Figura Jabboku w Podróżnym Ulricha Boschwitza

Abstract

The Jabbok figure is one of the Old Testament narrative figures. It refers to a situation of transition. The very moment of crossing is not so much a historical situation as a deeply existential one. It involves measuring oneself against the limitations set by the concrete facts one faces. The Jabbok figure predates the later experience of the Israelites’ communal crossing of the Red Sea. For this reason, the crossing of the Jabbok River seems fundamental to the understanding of Jewish identity. The aim of this article is to show the use of the Jabbok figure in Ulrich Boschwitz’s novel The Traveller. The thesis is that narratives dedicated to the experience of exile, escape, leaving the land or a particular country, make use of elements of a narrative pattern derived precisely from the Old Testament figure of the crossing of the Jabok.