영어로 읽는 고전 _ 월리스 웨스트의 트롤리 광란
헨리 월리스 웨스트의 "트롤리 광란"은 20세기 초에 쓰인 소설이다. 이야기는 교외 트롤리 회사에서 운전기사로 일하는 태평한 젊은이 지미 호건이 오랫동안 연락이 끊겼던 삼촌으로부터 5천 달러를 상속받게 된다는 것을 예상치 못하게 발견하면서 시작된다. 이 뜻밖의 재산과 함께 야심과 평범함에서 벗어나고자 하는 욕망이 생겨나면서, 그와 차장 친구 토미는 자신들의 트롤리 차를 타고 모험을 떠나게 되고, 이는 빠르게 일련의 코믹한 재앙들로 치닫는다. 소설의 시작 부분은 지미의 캐릭터를 소개하고 아이러니와 냉소주의의 코믹한 혼합을 다루면서 트롤리에서의 삶을 헤쳐나가는 그의 무모하지만 쾌활한 기질을 강조하여 상황을 설정한다. 예상치 못한 상속 소식을 들은 후, 지미는 토미와 이 소식을 나누고, 함께 그들은 평소의 노선을 포기하고 새로 얻은 자유감으로 도시를 탐험하기로 결정한다. 그들의 여정은 빠르게 혼란스러워지며, 그들의 트롤리 차는 관습을 무시하고 사회적 제약에서 벗어나려는 그들의 욕망을 상징하게 되고, 승객들과의 유머러스한 만남과 예측할 수 없게 트롤리 서비스를 운영하는 도전들로 절정에 달한다.
Classics Read in English _ Trolley Folly by Henry Wallace West
Henry Wallace West's "Trolley Folly" represents an early 1900s literary work chronicling the adventures of Jimmie Horgan, an easygoing streetcar operator employed by the Suburban Trolley Company, who suddenly learns he has come into possession of five thousand dollars left to him by a distant uncle he had lost contact with years earlier. This unexpected windfall awakens within him aspirations and yearnings to escape mundane existence, prompting him and his companion conductor Tommie to embark upon an expedition using their electric streetcar, which rapidly develops into a sequence of humorous catastrophes. The novel's opening establishes Jimmie's personality and circumstances by emphasizing his impulsive yet optimistic nature as he manages streetcar operations while balancing comedic elements of sarcasm and wit. Following his discovery of the surprising inheritance, Jimmie reveals this development to Tommie, and both men choose to abandon their regular transportation schedules to venture throughout the metropolitan area with their newly acquired sense of liberation. Their expedition swiftly becomes tumultuous, with their electric car serving as a symbol of their determination to challenge established norms and escape social limitations, reaching its peak through amusing interactions with riders and the difficulties of operating public transportation services in an unpredictable manner.
Among the contents
It was a splendid office?mahogany, plate-glass windows and all that pertains to the uninteresting side of respectability. There was a lawyer there, sitting before his desk?a crisp, gray sort of lawyer, who looked as if when you patted him gently he would snap a finger off. One Jimmie Horgan was also there.
Now, Jimmie was a careless youth, and a cheerful habit of sending people scattering, acquired by managing the controller in the employment of the Suburban Trolley Company, gave him what might be called a cynicobenevolent view of life. He had learned that the human body was an unreliable vessel to hold so great a thing as a soul.
One bunt from his trusty car, and the greatest alderman who ever received boodle for that same franchise promptly departed for Heaven, or its suburban districts.
