PSALM 44 (15 page)

JOHN K. COX, 2012

1
.
“
Night and Fog,
”
trans. John K. Cox,
Absinthe: New European Writing
12 (2009): 94
–
133.

2
.
“
Seeking a Place under the Sun for Doubt,
”
in
Homo Poeticus: Essays and Interviews
, ed. Susan Sontag (New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1995), 186.

3
.
“
Life, Literature,
”
in Sontag,
Homo Poeticus
, 249.

4
.
“
Seeking a Place under the Sun for Doubt,
”
in Sontag,
Homo Poeticus
, 186.

5
.
“
Life, Literature,
”
in Sontag,
Homo Poeticus
, 249.

Ja, ja, ich verstehe
:
“
Yes, yes, I understand . . . But I don
’
t think she
’
s it. Too small. Her pelvis is like a child
’
s. But insofar as my esteemed colleague considers her sufficiently attractive . . .
”

Du, Abschaum!
:
“
You, scum!
”

mutan gemi
š
t, mongrel
: Ki
š
uses a highly unusual pejorative, which might be translated as
“
muddy mixture.
”

Let us pray
: Russian in the original:
“
Pomolimsja
!
”

Lama, lama
:
“
Why, why
”
in Hebrew and Aramaic. Probably a reference to the phrase uttered by Jesus on the cross, as recorded in Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34:
“
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
”

s
ome five hundred kilometers from Berlin
: the Serbian text actually locates Marija and
Ž
ana a rather unlikely five hundred kilometers
“
northwest
of Berlin.
”

on top of a hayrick
: Ki
š
has
“
on top / at the summit of [the] Hainkorn,
”
leaving his translator and editors to puzzle over whether this is meant to be a (misspelled or fictional) German mountain or else a pile of wheat hay (German
Einkorn
=
“
single-grain,
”
wild wheat).

DANILO KI
Š
was one of Serbia
’
s most influential writers and the author of several novels and short-story collections, including
A Tomb for Boris Davidovich
,
Hourglass
, and
Garden, Ashes
. He died in 1989 at the age of 54.

JOHN K. COX
is professor of history and department head at North Dakota State University. His translations include books
The Attic
and
The Lute and the Scars
by Danilo Ki
š
, as well as short fiction by Ki
š
, Ismail Kadare, Ivan Ivanji, Ivo Andri
ć
, and Me
š
a Selimovi
ć
.

Originally published in Serbian as
Psalam 44
by Globus, Zagreb, 1962
Psalam 44
by Danilo Ki
š
©
Librairie Arth
è
me Fayard and Danilo Ki
š
Estate.
Preface copyright
©
2012 by Aleksandar Hemon
Translation and afterword copyright
©
2012 by John K. Cox
First edition, 2012
All rights reserved

 
 
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ki
š
, Danilo, 1935-1989.
 
[Psalam 44. English]
 
Psalm 44 / Danilo Ki
š
; preface by Aleksandar Hemon ; translated and with an afterword by John K. Cox.
 
 
 
 
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-56478-762-0 (cloth : alk. paper)
 
1. Auschwitz (Concentration camp)
—
Fiction. I. Hemon, Aleksandar, 1964- II. Cox, John K., 1964- III. Title.
 
PG1419.21.I8P7713 2012
 
891.8
’
2354
—
dc23

2012013731

This translation has been published with the financial support of the Serbian Ministry of Culture

Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England

Partially funded by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, and the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency

www.dalkeyarchive.com

Cover: design and composition by Mikhail Iliatov

Printed on permanent/durable acid-free paper and bound in the United States of America