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Bramy raju
Trwa krucjata dziecięca, zwołana w 1212 roku, której celem jest oswobodzenie Ziemi Świętej z rąk muzułmanów. Kilka tygodni po rozpoczęciu wyprawy, gdy opadły już pierwsze emocje, a trudy podróży nadwyrężyły siły pielgrzymów, zostaje zarządzona spowiedź święta, która ma umocnić ducha biorących udział w krucjacie. Do spowiedzi przystępują wszystkie dzieci. Słuchając kolejnych wyznań, odkrywamy okrutną prawdę o okolicznościach zwołania wyprawy i skomplikowanych motywach działami jej inicjatorów, którzy są zanurzeni w bezmiarze grzechu i obłudy.
Jest to powieść metaforyczna ukazująca zwątpienie w etyczną czystość ludzi, którzy kierują się w swoim działaniu kłamstwem i zbrodnią. Porusza problem słabości ludzkiej natury, dwuznaczności dążeń do ideału i zwycięstwie zła, które może przybierać różne maski.
„Bramy raju” są świadectwem otwarcia politycznego jakie nastąpiło po Październiku 1956 r.
Jest to powieść metaforyczna ukazująca zwątpienie w etyczną czystość ludzi, którzy kierują się w swoim działaniu kłamstwem i zbrodnią. Porusza problem słabości ludzkiej natury, dwuznaczności dążeń do ideału i zwycięstwie zła, które może przybierać różne maski.
„Bramy raju” są świadectwem otwarcia politycznego jakie nastąpiło po Październiku 1956 r.
110 pages
First published January 1, 1960
20 people are currently reading
1161 people want to read
About the author
Jerzy Andrzejewski
50 books47 followersJerzy Andrzejewski was a Polish novelist, short-story writer, and political dissident noted for his attention to moral issues important in 20th-century Poland and for his realistic fiction.
Andrzejewski was born into a middle-class family, and the young writer studied Polish language and literature at the University of Warsaw. The stories published in his first book, Drogi nieuniknione (1936; “Unavoidable Ways”), originally appeared in a right-wing periodical, with whom he soon severed relations. That volume was followed by the novel Ład serca (1938; “Heart’s Harmony”), in which Andrzejewski tried to find in Roman Catholic teachings solutions to the problems of contemporary life. During the German occupation of World War II, he participated in the Polish underground.
After World War II, Andrzejewski wrote Noc (1945; “Night”), a collection of wartime stories, and, together with Jerzy Zagórski, a satirical drama, Swięto Winkelrida (1946; “Winkelried’s Feast”). Contemporary political problems are projected in Popiół i diament (1948; Ashes and Diamonds), translated into 27 languages and generally considered his finest novel. It presents a dramatic conflict between young Polish patriots and the communist regime during the last days of World War II. In 1958 Andrzej Wajda, the leading director of the Polish cinema, directed a movie based on the book and bearing the same title.
In 1949 Andrzejewski joined the Communist Party, and for the next seven years he supported its ideology in his essays, but in 1956 he gave up membership and established himself as one of the principal critics of the party’s policies, both in his creative writings and in his activities. In 1976 he became one of the cofounders of the Workers’ Defense Committee (KOR), from which eventually grew the anticommunist trade union Solidarity, outlawed in 1981. Andrzejewski also coedited Zapis (1977–81), a literary magazine publishing dissident writers. Andrzejewski’s novels Ciemności kryją ziemię (1957; The Inquisitors) and Bramy raju (1960; The Gates of Paradise) present modern problems disguised as historical novels, while Apelacja (1968; The Appeal) and Miazga (1981; “The Pulp”) directly address the issues of contemporary society.
Andrzejewski’s life and work seem to be emblematic for many Polish intellectuals of his generation—from his ardent Catholicism before the war to his heroic involvement with the Resistance during the Nazi occupation, through his subsequent skepticism, to his total acceptance of the Marxist ideology after the war, and, finally, to his disillusionment with and open dissent against communism. His short stories and novels, Ashes and Diamonds in particular, can be read as a moving testimony to his development.
Andrzejewski was born into a middle-class family, and the young writer studied Polish language and literature at the University of Warsaw. The stories published in his first book, Drogi nieuniknione (1936; “Unavoidable Ways”), originally appeared in a right-wing periodical, with whom he soon severed relations. That volume was followed by the novel Ład serca (1938; “Heart’s Harmony”), in which Andrzejewski tried to find in Roman Catholic teachings solutions to the problems of contemporary life. During the German occupation of World War II, he participated in the Polish underground.
After World War II, Andrzejewski wrote Noc (1945; “Night”), a collection of wartime stories, and, together with Jerzy Zagórski, a satirical drama, Swięto Winkelrida (1946; “Winkelried’s Feast”). Contemporary political problems are projected in Popiół i diament (1948; Ashes and Diamonds), translated into 27 languages and generally considered his finest novel. It presents a dramatic conflict between young Polish patriots and the communist regime during the last days of World War II. In 1958 Andrzej Wajda, the leading director of the Polish cinema, directed a movie based on the book and bearing the same title.
In 1949 Andrzejewski joined the Communist Party, and for the next seven years he supported its ideology in his essays, but in 1956 he gave up membership and established himself as one of the principal critics of the party’s policies, both in his creative writings and in his activities. In 1976 he became one of the cofounders of the Workers’ Defense Committee (KOR), from which eventually grew the anticommunist trade union Solidarity, outlawed in 1981. Andrzejewski also coedited Zapis (1977–81), a literary magazine publishing dissident writers. Andrzejewski’s novels Ciemności kryją ziemię (1957; The Inquisitors) and Bramy raju (1960; The Gates of Paradise) present modern problems disguised as historical novels, while Apelacja (1968; The Appeal) and Miazga (1981; “The Pulp”) directly address the issues of contemporary society.
