ZAGORO MOJA
Ante Tešija
Hrvoje Bubić; MICHAEL MOORCOCK INTERVIEW
Hrvoje Bubić
Michael Moorcock je engleski SF pisac, čiji je je najpoznatiji lik Elric od Melniboné. Za SolinLive govori o sebi, svome najpoznatijem liku, kao i ostalim djelima
1.To begin with, could you introduce yourself to us and tell us something about yourself?
I was born in London at the start of WW2 and experienced the Nazi Blitz as well as the ruined city, for which I feel an intense nostalgia and which is reflected in most of my work, I was educated at a variety of schools for short periods and left at 15 to work in the City which was then still a thriving port.
2. You have been writing for a long time. As far as I can see, you have been the editor of Tarzan Adventures since you were 17 years old. What motivated you to become a writer and what are your influences as a writer?
I have been telling stories for as long as I can remember and one of the factors in being expelled from my early school was because I kept the other children up at night telling them of my life in the jungle being raised by wolves or apes, heavily derived from the stories of Kipling or E.R. Burroughs. I had begun reading long before I was at school. I produced my first amateur magazine, OUTLAWS OWN, by the time I was ten and began producing ERB and book-collecting fanzines when I was fourteen – these leading to my being offered my first professional jobs in publishing from the age of 16.
3. Through your works, the concepts of the Eternal Champion and the Multiverse appear. Could you explain more about these terms and how you got the idea for them?
I wrote the first draft of the EC when I was 17 for a fanzine and develped it some years later for SCIENCE FANTASY magazine no doubt an extension of ideas in Haggard and Bulwer LYTTON, as well as Gothic romances while the Multiverse idea was I suspect a reaction to the understanding in the 1950s of an expanding universe and the notion of entropy. Since one or two astronomers and mathematicians came up with similar ideas around the same time I’m pretty sure it was as much a philosophical response as a direct scientific one. It was essentially a development and formulaic expansion on the idea H.G. Wells put into fiction in 1895 of the ‘many-worlds’ idea, essentially a rationalisation of the ‘fairy-land’ idea frequently used since the days of the mediaeval romances. As he gave a formulaic frame to the notion of Time Travel in THE TIME MACHINE. My first description of the multiverse was in a story called THE SUNDERED WORLDWS in 1963 in SCIENCE FICTION ADVENTURES magazine.
4.One of the incarnations of the Eternal Champion is Elric of Melniboné, who is also your most famous character. Please tell us more about Elric of Melniboné.
I began writing about the charaqcter of Elric under the influence of the mid-19th century gothic authors and he relected my own teenage melancholy and self-dramatisation.
5. Elric of Melniboné is an inspiration to many rock bands, and the heavy metal band Cirith Ungol uses it as their trademark, so I wanted to ask you what is your opinion on the whole legacy of Elric of Melniboné?
Reaction – surprise. Opinion – there must be mythic responses reflecting the mythic influences of the original!
6.In addition to writing, you are involved in music, either as an active musician (The Deep Fix, Spirits Burning) or collaborating with someone (Hawkwind, Blue Oyster Cult). Could you tell us something about your musical projects?
I’ve been invoolved with music since around 1955 when I formed my first skiffle band THE GREENHORNS, PLAYING DRUMS, then banjo, then bass, then guitar. We had local gigs at church halls and so on until eventually we got better gigs. Gradually, however, writing took precedents but I retained an interest in usic until Hawkwind ased me tp work with them writing and performing lyrics. Since then I have made a variety of different records with UNITED ARTISTS.SPIRITS BURNING, CLEOPATRA and FLICKNIFE companie. My work ranges from experimental modernism, traditional Americana and conventional rock and roll and I have performed with and written for several bands including HAWKWIND, BLUE OYSTER CULT, ROBERT CALVERT and my own project DEEP FIX.
7.Lastly, what are your future projects? What would you recommend to our readers?
I am continuing to write Jerry Cornelius stories usually in response to current events, a mixture of satire and absurdism etc. My novels since 1990s have mostly mixed realism with frantasy, including the Second Ether trilogy (mostly set in the US South) and a mixture of genuine memoir and invention in the Whitefriars trilogy, most recently THE WOODS OF ARCADY (2023). Stories also ‘explain’ the multiverse more and distance it from the crude version used by the likes of Marvel and DC, explained best in my reissued BD series MICHAEL MOORCOCK’S MULTIVERSE (1997) A new Elric novel came out in 2022/23 and I have worked with Albert Bouchard & Co on the last of the Dancers at the End of Time record. I also plan a new album of mine and Calvert’s songs produced by Alan Davey for CLEOPATRA. Plenty of other work planned.
HRVATSKI PRIJEVOD
Možete li nam se za početak predstaviti i reći nešto o sebi?
Rođen sam u Londonu početkom Drugog svjetskog rata i iskusio sam nacistički Blitz (njemačko bombardiranje Velike Britanije tijekom 2.sv.rata,op.prev.) kao i uništeni grad, za kojim osjećam intenzivnu nostalgiju i što se odražava u većini mojih radova, kratko sam se školovao u raznim školama i otišao sa 15. da radim u Cityu koji je tada još uvijek bio uspješna luka.
2. Dugo se bavite pisanjem. Koliko vidim, od svoje 17. godine bili ste urednik Tarzan Adventures. Što vas je motiviralo da postanete pisac i koji su vaši utjecaji kao spisatelj?
