La fin de Satan
Encyclopedia
La Fin de Satan is a long religious epic by Victor Hugo
, of which 5700 lines were written between 1854 and 1862, but left unfinished and published after his death.
When it was rejected by his publisher in 1857, Hugo tried to integrate it into Petites Epopées (later La Légende des siècles
), eventually announcing that it would form a companion work, along with Dieu
. His intention, apparently, was to invest the storming of the Bastille
with a religious significance; after making various efforts, he ceased work on it in 1862 and returned to novels. There are many gaps large and small.
-Isis
. She provides three weapons with which Cain murders Abel:
The Bronze will become a gauntlet, symbol of War; the Wood will become a gibbet, or crucifix, symbol of Execution; and the Stone will become a prison, symbol of Oppression.
This preface is followed by three books, interleaved with otherworldly episodes.
Book the First tells the story of Nimrod
, a powerful and monstrous king of Judaea
. Wandering the Earth, which he has fully dominated and laid waste, he decides to conquer the heavens. For this purpose, he builds a cage and attaches four giant eagles to it, with the meat of dead lions above their heads to draw them upward. With his servant, the eunuch, Nimrod releases the cage from its tethers, and the eagles start towards the heavens. After a journey of one year, moving continuously upwards and finding only an immense blue, Nimrod shoots an arrow into the infinite, and is thrown back to Earth.
Book the Second describes the life and death of Jesus
. It emphasises the evil of human beings. In "Tenebres" (II:XXI), Barabbas
curses this impure world which liberated him instead of Christ, and claims that we would have chosen to die if offered the choice.
Book the Third is about the storming of the Bastille. (Almost nothing in this book was completed.)
Victor Hugo
Victor-Marie Hugo was a Frenchpoet, playwright, novelist, essayist, visual artist, statesman, human rights activist and exponent of the Romantic movement in France....
, of which 5700 lines were written between 1854 and 1862, but left unfinished and published after his death.
When it was rejected by his publisher in 1857, Hugo tried to integrate it into Petites Epopées (later La Légende des siècles
La Légende des siècles
La Légende des siècles is a collection of poems by Victor Hugo, conceived as an immense depiction of the history and evolution of humanity....
), eventually announcing that it would form a companion work, along with Dieu
Dieu
Dieu is a long religious epic by Victor Hugo, parts of which were written between 1855 and 1862. It was left unfinished, and published after his death....
. His intention, apparently, was to invest the storming of the Bastille
Storming of the Bastille
The storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris on the morning of 14 July 1789. The medieval fortress and prison in Paris known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the centre of Paris. While the prison only contained seven inmates at the time of its storming, its fall was the flashpoint...
with a religious significance; after making various efforts, he ceased work on it in 1862 and returned to novels. There are many gaps large and small.
Argument
Satan is defeated and thrown into the Abyss ("Depuis quatre mille ans il tombait dans l'abîme" http://poesie.webnet.fr/poemes/France/hugo/167.html), but Evil is communicated to Man through the agency of LilithLilith
Lilith is a character in Jewish mythology, found earliest in the Babylonian Talmud, who is generally thought to be related to a class of female demons Līlīṯu in Mesopotamian texts. However, Lowell K. Handy notes, "Very little information has been found relating to the Akkadian and Babylonian view...
-Isis
Isis
Isis or in original more likely Aset is a goddess in Ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. She was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the matron of nature and magic...
. She provides three weapons with which Cain murders Abel:
- Il le frappa d'abord avec un clou d'airain,
- Puis avec un bâton, puis avec une pierre;
- Puis il cacha ses trois complices sous la terre
- Où mon main qui s'ouvrait dans l'ombre les a pris.
- He struck him first with a brazen nail,
- Then with a stave, then with a stone;
- Then he hid his complices three 'neath the earth
- Where my hand, opened in the dark, picked them up.
The Bronze will become a gauntlet, symbol of War; the Wood will become a gibbet, or crucifix, symbol of Execution; and the Stone will become a prison, symbol of Oppression.
This preface is followed by three books, interleaved with otherworldly episodes.
Book the First tells the story of Nimrod
Nimrod
Nimrod means "Hunter"; was a Biblical Mesopotamian king mentioned in the Table of Nations; an eponym for the city of Nimrud.Nimrod can also refer to any of the following:*Nimród Antal, a director...
, a powerful and monstrous king of Judaea
Judea
Judea or Judæa was the name of the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel from the 8th century BCE to the 2nd century CE, when Roman Judea was renamed Syria Palaestina following the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt.-Etymology:The...
. Wandering the Earth, which he has fully dominated and laid waste, he decides to conquer the heavens. For this purpose, he builds a cage and attaches four giant eagles to it, with the meat of dead lions above their heads to draw them upward. With his servant, the eunuch, Nimrod releases the cage from its tethers, and the eagles start towards the heavens. After a journey of one year, moving continuously upwards and finding only an immense blue, Nimrod shoots an arrow into the infinite, and is thrown back to Earth.
Book the Second describes the life and death of Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
. It emphasises the evil of human beings. In "Tenebres" (II:XXI), Barabbas
Barabbas
Barabbas or Jesus Barabbas is a figure in the Christian narrative of the Passion of Jesus, in which he is the insurrectionary whom Pontius Pilate freed at the Passover feast in Jerusalem.The penalty for Barabbas' crime was death by crucifixion, but according to the four canonical gospels and the...
curses this impure world which liberated him instead of Christ, and claims that we would have chosen to die if offered the choice.
Book the Third is about the storming of the Bastille. (Almost nothing in this book was completed.)
Structure
- Hors de la Terre, I
- La Première Page
- Livre Première: Le Glaive
- Hors de la Terre, II
- Livre Deuxième: Le Gibet
- La Judée
- Jésus-Christ
- Le Crucifix
- Hors de la Terre, III
- Satan dans la Nuit
- L'Ange Liberté
- Livre Troisième: La Prison
- Hors de la Terre, IV