Adam’s Address to Lazarus in Hell

At Lazarus’ death a number of holy men and prophets still lie in hell, waiting for Jesus to descend and deliver them; when they hear of Lazarus’ forthcoming resurrection, upon Adam’s initiative they decide to send a message to Jesus Christ through Lazarus. This message is the subject of Adam’s Address to Lazarus in Hell or Slovo na vos­kre­se­nie La­zarja. With some exaggeration, Adam’s Address has been compared to the much more famous Lay of Igor’s Campaign or Slovo o pŭlku Igorevě. This is partly justified by the reference in both poetical works to the ancient bard Bo­jan, but also by the dialogical structure of the text. In both compositions the main function of the address (or message) is a call to action – the struggle against the nomadic tribes in the Igor Lay, the striving for liberation from hell’s sufferings in Adam’s Address. An important parallel between the two texts lies in their rhythmic­ity, which accounts for the translator’s effort to render the original in free verse. In fact, there exists a tradition of such poetical interpretations, like Gruševs’kij’s translation into Ukrainian or Zen’kov­skij’s translation into English. Fundamental for the prepara­tion of the Italian edition of the Address, was Roždestvenskaja’s Russian edition; for this reason, in this book Roždestvenskaja’s introductionto the Address is fully reported in Italian translation. This short work contains philological information about the Address: specifically, on the dating, localiza­tion and titles (Russian zaglavija) of the existing manuscripts, on their best editions and translations. An essential bibliography on the Address appears at the end of the Nota informativa, which follows the introduc­tion. This book provides a transcription of the original Russian text together with a side by side Italian transla­tion. In Appendix 1 Roždestvenskaja’s and Gruševs’kij’s editions are compared. In Appendix 2 a few abstracts from the Gospel of Nicodemus (an Italian standard translation of the Greek version) are quoted in order to show the parallels between the two texts. At the same time, the author of this book points out the originality of the Address concerning Adam’s message to Jesus to be delivered by Lazarus.