English poet Byron's masterpiece "Manfred" - What does "Byronic" mean? Connection with Pushkin's "Onegin
In the previous article, Pushkin's masterpieceEugenii Onegin."We looked at the
Let's look at the cover synopsis again.
Onegin cruelly tramples on the sincere love of Tatyana, a pure-hearted and lovely girl. He later awakens to his love for Tatyana, but it is already too late, and his love is never accepted. ...... Onegin, the Byronic hero, became the prototype of the "extraordinaire" characteristic of Russian literature. A brilliant milestone in the history of Russian literature in rhymed fiction. Prose translation.
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As I mentioned in the previous article, it is still difficult to understand this "Byronic". So I will continue to quote from the explanation of this word in the Iwanami Bunko edition of Pushkin's "The Tale of Bailkin, Queen of Spades".
Byron's song is, so to speak, the fluttering of a bird of prey in the bloody scorched earth of Western Europe after the fall of Napoleon. No one at the time could have discerned its true identity in depth, but it is true that people were deeply moved by the eerie fluttering of its wings. Especially in Russia, it came to be known as Byronism, a name that covered the entire current of romanticism. Rebellion against fate, devilish ego-supremacy, and exoticism (or more precisely, Eastern taste) as a natural consequence of escape from social causation were, of course, its basic characteristics, but the great characteristic of Byronism in Russia, in particular, was that it was the principle of innovation that blew away years of political depression. The great characteristic of Byronism in Russia, in particular, was its concrete connection with the December Party movement as a revolutionary principle that overturned the political depression that had prevailed for many years. In fact, there was not a single young officer in a leading position in this secret society who was not more or less a Byron admirer. And the nature of Byron's influence on Pushkin was no exception.
PushkinThe Queen of Spades: A Beelkin Tale.Translated by Kiyoshi Kannishi, Iwanami Bunko, p. 268
Dostoevsky also read Byron as a young man. But this was a phenomenon that goes back to Pushkin's time. It is also interesting to note the influence of the English poet Byron on the Russian literati.
Therefore, in this article, I would like to actually consider what is called "Byronic" using the English poet Byron's masterpiece "Manfred" as a subject.
Manfred," a masterpiece by the English poet Byron
Manfred" was published by the English poet Byron in 1817 and first performed in 1824. The work was later adapted into music by Schumann and Tchaikovsky.
I read "Manfred" translated by Kazuo Ogawa, Iwanami Shoten.
Let's take a look at the commentary at the end of the book immediately.
Manfred" is in three acts and ten scenes. The scene is set in the Alps, and the protagonist is Manfred, a medieval Alpine castle lord.
The play begins with the protagonist's late-night monologue. The similarity to the opening of "Faust" is striking, but while Faust's lament is about the impotence of human knowledge, Manfred's lament is despair based on an analysis of his own character, and the fact that "Manfred" is a literature of the ego is clearly demonstrated in this first monologue.
Even if IsiestaAlready - that slumber is not sleep,
In the continuation of that unceasing thought,
I can't even break out of my slumber. My mind is
I've been awake through the night and both of these eyes are closing.
It is just to look at what is within.This person feels the sorrow of having to be awake all the time, the pain of having to constantly look within. In other words, it is nothing but the suffering of self-consciousness.
Where did this suffering come from? It came from his knowledge. It came from philosophy, from science, from the sources of wonder, from the wisdom of the world, from the very knowledge he had tested and made his own. Manfred is a medieval aristocrat, but in essence he is a modern intellectual, confessing that common modern affliction that "the tree of wisdom is not at last the tree of life.
As a result, he becomes self-conscious. Not only does he feel the pain of being constantly possessed by himself and constantly staring at himself, but "good, evil, life, power, and passion" become for him "nothing more than rain on sand. For the intellect, which is only concerned with ruthless analysis, would not value any object. Therefore, all objects would be of equal value, or rather, worthless. What gives value to things and events is a function of the irrational mind, which is completely separate from the intellect, but the excesses of the analytic intellect kill this function of the mind. Manfred is already suffering from this loss of natural feeling.
Iwanami Shoten, Byron, Manfred, translated by Kazuo Ogawa, p. 108-109
The story of "Manfred" is set in the Alpine mountains, and the main character, Manfred, is an aristocrat who suffers from a sense of ego. He is a man with a deserted mind who feels nothing, no matter what he does or with what he does not feel.
Everything is worthless. There is no good or evil. The existing order brings no relief. There is nothing to rely on. Such is the state of being in limbo.
The story begins when he laments to the spirits about his "dried-up life" and his "unfeeling ego.
The desert of Manfred's heart was gradually formed as he grew up, but it was the death of his lover that gave it a final finish at once. Since this "unnameable moment," he had lost all natural emotion. Until then, his passion for his lover had slightly prevented him from becoming an inhuman conscious.
But this love was "a love that went astray. Astarte, his lover, was a duplicate of him in face, and he was in love with someone he should not have been. （Manfred's embrace was "deadly poison" for Astarte, and he died, although it is not clear in what way.
He no longer feels all other natural emotions, and the only thing that remains is his longing for his deceased lover and the guilt he feels that he has ruined her with his love.
It is not surprising that Manfred sought "self-forgetfulness" from the spirits as a solution to the problems of self-consciousness and guilt, both of which are equally and simultaneously present in the mind. In later years, many self-conscious people also tried hard to discover the path of "self-oblivion" and failed. Pau d'Auld Lang Syne also said to himself, "You must always be drunk, be it with wine, women, or virtue.
The spirits cannot give "oblivion". They can give anything else, be it power over the earth, a kingdom, or sovereignty, but only "oblivion" is beyond their power. Manfred is willing to die as long as he can obtain "self-forgetfulness," for life is but a torment. But the spirits cannot give him death.
