Al di là della vita: La mia esperienza da veggente (Oscar nuovi misteri Vol. 114) (Italian Edition)

Tendono piuttosto a vivere molto semplicemente in tende, preferibilmente fatte di pelli animali che possono essere impacchettate e trasportate facilmente, come si osserva ancora oggi nelle popolazioni che continuano a vivere in questo modo. Una vita nomade dipende naturalmente dalla caccia e dal saccheggio piuttosto che dall'agricoltura che richiede una vita molto stanziale ed eventualmente con l'occasionale raccolta di vegetali spontanei.

Con il tramonto del colonialismo e l'affermarsi dei valori umanistici e dell'indipendenza della ricerca scientifica nei campi dell'antropologia e archeologia molti vecchi miti dell'indologia sono stati giustamente sfatati. In seguito la propaganda nazista sulla razza ariana ha provocato un'associazione di idee molto infelice nell'opinione pubblica globale riguardo al termine "ariano" e al simbolo della svastika anch'esso arbitrariamente rubato alla cultura vedica applicandovi i concetti negativi di razzismo, oppressione e violenza, che vengono espressi ai nostri tempi con l'eufemismo "politicamente corretto" di pulizia etnica.

Il primo di questi gruppi, il movimento chiamato Brahmo samaj fondato da Ram Mohan Roy , venne fortemente influenzato dagli insegnamenti della Chiesa Unitaria e dal concetto sincretista dell'Universalismo Radicale. Manteneva soltanto quegli aspetti che considerava "rispettabili", come gli inni altamente simbolici di Rig, Sama, Yajur e Atharva Veda tradotti in modo praticamente incomprensibile e impossibile da tradurre in pratica o conoscenza utile e il concetto di Brahman come Dio o Spirito Universale o Logos spiegato in alcune Upanishad. Swami Dayananda Sarasvati fondatore dell'Arya samaj, condannava fortemente "idolatria, ritualismo, leggende e superstizione" della tradizione induista, esaltando invece la speculazione filosofica sui quattro rami originari di Rig, Sama, Yajur e AtharvaVeda Samhita, Aranyaka e Upanishad , il celibato per gli studiosi di religione, e la meditazione sulla sacra sillaba Om, considerata "il vero nome di Dio".

Ramakrishna, ispiratore della Ramakrishna Mission fondata dal suo discepolo Swami Vivekananda, affermava apertamente di voler seguire "tutte le religioni". Gli insegnamenti derivati dalla conoscenza vedica si sono diffusi enormemente soprattutto nella forma delle varie discipline yoga con migliaia di maestri tra i quali possiamo citare per esempio Iyengar, e della medicina naturale ayurvedica con divulgatori come Deepak Chopra e molti altri. Ben presto anche gli occidentali sono passati dalla posizione di discepoli a quella di maestri, moltiplicando i gruppi, le scuole, i centri e le organizzazioni che propongono queste discipline.

Gli abitanti della sponda indiana del Sindhu vennero chiamati Hindu dai persiani e dagli altri invasori successivi provenienti da ovest. Di volta in volta viene percepita, sperimentata e rivelata dalle anime realizzate, che la trasmettono sotto forma di letteratura sacra. Secondo la tradizione, la conoscenza vedica venne manifestata dal creatore dell'universo Brahma al momento di cominciare a formare i vari elementi della creazione.

In ogni ciclo di creazione di ogni singolo universo si susseguono mille cicli di quattro ere, che compongono una "giornata" del creatore o Brahma di quel particolare universo. Ogni sera il Brahma ritira la maggior parte della creazione e "mette a dormire" il resto fino alla mattina successiva. In ognuno di questi cicli il genere umano viene creato secondo il progetto genetico originario e perfetto, e lo stesso vale per tutte le altre specie viventi; secondo i Veda esistono 4 milioni e mila specie di vita, di cui mila forme di vita umane o umanoidi.

E' detto infatti che all'inizio del Kali yuga l'avatara Vyasa decise di mettere per iscritto questa particolare compilazione proprio per venire incontro alle differenti esigenze della gente. L'intera popolazione era dunque composta da brahmana, senza bisogno di kshatriya, vaisya o sudra e a maggior ragione mancavano i chandala. Per tutti, il metodo di realizzazione spirituale e religiosa era costituito dalla pratica dello Yoga e dalla meditazione sulla Trascendenza, che purifica l'intelligenza da tutte le identificazioni e attaccamenti materiali.

Rinuncia, equilibrio, senso del dovere e autodisciplina permettevano a tutti di controllare la mente e i sensi e impegnarsi nella contemplazione del Divino all'interno del proprio cuore. Per esempio, i templi tradizionali hanno sempre almeno una piscina sacra, chiamata kunda o sarovara, dove i devoti e i pellegrini possono fare il bagno o almeno purificarsi un po' prima di entrare nel tempio.

Seguendo questa logica, i regni europei crearono colonie nel resto del mondo con l'idea di "civilizzare" quelle popolazioni e tuttora assistiamo a una deliberata opera di "globalizzazione" della cultura industriale di sviluppo non-sostenibile di tipo statunitense. Secondo l'accademia occidentale, il sanscrito costituisce la lingua madre delle varie lingue "indo-europee", ma noi possiamo aggiungere che il sanscrito presenta anche alcune caratteristiche speciali, che non si trovano nelle lingue europee - in particolare, la costruzione "componibile" delle consonanti semplici e complesse, che produce un grandissimo numero di configurazioni grafiche.

Il sanscrito-devanagari applica scientificamente questo concetto istintuale e lo codifica con precisione: L'alfabeto sanscrito comprende 15 vocali e 34 consonanti semplici, 4 delle quali ra, ya, la, va sono considerate "semi-vocali" e secondo le regole del sandhi "legami eufonici" si possono trasformare nella loro controparte vocalica o in speciali gruppi consonantici dalla grafia particolare. Le consonanti semplici, raddoppiate o accoppiate con altre consonanti, si uniscono graficamente a creare un numero notevole di consonanti complesse, che talvolta, a seconda della particolare pronuncia, prendono un aspetto anche molto diverso rispetto a quello delle consonanti semplici che le compongono.

Inoltre le vocali hanno una forma diversa quando si trovano da sole o ad inizio di parola da quando si trovano all'interno della parola. Ecco le vocali all'inizio di parola: Ecco le vocali all'interno di parola: Ecco le consonanti semplici: Per ottenere il suono duro di quella consonante italiana, il sanscrito usa invece una lettera completamente distinta, la Ka, e questo evita ogni confusione. Molti scienziati hanno analizzato la struttura e le dinamiche linguistiche del sanscrito e le hanno trovate perfettamente logiche e coerenti, paragonabili al linguaggio informatico che si usa per programmare i computer.

Le implicazioni filosofiche di questa struttura linguistica sono profondissime. Il suono primordiale come origine e fondamento dell'intera creazione, dell'energia, degli elementi, della conoscenza, e delle manifestazioni visibili, viene dunque messo in evidenza fin dai primi passi dell'apprendimento scolastico, con le lettere dell'alfabeto.

Un vago ricordo di questa scienza tantrica rimane nelle favole europee che parlano di "formule magiche" incomprensibili, tipo "sim salabim" eccetera. Ecco alcuni esempi di yantra, rispettivamente di Bhuvanesvari, Kali e Shiva. Strettamente imparentate con l'hindi sono il rajasthani e il bihari. Per assicurarsi che gli studenti ricordassero e ripetessero perfettamente i testi originari, mantenendo persino l'intonazione giusta, gli insegnanti li Introduzione alla conoscenza vedica facevano imparare a memoria in varie successioni, chiamate prakriti patha "lettura semplice" e vikriti patha "lettura elaborata".

Il prakriti patha consiste nel recitare il verso tutto di seguito, come viene tramandato per iscritto, senza dividere le parole che sono legate tra loro dal sandhi. Per esempio ecco un mantra che offre omaggio a Sambhu un altro nome di Shiva e a Maya, rispettivamente il Signore Supremo e l'energia divina: Il pada patha "lettura passo a passo" consiste nel separare le parole di base l'una dall'altra, cosa che aiuta a comprendere e memorizzare meglio il verso: Parleremo ancora delle regole di pronuncia e intonazione nella recitazione dei testi vedici nel capitolo sui Vedanga "membra secondarie dei Veda".

Molti altri Rishi contribuirono al corpus di conoscenza delle scritture vediche, compilando vari testi anche prima dell'opera di Vyasa. Tra i suoi discendenti, si contano molti altri Rishi, come Mugdala, Uddalaki, Shakalayani, Chandogya ecc. E' l'autore della Brighu samhita, un trattato-oracolo di astrologia, che permette di scoprire anche le vite passate e future di una persona, con 45 milioni di possibili combinazioni astrologiche. Non sono purtroppo sopravvissuti testi compilati direttamente da lui. Altri Rishi che composero inni del Veda originario sono: Kanva Rishi fu il padre adottivo di Sakuntala, protagonista della famosa opera poetica di Kalidasa.

Della generazione dei Rishi successiva a Vyasa ricordiamo: A sua volta Paila divise il Rig Veda in due parti, affidandole rispettivamente a Indrapramiti e Bashkala. Bashkala divise la sua parte in quattro sezioni, affidandole ai suoi discepoli Bodhya, Yajnavalkya, Parasara e Agnimitra. Il figlio di Mandukeya, Sakalya, divise in 5 parti il testo che gli era stato affidato, distribuendo le varie parti a Vatsya, Mudgala, Saliya, Gokhalya e Sisira. Un altro discepolo di Sakalya, di nome Jatukarnya, divise il suo testo in 3 parti e vi aggiunse un glossario, affidando queste divisioni rispettivamente ai suoi discepoli Balaka, Paila, Jabala e Viraja.

Dai vari testi del Rig Veda venne compilata anche un'antologia chiamata Valakhilya-samhita, opera di Baskali, che la trasmise poi a Valayani, Bhajya e Kasara. Questi nuovi capitoli vennero affidati ai discepoli di Kanva, Madhyandhina e altri Rishi. Un altro discepolo di Jaimini, di nome Sukarma, divise il suo testo del Sama Veda in samhita, che vennero affidate a Hiranyanabha figlio di Kushala , Paushyanji e Avantya.

I principali 5 discepoli di Paushyanji - Laugakshi, Mangali, Kulya, Kushida e Kukshi, ricevettero ciascuno samhita, mentre tra i discepoli di Paushyanji e Avantya svilupparono la propria discendenza disciplica al nord. Krita, discepolo di Hiranyanabha, trasmise 24 samhita ai propri discepoli, e il testo rimanente venne affidato al saggio Avantya. Da dove cominciare, per comprendere effettivamente i contenuti della conoscenza vedica? Sruti sono i testi originari dei quattro Veda Rg, Sama, Yajur e Atharva che comprendono le rispettive Samhita, Brahmana, Aranyaka e Upanishad, mentre smriti o le raccolte di commentari sono tutti gli altri testi.

