Job

Within the two periods that are clearly distinguished in the work of Joseph Roth (1894-1939), the writing and publication of "Job" in 1930 marks the beginning of the second, which already assumes an unmistakable style, as well as its consecration as novelist. Taking as a canvas the story of the biblical character that gives the work its title, Roth relates in it the hard and overwhelmed existence of Mendel Singer, a pious and poor Jew. The dream of emigration to the American continent that fueled the hope of so many humble and desperate people in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century, serves as a backdrop to the story of Mendel, «simple man» who, plagued by the misfortune that falls on he is constantly caught in the confusion and anguish that arise from the contradiction between his upright and kind behavior and the rigorous tests with which God sows his life, and that he can only find his resolution in the sphere of the miracle. Translation by Adan Kovacsics