Andrzejewski’s life and work seem to be emblematic for many Polish intellectuals of his generation—from his ardent Catholicism before the war to his heroic involvement with the Resistance during the Nazi occupation, through his subsequent skepticism, to his total acceptance of the Marxist ideology after the war, and, finally, to his disillusionment with and open dissent against communism. His short stories and novels, Ashes and Diamonds in particular, can be read as a moving testimony to his development.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 84 reviews
March 10, 2024
An adolescent shepherd boy had had a vision that only innocence could conquer the city of Jerusalem in order to deliver the tomb of Christ from the hands of the infidel Turk so the multitude of children embarked on the impossible crusade…
Unhappy unrequited loves… Adolescent passions… Anguish and angst of youth… Confessions and lies… Childish hopes… Unvanquishable desires… And the gates of heaven are so far away…
Innocence is powerless so children are scattered and swallowed by the night.
…a great company of them, nothing to be heard now but the monot onous tramping of thousands of feet, with some times a creak from the carts that were followingthe host ofchildren, carts carrying thosewho had fallen exhausted by the wayside or whose feet were still too sore for them to start walking again, while the road led on through the forest and seemed to have neither beginning nor end…
Unhappy unrequited loves… Adolescent passions… Anguish and angst of youth… Confessions and lies… Childish hopes… Unvanquishable desires… And the gates of heaven are so far away…
…for as soon as one desire is satisfied a hundred others awaken even more imperiously actions born of the purest desires end in remorse and infamy and perhaps there are no pure desires, the need for violence and cruelty takes possession of man’s nature, he flees from it in a trembling and shame-filled solitude, then, drawn back once more into the ravening pack, driven by folly and the furies of physical strength, again he goes murdering and violating right and left…
Innocence is powerless so children are scattered and swallowed by the night.
January 29, 2020
Una misura d'ignoto
“Tutto è vano fuorché il pregiudizio e la vergogna, l'appagamento dei sensi non sazia il desiderio, da un desiderio soddisfatto cento altri ne nascono imperiosi, gli atti nati dai desideri più puri finiscono nell'infamia e forse non esistono nemmeno desideri puri, il bisogno di violenza e di crudeltà strazia la natura dell'uomo, l'uomo dinanzi ad esse fugge, come fugge la solitudine, ne ha paura e vergogna, ma poi di nuovo nel branco, forte e pazzo, provoca e sparge violenza, è cieco e sordo, ma è forte perché è folle, finché giunge il momento del risveglio, e allora l'uomo resta di nuovo solo, ma per la scelleratezza della sua follia più solo di prima e imprigionato anima e corpo in quella solitudine estrema, cerca disperatamente soccorso, ma lo cerca invano, invano si aggrappa all'ombra della salvezza, solo nella violenza riesce a dimenticare se stesso, in una violenza ormai spoglia di illusioni, nuda e tetra come l'odio”.
Alcuni libri se li metti in una categoria evadono; quindi serve una soluzione immaginaria. Ci sono poche informazioni disponibili su questo testo e sull'autore di esso, e il soggetto stesso del racconto è un evento storico già definito enigmatico e misterioso, la Crociata dei bambini (1212), di cui scrisse anche Marcel Schwob. Fanciulli e fanciulle partono verso le porte di Gerusalemme, con un ardore spirituale e una fede sincera, nel tentativo di salvare il mondo con la grazia e la carità, di fronte alla cecità insensata dei re, dei principi e dei cavalieri. Ma il pessimismo si dispiega in una sintassi ininterrotta, atemporale, senza cause, senza requie. Dentro questo libro c'è una leggenda, nella forma letteraria di un canto, che vuol significare innocenza e sacrificio. È un sogno, o forse un fatto reale. I bambini di Cloyes camminarono nella notte, camminarono verso il mare: alcuni morirono di fatica e di stenti, altri finirono nelle mani di mercanti di schiavi, il loro destino fu comune e infelice. Le cose vengono narrate nella confessione generale di cinque personaggi. Erano quattordici, erano ben più di mille, erano nudi, erano scalzi. Avanzavano soli nel deserto, e a spingerli non è l'amore religioso, ma un amore diverso che è dentro di loro, un sentimento verso la terra e il corpo e il dorso del cielo e il volto sacro di cui sono prigionieri e come invasati, perduti in involontaria costrizione, umili e incoscienti, nel deserto inanimato e riarso dal sole. Seguono un imperativo, devi amare la vita; confessano un peccato, il peccato di amare, il peccato dell'impossibile. I loro nomi sono Jacopo di Cloyes, il trovatello o il bello, Alessio Melisseno, Roberto, Bianca e Maud. Pregano e attendono, nel silenzio, mandano a memoria le parole, al di là della comprensione, devoti. Ogni amore, testimoniano, si sdoppia in due essenze, la sofferenza e l'ombra, l'essere amato e il bisogno di amare. Sono fragili come le lacrime, l'innocenza è l'innocenza dei loro corpi: se avessero un'anima non sarebbero più innocenti. Soli, sperduti, giustiziati dalla fame, annegati. Desiderano l'irrealizzabile, respirano, invisibili, il chiarore dell'esistenza, toccano, orfani, l'intensità pericolosa della speranza. Questo testo è scritto con eleganza e accuratezza, insieme ad una sapienza maiuscola, per narrare il senso profondo della vita, la natura ineffabile dell'amore filosofico e religioso, la irresolubile polivalenza del pensiero metafisico e teologico. La scrittura si annulla nella carne, fallisce, perversa e sfrenata, sulla carta, come una invocazione inviolabile.