Un'altra prospettiva di categorizzazione viene presentata da Yajnavalkya in 14 divisioni o "mondi" della conoscenza e del Dharma: Purtroppo non tutti i testi vedici sono sopravvissuti: Il Bhagavata purana 1. Le scritture affermano che anticamente esisteva un solo Veda, detto Yajur, e che Vyasadeva lo suddivise in quattro parti. Secondo la definizione fornita da Atri Rishi: Da questa conoscenza e consapevolezza trascendentale prende il nome il termine brahmanesimo, che viene usato talvolta per definire l'induismo.

Brahmana "dei brahmana" che contengono le meditazioni da compiere durante i rituali, la storia dei rituali stessi e il motivo per cui vengono celebrati, e le procedure che devono essere compiute dai brahmana che officiano il rituale. Per esempio, l'inno Alcune raccolte lo inseriscono direttamente nel mandala o libro numero 5. Il Vak sukta Non tutti i mandala hanno la stessa lunghezza e lo stesso numero di inni. Gli steli vengono pressati con pietre apposite, poi il succo viene filtrato e lasciato macerare per una notte, procedimento usato normalmente in erboristeria per meglio estrarre i principi attivi.

Ecco alcuni estratti dal primo libro o mandala: Sii facilmente accessibile a noi, come un padre al figlio. O Indra-Vayu, vieni ad accettare questa nostra offerta. O Mitra e Varuna, siete i nostri saggi, voi che amate e onorate il Dharma: Venite, su vie rosse di fiamma Concedi a noi l'abbondanza, o potente sovrano dei cieli, glorioso Signore della pioggia Tvastar il Caos io chiamo, il primogenito, che indossa qualsiasi forma a suo piacere: Lode a Savitar, nata dalle acque: Risvegli i suoni della gioia, e i figli di Kanva cantino i principi generosi di doni mentre l'alba avanza.

L'Alba ha aggiogato i suoi cavalli oltre il punto dove sorge il sole, e su cento carri avanza, mentre tutte le creature si inchinano dinanzi al suo sguardo I figli di Kamadhenu, splendenti nei loro abiti, si decorano con ornamenti d'oro e scacciano gli avversari dal loro cammino. Sedete sull'erba sacra, sull'ampio seggio preparato per voi, e deliziatevi di questo cibo piacevole. Che gli Dei siano sempre con noi, vigilando costantemente sul nostro bene. Che i generosi favori degli Dei ci portino ogni abbondanza.

Colui per il quale tu celebri il sacrificio prospera, libero da nemici, diventa forte e felice In te gli Dei consumano le offerte che noi presentiamo. Noi procureremo la legna e le offerte, ricordandoti ad ogni festa Ascolta le nostre parole e fa' che i nostri inni respingano i malvagi. O Terra e Cielo, guardate la mia condizione Che i cinque Tori che si ergono nel mezzo del glorioso cielo ritornino a me dopo aver portato le mie preghiere agli Dei. Che i Padri gloriosi e le due Dee Madri, che danno forza al Dharma, ci salvino da ogni sofferenza O Brihaspati, aprici una strada facile Portaci gioia, o Rudra: Come fecero gli eroi ho lodato i Marut con preghiere al Cielo e alla Terra.

Forte nella prima invocazione alla Notte e all'Alba Ascolta, o Mitra-Varuna, queste invocazioni innalzate da tutti gli uomini nella sala di adorazione. Noi che sacrifichiamo evochiamo te, il migliore tra gli adoratori, cantore di inni Ruggendo forte come le falangi dei Marut, nei fertili campi coltivati e nei luoghi isolati, adorato da noi accetti e mangi i nostri doni La ruota ha tre raggi, forti e perpetui, sui quali riposano tutti i mondi abitati. Due uccelli dalle belle ali, legati da amicizia, hanno Parama Karuna Devi fatto il nido sullo stesso albero. Uno dei due mangia i dolci frutti del fico, e l'altro guarda soltanto, senza mangiare O Brihaspati, cantiamo a te inni di gloria: Schiaccia tutti i nostri nemici, lasciali impotenti, o divoratore dei malvagi, che lanci vittorioso il tuo grido di guerra e sostieni il Dharma.

Come un'ascia modella un carro, la sua nascita diede splendore al cielo e alla terra: O radioso Sommo Sacerdote degli Dei, gli umani sono qui riuniti attorno alla tua dimora, desiderosi di servirti e di legarsi a te in amicizia Donaci abbondanza, tu che ti ergi diritto come quando riposavi sul seno di questa Madre. I Sacri Pilastri tagliati e piantati in terra per portare benedizioni ai campi trasmettono i nostri doni agli Dei - gli Aditya, i Rudra, i Vasu, la Terra e il Cielo, e Antariksha lo spazio interplanetario.

O Signore dei boschi, alzati con cento rami come le corna del cervo, e fa' che con mille rami noi possiamo elevarci alla grandezza. Il generoso, allegro Dio noi invochiamo con oblazioni.. Conducete la Signora del sacrificio: Vipas e Sutudri scorrono impetuose di flutti, corrono verso l'oceano come su carri splendenti, rigonfie di acque Indra che regge il fulmine ha scavato i vostri canali, abbattendo Vritra che bloccava la vostra corrente.

Savitar dalle belle mani vi ha guidato e accresciuto le vostre acque. O sorelle, rallentate la vostra corsa e lasciate passare agevolmente i carri dei Bharata, che invocano il favore dei fiumi. Ora le leggi degli Dei entrano in vigore. I miei desideri volano in molti luoghi, verso gli antichi sacrifici volgo il mio sguardo: Il Figlio delle due Madri, Sacerdote, unico Signore nelle assemblee, avanza nel suo cammino pur restando fermo come le fondamenta Agni ben conosce tutti questi esseri creati.

Mitra osserva gli uomini con occhi che non si chiudono mai. A Mitra offriamo le nostre oblazioni di burro sacro. O Mitra, o Aditya, tu che sempre sostieni il Dharma: Gustando il sacro cibo, liberi dalle malattie, fedeli Parama Karuna Devi osservanti degli ordini degli Aditya, noi desideriamo rimanere sotto la loro protezione e il loro favore. O grande Aditya, fonte di ogni benedizione e degno di adorazione, Signore e Re! Che noi possiamo godere del tuo affetto e della tua gentilezza!

A te, il Supremo, offriamo piacevoli oblazioni nel fuoco. O sostegno degli esseri umani, per la tua grazia, dacci gloria e fama! Le tue glorie si diffondono ovunque, il tuo potere supera il cielo e la tua fama va oltre la terra. Tutte le Cinque Nazioni chiedono le tue benedizioni, o Mitra, potente sostegno di tutti gli Dei - tu che dai le Sacre Leggi del Dharma agli esseri umani che ti onorano con le erbe sacre. Circondato da cento fortezze ferree, spiccai il volo rapidamente, come Falco, lasciandomi dietro i demoni, e superando i venti la mia forza crebbe Dolci siano le piante per noi, dolci il cielo e le acque, e lo spazio oltre il cielo, che uomini e animali lavorino felicemente, che l'aratro scavi felice i suoi solchi.

Che la Terra, ricca di latte, sia munta per noi anno dopo anno, e il contadino cammini felice con i buoi. L'arco ci dia la vittoria sul nemico, e la corda prema come una donna desiderosa di abbracciare il suo amante: Portando purezza e gioia ovunque, avanzate stendendo una via per gli Dei e le Dee. Gli splendenti raggi di Surya vi attraggono e Indra scava per voi un letto dove viaggiare.

Proteggici dai ladri e dai cinghiali selvaggi. Che dorma la madre, che dorma il padre, che dormano il cane e il padrone della casa, e tutti i membri della famiglia. Per grazia di Vishnu ho avuto una progenie, o buoni Padri: Che il tuo spirito, recatosi lontano nel mare ventoso, possa tornare per vivere e abitare qui. Che il tuo spirito, recatosi lontano nei fasci di luce che lampeggiano e scorrono, possa tornare per vivere e abitare qui. Che il tuo spirito, recatosi lontano sulle alte montagne, possa tornare per vivere e abitare qui.

Il Dharma protegge gli Aditya e preserva il posto di Soma nel cielo. Il suo spirito era il carro nuziale e la sua copertura era il paradiso, il pensiero il suo cuscino, la vista era il balsamo nero per gli occhi, terra e cielo erano il suo tesoro, e il vento le sue ruote, fisse al loro asse.

Riempie l'universo ovunque, pur essendo alto dieci dita. Gli Dei prepararono il sacrificio e l'offerta sacrificale era il Purusha stesso: Dal corpo del Purusha furono generati i cavalli e il bestiame che ha due file di denti I brahmana furono la sua bocca, le sue braccia furono gli kshatriya, le gambe i vaisya, i piedi i sudra. La luna nacque dalla sua mente, il sole dal suo occhio, Indra e Agni dalla sua bocca, Vayu dal suo respiro. Dal suo ombelico nacque lo spazio interplanetario, i pianeti celesti dalla sua testa, la terra dai suoi piedi, dal suo tronco i sistemi planetari Il Signore dell'universo vive nell'universo e senza Parama Karuna Devi mai nascere appare in molte forme Anche se non lo sanno, tutti dimorano in me.

Colui che io favorisco diventa molto potente - un saggio, un Rishi, e un brahmana.

Cosa copriva, e dove? C'era forse l'abisso delle acque? L'Uno, senza respiro, respirato dalla sua stessa natura - nient'altro. Ogni cosa era vuota e senza forma: Nello stesso luogo, nella stessa assemblea, in una sola mente unite felicemente i pensieri: Lo Yajur Veda contiene molti mantra che si trovano anche nel Rig Veda e anche la descrizione in prosa di alcune cerimonie di adorazione. Primo Kanda, primo Prapathaka: Vengono descritte la mungitura delle mucche, la preparazione delle offerte e la cottura delle formelle di cereali, la costruzione dell'altare, l'offerta di oblazioni, la libagione di burro chiarificato e lo scambio dei mestoli.

Nel secondo Prapataka viene descritto in dettaglio il sacrificio del soma rasa, di cui abbiamo brevemente parlato sopra. Il terzo Prapathaka descrive uno speciale sacrificio offerto ad Agni e Soma, mentre il quarto stabilisce le porzioni del soma rasa riservate a ciascuno degli ospiti divini. Il terzo Kanda costituisce un supplemento alla descrizione del rituale del soma rasa, con le tre pressature, le coppe supplementari, le formule d'invocazione, oblazioni e sacrifici speciali, e le offerte da presentare al signore del Vastu prima di intraprendere un viaggio.

