письмо роджера ллойда
В британском аукционном доме Mallams на днях будет аукцион с распродажей большой библиотеки, и помимо прочего они продают первое издание "Властелина колец" Толкина, а внутри книги - частное письмо о Толкине и его романе, написанное в 1950-х неким Роджером Ллойдом (кажется, неясно, кому).
Они выложили скан письма, и мне очень понравился этот вполне типичный старый добрый английский курсив. На первый взгляд выглядит безнадежно, но если приглядеться, то вполне можно прочитать. Попробуйте сами! Я расшифровал письмо ниже, оставив вопросительные знаки в нескольких местах, где не смог разобрать слова.
Кстати, насчет автора письма - уверен, что это Roger Bradshaigh Lloyd (1901-1966), англиканский священник и писатель; он опубликовал шесть книг в издательстве Allen-Unwin, о котором идет речь в письме. Вообще за свою жизньон опубликовал 26 книг (см. Википедию), и насколько я могу судить все они, и он сам, прочно забыты.
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1. Tolkien is not happy with his women. Goldberry is frankly tiresome. Galadriel not quite real. I've forgotten the name of the Amazon-princess who Aragorn [he means Faramir] married, which means she didn't interest me enough to remember it.
2. Gollum. Everybody seems to picture him differently. ?? thinks of him as a seedy ferret, ? Babington as a kind of seal, I as a frog run to seed. Actually he was a degenerated hobbit. Anyhow he's wonderful.
3. The evil is so intense and so real as to be really frightening; and, as someone said to me, there is no other book which makes you feel how slimy and revolting a thing evil really is. I think this most rare achievement is partly due to the fact that the dark Lord never appears in person. But where his ? runs the very earth stinks.
4. All the hobbits but one grow more and more real as the tale goes on. But Frodo gets more and more shadowy. Yes, of course, because he bears the Ring all the time which by its nature saps the vitality of all who touch it. This, I think, is a fine stroke.
5. I could have spared all the notes at the end. It seems to me a mistake even to pretend to try to anchor it to historic actualities.
But it is a tremendous book and I can't forget it. Philip Unwin, its publisher, and a friend of mine, told me that when the huge bundle of MS came, they were dismayed & at first refused to take the risk of publishing it. So Tolkien offered to cut it into 3 parts, & is then ? publish the first part separately, & then see how it went. A bit dubiously they agreed. The three volumes cost 21/- each. Six weeks ago they had sold more than 12,000 copies of each volume. By ? may be twice that, for it sells steadily. So you see! Yet, as a publisher's reader, I'm sure I should have reported, "Magnificent indeed, but you can't hope to do more than cover your expenses!"
? love
Your ?
Roger Lloyd
Они выложили скан письма, и мне очень понравился этот вполне типичный старый добрый английский курсив. На первый взгляд выглядит безнадежно, но если приглядеться, то вполне можно прочитать. Попробуйте сами! Я расшифровал письмо ниже, оставив вопросительные знаки в нескольких местах, где не смог разобрать слова.
Кстати, насчет автора письма - уверен, что это Roger Bradshaigh Lloyd (1901-1966), англиканский священник и писатель; он опубликовал шесть книг в издательстве Allen-Unwin, о котором идет речь в письме. Вообще за свою жизньон опубликовал 26 книг (см. Википедию), и насколько я могу судить все они, и он сам, прочно забыты.
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1. Tolkien is not happy with his women. Goldberry is frankly tiresome. Galadriel not quite real. I've forgotten the name of the Amazon-princess who Aragorn [he means Faramir] married, which means she didn't interest me enough to remember it.
2. Gollum. Everybody seems to picture him differently. ?? thinks of him as a seedy ferret, ? Babington as a kind of seal, I as a frog run to seed. Actually he was a degenerated hobbit. Anyhow he's wonderful.
3. The evil is so intense and so real as to be really frightening; and, as someone said to me, there is no other book which makes you feel how slimy and revolting a thing evil really is. I think this most rare achievement is partly due to the fact that the dark Lord never appears in person. But where his ? runs the very earth stinks.
4. All the hobbits but one grow more and more real as the tale goes on. But Frodo gets more and more shadowy. Yes, of course, because he bears the Ring all the time which by its nature saps the vitality of all who touch it. This, I think, is a fine stroke.
5. I could have spared all the notes at the end. It seems to me a mistake even to pretend to try to anchor it to historic actualities.
But it is a tremendous book and I can't forget it. Philip Unwin, its publisher, and a friend of mine, told me that when the huge bundle of MS came, they were dismayed & at first refused to take the risk of publishing it. So Tolkien offered to cut it into 3 parts, & is then ? publish the first part separately, & then see how it went. A bit dubiously they agreed. The three volumes cost 21/- each. Six weeks ago they had sold more than 12,000 copies of each volume. By ? may be twice that, for it sells steadily. So you see! Yet, as a publisher's reader, I'm sure I should have reported, "Magnificent indeed, but you can't hope to do more than cover your expenses!"
? love
Your ?
Roger Lloyd