https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781931082617
Collected stories : Gimpel the fool to The letter writer: Gimpel the fool & other stories, The Spinoza of Market Street, Short Friday & other stories, The séance & other stories
- by Singer, Isaac Bashevis, 1904-1991; Stavans, Ilan; Singer, Isaac Bashevis, 1904-1991. Gimpl tam un andere destseylungen. English; Singer, Isaac Bashevis, 1904-1991. Spinoza of Market Street; Singer, Isaac Bashevis, 1904-1991. Short Friday, and other stories; Singer, Isaac Bashevis, 1904-1991. Séance, and other storiesPublication date 2004 Topics Singer, Isaac Bashevis, 1904-1991 Publisher New York : Library of America : Distributed in the United States by Penguin Putnam Collection internetarchivebooks; inlibrary; printdisabled Contributor Internet Archive Language English Item Size 1.3GIncludes bibliographical references (p. 778-789)Gimpel the fool and other stories (1957): -- Gimpel the fool -- The gentleman from Cracow -- The wife killer -- By the light of memorial candles -- The mirror -- The little shoemakers -- Joy -- From the diary of one not born -- The old man -- Fire -- The unseen -- The Spinoza of Market Street (1961): -- The Spinoza of Market Street -- The black wedding -- A tale of two liars -- The shadow of a crib -- Shiddah and Kuziba -- Caricature -- The beggar said so -- The man who came back -- A piece of advice -- In the poorhouse -- The destruction of Kreshev --Short Friday and other stories (1964): -- Taibele and her demon -- Big and little -- Blood -- Alone -- Esther Kreindel the second -- Jachid and Jechidah -- Under the knife -- The fast -- The last demon -- Yentl the Yeshiva boy -- Three tales -- Zeidlus the Pope -- A wedding in Brownsville -- I place my reliance on no man -- Cunegunde -- Short Friday -- The séance and other stories (1968): -- The séance -- The slaughterer -- The dead fiddler -- The Lecture -- Cockadoodledoo -- The plagiarist -- Zeitl and Rickel -- The warehouse -- Henne fire -- Getzel the monkey -- Yanda -- The needle -- Two corpses go dancing -- The parrot -- The brooch -- The letter writerMode of access: Internet======
Blood
by Singer, Isaac Bashevis
THE cabalists know that the passion for blood and the pas-sion for flesh have the same origin, and this is the reason "Thou shalt not kill" is followed by "Thou shalt not commit adultery."
Reb Falik Ehrlichman was the owner of a large estate not far from the town of Laskev. He was born Reb Falik but because of his honesty in business his neighbors had called him ehrlichman for so long that it had become a part of his name.
By his first wife Reb Falik had had two children, a son and a daughter, who had both died young and without issue. His wife had died too. In later years he had married again, accord-ing to the Book of Ecclesiastes: "In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thy hand." Reb Falik's sec-ond wife was thirty years younger than he and his friends had tried to dissuade him from the match. For one thing Risha had been widowed twice and was considered a man-killer. For another, she came of a coarse family and had a bad name. It was said of her that she had beaten her first husband with a stick, and that during the two years her second husband had lain paralyzed she had never called in a doctor. There was other gossip as well. But Reb Falik was not frightened by warnings or whisperings. His first wife, peace be with her, had been ill for a long time before she died of consumption. Risha, corpulent and strong as a man, was a good housekeeper and knew how to manage a farm. Under her kerchief she had a full head of red hair and eyes as green as gooseberries. Her bosom was high and she had the broad hips of a childbearer. Though she had not had children by either of her first two husbands, she contended it was their fault. She had a loud voice and when she laughed one could hear her from far off. Soon after marrying Reb Falik, she began to take charge: she sent away the old bailiff who drank and hired in his place a young and diligent one; she supervised the sowing, the reaping, the cattle breeding; she kept an eye on the peasants to make sure they did not steal eggs, chickens, honey from the hives. Reb Falik hoped Risha would bear him a son to recite Kaddish after his death, but the years passed without her becoming pregnant. She said he was too old. One day she took him with her to Laskev to the notary public where he signed all his property over to her.
Reb Falik gradually ceased to attend to the affairs of the es-tate at all. He was a man of moderate height with a snowy white beard and rosy cheeks flushed with that half-faded red-ness of winter apples characteristic of affluent and meek old men. He was friendly to rich and poor alike and never shouted at his servants or peasants. Every spring before Passover he sent a load of wheat to Laskev for the poor, and in the fall after the Feast of Tabernacles he supplied the poorhouse with fire-wood for the winter as well as sacks of potatoes, cabbages, and beets. On the estate was a small study house which Reb Falik had built and furnished with a bookcase and Holy Scroll. When there were ten Jews on the estate to provide a quorum, they could pray there. After he had signed over all his posses-sions to Risha, Reb Falik sat almost all day long in this study house, reciting psalms, or sometimes dozing on the sofa in a side room. His strength began to leave him; his hands trem-bled; and when he spoke his head shook sidewise. Nearly sev-enty, completely dependent on Risha, he was, so to speak, already eating the bread of mercy. Formerly, the peasants could come to him for relief when one of their cows or horses wandered into his fields and the bailiff demanded payment for damages. But now that Risha had the upper hand, the peasant had to pay to the last penny.
On the estate there lived for many years a ritual slaughterer named Reb Dan, an old man who acted as beadle in the study house, and who, together with Reb Falik, studied a chapter of the Mishnah every morning. When Reb Dan died, Risha be-gan to look about for a new slaughterer. Reb Falik ate a piece of chicken every evening for supper; Risha herself liked meat. Laskev was too far to visit every time she wanted an animal killed. Moreover, in both fall and spring, the Laskev road was flooded. Asking around, Risha heard that among the Jews in the nearby village of Krowica there was a ritual slaughterer named Reuben whose wife had died giving birth to their first child and who, in addition to being a butcher, owned a small tavern where the peasants drank in the evenings.
One morning Risha ordered one of the peasants to harness the britska in order to take her to Krowica to talk to Reuben. She wanted him to come to the estate from time to time to do their slaughtering. She took along several chickens and a gan-der in a sack so tight it was a wonder the fowl did not choke.