Occult paranormal

Il quarto Kanda spiega come preparare il contenitore per il fuoco e come accendere il fuoco, come offrire adorazione al fuoco, come preparare l'arena per il sacrificio, costruire l'altare di mattoni e compiere il rituale preliminare offerto a Rudra. Il quinto Kanda descrive l'installazione del fuoco sacro, l'iniziazione dell'autore del sacrificio e l'asvamedha yajna. Il sesto Kanda parla di nuovo del soma, dell'aggiunta di latte di mucca, delle offerte dakshina e dello spettacolo delle danzatrici.

Infine viene spiegato il vero significato dell'asvamedha yajna o sacrificio del cavallo, che rappresenta il cosmo: Invincibile, tu apri le barriere: Anche questi inni sono intesi ad evocare il ricordo e la presenza delle varie manifestazioni divine, tra cui Agni, Indra e Soma, anzi parecchi di essi sono tratti dal Rig Veda, ma sono stati modificati con l'aggiunta di prolungamenti, ripetizioni e inserimento di sillabe secondo schemi precisi. Una considerevole parte del testo parla di come curare ferite, fratture e molte malattie con erbe e piante, fermare le emorragie con la recitazione di mantra, neutralizzare i veleni, prolungare la vita e persino far ricrescere i capelli.

E' importante comprendere che la visione solitamente definita come "animismo" dall'accademia occidentale non costituisce un approccio primitivo, ignorante e superstizioso alle misteriose forze universali, ma piuttosto rappresenta il riconoscimento rispettoso delle varie forme di potere della Natura. Si tratta di una cosa importantissima, che la cultura occidentale contemporanea sta cominciando a riscoprire dopo aver imparato una durissima lezione con le sofferenze umane legate al degrado dell'ambiente. Su queste fondamenta si innestano le conoscenze Introduzione alla conoscenza vedica mediche, di naturoterapia, idroterapia, pranoterapia, erboristeria, psicologia e fisica contenute in altri testi e utilizzate dall'officiante dell'Atharva Veda.

In queste circostanze favorevoli, il mantra agisce sulla materia a livello sottile, come vibrazione perfettamente modulata e perfettamente diretta, che viene sostenuta dal particolare campo biomagnetico della consapevolezza. Va utilizzata sia fresca che come decotto, tintura o polvere. Si tratta di una pianta erbacea perenne, alta fino ai 2 metri, molto aromatica, attualmente in pericolo di estinzione. In ebraico era chiamata ha ketoret o koshet, e la sua radice resinosa e profumata costituiva una delle offerte principali bruciate nel fuoco nel tempio di Salomone; probabilmente in questo uso era diffusa anche in Egitto.

Il nome botanico costus che significa "orientale" in greco antico indica che la pianta era oggetto di un fiorente commercio tra l'India e i paesi del Mediterraneo. Si tratta di un rampicante che cresce preferibilmente sull'albero baniano, rispettivamente asvattha Ficus religiosa , plaksha Ficus infectoria , nyagrodha Ficus indica e anche sugli alberi conosciuti come khadira Acacia catechu , dhava Grislea tomentosa e parna Butea frondosa. E' un disinfettante generale, antiossidante, rafforza il sistema immunitario, aiuta la digestione, il metabolismo e lo smaltimento naturale del colesterolo e degli zuccheri nel sangue diabete , concilia il sonno e applicata localmente ripara i danni alla pelle causati da allergie, graffi, stress e invecchiamento.

Pianta erbacea perenne e sempreverde, la murva cresce propagandosi sul terreno tramite rizoma e produce foglie affilate, dalla forma simile a spade. E' interessante il fatto che non si riproduce per seme. Il filo sacro per i vaisya era invece tradizionalmente preparato con fibre di canapa indiana Cannabis sativa , una delle prime piante coltivate nella storia, che fino al Introduzione alla conoscenza vedica secolo scorso veniva ampiamente usata in tutto il mondo, anche in occidente.

E' stato calcolato che dalla canapa si possano ottenere oltre 25mila tipi di prodotti, e soprattutto straordinarie fibre tessili sia per abbigliamento che per arredamento. Nei tempi antichi si usava per fare gli stoppini delle lampade e delle candele, le vele per le navi, la tela per i sacchi che contenevano i vari materiali da trasportare e vendere, le scarpe in tessuto tipo le espadrillas moderne, per intenderci , le valige, i materassi, le tende per gli accampamenti, e le tele per dipingere quadri la parola inglese canvas deriva appunto da cannabis.

Nel campo delle costruzioni, le fibre di canapa vengono usate come stoppa per sigillare le tubature ma anche come componente base di mattoni insieme alla calce. La resistenza straordinaria di queste fibre ne fa il materiale perfetto per corde di ogni genere, e ha permesso di fabbricare persino un modello ultraleggero di carrozzeria per auto. Le fibre possono essere usate come lettiera per gli animali e mulching pacciamatura per le piante, e persino come assorbenti igienici e pannolini per bambini.

A differenza della carta ottenuta con polpa di legno, la carta di canapa non ha bisogno di candeggiante che produce diossine. Fissa anche il carbonio assorbendolo dall'aria inquinata ossido di carbonio , previene l'erosione del terreno grazie alle sue lunghe radici e richiede pochissima acqua per l'irrigazione. La coltivazione della canapa fu resa obbligatoria nelle colonie americane nel ed era incoraggiata dal governo statunitense fino al termine della seconda guerra mondiale, come testimonia il filmato propagandistico Hemp for Victory, in cui si afferma che l'esercito aveva bisogno di corde.

Dal al la coltivazione di canapa, cannabis o marijuana venne tassata dal governo statunitense, poi nel venne introdotta la legislazione che ne proibisce tassativamente non solo la coltivazione ma anche il possesso personale nella misura di pochi grammi, secondo una politica di "tolleranza zero". E' antisettica, antimicrobica, diuretica, lassativa, tonica, vermifuga, anti-amebica, anti-elmintica, colagoga, anti-infiammatoria. La corteccia in particolare contiene principi attivi anticoncezionali. Purtroppo alcune delle piante menzionate nel testo dell'Atharva Veda sono ormai sconosciute o estinte - per esempio, la shlakshnaparin, l'anjanika, la madyantaka e la nitatni, usate per stimolare la ricrescita dei capelli.

E' interessante notare che il nome Nitatni viene usato anche per riferirsi a una delle sette stelle della costellazione delle Pleiadi. Si pensa che la madyantaka potrebbe essere l'Echinochloa frumentacea attualmente chiamata madir , che ha effetti simili. Una lozione considerata molto efficace per far crescere i capelli era preparata con il succo di chaulai o khada saga Amaranthus caudatus , myrobalan Prunus cerasifera talvolta chiamato erroneamente mirabolan, amalaki Emblica officinalis , bibhitaki Terminalia bellirica , haritaki Terminalia chebula , arjuna Terminalia arjuna e aparajita Clitoria ternatea.

Invece del succo si poteva usare un olio medicato ottenuto facendo bollire le radici delle stesse piante in olio, a temperatura molto bassa. Sempre per la salute e la bellezza dei capelli venivano usate la ghrita kumari Aloe vera , la mandara o japapushpa Hibiscus rosa-sinensis , la jatamansi Nardostachys jatamansi , la gandharva hasta Ricinus communis , e la arishta Sapindus mukorossi conosciuta anche come "albero del sapone". I mantra dell'Atharva Veda si rivolgono alla personificazione di queste erbe medicamentose, oltre che ai capelli stessi, che sono paragonati alle erbe e alle piante che crescono dalla terra con una specie di "associazione di corrispondenza sottile" intesa a imprimere il concetto di crescita e salute nel subcosciente dell'individuo.

Perduta sembra ogni conoscenza delle piante chiamate jivala, nagarisha, apamarga, sadampushpa, sraktya, jivanti e pata - quest'ultima considerata efficace per proteggere il guerriero in battaglia. Il metodo dell'Atharva Veda per fermare le emorragie si basa esclusivamente sui mantra, specialmente sugli stambhana, invocazioni recitate per creare una specie di "legatura" che ostacola il movimento. Questi mantra vengono usati sia per fermare le emorragie, ma anche per frenare le azioni ostili di persone o animali.

Recenti studi, come anche le tradizioni popolari di altre culture, sembrano confermare che l'autosuggestione, l'ipnosi, e le vibrazioni sonore stesse abbiano un effetto oggettivo di emostasi. Per esempio, si dice che il serpente "ipnotizzi" la ranocchia o l'uccellino che ha scelto come preda; talvolta possiamo percepire noi stessi questa sensazione anche nel mezzo di una folla, quando ci sentiamo "paralizzati" o "trattenuti" da qualcosa di strano che non sappiamo spiegare razionalmente. I rapporti sessuali insoddisfacenti o perversi hanno sempre un effetto disastroso sulla salute e il livello energetico, in quanto indeboliscono il sistema immunitario e creano conseguenze karmiche sia grossolane che sottili.

Esistono anche delle liste di alimenti e ingredienti che favoriscono e stimolano il desiderio sessuale - per esempio l'avena, lo zenzero, la liquirizia, l'anice, il cardamomo, lo zafferano, i semi di senape arrostiti, la noce moscata, l'aglio, e persino cocomero e melograno. Sono considerati stimolanti sessuali anche il latte caldo addizionato di mandorle in polvere e pepe nero, oppure il miele addizionato di succo di zenzero e pepe nero.

E' raccomandato anche il salgemma rosa dell'Himalaya, conosciuto nell'Ayur Veda con il nome di saindhava lavanum. Per ottenere i risultati migliori, l'ambiente deve essere particolarmente curato per stimolare positivamente tutti i sensi, con profumi, musica e suoni piacevoli, letti e divani comodi, stoffe e decorazioni belle da vedere e da toccare.

Per uso esterno sono raccomandati l'olio di nim Azadirachta indica , la resina di acacia Acacia catechu e anche diversi preparati a base di varie erbe e minerali. Chi era interessato invece a favorire il concepimento usava la kapikacchu Mucuna pruriens , la bala Sida cordifolia e i vari preparati ricostituenti descritti dall'Ayur Veda sotto le categorie vajikarana, rasayana e kumarabhritya.

