영어로 읽는 SF고전 _ 에드가 R. 버로스의 유인원 타잔
"유인원 타잔"은 20세기 초에 쓰여진 에드가 라이스 버로스의 소설로, 생존, 정체성, 그리고 문명과 자연의 충돌이라는 주제들을 탐구합니다. 이야기는 존 클레이튼 경(그레이스토크 경)과 그의 아내가 '푸왈다' 호에서 일어난 반란으로 인해 아프리카 해안에 좌초되면서 시작됩니다. 난파 이후의 비극적인 사건들로 인해, 갓 태어난 그들의 아들은 버려진 채로 야생의 유인원 부족에 의해 길러지게 되고, 이는 결국 그가 두 세계를 넘나드는 독특한 존재인 타잔이 되는 계기가 됩니다.
소설의 도입부는 존 클레이튼의 아프리카 임무 부여를 극적으로 서술하며 시작되고, 이는 배의 선원들이 반란을 일으키면서 빠르게 혼돈으로 빠져듭니다. 클레이튼 부부는 배에서 벌어지는 잔혹함을 직접 목격하고, 결국 문명 세계로부터 사라지면서 비극을 맞이합니다. 그들이 위험을 헤쳐나가는 동안, 서사는 그들의 아들의 탄생과 그를 기다리고 있는 위험들을 암시합니다.
난파 이후, 이야기는 유인원들 사이에서의 타잔의 놀라운 성장에 초점을 맞추며, 그가 정글에 적응하고 생존하는 법을 배우면서 겪는 도전들과 성장하는 능력을 보여줍니다. 이러한 모험, 생존, 그리고 본능의 우위성이 독자들의 상상력을 사로잡으며, 야성적인 것과 문명화된 것으로 정의되는 세계에서 타잔의 진화와 그의 독특한 정체성 투쟁을 암시합니다.
Classics Read in English _ Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs
"Tarzan of the Apes" by Edgar Rice Burroughs is a novel written during the early 20th century that explores themes of survival, identity, and the clash between civilization and nature. The story centers around John Clayton, Lord Greystoke, and his wife, who find themselves marooned on the African coast when their ship, the "Fuwalda", encounters mutiny. After the tragic events that follow their shipwreck, their newly born son, initially abandoned, is raised in the wild by a tribe of apes, leading to his eventual identity as Tarzan, a unique being straddling two worlds.
The opening of the novel sets the stage with a dramatic recounting of John Clayton's assignment to Africa, which quickly spirals into chaos as the ship's crew turns mutinous. The Claytons witness firsthand the brutality aboard and eventually face tragedy as they disappear from the civilized world. As they navigate danger, the narrative foreshadows the birth of their son and the perils that await him.
After the shipwreck, the tale shifts focus to Tarzan's remarkable upbringing among the apes, showcasing both his challenges and his growing prowess as he learns to adapt to and survive in the jungle. This mix of adventure, survival, and the primacy of instinct captures the reader's imagination, hinting at the evolution of Tarzan and his unique struggle for identity in a world defined by the feral and the civilized.
Among the contents
I had this story from one who had no business to tell it to me, or to any other. I may credit the seductive influence of an old vintage upon the narrator for the beginning of it, and my own skeptical incredulity during the days that followed for the balance of the strange tale.
When my convivial host discovered that he had told me so much, and that I was prone to doubtfulness, his foolish pride assumed the task the old vintage had commenced, and so he unearthed written evidence in the form of musty manuscript, and dry official records of the British Colonial Office to support many of the salient features of his remarkable narrative.
I do not say the story is true, for I did not witness the happenings which it portrays, but the fact that in the telling of it to you I have taken fictitious names for the principal characters quite sufficiently evidences the sincerity of my own belief that it may be true.
The yellow, mildewed pages of the diary of a man long dead, and the records of the Colonial Office dovetail perfectly with the narrative of my convivial host, and so I give you the story as I painstakingly pieced it out from these several various agencies.
If you do not find it credible you will at least be as one with me in acknowledging that it is unique, remarkable, and interesting.
