This book is entirely in Esperanto.
This is a delightful collection of short stories in Esperanto. It appears on Auld’s Baza Legolisto. The stories that I enjoyed most were the one which felt like they were true to life or autobiographical.
There were a couple stories that were great, but more literary.
The cover my copy shows a magician performing an elaborate card flourish. I suspect that the Rossetti brothers knew a thing or two about magic.
There are some nice Esperanto in-jokes in the collection. For example, there is this bit of dialogue in La Tripieda Teruro.
Merlin pushed on his shoulder.
“Wake up! Get up! Jam temp' está!"
“Fundamenta Krestomatio! What time is it?”
The second line alludes to a quote from Zamenhof in proto-Esperanto. The third line is a reference to La Fundamenta Krestomatio. I like this kind of self-conscious tongue-in-cheek geekery in the stories. Earlier in the same story, Rossetti quotes some actual poetry of Maŭra (a.k.a. Gaston Waringhien):
Maro, zorga dommastrino,
faldas re kaj re, sen fino,
susure silkajn ondojn.
And here is an English translation of the poem:
Ocean, a dutiful housekeeper,
Folds again and again, endlessly,
the whispering silk waves.
This reference to other works, and tongue-in-cheek cultural referencing, helps create a sense of shared cultural heritage. At other times, in Katje La Modelino, Rossetti uses Esperantic culture to create a sense of loneliness and isolation.
“Now would be a good moment for a remark about the netuŝebleco de la Fundamento”, Francis said to himself, “If only these philistines would understand the Esperanto allusion!”
Published: Jul 12, 2024
Last Modified: Jul 12, 2024
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