Francuski fantasti na prijelazu 19. u 20. stoljeće

Kako bismo upotpunili članak o Black Coat Pressu, te vam približili nekoliko spomenutih pisaca, pronašli smo na webu nekoliko djela Rosnyja Ainea, Mauricea Renarda, Arthura Robide i Marcela Schwoba. Kao što smo rekli, riječ je o autorima koji su nezasluženo ostali zaboravljeni, a u čijim se pričama i esejima još i danas mogu promaći aktualne teme.

Rosny Aine pisao je uz SF vrlo često i romane s prethistorijskom tematikom (mogli bismo ga nazvati prethodnicom Jean Auel), pa je tako i njegova najpoznatija knjiga The Quest For Fire smještena u osvit ljudske rase. Helgvor of the Blue River je peta i zadnja Rosnyjeva prethistorijska pustolovina¹, koja je prvi put svjetlo dana ugledala 1930. Ovdje je donosimo u engleskom prijevodu i obradi poznatog pisca pulp avantura toga doba (najčešće o francuskoj Legiji stranaca) , Georgesa Surdeza, u verziji u kojoj se 1932. pojavila u legendarnom pulp časopisu Argosy. Ovaj časopis   je objavljivao sve žanrove, uključujući i prve priče Murrayja Leinstera, Rayja Cummingsa, A. Merritta i drugih velikana SF-a i fantastike.

The tribe had come from the East. It knew how to forge bronze and till the soil, while the men of the West still chipped stone instruments. The caverns sheltered two hundred warriors, as many adult women, three hundred children, few old people, for the race practiced the Law, which is to kill off the weak, and lived without blemish.
“To-morrow,” Urm went on softly, “three women and a warrior must perish! The Test of the Stones shall designate them.”
This dictate, passing from the highest cave to the lowest, reassured the women. The mountain had understood. The far-away drone slackened, the flames of the crater became almost invisible. The women and the old people returned to the shadows of the rocks. Urm remained alone with Glava, daughter of Wokr, who belonged to warrior Wam the Lynx. For the children are the property of the mother’s brother.

Albert Robida bio je vrstan ilustrator i karikaturist koji je ilustrirao i vlastita djela. Izdavao je dvanaest godina i vlastiti časopis Le Caricature, a osim po romanima o kojima smo već pisali, najpoznatiji je po svojoj futurističkoj trilogiji Le Vingtième Siècle (Dvadeseto stoljeće), inspiriranoj Julesom Verneom. Zanimljivo je vidjeti koliko je toga i dobro predvidio, a za razliku od Vernea Robida je pisao i o izumima koji su bili integrirani u projecirani razvoj društva dvadesetog stoljeća. Ovdje donosimo La Fin des Livres (Kraj knjiga), kolaboraciju Robide i Octavea Uzannea, danas zaboravljenog pisca, iz njihove zbirke Priče za bibliofile.  O tome kako su knjige pri kraju se pričalo već dugo, a mi danas imamo priliku prisustvovati transformaciji papirnih medija. Sada imate priliku pročitati kako su trenutno vrlo aktualnu temu Robida i Uzanne anticipirali još 1894. godine!

Ce fut, il y a deux ans environ, à Londres, que cette question de la fin des Livres et de leur complète transformation fut agitée en un petit groupe de Bibliophiles et d’érudits, au cours d’une soirée mémorable dont le souvenir restera sûrement gravé dans la mémoire de chacun des assistants.

Nous nous étions rencontrés, ce soir-là, — qui se trouvait être un des vendredis scientifiques de la Royale Institution, — à la conférence de sir William Thompson, l’éminent physicien anglais, professeur à l’Université de Glascow, dont le nom est connu des deux mondes depuis la part qu’il prit à la pose du premier câble transatlantique.

Na nesreću svih anglofonih čitatelja, ovaj tekst smo pronašli jedino na francuskom. Za utjehu, dat ćemo vam engleski uvod i enleski sažetak (te vas podsjetiti da Google Translate ovaj tekst može prevesti vrlo korektno!), i uputiti vas da svjedeno pogledate originalni tekst i Robidine prateće ilustracije, koje su važne kao i sam tekst, barem nama koji ih promatramo iz vremena Mp3 playera i pametnih telefona.²

Naposlijetku, evo i kratke priče Morphiel the Demiurge, simbolista Marcela Schwoba, koji je objavio šest zbirki priča i umro ne doživjevši četrdesetu. Svoja djela su mu posvećivali Paul Valery, Oscar Wilde i Jorge Luis Borges, i u njegovim pričama nalazili nadahnuće.

Morphiel, like the other demiurges, was called into existence at the word of the Supreme Being who pronounced his name. Straightway he found himself in the same heavenly workshop as Sar, Tor, Arochiel, Taouriel, Pthahil and Barokhiel. The head demiurge who ran the workshop was Avathar. They were all busy at building the world according to the designed models. Avathar gave Morphiel his share of earth, water and metal, and then put him in charge of making hair. Others molded noses, eyes, mouths, arms and legs. Barokhiel was responsible for monstrosities, so he deformed a certain number of the finished objects before submitting them to his boss Avathar.

Za ljubitelje teorije, završit ćemo čitanku sa esejom Maurica Renarda, On the Scientific-Marvelous Novel and It Influence on the Understanding of Progress. Ovaj rad je prvi put bio objavljen 1909. godine u časopisu Le Spectateur, i bavi se tada relativno novim žanrom kojeg je Renard nazvao Scientific-Marvelous.³ Dakle, kako su na SF gledali teoretičari koji su osobno prisustvovali njegovom nastanku?

The scientific-marvelous novel touches on a number of philosophical questions. And the readers of The Spectator will find, upon examining it, a most efficient application of experimental logic as well as an exemplary demonstration of the latter’s necessity and value. It therefore did not seem out of place for me to discuss the scientific-marvelous novel in these pages. I do apologize, however, for not being able to do so in a wholly acceptable fashion–i.e., by restricting my comments on it to only those aspects which fit the journal’s primary interests and by leaving aside those more literary-oriented observations which would, if discussed abstractly, only serve to cloud the issue. If it isn’t premature to discuss things at the moment when they have just come into existence, the scientific-marvelous novel is now ripe for critical study. The present times permit us to define it. The inevitable product of an era where science dominates but does not extinguish our eternal need for fantasy, it is indeed a new genre which has just come into its own. The Island of Dr Moreau of Wells and Derennes’ The People of the Pole, for example, furnish us with two rather typical examples…

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