The Countess von Rudolstadt
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287 Niobe dying or rather Mary collapsing: Niobe of Greek mythology and Mary of Christianity were both mothers who lost their children and typify maternal pain.
288 Wanda z Prachalitz: Here and elsewhere in the novel, Wanda’s name is rendered as “Prachalitz.” The 1959 French edition of La Comtesse de Rudulstadt by Léon Cellier and Léon Guichard conserves this spelling in the text of the novel, but the appendix of variants lists “Prachalitz” as a typo for “Prachatitz” and adds that this error occurred in the original serial publication of the novel, finally to be corrected in the 1857 edition by Michel-Lévy frères. The “Prachalitz” spelling has been maintained in recent French re-editions of La Comtesse de Rudolstadt. “Prachalitz” is not a Czech toponym, whereas “Prachatitz” is in the immediate vicinity of the birthplace of Jan Hus, so important in the novel. In Czech “z” is the genitive marker, the equivalent of “of” or “from.” Given the hostility of Wanda’s family toward Austria and their strong allegiance to the Czech homeland for political and religious reasons, I thought it important to render her name in a Czech manner.
Chapter XXXIII
291 serene countenance: Here Sand seems to be paraphrasing rather than quoting from Julius Caesar, perhaps because she was using a French translation of the original.
Chapter XXXIV
299 Argus: A monster in Greek mythology with one hundred eyes, some of which were always awake.
300 Venetian sequin: A gold coin formerly in circulation in Italy and Turkey.
306 Poland on the border with Turkey: In other words, the Ottoman Empire, which ranged far beyond the borders of present-day Turkey. Poland likewise occupied much more area in the mid-eighteenth century than the nation now known under that name.
309 grand master of one of their assemblies: The esoteric society of the Rosicrucians was founded in Germany in the early seventeenth century. Rapidly finding adherents in Austria, Holland, France, and England, it amalgamated teachings drawn from various domains such as alchemy, astrology, the Kabbalah, and Campanella’s utopia.
311 Podiebrad’s good angel: In Chapter VII Albert is identified as a matrilineal descendant of George Podiebrad, the Hussite king who ruled Bohemia from 1458 until his death in 1471.
Chapter XXXV
316 Mount Tabor: The city of Tábor, now in the Czech Republic, was built in 1420 around the castle of Kotnov by disciples of Jan Hus. It was named after Mount Tabor, where the transfiguration of Jesus was supposed to have taken place.
317 Kuttenburg: Otherwise known as Kutna Hora, this was the site of Jan Zizka’s 1421 victory against the Emperor Sigismund. Kuttenburg occupied a strategic location in eastern Bohemia and was important for its silver mines.
318 O Consuelo de mi alma: “O Consolation of my soul . . .”
Chapter XXXVII
332 Handel’s chorus: Sand is drawing on a French adaptation of Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus (1746). The two lines she quotes, “Chantons la Gloire / Du Juda vainqueur!” are a conflation of the first and fourth lines of the chorus sung by the youths and the Israelites in the third act. I am quoting the four lines in their entirety to preserve the rhyme.
Chapter XXXVIII
339 Jacques Molay . . . the prelate-knights of the Middle Ages: Jacques Molay (1243?–1314) was the last grand master of the Knights Templar. In 1307 he and the other Knights Templar in France were arrested, brought before the Inquisition, charged with heresy, and tortured. In 1314 Molay was burned at the stake.
Chapter XXXIX
349 they have all been used: This chapter is based in part on a visit Sand made to the Palace of the Inquisition in Barcelona.
Chapter XL
355 I cieli immensi narrano / Del grande Iddio la gloria! “The immense skies tell the glory of the greatness of God!”; Psalm 19: 1 (18 in the Catholic versions).
Chapter XLI
357 leaves of oak and acacia: In Masonic symbolism a branch of acacia marked the site of Hiram’s tomb. Oak is not a part of the Masonic system, but the subsequent allusion to Druids explains its presence here.