When she reached the village, they pointed out Reuben's hut near the smithy. The britska stopped and Risha, followed by the driver carrying the bag of poultry, opened the front door and went in. Reuben was not there but looking out a window into the courtyard behind she saw him standing by a flat ditch. A barefooted woman handed him a chicken which he slaughtered. Unaware he was being watched from his own house, Reuben was being playful with the woman. Jokingly, he swung the slaughtered chicken as if about to toss it into her face. When she handed him the penny fee, he clasped her wrist and held it. Meanwhile the chicken, its throat slit, fell to the ground where it fluttered about, flapping its wings in its at-tempt to fly and spattering Reuben's boots with blood. Finally the little rooster gave a last start and then lay still, one glassy eye and its slit neck facing up to God's heaven. The creature seemed to say: "See, Father in Heaven, what they have done to me. And still they make merry."
Reuben, like most butchers, was fat with a big stomach and a red neck. His throat was short and fleshy. On his cheeks grew bunches of pitchblack hair. His dark eyes held the cold look of those born under the sign of Mars. When he caught sight of Risha, mistress of the large neighboring estate, he became con-fused and his face turned even redder than it was. Hurriedly, the woman with him picked up the slaughtered bird and scur-ried away. Risha went into the courtyard, directing the peasant to set the sack with the fowl near Reuben's feet. She could see that he did not stand on his dignity, and she spoke to him lightly, half-jokingly, and he answered her in kind. When she asked if he would slaughter the birds in the sack for her, he an-swered: "What else should I do? Revive dead ones?" And when she remarked how important it was to her husband that his food be strictly kosher, he said: "Tell him he shouldn't worry. My knife is as smooth as a fiddle!"-and to show her he drew the bluish edge of the blade across the nail of his index finger. The peasant untied the sack and handed Reuben a yel-low chicken. He promptly turned back its head, pulled a tuft of down from the center of its throat and slit it. Soon he was ready for the white gander.
"He's a tough one," said Risha. "All the geese were afraid of him."
"He won't be tough much longer," Reuben answered.
"Don't you have any pity?" Risha teased. She had never seen a slaughterer who was so deft. His hands were thick with short fingers matted with dense black hair.
"With pity, one doesn't become a slaughterer," answered Reuben. A moment later, he added, "When you scale a fish on the Sabbath, do you think the fish enjoys it?"
Holding the fowl, Reuben looked at Risha intently, his gaze traveling up and down her and finally coming to rest on her bosom. Still staring at her, he slaughtered the gander. Its white feathers grew red with blood. It shook its neck menacingly and suddenly went up in the air and flew a few yards. Risha bit her lip.
"They say slaughterers are destined to be born murderers but become slaughterers instead," Risha said.
"If you're so soft-hearted, why did you bring me the birds?" Reuben asked.
"Why? One has to eat meat."
"If someone has to eat meat, someone has to do the slaughtering."
Risha told the peasant to take away the fowl. When she paid Reuben, he took her hand and held it for a moment in his. His hand was warm and her body shivered pleasurably. When she asked him if he would be willing to come to the estate to slaughter, he said yes if in addition to paying him she would send a cart for him.
"I won't have any herd of cattle for you," Risha joked.
"Why not?" Reuben countered. "I have slaughtered cattle before. In Lublin I slaughtered more in one day than I do here in a month," he boasted.
Since Risha did not seem to be in any hurry, Reuben asked her to sit down on a box and he himself sat on a log. He told her of his studies in Lublin and explained how he had hap-pened to come to this God-forsaken village where his wife, peace be with her, had died in childbirth due to the lack of an experienced midwife.
"Why haven't you remarried?" Risha questioned. "There's no shortage of women-widows, divorcees, or young girls."
Reuben told her the matchmakers were trying to find him a wife but the destined one had not yet appeared.
"How will you know the one who is destined for you?" Risha asked.
"My stomach will know. She will grab me right here"-and Reuben snapped his fingers and pointed at his navel. Risha would have stayed longer, except that a girl came in with a duck. Reuben arose. Risha returned to the britska.
On the way back Risha thought about the slaughterer Reuben, his levity and his jocular talk. Though she came to the conclusion that he was thick-skinned and his future wife would not lick honey all her life, still she could not get him out of her mind. That night, retiring to her canopied bed across the room from her husband's, she tossed and turned sleeplessly. When she finally dozed off, her dreams both frightened and excited her. She got up in the morning full of desire, wanting to see Reuben as quickly as possible, wondering how she might arrange it, and worried that he might find some woman and leave the village.
Three days later Risha went to Krowica again even though the larder was still full. This time she caught the birds herself, bound their legs, and shoved them into the sack. On the estate was a black rooster with a voice clear as a bell, a bird famous for its size, its red comb, and its crowing. There was also a hen that laid an egg every day and always at the same spot. Risha now caught both of these creatures, murmuring, "Come, children, you will soon taste Reuben's knife," and as she said these words a tremor ran down her spine. She did not order a peasant to drive the britska but, harnessing the horse herself, went off alone. She found Reuben standing at the threshold of his house as if he were waiting impatiently for her, as in fact he was. When a male and a female lust after each other, their thoughts meet and each can foresee what the other will do.
Reuben ushered Risha in with all the formality due a guest. He brought her a pitcher of water, offered her liqueur and a slice of honey cake. He did not go into the courtyard but un-trussed the fowl indoors. When he took out the black rooster, he exclaimed, "What a fine cavalier!"
"Don't worry. You will soon take care of him," said Risha.
"No one can escape my knife," Reuben assured her. He slaughtered the rooster on the spot. The bird did not exhale its spirit immediately but finally, like an eagle caught by a bullet, it slumped to the floor. Then Reuben set the knife down on the whetstone, turned, and came over to Risha. His face was pale with passion and the fire in his dark eyes frightened her. She felt as if he were about to slaughter her. He put his arms around her without a word and pressed her against his body.
"What are you doing? Have you lost your mind?" she asked.
"I like you," Reuben said hoarsely.
"Let me go. Somebody might come in," she warned.
"Nobody will come," Reuben assured her. He put up the chain on the door and pulled Risha into a windowless alcove.
Risha wrangled, pretending to defend herself, and ex-claimed, "Woe is me. I'm a married woman. And you-a pious man, a scholar. We'll roast in Gehenna for this..." But Reuben paid no attention. He forced Risha down on his bench-bed and she, thrice married, had never before felt desire as great as on that day. Though she called him murderer, rob-ber, highwayman, and reproached him for bringing shame to an honest woman, yet at the same time she kissed him, fondled him, and responded to his masculine whims. In their amorous play, she asked him to slaughter her. Taking her head, he bent it back and fiddled with his finger across her throat. When Risha finally arose, she said to Reuben: "You certainly mur-dered me that time."
