"Leiber,.Fritz.-.Best.of.Fritz.Leiber" - читать интересную книгу автора (Leiber Fritz)

otherwise have done. Maybe IТll luck out.
LetТs first make a few remarks about the man himself, before going on to his
writing. They will be only a fewЧdespite the keyhole school of criticism, the
facts of a creatorТs life are not required for an understanding of his or her
work; or if they are, then that person has to that extent failed as an artist.
Fritz Leiber does employ a certain amount of autobiography hi his work, perhaps
more than any other maker of science fiction or fantasy. But heТs far too
skillful for you to need to know what the personal element is. Besides, he lets
you in on some of it himself, for your pleasure, in his afterword to the present
volume.
And I canТt claim deep knowledge of him in any event. We have been friends for a
long time, guests in each otherТs homes, and so on; but until recently,
geographical separation prevented frequent encounters, and we never happened to
strike up one of his extended correspondences which have delighted a number of
people. Therefore, a mere scattering of reminiscences and data:
I first met Fritz Leiber at the 1949 world science fiction convention in
Cincinnati. The author of such cornerstone tales as Gather, Darkness! and
Conjure Wtfe seemed even more awe-inspiring In person, towering, classically
handsome, altogether theatrical. The last of these qualities was not
deliberateЧrather, he was conventionally clad and soft-spokenЧbut he couldnТt
help it; personality will come through. He talked to me, a beginner with half a
dozen stories in print, as graciously as he did to the biggest-name writer or
editor present, or the humblest fan. Here УgraciouslyФ is used in an exact sense
which is best defined by an example.
From time to time we are all afflicted with bores or boors. Some of us give them
the brutal brush-off; most of us suffer them for a short while, then escape on a
mumbled excuse. Fritz Leiber has repeatedly been seen to listen to such
characters, respond to them, actively, sympathetically, and patiently enough
that they never suspect the toleration. He cannot have an enemy in the world;
instead, there is a worldful of people who all hope to be worthy of his
friendship.
It is etymologically wrong but psychologically right to define a gentleman as
one who is gentle, yet very much a man. Leiber has been a championship fencer
and a chess player rated Уexpert.Ф To see and hear him recite ChestertonТs
bravura УLepantoФ is an unforgettable experience. And, of course, in his writing
he has stared downЧ or laughed downЧdeath, horror, human absurdity, with guts
worthy of a Tetters, Kafka, or Cervantes.
Born in Chicago near the end of 1910, his father a famous Shakespearean actor
for whom Fritz was named, he grew up in the atmosphere of the stage, which
doubtless has a great deal to do with the highly visual and dramatic quality of
his work. But he took his degree in psychology, which also shows. Variously a
lay preacher, actor, college teacher of drama, and staff writer for an
encyclopedia, he tried free-lancing sporadically. His first published story
appeared hi 1939, in that lustrous and mourned magazine Unknown. During World
War II he reached a painful decisionЧthat the struggle against fascism was more
important than the pacifist convictions which he had long held, and still
doesЧand he accepted a job in aircraft production. Afterward, he was on the
staff of Science Digest for a dozen years. During all this time he acquired a
wife and son and, between dry spells which readers regretted, wrote a lot of the
best science fiction and fantasy in the business. Eventually he moved from