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2005年クリスマスの本棚 「34丁目の奇跡」「サンタクロースっているんでしょうか」

2005年に「クリスマスの本棚」に追加した本2冊。

2005年クリスマスの本棚 「34丁目の奇跡」「サンタクロースっているんでしょうか」_a0000692_01304458.jpg
34丁目の奇跡
Valentine Davies著 片岡 しのぶ 訳 あすなろ書房  

「34丁目の奇跡」は繰り返し観ても全く色あせない大好きな映画の一つです。1947年のオリジナル白黒版、カラー版、1973年のTV映画、1994年のリメイク版のビデオは我が家のクリスマスシーズンに欠かせません。この本は「34丁目の奇蹟」の脚本原案作者Valentine Daviesによる小説で1947年に映画と同時に誕生しベストセラーになったそうです。



2005年クリスマスの本棚 「34丁目の奇跡」「サンタクロースっているんでしょうか」_a0000692_01303930.jpg

サンタクロースっているんでしょうか
Francis P.Church文 中村 妙子訳 偕成社

「サンタクロースっているんでしょうか」という8歳の少女の質問に答えた1897年のニューヨーク・サンの社説です。100年以上の歳月を経ても変わらない「目に見えない大切なモノの数々」を思い起こさせてくれる素晴らしい本です。

原文  Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus
Editorial Page, The New York Sun, Sep.21, 1897

We take pleasure in answering thus prominently the communication below, expressing at the same time our great gratification that its faithful author is numbered among the friends of The Sun:
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus. Papa says, "If you see it in The Sun, it's so." Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?  Virginia O'Hanlon

Virginia, your little friends are wrong. They have been affected by the skepticism of a sceptical age. They do not believe except what they see. They think that nothing can be which is not comprehensible by their little minds. All minds, Virginia, whether they be men's or children's, are little. In this great universe of ours, man is a mere insect, an ant, in his intellect as compared with the boundless world about him, as measured by the intelligence capable of grasping the whole of truth and knowledge.
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. We should have no enjoyment, except in sense and sight. The external light with which childhood fills the world would be extinguished. Not believe in Santa Claus! You might as well not believe in fairies. You might get your papa to hire men to watch in all the chimneys on Christmas eve to catch Santa Claus, but even if you did not see Santa Claus coming down, what would that prove? Nobody sees Santa Claus, but that is no sign that there is no Santa Claus. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can see. Did you ever see fairies dancing on the lawn? Of course not, but that's no proof that they are not there. Nobody can conceive or imagine all the wonders there are unseen and unseeable in the world. You tear apart the baby's rattle and see what makes the noise inside, but there is a veil covering the unseen world which not the strongest man, nor even the united strength of all the strongest men that ever lived could tear apart. Only faith, poetry, love, romance, can push aside that curtain and view and picture the supernal beauty and glory beyond. Is it all real? Ah, Virginia, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding. No Santa Claus? Thank God he lives and lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!

by lazygardener | 2005-11-29 01:28 | book | Comments(0)