Mit Hioba w powieści Josepha Rotha Hiob. Powieść o człowieku prostym

The article is devoted to Job. The Story of a Simple Man, a novel by the Austrian writer Joseph Roth (1894-1939). The action of the novel takes place towards the close of the 19th and at the beginning of the 20th century. The main character of the book is a poor, religious Jew – Mendel Singer, who lives with his family in Zuchnow, a small town in Volhynia. In the second part of the book the Singers move to New York (USA) and live in a ghetto. This is not only a realistic novel but it is also a mythical story. The Singer family suffers numerous misfortunes and the old Jew’s faith is getting weak. However finally, after a lucky, almost miraculous event, he regains his faith in God. He starts to understand the meaning of his fate. Singer’s life and attitude towards God are similar to Job’s experiences and some parts of the book refer to the Biblical story. Roth’s novel is an universal, philosophical parable.