358 hundred years separate us from these Invisibles: Consuelo, La Comtesse de Rudolstadt was first published in installments in 1843–44, whereas the action of the novel begins in the early 1750s.
358 Illuminism: In 1776 Adam Weishaupt (1748–1830) founded the Order of the Illuminati at Ingolstadt, Germany.
358 Ganganelli: The surname of Clement XIV, who reigned as pope from 1769 to 1774 and abolished the Order of the Jesuits.
358 Fourierism and Saint-Simonism: Two utopian socialist groups inspired by the writings of Charles Fourier (1772–1837) and Claude-Henri de Saint-Simon (1760–1825). Their thought was very influential among reformists in France in the 1830s and 1840s.
359 Madame de Maintenon: Writer and governess of the sons of Louis XIV of France (1635–1719); eventually she became the king’s wife and exercised a powerful influence over him, especially in the area of religion; Madame de Pompadour: Mistress of Louis XV of France as well as a friend and supporter of many Enlightenment philosophers (1721–64); Peter the Great: Peter I, Czar of Russia (1682–1725); Catherine II: Also known as Catherine the Great, Czarina of Russia (1729–96); Maria Theresa: Archduchess of Austria, Queen of Bohemia and Hungary (1717–80); also, the mother of Marie-Antoinette of France; that Dubarry woman: Marie-Jeanne Dubarry, a favorite of Louis XV during the last decade of his reign; guillotined during the French Revolution for dissipation of public funds (1743–93); Voltaire: French philosopher of the Enlightenment, fierce critic of Catholicism and absolutism (1694–1778); Swedenborg: Swedish scientist, religious teacher, and mystic (1688–1772); Kant: German philosopher who attempted to determine the nature and limits of knowledge (1724–1804); Mesmer: Austrian physician known for his experiments with “animal magnetism” and hypnosis (1734–1815); Jean-Jacques Rousseau: Swiss-French novelist and philosopher of the Enlightenment (1712–78); Cardinal Dubois: French statesman and cardinal of the Catholic church during the Regency of Philip II d’Orléans (1656–1723); Schroepfer: Café owner in Leipzig who in 1768 founded a Masonic lodge known for communicating with souls of the dead; Diderot: French Encyclopedist and philosopher of the Enlightenment (1713–84); Fénelon: French theologian and author of educational treatises, including Télémachus (1651–1715); Law: Scottish financier whose attempts to regenerate the French economy precipitated widespread ruin (1671–1729); Zinzendorf: German churchman who offered refuge to the Hussite Bohemian Brethren on his estate in Saxony and fostered the Moravian movement (1700–1760); Leibniz: German philosopher and mathematician (1646–1716); Frederick II: King of Prussia, also known as Frederick the Great (1712–86); Robespierre: French revolutionary often identified with the Terror (1758–94); Louis XIV: French king who consolidated absolute monarchy (1638–1715); Philippe-Egalité: Louis-Philippe-Joseph, Duc d’Orléans, a long-time enemy of absolute monarchy who sided with the Jacobins during the French Revolution and voted for the death of Louis XVI (1747–93); Marie-Antoinette: Wife of Louis XVI at the time of the French Revolution, guillotined ten months after her husband had met the same end (1753–93); daughter of Maria Theresa of Austria; Charlotte Corday: Assassin of the French revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat (1768–93); Weishaupt: Founder in Ingolstadt, Germany, in 1776 of the Order of the Illuminati (1748–1830); Babeuf: French revolutionary who called for economic equality in addition to political equality (1760–97); Napoleon: Ruler and emperor of France from 1799 until 1814 (1769–1821).
359 French Convention: The radical phase of the French revolution that in September 1792 abolished the monarchy and set up a republican form of government.
359 the Mountain: The Jacobins and revolutionary groups on the extreme left.
360 restoration of the Old Regime: Here Sand is summarizing French history from the advent of the French Revolution to the period in which she wrote this novel: the wars of the Revolution and the Terror, the Napoleonic Empire, the Restoration, and the July Monarchy.
