Concerning Lafcadio Hearn Part 44

No. 277. Une Danseuse j.a.ponais.

Traduction de Madame Leon Raynal, _Revue de Paris,_ March 15, 1901, Year 8, vol. 2, p. 330.

No. 278. Le Nirvana, etude de Bouddhisme Synthetique.

Traduite par M. & Mme. Charles-Marie Garnier, _Revue de Metaphysique et de Morale_, 1903, Year 11, p. 352.

No. 279. Kitsonne (superst.i.tion j.a.ponaise).

Traduction de Madame Leon Raynal, _Revue de Paris_, November 1, 1903, Year 10, vol. 6, p. 188.

No. 280. Cimetieres et Temples j.a.ponais (Jizo).

Traduction de Madame Leon Raynal, _Revue de Paris,_ April 15, 1904, Year 11, vol. 2, p. 829.

VII

UNPUBLISHED WORKS

(Nos. 281-282)

No. 281.

1885. AVATAR. Par Gautier, Translation by Lafcadio Hearn. Unable to find a publisher, Hearn destroyed the ma.n.u.script.

No. 282.

THE TEMPTATION OF ST. ANTHONY, by Gustave Flaubert; translated from the Fifth Paris Edition, Vols. I-II. (Ma.n.u.script copy in the possession of Dr. Gould.) The half-page containing, at one time, probably, the translator's name, is cut off. The t.i.tle-page is preceded by a half-page, printed, of directions to the printer, regarding size of type, etc.

The volumes are 6 x 9-1/2 inches, opening at the end. The writing is in pencil, and the letters large, even for an ordinary handwriting, but remarkably so for that of Hearn, who, when writing with a pen, made his letters very small. The paper has the yellow tint habitually used by him.

Volume I contains 364 pages; Volume II, numbered consecutively, the balance of a total of 679 pages. Five pages of _addenda_ follow, containing notes upon pa.s.sages, with original texts, etc., which the American publisher would hardly dare to put forth.

Hearn's synopsis (printed) of the "St. Anthony" accompanies the text of the translation, and is reproduced herewith:--

ARGUMENT

FRAILTY

Sunset in the desert. Enfeebled by prolonged fasting, the hermit finds himself unable to concentrate his mind upon holy things. His thoughts wander: memories of youth evoke regrets that his relaxed will can no longer find strength to suppress;--and, remembrance begetting remembrance, his fancy leads him upon dangerous ground. He dreams of his flight from home,--of Ammonaria, his sister's playmate,--of his misery in the waste,--his visit to Alexandria with the blind monk Didymus,--the unholy sights of the luxurious city.

Involuntarily he yields to the nervous dissatisfaction growing upon him.

He laments his solitude, his joylessness, his poverty, the obscurity of his life: grace departs from him; hope burns low within his heart.

Suddenly revolting against his weakness, he seeks refuge from distraction in the study of the Scriptures.

Vain effort! An invisible hand turns the leaves, placing perilous texts before his eyes. He dreams of the Maccabees slaughtering their enemies, and desires that he might do likewise with the Arians of Alexandria;--he becomes inspired with admiration of King Nebuchadnezzar;--he meditates voluptuously upon the visit of Sheba's queen to Solomon;--discovers a text in the Acts of the Apostles antagonistic to principles of monkish asceticism,--indulges in reveries regarding the riches of the Biblical Kings and holy men. The Tempter comes to tempt him with evil hallucinations for which the Saint's momentary frailty has paved the way; and with the Evil One comes also--

THE SEVEN DEADLY SINS

Phantom gold is piled up to excite Covetousness; shadowy banquets appear to evoke Gluttony. The scene s.h.i.+fts to aid the temptations of Anger and of Pride....

Anthony finds himself in Alexandria, at the head of a wild army of monks slaughtering the heretics and the pagans, without mercy for age or s.e.x.

In fantastic obedience to the course of his fancy while reading the Scriptures a while before, and like an invisible echo of his evil thoughts, the scene changes again. Alexandria is transformed into Constantinople.