Per i genitali femminili si usava invece un unguento a base di kokilaksha Asteracantha longifolia per restringere, e una miscela di erbe tra cui il loto blu per allargare. Per minimizzare il flusso mestruale e regolare la produzione ormonale di estrogeno si usava l'ashoka Saraca indica. Ci sono anche mantra e piante medicinali per facilitare il parto. Altri mantra venivano recitati pubblicamente per portare pace e armonia tra i sudditi, placare la collera e le discordie, gestire le assemblee in modo efficace, ottenere successo in un dibattito e persino influenzare le opinioni altrui.

Rallegratevi gli uni degli altri, come una mucca si rallegra del suo vitello appena nato! Che il figlio sia devoto al padre, che sia in accordo con la madre, che la moglie parli dolcemente al marito! In armonia, dedicati alla stessa causa, siano tra voi parole gentili e affettuose! Insieme rendiamo culto al fuoco, unendoci come i raggi della ruota attorno al mozzo Ecco un esempio di questi mantra: Che sia abitata da uomini eroici, invulnerabili, ricchi di cavalli e mandrie. O casa dall'ampio tetto, tu ci sostieni e preservi il raccolto purificato di cereali! A te vengano i vitelli, a te vengano i bambini, a te vengano le mucche pesanti di latte, quando tornano la sera!

O Savitar, Vayu, Indra, Brihaspati! Erigete voi questa casa! Che i Marut la aspergano di acqua e di burro chiarificato, che Bhaga metta radici nel solco che ne ara le fondamenta! O architrave, ascendi ora al tuo trono, o sovrano, tieni lontano i nemici! Il mantra specifico per tenere lontano gli incendi parla della durva o darbha Cyonodon dactylon o Eleusine indica , conosciuta in occidente come gramigna. Attorno alle case, questo impedisce la propagazione degli incendi naturali, che avviene soprattutto quando le erbe e le piante secche vengono investite da qualche scintilla volante.

La gramigna invece rimane verde molto facilmente anche nella stagione secca, e non prende fuoco facilmente. Inoltre, una mucca affidata a un brahmana produce latte anche senza mai avere partorito, e gode di un trattamento di alto livello. La Terra che anticamente diede la nascita ai primi uomini, sulla quale i Deva sconfissero gli Asura, ci dia fortuna e gloria! Ma quando le arance furon mature, una mattina va in giardino Il Re si fece scuro. Doveva dare la Reginotta a quello zoticone? Ma quanto alla Reginotta, nettati la bocca. Il Re disse al cardellino: Il cardellino strillava, sentendosi strappare le penne ad una ad una.

Bisogna sapere il motto; e lo sanno due soli: Vorrei entrare nella Grotta delle sette porte, e non so il motto. The king is sleeping! In the morning, he opened his eyes; the golden oranges were gone! Therefore, he pro- claimed throughout his realm: Finally, one day there appeared a crusty old peasant, who was shabbily dressed: Promise me the hand of the princess, and in less than three days you shall have him. The next day, he returned. However, the peasant was stubborn, and the next day he returned. Meanwhile, he ordered that an iron net be built around the tree; such a barrier eliminated the need for a guard.

When the oranges had ripened, the king went into the garden one morning…and the golden oranges were gone. Now he was obliged to come to terms with the crusty old peasant. Now the princess is mine. Do you want gold? You can have as much as you want. But as for the princess, say no more. The king turned to the goldfinch. However, guarding them is a merchant wearing a red cap. You need to know the magic words, and only two people know them: The king called for the peasant.

In quella grotta i diamanti, a mucchi per terra, abbagliavano. Il Re si vuotava le tasche, e tornava a riempirsele di questi. Dovea dare la Reginotta a quello zoticone? Ma per la Reginotta nettati la bocca. Si mette le mani nelle tasche, i diamanti son diventati tanti gusci di lumache! Ma il cardellino la pagava. Quanto alla Reginotta, nettati la bocca. Un giorno la Reginotta disse al Re: If you tell me them, the princess is yours. The peas- ant waited outside and waited for him. Within the grotto on the ground was a pile of diamonds, shining brilliantly.

Seeing that he was alone, the king stooped down and filled his pockets. But in the next room, the diamonds, also in a pile, were bigger and more beau- tiful. The king emptied his pockets, and he refilled them with these. Thus it was until he came to the last room, where he saw the golden oranges of the royal palace piled up in a corner.

Nearby, there hap- pened to be a knapsack, and the king filled it. Now that he knew the magic words, he would return over and over again. As he left the grotto with the knapsack on his back, he found the peasant waiting for him. But instead of golden oranges, he found rotten oranges. He put his hands in his pockets, and he found that the diamonds had turned to snail shells.

This is the work of that crusty old peasant! But the goldfinch would pay for it. And he decided to torture the bird. Tell me the magic words to get back the oranges and the princess will be yours. Therefore, the peasant returned: But as for the princess, say on more. E gli aperse la gabbia. Intanto la povera Reginotta viveva in ambascia: Intanto venne un ambasciatore del Re di Francia che la chiedeva per moglie.

Il Re non lo potevan trattenere: Come rimediare con quella figliolaccia caparbia? E la Reginotta zitta. Per mantenere la parola ora patisco tanti guai! Non vuol farsi vedere? Il Re non sapeva che rispondere, imbarazzato. Sentendosi rispondere dallo scatolino, la Reginotta lo aperse. Quante lagrime ho sparse. E noi restiamo a grattarci la pancia. Because the gold- finch was in a cage, the golden oranges stayed on the tree from one year to the next. One day, the princess said to the king: Go tell him that and return right away.

But the goldfinch did not return. One day, the king asked the princess: I have not heard him for quite a while. Meanwhile, the poor princess lived in anguish. Meanwhile, there ar- rived an ambassador from the king of France, who wanted to marry the princess. Her father was extremely happy, and he quickly gave his consent.

However, the princess refused: I want to remain a maid. But she was obstinate: How was the king to deal with his stubborn daughter? He became so angry that he tied her hands and feet, and he lowered her into a well: The king then lowered her half way down. The king then lowered her even further into the water with only her head above it. And he pulled her up, but he locked her up in a room, giving her only bread and water. Un giorno venne uno, e disse al Re: Dovea dire che lei era la figlia del Re.

It was a small box made of gold and dia- monds. However, the princess put it aside without desiring to open it. I have shed so many tears. But now your destiny is fulfilled. The Bronze Horse by Luigi Capuana translated by Santi Buscemi There once was a king and queen who had a daughter more beautiful than the moon and the sun, and they loved her more than the pupils of their own eyes. One day, someone came and said to the king: If she is not here within three days, woe to him!

What were they to do? The savage was terrifying; he could devastate the entire kingdom. She was told to say that she was the daughter of the king. The next day, the girl returned to the palace. The princess has a birth- mark on this arm! If the princess is not with him within two days, woe is you!

Doveva dire che lei era la figlia del Re. Il povero Re e la povera Regina avrebbero battuto il capo nel muro. E mi ha rimandato dicendo: Per la salvezza del regno, bisogna sacrificare la Reginotta! Il Re non sapeva rassegnarsi: Passato un anno, un mese e un giorno, arriva a corte un forestiero, che chiede di parlare col Re.

Era un nanetto alto due spanne, gobbo e sbilenco, con un naso che pareva un becco di barbagianni e certi occhietti piccini piccini. Il Re non aveva voglia di ridere; ma come vide quello sgorbio non seppe frenarsi. The savage knows that the princess has a birthmark on her left arm; it is impossible to fool him. She was to say that she was the daughter of the king. However, the next day, the young woman came back. Why should they throw that joy of a daughter into the arms of the savage?

We will look for another young woman. The artist will paint the birthmark on her arm, and he will dye three hairs on the nape of her neck white. The savage will not know the difference. But the next day, even this young woman came back. He looked through the hair on the nape of my neck. In order to save the kingdom, you will have to sacrifice the princess! The king could not resign himself to this; he would rather sacrifice the blood of his own veins than give up his daughter.

But fate would have it this way, and he had to submit. The princess showed herself to be more courageous than them all. After all, the savage would not eat her! She put on a wedding gown, and accom- panied by the king, the queen, members of the court, and an im- mense number of subjects, she made her way toward the forest amid weeping and heart-rending cries. E non era trascorsa una settimana, che il Re riceveva un avviso: Il Nano, di quando in quando, gli domandava: Ma quello cambiava discorso: Si era rizzato di terra, si era ripulito il vestitino, ed era andato via, lesto lesto, come se nulla fosse stato.

Lei dunque voleva quel Nano gobbo e sbilenco? Anche la Regina non viveva tranquilla: Il Re rispondeva con una spallucciata: Ma la Reginotta ripeteva: From that point, nothing was heard about her or about the savage. However, after a year, a month, and a day, there came to court a stranger who wished to speak with the king. If you give me half the kingdom as well as the hand of the princess in marriage, I will free her from the hands of the savage. And before a week passed, the king received a message: They believed that this runt was trying to trick them.

And at sunrise, there appeared the hunchbacked, lop-sided dwarf, who was leading the princess by the hand. She was dressed as a bride, just as she had been she entered the forest to meet the savage. The celebrations and the banquets never ended. However, no one ever spoke of the wedding or of giving half the kingdom away. Now that he had his daughter and the savage had been killed by the dwarf, the king no longer knew how to keep his word. From time to time, the dwarf asked him: They went to search for him in the street, but he was gone.

He had gotten up from the ground, had cleaned himself off, and had run away very quickly. It was as if he had never been there. However, from that day forward, the princess became melancholic. She refused to speak and to laugh, and she had lost the color in her cheeks. Did you want that hunchbacked, lopsided dwarf? Il giorno delle nozze era vicino. La gente accorreva in folla nel giardino del Re, dove il cavallo di bronzo era stato collocato su un magnifico piedistallo. Par di sentirlo nitrire! Scese a vederlo anche il Re con la corte; e tutti: Solo la Reginotta non diceva nulla.

Gli tastava il ciuffo, gli accarezzava il collo, lo spronava leggermente col tacco; e intanto diceva scherzando: Tutti erano atterriti; non osavano fiatare. Ma in mezzo a quel silenzio scoppia a un tratto una risatina, una risatina di canzonatura! Il Nano continuava a contorcersi dalle risa: Cavallo, mio cavallo,Non metter piede in fallo;Torna sul piedistallo,Cavallo, mio cavallo.

Allora il Nano disse al Re: The prince of Portugal sent word that he wanted to marry the princess. The princess said neither yes nor no, but the king and queen could not wait to celebrate the marriage. The prince of Portugal started his journey, and on the way he met a man who was driving a large cart with a bronze horse in it, which looked as if it were alive.

