Esqueçam os romances de Sterne, as peças de Shakespeare, os versos de Auden ou os discursos de Churchill. Há uma verdadeira contribuição britânica para o ocidente, uma que não depende dos gostos literários de quem a usufrui: o pub.
O diário de correspondente da semana na Economist é justamente sobre essa instituição britânica, ensinando-nos sobre suas qualidades e desvantagens, histórias e tendências.
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Bela lembrança.
Mas não há necessidade de dicotomias. O pub e a literatura existem em perfeita harmonia:
“We dined at an excellent inn at Chapel-house, where he [Dr. Johnson] expatiated on the felicity of England in its taverns and inns, and triumphed over the French for not having, in any perfection, the tavern life.
‘There is no private house, (said he,) in which people can enjoy themselves so well, as at a capital tavern. […] no man, but a very impudent dog indeed, can as freely command what is in another man’s house, as if it were his own. Whereas, at a tavern, there is a general freedom from anxiety. You are sure you are welcome: and the more noise you make, the more trouble you give, the more good things you call for, the welcomer you are. No servants will attend you with the alacrity which waiters do, who are incited by the prospect of an immediate reward in proportion as they please. No, Sir; there is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn. ‘
He then repeated, with great emotion, Shenstone’s lines-
‘Whoe’ver has travell’d life’s dull round,
Where’er his stages may have been,
May sigh to think he still has found
The warmest welcome at an inn.’ ”
tirado da “Life of Johnson”, de James Boswell
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~tolksoc/TolkiensOxford/bird_and_baby.html
The Bird and Baby (aka The Eagle and Child)
Seria o “pub” um similar do “izakaya” japonês?