"Thomas M. Disch M. - Come to Venus Melancholy" - читать интересную книгу автора (Disch Thomas M)

solitude. I invoke MiltonтАЩs lovely Melancholy, and then everything
is better. The beasts quiet down. Eurydice is set free again. Hell
freezes over. Ha!
 But thatтАЩs a lot of nonsense. LetтАЩs not talk always about me.
LetтАЩs talk about you. Who are you? What are you like? How long
will you be staying here on Venus? Two days weтАЩve been together
and still I know nothing about you.
Shall I tell you what I imagine you to be like? YouтАЩre
tallтАФthough I hope not so tall as to find that low room
uncomfortableтАФwith laughing blue eyes and a deep spacemanтАЩs
tan. YouтАЩre strong yet gentle, gay yet basically serious. YouтАЩre
getting rather hungry.
And everywhere you go you leave little green slugs behind you
that look like runny lime Jell-O.
Oh hell, excuse me. IтАЩm always saying excuse me. IтАЩm sick of
it. IтАЩm sick of half-truths and reticences.
Does that frighten you? Do you want out already? DonтАЩt go
nowтАФIтАЩve just begun to fight. Listen to the whole story, and
thenтАФmaybeтАФIтАЩll unlock the door.
By the way, in case you are getting hungry there may still be
some rations left down in the storeroom. I donтАЩt want it to be said
that IтАЩm lacking in hospitality. IтАЩll open the trapdoor and turn on
the light, but youтАЩll have to look for them yourself. Of course,
youтАЩre worried that IтАЩll lock you in down there. Well, I canтАЩt
promise that I wonтАЩt. After all, how do I know youтАЩre not John? Can
you prove it? You canтАЩt even prove you exist!
IтАЩll leave the trapdoor open in case you should change your
mind.
For my next number IтАЩd like to do Il Penseroso by John Milton.
Quiet down, caterpillars, and listen. ItтАЩs the finest poem in the
language.


How about that? Makes you want to go right out and join a
Trappist monastery, doesnтАЩt it? ThatтАЩs what John once said.
 IтАЩll say one thing for John: he never tattled. He could have had
me taken away and turned to scrap. All he had to do was give the
word when the ship came down to pick up the slugs, but when
there was company he could always put a good face on things. He
was a gentleman in every sense of the word.
How did it happen thenтАФif he was a gentleman and I was a
lady? Whose fault was it? Good God, IтАЩve asked myself that
question a hundred times. It was both our faults and neitherтАЩs. It
was the fault of the situation.
I canтАЩt remember now which of us was the first to start
talking about sex. We talked about everything that first year, and
sex is very much a part of everything. What harm could there be in
it, after all, with me sealed in a steel tank? And how could we avoid
the subject? HeтАЩd mention an old girlfriend or tell a slightly shady
joke, and IтАЩd be reminded of something by degreesтАж