Burzliwy żywot amureca, czyli jak Jakub Pannę zdobywał. Słowa Pańskie Jakuba Franka jako powieść łotrzykowska
The Stormy Life of Am Ha’arets, or How Jacob Won the Virgin. Jacob Frank’s Words of the Lord as a Picaresque Novel

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this essay is to present Jacob Frank’s Words of the Lord as the first (and perhaps the last) Polish picaresque novel which abounds in semi-fantastical, kabbalahinspired stories, depicting a stormy life of a protagonist who calls himself an “am ha’arets” (a man of the land or a village idiot in Hebrew) and brags of his infinite and supranatural vitality that helps him to overcome all adversities. The essay considers a hypothesis formulated by Yirmiyahu Yovel, according to which the picaro novel emerged in 16th century Spain, in the milieu of the Marranos or conversos, i.e. the Jews who were forced to convert to Christianity, but usually retained some elements of their Judaic faith undercover. This hypothesis seems to fit perfectly well to Jacob Frank’s gadki (stories) as he himself can be regarded as the paradigmatic Marrano: a willing convert to Catholicism, whose aim was to “messianize” the Christian religion from within. The essay ends with a comparison of Frank’s messianic ambitions to Jacques Derrida whose messianicite operates on a similar Marrano basis.

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