"Connie Willis - Miracle and Other Christmas Stories" - читать интересную книгу автора (Willis Connie)

starting with Arthur Conan Doyle and his "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle," which involves a Chris
goose. Some of my favorite mysteries are Dorothy Sayers's "The Necklace of Pearls," Agatha Chri
Murder for Christmas, and Jane Langton's The Shortest Day: Murder at the Revels. My absolute favor
John Mortimer's comic "Rumpole and the Spirit of Christmas," which stars the grumpy old Scrooge
barrister, Horace Rumpole, and his wonderful wife, She Who Must Be Obeyed.
Comedies are probably my favorite kind of Christmas story. I love Damon Runyon's "Dancing
Christmas." (Actually, I love everything Damon Runyon ever wrote, and if you've never read him, you ne
go get Guys and Dolls immediately. Ditto P. G. Wodehouse, whose "Jeeves and the Christmas Spirit
"Another Christmas Carol," are vintage Wodehouse, which means they're indescribable. If you've never
Wodehouse either, what a treat you're in for! He wrote over a hundred books. Start anywhere.) Both Ru
and Wodehouse balance sentiment and cynicism, irony, and the Christmas spirit, human nature and h
endings, without a single misstep.
And then there's Christopher Morley's "The Christmas Tree That Didn't Get Trimmed," which was cl
written in reaction to Hans Christian Andersen's "The Fir Tree." Unlike Andersen, however, M
understands that the purpose of Christmas is to remind us not only of suffering but of salvation. His
makes you ache, and then despair. And then rejoice.
Almost all great stories (Christmas or otherwise) have that one terrible moment when all seems lost,
you're sure things won't work out, the bad guys will win, the cavalry won't arrive in time, and they (and
won't be saved. John Ford's Christmas Western, The Three Godfathers, has a moment like that. So does
Miracle of Morgan's Creek, and Miracle on 34th Street, which I consider to be The Best Christmas M
Ever.
I know, I know, It's a Wonderful Life is supposed to be The Best Christmas Movie Ever, with ten m
showings and accompanying merchandising. (I saw an It's a Wonderful Life mouse pad this last Christ
And I'm not denying that there are some great scenes in it (see my story "Miracle" on this subject), bu
movie has real problems. For one thing, the villainous Mr. Potter is still loose and unpunished at the end o
movie, something no good fairy tale ever permits. The dreadful little psychologist in Miracle on 34th Str
summarily, and very appropriately, fired, and the DA, who after all was only doing his job, repents.
But in It's a Wonderful Life, not only is Mr. Potter free, with his villainy undetected, but he has al
proved to be a vindictive and malicious villain. Since this didn't work, he'll obviously try something else
poor George is still faced with embezzlement charges, which the last time I looked don't disappear
because you pay back the money, even if the cop is smiling in the last scene.
But the worst problem seems to me to be that the ending depends on the goodness of the peop
Bedford Falls, something that (especially in light of previous events) seems like a dicey proposition.
Miracle on 34th Street, on the other hand, relies on no such thing. The irony of the miracle (and let's
it, maybe what really galls my soul is that It's a Wonderful Life is a work completely without irony) is th
miracle happens not because of people's behavior, but in spite of it.
Christmas is supposed to be based on selflessness and innocence, but until the very end of Miracle on
Street, virtually no one except Kris Kringle exhibits these qualities. Quite the opposite. Everyone, eve
hero and heroine, acts from a cynical, very modern self-interest. Macy's Santa goes on a binge right b
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Doris hires Kris to get herself out of a jam and save her job, John P
invites the little girl Susan to watch the parade as a way to meet the mother.
And in spite of Kris Kringle's determined efforts to restore the true spirit of Christmas to the ci
continues. Macy's and then Gimbel's go along with the gag of recommending other stores, not because
believe in it, but because it means more money. The judge in Kris's sanity case makes favorable rulings
because he wants to get re-elected. Even the postal workers who provide the denouement just want to get
stuff piling up in the dead-letter office.
But in spite of this (actually, in a delicious irony, because of it) and with only very faint glimmerin
humanity from the principals, and in spite of how hopeless it all seems, the miracle of Christmas occurs,
on schedule. Just as it does every year.
It's this layer of symbolism that makes Miracle on 34th Street such a satisfying movie. Also its scrip