Horse talk (Grossman - V gorode Berdicheve)

[Olga Meerson]

Astonishing and human are synonyms here, because of
the function of the comma in Russian. What is
astonishing about this language is not that it is
Polish or anything else but that it is human! What
it seems to mean is that, given the purpose of their
arrival in town (yet another invasive massacre when
the local population is, yet again, not treated like
fellow-humans), the fact that they use a normal
human language and, in that, linguistic respect seem
to be like any other human being, indeed, even like
their victims, is indeed astonishing. All those
connotations seem to liken all the invading regimes,
with their respective tongues, as inhuman. So when
their murderous representatives use a human
language, their victims (whose point of view is
implicitly assumed here) are indeed astonished!
o

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