「面白い」と強く勧められなかったら、たぶん一生読まなかったろう。
タイトルは以前から知っていた。有名な作品であるとも知っていた、しかしもはや「昔」の作品で、今読んで面白いとは思えなかった。
ロサンジェルスからハワイへ向かうジャンボ旅客機が、完全武装のジェット戦闘機に背後から狙われてハイジャックされる話。それも知っていたけど、底の浅いアクション小説なんじゃないかと思っていた。
なにしろ35年前に発表された小説である（1975年米国ダブルデー社）。作品の背景としてベトナム戦争が描かれている。そんな昔のジェット戦闘機が活躍する話が、21世紀のいまになっても楽しめるものなのだろうか？
おまけにこちとら、この作品が発表された中学生の頃は、いっぱしの軍用機マニアだった。毎月、航空ジャーナルを買ってむさぼり読んだり、ひとりで入間の航空ショーまで写真を撮りにいっていた。中途半端な飛行機の描写は白けるんだよなぁ。
と、読まない理由はいっぱいあったのだけど、例によってスゴ本オフでDainさんや新潮文庫の中の人が「徹夜本」と太鼓判を押していたので、これは読まないと駄目かもしれないと思って持って帰ってきた。
この作品が発表された1975年は、航空機の黄金時代だった。自動可変翼をそなえ、遠距離から多数の敵を同時に攻撃できるフェニックスミサイルを搭載した米海軍の万能戦闘機F-14トムキャット。推力重量比1.0を上回る強力なエンジンを翼面加重の低い機体に搭載した戦闘機の王様のような米空軍のF-15イーグル。魔法のような垂直離着陸を実現したイギリス製のハリアーシリーズ。最高速度マッハ3を超えるソ連製のスーパー戦闘機MiG-25。独特の二重三角翼による短距離離着陸機能によって高速道路を滑走路代わりにできると言われたスウェーデン空軍のサーブ37ビゲンなど、各国がテクノロジーを競って個性の強いジェット戦闘機を開発、投入していた。日本も戦後初の国産ジェット戦闘機三菱F-1を初飛行させたのが1975年だ。
航空機の花であるジェット戦闘機以外でも、ユニークな機体はたくさんあったし、民間航空機のほうもボーイングとエアバスが大型旅客機の覇を競ったり、超音速旅客機のツポレフTu-144やコンコルドが相次いで就役するなど、飛行機好きでなくても興味をそそられるほどエキサイティングな時代で、中学生になったばかりの僕もそこにハマったのだ。
この小説『シャドー81』には、実は上記にあげた華麗なるスーパー戦闘機はひとつも出てこない。その代わりに、作者が考案した架空の戦闘機「TX75E」が登場し、いっぽうの主役を張る。もう一方の主役はみなさんご存じの大型ジェット旅客機ボーイング747だ。実をいうと、この架空の戦闘機が、現実に存在する旅客機をハイジャックする、という虚構を構築したことこそ、この作品を35年後の今もリアリティを損なわずに楽しめる成功の礎になっている。
この、架空マシンがもたらすリアリティは、『機動戦士ガンダム』のリアリティと似ている。宇宙戦争を背景に巨大な人型ロボットが戦うという荒唐無稽な設定に、細かい肉付けを行うことで迫真のリアリティを与えたことが、日本のTVアニメおけるガンダムのイノベーションだった。巧妙に虚構を構築し、その上でリアルきわまりなく感じる、しかし実は誇張された壮絶な人間ドラマが展開する。人間という存在に対する皮肉、諦観、からかい、そして希望。それが機動戦士ガンダムの醍醐味であり、30年以上も色あせずに支持されてきた理由だ。
『シャドー81』もまた、同じ構造をもつ。戦闘機以外にも男子の心をくすぐる数々の巧妙な仕掛けが登場し、ワクワクさせる。そして、徹底的に周到に用意された舞台が幕を開けたとき、怒濤のような人間模様が展開する。乗っ取り犯、乗っ取られた旅客機のパイロット、乗り合わせてしまった上院議員、美人スチュワーデス、地上で奮闘する管制官、特ダネを狙う新聞記者、当惑する軍の上層部、etc.それらの群像が織りなす人間模様こそが、この小説の醍醐味だ。
果たして、このあまりにも秀逸な犯罪のシナリオは成就するのか？ 次々と襲うアクシデントに、足をすくわれ泡と消えるのか？ 最後の一行までなにが起こるか予測できない。第一級の冒険小説とはこういうものを指すのだろう。
残念ながら、僕の読んだ新潮文庫版は絶版になっているが、現在は早川文庫から刊行されている。
新潮文庫の中の人によれば、絶版にするときはきちんと公にして、ほかの出版社から復活できる機会をきちと提供している。そういうことをしている出版社は新潮とあともう１社くらいしかないそうだ。
世に名作を絶やしたくないという新潮文庫の中の人に敬意を表して、早川版でもぜひお楽しみいただきたい。
Your column in the 24-12-09 CJN on hossleemness was excellent. I was saddened to see no mention of public policy, especially in regards to the tax cuts we’ve had since 1995, the Mike Harris years, and the federal cutbacks in transfer payments, downloading and the on-going clamouriong for yet more tax cuts. We need to be reminded that the extra few dollars that we benefit from in tax cuts come at the expense of people who cannot afford our extra cups of coffee a month.
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