"And you, me," he answered.
Because Risha wanted Reuben all to herself and was afraid he might leave Krowica or marry some younger woman, she determined to find a way to have him live on the estate. She could not simply hire him to replace Reb Dan, for Reb Dan had been a relative whom Reb Falik would have had to provide for in any case. To keep a man just to slaughter a few chickens every week did not make sense and to propose it would arouse her husband's suspicions. After puzzling for a while, Risha found a solution.
She began to complain to her husband about how little profit the crops were bringing; how meagre the harvests were; if things went on this way, in a few years they would be ruined. Reb Falik tried to comfort his wife saying that God had not forsaken him hitherto and that one must have faith, to which Risha retorted that faith could not be eaten. She proposed that they stock the pastures with cattle and open a butcher shop in Laskev-that way there would be a double profit both from the dairy and from the meat sold at retail. Reb Falik op-posed the plan as impractical and beneath his dignity. He ar-gued that the butchers in Laskev would raise a commotion and that the community would never agree to him, Reb Falik, becoming a butcher. But Risha insisted. She went to Laskev, called a meeting of the community elders, and told them that she intended to open a butcher shop. Her meat would be sold at two cents a pound less than the meat in the other shops. The town was in an uproar. The rabbi warned her he would prohibit the meat from the estate. The butchers threatened to stab anyone who interfered with their livelihood. But Risha was not daunted. In the first place she had influence with the government, for the starosta of the neighborhood had re-ceived many fine gifts from her, often visited her estate and went hunting in her woods. Moreover, she soon found allies among the Laskev poor who could not afford to buy much meat at the usual high prices. Many took her side, coachmen, shoemakers, tailors, furriers, potters, and they announced that if the butchers did her any violence, they would retaliate by burning the butcher shops. Risha invited a mob of them to the estate, gave them bottles of homemade beer from her brewery, and got them to promise her their support. Soon afterwards she rented a store in Laskev and employed Wolf Bonder, a fearless man known as a horse-thief and brawler. Every other day, Wolf Bonder drove to the estate with his horse and buggy to cart meat to the city. Risha hired Reuben to do the slaughtering.
For many months the new business lost money, the rabbi having proscribed Risha's meat. Reb Falik was ashamed to look the townspeople in the face, but Risha had the means and strength to wait for victory. Since her meat was cheap, the number of her customers increased steadily, and soon because of competition several butchers were forced to close their shops and of the two Laskev slaughterers, one lost his job. Risha was cursed by many.
The new business provided the cover Risha needed to con-ceal the sins she was committing on Reb Falik's estate. From the beginning it was her custom to be present when Reuben slaughtered. Often she helped him bind an ox or a cow. And her thirst to watch the cutting of throats and the shedding of blood soon became so mixed with carnal desire that she hardly knew where one began and the other ended. As soon as the business became profitable, Risha built a slaughtering shed and gave Reuben an apartment in the main house. She bought him fine clothes and he ate his meals at Reb Falik's table. Reuben grew sleeker and fatter. During the day he seldom slaughtered but wandered about in a silken robe, soft slippers on his feet, a skullcap on his head, watching the peasants working in the fields, the shepherds caring for the cattle. He enjoyed all the pleasures of the outdoors and, in the after-noons, often went swimming in the river. The aging Reb Falik retired early. Late in the evening Reuben, accompanied by Risha, went to the shed where she stood next to him as he slaughtered and while the animal was throwing itself about in the anguish of its death throes she would discuss with him their next act of lust. Sometimes she gave herself to him imme-diately after the slaughtering. By then all the peasants were in their huts asleep except for one old man, half deaf and nearly blind, who aided them at the shed. Sometimes Reuben lay with her on a pile of straw in the shed, sometimes on the grass just outside, and the thought of the dead and dying creatures near them whetted their enjoyment. Reb Falik disliked Reuben. The new business was repulsive to him but he seldom said a word in opposition. He accepted the annoyance with humility, thinking that he would soon be dead anyway and what was the point of starting a quarrel? Occasionally it oc-curred to him that his wife was overly familiar with Reuben, but he pushed the suspicion out of his mind since he was by nature honest and righteous, a man who gave everyone the benefit of the doubt.
One transgression begets another. One day Satan, the father of all lust and cunning, tempted Risha to take a hand in the slaughtering. Reuben was alarmed when she first suggested this. True, he was an adulterer, but nevertheless he was also a believer as many sinners are. He argued that for their sins they would be whipped, but why should they lead other people into iniquity, causing them to eat non-kosher carcasses? No, God forbid he and Risha should do anything like that. To become a slaughterer it was necessary to study the Shulchan Aruch and the Commentaries. A slaughterer was responsible for any blemish on the knife, no matter how small, and for any sin one of his customers incurred by eating impure meat. But Risha was adamant. What difference did it make? she asked. They would both toss on the bed of needles anyhow. If one commit-ted sins, one should get as much enjoyment as possible out of them. Risha kept after Reuben constantly, alternating threats and bribes. She promised him new excitements, presents, money. She swore that if he would let her slaughter, immedi-ately upon Reb Falik's death she would marry him and sign over all her property so that he could redeem some part of his iniquity through acts of charity. Finally Reuben gave in. Risha took such pleasure in killing that before long she was doing all the slaughtering herself, with Reuben acting merely as her as-sistant. She began to cheat, to sell tallow for kosher fat, and she stopped extracting the forbidden sinews in the thighs of the cows. She began a price war with the other Laskev butch-ers until those who remained became her hired employees. She got the contract to supply meat to the Polish army barracks, and since the officers took bribes, and the soldiers received only the worst meat, she earned vast sums. Risha became so rich that even she did not know how large her fortune was. Her malice grew. Once she slaughtered a horse and sold it as kosher beef. She killed some pigs too, scalding them in boiling water like the pork butchers. She managed never to be caught. She got so much satisfaction from deceiving the community that this soon became as powerful a passion with her as lechery and cruelty.
Like all those who devote themselves entirely to the pleas-ures of the flesh, Risha and Reuben grew prematurely old. Their bodies became so swollen they could barely meet. Their hearts floated in fat. Reuben took to drink. He lay all day long on his bed, and when he woke drank liquor from a carafe with a straw. Risha brought him refreshments and they passed their time in idle talk, chattering as do those who have sold their souls for the vanities of this world. They quarreled and kissed, teased and mocked, bemoaned the fact that time was passing and the grave coming nearer. Reb Falik was now sick most of the time but, though it often seemed his end was near, some-how his soul did not forsake his body. Risha toyed with ideas of death and even thought of poisoning Reb Falik. Another time, she said to Reuben: "Do you know, already I am sati-ated with life! If you want, slaughter me and marry a young woman."
