Cruel Providences

pharmakos

Jan 03, 2026

A Jew, condemned by Jesus to wander eternally, goes to Delphi seeking answers regarding his future. The priests and oracle of the temple can give him none and send him further up the mountain to a hovel, where a retired Pythia lives with her aging, halfwit son.

Tending to a fire and surveying the valley below, she discusses the nature of God with the Jew and recounts her life: her parents, why she was selected to be Pythia, the ecstasies of her station, her betrayal of it, the birth of her son and her exile.

All characters remain nameless, and the sibyl’s emotions are detailed in impressively simple prose, with symbolism and religious parallels wafting up evocatively like vapors from the adyton floor. Overall a short, quick read that will be enjoyed by fans of Moshfegh’s Lapvona, weird fiction, parables, and myths. Perhaps a wonderful choice for a bookclub where the other members can't usually be bothered to finish a text.