早く文庫化を

ガルシアマルケスが亡くなったというニュースは各紙大きく取り上げています。不謹慎に聞こえるかもしれませんが、この悲しい知らせによって『百年の孤独』が文庫で出ればいいなと願っています。

昨日は創世記Genesisを取り上げましたが、『百年の孤独』を創世記と同じく人類が読むべきものと評した人もいたそうです。




HARI SREENIVASAN: You know, speaking of “One Hundred Years of Solitude,” you were one of the first reviewers of the book.

And then you’re famously quoted as saying, “The first piece of literature since the Book of Genesis that should be required reading for the entire human race.”

That is high praise. Why?

(LAUGHTER)

WILLIAM KENNEDY: Well, I kept reading the book, and I would say to myself, this is a classic work. This is a — and it kept going on.

And then I would say, by God, there’s an abundance of it. It just doesn’t end. And it’s a — it’s classic. It’s classic. And when I was finished with it, I was baffled as to how to review it, because it was so phenomenally impressive to me, that I — it — the story was so complex.

訃報記事などをまだ読んでいませんが、『百年の孤独』を読んだときの感激について語っているEsquireの記事には共感を覚えます。今までとは違ったように世界が見えるようになる、そんな体験は文学ならではでしょう。

GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ: WHAT I'VE LEARNED
The one man I wish I could have interviewed died yesterday. But his wisdom, collected here, will live on.
By Cal Fussman on April 18, 2014

I wish I could re-create the sensation that surged through me when I first opened One Hundred Years of Solitude at the age of 22. It was like looking at stars for the first time from an untouched spot in the middle of The Amazon or The Sahara. You realize in moments like those that the world offers a much deeper and more vivid experience than you could’ve possibly imagined. You’re in God’s mind.

I will never be able to know the combustion of that book and the age of 22 again. That pulsing of cosmic electricity and excitement only visits once. But I did figure out a way to do that What I’ve Learned. I journeyed through sites on the Internet to compile some wisdom originating in Gabo’s books and interviews.

What I’ve Learned, from Gabriel Garcia Marquezとして紹介されていたものをいくつか抜粋したものが以下です。

I don’t think you can write a book that’s worth anything without extraordinary discipline.

A true friend is the one who holds your hand and touches your heart.

All human beings have three lives: public, private, and secret.

******

Fame is very agreeable, but the bad thing is that it goes on 24 hours a day.

Fiction has helped my journalism because it has given it literary value. Journalism has helped my fiction because it has kept me in a close relationship with reality.

『百年の孤独』は日本語で読んだきりですが、ゴールデンウィークにでも積読になっている英語のPBでも読み直してみようと思います。