Episode 07: Gog and Magog

Gog and Magog is an apocalyptic tale of war, narrating how barbaric tribes from the East invaded a Western kingdom that used to be protected by the armies of Alexander the Great. Pascoli wrote it as a “sad premonition for the future of mankind”, thus echoing fin-de-siècle anxiety over the end of Western civilisation.

In this episode, Elena Borelli discusses Gog and Magog with Maurizio Perugi and Ailise Bulfin. The poem starts at minute 30.

From Giovanni Pascoli, Convivial Poems. Translated by Elena Borelli & James Ackhurst. New York: Italica Press, 2022. Copyright 2022 by Elena Borelli & James Ackhurst. Used by permission of Italica Press.