Ирландские чудные сказания
Додо Пресс (2018)
ISBN:
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Джеймз Стивенз (1880–1950) — ирландский прозаик, поэт и радиоведущий «Би-би-си», классик ирландской литературы ХХ века, знаток и популяризатор ирландской языковой традиции. Стивенз подарил нам пять романов (всего один переведен на русский — «Горшок золота», 1912), три авторских сборника сказок, россыпь малой прозы и невероятно разнообразной поэзии. Стиль Стивенза не спутаешь ни с чьим другим: он ироничен, невероятно богат и щедр — и пронизан бездонной ирландской историей и музыкой языка. Стивенз близко дружил с великим Джорджем У. Расселлом, а Джеймз Джойс вообще звал Стивенза писать вместе «Finnegans Wake» (но в итоге справился сам). Джеймз Стивенз в целом скорее из «когорты Джойса» — яркий смелый модернист, умный наблюдательный сатирик, лирический поэт — но его приверженность ирландской литературной традиции, глубокое знание языка и сильное национальное чувство создали для него уникальное место в ирландской и мировой литературе ХХ века.
«Ирландские чудные сказания» (1920) — сборник из десяти ирландских средневековых текстов в переосмыслении Стивенза. В коллекцию попали преимущественно истории из фенийского цикла, но не только. Настоящий ценитель и хранитель древних голосов своего народа, Стивенз бережно и при этом живо и искрометно переложил эти фантасмагории на более понятный нам современный язык, сохранив поэзию устной разговорной речи, какую, наверное, слышали ирландские холмы в незапамятные времена. Эта книга — приключение в недостижимой ныне действительности богов, королей и героев, которая когда-то была нам, теперь обычным людям, родной.
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ENG
About the Author
James Stephens (1980–1950) was an Irish novelist and poet. By the early 1900s James was increasingly inclined to socialism and the Irish language (he could speak and write Irish) and by 1912 was a dedicated Irish Republican. He was a close friend of the 1916 leader Thomas MacDonagh, who was then editor of "The Irish Review", manager of the Irish Theatre and deputy headmaster in St Enda's, the radical bilingual Montessori school run by PH Pearse, and spent most with MacDonagh in 1911. His growing nationalism brought a schism with his adopted family.
James Stephens produced many retellings of Irish myths and fairy tales. His retellings are marked by a rare combination of humour and lyricism (Deirdre, and Irish Fairy Tales are often especially praised). He also wrote several original novels (Crock of Gold, Etched in Moonlight, Demi-Gods) based loosely on Irish fairy tales. "Crock of Gold," in particular, achieved enduring popularity and was reprinted frequently throughout the author's lifetime. Stephens began his career as a poet with the tutelage of "Æ" (George William Russell). His first book of poems, "Insurrections," was published in 1909. His last book, "Kings and the Moon" (1938), was also a volume of verse. During the 1930s, Stephens had some acquaintance with James Joyce, who mistakenly believed that they shared a birthday. Joyce, who was concerned with his ability to finish what later became Finnegans Wake, proposed that Stephens assist him, with the authorship credited to JJ & S (James Joyce & Stephens, also a pun for the popular Irish whiskey made by John Jameson & Sons). The plan, however, was never implemented, as Joyce was able to complete the work on his own.
About the Russian edition of Irish Fairy Tales
James Stephens is vaguely known to Russian audience thanks to the publication of bits and pieces of Irish Fairy Tales collection in the early 2000's, and to the fan web-translation of The Crock of Gold. The aim of this edition is to present full professional translation of this deeply poetic and amazing example of Irish Modernism in literature, as well as to use these rich and colorful texts to offer Russian readers abundant historical and cultural material related to the Irish Medieval Age and literature of that period.