Marcello Potocco, Nacionalni imaginariji ... - Pedagoški inštitut

226Nacionalni imaginariji – Literarni imaginarijini izkušnji raziskovanja »ni le vzdržal«, a ne le pri njem; kajti neopisljivost– nezmožnost z opisom osmisliti izkušnjo – je atribut obeh avtorjev:Hearna, katerega slavni potopis si kot palimpsestni vir za pesmi jemljeNewlove, in pesnika-govorca v njegovem »sodobnem«, (o Hearnu)reflektirajočem stanju:The Indians killed twelve deer.It was impossible to describethe intenseness of the cold.Indijanci so ubili dvanajst jelenov.Nemogoče je bilo opisati,kako silovit je bil mraz.Apolog y for absence, 80, v. 15–17.2. One child is back from the doctor’s whilethe other one wanders about in dirty pantsand I think of Samuel Hearne /.../It’s Christmastime /.../No praise in merely enduring.2. En otrok se je vrnil od zdravnika; indrugi v umazanih hlačah pohaja naokoli,a jaz premišljujem o Samuelu Hearnu /.../Božič je /.../Nobene hvalnice, ko le vztrajamo.Apolog y for absence, 79, v. 1–10.V drugačen kontekst je postavljena zlasti najbolj razvpita epizoda izizvornega, leta 1795 objavljenega potopisa: uboj eskimske deklice, ki gaHearne opisuje takole:In a few seconds the horrible scene commenced; it was shocking beyonddescription; the poor unhappy victims were surprised in the midst of theirsleep, and had neither time nor power to make any resistance; men, women,and children, in all upward of twenty, ran out of their tents stark naked, andendeavoured to make their escape; but the Indians having possession of allthe landside, to no place could they fly for shelter. One alternative only remained,that of jumping into the river; but, as none of them attempted it,they all fell a sacrifice to Indian barbarity!The shrieks and groans of the poor expiring wretches were truly dreadful;and my horror was much increased at seeing a young girl, seemingly about eighteenyears of age, killed so near me, that when the first spear was stuck into