The day of the wedding neared. They were all astonished: Amazed, the prince asked her: She stroked his forelock, she caressed his neck, she spurred him lightly with her heel , and all the while she said jok- ingly: In the wink of a eye, the horse and the princess were no longer to be seen. The king watched, and he saw the dwarf who was writhing with laughter, he with his little hump and his crooked little legs. He knew right away that what the horse had done was the work of the dwarf.

Sorrowfully, the King said: But the dwarf continued to writhe with laughter: And finally, even the queen began to laugh. Only the poor king now felt scorned and humiliated, a pitiful sight. E noi restiamo a leccarci le dita. However, his love for his daughter made him consent. He turned his back to the dwarf and waited for the kick; however, the dwarf wanted to show himself to be more generous than he and, instead of kicking him, he said: Then, the dwarf said: With that, the dwarf ceased to be a dwarf and became a handsome, tall young man.

The prince of Portugal realized that he could not marry the princess, and he said: The princess and the dwarf they always called him that became husband and wife. And here we remain, just licking our fin- gers. This book won the foreign section of the National Frascati award in and was rendered into Italian by Antonella Anedda and Carle. Alfredo De Palchi was born in near Verona. He grew up with his mother and grandfather and as a teenager was tortured by the Fascists and the Partisans.

He was then imprisoned for six years.

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De Palchi has resided in New York City for over thirty years, yet maintains strong ties to his native Italy. It consists of writing no American poet would undertake. Although his poetic line is drawn out, his poems do not tell stories. They are always based on a precise physical or concrete experience, which is then arrested and trans- formed. We can say that his style is devoid of sentimentality.

De Palchi is not afraid to confront sex and eroticism with shattering metaphoric visions. The three poems here translated all from Paradigma, Mimesis Hebenon, are typical of his work from a thematic and stylistic standpoint, the erotic amorous vein, the trans- gressive spirituality, and the ever-present memory of wartime trau- mas all merge into distinctly charged poetic entities.

In uno di questi alberghi, il Phoenicia, col nome inglese pronto per ituristi americani, ci diedero una bellissima camera con la terrazza sul mareaccogliendoci con un enorme cesto di frutta. Poi ci mettemmo alla ricerca della solita guida disposta a trasportare le macchine fotografiche. Era basso, grasso, puzzolente, sporco: Kirschenbaum Some fifteen years after the end of the war [World War II] we went to Beirut, which was then a splendid city, its shoreline studded with fabulous hotels, those that the criminal madness of munitions makers would have destroyed some twenty years later, mowing down so many human lives on the pretext of this or that ideology.

In one of these hotels, the Phoenicia, its English name ready for Ameri- can tourists, we were given a very lovely room with balcony overlooking the sea, a room that welcomed us with an enormous basket of fruit. The open-air bar was set up at a lower level than the swimming pool, and once we were seated there the swimmers could be seen from low down instead of from above. Even apart from the pool the hotel was so pleasant that we stayed there for several days just doing nothing, resting after a very exhausting trip in the Middle East. Then we set about looking for the usual guide willing to carry around photographic equipment.

He was short, fat, foul-smelling, dirty: We visited one of the most beautiful museums ever seen, we bought some item for my ethnographic collection, Lino took tens of rolls of photographs. The next day Lino said: Thus we left by car on our own for Damascus. The road soon began to stretch out through the desert and on both sides we saw every so often Bedouins in little groups of four or five t a time. Era una situazione senza speranza. In pochi minuti ci lasciarono passare, tutti improvvisamente sorridenti e amichevoli; ma quando arrivammo a Damasco era pomeriggio tardi, il museo era chiuso e ci mettemmo a girare alla cieca in cerca di un albergo.

E inutile descrivere quello che trovammo. Le didascalie erano perfette: Passando davanti a uno spaccio di scarpe occidentalizzate riconoscemmo o credemmo di riconoscere da una sua strana acconciatura uno dei beduini visti il giorno prima lungo la strada: Arrivammo in albergo a sera avanzata e trovammo quella guida orribile ad aspettarci. Finse che avevamo sbagliato giorno, che ci aveva aspettato fin dal mattino, pretese di essere pagato. No one was capable of reading the western alphabet and the border police kept on passing our documents from one to the other and turning them between their hands with a suspicious manner.

It was a hopeless situation. In a few minutes they let us go through, all of a sudden smiling and friendly; but when we reached Damascus it was late afternoon, the museum was closed and we set out blindly wandering in search of a hotel. Next morning we were at the door of the museum before it opened, and when they let us in we received our reward: The identifying note-cards were perfect: We left again convinced that the one in Damascus, along with the one in Beirut, was one of the better arranged museums in the world and we went on our way toward the highway.

Passing in front of a westernized shoe shop we recognized or thought we recognized from his strange attire one of the Bedouins seen the day before along the street. We arrived at the hotel in the late evening and found that horrible guide waiting for us. Avevo in mente che Lino se ne facesse un anello ma Lino non se lo fece mai. La visita al Castello dei Crociati la ricordo male.

Lino attraverso lo spessore dei muri non sentiva e quando riuscii a divincolarmi cominciai a correre come in un sogno angoscioso, proprio come in quei labirinti di cui si parla tanto adesso nei convegni letterari, inseguita dalla guida che rideva alla Lovecraft.

E gli raccontai la mia storia. Rusconi, ; repub- lished But there were no other guides available, and we came to an agreement with him for the next day. That evening we read in the Blue Guide about what the Castle was and the next day there we were on the ancient Phoenician beach. Young boys were in the water up to their knees. They had already raked through the sand and now they were looking around underwater for greenish Ro- man shards of glass that they sell to tourists as Phoenician and that I com- plying with the rule bought along with a lovely star in relief on a round coin fascinatingly oxidized.

I had in mind that Lino should make a ring out of it but Lino never made it. Lino, as always, pho- tographed everything without paying attention to me and while I wandered through the corridors in the darkness between high walls, dank and black, I was unexpectedly attacked by the so-called guide, who leapt upon me from behind. Lino on the other side of the thickness of the walls did not hear and when I managed to break loose I began to run as in an anxiety nightmare, through those very labyrinths about which so much is said these days at literary conferences, closely pursued by the guide who was laughing like a maniac out of the stories of H.

The more I ran the worse I got lost, and I threw myself into a state of anguish fit to tell in psychoanalysis. By pure chance I ended up, guided by a thread of light, at a sort of window where Lino was leaning to photograph the outside, and I set up a clamor. When we went toward the exit the guide, who had made us pay in advance, had disappeared.

And I told him my story. We never spoke of it further. The next day we left, with the sweet- scented slopes covered with cedars fixed in memory, beyond the bloody destruction that lay in wait for them. She has produced three documentaries: Italian Festival Traditions and Circo Rois: She originated the nationally-aired cable TV show, Italics. Riccardo Cordiferro Riccardo Cordiferro , pseudonym for poet, playwright, jour- nalist and political activist, Alessandro Sisca, emigrated to the U. In , he, his father Francesco and brother Marziale, founded La Follia, a newspaper which was widely read in the major Eastern Italian colonies.

Adapted from his similarly titled poem, it exposes the dishonesty of some Italian-Ameri- can bankers and their tragic exploitation of Italian immigrants, and touches on the emancipation of women. Attributing it to the playwright is supported by the following evidence: Cordiferro also edited manually in what is clearly his own, characteristic handwriting. The script is replete with not only literary changes but corrections of typographical errors, misspellings, capitalization, punctuation, missing words, layout, form and grammar.

The manuscript is undated, with no indication when it was typed and edited. The play was completed in and premiered in The date of this manuscript, therefore, could fall anywhere between and its last production in Audiences, composed of the displaced men and women of Italy, were hungry for enter- tainment, recognition, a support system and social intercourse, all emotional needs which the theatres and the nightclubs helped to satisfy. All these factors contributed to creating an original theatrical expression: During the 19th Century, a great variety of dramatic forms and entertainments were essayed on Italian-American stages.

First and foremost, audiences came to the theatre expecting to be entertained. Italian and European writers were introduced to immigrant audiences, many of whom had never before experienced the theatre or the classics of literature. The Italian-Ameri- can experience also furnished subject matter for original plays written by Italian immigrant playwrights, among them Riccardo Cordiferro.

Ad un ta tratto si sente bussare alla porta. Fate sempre la sostenuta voi! Siate ragionevole una volta! Io non voglio farvi alcun male. Sono venuto soltanto a trovarvi. E con quale sfacciataggine osate affermarlo? In casa mia voi non ci dovete venire Voi siete un miserabile, una spia, un traditore!

Suddenly a knock is heard at the door. What do you want? You always act aloof! Be reasonable for once! I came here only to find you. With what audacity do you dare say that? You should not be in my house. You are a despicable sneak, a traitor! Con un gesto di minaccia Ah, tacete! Impedendogli di avanzarsi Si, ve lo ripeto: Non sono stato io che ho fatto arrestare vostro marito.

Ma non sono una donna senza onore io, e voi ben mi conoscete! Io non desidero altro al mondo che 1' amore di mio marito! Le mostra una borsa piena di monete Se io vi offrissi questa borsa? Scagliandosi verso di lui, come una belva ferita. With a menacing gesture Oh, shut up! But if that were true, I would have done it to punish your pride. But I am not a dishonorable woman, and you know that very well! Love is an ironic joke when you suffer from hunger! But I never thought that when you married I would be made to beg you so much, to.

With greater insistence, coming even closer to her But. He shows her a wallet full of money What if I were to offer you this wallet? Rushing toward him like a wounded, wild beast. Coward, a thousand times coward! No amount of money would be enough to buy my honor. Riesce finalmente ad afferarla per la vita ti voglio, insomma, che ti desidero Sofia!?

Esci, esci da qui, miserabile He finally succeeds in grabbing her at the waist I want you, finally, that I desire you Sofia!? It will never be! In the blink of an eye she rushes to the cupboard; in a flash she pulls out a pistol and suddenly turns around It will never be! So this is the way you attack someone who wants to help you? He picks up his wallet which had fallen to the floor during the scuffle, and puts it in his pocket, always watching out for the gun aimed toward him I will go, yes.

SOFIA Following him to the door, grasping the gun, ready to pull the trigger if he lingers another minute longer. Get out, get out of here, you bum. Giuseppe lo chiama ancora una volta. Io son venuto a visitarti, per vederti finalmente libero e compiacermene. Ti ho visto e me ne vado. Qualche altro giorno staremo assieme lungo tempo. Oggi, sei stanco e hai bisogno di riposo. Then staring him in the face, wanting to make him understand that with his look alone his hour has come. Do you feel sick? Short pause Take heart, because now you will get healthy.