After saying this, she transferred the straw from Reuben's lips to hers and sucked until the carafe was empty.
There is a proverb: Heaven and earth have sworn together that no secret can remain undivulged. The sins of Reuben and Risha could not stay hidden forever. People began to murmur that the two lived too well together. They remarked how old and feeble Reb Falik had become, how much oftener he stayed in bed than on his feet, and they concluded that Reuben and Risha were having an affair. The butchers Risha had forced to close their businesses had been spreading all kinds of calumny about her ever since. Some of the more scholarly housewives found sinews in Risha's meat which, according to the Law, should have been removed. The Gentile butcher to whom Risha had been accustomed to sell the forbidden flanken com-plained that she had not sold him anything for months. With this evidence, the former butchers went in a body to the rabbi and community leaders and demanded an investigation of Risha's meat. But the council of elders was hesitant to start a quarrel with her. The rabbi quoted the Talmud to the effect that one who suspects the righteous deserves to be lashed, and added that, as long as there were no witnesses to any of Risha's transgression, it was wrong to shame her, for the one who shames his fellow man loses his portion in the world to come.
The butchers, thus rebuffed by the rabbi, decided to hire a spy and they chose a tough youth named Jechiel. This young man, a ruffian, set out from Laskev one night after dark, stole into the estate, managing to avoid the fierce dogs Risha kept, and took up his position behind the slaughtering shed. Putting his eye to a large crack, he saw Reuben and Risha inside and watched with astonishment as the old servant led in the hob-bled animals and Risha, using a rope, threw them one by one to the ground. When the old man left, Jechiel was amazed in the torchlight to see Risha catch up a long knife and begin to cut the throats of the cattle one after the other. The steaming blood gurgled and flowed. While the beasts were bleeding, Risha threw off all her clothes and stretched out naked on a pile of straw. Reuben came to her and they were so fat their bodies could barely join. They puffed and panted. Their wheezing mixed with the death-rattles of the animals made an unearthly noise; contorted shadows fell on the walls; the shed was saturated with the heat of blood. Jechiel was a hoodlum, but even he was terrified because only devils could behave like this. Afraid that fiends would seize him, he fled.
At dawn, Jechiel knocked on the rabbi's shutter. Stam-mering, he blurted out what he had witnessed. The rabbi roused the beadle and sent him with his wooden hammer to knock at the windows of the elders and summon them at once.
At first no one believed Jechiel could be telling the truth. They suspected he had been hired by the butchers to bear false wit-ness and they threatened him with beating and excommunica-tion. Jechiel, to prove he was not lying, ran to the Ark of the Holy Scroll which stood in the Judgment Chamber, opened the door, and before those present could stop him swore by the Scroll that his words were true.
His story threw the town into a turmoil. Women ran out into the streets, striking their heads with their fists, crying and wailing. According to the evidence, the townspeople had been eating non-kosher meat for years. The wealthy housewives car-ried their pottery into the market place and broke it into shards. Some of the sick and several pregnant women fainted. Many of the pious tore their lapels, strewed their heads with ashes, and sat down to mourn. A crowd formed and ran to the butcher shops to punish the men who sold Risha's meat. Re-fusing to listen to what the butchers said in their own defense, they beat up several of them, threw whatever carcasses were on hand outdoors, and overturned the butcher blocks. Soon voices arose suggesting they go to Reb Falik's estate and the mob began to arm itself with bludgeons, rope, and knives. The rabbi, fearing bloodshed, came out into the street to stop them, warning that punishment must wait until the sin had been proved intentional and a verdict had been passed. But the mob wouldn't listen. The rabbi decided to go with them, hoping to calm them down on the way. The elders followed. Women trailed after them, pinching their cheeks and weeping as if at a funeral. Schoolboys dashed alongside.
Wolf Bonder, to whom Risha had given gifts and whom she had always paid well to cart the meat from the estate to Laskev, remained loyal to her. Seeing how ugly the temper of the crowd was becoming, he went to his stable, saddled a fast horse, and galloped out toward the estate to warn Risha. As it happened, Reuben and Risha had stayed overnight in the shed and were still there. Hearing hoofbeats, they got up and came out and watched with surprise as Wolf Bonder rode up. He ex-plained what had happened and warned them of the mob on its way. He advised them to flee, unless they could prove their innocence; otherwise the angry men would surely tear them to pieces. He himself was afraid to stay any longer lest before he could get back the mob turn against him. Mounting his horse, he rode away at a gallop.
Reuben and Risha stood frozen with shock. Reuben's face turned a fiery red, then a deadly white. His hands trembled and he had to clutch at the door behind him to remain on his feet. Risha smiled anxiously and her face turned yellow as if she had jaundice, but it was Risha who moved first. Approaching her lover, she stared into his eyes. "So, my love," she said, "the end of a thief is the gallows."
"Let's run away." Reuben was shaking so violently that he could hardly get the words out.
But Risha answered that it was not possible. The estate had only six horses and all of them had been taken early that morning by peasants going to the forest for wood. A yoke of oxen would move so slowly that the rabble could overtake them. Besides, she, Risha, had no intention of abandoning her property and wandering like a beggar. Reuben implored her to flee with him, since life is more precious than all possessions, but Risha remained stubborn. She would not go. Finally they went into the main house where Risha rolled some linen up into a bundle for Reuben, gave him a roast chicken, a loaf of bread, and a pouch with some money. Standing outdoors, she watched as he set out, swaying and wobbling across the wooden bridge that led into the pine woods. Once in the for-est he would strike the path to the Lublin road. Several times Reuben turned about-face, muttered and waved his hand as if calling her, but Risha stood impassively. She had already learned he was a coward. He was only a hero against a weak chicken and a tethered ox.
As soon as Reuben was out of sight, Risha moved towards the fields to call in the peasants. She told them to pick up axes, scythes, shovels, explained to them that a mob was on its way from Laskev, and promised each man a gulden and a pitcher of beer if he would help defend her. Risha herself seized a long knife in one hand and brandished a meat cleaver in the other. Soon the noise of the crowd could be heard in the distance and before long the mob was visible. Surrounded by her peas-ant guard, Risha mounted a hill at the entrance to the estate. When those who were coming saw peasants with axes and scythes, they slowed down. A few even tried to retreat. Risha's fierce dogs ran among them snarling, barking, growling.
