"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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тАЬI 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 IтАЩll 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 havenтАЩt used a
fraction of what I can draw on autobiographically, while my flying visits to
London help me keep up with whatтАЩs going on and the changes that are
happening. My new Jerry Cornelius novel, Modem Times, is set in London,
though itтАЩs mainly retrospective. I think IтАЩve got quite a few London stories in
meтАФwhich I can intersperse with Paris stories, too!

тАЬIтАЩve always liked the idea of the Wandering Jew since I first came
across Eug├иne SueтАЩs story (Le Juif Errant, 1844-45). And people of
Jewish origin frequently identify with the ideas of the wandererтАФand of the
diaspora. IтАЩve always liked the idea, too, of a guy doomed to remain in
sedentary comfort for eternityтАФmaybe 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.тАЭ

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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 didnтАЩt turn out so good. But believe me
eternal life hasnтАЩt been as hard as a lot of writers like to pretend. Generally,
IтАЩd say the first four or five centuries are the worst, because you keep
expecting things to change and of course they donтАЩt. You have to
appreciate the pleasures of repetition. I mean, if we didnтАЩt enjoy repetition,
we wouldnтАЩt 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 IтАЩd 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. WhatтАЩs more, women became prettier and smarter. DonтАЩt get me
wrong, there were always smart women, but gradually large numbers of
them became confident. This meant a steady overall improvement in