明日の午後、華の都・東京で「東京闘牛の会 TENDIDO TAURO TOKYO」の2月定例会が催されるそうです。
発表者は『砂の上の黒い太陽 <闘牛> アンソロジー』の編者、林栄美子さんだということです。
その本の最後を飾っているのは ヘミングウェイの短篇「世界の首都」(大久保康雄訳)です。
原題は The Capital of the World です。世界に首都などあるわけがありません。つまり、華の都ということです。Madrid です。
Madrid is full of boys named Paco, ...
「マドリードはパコという名の少年で満ちている。[マドリードにはパコという名の少年がいっぱいいる]...」(スペイン語版では "Hay en Madrid infinidad de muchachos llamados Paco, ...")
という出だしで始まる この短篇は、その山ほどいる中の１人の Paco が 闘牛ごっこをしていて あっけなく 死んでしまう という物語なのです。
舞台は Madrid は San Jerónimo 街 にある Luarca という名のホテルです。
The story takes place in Madrid and follows Paco, a young waiter, and his desires to become a matador.
The story opens simply enough in the setting of the hotel called the Pension Luarca in Calle San Jeronimo.
All of the main characters of the story are set here. The main source of residency in the cheap hotel are second rate bullfighters, who for the most part were all great at some point, but some obstacle or circumstance had ended their career with no likely hope in sight. Of the bullfighter residents in the hotel there is one banderillero, two picadors, and three matadors. The other main characters in the story are three waiters, all with different things they planned to do the evening the story was set. Also included is the busboy Enrique, who contributes to the story's tragic end.
But before getting to the end, other things should be discussed. The story has a lot of backstories for all of the characters, each telling their almost consistently sad tale. Of the three matadors, one has prematurely ended his career because of being badly mauled in the ring, and is now afraid to go back in. The second one had done nothing to himself to hurt his career, but unfortunately he was constantly ill, only making appearances out of his room for meals. Finally, the third matador’s career had ended because his once original routine had grown old and people had lost interest.
The picadors and the banderillero’s stories aren't as detailed, but still existent. One of the picadors drinks himself to a stupor every night, while the other is a large man who is very argumentative and rarely gets work with a matador for very long. The banderillero is a middle aged man who, unlike most of the others at the hotel, still had a sufficient amount of promise. The other characters who come to the attention of the reader later in the evening have stories as well, especially Paco the waiter. The three waiters, all with different thoughts on their mind, get ready for serving dinner in the dining room.
The first one finds himself very anxious to leave early for the Anarcho-Syndicalist political meeting later that night, but Paco agrees to cover for him later on so he can leave early.The second one is a middle aged man with no real plans for the evening other than to serve tables for the night. Finally we come to the character of Paco. Paco inspires to one day become a bullfighter like the people he serves at the restaurant, which starts bringing us closer to the ending.
After the dining hours come to a close and people start leaving, Paco and the middle aged worker head back to the kitchen and start drinking a bottle of wine with Enrique, the bus boy. After the middle aged man leaves, Enrique starts talking to Paco about how dangerous bullfighting is, but Paco insists he wants to be a bullfighter someday. So to prove his point, Enrique gets a chair and puts knives on it, charging at Paco like a bull would. He was able to dodge the knives at first, but then after cheating death several times, his thigh is severed in the femoral artery, which empties extremely quickly. He soon dies, and the end of the story ends with a paragraph describing Paco's promise, but stating maybe his death was for the best. Since he died so young he never had to have lived without the hopefulness and naivety he brought to the grave. As the way the book stated it, he died "full of illusions."
(闘牛世界の) 華の都 Madrid の片隅で起きた (Paco という名はあるものの) 名も無き 一少年、夢淡き無名一少年の死を 皮肉たっぷりに冷徹に描いた短篇です。
落ちぶれた闘牛士､憶病者の闘牛士などの伏線があって、aficionado a los toros にとっては堪らない味わいを持った佳編となっています。
また、Anarcho-Syndicalist や Greta Garbo 主演の映画 Anna Christie が出て来たりして当時の雰囲気・現実味をしっかり醸し出しています。そういった何気ない背景等も見事です。
この物語の舞台となった San Jerónimo 街 (*Hemingway は最初
Calle San Jerónimo と誤って書き、最後の方では
Carrera San Jerónimo と書いていますが 正しくは
Carrera de San Jerónimo です) に Ernesto Mr. T は毎夏 宿をとります。若き日の 貧しき Ernest Hemingway が 泊まっていたのと同じ hostal の 同じ部屋にです。Ernesto Mr. T は viejo ですが 相変わらず pobre なのです。(
サン・へロニモ街の素敵な宿 Un hostal atractivo en la carrera de... )
* 大久保康雄訳の Valladolid を バラドリッド とするなどに比べれば大したことないかもしれません。Ernesto Mr. T は学生時代に この短篇を 大久保康雄訳の翻訳で読んだときよりも英語の原書で読んだときの方がずっと理解しやすかったことを今でも懐かしく思い出します。もちろん その頃は 将来 Valladolid でスペイン語を勉強するなど思ってもいませんでしたが。
なお、偶然ですが､この短篇に出て来る(文盲で)「病気のマタドール (The matador who was ill)」が持っている新聞の幾つかの切り抜きには、"in his debut he had been better than Belmonte." とあります。
明日の「東京闘牛の会」の2月定例会では、上記・林栄美子さんの昨年度の闘牛観戦報告の後､Manuel Chavez Nogales 著 JUAN BELMONTE ： MATADOR DE TOROS SU VIDA Y SUS HAZAÑAS の中の 第11章 JOSELITO を用い、勉強会が開かれるそうです。
Belmonte と Joselito と言えば、昨年 Las Ventas の壁に以下のような プレートが飾られました。(世界最高の闘牛誌 6TOROS6 の第954号 [p.7] からの切り抜きです。)
皆さん､華の都の「東京闘牛の会」の更なる発展を共に御祈りしましょう。そして ホームページの早期 ¿復活?も。(貴会のホームページを拝見したことがありませんので どういうものであったか 全く分りませんが。)
ご意見、ご質問等ございましたら、<ernestotaju@yahoo.co.jp> へ。
P.D. これも単なる偶然ですが､今日(2月８日)の聖人は San Jerónimo でした。
p.d. 2: 次のページで The Capital of the World のスペイン語版全文を読むことが出来ます。
P.D. 3: 次のページには Madrid の古き良き日の写真が満載です。
http://ibytes.es/blog_Historia_de_Madrid_fotografias_1907-1965.html
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(2001、