The rabbi, seeing that the situation could lead only to bloodshed, demanded of his flock that they return home, but the tougher of the men refused to obey him. Risha called out taunting them: "Come on, let's see what you can do! I'll cut your heads off with this knife-the same knife I used on the horses and pigs I made you eat." When a man shouted that no one in Laskev would buy her meat anymore and that she would be excommunicated, Risha shouted back: "I don't need your money. I don't need your God either. I'll convert. Immediately!" And she began to scream in Polish, calling the
Jews cursed Christ-killers and crossing herself as if she were al-ready a Gentile. Turning to one of the peasants beside her, she said: "What are you waiting for, Maciek? Run and summon the priest. I don't want to belong to this filthy sect anymore." The peasant went and the mob became silent. Everyone knew that converts soon became enemies of Israel and invented all kinds of accusations against their former brethren. They turned away and went home. The Jews were afraid to instigate the anger of the Christians.
Meanwhile Reb Falik sat in his study house and recited the Mishnah. Deaf and half-blind, he saw nothing and heard nothing. Suddenly Risha entered, knife in hand, screaming: "Go to your Jews. What do I need a synagogue here for?" When Reb Falik saw her with her head uncovered, a knife in her hand, her face contorted by abuse, he was seized by such anguish that he lost his tongue. In his prayer shawl and phy-lacteries, he rose to ask her what had happened, but his feet gave way and he collapsed to the floor dead. Risha ordered his body placed in an ox cart and she sent his corpse to the Jews in Laskev without even linen for a shroud. During the time the Laskev Burial Society cleansed and laid out Reb Falik's body, and while the burial was taking place and the rabbi speaking the eulogy, Risha prepared for her conversion. She sent men out to look for Reuben, for she wanted to persuade him to fol-low her example, but her lover had vanished.
Risha was now free to do as she pleased. After her conver-sion she reopened her shops and sold non-kosher meats to the Gentiles of Laskev and to the peasants who came in on market days. She no longer had to hide anything. She could slaughter openly and in whatever manner she pleased pigs, oxen, calves, sheep. She hired a Gentile slaughterer to replace Reuben and went hunting with him in the forest and shot deer, hares, rab-bits. But she no longer took the same pleasure in torturing creatures; slaughtering no longer incited her lust; and she got little satisfaction from lying with the pig butcher. Fishing in the river, sometimes when a fish dangled on her hook or danced in her net, a moment of joy came to her heart imbed-ded in fat and she would mutter: "Well, fish, you are worse off than I am. !"
The truth was that she yearned for Reuben. She missed their lascivious talk, his scholarship, his dread of reincarnation, his terror of Gehenna. Now that Reb Falik was in his grave, she had no one to betray, to pity, to mock. She had bought a pew in the Christian church immediately upon conversion and for some months went every Sunday to listen to the priest's ser-mon. Going and coming, she had her driver take her past the synagogue. Teasing the Jews gave her some satisfaction for a while, but soon this too palled.
With time Risha became so lazy that she no longer went to the slaughtering shed. She left everything in the hands of the pork butcher and did not even care that he was stealing from her. Immediately upon getting up in the morning, she poured herself a glass of liqueur and crept on her heavy feet from room to room talking to herself. She would stop at a mirror and mutter: "Woe, woe, Risha. What has happened to you? If your saintly mother should rise from her grave and see you she would lie down again!" Some mornings she tried to im-prove her appearance but her clothes would not hang straight, her hair could not be untangled. Frequently she sang for hours in Yiddish and in Polish. Her voice was harsh and cracked and she invented the songs as she went along, repeating meaning-less phrases, uttering sounds that resembled the cackling of fowl, the grunting of pigs, the death-rattles of oxen. Falling onto her bed she hiccuped, belched, laughed, cried. At night in her dreams, phantoms tormented her: bulls gored her with their horns; pigs shoved their snouts into her face and bit her; roosters cut her flesh to ribbons with their spurs. Reb Falik ap-peared dressed in his shroud, covered with wounds, waving a bunch of palm leaves, screaming: "I cannot rest in my grave. You have defiled my house."
Then Risha, or Maria Pawlowska as she was now called, would start up in bed, her limbs numb, her body covered with a cold sweat. Reb Falik's ghost would vanish but she could still hear the rustle of the palm leaves, the echo of his outcry. Si-multaneously she would cross herself and repeat a Hebrew in-cantation learned in childhood from her mother. She would force her bare feet down to the floor and would begin to stum-ble through the dark from one room to another. She had thrown out all Reb Falik's books, had burned his Holy Scroll. The study house was now a shed for drying hides. But in the dining room there still remained the table on which Reb Falik had eaten his Sabbath meals, and from the ceiling hung the candelabra where his Sabbath candles had once burned. Some-times Risha remembered her first two husbands whom she had tortured with her wrath, her greed, her curses and shrewish tongue. She was far from repenting, but something inside her was mourning and filling her with bitterness. Opening a win-dow, she would look out into the midnight sky full of stars and cry out: "God, come and punish me! Come Satan! Come As-modeus! Show your might. Carry me to the burning desert behind the dark mountains!"
6
One winter Laskev was terrified by a carnivorous animal lurking about at night and attacking people. Some who had seen the creature said it was a bear, others a wolf, others a de-mon. One woman, going outdoors to urinate, had her neck bitten. A yeshiva boy was chased through the streets. An eld-erly night-watchman had his face clawed. The women and children of Laskev were afraid to leave their houses after night-fall. Everywhere shutters were bolted tight. Many strange things were recounted about the beast: someone had heard it rave with a human voice; another had seen it rise on its hind legs and run. It had overturned a barrel of cabbage in a court-yard, had opened chicken coops, thrown out the dough set to rise in the wooden trough in the bakery, and it had defiled the butcher blocks in the kosher shops with excrement.
One dark night the butchers of Laskev gathered with axes and knives determined either to kill or capture the monster. Splitting up into small groups they waited, their eyes growing accustomed to the darkness. In the middle of the night there was a scream and running toward it they caught sight of the animal making for the outskirts of town. A man shouted that he had been bitten in the shoulder. Frightened, some of the men dropped back, but others continued to give chase. One of the hunters saw it and threw his axe. Apparently the animal was hit, for with a ghastly scream it wobbled and fell. A horrible howling filled the air. Then the beast began to curse in Polish and Yiddish and to wail in a high-pitched voice like a woman in labor. Convinced that they had wounded a she-devil, the men ran home.
