The Empusium

A Health Resort Horror Story

by Olga Tokarczuk

In 1913, a young Pole arrives at a health resort in the Silesian mountains, a place known to be free of consumption due to the still, damp air. Each evening, the residents gather after dinner and drink a mildly hallucinogenic liqueur while they debate the issues of the day: do women have souls? does a woman’s body belong to her or to the public? could a matriarchy exist? Meanwhile, rumors swirl about strange murders, bodies left scattered in pieces in the woods, and the abrupt suicide of a woman chills the new arrival. As they come to understand this place, and come to understand themselves, they find that both have changed, and someone—or something—is watching.

Translator
Antonia Lloyd-Jones
Publisher
Riverhead
Year
2022
Collection
Fiction
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Selected essays

Writing essays & notes

  1. The open universe

    On The Language of the Night and The Real World of Technology

  2. Umyazu

    Reading is the art of attention.

Reading books

  1. Was

    by Geoff Ryman

  2. Kraken

    by China Miéville

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