“L'amore è ricerca e scoperta, aspirazione e incertezza, fretta e attesa, attesa impaziente ma pur sempre attesa, è quello stato particolare e unico dei nostri desideri e delle nostre brame, pure ed impure, quello stato in cui, pur cercando l'appagamento ci si impone di non oltrepassare un limite estremo, perché l'amore, che per sua natura è bisogno imperioso di appagamento non è l'appagamento stesso né potrà mai esserlo”.
“Tutto è vano fuorché il pregiudizio e la vergogna, l'appagamento dei sensi non sazia il desiderio, da un desiderio soddisfatto cento altri ne nascono imperiosi, gli atti nati dai desideri più puri finiscono nell'infamia e forse non esistono nemmeno desideri puri, il bisogno di violenza e di crudeltà strazia la natura dell'uomo, l'uomo dinanzi ad esse fugge, come fugge la solitudine, ne ha paura e vergogna, ma poi di nuovo nel branco, forte e pazzo, provoca e sparge violenza, è cieco e sordo, ma è forte perché è folle, finché giunge il momento del risveglio, e allora l'uomo resta di nuovo solo, ma per la scelleratezza della sua follia più solo di prima e imprigionato anima e corpo in quella solitudine estrema, cerca disperatamente soccorso, ma lo cerca invano, invano si aggrappa all'ombra della salvezza, solo nella violenza riesce a dimenticare se stesso, in una violenza ormai spoglia di illusioni, nuda e tetra come l'odio”.
Alcuni libri se li metti in una categoria evadono; quindi serve una soluzione immaginaria. Ci sono poche informazioni disponibili su questo testo e sull'autore di esso, e il soggetto stesso del racconto è un evento storico già definito enigmatico e misterioso, la Crociata dei bambini (1212), di cui scrisse anche Marcel Schwob. Fanciulli e fanciulle partono verso le porte di Gerusalemme, con un ardore spirituale e una fede sincera, nel tentativo di salvare il mondo con la grazia e la carità, di fronte alla cecità insensata dei re, dei principi e dei cavalieri. Ma il pessimismo si dispiega in una sintassi ininterrotta, atemporale, senza cause, senza requie. Dentro questo libro c'è una leggenda, nella forma letteraria di un canto, che vuol significare innocenza e sacrificio. È un sogno, o forse un fatto reale. I bambini di Cloyes camminarono nella notte, camminarono verso il mare: alcuni morirono di fatica e di stenti, altri finirono nelle mani di mercanti di schiavi, il loro destino fu comune e infelice. Le cose vengono narrate nella confessione generale di cinque personaggi. Erano quattordici, erano ben più di mille, erano nudi, erano scalzi. Avanzavano soli nel deserto, e a spingerli non è l'amore religioso, ma un amore diverso che è dentro di loro, un sentimento verso la terra e il corpo e il dorso del cielo e il volto sacro di cui sono prigionieri e come invasati, perduti in involontaria costrizione, umili e incoscienti, nel deserto inanimato e riarso dal sole. Seguono un imperativo, devi amare la vita; confessano un peccato, il peccato di amare, il peccato dell'impossibile. I loro nomi sono Jacopo di Cloyes, il trovatello o il bello, Alessio Melisseno, Roberto, Bianca e Maud. Pregano e attendono, nel silenzio, mandano a memoria le parole, al di là della comprensione, devoti. Ogni amore, testimoniano, si sdoppia in due essenze, la sofferenza e l'ombra, l'essere amato e il bisogno di amare. Sono fragili come le lacrime, l'innocenza è l'innocenza dei loro corpi: se avessero un'anima non sarebbero più innocenti. Soli, sperduti, giustiziati dalla fame, annegati. Desiderano l'irrealizzabile, respirano, invisibili, il chiarore dell'esistenza, toccano, orfani, l'intensità pericolosa della speranza. Questo testo è scritto con eleganza e accuratezza, insieme ad una sapienza maiuscola, per narrare il senso profondo della vita, la natura ineffabile dell'amore filosofico e religioso, la irresolubile polivalenza del pensiero metafisico e teologico. La scrittura si annulla nella carne, fallisce, perversa e sfrenata, sulla carta, come una invocazione inviolabile.
“L'amore è ricerca e scoperta, aspirazione e incertezza, fretta e attesa, attesa impaziente ma pur sempre attesa, è quello stato particolare e unico dei nostri desideri e delle nostre brame, pure ed impure, quello stato in cui, pur cercando l'appagamento ci si impone di non oltrepassare un limite estremo, perché l'amore, che per sua natura è bisogno imperioso di appagamento non è l'appagamento stesso né potrà mai esserlo”.
May 4, 2020
Lo primero que atrapa en esta edición es la cuidadosa prosa de Pitol, quien además de traducir esta novela, da el tono y la atmósfera para que cualquier lector no entre desarmado a los dos párrafos, apenas separados por un punto y aparte que la conforman.
Al lector se le deja la tarea de armar el relato basándose en las confesiones de los protagonistas, la iteración y puntos de encuentro, no siempre simétricos, de la trama, hacen un recorrido magnífico esta “cruzada de los niños”, por la que nos adentramos en el pecado, en el amor juvenil, en el deseo, la decepción, la mentira y el encubrimiento.