All that night the animal groaned and babbled. It even dragged itself to a house and knocked at the shutters. Then it became silent and the dogs began to bark. When day dawned, the bolder people came out of their houses. They discovered to their amazement that the animal was Risha. She lay dead dressed in a skunk fur coat wet with blood. One felt boot was missing. The hatchet had buried itself in her back. The dogs had already partaken of her entrails. Nearby was the knife she had used to stab one of her pursuers. It was now clear that Risha had become a werewolf. Since the Jews refused to bury her in their cemetery and the Christians were unwilling to give her a plot in theirs, she was taken to the hill on the estate where she had fought off the mob, and a ditch was dug for her there. Her wealth was confiscated by the city.
Some years later a wandering stranger lodged in the poor-house of Laskev became sick. Before is death, he summoned the rabbi and the seven elders of the town and divulged to them that he was Reuben the slaughterer, with whom Risha had sinned. For years he had wandered from town to town, eating no meat, fasting Mondays and Thursdays, wearing a shirt of sack cloth, and repenting his abominations. He had come to Laskev to die because it was here his parents were buried. The rabbi recited the confession with him and Reuben revealed many details of the past which the townspeople had not known.
Risha's grave on the hill soon became covered with refuse. Yet long afterwards it remained customary for the Laskev schoolboys on the thirty-third day of Omer, when they went out carrying bows and arrows and a provision of hard-boiled eggs, to stop there. They danced on the hill and sang:Risha slaughtered Black horses
Now she's fallen To evil forces.
A pig for an ox Sold Risha the witch -- Now she's roasting In sulphur and pitch.
Before the children left, they spat on the grave and recited:
Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live A witch to live thou shalt not suffer Suffer a witch to live thou shalt not.
Translated by The Author and Elizabeth Pollet===싱거의 단편 <피>(Blood) 요약 및 평론
1. 요약
소설은 "살인하지 말라"는 계명 뒤에 "간음하지 말라"는 계명이 따르는 이유가 피에 대한 열망과 육체에 대한 갈망이 같은 뿌리를 두었기 때문이라는 카발라적 통찰로 시작된다
. 정직한 사업가로 존경받는 노인 레브 팔릭(Reb Falik)은 사나운 성격과 좋지 못한 평판을 가진 젊은 여자 리샤(Risha)와 재혼한다
. 리샤는 팔릭의 재산을 자신의 명의로 돌려놓고 실질적인 권력을 행사하며 평온했던 저택의 분위기를 바꾼다 . 그녀는 새로운 도살업자(slaughterer)로 타운에서 주점을 운영하는 루벤(Reuben)을 고용한다 . 리샤와 루벤의 첫 만남에서 루벤이 닭을 도살하며 보여준 잔인함과 민첩함은 리샤에게 기묘한 쾌감을 준다
. 두 사람은 곧 간통에 빠지며, 도살이라는 행위와 성적 욕망을 결합하기 시작한다 . 리샤는 루벤을 곁에 두기 위해 남편 팔릭을 설득해 대규모 도매 정육 사업을 시작하고, 루벤을 저택에 거주시킨다 . 두 사람의 타락은 가속화된다. 리샤는 직접 도살용 칼을 잡고 짐승을 죽이는 행위에서 극도의 희열을 느끼며, 루벤과 함께 도살장에서 사육제와 같은 음란한 행위를 벌인다
. 그녀는 부정한 고기(비코셔)를 거룩한 음식(코셔)으로 속여 팔며 공동체를 기만하고 막대한 부를 쌓는다 . 결국 이들의 부정한 행각은 한 청년의 목격으로 발각되어 마을 전체가 발칵 뒤집힌다 . 분노한 군중이 들이닥치자 루벤은 비겁하게 도망치고, 리샤는 남편 팔릭을 모욕하며 개종을 선언하고 기독교도로 위장해 위기를 넘긴다
. 팔릭은 충격을 받아 사망한다. 홀로 남은 리샤는 점차 미쳐가며 짐승의 울음소리를 흉내 내고 환각에 시달리다, 밤마다 마을을 습격하는 늑대인간(werewolf)과 같은 괴물이 된다 . 결국 그녀는 마을 도살업자들의 도끼에 맞아 처참하게 죽음을 맞이한다 . 세월이 흐른 후, 회개한 루벤이 마을로 돌아와 자신의 죄를 고백하며 죽음을 맞이하는 것으로 이야기는 끝을 맺는다 . 2. 평론
이 작품은 싱거 문학의 핵심적인 테마인 '인간 본성의 어두운 심연과 종교적 금기의 붕괴'를 가장 적나라하게 보여주는 걸작이다.
첫째, 육욕과 살욕의 동일성이다. 도입부의 카발라적 잠언은 이 소설을 관통하는 철학적 뼈대다. 리샤와 루벤에게 도살은 단순한 직업적 행위가 아니라 성적 에너지를 폭발시키는 전희(Foreplay)로 기능한다
. 싱거는 피를 흘리는 폭력성과 육체적 쾌락이 생물학적으로 한 끗 차이임을 묘사하며, 문명과 종교라는 얇은 외피 아래 숨겨진 인간의 짐승 같은 원시성을 폭로한다. 둘째, '코셔(Kosher)'라는 신성한 질서에 대한 기만이다. 유대 공동체에서 음식의 정결함을 지키는 것은 신과의 계약을 유지하는 거룩한 행위다. 리샤가 부정한 고기를 코셔로 속여 파는 행위는 단순히 상업적 사기를 넘어, 공동체 전체의 영적 정체성을 오염시키는 신성모독적 범죄다
. 그녀가 개종을 무기로 위기를 넘기고 끝내 짐승의 언어를 구사하게 되는 과정은 신성함으로부터 완전히 단절된 인간이 도달하는 허무의 끝을 보여준다 . 셋째, 정체성의 붕괴와 괴물화(Transformation)다. 리샤의 최후는 상징적이다. 도살의 쾌락에 탐닉하던 그녀는 결국 스스로가 도살당해야 할 짐승(werewolf)으로 전락한다. 이는 타자의 고통에 공감하지 못하고 파괴적 욕망에만 충실했던 개인이 겪는 필연적인 자아 붕괴를 형상화한 것이다. 그녀를 죽인 도구가 자신이 그토록 즐겨 다루던 도살업자들의 칼과 도끼였다는 점은 인과응보의 역설을 극명하게 드러낸다
. 넷째, 비겁한 남성상과 파괴적인 여성상의 대비다. 도살업자로서 위세를 떨치던 루벤은 위기 앞에서 비겁하게 도망치는 나약한 존재로 그려지는 반면, 리샤는 악마적인 에너지를 끝까지 발산하며 공동체에 맞선다
. 싱거는 이러한 인물 조형을 통해 선과 악의 구분을 넘어, 욕망이 주체가 되었을 때 발현되는 뒤틀린 생명력의 위력을 보여준다. 결론적으로 <피>는 이디시어라는 소멸해가는 언어의 리듬 속에 인간의 영원한 금기를 담아낸 서사다. 싱거는 종교적 전통이 사라진 자리에 남는 것은 문명화된 이성이 아니라, 피와 살에 굶주린 원초적인 괴물임을 경고하고 있다.