Iwanami Shoten, Byron, Manfred, translated by Kazuo Ogawa, p. 108-109
Humans suffer from self-consciousness. And guilt.
Baudelaire's point that "one must always be drunk, be it with wine, women, or virtue" seems to me to be a very astute one.
The only way left to escape from it is "oblivion". But oblivion is not something humans are allowed to do. Here lies endless suffering.
The second scene is a morning on the Jungfrau, the highest peak in the Alps. Standing on the cliff, Manfred praises the beautiful nature shining in the morning sun, but this beautiful nature does not give him any rest from his agony.
Oh, Mother Earth!
And on the day of the Soumai, also, you mountains!
Why are you so beautiful? I don't like it.Praise for nature is punctuated throughout the poem, and there are not a few lines that should be recited. According to Manfred (and Byron), nature is more intimate than man, a refuge from the human world.
Stars are twinkling, snow is shining
The moon rose over the tops of the mountains. -Oh, what beauty!
I can't say goodbye to nature yet, for me at any rate.
Now is the time for a "night" face rather than a human face.
I was very familiar with it. (Act III, Scene 4)Manfred wants to leap off the cliff and die at will, but "there is a force at work" that "holds him back," and "will not let him live. There is that force of the curse at work. In the midst of his squabbling, he is embraced by the hunter.
Iwanami Shoten, Byron, Manfred, translated by Kazuo Ogawa, p. 112
Manfred is an overwhelming natural beauty.He says he notices, but doesn't like it.He was a man of the world. Even the beauty of nature could not soothe his soul.
But for him, nature is more approachable than man, and he is ready to throw himself into it and die at once.
However,There is a force at work that is holding him back and trying to keep him "alive." That spell-binding force is at work.The Company is a "company" and is a "company" in the sense that it is a "company".
I read this passage and it occurred to me.The Brothers Karamazov.I was reminded of the "sticky young leaves" of
These are the words of Ivan, the second son of the Karamazov family. He is indeed a smart, rational man who suffers from a disease of self-consciousness. It was Ivan who came up with the "Grand Inquisitor" chapter. He said, "I am a very smart and rational man.
Even if I had no faith in life, even if I were disillusioned with the woman I love, even if I were disillusioned with the order of the world, even if I were convinced that it is all a disordered, cursed, perhaps demonic chaos, even if I were overwhelmed by all the horrors of human disillusionment, I would still want to live, and once I have sipped from this Once I put my mouth to the cup, I would not let go of it until I had drunk it all! I told myself, "Once I put my mouth to this cup, I will not take my mouth off it until I have drunk it all! （I told myself, "Once I put my mouth to this cup, I will not let it go until I have drunk it all!)
Is there really enough despair in the world to overcome this insane, one might even say inappropriate, thirst for life inside me? And I have come to the conclusion that there is no such thing. （I have come to the conclusion that there is no such thing.)
This kind of thirst for life is often the result of a lung disease out there.snotThe moralists are naming them as despicable. Especially poets. He's a Karamazovian in a way, that's for sure. This thirst for life. No matter what anyone says, it must be nestled inside you. But why is it so despicable? There are still so many centripetal forces on our planet, Alyosha. I want to live, that's why I live, even if it defies logic. Even if I don't believe in the order of the world, for me the sticky young leaves that sprout in early spring are precious. The blue sky is precious to me. Yes, sometimes you fall in love with someone without knowing what's good about them, and that's what's precious.
Dostoevsky, "The Brothers Karamazov, The First", translated by Takuya Hara, Shinchosha, P576-577
I cry not out of despair, but only because the tears I shed make me happy. So I get drunk on my own emotions. I love the sticky young leaves in early spring and the blue sky, yes, I do! In this case, there is no intellect or logic. I love them from the bottom of my heart, from the bottom of my stomach, and I love my first young power.
Dostoevsky, "The Brothers Karamazov, The First", translated by Takuya Hara, Shinchosha, p. 578
Life itself, beyond intelligence and logic! The sticky young leaves of early spring keep us alive.
Manfred also tried to choose death,The power of that spell that "only let him live" was at work.The reason for this is that the person was in a state of suicide, and therefore, he or she was not willing to commit suicide.
However, Manfred's sadness lies in the fact that he still cannot be saved. Rather, it is the fact that he cannot die that makes his suffering seem endless and causes him to suffer even more.
Ivan is also tormented by a sense of helpless self-consciousness and guilt, which is also somewhat Byron-like.
Although there is no direct continuity between Manfred and Ivan, when we look at them in this way, don't you think that we can somehow see a connection between Byron, Pushkin, and Dostoevsky, which is a Byron-esque thing?
Manfred is a tragedy of the modern ego, and while it occupies a pioneering position in such a body of work, it is still fully capable of developing its theme. Many nineteenth-century writers who followed Byron had to grapple again with this problem, and they had to suffer for its solution.
Byron himself did not abandon this subject alone. The question of good versus evil, the question of why man should be subjected to such suffering, and a critique of Christian doctrine on these issues - Byron would go one step further in his later explorations of these points.
Iwanami Shoten, Byron, Manfred, translated by Kazuo Ogawa, p. 121
Byron had a tremendous influence on later writers. Pushkin is one of them.
Dostoevsky, who deeply admired Pushkin, also read Byron, and through "Onegin" deepened his contemplation of Byronianism.
Thinking about it this way made me realize once again that everything is connected.
Manfred" is a classic among classics about the troubles of the modern human ego. I found its power to be something that has not faded away even today. I don't feel that what it is saying is old at all.
In that sense, it was a very interesting piece.
The above is a synopsis of Byron's "Manfred" - What is "Byronic"? The Connection to Pushkin's 'Onegin'".
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