Una lectura que terminé dándole a este relato es la de entender el proyecto de la infancia y juventud como el futuro de la humanidad, un futuro en potencia que camina en una dirección, en este caso, acompañados por un anciano fraile que intenta por medio de la confesión redimirlos en su búsqueda de la verdad, en su “noble” causa de liberar la tierra prometida de los “enemigos”.
Sin embargo, el anciano descubre hacia el final de la novela que el origen de la marcha es espurio, es una nueva invención, una que carece de vínculo con sus creencias religiosas, e intenta, con sus tristes medios, su presencia, su adultez, detener a los infantes que marchan siguiendo a su líder, sin embargo, los niños comienzan a cantar y acallar la voz del fraile, y continúan con su marcha, hasta que lo tumban, y terminan sepultando, una especie de “matar al padre”, de romper con la tradición, con lo establecido, buscando hacer un nuevo camino, una nueva generación que crea su propio destino.
Al lector se le deja la tarea de armar el relato basándose en las confesiones de los protagonistas, la iteración y puntos de encuentro, no siempre simétricos, de la trama, hacen un recorrido magnífico esta “cruzada de los niños”, por la que nos adentramos en el pecado, en el amor juvenil, en el deseo, la decepción, la mentira y el encubrimiento.
Una lectura que terminé dándole a este relato es la de entender el proyecto de la infancia y juventud como el futuro de la humanidad, un futuro en potencia que camina en una dirección, en este caso, acompañados por un anciano fraile que intenta por medio de la confesión redimirlos en su búsqueda de la verdad, en su “noble” causa de liberar la tierra prometida de los “enemigos”.
Sin embargo, el anciano descubre hacia el final de la novela que el origen de la marcha es espurio, es una nueva invención, una que carece de vínculo con sus creencias religiosas, e intenta, con sus tristes medios, su presencia, su adultez, detener a los infantes que marchan siguiendo a su líder, sin embargo, los niños comienzan a cantar y acallar la voz del fraile, y continúan con su marcha, hasta que lo tumban, y terminan sepultando, una especie de “matar al padre”, de romper con la tradición, con lo establecido, buscando hacer un nuevo camino, una nueva generación que crea su propio destino.
July 12, 2019
Novela escrita numa só frase e narrada na perspetiva de várias personagens que seguiram a designada «Cruzada das Crianças». Um bom livro, mas aborrecido e demasiado lírico para o meu gosto em certas partes. Habitualmente, aprecio narrativas de uma só frase ou em texto corrido, contudo, este livro torna-se difuso de mais e perde muito com isso.
Algumas falhas na pontuação, como é habitual nas edições portuguesas, embora a tradução seja razoável (feita a partir do francês, creio).
Algumas falhas na pontuação, como é habitual nas edições portuguesas, embora a tradução seja razoável (feita a partir do francês, creio).
March 31, 2015
An absolutely fantastic book! It only has two paragraphs altogether, yet it contains a storm of human emotions.
The year is 1212, the famous year of Children's Crusade to the Holy Land. It is revealed to a 14 year old shepherd that not the blind cruelty of knights and barons, but solely the innocence of children will make it possible for true believers to reach the Holy Sepulcher. Thousands of children are following the boy along muddy spring roads of France, and on the way each of them is confessing their sins to an old monk, because only the pure of heart can reach Jerusalem. As each of the children tells the monk their simple stories, he begins to realize what really stands behind this spontaneous movement. The truth simultaneously horrifies the old man and fills him with infinite awe.
Andrzejewski analyses the true roots of the elemental properties of a human crowd.
The year is 1212, the famous year of Children's Crusade to the Holy Land. It is revealed to a 14 year old shepherd that not the blind cruelty of knights and barons, but solely the innocence of children will make it possible for true believers to reach the Holy Sepulcher. Thousands of children are following the boy along muddy spring roads of France, and on the way each of them is confessing their sins to an old monk, because only the pure of heart can reach Jerusalem. As each of the children tells the monk their simple stories, he begins to realize what really stands behind this spontaneous movement. The truth simultaneously horrifies the old man and fills him with infinite awe.
Andrzejewski analyses the true roots of the elemental properties of a human crowd.
December 1, 2017
"… è difficile amare qualcuno se questi non è che un mistero impenetrabile, ma se in lui non c'è nulla di misterioso è ugualmente difficile amarlo, perché l'amore è ricerca e scoperta, aspirazione e incertezza, fretta ed attesa, attesa impaziente ma pur sempre attesa, è quello stato particolare e unico dei nostri desideri e delle nostre brame, pure ed impure, quello stato in cui, pur cercando l'appagamento ci si impone di non oltrepassare un limite estremo, perché l'amore, che per sua natura è bisogno imperioso di appagamento non è l'appagamento stesso né potrà mai esserlo, […] l'amore è richiamo e ricerca, l'amore è conquista, è sete perenne, ma l'appagamento dei desideri lo uccide, è disperato contrasto con gli elementi ed è solitudine tra gli elementi in lotta, ma è anche speranza, speranza nel cuore stesso di quella lotta..." (pp. 103, 104)
July 26, 2023
absolutely insane, my good fellas. the imagery is unreal.
i'm overwhelmed and not sure how to even describe this book. it's more than a stream of consciousnesses, it's so many interlocking stories, each one leaving you more & more uneasy as it's being told. the use of repetition is absolutely masterful! the way jakub's words from the vision take your breath away once you hear them properly near the end! the way multiple people describe one person in the same, exact words!
rep: achillean mcs
tw: pedophilia, child abuse, animal death
i'm overwhelmed and not sure how to even describe this book. it's more than a stream of consciousnesses, it's so many interlocking stories, each one leaving you more & more uneasy as it's being told. the use of repetition is absolutely masterful! the way jakub's words from the vision take your breath away once you hear them properly near the end! the way multiple people describe one person in the same, exact words!
rep: achillean mcs
tw: pedophilia, child abuse, animal death
May 23, 2024
The message and the psychological (and sociological) level of the story were absorbing. A great start for discussions, about misplaced affections: in religion and people, about hope and love.