세진님, 이 소설은 싱거가 이디시어의 민담적 형식을 빌려 현대 인간의 실존적 공포를 얼마나 깊이 있게 파고들 수 있는지 보여주는 아주 강렬한 텍스트입니다. 영어판 제목 ****로 다시 읽으실 때, 그 서늘한 문장들이 주는 충격을 온전히 느끼실 수 있을 것입니다. 도움이 되셨기를 바랍니다.
===아이작 바셰비스 싱어 「Blood」
(일본어판 제목: 『不浄の血』)
1. 작품의 기본 성격
이 작품은 단순한 “불륜 이야기”가 아닙니다.
또 단순한 공포소설도 아닙니다.
싱어는 이 작품에서:
- 성욕
- 피
- 도살
- 종교
- 죄
- 탐욕
- 배신
- 디아스포라적 불안
을 하나로 결합합니다.
결과적으로 「Blood」는:
→ <유대 율법 세계 안에서 욕망과 죄가 어떻게 악마성으로 변하는가>
를 다룬 매우 강렬한 종교적·심리적 고딕 소설이 됩니다.
2. 이야기 구조
줄거리는 비교적 단순합니다.
부유한 유대인 지주 Reb Falik는 훨씬 젊은 여성 Risha와 재혼합니다.
Risha는:
- 강한 육체성
- 탐욕
- 공격성
- 성적 에너지
를 가진 인물입니다.
그녀는 어느 날 도살자(shochet) Reuben을 만나게 됩니다.
그리고 중요한 장면이 등장합니다.
→ 피 흘리는 도살 장면과 성적 흥분이 결합됩니다.
이 순간부터:
- 피
- 죽음
- 육체
- 욕망
이 서로 분리되지 않게 됩니다.
3. 핵심 상징: 피(Blood)
제목 “Blood”는 작품 전체의 핵심 상징입니다.
- 죄
- 희생
- 폭력
- 종교적 금기
를 의미합니다.
특히 유대교에서 피는 매우 중요한 종교적 의미를 가집니다.
코셔(kosher) 율법에서는:
- 피 제거
- 올바른 도살
- 정결
이 필수적입니다.
그런데 Risha와 Reuben은:
→ 바로 그 “정결 의식” 자체를 성적 욕망과 결합시켜 타락시킵니다.
이것이 작품의 가장 충격적인 부분입니다.
4. 도살과 성욕의 결합
싱어는 매우 대담하게:
→ 죽임과 욕망이 같은 충동에서 나온다
는 고대 종교적·심리적 관념을 사용합니다.
작품 첫 문장 자체가 이를 선언합니다.
“피에 대한 열정과 육체에 대한 열정은 같은 근원을 가진다.”
이것은 단순 도발이 아닙니다.
싱어는:
- 인간의 폭력성
- 성욕
- 지배욕
이 서로 연결되어 있다고 봅니다.
따라서 Risha는 점점:
- 도살 장면에서 흥분하고
- 피를 보며 욕망을 느끼며
- 살해 자체에 쾌락을 느끼게 됩니다.
결국 그녀는 단순 불륜녀가 아니라:
→ 파괴적 욕망의 화신
처럼 변합니다.
5. Risha라는 인물
Risha는 싱어 문학에서도 매우 강렬한 여성 캐릭터입니다.
그녀는:
- 육체적
- 탐욕적
- 지배적
- 잔혹하며
- 생명력 넘칩니다.
흥미로운 점은:
→ 그녀가 단순 악녀가 아니라는 점
입니다.
싱어는 그녀를 악마처럼 그리면서도 동시에:
- 살아 있는 인간
- 욕망하는 존재
- 억압된 충동의 해방자
처럼 묘사합니다.
그래서 독자는 그녀에게 혐오를 느끼면서도 동시에 끌립니다.
6. Reuben의 의미
Reuben은 단순 공범이 아닙니다.
그는:
- 종교 지식을 가진 도살자
- 코셔 규율의 담당자
- 신앙인
입니다.
즉 그는:
→ 정결 질서를 유지해야 하는 사람
입니다.
그런데 바로 그가:
- 간통하고
- 부정을 묵인하며
- 코셔 규칙을 깨고
- 탐욕에 굴복합니다.
이는 단순 개인 타락이 아니라:
→ 종교 질서 자체의 붕괴
를 상징합니다.
7. “코셔”의 전복
작품 중반 이후 Risha는:
- 비코셔 고기 판매
- 돼지고기 위장 판매
- 말고기 판매
- 종교 사기
까지 저지릅니다.
이 부분은 단순 범죄가 아닙니다.
유대 공동체에서 음식 규율은:
→ 공동체 정체성의 핵심
이기 때문입니다.
즉 그녀는:
→ 공동체의 영적 질서 자체를 파괴하는 존재
가 됩니다.
8. 악마성과 늑대인간 이미지
후반부에서 Risha는 거의:
→ 인간과 악마 사이 존재
로 변합니다.
특히 마지막의 “늑대인간(werewolf)” 장면은 상징적입니다.
중요한 점은:
→ 이것이 단순 판타지가 아니라는 것
입니다.
싱어 세계에서 악마성은:
- 죄책감
- 욕망
- 공동체 공포
- 종교적 상상력
이 결합된 결과입니다.
즉 Risha는 문자 그대로 늑대인간이기보다:
→ 공동체가 상상한 악의 화신
이 됩니다.
9. 디아스포라 유대 세계의 불안
이 작품 배경에는 동유럽 유대인의 역사적 불안이 깔려 있습니다.
싱어는 홀로코스트 이전 세계를 쓰지만:
- 박해 기억
- 종교적 불안
- 공동체 결속
- 정결 규율
이 매우 강합니다.