Pričam priče otkad znam za sebe, a jedan od čimbenika zbog kojih su me izbacili iz prve škole bilo je to što sam drugu djecu držao budnom noću govoreći im o svom životu u džungli kojeg su odgajali vukovi ili majmuni, što je u velikoj mjeri izvedeno iz priča R. Kiplinga (autor priče Knjiga O Džungli,op.prev.) ili E.R. Burroughsa (tvorac Tarzana, op.prev.). Počeo sam čitati mnogo prije nego što sam krenuo školu. Izdao sam svoj prvi amaterski časopis, OUTLAWS OWN, kad sam imao deset godina, a počeo sam proizvoditi ERB(fanzim o piscu E.R. Burroughsu,op.prev.) i fanzine za prikupljanje knjiga kad sam imao četrnaest – što je dovelo do toga da su mi prvi profesionalni poslovi u izdavaštvu ponuđeni sa 16 godina.
3. Kroz Vaše radove provlače se koncepti Vječnog Prvaka i Multiverzuma. Možete li objasniti više o tim pojmovima i kako ste došli na ideju za njih?
Napisao sam prvi nacrt EC-a kada sam imao 17 godina za fanzin i razvio ga nekoliko godina kasnije za časopis SCIENCE FANTASY bez sumnje kao proširenje ideja u Haggardu i Bulweru Lyttonu, kao i gotičke romanse, dok je ideja Multiverse bila, pretpostavljam, reakcija na razumijevanje svemira koji se širi i pojma entropije u 1950-ima. Budući da su jedan ili dva astronoma i matematičara otprilike u isto vrijeme došli do sličnih ideja, prilično sam siguran da je to bio jednako filozofski odgovor koliko i izravni znanstveni. To je u biti bio razvoj i formulirano proširenje ideje koju je H.G. Wells stavio u fikciju 1895. o ideji ‘mnogo svjetova’, u biti racionalizacija ideje ‘zemlje vila’ koja se često koristila od dana srednjovjekovnih romansi. Kao što je dao formulacijski okvir pojmu putovanja kroz vrijeme u VREMENOM STROJU. Moj prvi opis multisvemira bio je u priči pod nazivom THE SUNDERED WORLDWS 1963. u časopisu SCIENCE FICTION ADVENTURES.
4. Jedna od inkarnacija Vječnog Prvaka je Elric od Melnibonéa, koji je ujedno i vaš najpoznatiji lik. Recite nam nešto više o Elricu od Melnibonéa.
Počeo sam pisati o liku Elrica pod utjecajem gotičkih autora iz sredine 19. stoljeća, a on je odrazio moju vlastitu tinejdžersku melankoliju i samodramatiziranje.
5. Elric of Melniboné inspiracija je mnogim rock bendovima, a heavy metal bend Cirith Ungol ga koristi kao svoj zaštitni znak, pa sam vas htio pitati kakvo je vaše mišljenje o cjelokupnoj ostavštini Elrica of Melnibonéa?
Reakcija – iznenađenje. Mišljenje – moraju postojati mitski odgovori koji odražavaju mitske utjecaje izvornika!
6. Uz pisanje, bavite se glazbom, bilo kao aktivni glazbenik (The Deep Fix, Spirits Burning) ili surađujući s nekim (Hawkwind, Blue Oyster Cult). Možete li nam reći nešto o svojim glazbenim projektima?
Glazbom se bavim od otprilike 1955. kada sam osnovao svoj prvi skiffle bend (žanr narodne glazbe s utjecajima američke narodne glazbe, bluesa, countryja, bluegrassa i jazza, koji se općenito izvodi mješavinom proizvedenih i domaćih ili improviziranih instrumenata, op. prev.) THE GREENHORNS, SVIRAJUĆI BUBNJEVE, pa bendžo, pa bas, pa gitaru. Imali smo lokalne nastupe u crkvenim dvoranama i tako sve dok na kraju nismo dobili bolje nastupe. Međutim, postupno je pisanje uzelo presedane, ali sam zadržao interes za muziku sve dok me Hawkwind nije pozvao da radim s njima na pisanju i izvođenju tekstova. Od tada sam napravio niz različitih ploča s tvrtkom UNITED ARTISTS.SPIRITS BURNING, CLEOPATRA i FLICKNIFE. Moj rad seže od eksperimentalnog modernizma, tradicionalne americane i konvencionalnog rock and rolla, a nastupao sam i pisao za nekoliko bendova uključujući HAWKWIND, BLUE OYSTER CULT, ROBERTA CALVERTA i moj vlastiti projekt DEEP FIX.
7. Za kraj, koji su Vaši budući projekti? Što biste preporučili našim čitateljima?
Nastavljam pisati priče o Jerryju Corneliusu obično kao odgovor na aktualne događaje, mješavinu satire i apsurdizma itd. Moji romani od 1990-ih uglavnom su miješali realizam s fantazijom, uključujući trilogiju Second Ether (uglavnom smještenu na jugu SAD-a) i mješavinu pravih memoara i invencije u trilogiji Whitefriars, najnoviji THE WOODS OF ARCADY (2023). Priče također više ‘objašnjavaju’ multiverzum i udaljavaju ga od sirove verzije koju koriste Marvel i DC, najbolje objašnjene u mojoj reizdanoj BD seriji MULTIVERSE MICHAEL MOORCOCK (1997.) Novi Elricov roman izašao je 2022./23., a radio sam s Albertom Bouchardom & Co na posljednjem albumu Dancers at the End of Time. Također planiram novi album mojih i Calvertovih pjesama koje je producirao Alan Davey za CLEOPATRA. Dosta drugih poslova u planu.
