"Michael Moorcock - London, My Life or The Sedentary Jew" - читать интересную книгу автора (Moorcock Michael)

LONDON, MY LIFE! or THE SEDENTARY JEW
Michael Moorcock

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“I think it was good to be away from London for a while, both to taste the
south western air and to see home from a distance. I doubt if I’ll ever use
up my London history, as it were. Mother London, King of the City and the
short stories, including Jerry Cornelius of course, still haven’t used a
fraction of what I can draw on autobiographically, while my flying visits to
London help me keep up with what’s going on and the changes that are
happening. My new Jerry Cornelius novel, Modem Times, is set in London,
though it’s mainly retrospective. I think I’ve got quite a few London stories in
me—which I can intersperse with Paris stories, too!

“I’ve always liked the idea of the Wandering Jew since I first came
across Eugène Sue’s story (Le Juif Errant, 1844-45). And people of
Jewish origin frequently identify with the ideas of the wanderer—and of the
diaspora. I’ve always liked the idea, too, of a guy doomed to remain in
sedentary comfort for eternity—maybe the other side of the Jewish
character. So, wanting to do a book which was also a sort of mythological
history of London, the combination seemed ideal.”

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CHAPTER ONE

I am Cursed

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FOR MY SINS I have been married about two hundred times and to some
very nice women. With others, it didn’t turn out so good. But believe me
eternal life hasn’t been as hard as a lot of writers like to pretend. Generally,
I’d say the first four or five centuries are the worst, because you keep
expecting things to change and of course they don’t. You have to
appreciate the pleasures of repetition. I mean, if we didn’t enjoy repetition,
we wouldn’t like music, would we? Living forever has certain advantages,
but you have to get into the right rhythm. So yes it was the first few hundred
years which were hardest, when I made the mistake of falling in love and
then let boredom get the better of me.

After some two thousand years, you might suspect I’d seen it all, but
you never have seen it all, believe me. After a while, you start appreciating
the details. The little differences. Sometimes the big differences, too.
Plumbing, for instance, and rapid transport. As we went into the
renaissance, the enlightenment, the industrial revolution, things really did
improve. What’s more, women became prettier and smarter. Don’t get me
wrong, there were always smart women, but gradually large numbers of
them became confident. This meant a steady overall improvement in