Stalin and Belshazzar

[Olga Meerson]

The etymology is of interest here: being Babylonian, the Bel may easily be related to Baal. As he is Nebuchadnezzar's son, his pagan arrogance in persisting as an idolater is well attested by Daniel. False gods are not merely that but specifically connected to bloody human sacrifices, including those of children--a topic most relevant and significant for Kotlovan. Iskander merely picks up on popular symbolism inevitably connecting the arrogant Babylonian tyrant whose kingdom will end imminently, to all the modern tyrants, pre- or post-revolutionary, Stalin, Hitler or many of their contemporary "wannabes". What matters is not whether Iskander's image is classical or his innovation but that, even if it is an innovation, its referent and significance are self-evident for everyone hearing about the equation. The equation of Stalin (Hitler) is immediately relevant and naturally recognizeable for anyone hearing about it, even for the first time--just as the names Nebuchadnezzar, Be
lshazzar (Baltasar), or, even more obviously, Babel / Babylon, conjure up the tyranny of idolatry in terms immediately and archetypally applicable to very different epochs when people sense the tyrant's idolatrous and cannibalistic tendencies in his customary hedonism. 
As for our earlier discussion about the yellow-eyed peasant writing on his own coffin with his "pointing finger" (izobrazitel'nyj palets, rather than index finger, ukazatel'nyj palets), writing with a finger on the verge of death,l and on one's own coffin, tends to be prophetic--foretelling an imminent death, fall from glory, or a more general appeal to the heavenly Book of Destinies.  Jesus also writes on the sand with His finger as He is about to face the woman taken in adultery and her self-righteous accusers (beg. of John 8, finger, in verse 6). The only thing that complicates the symbolism here (thereby enhancing it) is the question as to whose destiny is being prophesied--that of the woman or that of her self-righteous accusers? But the very complexity of this symbolism's referent only stresses its archetypal nature: the accusers want Him to pronounce judgment but He refuses to judge the way men do (verse 16 explains vs. 15), so His writing on the sand with His finger 
symbolizes that He judges in ways that people do not. His is indeed and izobrazitel'nyj palets, not merely an ukazatel'nyj.
o.m. 

 
----- Original Message -----
From: Robert Chandler <kcf19 at DIAL.PIPEX.COM>
Date: Friday, February 1, 2008 3:21 am
Subject: [SEELANGS] Stalin and Belshazzar

> Dear all,
> 
> Stalin has certainly more than once been identified with 
> Belshazzar; Fazil
> Iskander¹s novel Sandro of Chegem, contains a fine chapter titled
> ?Belshazzar's Feasts¹, in which the hero, a prominent member of an 
> Abkhaziandance troupe, meets Stalin at a banquet in Abkhazia in the 
> 1930¹s.
> Does anyone know of other times this identification has been made?  
> I would
> be especially interested if anyone knows of any instances, oral or 
> written,from the early 1930s.
> 
> Best wishes,
> 
> Robert
> 
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