Malle, Paul Henri

Malle was born and educated in Geneva . In 1752, he was appointed professor of literature at the Copenhagen Academy and received the position of mentor to the Crown Prince ^[1] - the future Danish King Christian VII . There he was carried away by the ancient literature and history of Denmark, resulting in a two-volume: “Introduction to the history of Denmark or an Essay on the religion, laws, customs and customs of the ancient Danes” ( Introduction à L'histoire du Danemarch où l'on traite de la religion, des moeurs , des lois, et des usages des anciens Danois , 1755 ) and “Monuments of mythology and poetry of the Celts, especially the ancient Scandinavians” ( Monuments de la mythologie et de la poesie des Celtes, et particulierement des anciens Scandinaves , 1756 ).

In 1753 - 1758 Malle edited the Danish Mercury magazine (Mercure Danois), published in Geneva, in which he introduced his compatriots to the political and cultural life of the North.

In 1760 he returned to Geneva and became a professor of history there ^[1] . Catherine II invited him to become the tutor of the prince, later Emperor Paul I , but Malle refused.

Malle highly esteemed Montesquieu , and his gaze on the North was based on the famous words of the philosopher about the origin of English freedom from the forests of Germany, as well as on his other words about the powerful virtues generated by the climate of the North (“ Spirit of Laws ”, 14, 2). Malle believed that although the originally genuine monotheism of prehistoric times was nowhere clean, he left most of his tracks in the North, where the climate pacified passions.

Here is how Malle portrayed the peoples of the North: full-blooded people, with strong and sedentary fibers, full of passion, if ignited, otherwise phlegmatic and indifferent, indomitable in relation to arbitrary authority, open, sometimes even generous thanks to self-esteem, full of disgust for everything that requires more perseverance than activity. War alone gave them the excitement these people needed. These properties defined religion, laws, prejudices and enthusiasm of northerners; Malle, continuing Tacitus , believed that the peoples of the North and South are deeply different in their attitude towards women and, probably, the Northerners most contributed to the spread of the spirit of moderation and nobility in dealing with women, in short, the spirit of chivalry and chivalry throughout Western Europe, which was claimed there simultaneously with the hordes of Scandinavians settled there. From the confusion of the winners with the vanquished, arose, according to Malle, the mores and spirit that still rule Europe today.

The Malle program, formulated in the introduction, said: to tell about the affairs of peoples, princes, conquerors and legislators, not knowing their character, the spirit that animated them, would mean to have only the skeleton of history, to see in the darkness only dark and confusing shadows instead to live with people and talk to them. “ No matter how the most gullible writer was devastated by the miraculous in the history of his century or distorted it, he nevertheless draws it without noticing it.”

In the second volume, he collected the most interesting, from his point of view, Scandinavian sagas, and in the preface he admitted that his knowledge in the Old Icelandic dialect is imperfect and therefore when translating, he used not so much ancient literary monuments as modern Latin, Danish and Swedish ones arrangements. The Swiss scientist supplied his arrangements with a detailed commentary.

Skull Bowl Image

His book contained a translation (partially retelling) from “ Younger Edda ”, and from “ Elder Edda ” - songs “ Divination of the Völva ”, “ Speech of the High ” and “Song of Wegtam” (“Dreams of Balder”). In the last section of the book, Malle cited samples of the skalds' lyrics and later ballads close to them in genre terms. It also contains Malle's own translation from The Knitting Saga - Songs of the Norwegian Knight Harald the Brave (Malle - “Bouncy”), which was translated into Russian by N. A. Lvov , I. F. Bogdanovich , N. M. Karamzin and K. N. Batyushkov ^{[2] [3] [4]} .

With this translation, Malle gained distribution in such a popular image in literature, and in particular among pre-romantics and romantics as the “skull bowl”, who were impressed by Malle's message that the heroes of Einheria who had fallen in battles in the Odin’s palace were supposedly drinking honey (or even blood) from the skulls of dead enemies. However, this idea is based on Malle's inaccurate translation: in “Songs of Kraki” Ragnar Lodbrock , about to move to Valhalla , states literally the following: “Soon we will drink honey from the bent trees of the beast’s forehead (that is, from the horns) in Fjöllnir’s house (in Valhalle). The brave are not afraid of death ” ^[5] . Thus, the source of the “bowl of the skull” is not the Old Norse sagas themselves, but their incorrect translation of Malle into French ^[6] .

Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, Malle's works were practically the only and most accessible source of knowledge about ancient Scandinavia and the customs of its peoples in Europe; it influenced the formation of interest in Scandinavian history and mythology, folk art ^[7] . Excerpts from the “runic poetry” with which Malle concluded his work were translated by Thomas Percy ^[8] , Thomas Gray , G. Gerstenberg and F. G. Klopstock , some influence of his works on McPherson ^{[9] [10]} is noted.

In 1765, a German translation of "Introduction to the History of Denmark" appeared. Herder noted in this connection that she could become an “arsenal of German genius”, since he considered Edda, on the one hand, a monument of mythology and religion, and on the other - an example of ancient poetry. This poem, in his opinion, could give an impetus to the development of poetry more natural for the Germans than the mythology of the Romans. True, later, having better become acquainted with the sources on which Malle was based, the German thinker appreciated the embellishments of the Genevets much more critically ^[11] .

• Histoire du Danemarch (3 vols., Copenhagen, 1758–1777)
• Histoire de la maison de Hesse (4 vols., 1767–1785)
• Histoire de la maison de Brunswick (4 vols., 1767–1785)
• Histoire de la maison et des etats du Mecklenbourg (1796)
• Histoire des Suisses ou Helvetiens (4 vols., Geneva, 1803)
• Histoire de la ligue hanseatique (1805)
• The Danish history of Mr. Mallett, translated from a French student by Fedor Moiseenkov, parts 1-4, St. Petersburg, 1777-1786. Publication of "A collection trying to translate foreign books." Circulation 600 copies.
• The song of the Norwegian hero Harald the Brave, from the ancient Icelandic chronicle of the Knitting saga by Mr. Mallet, written out and placed in Danish history, is translated into Russian by the image of an ancient poem with the example "No Star Shines Far in the Open Field". SPb., 1793.

• Kuznetsova E. V. The image of the “bowl of the skull” in the poetry of Russian modernism // Bulletin of the Russian State Humanitarian University History. Philology. Culturology. Oriental Studies 2017 №02 (23). M .: Publishing center of the Russian State Humanitarian University. - 156 p. - ISSN 2073-6355.
• Meinecke F. Malle / Historical Thinking in France during and after Voltaire and Montesquieu // The Emergence of Historicism. - M .: ROSSPEN, 2004 .-- S. 149 - 151. - 479 p.

• Sharypkin D.M. Scandinavian literature in Russia. L .: Science, 1980.