by Jan Potocki · tapa blanda · ISBN 9782070423330
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A set of tales within a tale of a wandering a French army officer's encounters of the supernatural as he travels after the siege of Saragossa. According to the preface by Roger Caillois, it was originally published in St. Petersburg around 1804 by the Polish writer Count Jan Potocki and part of the work was published in Paris in 1893. The French version was published in Polish in 1847 and several editions came out during the next century. Additional parts of the French version were found in Cracow in around 1956. This version follows the St. Petersburg text and does not include the new fragments.
The tales are marvelous. They contain illusion and fantasy as the characters tell their stories. The narrator (Officer) has a difficult time determining what is real, and so will you. There is death and corpses, beguiling spirit temptresses, phantoms, cabala, gypsies and much more - sometimes there is even a thread to connect the tales!
As a bonus, try to find the film version, which is just as fascinating. The entire film, but in segments, is available on YouTube in Polish. Somewhere, there is a version with English subtitles, which certainly adds to the dialog if you don't understand Polish.
Count Jan Potocki was a Polish nobleman, ethnologist, linguist, traveller and author of the Enlightenment period, whose life and exploits made him a celebrated figure in Poland. He is known chiefly for his picaresque novel, The Manuscript Found in Saragossa.
