Джон Стейнбек "Русский журнал"
Oct. 31st, 2011 11:32 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
maoriJohn Steinbeck "A Russian Journal" (на английском, бумага)
В 1948 году Джон Стейнбек и фотограф Роберт Капа совершили путешествие в Советский Союз, целью и результатом которого стал "Русский журнал".
О поводе Стейнбек говорит примерно так: после войны мы постоянно говорили о России, но ничего не знали об этой стране и о русских. Какие они? Что они едят? Что они одевают? Какие у них мечты? Поэтому мы решили поехать в Советский Союз и потом написать об этом. Мы не хотели давать оценок, а только описывать происходящее.
Это им удалось.
Книга не загружена пропагандой, хотя удивления или недоумения, или восторга скрыть не удалось. Лично меня поразило с какой точностью Стейнбек отмечает некоторые черты, моменты, события, которые на мой личный взгляд характеризуют то время: время Сталина, время после Второй Мировой.
Во время своего путешествия Стейнбек и Капа посетили Москву, Киев (и две деревни Шевченко), Сталинград и Грузию.
Эта книга не дала мне неожиданных открытий, но было очень интересно посмотреть на страну как бы со стороны, чужими глазами.
Later we went to visit the Lenin Museum. Room after room of the scraps of a man´s life. I suppose there is no more documented life in history. Lenin must have thrown nothing away. Rooms and cases are full of bits of his writings, bills, diaries, manifestoes, pamphlets; his pens and pencils, his scarves, his clothing, everything is there.
***
Neither of us had heard from home for a long time. Letters did not come through, and we decided we would try to telephone New York. This was very difficult, and we finally gave it up. One can telephone New York only if money is deposited to the Russian account in New York, in dollars. this would require that we telegraph some one in New York, say exactly the time we wanted to telephone, and exactly how long we wanted to talk. The cost of this would be computed and the dollars deposited in New York, at which time our telephone call could be put in from Moscow. But since this would take about a week or ten days to accomplish, we decided the simplest thing was just to continue to write letters, and to hope eventuelly to receive some.
***
.... Stalin. His portrait hangs not only in every museum, but in every room of every museum. ... The stores sell millions and millions of his face, and every house has at least one picture of him. ... He is everywhere, he sees everything.
***
More and more we were realizing how much the Russian people live on hope, hope that tomorrow will be better than today.
***
на Украине:
The breakfast must be set down in detail because there has never been anything like it in the world. First came a water glass of vodka, then, for each person, four fried eggs, two huge fried fish, and three glasses of milk; then a dish of pickles, and a glass of homemade cherry wine, and black bread and butter; and then a full cup of honey, and two more glasses of milk, and we finished with another glass of vodka. It sounds incredible that we ate all that for breakfast, but we did, and it was all good, but we felt heavy and a little sick afterward.
***
In America there are many hundrets of houses where George Washington slept, and in Russia there are many places where Joseph Stalin worked.
В 1948 году Джон Стейнбек и фотограф Роберт Капа совершили путешествие в Советский Союз, целью и результатом которого стал "Русский журнал".
О поводе Стейнбек говорит примерно так: после войны мы постоянно говорили о России, но ничего не знали об этой стране и о русских. Какие они? Что они едят? Что они одевают? Какие у них мечты? Поэтому мы решили поехать в Советский Союз и потом написать об этом. Мы не хотели давать оценок, а только описывать происходящее.
Это им удалось.
Книга не загружена пропагандой, хотя удивления или недоумения, или восторга скрыть не удалось. Лично меня поразило с какой точностью Стейнбек отмечает некоторые черты, моменты, события, которые на мой личный взгляд характеризуют то время: время Сталина, время после Второй Мировой.
Во время своего путешествия Стейнбек и Капа посетили Москву, Киев (и две деревни Шевченко), Сталинград и Грузию.
Эта книга не дала мне неожиданных открытий, но было очень интересно посмотреть на страну как бы со стороны, чужими глазами.
Later we went to visit the Lenin Museum. Room after room of the scraps of a man´s life. I suppose there is no more documented life in history. Lenin must have thrown nothing away. Rooms and cases are full of bits of his writings, bills, diaries, manifestoes, pamphlets; his pens and pencils, his scarves, his clothing, everything is there.
***
Neither of us had heard from home for a long time. Letters did not come through, and we decided we would try to telephone New York. This was very difficult, and we finally gave it up. One can telephone New York only if money is deposited to the Russian account in New York, in dollars. this would require that we telegraph some one in New York, say exactly the time we wanted to telephone, and exactly how long we wanted to talk. The cost of this would be computed and the dollars deposited in New York, at which time our telephone call could be put in from Moscow. But since this would take about a week or ten days to accomplish, we decided the simplest thing was just to continue to write letters, and to hope eventuelly to receive some.
***
.... Stalin. His portrait hangs not only in every museum, but in every room of every museum. ... The stores sell millions and millions of his face, and every house has at least one picture of him. ... He is everywhere, he sees everything.
***
More and more we were realizing how much the Russian people live on hope, hope that tomorrow will be better than today.
***
на Украине:
The breakfast must be set down in detail because there has never been anything like it in the world. First came a water glass of vodka, then, for each person, four fried eggs, two huge fried fish, and three glasses of milk; then a dish of pickles, and a glass of homemade cherry wine, and black bread and butter; and then a full cup of honey, and two more glasses of milk, and we finished with another glass of vodka. It sounds incredible that we ate all that for breakfast, but we did, and it was all good, but we felt heavy and a little sick afterward.
***
In America there are many hundrets of houses where George Washington slept, and in Russia there are many places where Joseph Stalin worked.
