영어로 읽는 고전 _ 가브리엘레 단눈치오의 쾌락의 아이
가브리엘레 단눈치오의 “쾌락의 아이”는 1889년에 출간된 소설입니다. 젊은 로마 귀족이자 탐미주의자인 안드레아 스페렐리는 예술과 쾌락의 추구를 위해 살아갑니다. 그는 서로 상반된 이상을 대표하는 두 여인 사이에서 갈등합니다. 한 명은 신비로운 팜므파탈 엘레나 무티이고, 다른 한 명은 순수하고 여린 마리아 페레스입니다. 두 여인을 동시에 소유하려는 안드레아의 '이중 게임'은 그를 필연적인 파멸로 이끌며, 이 작품은 이탈리아 데카당스 문학의 핵심적인 걸작으로 자리매김하고 있습니다.
Classics Read in English _ The Child of Pleasure by Gabriele D'Annunzio
The Child of Pleasure, published in 1889, is D'Annunzio's bold entry into the world of Italian Decadentism — and one of its defining masterpieces. At its center is Andrea Sperelli, a young Roman aristocrat who has made beauty his religion and pleasure his purpose. Brilliant, self-indulgent, and utterly captivating, Andrea moves through Rome's gilded social circles as though life itself were an art form to be perfected.
But Andrea is a man divided. He is drawn, almost fatally, to two women who could not be more different: Elena Muti, dark and enigmatic, a femme fatale who commands desire without apology; and Maria Ferres, tender and luminous, offering the kind of pure devotion he is perhaps too damaged to deserve. Rather than choose, Andrea pursues both — a calculated double game that flatters his ego while hollowing out his soul.
D'Annunzio makes it clear from the start: this is not a story of love, but of obsession and self-destruction. Andrea's downfall is not imposed from the outside — it is entirely of his own making, the inevitable consequence of a life lived only for sensation. The Child of Pleasure remains a razor-sharp portrait of a man undone by his own excess, as seductive and dangerous as its protagonist.
Among the contents
Andrea Sperelli dined regularly every Wednesday with his cousin the Marchesa d'Ateleta.
The salons of the Marchesa in the Palazzo Roccagiovine were much frequented. She attracted specially by her sparkling wit and gaiety and her inextinguishable good humour. Her charming and expressive face recalled certain feminine profiles of the younger Moreau and in the vignettes of Gravelot. There was something Pompadouresque in her manner, her tastes, her style of dress, which she no doubt heightened purposely, tempted by her really striking resemblance to the favourite of Louis xv.
One Tuesday evening, in a box at the Valle Theatre, she said laughingly to her cousin, 'Be sure, you come to-morrow, Andrea. Among the guests there will be an interesting, not to say fatal, personage. Forewarned is forearmed—Beware of her spells—you are in a very weak frame of mind just now.'
He laughed. 'If you don't mind, I prefer to come unarmed,' he replied, 'or rather in the guise of a victim. It is a character I have assumed for many an evening lately, but alas, without result so far.'
'Well, the sacrifice will soon be consummated, cugino mio.'
'The victim is ready!'