I came to visit you, to enjoy seeing you finally free. Segue una lotta disperata a corpo a corpo. Tu non hai il dritto di vivere in mezzo a gli uomini Ho vendicato il mio onore! My wife sleeps the eternal sleep because you, you murderer, have forced her to die. But what has this got to do with me? It was you who had me arrested, to take advantage of the poverty in which she lived and to use her for your own purposes. You won, because she was afraid that I would die in jail. But you have to die. A desperate hand to hand struggle ensues. You will die, yes. I have avenged my honor! His long and pro- ductive writing career goes from to and is remarkable for its variety.

Il Doge was published in , when Palazzeschi was in his eighties, and a full six decades after his debut. The translation of Il Doge from which these pages are excerpted is meant as a step towards a fuller understanding of Palazzeschi for readers of English, providing for the first time a sample of his late narrative work. It aims to offer a readable and accessible English version of Il Doge that is nevertheless faithful to the complexity of the original.

Antonio Melchor received his Ph. I pessimisti non tardano a prender quota in un frangente come questo. The announcement was strictly limited to these circumstances, neither adding nor even minimally alluding to the reasons for or the cause of such an event, which produced no surprise at all among the Venetians, but only a jumble of conjectures, ideas, and comments; of differing opinions about what the Doge would say under these cir- cumstances, and how he would behave. Some people said that the Doge was doing this only to keep alive a venerable custom, one very natural for a ruler, that allowed him to stay in uninterrupted and loving touch with his people, and that he would simply direct to the citizenry a warm, benevolent greet- ing that would be an omen of happiness, of general wellbeing, and of a long, healthy, and prosperous life for every single person hail- ing from that special place, which is not only really famous but also certainly among the most beautiful things ever seen.

You bet they were careful not to say it: From his high lordly seat, they said, with its unrivalled splendor and arcane fascination, he would throw into St. Others, finally, those with an excessively prosaic spirit, entirely homespun and tranquil at all costs, completely incapable of flights of fancy, but, luckily for them, inclined always to see everything through rose-colored glasses, thereby sparing themselves any jolts or anxieties, or even minimal disturbances, especially when it might upset their digestion, predicted that once on the loggia, the Doge would limit himself to dispensing smiles, smiles and kisses, an infi- nite number of kisses delivered with a regal gesture of the hand, and so many smiles that they would confound any attempt to keep track of them or to calculate their number, so many that there would be more than enough for everyone, and not even one citizen would leave empty-handed.

The women, for their part, asked, with an insistence that be- trayed a certain impatient want, a yearning that was unchecked in the most infantile and bizarre way, if the Dogess would be appear- ing with the Doge. And they concocted the most fantastic and vivid predictions about how the First Lady of Venice would appear and behave. They discussed in minute detail and with crackling liveli- ness the style and color of her dress, which would be woven with gold and studded with jewels, and they counted, one by one, the rows of pearls that starting at her neck would cover her royal person entirely; and they all dreamily closed their eyes at the thought of the blinding sparkles that would cover her luxurious mane as if she were a legendary Byzantine empress: Knowing the great love, the consuming curiosity, the enthusi- asm that the Venetians have always had for their Doge, only one thing surprises us in this affair, leaving us in a state of wonder and taking our breath away and something had to be taken away, since we can no longer remove our hats as people used to do in the last century, when they would take off their hats at the drop of a hat and when, for the sheer pleasure of de-hatting, any excuse was good.

But something had to be doffed, given this extraordinary circumstance: And this for the very simple reason that he had not let himself be seen for much too long, having withheld his person for a very extended period, thereby denying his subjects their most vivid pleasure: But time, which during our moments of sloth appears to us in- tolerably slow in its passing, so that it seems eternal, quickly becomes quite the opposite once it has passed, so that at the end of it, even the longest life, brimming with tribulations and boisterousness, seems to us but a vague dream, evanescent and light, which we could even call a flash, or a puff like the one that blows out a candle: So the Venetians, one can easily understand, now that they would be see- ing him again, felt like it had only been a few days since they had seen the Doge.

He could hold his wine well, when he could afford to buy a bottle, so much so that nobody ever saw him even slightly drunk, in spite of the fact that there had been times during feast days when he had put away quite a few liters. Few would argue that this is not a faithful rendition of the Ital- ian text, in terms of the information conveyed. Having lost the metalinguistic com- ponent, i. What options are open to a translator? It seems to me that if he wants to maintain a multilevel linguistic code he must couch his rendition with a least two, and possibly more, linguistic codes that would be accessible to the readers.

If the audience for the novel is English, the translator could try to use standard English with American English as subtext. If he is American he might uti- lize expressions and idiomatic sentences that can be identified with a local dialect to render the Sicilianized Italian expressions. Naturally the risk is great that the translator would introduce an alien dimensions into the novel, disregarding the fact that the ac- tion takes place in Sicily and such interjections would be consid- ered out of sync with the environment.

Failing this option, it seems to me, the only option left for the translator is to develop his own multiple level language made up of sequences that he himself con- siders normal and interjecting from time to time expressions that deviate in a consistent way from the dominant language. With this in mind let us try a different rendition of the passage we have already translated. Calorio was not his name, but in Vigata the whole town knew him as Calorio.

About twenty years back, he had turned up in town from God knows where, with a pair of britches that were draftier than a barn on account of the many holes, tied with a rope around his waist, and with a raggedy jacket so patched up he looked like a circus clown. He walked barefoot, but his feet were spotless. He held his liquor so well, when he could scare up enough to buy himself a bottle, that nobody ever saw him even slightly pickled;tough there had been times on Feast days when he had put away quite a few quarts.

The italicized words were chosen to convey a subtext normally associated with a slangy, folksy, homespun, Southern vocabulary that mimics though not in an obvious way what Camilleri is doing. No translator expects a perfect correspondance between his version and the original. Trans- lation is like riding a seesaw with the translator sitting on one end and the original author on the other. The important thing is to maintain a balance that allows peaks and valleys on ei- ther side. Some time the translator will overshoot the target, some- times he will come up short.

I think that after a while the translator would de- velop a sub language that would serve him well whenever his fancy called for it. But it would be almost like speaking in falsetto. The danger to overdue it, of course, would be ever present. This danger must have dawned on Camilleri himself, for as his stories develop, he seems to lighten the dosage of the code-switching to a bare mini- mum and often dropping it altogether.

And I must say, he solved the problem by com- pletely ignoring it. In all fairness to him, I think Sartarelli did a cred- itable job. But the code-switching that we have talking about is completely ignored.

Allow me a brief comparison between the three texts: Gaetano Cipolla 21 Pino e Saro si avviarono verso il posto di lavoro ammuttando ognuno il proprio carrello. Poi fu Saro a rompere il silenzio. Here is the French translation: Puis ce fut Saro qui rompit le silence. Pino and Saro headed toward their assigned work sector, each pushing his own cart. To get to the Pasture it took half an hour, if one was slow of foot as they were. The first fifteen minutes they spent without speaking, already sweaty and sticky. It was Saro who broke the silence. As you can see, neither translator has acknowledged the code- switching or made an attempt to go beyond the surface meaning of the words and even at that level one could be picky and find unfelicitous renderings.

In the process, however, he mistrans- lated the sentence. It also means an inability to speak. The word is strangely onomatopeic. He wanted to convey the considerable energy required to make the carts move forward. Simply pushing or pulling would not do. So here is my tentative version: Pino and Saro started out toward their assigned work area, each leaning forward on his cart. It would take half an hour to walk to the pasture if you moved one foot after the other as slowly as they were doing.

They spent the first quarter of an hour, already sweaty and sticky, stubbornly clinging to their silence. Then Saro was the first to speak.

internet-it - Use of corpora in translation studies

Americans generally do not use the word and some would have to look it up in a dictionary. Hence the English translations of his work will inevitably be monovocal. Eliot, Pound, Waley, Sayers: The writings on translation by two household names of literary mod- ernism — Ezra Pound and T. Eliot — and by two minor modernist and late modernist figures — Arthur Waley and Dorothy L. Sayers — draw attention to how theories of translation have been instrumental in defining the poli- tics of national and literary identity in the twentieth century.

My analysis will focus on writers who enjoy the status of original authors Pound and Eliot and writers almost exclusively known for their translating activities Waley or enjoying popularity thanks to their detective fiction and academic credentials Sayers. This comparison will look at the relationship between modernity and the past, genius and context, and elitism and democratiza- tion, always through the vantage point of theories of translation. This will lead me to explore how the politics of translation and the politics of literary history are intertwined.

It was not given to the Romans, or generously to their successors, the Ital- ians. Seneca does not epitomise bad taste, he embodies the Latin era. Most importantly, his influence derives from the translations of his tragedies which circulated at the time: Heywood and Studley still use the fourteener, but they juxtapose it to the blank verse in the chorus — which gives the transla- tors an opportunity for adding, reducing, omitting and substituting in order to increase the dramatic effect — thus creating a contrast between old and new.

Eliot reads the translations in the Tenne Tragedies as a historical pas- sage from the old Tudor language, still chained to Chaucerian models, to the Elizabethan one, based on Seneca. Such a renewal is not only formal but also semantic, lexical, and epistemological. Eliot develops a notion of English tradition by distin- guishing on the one hand its Anglosaxon past, a non-dramatic past, and on the other the foreign influence, or, even better, the Latin influence a term which in this essay spans from ancient Rome to the Italian Renaissance.

The Elizabethan period is thus the foundation of a notion of Englishness,7 it is the historical locus in which tradition recognises its own origins. Pictorial visibility, translation and totalitarianism: Pound is more respon- sible for the XXth Century revolution in poetry than is any other individual — is sure to attack some venerated names.

But Chinese notation is something much more than arbitrary symbols. It is based upon a vivid shorthand picture of the operation of nature. In the algebraic figure and in the spoken word there is no natural connection between thing and sign: But the Chinese method follows natural suggestion.

Chinese poetry has the unique advantage of combining both elements. It speaks at once with the vividness of painting, and with the mobility of sound. It is, in some sense, more objective than either, more dram[a]tic [sic]. In reading Chinese we do not seem to be juggling mental counters, but to be watching things work out their own fate. Trans- lation, the moving across cultures, and the publication of works with both original and facing translation are thus presented as a way of regenerating the West linguistically and culturally. Obscurities not inherent in the matter, obscurities due not to the thing but to the wording are a botch, and are not worth preserving in a translation.

The work lives not by them but despite them. Obscurities inherent in the thing occur when the author is piercing, or trying to pierce into, uncharted regions; when he is trying to express things not yet current, not yet worn into phrases; when he is ahead of the emotional, or philosophic sense as a painter might be ahead of the colour sense of his contemporaries. This is ex- emplary of the very problematic role which translation plays in Pound.

