''The Tower of Fools'' (
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...
original title: ''Narrenturm'') is the first
historical fantasy
Historical fantasy is a category of fantasy and genre of historical fiction that incorporates fantastic elements (such as magic) into a more "realistic" narrative. There is much crossover with other subgenres of fantasy; those classed as Arthu ...
novel in the ''
Hussite Trilogy
The ''Hussite Trilogy'' (, ) is a historical fantasy series of novels by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski. It consists of three books: ''The Tower of Fools'', '' Warriors of God'' and '' Light Perpetual''. It is set in the Lands of the Bohemian Cr ...
'' written by Polish
fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...
writer
Andrzej Sapkowski
Andrzej Sapkowski (; born 21 June 1948) is a Polish fantasy writer, essayist, translator and a trained economist. He is best known for his six-volume series of books '' The Witcher'', which revolves around the eponymous "witcher," a monster-hun ...
, first published in 2002 in Polish and in English in 2020. It is followed by ''
Warriors of God'' (''Boży bojownicy'') and ''
Lux perpetua''.
It tells the story of
Reinmar of Bielawa, also called Reynevan von Bielau. The action takes place in
Silesia
Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...
in 1425, at the time of the
Hussite Wars
The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars or the Hussite Revolution, were a series of civil wars fought between the Hussites and the combined Catholic forces of Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, the Papacy, European monarchs loyal to the Cat ...
.
The setting is mostly historical, with some historical characters and descriptions of particular locations. Fantasy elements include occasional magical feats, artifacts, and non-human characters. The German word ''
Narrenturm'' means ''The Tower of Fools'', a tower in which, in
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
, people suffering from rare mental diseases were isolated.
''The Tower of Fools'' has been translated to
Czech
Czech may refer to:
* Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe
** Czech language
** Czechs, the people of the area
** Czech culture
** Czech cuisine
* One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus'
Places
* Czech, ...
,
Slovak,
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
,
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
,
Ukrainian,
Romanian
Romanian may refer to:
*anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania
**Romanians, an ethnic group
**Romanian language, a Romance language
*** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language
** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...
,
Bulgarian,
Hungarian, Finnish,
French,
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
, and
Brazilian Portuguese
Brazilian Portuguese (' ), also Portuguese of Brazil (', ) or South American Portuguese (') is the set of varieties of the Portuguese language native to Brazil and the most influential form of Portuguese worldwide. It is spoken by almost all of ...
. Rights to the English translation of the trilogy have been acquired, and it has been published in 2020 by
Orbit
In celestial mechanics, an orbit is the curved trajectory of an object such as the trajectory of a planet around a star, or of a natural satellite around a planet, or of an artificial satellite around an object or position in space such as ...
in the US, and
Gollancz in the UK, with the translator being David French, translator of several Sapkowski's
''Witcher'' books.
References
External links
*
Andrzej Sapkowski's official page(Polish)'
*
Andrzej Sapkowski's official page'
*
Polish historical novels
Polish fantasy novels
Fiction set in the 1420s
2002 novels
Hussite Wars
21st-century Polish novels
Hussite Trilogy
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