But, the form of two sentences (the novel consisted of only two sentences) was fatiguing. I had to take many breaks, and it wasn't good for feeling the story.
Worth reading, but only for those opened to other forms, especially stream of consciousness.
[3-3.5 stars]
But, the form of two sentences (the novel consisted of only two sentences) was fatiguing. I had to take many breaks, and it wasn't good for feeling the story.
Worth reading, but only for those opened to other forms, especially stream of consciousness.
[3-3.5 stars]
May 6, 2025
najblizsza epifanii (;>) lektura tego roku aktualnie
February 15, 2021
"God the Almighty has revealed to me that because of the blindness and cowardice of kings, princes and knights, it is fitting that the children of Christ should go, for the love of God, unto the relief of the city of Jerusalem that is fallen into the hands of the infidel Turk, for the confident faith and innocence of children, greater than all the powers on land and sea, are able to accomplish the most holy miracles" - Jacques de Cloyes
The Gates of Paradise is about the doomed crusade of hundreds of peasant children to deliver the Holy Land from the hands of its infidel occupiers. Structured around the confessions of five children - Alexis Melissen, Robert, Blanche, Maud, and their leader, the foundling Jacques de Cloyes - to an aging and uneasy priest, the conflicting motives and consciences and innocence of each child are gradually revealed. It is hard to sum up all the themes across this 160-page, two-sentence novel. A son stands motionless as he watches his father drown; a priest is knocked down by a cross-bearing child and trampled underfoot; old men are left to guard the pastures and mothers weep. Two counts falls in love with a shepherd boy; two children embrace in the woods, each imagining the other to be the same boy; blind love leads another's blind love along with it. Old men pour their regrets into the young and live to see the results. A horse is slain and eaten, barely cooked. "And they marched all night."
"for love is a calling and a hunting, it is all-conquering, but any satisfaction of its desires kills it, it is perpetually athirst, but any slaking of its appetite kills it, it is despair beset by contradictory elements, it is solitude beset by contradictory elements, but it is also hope, beset by contradictory elements, it is still hope, and always hope"
The Gates of Paradise is about the doomed crusade of hundreds of peasant children to deliver the Holy Land from the hands of its infidel occupiers. Structured around the confessions of five children - Alexis Melissen, Robert, Blanche, Maud, and their leader, the foundling Jacques de Cloyes - to an aging and uneasy priest, the conflicting motives and consciences and innocence of each child are gradually revealed. It is hard to sum up all the themes across this 160-page, two-sentence novel. A son stands motionless as he watches his father drown; a priest is knocked down by a cross-bearing child and trampled underfoot; old men are left to guard the pastures and mothers weep. Two counts falls in love with a shepherd boy; two children embrace in the woods, each imagining the other to be the same boy; blind love leads another's blind love along with it. Old men pour their regrets into the young and live to see the results. A horse is slain and eaten, barely cooked. "And they marched all night."
"for love is a calling and a hunting, it is all-conquering, but any satisfaction of its desires kills it, it is perpetually athirst, but any slaking of its appetite kills it, it is despair beset by contradictory elements, it is solitude beset by contradictory elements, but it is also hope, beset by contradictory elements, it is still hope, and always hope"
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 8, 2024
Novela breve pero exigente, brillantemente escrita y de una estructura compuesta por una sola frase a lo largo de unas 80 páginas y una última de… cinco palabras.
Magistralmente traducida del polaco al español por Sergio Pitol, se trata de una novela coral compuesta por una serie de monólogos, cuya narración gira y se retuerce sobre sí misma mientras las voces se solapan y se confunden entre sí, hasta culminar en un final que ya se presagiaba en las mismas primeras páginas.
La juventud representa el futuro de la humanidad pero, ¿es lo que la empuja hacia delante siempre lo correcto y verdadero?
Magistralmente traducida del polaco al español por Sergio Pitol, se trata de una novela coral compuesta por una serie de monólogos, cuya narración gira y se retuerce sobre sí misma mientras las voces se solapan y se confunden entre sí, hasta culminar en un final que ya se presagiaba en las mismas primeras páginas.
La juventud representa el futuro de la humanidad pero, ¿es lo que la empuja hacia delante siempre lo correcto y verdadero?