Anthony finds himself the honoured of the Emperor. He beholds the vast circus in all its splendour, the ocean of faces, the tumult of excitement. Simultaneously he beholds his enemies degraded to the condition of slaves, toiling in the stables of Constantine. He feels joy in the degradation of the Fathers of Nicaea. Then all is transformed.

It is no longer the splendour of Constantinople he beholds under the luminosity of a Greek day; but the prodigious palace of Nebuchadnezzar by night. He beholds the orgies, the luxuries, the abominations;--and the spirit of Pride enters triumphantly into him as the spirit of Nebuchadnezzar....

Awakening as from a dream, he finds himself again before his hermitage.

A vast caravan approaches, halts; and the Queen of Sheba descends to tempt the Saint with the deadliest of all temptations. Her beauty is enhanced by Oriental splendour of adornment; her converse is a song of witchcraft. The Saint remains firm.... The Seven Deadly Sins depart from him.

THE HERESIARCHS

But now the Tempter a.s.sumes a subtler form. Under the guise of a former disciple of Anthony,--Hilarion,--the demon, while pretending to seek instruction seeks to poison the mind of Anthony with hatred of the fathers of the church. He repeats all the scandals ama.s.sed by ecclesiastical intriguers, all the calumnies created by malice;--he cites texts only to foment doubt, and quotes the Evangels only to make confusion. Under the pretext of obtaining mental enlightenment from the wisest of men, he induces Anthony to enter with him into a spectral basilica, wherein are a.s.sembled all the Heresiarchs of the third century. The hermit is confounded by the mult.i.tude of tenets,--horrified by the blasphemies and abominations of Elkes, Corpocrates, Valentinus, Manes, Cerdo,--disgusted by the perversions of the Paternians, Marcosians, Serpentians,--bewildered by the apocryphal Gospels of Eve and of Judas, of the Lord and of Thomas.

And Hilarion grows taller.

THE MARTYRS

Anthony finds himself in the dungeons of a vast amphitheatre, among Christians condemned to the wild beasts. By this hallucination the tempter would prove to the Saint that martyrdom is not always suffered for purest motives. Anthony finds the martyrs possessed of bigotry and insincerity. He sees many compelled to die against their will; many who would forswear their faith could it avail them aught. He beholds heretics die for their heterodoxy more n.o.bly than orthodox believers.

He finds himself transported to the tombs of the martyrs. He witnesses the meeting of Christian women at the sepulchres. He beholds the touching ceremonies of prayer change into orgie,--lamentations give place to amorous dalliance.

THE MAGICIANS

Then the Tempter seeks to shake Anthony's faith in the excellence and evidence of miracles. He a.s.sumes the form of a Hindoo Brahmin, terminating a life of wondrous holiness by self-cremation;--he appears as Simon Magus and Helen of Tyre,--as Apollonius of Tyana, greatest of all thaumaturgists, who claim superiority to Christ. All the marvels related by Philostratus are embodied in the converse of Apollonius and Damis.

THE G.o.dS

Hilarion reappears, taller than ever, growing more gigantic in proportion to the increasing weakness of the Saint. Standing beside Anthony he evokes all the deities of the antique world. They defile before him a marvellous panorama;--G.o.ds of Egypt and India, Chaldaea and h.e.l.las, Babylon and Ultima Thule,--monstrous and multiform, phallic and ithyphallic, fantastic and obscene. Some intoxicate by their beauty; others appal by their foulness. The Buddha recounts the story of his wondrous life; Venus displays the rounded daintiness of her nudity; Isis utters awful soliloquy. Lastly the phantom of Jehovah appears, as the shadow of a G.o.d pa.s.sing away for ever.

Suddenly the stature of Hilarion towers to the stars; he a.s.sumes the likeness and luminosity of Lucifer; he announces himself as--

SCIENCE

And Anthony is lifted upon mighty wings and borne away beyond the world, above the solar system, above the starry arch of the Milky Way. All future discoveries of Astronomy are revealed to him. He is tempted by the revelation of innumerable worlds,--by the refutation of all his previous ideas of the nature of the Universe,--by the enigmas of infinity,--by all the marvels that conflict with faith. Even in the night of the Immensity the demon renews the temptation of reason; Anthony wavers upon the verge of pantheism.

l.u.s.t AND DEATH