영어로 읽는 고전 _ 제롬 빅스비의 거인들의 귀환
제롬 빅스비의 "거인들의 귀환"은 1940년대 후반에 쓰인 공상과학 소설입니다. 이야기는 지구가 인구 과밀과 자원 고갈로 인해 거주하기 어려워진 후, 인류가 새로운 거주 가능한 세계를 찾아 은하계를 탐험하며 우주 깊숙이 진출한 먼 미래를 배경으로 합니다. 이 책의 주요 주제는 오랜 부재 후 지구로 돌아온 인류와 그들이 도착했을 때 하게 되는 예상치 못한 발견들을 중심으로 전개됩니다.
이야기는 수백 년을 우주에서 보낸 후 고향으로 향하는 성간 우주선 "퀘스트 III호"의 노프 루드 선장과 승무원들을 따라갑니다. 그들이 돌아왔을 때 지구에는 우주비행사들을 과거 시대의 유물로 여기며 "거인"이라고 부르는 새롭고 더 작은 인류 종족이 거주하고 있다는 것을 발견하면서 흥분은 공포로 바뀝니다. 이들을 파괴하려는 의도를 가진 것으로 보이는 이 작은 존재들로부터 "퀘스트 III호"가 공격을 받으면서, 노프 루드는 극적으로 변화한 행성으로의 이 도전적인 귀환을 헤쳐나가야 하고 인류 진화의 불안한 현실과 맞서야 합니다. 결국 이 이야기는 성장, 사회 변화, 그리고 인간이라는 것의 본질이 무엇인지에 대한 주제들을 탐구합니다.
Classics Read in English _ The Giants Return by Jerome Bixby
Jerome Bixby's "The Giants Return" is a science fiction novel written in the late 1940s. The story is set in the distant future where humanity has ventured into deep space, exploring the galaxy in search of new habitable worlds after Earth has become uninhabitable due to overpopulation and resource depletion. The book's central theme revolves around humanity's return to Earth after a prolonged absence and the unexpected discoveries they encounter upon arrival.
The narrative follows Captain Knof Llud and the crew of the interstellar vessel "Quest III" as they journey homeward after spending centuries in space. Their excitement transforms into horror when they discover that Earth is now inhabited by a new, smaller breed of humanity that regards the astronauts as relics from a bygone era, labeling them as "giants." As the "Quest III" comes under attack from these diminutive beings who appear determined to destroy them, Knof Llud must navigate this challenging return to a drastically transformed planet and confront the unsettling reality of human evolution. Ultimately, the story explores themes of growth, societal transformation, and the fundamental essence of what it means to be human.
Among the contents
In the last hours the star ahead had grown brighter by many magnitudes, and had changed its color from a dazzling blue through white to the normal yellow, of a GO sun. That was the Doppler effect as the star's radial velocity changed relative to the Quest III, as for forty hours the ship had decelerated.
They had seen many such stars come near out of the galaxy's glittering backdrop, and had seen them dwindle, turn red and go out as the Quest III drove on its way once more, lashed by despair toward the speed of light, leaving behind the mockery of yet another solitary and lifeless luminary unaccompanied by worlds where men might dwell. They had grown sated with the sight of wonders?of multiple systems of giant stars, of nebulae that sprawled in empty flame across light years.
But now unwonted excitement possessed the hundred-odd members of the Quest III's crew. It was a subdued excitement; men and women, they came and stood quietly gazing into the big vision screens that showed the oncoming star, and there were wide-eyed children who had been born in the ship and had never seen a planet.
