groups: remember Jonestown, remember the Branch Davidians, remember that group that committed suicide in California. China (the Taiping), Brazil (Antonio Conselheiro),, Papua New Guinea (the cargo cults), Africa (many studies), Burma, Europe---the list is nearly endless. The Jews have not been immune either. In the 1660s the famous "false Messiah" arose in Turkey, claiming to be ready to lead the Jews to Judgement Day and a new era. Throughout eastern Europe hope sprang up, especially in the Polish-Ukrainian regions devasted by the murderous Bogdan Chmielnitski not long before.

Written as a novel, with lively, colorful characters, Singer describes perfectly the course of such a millenial movement in Goray, an isolated Polish village. Whether you are interested in literature or anthropology, this is a description you cannot afford to miss. We follow the rise and fall of a local cult leader, a prophetess, and the feverish hopes of the Jews, longing for deliverance from "singing King Alpha's song in a strange land". Amidst strange marriages, the breaking of all the strict laws of kashrut, and the wild visions of prophecy, Goray's hopes soar and crash. If you think that the rise of post-Holocaust, post-pogrom Israel is just politics and has nothing to do with any sort of millenarianism, then you should read this wonderful book and reconsider. Powerful language, dark, dreadful images full of demons and damnation only possible from a master like Singer show the strength of the ancient dream of Israel. The tragedy is, of course, that in modern times the dream was realized at somebody else's expense. Reading Abdelrahman Munif's "Cities of Salt", in conjunction with Singer's book would not be a bad idea. It illustrates the world on which such dreams impacted. SATAN IN GORAY is a wonderful book of literature, anthropology, and history from which great understanding may flow. The world needs this understanding.

In 17th Century Poland, a small, beleagured Jewish community falls under the sway of a charismatic would-be messiah and begins to descend into anarchy. Singer relates his simple but powerful tale in stately, "epic" prose perfectly suited to his theme

The only reason why I'm writing this review is that I want to publish my opinion that Isaac Singer never wrote "magical realism." I understand magical realism to be the introduction of magical events into a narrative whereby the magical is an objective part of reality that the characters see and are influenced by. I always thought that Isaac Singer only introduced the magical into certain of his character's minds - the magical never exists outside their own thoughts and perceptions. The great thing about Isaac Singer is that he writes about how private obsessions regarding magic and spirits and morality effect a character's life. That is exactly what Satan in Goray is about - the obsession and downfall of a young lady influenced by a medieval messianic Jewish movement. In that context I think Isaac Singer was an extremely compassionate, perceptive and intelligent author who understood better than anyone(probably owing to the fact both his father and grandfather were rabbis) how people mistake superstition for religion.

Singer may be the only winner of the Nobel Prize to write in a language considered dead. Nonetheless, his crisp prose and enticing style make it a worthwhile read to anyone who is interested in the subject or just in exploring a great novel.

In the 17th Century, European Jewish civilization almost collapsed. Social norms fell apart as people abandoned their homes and their farms in something that can only be described as a mass psychosis. Satan in Goray tells the story from the perspective of one town.

Singer begins to explore a life long interest in the issues of what makes society good and what is evil in this first novel. If you want to get a flavor for his genius, this is an excellent place to start.

this book presents a story dating back to the 17th century in Poland.....yet change the dates and names and it is eerily reminiscent of modern times and the religious conflicts surrounding the Messiah....a good read for anyone interested in the messiah from a different point of view and written in the first person concept....it was recommended to me from someone in my weekly bible studies class....I have enjoyed the story....

I just want to add to the chorus of positive endorsements. Anyone who is thinking about buying this and reading it probably should. It is quite memorable, the course of events: from a difficult, harsh life in a 17th century Polish village where people aspire to live by the Torah to insanity and disaster based on Messianic fantasies, is an extraordinarily apt analogue for our time. Perhaps every culture in decline is similar. It is like a Grimms' Fairy Tale set in a real time, place and religious context.

I don't quite agree with the people who admired the shock aspect, since it seems to me that Hollywood has far exceeded Singer in demonstrating the power of demons and their versatility. But I think his demons have greater metaphorical value than Holywood's, just as the Weird Women in Macbeth do. "If I ruled the world, if everything were the way I want, everything fixed that's broken and everyone paying (positve) attention to me..." is the beginning of our inner demonology, here externalized to a little community.

As with Shakespeare, one isn't really aware of the author's point of view or emotional investment. He's more the vehicle of the story.

There are some scenes that are unforgettable in this book. It's just so rich and full of Jewish culture and shocking in its depictions that it leaves a lasting impression.

I recommend it to anyone who is steeped in religion or studies religion or even has a passing interest in the mysteries of messianic zeal.

Isaac Bashevis Singer was one of the greatest and wisest writers of the 20th century. He chose to write in Yiddish, then to all appearances a vanishing language, since so many of its speakers were murdered by the Nazis, while the new state of Israel adopted a form of Hebrew. He won the Nobel Prize in 1978, yet he is anything but elitist: his novels are compelling reading and accessible to anyone who enjoys standard historical fiction.

"Satan in Goray" was his first novel: it has all the freshness of early work but is in not in any respect less than masterly. I love its abrupt, poetic, aphoristic style, although Singer himself came to consider it too showy and later wrote more plainly. As in all his books set in old Jewish Eastern Europe, the main themes are the beauty and radiance of Judaism, and the unfathomable mystery of human perversity and self-destructiveness. His Jews lead double lives, half in the blemished, sullen, frustrating actual world, and half in the consoling Realm of Imagination they call Erez Yisro'el, the Land of Israel.

The Rabbi of Goray, at odds with his own household, is dismayed by the state of Polish Jews: tired of the clear waters of righteous deeds and Awe before God, they care only for fasting and asceticism, the Kabbalah, visions and marvels. So they are more than ready when the cult of the False Messiah, Shabbetai Zvi, sweeps across the Jewish world like a plague. The obstinate and the envious take up the cause of the new Messiah, and very soon the Rabbi finds himself almost alone in opposing them.

But then the Rabbi is crippled during a storm and forced to flee. The community falls prey to hysteria, hallucination and demons that can be as psychological or as literal as you please. Longing for a happiness beyond human limitation, they bring about their own destruction. I discovered Singer as a teenager in rural New Zealand and I read his books insatiably one after another, immersed for weeks at a time in the unknown world of Judaism. Yet this story could not be more universal, and it teaches you more about what Emily Dickinson called "freckled human nature" than a stack of thick psychology textbooks.