그래서 “부정함”은 단순 개인 죄가 아니라:
→ 공동체 전체를 위협하는 공포
가 됩니다.
10. 종교와 욕망
싱어는 종교 자체를 단순 조롱하지 않습니다.
오히려 그는:
→ 인간은 왜 금기를 필요로 하는가
를 묻습니다.
왜냐하면 욕망은 끝없이 확장되기 때문입니다.
Risha와 Reuben은 처음에는:
- 불륜
- 탐욕
- 작은 속임수
에서 시작하지만 점점:
- 사기
- 공동체 파괴
- 폭력
- 신성모독
으로 나아갑니다.
즉:
→ 죄는 스스로를 증식시킨다
는 종교적 관념이 작품 전체를 지배합니다.
11. 흥미로운 점: Risha의 공허
후반부의 중요한 변화는 이것입니다.
→ 결국 욕망도 그녀를 만족시키지 못한다
는 점입니다.
처음에는:
- 피
- 성욕
- 권력
- 배신
이 그녀를 흥분시키지만 결국:
- 무기력
- 공허
- 자기혐오
- 악몽
만 남습니다.
이 부분은 매우 도스토옙스키적입니다.
12. 세진님 관심사와의 연결
이 작품은 세진님이 관심 가진:
- 유대 역사
- 종교와 폭력
- 디아스포라
- 기억과 죄의식
과 깊게 연결됩니다.
특히 흥미로운 점은:
→ 공동체 정체성과 음식 규율이 연결된다는 점
입니다.
이는:
- 코셔
- 할랄
- 카스트 음식 규율
- 민족적 순수성 담론
등과 비교 가능성이 있습니다.
13. 문학적 특징
(1) 매우 감각적임
싱어는:
- 피 냄새
- 동물의 몸부림
- 육체의 무게
- 지방과 땀
을 매우 생생하게 씁니다.
읽는 사람이 거의 육체적으로 불편해질 정도입니다.
(2) 민속성과 심리 realism의 결합
악마·저주·늑대인간 요소가 있지만 동시에 매우 현실적입니다.
(3) 도덕극 구조
이 작품은 현대 심리소설이면서 동시에:
→ 중세 종교 도덕극
같은 구조를 가집니다.
14. 한계와 비판
(1) 여성 악마화 문제
현대 독자에게 Risha는 지나치게:
- 성적 여성
- 파괴적 여성
의 이미지로 보일 수 있습니다.
(2) 육체 혐오적 측면
작품은 때때로 육체와 욕망 자체를 악마화합니다.
(3) 공동체 시선의 폭력성
Risha는 실제 죄인인 동시에:
→ 공동체의 희생양
처럼 보이는 측면도 있습니다.
15. 전체 평가
「Blood」는 단순한 에로틱 고딕이 아닙니다.
오히려:
→ 인간 욕망이 종교 질서를 무너뜨릴 때 어떤 악마성이 탄생하는가
를 탐구하는 작품입니다.
싱어는:
- 육체를 혐오하면서도 집착하고
- 죄를 비판하면서도 매혹되며
- 공동체를 방어하면서도 그 잔혹성을 드러냅니다.
그 긴장이 이 작품을 위대한 단편으로 만듭니다.
16. 한 줄 평가
<「Blood」는 피와 성욕, 종교와 금기, 욕망과 죄책감을 결합하여 인간 내면의 악마성과 공동체 공포를 강렬하게 드러내는 아이작 바셰비스 싱어 특유의 유대 고딕 걸작이다.>
===
이 소설의 한국어 번역판의 제목은?
===
세진님, 공유해주신 아이작 바셰비스 싱거의 단편 가 포함된 한국어 번역본 정보를 안내해 드립니다.
이 소설은 국내에서 <적(赤)> 또는 <피>라는 제목으로 번역되어 출판되었습니다. 특히 싱거의 단편집 중 가장 잘 알려진 판본에서의 제목은 다음과 같습니다.
1. 주요 번역판 제목
<적(赤)>: 민음사에서 출간된 <바보 푸아와 그의 조상들 / 적(赤)> (세계문학전집 108)에 수록되어 있습니다. 이 판본은 싱거의 중단편을 엮은 것으로, 세진님께서 읽으신 의 강렬한 서사를 담고 있습니다.
<피>: 작품의 원제인 를 직역하여 여러 문학 선집이나 요약본에서 사용되는 제목입니다.
2. 작품의 상징성 (제공된 텍스트 기반)
소설의 시작 부분에서 작가는 이 제목이 함축하는 의미를 다음과 같이 제시합니다.
살인과 간음의 연결: 카발라 학자들의 말을 빌려, 피(blood)에 대한 열망과 육체(flesh)에 대한 갈망이 같은 뿌리에서 나왔음을 강조합니다.
계명의 순서: "살인하지 말라"는 계명 뒤에 바로 "간음하지 말라"가 따르는 이유가 바로 이 피와 육체의 상관관계 때문이라는 통찰을 담고 있습니다.
세진님께서 이 소설을 한국어 역본으로 찾아보신다면, 민음사 판본의 <적(赤)>을 찾아보시는 것이 가장 정확한 문학적 번역을 접하시는 길이 될 것 같습니다. 더 궁금하신 점이 있으시면 언제든 말씀해 주세요.
===
chatgpt
현재 확인되는 범위에서는 이 단편 「Blood」 자체가 한국어로 독립 번역되어 널리 출판된 기록은 보이지 않습니다.
즉:
영어 제목: <Blood>
일본어 제목: <不浄の血>
은 확인되지만,
→ 한국어 정식 번역 제목은 현재 일반적으로 알려진 표준 번역이 없는 것으로 보입니다.
만약 앞으로 한국어로 번역된다면 자연스럽게는:
<부정한 피>
<불결한 피>
<부정(不淨)의 피>
등으로 옮길 가능성이 큽니다.
다만 일본어판 제목 <不浄の血>를 그대로 따른다면:
→ <부정한 피>
가 가장 가능성이 높습니다.
흥미로운 점은 일본 번역자 西成彦가 원제 <Blood>를 단순 직역하지 않고, 유대교의 “정결/부정” 개념까지 강조해 <不浄の血>라고 옮겼다는 점입니다.
즉 일본어판 제목은 단순 “피”가 아니라:
코셔 규율
종교적 부정(impurity)
금기
죄
를 더 강하게 드러내는 해석적 번역입니다
===
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