November 20, 2024
krucjata dziecięca but make it horny and kinda gay
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October 12, 2013Sobre el amor, o sobre los amores desgraciados tantas cosas se han escrito. No importa el marco histórico o los géneros, o las relaciones familiares, incluso las edades. Quizá porque se trata de Polonia (país del autor), un país marcadamente religioso (de religión católica, la segunda más drásticamente puritana y represiva de las religiones, o al menos eso creo de la supuesta religión del amor) es que esta historia de amores gays o someramente heterosexuales, con un fondo trágico, sangriento y al final abismal, enmarcada en la cruzada de los niños, finalizando en sufrimiento y muerte, duele, terriblemente duele. Emociones adultas arrastradas en el lodo y en el hambre, con decisiones basadas en alucinaciones despertadas por los amores no correspondidos o no aceptados en su grandeza metafóricamente estúpida. Pinceladas de un humanismo subterráneo, transcritas como caricias con apariencia de pasión pero hundidas en las pulsiones más primáticas y absurdas. Esta desagradable noveleta, desagradable porque descubre, al menos en las infancias adultizadas ahí descritas, donde la niñez es tan solo dolor y sufrimiento, se incrusta como inesperado puñal en carne virgen. Un arrastrarse en la periferia de las sensaciones más dolorosamente profundas de los considerados humanos mayores. Un desnudo y carnal testimonio ficcional de la abusada infancia donde solo sobreviven los más aptos. Y a veces ni eso. En la verdadera historia los niños de la cruzada murieron o fueron esclavizados. Historias de muerte líricamente descritas o algo así.
September 22, 2019
Dios todopoderoso me ha revelado que frente a la insensible ceguera de los reyes, príncipes y caballeros es necesario que los niños cristianos hagan gracia y caridad a la ciudad de Jerusalén en manos de los turcos infieles, porque por encima de todas las potencias de la tierra y del mar sólo la fe ferviente y la inocencia de los niños puede realizar las más grandes empresas.
July 24, 2022
4,5.
November 5, 2024
nie kłamstwa, lecz prawda niszczy nadzieję
poruszające i wybitne.
poruszające i wybitne.
December 6, 2023
nie chciałeś pójść ze mną, więc ja pójdę z tobą, a mówiąc to myślałem: nikt bardziej niż ty nie potrzebuje miłości i opieki, nikt bardziej niż ty nie zna życia i nie zna ludzi, jesteś kruchy jak łza i samotniejszy od wszystkich samotnych ludzi na świecie, bardziej zagubiony niż ktokolwiek z zbłąkanych na świecie, samotny i zagubiony, choć idzie za tobą ogromny tłum, nikt bardziej niż ty nie potrzebuje miłości i opieki
February 16, 2020
(...) wszystko prócz krzywdy i wstydu jest daremne, nasycenie zmysłów nie zaspokaja pożądania, z pragnienia osiągniętego rodzi się sto nowych, jątrzących, czyny zrodzone z najczystszych pragnień dogorywają w hańbie, może w ogóle nie ma czystych pragnień? potrzeba gwałtu i okrucieństwa targają naturą człowieka, człowiek przed nimi ucieka, ucieka od samotności, boi się jej i wstydzi, potem w stadzie, silny i szalony, zadaje i szerzy gwałt, jest ślepy, jest głuchy, ale jest silny, ponieważ jest szalony, aż przychodzi chwila przebudzenia i wówczas człowiek znów zostaje sam, tylko o całą zbrodniczość opętania bardziej niż przedtem samotny i w tym osamotnieniu ostatecznym, (...) to mógł myśleć jadąc samotny wśród puszczy ogarnianej pierwszymi cieniami zmierzchu, a jeśli się zdarzyło, iż spojrzał w pewnej chwili na swoje dłonie, wówczas musiał myśleć: te dłonie były dłońmi mordercy (...)
May 7, 2025
Well, apparently, nie wszystkie drogi prowadzą do Rzymu.
June 21, 2024
Como dijo raxet1 que dijo zizek: lo peor de un sueño es verlo cumplirse.
September 21, 2022
This short novel is a “syntactical monstrosity,” as one reviewer notes. The Gates of Paradise is made up of two sentences: one 40,000 word sentence followed by one five word sentence. For all intents and purposes, this is a stream-of-consciousness single sentence novel which reads as a sublime chorus of voices that just begs to be inhaled in a single sentence.
It takes as its subject matter the Children’s Crusade of 1212, a popular crusade that was never sanctioned by the Pope and which ended in utter failure. After a young boy witnesses visions of Christ encouraging him to gather ordinary people and march to the Holy Land and convert those there to Christianity, he and his followers begin marching. Like the Pied Piper, they pick up more and more children in each village they pass through.
They never make it to the Holy Land. The crusade is an abysmal failure and many of the children die of starvation and illness and some are even sold into slavery after being tricked by a Venetian merchant. Andrzejewski's novel uses this gorgeous stream-of-consciousness prose and an omniscient third-person narration to move between these child crusaders, embodying each of their heads for a few moments and seeing the world through their eyes, before moving onto the next child and exploring their deepest hopes, loves, and desires. This interlinking of perspectives though is done exceptionally well and it really creates an interconnected web of thoughts and emotions. No one is wholly individual, and by the end what we’re left with is a single marching consciousness.
It’s great, though unfortunately the English edition of The Gates of Paradise is quite rare. This book needs and deserves a reprint if any publishers out there are looking to revive interest in this neglected feat of Polish literature.
For more, check out my full video review here: https://youtu.be/2MNwAAGaWFk
It takes as its subject matter the Children’s Crusade of 1212, a popular crusade that was never sanctioned by the Pope and which ended in utter failure. After a young boy witnesses visions of Christ encouraging him to gather ordinary people and march to the Holy Land and convert those there to Christianity, he and his followers begin marching. Like the Pied Piper, they pick up more and more children in each village they pass through.
