Pilgermann is a 1983 novel by Russell Hoban, set in the Middle Ages and depicting the journey of a wandering Jew across Europe and Northern Africa on his way to the Holy Land. Narrated by the disembodied spirit or consciousness of Pilgermann, a European Jew, the novel opens with the newly castrated Pilgermann having a vision of Christ after being mutilated by a gentile mob for being caught sleeping with a merchant's wife. Christ tells Pilgermann that he must make his way to Jerusalem where he will meet with Sophia. Reluctantly, and in theory with nothing better to do, Pilgermann sets off. As... Pilgermann travels across Europe he is joined by other characters, including his own Death which walks alongside him. Life in Europe is seen through a series of grotesque, Brueghel and Bosch-like images of horror, violence, degradation and death. Nevertheless Pilgermann continues, keeping his cool with a mixture of detachment, compassion and irony throughout. Half way across the Mediterranean his boat is ambushed by Pirates who sell him to a Muslim grandee in Antioch in Syria, Bembel Redzuk.
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| Author: | Russell Hoban |
| Genre: | Fiction, Fantasy, Science Fiction, Science, Historical fiction, Speculative fiction |
| Year published: | 1983 |
| Number of editions: | 6 |