Hanno una funzione nel programma educativo del Fascismo anche se non ce ne rendiamo pienamente conto. Mussolini e Hitler per magnifico intuito seguono le dottrine di Confucio. Non basta leggere una sola volta una sua versione, bisogna, come io stesso continuo a fare, leggere e rileggere il testo originale e ideogrammico col commento accanto. They have a role within the fascist educational programme even though we might not fully realise this. King Vittorio Emanuele is a Confucian sovereign. It is not enough to read once his translation, one must — as I do — read and reread the original text written in ideograms with its facing commentary].

Such a regime is represented by Confucius and Mang Tsze, who represent a different kind of otherness able to rejuve- nate a decadent society. Such Confucius and Mang Tsze are eminently Poundian characters, who are said to be different but mirror what is already there: Arthur Waley Arthur Waley is the first twentieth-century writer to translate the great names in Chinese and Japanese poetry, giving shape to a picture of the East which will dominate the West for over a century.

For Eliot, the original is matter an sich, unknowable by definition: Bulzoni, , Manchester University Press, Routledge, ; Philip Dodd and Robert Colls eds. Faber and Faber, , pp. Faber and Faber, [] , p. Garland, , vol. Among the many works by Pound on the East see Cathai London: Elkin Mathews, , translated as Catai, ed. Mary de Rachelwiltz Milan: Scheiwiller, ; Plays Modelled on the No, ed. Macmillan, ; Confucio. Casa delle edizioni popolari, ; Confucio. See also Ezra Pound and Japan. Letters and Essays, ed. Samehide Kodama Redding Ridge: New Directions, , in which Pound writes: Cambridge University Press, This latter taste has occasionally broken out in Europe, notably in twelfth-century Provence and thirteenth-century Tuscany, but it has never held its own for very long.

Said, Orientalism New York: Translations, with an introduction by Hugh Kenner Nor- folk Ct: New Directions, [] , p. Oxford University Press, , pp. East and West Ltd, ; Japanese Poetry. George Allen and Unwin, , p. Alla cieca by Claudio Magris translated by Anne Milano Appel Anne Milano Appel, a former library director and language teacher, has been translating professionally for more than ten years. Sev- eral of her book-length translations have been published, and shorter works that she has authored or translated have appeared in other professional and literary venues.

Her translation of Terror: A versatile and prolific writer, his work includes essays, novels, plays and trav- elogues, often with a blending of genres. Among his works published by Garzanti are: Dietro le parole , Itaca e oltre , Illazioni su una sciabola , Danubio ; published in the United States as Danube in to great acclaim , Stadelmann , Un altro mare , Microcosmi , for which he received the Premio Strega and which appeared in English in as Microcosms , and La mostra He lives in Trieste.

Or better yet, he says, novels are expanded gravestones. To be sure, there are similarities between the two works. Jason and the Argo- nauts in one, Eurydice and Orpheus in the other. Still, the formal differences are the most strikingly apparent. Since Magris is postmodern, in his hands the classical stories of Jason and the Argonauts, Eurydice and Orpheus become upended myths, archetypal narratives turned on their head.

In Alla cieca, Ja- son and his crew bring Greek culture but also violence, civilization and barbarism, when they go in search of the Golden Fleece, and the fleece is sullied. She is the woman who protects, the donna-scudo, but also the woman who can lead to ruin. Both fig- ures are connected with abandonment and loss, as well as with de- liverance and salvation.

Nor is it surprising that ambivalence is the dominant note. The an- swer, like the sea, like life itself, is ambiguous, or rather ambivalent, multi-valent. In a context that embraces the coexistence of opposites, of a multiplicity of values and meanings, the figurehead is both posi- tive and negative… and more. In one sense it represents those who turn a blind eye, who look and move on: Lei non ha mai provato la paura?

Si sa quello che si deve fare e sotto a chi tocca. Ma quel-la sera a Londra, sbarcato dalla Jane, in quella locanda, con quella ragazza, non sapevo chi comandava e chi obbediva. But I only understood this later, much later than that night in London when, fleeing from that girl, I ended up running into an impressment squad, that dragged me onto a scow on the Thames and from there on board a fine warship, the Surprize.

You know what you have to do and under whose command. My body was there, remote, sweaty, chilled; I felt that when it came to love, even the five-minute variety, no one is in command and no one decides. To be sure, that time I did not get to drink any beer, the forced labor impressment squad grabbed me almost immediately, in the alley, before I could slip into another tavern. Mi piace una biografia che racconti tutto quello che uno non fa — Ma bisognava esserci, quella sera, per capire That night I fled, a deserter from the battlefield of love, savage like all battlefields.

If only I had always fled like that, later on as well, perhaps now — later instead I was no longer able to flee, or abandon the flag. Per un attimo, per esempio, ho creduto, intravedendola sulla strada, che fosse Mangawana; che anche lei avesse attraversato il grande mare. Invece a Fiume, quel giorno The fault of that revolving door, with the glass panels, at the cafe Lloyd, in Fiume, where we would go some- times in the evening.

One time I saw her arriving; I was already in- side waiting for her, she crossed the street, smiled at me from be- yond the transparent door and entered it, turning the panels; as she passed between them her figure and her face were mirrored in those revolving plates of glass and shattered into changing reflections, a handful of luminous, fragmented splinters.

And so, between one revolving door panel and another, she disappeared. I must have stayed there a long time watching those glittering door panes; years sitting inside there, as the door revolves more and more slowly and nobody enters. For a moment, for instance, catching a glimpse of her in the street, I thought it was Mangawana; that she too had crossed the great sea.

I was the one who called her that, under the huge eucalyp- tus trees leaning out over the waters of the Derwent: Instead it was Maria — yes, she was also Mangawana, be- cause Maria was the sea into which all rivers flow. Loving a woman does not mean that you forget all the others, but rather that you love them and desire them and have them all in her. When we made love on the solitary beach of Levrera island or in that room in Miholascica, there was also the austral forest at the edge of the ocean, Terra Aus- tralis Incognita, the unknown land of the South.

Perhaps I never loved her as much as I did at that moment, when I lied about returning and embarked on the search for the fleece; while she held my hands a moment longer, and at the same time, gentle yet resolute, helped me disengage mine — Hypsipyle bidding farewell to Jason: Non vorremo mica declamare tutto il libro, adesso, no?

Neanche Giasone la guarda negli occhi, quando risponde solenne: Potessi cancellarle anche dal mio viso, come le piallo e spiano via dal volto di questa polena, le rughe incise dal mio cuore, mie e solo maledettamente mie. Ergoterapia, Arbeit macht frei, conosco la cura. Non avrei neanche bisogno, a dire il vero, di quei bei cataloghi illustrati che mi date per copiare le fig- ure. Non sono un novizio, mi guadagnavo due soldi anche fabbricando o aggiustando un paio di polene per qualche nave che arrivava a Hobart Town con la prua e la figura di prua scalcagnate.

Look at that face — beautiful and generic, the caption says, like beauty should be, purified of every incidental, par- ticular dross, of any doleful individual expressivity. Would that I could erase from my own face as well — the way I plane and smooth them from the face of this figurehead — the lines carved by my heart, that are mine and accursedly mine alone. A good idea, doctor, this idea of making us work, of not letting us grow melancholy, twid- dling our thumbs; to each his own task, his specialty.

Bella questa illustrazione, una bianca polena ignota conservata, scrivono sotto, al Museo Marittimo di Anversa. Mi piace anche scolpirle e costruirle. Gli occhi di Ma-ria In any case, men suspended over the depths al- ready have too much fury in their hearts and require serenity, namely, impersonality as colorless as water. Take a look at those X-rays in your drawer, at how mushy my brain is. Just imagine whether the noble, inexpressive face of this figure- head of Anversa could ever be reduced to this, even Dachau would leave her cold.

I also like to carve and sculpt them. I wish I could copy all of them, all the figures in this catalog, unacquainted with passion, with sorrow, with identity — unaware like that, of course being immortal would be worth it… It says here that Thorvaldsen, a master of neo- classic sculpture, served his apprenticeship in the studio of his fa- ther, who carved figureheads for the Danish fleet — like me, creator of these figures that nobody will be able to send to forced labor camps.

Look how well they turn out, the torso grows out of a whirl- wind that, at the base, seems to ripple the waves and continue on to the fluttering garment, an undulating line that will dissolve into amorphousness, but meanwhile… And those eyes wide open on the beyond, on imminent, unavoidable catastrophes. E invece queste maligne vorrebbero la tua perdizione, la tua tragedia A me non le taglierete, vero?

Mi comporto be-ne, non faccio sciocchezze, sono rispettoso. E come si fa a non essere rispettosi, con queste figure bellissime? E quelle Euridici che rientrano nelle tenebre How could you not be respectful, with these beautiful figures? Look at this enchanting mouth, the unreadable smile, the same smile she wore when she sank that day with her ship, the Falkland, near the Scilly Isles, the book says.

Vorrei pisciare sulla mia tomba, su una tomba bisogna annaffiare i fiori, no? Ma ho letto che qualche volta le polene naufragate ritornano. Still, I pretended not to notice any- thing, everyone gets by any way they can. We buried one of them — read what it says here — the one from the Rebecca, a whaling ship from New Bedford, among the rocks by the sea. Lewdness too, as is fitting; death is lewd and sorrow is lewd. I even do it, when nobody can see me, there in the park of Saint David. Even a face composed of flesh soon deteriorates, the fish devour it and it quickly becomes unrecognizable, an unrecognizable piece of refuse from the sea.

It was I who pushed Maria, on the open sea and under the sea; I threw her to the sharks as food and so I was spared by them. And so she disappeared in that dark sea, in that obscurity. But I read that sometimes shipwrecked figureheads return. Every day he watched the sea discon- solately, he could not believe she was dead and when the ship re- entered the port he saw the figurehead, standing upright on the prow, identical to her — he leaped into the water to go to her, longing to embrace her, but he went under.

Waterlogged and dazed, water in his nose in his mouth in his ears, it was impossible to see the ship as it passed by, to see whether she was there or not. President, as you can see, I am still here. He too was all ex- cited, he never thought he would be granted permission to enter the Home, when he requested it, so he could come and get me. When my health unexpectedly deteriorated, he forced me to enter the Rest Home to recover — an attractive, comfortable, well equipped place, no doubt about it — and he bawled and ranted and let himself go completely, needing a shave and not even changing his under- wear.