They never make it to the Holy Land. The crusade is an abysmal failure and many of the children die of starvation and illness and some are even sold into slavery after being tricked by a Venetian merchant. Andrzejewski's novel uses this gorgeous stream-of-consciousness prose and an omniscient third-person narration to move between these child crusaders, embodying each of their heads for a few moments and seeing the world through their eyes, before moving onto the next child and exploring their deepest hopes, loves, and desires. This interlinking of perspectives though is done exceptionally well and it really creates an interconnected web of thoughts and emotions. No one is wholly individual, and by the end what we’re left with is a single marching consciousness.
It’s great, though unfortunately the English edition of The Gates of Paradise is quite rare. This book needs and deserves a reprint if any publishers out there are looking to revive interest in this neglected feat of Polish literature.
For more, check out my full video review here: https://youtu.be/2MNwAAGaWFk
February 25, 2019
this is impressive from a purely craft standpoint as books that are almost all one sentence tend to be but you've also got some lovely recurring imagery, the same event shown from multiple perspectives, people recounting their sins(which all involve having too much sex) to the most depressed priest in the world, and it's by a polish guy so you know it's cool.
August 1, 2017
Chwila, tylko skończę zdanie...
August 8, 2024
Zapragnąłem wgryźć się w Andrzejewskiego, bo odnoszę wrażenie, że jeszcze kilka dekad temu miało się go za jednego z ważniejszych prozaików polskich, słyszałem legendę narosłą wokół Miazgi, która nawiasem stanowi kolejny dowód na to, że Antoni Libera jest niesłychany, i uznałem, że przed nią sięgnę po coś krótszego, a akurat Bramy Raju były inną książką tego samego autora, która wylegiwała się w zakamarkach mojej pamięci z racji swojej sławnej kompozycji, wydawały się więc jedynym stosownym wyborem, no i okazuje się, że Bramy Raju to jeszcze-nie-taki-całkiem-beznadziejny pomysł, bo pielgrzymka, podczas której okazuje się, że każdym z pozoru potulnym dzieciaczkiem na niej kieruje przede wszystkim pożądanie, to doprawdy frapujący pomysł, ale co zrobić, kiedy napisany drętwym językiem, tak drętwym, że nawet coś równie żywego jak ludzie w ruchu czyni martwym i paradoksalnie pozbawionym ruchu; kiedy całość razi swoją koturnowością poprzez mocno wyczuwalne parcie, ażeby wzbić się na najwyższy diapazon pisaniem à la Mauriac; kiedy z perspektywy współczesnej, czyta się to jak niezrealizowany odcinek polsatowskiego paradokumentu, a poza tym uważam, że gdy już konstytuuje się nowy środek wyrazu, jakim jest pisanie bez kropek, to wypadałoby drążyć dalej i ukonstyuuować nową metodę wokół tego, powiedziała Agnieszka, pomyślała Agnieszka, albo przynajmniej otworzyć się na inne znaki interpunkcyjne niż przecinki, bo spisując dialogi oraz introspekcje w ten sposób jak ja to odtwarzam teraz, powiedziała Ania do tamtej we śnie, tamta odpowiedziała tej, bardzo szybko zajeździmy kobyłkę i na pierwszych stronach odechce się czytania. I to by było na tyle...
August 21, 2025
yo no me sentía feliz, sólo me hallaba saturado de una voluptuosidad hasta entonces desconocida y tenía deseos de renovarla, pero no era feliz, porque entonces comprendí que no me amaba, deseaba solamente mi cuerpo, yo sé que él también lo sabía, aunque trataba de engañarse y me dijera que me amaba, pero al decir eso mentía, porque solamente deseaba mi cuerpo, deseaba el amor, pero no sabía amarme, lo único verdadero en él era el deseo insaciable, sé que a veces, cuando me tenía entre sus brazos, decía que me amaba, pero pensaba: todo es en vano, no sé amarlo y no sé vivir sin él, y yo pensaba, cuando después de saciarse de mí intempestivamente me abandonaba, yo pensaba entonces: soy su propiedad, su objeto, por eso prefiere despreciarme en vez de despreciarse, lo odio, pero me odio también a mí mismo por responder con docilidad a sus deseos, esto me produce placer y cuando experimento el placer no sé no amarlo, por eso me odio, yo sabía que además del mío buscaba otros cuerpos y los obtenía, pero después volvía a mí, y yo, aunque supiese que iba a llegar a mí, caliente aún del calor de otro cuerpo, lo esperaba.
March 25, 2017
Przeczytane dzięki P.P. - tom mieścił "Bramy Raju", "Ciemności kryją ziemię" i "Idzie skacząc po górach". Po dwudziestu latach nadal pamiętam kolosalne wrażenie, jakie wywarły na mnie te trzy minipowieści.
October 10, 2023
To jest chyba czytelniczo najważniejszy tekst jaki przeczytałam w tym roku, jestem nim oczarowana. Po Andrzejewskiego na pewno jeszcze sięgnę.
July 18, 2017
I'm not sure how I found out about this book, and I don't know too much about the author, apart from the fact that he's Polish. At 125 paperback pages, it's not a big book, but it's a big read - why? Because there are only two sentences in the book, and the second of the two is "And they marched all night." This structure means that the narrative is relentless, building pressure and tension until that first full stop. In this age of constant movement and noise, it becomes difficult to find enough clear time to do books such as this justice, as they require long periods of un-interrupted time to read in one sitting.
