Tell Them of Battles, Kings, and Elephants by Mathias Enard

Author:Mathias Enard
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780811227056
Publisher: New Directions
Published: 2018-11-27T00:00:00+00:00

Michelangelo is screaming. It’s the seventh time he’s been tortured. They press a red-hot iron to his legs; the pain keeps him from smelling the stench of burnt flesh. With a pair of tongs, they tear off part of his breast, some shreds of skin from his thighs and shoulders; they break his left arm with a hammer. He faints.

They revive him by throwing buckets of ice water on him.

He moans.

He implores God and his torturers.

He wants to die; they won’t let him die; the Inquisitor pours acid on his wounds, he screams again, his body is nothing but one immense spasm, a stretched bow of suffering.

He can no longer even manage to groan, he is blind, everything is dark, painful, buzzing.

The next day they carry him to the stake, to a square brimming with people, people full of hatred, happy to watch the execution, shouting encouragements to the executioner.

He is overcome with fear, the panic fear of suffering and death when he approaches the pyre and he can hear the flames crackling beneath him, he is going to burn, he is burning, the noise of the blaze covers his desperate screams.

He wakes up in a sweat, his mouth dry, just before his ashes are thrown into the Arno.

It’s been a long time since he’s dreamt of Savonarola. Almost two years. The preacher’s death catches up with him sometimes, his face dilated by heat into an immense inaudible cry, his boiling eyes exploding, his outstretched hands where the bones show beneath the skin.

Michelangelo shivers; he stares into the night and breathes in desperately, as if to swallow the light.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.