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Genesis by
Juliette Benzoni in 1996
translated from French by Linda, Webmaster
2020
As I said in this very
place some time ago, the
development of a book often
stretches out in my home over
several years before it comes to
light. Probably because between
the moment of emotion from which
the first idea is born and the
realization, comes the
documentation, always very long
and sometimes, it must be
admitted, other ideas that seem
more pressing. I explained then
that the starting point of a
novel could be a landscape, a
moment in History, a legend, a
portrait, a painting, a castle.
Now I could add the enigmas of
History and the fascination of
precious stones.
AN IDEA
FOR TELEVISION
Some
fifteen years ago, one of my
friends, a great actor, full of
talent and very famous but whose
name I won't mention, suggested
to me the desire to write a
story for television -
preferably in several episodes -
in which he could be the hero.
He had only two wishes: modern
times and, if possible,
Venice. I admit it: the
Twentieth century didn't tempt
me very much, my preferences
turned more towards the
Middle Ages in France or
elsewhere.
But this great attraction
of my future hero for modernism
was easily explained: although
he was a sportsman, he did not
want to frequent those late ages
where only horses were known as
a means of transport, showing a
clear preference for the
automobile, the plane and the
comfort that followed. Having
then no idea, and therefore no
argument to put forward, I
agreed with his suggestion, all
the more willingly as with
Venice he offered my imagination
a beautiful compensation...
The Pectoral
of Moses
Therefore,
thinking that the spirit would
flow better around St. Mark's
Square, I went to seek
inspiration in the incomparable
decor of the Serenissima.
And I found it at the
Accademia dell'Arte, in
front of a painting by Titian
entitled The Presentation of
the Virgin in the Temple of
Jerusalem. It shows the High
Priest in a golden tunic of the
fabulous, legendary pectoral,
which God Himself, in the Book
of Exodus, tells Moses
what it should be:
You
shall make the breastplate
of the Judgment into a work
of art. It shall be square
and double; its length shall
be a yoke, its width shall
be a yoke, and you shall
garnish it with four rows of
stones. In the first row a
sardine, a topaz and an
emerald, in the second row a
carbuncle, a sapphire and a
chalcedony, in the third row
an opal, an agate and an
amethyst, and in the fourth
row a chrysolite, an onyx
and a jasper . And the
stones according to the
names of the children of
Israel shall be twelve. They
shall be for the Twelve
Tribes..."
From
what I have been able to read in
various books, it would seem
that Moses' pectoral had to
suffer from time and men and
that Solomon, in building
the Temple, restored it and
furnished it again with gems
brought by the caravans of the
Queen of Sheba. We might
as well say it right away, we do
not know what became of this
fantastic jewel more than likely
stolen by the Roman legions at
the time of the sacking of
Jerusalem. The stones were
scattered, but some authors
believe that several of them
adorned royal crowns.
Personally, I think that
it still exists somewhere well
hidden, buried perhaps and why
not in Israel since it was the
very symbol of the Twelve Tribes?
Anyway, I had my idea and it
would be the quest for four
stones that I chose among the
most beautiful: sapphire,
diamond, opal, and carbuncle
that I decided to replace by a
ruby in order to have a jewel of
greater value.
As for the legend that
Israel would regain land and
sovereignty when the pectoral
and its twelve stones return, I
have delved so deeply into my
subject that I am not sure if I
have read it somewhere or if it
has appeared in my imagination.
Indeed, although I am a
Christian - or more likely
because I am a Christian ! - I
have always felt curiosity and
respect for the great Jewish
traditions, their esotericism
and, of course, the Kabbalah.
Why the
project fell apart...
Back
in Paris I wrote almost without
breathlessly a thirty-page
synopsis that I submitted to
Claude BARMA.
Unfortunately,
this great television man died
and soon after the project fell
through. With the idea of making
a book out of it, I salvaged it
but, curiously enough and for
the first time in my life, I
couldn't make it. On reflection
I came to think that I wasn't
ready, that the story wasn't
ripe. Too focused on the small
screen. And I moved on while
continuing, for fun, to work
more or less on it in my spare
time, which is not often.
And then, one fine day, I
realized that I had a very
complete documentation, both on
the countries where I wanted to
place the novel and on the
historical path of the four
stones I wanted to highlight,
but, naturally, there were gaps,
holes that had to be filled in
the most logical, credible way,
and in the best possible way in
line with the events of the
European history.
I was then finishing
Les Treize Vents without
really knowing whether I would
follow them up or not. In the
meantime, I proposed Le
Boiteux de Varsovie to my
publisher.
Like the Tremaine saga,
it will be a tetralogy. Four
volumes whose respective titles
have already been chosen are The
Blue Star, which I am
pleased to present today, The
Rose of York, Sissi's
Opal and The Ruby of the
Inquisitor (n.b. - which
ultimately bears the name of
The Ruby of Joan the Madwoman).
It is indeed a completely
European novel. The Blue Star
begins in Venice,
continues in Warsaw and
then in Paris. The second
book, The Rose, which
could also have been called
The Bold Diamond, is set in
Scotland, London, Kent and
finally Venice. The
Opal, of course, will be set
in Austria, Bavaria...and
Venice. Finally, the
Ruby will go from Spain
to Prague via
Switzerland, Venice
of course with a return to
Poland. It may even be that
my hero will even go to the
United States ...
My hero, you're
discovering it now: Aldo
Morosini, a Venetian prince
ruined in World War I who
became an antique dealer to
guard his family palace. An
expert in historical jewels and
stones, he is the perfect choice
to embark on the dangerous
adventure that Simon Aranov,
the hunchback from Warsaw,
offers him... Women, of course,
there are many of them.
Seductive for most of them but
also dangerous, pitiful,
enigmatic or crystal clear,
between which the prince-antique
dealer will have to make his
choice one day. I would add that
each of the four stones
corresponds to a creature out of
the ordinary.
I don't want to tell you
more, my reader friends, so as
not to spoil a pleasure that I
wanted with all my might.
You are about to experience what
is at once a historical novel, a
« detective story » and a love
story, all of which I hope will
seduce you but also hold you
back.
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