The narrative of this book revolves around four members of the mythical Children's Crusade. This event, which was said to have occurred in the thirteenth century, involved thousands of children heading to Jerusalem to free the Holy City from the infidel Turk. The narrative of The gates of paradise occurs over one afternoon of the crusade, not long after it's beginning, while the children are still in France. The four members of the crusade are, in turn, confessing their sins to a Franciscan Friar who is accompanying the children. We soon learn that the four characters in question are the leader of the crusade, and his closest confidants.
The book is about belief, lies, love and lust. The initial confessor, Maud, soon reveals that she is only on the crusade for love of its leader Jacques. We find from one of the other confessors that it was Maud loudly proclaiming she'd go with Jacques that in fact started the crusade, after he came down from his shepherds hut, proclaiming that "God the Almighty has revealed to me that because of the blindness and cowardice of kings, princes and knights, it is fitting that the children of Christ should go, for the love of God, unto the relief of the city of Jerusalem that is fallen into the hands of the infidel Turk", as most other people thought him mad. Two other confessors, Alex and Blanche, are revealed as also loving Jacques, but not in the pure way Maud does - in fact their lecherousness puts the lie to the concept of the innocence of the child. The last person to confess is Jacques himself, who is revealed to be perhaps a fool on a fool's errand.
The text itself is complex, with recurring statements and themes - one being the crusade itself, the other violent sexual possession without love. Andrzeyevski uses the book as a comment on man, with passages such as "...perhaps there are no pure desires, the need for violence and cruelty takes possession of man's nature, he flees from it in a trembling and shame-filled solitude, then, drawn back once more into the ravening pack, driven by folly and the furies of physical strength, again he goes murdering and violating right and left until the moment of awakening arrives and then man finds himself once more alone in his solitude but because of the criminal gravity of his folly even more solitary than before and in that absolute solitude, in the prison of his flesh and spirit, he searches desperately and in vain for some way out, but there is no way out, he snatches blindly and vainly at what appear to be promises of salvation, but he can forget himself only in violence...." or this "...love...is only a great tangled knot of unrealizable desires, it only brings us suffering, and yet the black depths of voluptuous pleasure are fed by contempt and hatred...."
Some people have read this book, given the author's origins, as a comment on the Communist political system. It certainly can be read that way - a misguided but obviously sincere leader, followed by some out of pure but misguided love, and by others for more selfish and nefarious reasons. It could also be just a more general comment on mankind. At the end of the book the monk sees that the whole crusade is folly, and tries to turn the children back. To a chant of O Maria virgo davidica virginum flos vitae spes unica, the children keep marching, trampling the monk into the ground. "And they marched all night."
This unusual and in some ways experimental book is worth a read. Try your local library, or look for a second-hand copy, as it's not currently in print.
Check out my other reviews at http://aviewoverthebell.blogspot.com.au/
The narrative of this book revolves around four members of the mythical Children's Crusade. This event, which was said to have occurred in the thirteenth century, involved thousands of children heading to Jerusalem to free the Holy City from the infidel Turk. The narrative of The gates of paradise occurs over one afternoon of the crusade, not long after it's beginning, while the children are still in France. The four members of the crusade are, in turn, confessing their sins to a Franciscan Friar who is accompanying the children. We soon learn that the four characters in question are the leader of the crusade, and his closest confidants.
The book is about belief, lies, love and lust. The initial confessor, Maud, soon reveals that she is only on the crusade for love of its leader Jacques. We find from one of the other confessors that it was Maud loudly proclaiming she'd go with Jacques that in fact started the crusade, after he came down from his shepherds hut, proclaiming that "God the Almighty has revealed to me that because of the blindness and cowardice of kings, princes and knights, it is fitting that the children of Christ should go, for the love of God, unto the relief of the city of Jerusalem that is fallen into the hands of the infidel Turk", as most other people thought him mad. Two other confessors, Alex and Blanche, are revealed as also loving Jacques, but not in the pure way Maud does - in fact their lecherousness puts the lie to the concept of the innocence of the child. The last person to confess is Jacques himself, who is revealed to be perhaps a fool on a fool's errand.
The text itself is complex, with recurring statements and themes - one being the crusade itself, the other violent sexual possession without love. Andrzeyevski uses the book as a comment on man, with passages such as "...perhaps there are no pure desires, the need for violence and cruelty takes possession of man's nature, he flees from it in a trembling and shame-filled solitude, then, drawn back once more into the ravening pack, driven by folly and the furies of physical strength, again he goes murdering and violating right and left until the moment of awakening arrives and then man finds himself once more alone in his solitude but because of the criminal gravity of his folly even more solitary than before and in that absolute solitude, in the prison of his flesh and spirit, he searches desperately and in vain for some way out, but there is no way out, he snatches blindly and vainly at what appear to be promises of salvation, but he can forget himself only in violence...." or this "...love...is only a great tangled knot of unrealizable desires, it only brings us suffering, and yet the black depths of voluptuous pleasure are fed by contempt and hatred...."
Some people have read this book, given the author's origins, as a comment on the Communist political system. It certainly can be read that way - a misguided but obviously sincere leader, followed by some out of pure but misguided love, and by others for more selfish and nefarious reasons. It could also be just a more general comment on mankind. At the end of the book the monk sees that the whole crusade is folly, and tries to turn the children back. To a chant of O Maria virgo davidica virginum flos vitae spes unica, the children keep marching, trampling the monk into the ground. "And they marched all night."
This unusual and in some ways experimental book is worth a read. Try your local library, or look for a second-hand copy, as it's not currently in print.
Check out my other reviews at http://aviewoverthebell.blogspot.com.au/
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March 20, 2024i need recovery
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