Waiting for Robert Capa. Susana Fortes
Чтение книги онлайн.

Читать онлайн книгу Waiting for Robert Capa - Susana Fortes страница 11

Название: Waiting for Robert Capa

Автор: Susana Fortes

Издательство: HarperCollins

Жанр:

Серия:

isbn: 9780007445547

isbn:

СКАЧАТЬ her old friend from Leipzig.

      “We need someone to type the text to the manifesto in French, English, and German,” he said, taking a seat next to her on the pavement. “The more intellectuals we can gather the better. We have to make this congress a success.” He was referring to the International Congress of Writers for the Defense of Culture, which was to be held in Paris in the early fall. Erwin took his time rolling a cigarette between his fingers, then wetting the paper with his lips to seal it. “Aldous Huxley and Forster have already confirmed their attendance,” he added, “as well as Isaac Babel and Boris Pasternak from the USSR. Representing us will be Bertolt Brecht, Heinrich Mann, and Robert Musil, from Austria. The Americans still haven’t confirmed … It’s important that this document reaches everyone, Gerta, each one of them, in their own language. Can we count on you for this?”

      “Of course,” she said. She took a sip of her vodka drink, allowing the alcohol to find its way into her veins, passing through her heart and up to her brain. She found it tasted harsh, mixed with the tobacco. Brushing a patch of hair off her forehead, she looked out into the sky. Like just another sentry in the night, Saint-Germaindes-Prés’ thousand-year-old abbey and its Romanesque bell tower stood tall, framed in black.

      In recent weeks, the surrealists’ controversies had shifted away from poetic boundaries to concentrate instead on the reality that was being reported in the media. Their desires grew dim, and the small group from the Left Bank temporarily abandoned the astral heights of Mount Olympus and muses with green-colored eyes, so they could take part in the world’s grand whirlwind. While they awaited further news, a latent conflict persisted between those who accepted the revolutionary party’s plans and those who still aspired to unite the revolution with poetry. It was not a trifling matter. Walking down the boulevard one afternoon, André Breton, on his way to buy tobacco at the shop next to Dôme, bumped into the Russian Stalinist Ilya Ehrenburg, just as the latter was leaving. Neither chose their words carefully. The poet took a deep breath and, on the same impulse, punched Ehrenburg in the nose with a crack that sounded as if a chair had broken. It wasn’t a premeditated act. It simply happened. Caught by surprise, the Russian didn’t have time to react. Weakened by the blow, he fell to his knees, dripping a scandalously red-colored blood over the gray pavement. Afterward, as if they were all possessed, it turned into a messy battle with everyone against everyone. There were insults; some people got up to help the wounded man, while others tried to calm the poet’s fury. They tried to lift the Russian, get him out of there, until someone shouted something about calling the police, and in that moment they all decided to walk away from the boxing match between mastiffs until the next time. A few days later, René Crevel, the poet in charge of trying to make peace between the surrealists and the Communists, committed suicide in his kitchen by opening the gas valve.

      “It’s always necessary to say good-bye,” he wrote, having lost hope. “Tomorrow, you will return to the fog of your origins. To a city, red and gray, your colorless room, its silver walls, and with windows that open directly onto the clouds to which you are sister. To search for the shadow of your face throughout the sky, the gestures of your fingers…”

      That was the state of things when Gerta found herself obliged to choose between two options she didn’t like. It was no secret how dissidents in the Soviet Union were repressed, but in that small Montparnasse community, the sacred dwelling of the gods, many were unsure whether to denounce Stalin’s abuses or keep them quiet in order to preserve the unified band of anti-Fascists.

      Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

      Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

      Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

      Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.

/9j/4R0NRXhpZgAASUkqAAgAAAAOAAABAwABAAAA/AMAAAEBAwABAAAADwYAAAIBAwADAAAAtgAA AAMBAwABAAAABQAAAAYBAwABAAAAAgAAABIBAwABAAAAAQAAABUBAwABAAAAAwAAABoBBQABAAAA vAAAABsBBQABAAAAxAAAABwBAwABAAAAAQAAACgBAwABAAAAAgAAADEBAgAeAAAAzAAAADIBAgAU AAAA6gAAAGmHBAABAAAAAAEAACwBAAAIAAgACADAxi0AECcAAMDGLQAQJwAAQWRvYmUgUGhvdG9z aG9wIENTNSBNYWNpbnRvc2gAMjAxMToxMToyMyAxNDo0NzoyOQAAAAMAAaADAAEAAAD//wAAAqAE AAEAAAD8AwAAA6AEAAEAAAAPBgAAAAAAAAAABgADAQMAAQAAAAYAAAAaAQUAAQAAAHoBAAAbAQUA AQAAAIIBAAAoAQMAAQAAAAIAAAABAgQAAQAAAIoBAAACAgQAAQAAAHsbAAAAAAAASAAAAAEAAABI AAAAAQAAAP/Y/+0ADEFkb2JlX0NNAAH/7gAOQWRvYmUAZIAAAAAB/9sAhAAMCAgICQgMCQkMEQsK CxEVDwwMDxUYExMVExMYEQwMDAwMDBEMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMAQ0LCw0O DRAODhAUDg4OFBQODg4OFBEMDAwMDBERDAwMDAwMEQwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwMDAwM DAz/wAARCACgAGkDASIAAhEBAxEB/90ABAAH/8QBPwAAAQUBAQEBAQEAAAAAAAAAAwABAgQFBgcI CQoLAQABBQEBAQEBAQAAAAAAAAABAAIDBAUGBwgJCgsQAAEEAQMCBAIFBwYIBQMMMwEAAhEDBCES MQVBUWETInGBMgYUkaGxQiMkFVLBYjM0coLRQwclklPw4fFjczUWorKDJkSTVGRFwqN0NhfSVeJl 8rOEw9N14/NGJ5SkhbSVxNTk9KW1xdXl9VZmdoaWprbG1ub2N0dXZ3eHl6e3x9fn9xEAAgIBAgQE AwQFBgcHBgU1AQACEQMhMRIEQVFhcSITBTKBkRShsUIjwVLR8DMkYuFygpJDUxVjczTxJQYWorKD ByY1wtJEk1SjF2RFVTZ0ZeLys4TD03Xj80aUpIW0lcTU5PSltcXV5fVWZnaGlqa2xtbm9ic3R1dn d4eXp7fH/9oADAMBAAIRAxEAPwDsPrZ9aW/VvGxsh2K7L+02moNa8Vxtabd0uZZu+iudq/xs12PA d0l7GN91tnrghjJh1tm2g+xv/qNT/wAbLXHp3S2tG5zstwaBySanhoXJvZndGqDKqxkYbhOTdXDi 55EbXVO99lW3+b9r69n9tRgCgm3ssv8Ax
СКАЧАТЬ