Pushkin, “After the Italian”
(After the Italian)
When, from his hanging tree, the false disciple fell,
a devil, swooping down, clapped on him lips of hell,
breathed life in him, then swept the living corpse away
and in Gehenna’s gullet hurled his stinking prey …
There demons cackled and applauded in their glee
as on their horns they caught Creation’s enemy
and bore him raucously to their accursèd lord.
Then Satan, rising, beamed with joy among the horde,
and with his kiss he burned completely through the lips
that, on that faithless night, gave Christ up with a kiss.
Crib
(Imitation of the Italian)
When the traitor-disciple fell from the tree,
a devil came flying, pressed himself to his face,
breathed life in him, shot up with his stinking prey
and threw the living corpse in the gullet of hungry Gehenna …
There demons, rejoicing and clapping, on [their] horns
received, with [loud] laughter, the universal enemy
and noisily carried him to [their] accursèd lord,
and Satan, getting up with joy on his countenance,
with his kiss burned all through the mouth/lips
that on the traitorous night had kissed Christ.
Original
(Подражание италиянскому)
Как с древа сорвался предатель ученик,
Диявол прилетел, к лицу его приник,
Дхнул жизнь в него, взвился с своей добычей смрадной
И бросил труп живой в гортань геенны гладной…
Там бесы, радуясь и плеща, на рога
Прияли с хохотом всемирного врага
И шумно понесли к проклятому владыке,
И сатана, привстав, с веселием на лике
Лобзанием своим насквозь прожёг уста,
В предательскую ночь лобзавшие Христа.
NOTES
Pushkin’s poem is an “imitation” (almost a translation) of the sonnet “Sopra Giuda” by Francesco Gianni (1760–1822), though his primary source was likely a French translation by Antoni Deschamps (1800–1869), published in Dernières paroles. Poésies (Paris, 1835):
Sopra Giuda
Allor che Giuda di furor satollo
Piombò dal ramo, rapido si mosse
L’instigator suo demone, e scontrollo
Battendo l’ali come fiamma rosse;
Pel nodo che al fellon rettorse il collo
Giù nel bollor delle roventi fosse
Appena con le scabre ugne rotollo
Ch’arser le carni e sibilaron l’osse;
E in mezzo al vampa della gran bufera
Con diro ghigno Satana fu visto
Spianar le rughe della fronte altera:
Poi fra le braccia si recò quel tristo,
E con la bocca fumigante e nera
Gli rese il bacio che avea dato a Cristo.
Sonnet de Gianni. Supplice de Judas dans l’enfer.
Lorsqu’ayant assouvi son atroce colère
Judas enfin tomba de l’arbre solitaire,
L’effroyable démon qui l’avait excité
Sur lui fondit alors avec rapidité.
Le prenant aux cheveux, sur ses ailes de flamme,
Dans l’air il emporta le corps de cet infâme
Et descendant au fond de l’eternel enfer
Le jeta tout tremblant à ses fourches de fer.
Les chairs d’Iscariote avec fracas brûlèrent;
Sa moëlle rôtit et tous ses os sifflèrent.
Satan de ses deux bras entoura le damné,
Puis en le regardant d’une face riante,
Serein, il lui rendit de sa bouche fumante
Le baiser que le traître au Christ avait donné.
The Stone Island Cycle (more than you ever wanted to know)
In the 1950s, Nikolai Izmailov suggested that the poems I’ve been translating for the last month should be read as a cycle. It’s known today as the “Stone Island Cycle,” after the fashionable islands on the outskirts of St. Petersburg where Pushkin rented two summer houses for his family in 1836. Noting that Pushkin numbered four of the poems II, III, IV and VI, Izmailov conjecturally filled the first and fifth positions with poems written during the same period that are similar in form and mood. Izmailov’s list is still popular, though he himself later excluded “I’ve raised a monument …”:
I — ? [“I’ve raised a monument not made by human hands …,” 21 August 1836]
II — “The Desert Fathers and the sisters without stain …,” 22 July 1836
III — “(After the Italian),” 22 June 1836
IV — “Worldly Power,” 5 July 1836
V — ? [“When, wandering beyond the city’s bounds …,” 14 August 1836]
VI — “(From Pindemonte),” 5 July 1836.
“In vain do I now flee to Zion’s lofty height …” was penned in early July on the same sheet as a rough draft of “From Pindemonte,” and some scholars have placed it in the first, fifth or even a speculative seventh position, while others think it was originally intended for the cycle, but abandoned and superseded by one of the other poems.
Sergei Fomichev persuasively argues that the “V” in “VI” is actually the Roman letter “N,” used in Russian as a symbol for “number,” and suggests that the poems in positions I and VI should thus be switched. Vadim Stark rejects this suggestion, though it would allow him to expand his “internal liturgy” (poems II–IV) to form what some have called a “Holy Week Cycle”:
I — “(From Pindemonte)” — How this poem relates to Holy Week is unclear. Its reference to “the gods” and echo of Horace (Ode 1.1) add a pagan note to a poem about the rejection of political rights in favor of inner freedom and enjoyment of nature and the arts.
II — “The Desert Fathers and the sisters without stain …” — The Lenten Prayer of Saint Ephrem the Syrian, paraphrased in the poem, is recited for the last time during Lent on Holy Wednesday.
III — “(After the Italian)” — Judas betrayed Jesus on Maundy Thursday and hanged himself on the following Thursday.
IV — “Worldly Power” — The Crucifixion, described in the poem, took place on Good Friday. Also, according to Stark, a crucifix is displayed in the center of the church on Thursday and part of Friday, when guards might have been posted in a large, crowded cathedral.
V — ? [“When, wandering beyond the city’s bounds …”] — The graveyard theme ties in with Holy Saturday, when Jesus’s body lay in the tomb, although the poem seems more a macabre satire of urban society in contrast to the “peaceful dignity” of traditional country life.
VI — ? [“I’ve raised a monument not made by human hands …”] — This poem, coinciding with Easter Sunday, resurrects Pushkin in the sense that he will live on in his works and the minds of his readers. The poem does have Christian elements, but also seems very much in the spirit of Horace’s Ode 3.30, which it explicitly imitates.
Proponents of this scheme note that Pushkin must have been deeply affected by the Holy Week of March 1836. His mother passed away on Easter morning, and he had been by her side on the preceding two days. He accompanied her coffin to their family estate near Pskov in April and was still wearing mourning in early July.
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