The Tower of Babel: The Wanderer and the Ruins of History
2003; Volume: 36; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2165-2678
Autores Tópico(s)Themes in Literature Analysis
ResumoAmerika, du hast es besser Als unser Kontinent, das alte, Hast keine verfallene Schloesser Und keine Basalte. Dich stoert nicht im Innern Zu lebendiger Zeit Unnuetzes Erinnern Und vergeblicher Streit. America, you are better off than our old continent: You have no ruined castles and no primordial basalt. Your inner life remains untroubled within by useless memory and idle strife.--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Den Vereinigten Staaten) Among the many under-appreciated charms of the Old English Genesis A, the long poetic paraphrase of the first book of the Pentateuch preserved in Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Junius 11, is an elegant elaboration of the story of the Tower of Babel. After recasting the Biblical genealogies of Genesis 10 as a story of Cames cneorisse (Cain's descendants) who became wermaeg[eth]a fela (a great tribe of people; 1637-38), among whom the tribe of Eber gave rise to the unrim [thorn]eoda (countless nation; 1647) that men now call the Hebrews, the narrator settles into the story of the building of the great tower, a depiction on which he lavishes considerable verbal artistry. This vernacular version of the terse Biblical narrative of Genesis 11.1-9 bears quoting at some length: (1) Gewiton him [thorn]a eastan aehta laedan, feoh and feorme. Folc waes anmod--rofe rincas sohton rumre land, o[eth][thorn]aet hie becomon cor[eth]rum miclum, folc ferende, [thorn]aer hie faestlice, ae[eth]elinga bearn, eard genamon. Gesetton [thorn]a Sennar sidne and widne leoda raeswan; leofum mannum heora geardagum grene wongas, faegre foldan, him for[eth]wearde on [eth]aere daegtide dugu[eth]e waeron, wilna gehwilces weaxende sped. Da [thorn]aer mon maenig be his maegwine, ae[eth]eling anmod, o[eth]erne baed [thorn]aes hie him to maer[eth]e, aer seo mengeo eft geond foldan bear[m] tofaran sceolde, leoda maeg[eth]e on landsocne, burh geworhte and to beacne torr up araerde to rodortunglum. [THORN]aes [thorn]e hie gesohton Sennera feld, swa [thorn]a foremeahtige folces raeswan, [thorn]a yldestan oft and gelome li[eth]sum gewunedon. Larum sohton weras to weorce and to wrohtscipe, o[eth][thorn]aet for wlence and for wonhygdum cy[eth]don craeft heora, ceastre worhton and to heofnum up hlaedrae raerdon, strengum stepton staenenne weall ofer monna gemet, maer[eth]a georne, haele[eth] mid honda. [THORN]a com halig god wera cneorissa weorc sceawigan, beorna burhfaesten, and [thorn]aet beacen somed, [thorn]e to roderum up raeran ongunnon Adames eaforan, and [thorn]aes unraedes sti[eth]ferh[eth] cyning steore gefremede, [thorn]a he re[eth]emod reorde gesette eor[eth]buendum ungelice, [thorn]aet hie [thorn]aere spaece sped ne ahton. [THORN]a hie gemitton mihtum spedge, teoche aet torre, getalum myclum, weorces wisan, ne [thorn]aer wermaeg[eth]a aenig wiste hwaet o[eth]er cwae[eth]. Ne meahte hie gewur[eth]an weall staenenne up for[eth] timbran, ac hie earmlice heapum tohlodon, hleo[eth]rum gedaelde; waes o[eth]ere aeghwilc worden maegburh fremde, si[eth][eth]an metod tobraed [thorn]urh his mihta sped monna spraece. Toforan [thorn]a on feower wegas ae[eth]elinga beam unge[thorn]eode on landsocne. Him on laste bu sti[eth]lic stantorr and seo steape burh samod samworht on Sennar stod. (1649-1701) Then they went from the east leading their possessions, cattle and goods. That people was single-minded--the famous warriors sought a more spacious land, until they arrived in great multitudes, a traveling people, at the place where they resolutely established a homeland, those sons of noblemen. The leaders of the people settled in Shinar, far and wide; in their early days the green plains and the fair fields provided for those dear people, in the days when they grew into a greater troop, and gave them everything they could desire. …
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