360 like Galatea: After Pygmal
ion sculpted the statue of beautiful Galatea, Aphrodite granted his wish that the stone come alive.
361 Hymen o Hymenaee!: Standard refrain for a wedding song, as in Catullus LVI and LXII.
361 whom Wanda vigorously pointed out: Here among the Invisibles who have not been previously mentioned in the novel figure the German poet and musician Schubart (1739–91), the Chevalier d’Eon (1728–1810) who cultivated the belief that he was a woman throughout much of the century and Nicolaï (1733–1811), the Berlin bookseller and proponent of the Enlightenment.
367 Astraea: In Greek mythology, the goddess of justice and daughter of Zeus and Themis. At the end of the Golden Age she left the Earth to mark her refusal of the wickedness of man and became the constellation Virgo.
368 words of the Gospel: See Matthew 18: 20.
373 dreadful storm gathering over his head: Trenck would later be kidnapped by Frederick II’s soldiers and spend ten years imprisoned in a dungeon deep underground.
373 Emile and Sophie: Rousseau published in 1762 his influential treatise on education Emile, ou de l’éducation, in which he prescribed educational regimes leading to distinct and unequal social roles for boys, represented by Emile, and for girls, represented by Sophie.
Epilogue
376 garden of the Hesperides: The mythical garden in which a fierce dragon guarded the tree that produced golden apples. One of the labors of Heracles involved killing the dragon and taking the apples.
379 al solito: “As usual,” in Italian.
386 My dear Bertoni: The name Consuelo gave herself when disguised as an itinerant zingaro musician in Chapter VIII.
Letter from Philon to Ignatius Joseph Martinowicz
393 Ignatius Joseph Martinowicz: Hungarian arrested in 1794 for having fomented an insurrection in Vienna, beheaded in Buda in 1795.
394 Pilsen: These details are borrowed from Augustin Barruel’s Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism (Mémoires pour servir à l’histoire du jacobinisme), first published in 1797. Barruel, a Jesuit priest, argued that the French Revolution was the result of a conspiracy of secret societies, especially the Illuminati of Bavaria, to destroy monarchies and the Church.
394 Vesper: The evening star (Venus).
394 Emperor Charles: Probably Charles VI of the Holy Roman Empire (1685–1740) and the father of Maria Theresa.
398 Ariadne’s thread: In Greek mythology Ariadne gave Theseus a thread so that he could find his way out of the labyrinth.
398 Procopius the Great: A former Catholic priest and military leader (d. 1434) who succeeded Jan Zizka as head of the Taborites after the latter’s death. After winning several victories for the Taborites, Procopius died on the battlefield in 1434.
398 Horebites: A Hussite faction founded by Jan Zizka in 1423 when he split from the more radical Taborites.
399 Riesengebürge: Mountains of the Giants, in German in the original.
400 Prometheus: In Greek myth Prometheus is credited from at least the fifth century B.C. with creating man from earth and water as well as stealing fire from the gods, but that he stole fire in order to give life to mankind is not found until later Roman sources. It is noteworthy that Pierre Leroux, among others, helped disseminate this view of Prometheus in nineteenth-century France.
401 hierophant: Literally, the chief priest of the Eleusinian mysteries in ancient Greece.
402 Canaanite’s faith and the widow’s penny: For the Canannite, see Matthew 15: 21–28 and Mark 7: 24–30; for the widow’s penny, Mark 12: 41–44 and Luke 21: 1–4. This remark foreshadows the ballad of the final chapter, The Gentle Goddess of Poverty.
405 Endymion of sculptors and poets: In Greek mythology Endymion, a king or shepherd of rare beauty, was loved by Selene, goddess of the moon. Endymion was a highly favored motif in classical and neoclassical art.
406 Queen Libussa falling in love with a ploughman: Libussa was a legendary Czech princess of the eighth century who married a ploughman, prophesied the construction of Prague, and led her people to the place where the castle and city would be founded.
406–7 Jan and Jerome on the pyre at Constance: Jan Hus was burned at the stake in Constance in 1415, and Jerome of Prague in 1416.
