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La Guzla

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Maglanovic, an alleged narrator of La Guzla; book frontispiece

La Guzla, ou Choix de poesies illyriques, recueillies dans la Dalmatie, la Bosnie, La Croatie et l'Hertzegowine (The Guzla, or a Selection of Illyric Poems Collected in Dalmatia, Bosnia, Croatia and Herzegovina) was a 1827 literary hoax of Prosper Mérimée.[1]

It was presented as a collection of translations (in fact, pseudotranslations) of folk ballads narrated by a guzlar (gusle player) Hyacinthe Maglanović, complete with invented commentaries. Of 29 ballads, one of them, Triste ballade de la noble épouse d'Assan-Aga, was an authentic one.[2]

The Russian poet Alexander Pushkin translated 11 ballads from La Guzla into his cycle Songs of the Western Slavs [ru].[3]

References

  1. ^ "Literary Encyclopedia | La Guzla, ou Choix de poésies illyriques, recueillies dans la Dalmatie, la Bosnie, La Croatie et l'Hertzégowine". litencyc.com. Retrieved 2014-10-14.
  2. ^ Peter Cogman, "Prosper Mérimée, La Guzla, ou Choix de poésies illyriques, recueillies dans la Dalmatie, la Bosnie, La Croatie et l'Hertzégowine (The Guzla)", in: The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.5.2.05: French Writing and Culture: The Nineteenth-Century , 1800-1900
  3. ^ Sylvester, R.D. (2003). Tchaikovsky's Complete Songs: A Companion with Texts and Translations. Indiana University Press. p. 216. ISBN 9780253216762. Retrieved 2014-10-14.