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Seminar 7 - Comparative Literature
Seminar 7 - Comparative Literature
One morning, when Gregor Samsa woke from troubled dreams, he found
himself transformed in his bed into a horrible vermin. He lay on his
armour-like back, and if he lifted his head a little he could see his brown
belly, slightly domed and divided by arches into stiff sections. The
bedding was hardly able to cover it and seemed ready to slide off any
moment. His many legs, pitifully thin compared with the size of the rest of
him, waved about helplessly as he looked.
First of all [the demon] tried to lead him away from the discipline, whispering to him the
remembrance of his wealth, care for his sister, claims of kindred, love of money, love of glory,
the various pleasures of the table and the other relaxations of life, and at last the difficulty of
virtue and the labour of it; he suggested also the infirmity of the body and the length of the time.
(…) One night even took upon him the shape of a woman and imitated all her acts simply to
beguile Antony (…).And the place was on a sudden filled with the forms of lions, bears,
leopards, bulls, serpents, asps, scorpions, and wolves, and each of them was moving according
to his nature. The lion was roaring, wishing to attack, the bull seeming to toss with its horns, the
serpent writhing but unable to approach, and the wolf as it rushed on was restrained; altogether
the noises of the apparitions, with their angry ragings, were dreadful. (…) As he was watching
in the night the devil sent wild beasts against him. And almost all the hyenas in that desert came
forth from their dens and surrounded him; and he was in the midst, while each one threatened to
bite. Seeing that it was a trick of the enemy he said to them all: 'If you have received power
against me I am ready to be devoured by you; but if you were sent against me by demons, stay
not, but depart, for I am a servant of Christ.' When Antony said this they fled, driven by that
word as with a whip.
B1) Vida de San Antonio, Atanasio de Alejandría (siglo IV) [Spanish version]
In the centre of the portico, in the broad light of day, a naked woman was fastened to a pillar,
while two soldiers were scourging her. At each stroke her entire frame writhed.(...) Beautiful,
exceedingly! (...) "I might have been fastened to the pillar next to yours, face to face with you,
under your very eyes, responding to your shrieks with my sighs, and our griefs would blend into
one, and our souls would commingle. (...) What torture! What delight! Those are like kisses.
My marrow is melting! I am dying!"
d) The Temptations of Saint Anthony, Salvador Dalí (1946)