408 Ruysdael’s landscapes: Either Jacob van Ruysdael (1628?–1682) or his uncle Salomon (1602?–1670), who were both Dutch landscape painters.
409 crisis that singers call the molt: This term, which derives from the French mue, is still in current usage for the change of voice in adolescent males as well as the periodic shedding of feathers, skin, antlers, etc. in various animals.
412 Orpheus: Poet and musician in Greek mythology who could charm the gods, mankind and the animals with his lyre.
412 Moses and the Prophets: Episode in the Gospels known as the Transfiguration; see Matthew 17: 1–8; Mark 9: 2–9; Luke 9: 28–36. In the Gospels, however, just two prophets appear, Moses and Elijah.
413 O DIVINE TETRAD: In other words, a group made up of four elements. A major Pythagorean teaching is that numbers constitute the true nature of things, and in this philosophy the number four is the symbol of justice.
414 Sum qui sum: I am who I am. See Exodus 3: 14.
415 Locke: English philosopher and founder of empiricism (1632–1704).
415 fiat lux, et facta est lux: “Let there be light, and there was light.” Genesis 1: 3.
415 creavit cuncta juxta genus suum et secundem speciem suam: “He created every being after its kind and according to its species.” Genesis 1: 2off.
415 Descartes: René Descartes (1596–1650), French philosopher, mathematician and scientist whose methodology was crucial for the transition from medieval to modern thought.
416 Odysseus’s companions under Circe’s wand: In other words, swine.
417 knowledge of Egypt: The writings known as the Books of Hermes and attributed to the mythical Hermes Trismegistus are a compendium of the knowledge of the ancient Egyptians.
417 Campanella: Tomasso Campanella (1568–1639), Italian Renaissance writer and philosopher. His City of the Sun sets forth a utopian society modeled on Plato’s Republic.
419 Apocalypse: See Revelation 1: 12–16.
421 ‘My kingdom is not yet of this time’: Perhaps an adaptation of part of John 18: 36, but with a significant change, for it reads, “My kingdom is not of this world.”
421 “Homo sum et nihil humani a me alienum puto”: Terence, from his Heautontimoroumenos: “I am a man, and I consider nothing human to be alien to me.”
423 “The spirit blows where it will”: John 3: 8.
423 Veni, creator Spiritus!: “Come, Creator Spirit!” the opening of a hymn often used in the Catholic church at Pentecost.
423 march toward your light: An adaptation of Isaiah 60: 1, 3.
Acknowledgments
Many people have contributed to the making of this book, and it is a delight to express my gratitude to them here.
I thank Lucienne Frappier-Mazur and Frank Paul Bowman with whom I had the great good fortune to study at the University of Pennsylvania. At a time when George Sand was just being rediscovered in American universities, I had the pleasure and privilege of reading La Comtesse de Rudolstadt with Lucienne. To Frank I owe an appreciation of the complexities of Romantic socialism. They both taught me the joy and challenge of trying to read works in their fullest possible context.
I thank the friends and colleagues who painstakingly read parts of this manuscript and offered me their sage advice: Jane Ambrose, Therese Dolan, Nane Doll-Peyron, Elizabeth Ferguson, David Powell, and Janet Whatley. I owe a special debt of gratitude to Marie Gendrot Tapia, who eagerly pored over every line of La Comtesse de Rudolstadt, the original French side by side with my English translation.
I thank the University of Vermont and the Department of Romance Languages, especially Gayle Nunley and Joyce Boyer, for the generous support and understanding afforded me from the very start of this long undertaking. Without the sabbatical leave I enjoyed in 2004–5 this translation would
not have seen the light of day.
I thank the University of Pennsylvania Press, especially Jerry Singerman, for the enthusiasm with which they embarked upon this immense task of publication.
I thank my husband, Z. Philip Ambrose, for the encouragement he unfailingly gives me, for his rigorous analysis and passionate questions. He is the finest and most stimulating companion in philological exercise.