He bored every friend he met with a long story about his mis- fortune and how lonely he was. Per questo esistono le Case di Riposo. We have to resign our- selves, indeed be content and at peace with our conscience, when we accompany them there and entrust them to that qualified staff. Con te, diceva, vicino a te so chi sono e non sono niente male. Anche la vita — non gli ho chiesto se la sua o la mia — oppure ammutolire, che per me sarebbe peggio che morire. In short, only when we were together did he feel entirely se- rene, confident, even about what he wrote, after he had read it to me and had seen in my eyes — rather on your mouth, he would say, when my lips, pouting a bit at first, opened slightly… almost a smile, no, not yet, but… I would prune his words, of course — excessive, immoderate and magnanimous as he has always been, he lavished words profusely and I pared them for him, discarding the rind, the core and even a lot of the pulp, when it was necessary.

He would not have been capable of it, fervent, unrestrained and compulsive as he was, always a morsel and a glass too much, but he let himself be put on a diet by me and he knew that, if something remained on the plate after I had passed everything through the sieve, it was truly something good. Here outside we can only see those doors, whose gleaming convex plates reflect splintered images of things that lengthen obliquely or expand and swell — stretching out, inflating, shrinking — if we move backward or forward a little.

All we know are those ephemeral travesties, not the truth that is hidden on the other side, behind those bronze mirrors. But I, my love, he would say to me, can no longer celebrate only the mirages of those mirrors, those illusory reflections. My verse must be about reality, the truth, that which holds the world together or dissolves it, no matter what the cost. Even if the cost is life — I did not ask him whether he meant his or mine — or else fall silent, which for me would be worse than death. At those words, Mr. Forse, ho pensato, era venuto a prendermi soprattutto — soltanto?

Me lo vedevo, aggrappato a me, ad attendere le mie parole, i suoi occhi verdi febbrili Pure qui gli oggetti mentono, si dissimulano e trascolorano come meduse. The road impassable, the bridge collapsed, the abyss insurmountable. It seemed to me that I could already hear him asking me about the Home, and about you, Mr. Of course, because he too, Mr. President, is convinced — like everyone, like me before I came here — that once you enter the Home you finally see the truth as it is — no longer veiled, reflected and dis- torted, disguised and made-up as it is seen on the outside, but di- rectly, face to face.

President, people yearn to know; even those who pretend they have no interest in knowing would give anything to know. Maybe, I thought, he had come to get me primarily — only? I could just see him, clinging to me, awaiting my words, his green eyes feverish… and how could I tell him that… You see my point, Mr. How could I tell him that here inside, aside from the light that is so much fainter, it is just the same as outside?

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That we are behind the mirror, but that the back is also a mirror, no different from the other. Here too objects lie, disguising themselves and changing color like medusas. There are a lot of us, like outside; even more of us, which makes it even more difficult to know one another. Gli sarebbe venuto un colpo, al mio vate. Mi figuravo le sue lamentele, un uomo finito, un poeta cui hanno rubato il tema; avrebbe pensato che quella congiura cosmica era tutta una manovra contro di lui, per metterlo a terra, per condannarlo al silenzio. For that matter, why should we know more than those on the outside, more than we ourselves knew when we were out there?

And as for you, Mr. President, why should we have seen you here? Those ailments and infirmities that sent us to these corridors and to these dark vales, those small calamities of the heart or brain, the venomous bane of a snake or of a gas valve do not help us to better understand this immense laby- rinth of before and after, of never and always, of I and you and… We are on the other side of the mirror, but it is still a mirror, and all we see is a pallid face, without being certain whose it is. The river flows, blood flows, a dike breaks, the water overflows and floods the fields, the swimmer goes under, takes in water, re-emerges, goes on swim- ming without seeing anything, either in the blinding midday light or the dark of night.

Tell him that I, even here inside, know no more than he does? He would have had a shock, that bard of mine. I could just picture his complaints, a man who was done for, a poet whose theme had been stolen from him; he would think that that cosmic conspiracy was all a scheme against him, to break him, to condemn him to si- lence. Ma forse avrei stretto i denti e inghiottito la mia stanchezza e avrei tirato avanti. Conosco questo stupido pettegolezzo. Anche da sola, anche senza di lui sarei stata felice di fare una passeggiata da quelle parti. And when the time came, for him or for me, to return to the Home again, this time for good, what a farce having to repeat goodbyes reduced to conventionalities.

I felt so tired all of a sudden. Still, perhaps I would have gritted my teeth and swallowed my fatigue and I would have carried on. Women can do this, they do it almost all the time, even when they no longer know why or for whom. President, it was not on account of such a pitiful, trite reason that he turned around and lost me. It is a lie by envious colleagues who want to depict him as a narcissistic egotist to make him lose favor with the public, maybe the same ones who spread those rumors about the pretty boys whom he supposedly consoled himself with in my absence, infuriating all those adoring female admirers of his, jealous enough to scratch his eyes out.

He wanted to know and I prevented him. God knows it cost me. Ora infatti, a casa, a casa nostra, dorme, tranquil-lo. Still, I would have loved to go out for a little while — just for a little while, we both knew it — into that summer light — at least for one summer, a summer on that small island where he and I… Even by myself, even without him I would have been happy to go walking there.

But I would have destroyed him, by going with him and an- swering his inevitable questions. You will therefore understand, Mr. President, why, when by then we were almost at the doors, I called to him in a strong, firm voice, the voice from when I was young, on the other side, and he — I knew he would not be able to resist — he turned around, as I felt myself being sucked back, lighter and lighter, a paper doll in the wind, a shadow that lengthens retreats and merges with the other shadows of the evening, and he watched me, turned to stone, but safe and sound, and I vanished happily before his eyes, because I could already see him returning to life tormented but strong, igno- rant of the void, still capable of serenity, perhaps even of happiness.

Now in fact, at home, our home, he is sleeping quietly. He has also taught at Rutgers University. The former president of the New Jersey College English Association and the New Jersey Association for Developmental Education, he has presented at several professional conferences in the US and was a keynote speaker at the University of Natal South Africa conference on lan- guage instruction in He is the author and co-author of six col- lege texts on writing published by McGraw-Hill.

Buscemi is the son of Sicilian immigrants from the province of Agrigento. After studying law at the University of Catania, he began to write plays for a company of amateur actors and showed an intense interest in popular poetry. In , he moved to Florence, then capital of Italy, and began his career as a literary critic by writing for La Nazione.

Florence also introduced him to the work of Balzac and of other French novelists. By , Capuana was in Milan writing for Corriere della Sera. In , he was appointed to the chair of aesthetics and stylistics at the University of Catania. As a literary critic, Capuana established a reputation for objec- tivity and analytical acumen. He is also remembered for having championed theories of romantic naturalism in works such as Studi sulla letteratura contemporanea In addition, his ability to expose the psychology of his characters won him lasting fame as a novelist.

Among his best works in this genre are Giacinta , Profumo , Le Paesane , and his masterpiece, Il Marchese di Roccaverdina I am indebted to my good friend Nino Russo for his help in translating a number of particularly difficult idiomatic expressions and for all of his encouragement. Quando arrivava la stagione delle arance, il Re vi metteva a guardia una sentinella notte e giorno; e tutte le mattine scendeva lui stesso a osservare coi suoi occhi se mai mancasse una foglia.

Una mattina va in giardino, e trova la sentinella addormentata. Canta, canta, canta, mi si aggravavano gli occhi. Canta, canta, canta, non mi reggevo dal sonno. Il Re non gli fece nulla. Una mattina va in giardino e trova il Reuccio addormentato. Figuriamoci la sua collera! Ti sei addormentato anche tu? Ed esso a canzonarmi: Cardellino traditore, col Reuccio non ti giova!

E canta, canta, canta Il Re volle provarsi lui stesso; e arrivata la stagione si mise a far la guardia. Quando le arance furon mature, ecco il cardellino che si posa sopra un ramo, e comincia a cantare. Il Re avrebbe voluto tirargli, ma faceva buio come in una gola.

Intanto aveva una gran voglia di dormire! Santi Buscemi It is said that there was once a king, who had a magnificent garden behind his royal palace. Every type of tree could be found in the garden, but the rarest and most valued was the one that pro- duced golden oranges. When the season for the oranges arrived, the king ordered a sentry to guard it night and day. And every morning he came down himself to inspect the oranges with his own eyes to make sure that not even one leaf was missing.

One morning, he went into the garden and found the sentry asleep. He looked at the tree…The golden oranges were gone! Oh, wretched sentry, you will pay with your head. Majesty, it is not my fault. A goldfinch landed on a branch and began to sing. He sang, and sang, and sang so much that my eyes became heavy.

I drove him from that branch, but he then flew to another. He sang, and sang, and sang so much that I could not fight off my sleepiness. I drove him from that branch too, and as soon as he stopped singing, my sleepiness disappeared. How- ever, he then perched on the top of the tree and he sang, and sang, and sang. I have been sleeping until this very moment!

The next season, he placed the prince himself in charge of guarding the tree. One morning he went into the garden and found the prince asleep. He looked at the tree…the golden or- anges were gone! Even you fell asleep? The prince is falling asleep. The prince is falling asleep! And when the oranges rip- ened, the goldfinch perched on a branch and began to sing. The king wanted to pull him down, but the garden was covered in darkness and the king felt very sleepy. Traitorous goldfinch, this time you will not succeed, but he had a hard time keeping his eyes open.

The goldfinch began to serenade him: La mattina apriva gli occhi: Allora fece un bando per tutti i suoi Stati: Passarono sei mesi, e non si vide nessuno. Finalmente un giorno si presenta un contadinotto molto male in arnese: Ma quando le arance furon mature, una mattina va in giardino Il Re si fece scuro.

Doveva dare la Reginotta a quello zoticone? Ma quanto alla Reginotta, nettati la bocca. Il Re disse al cardellino: Il cardellino strillava, sentendosi strappare le penne ad una ad una. Bisogna sapere il motto; e lo sanno due soli: Vorrei entrare nella Grotta delle sette porte, e non so il motto. The king is sleeping! In the morning, he opened his eyes; the golden oranges were gone!

Therefore, he pro- claimed throughout his realm: Finally, one day there appeared a crusty old peasant, who was shabbily dressed: Promise me the hand of the princess, and in less than three days you shall have him. The next day, he returned. However, the peasant was stubborn, and the next day he returned.

Meanwhile, he ordered that an iron net be built around the tree; such a barrier eliminated the need for a guard. When the oranges had ripened, the king went into the garden one morning…and the golden oranges were gone. Now he was obliged to come to terms with the crusty old peasant. Now the princess is mine. Do you want gold? You can have as much as you want. But as for the princess, say no more. The king turned to the goldfinch. However, guarding them is a merchant wearing a red cap. You need to know the magic words, and only two people know them: The king called for the peasant.

In quella grotta i diamanti, a mucchi per terra, abbagliavano. Il Re si vuotava le tasche, e tornava a riempirsele di questi.