영어로 읽는 고전 _ 싱클레어 루이스의 매의 발자취_인생의 진지함
싱클레어 루이스의 “매의 발자취: 인생의 진지함에 관한 희극”은 20세기 초에 쓰인 소설이다. 이야기는 미네소타주의 작은 고향 마을 조라레몬에서 장난기와 상상력으로 가득 찬 소년 칼 에릭슨의 어린 시절 모험으로 시작된다. 칼이 유년기의 시련과 노르웨이계 미국인이라는 혈통이 짊어지운 기대를 헤쳐 나가는 가운데, 이 소설은 개인의 성장과 일상의 평범함 속에서 의미를 찾으려는 탐구라는 주제를 파고든다. 이야기의 시작에서 우리는 여덟 살의 상상력 넘치는 소년 칼 에릭슨을 만나는데, 그는 군대를 이끄는 시늉을 하거나 사냥과 모험을 공상하는 등 갖가지 장난에 빠져 있다. 가족과의 관계, 특히 엄격한 아버지와의 사이에서는 애정과 긴장이 뒤섞여 드러난다. 뒷마당 너머의 세상을 탐험하기를 꿈꾸던 칼의 모험은 마을에 막 이사 온 소녀 거티 카울스와의 우연한 만남으로 이어진다. 두 사람의 첫 만남은 유년기의 순수함과 더불어 막 싹트는 사춘기의 감정을 함께 보여주며, 장난기 많던 소년이 자신의 정체성과 포부를 두고 씨름하는 청년으로 성장해 가는 여정의 막을 연다.
Classics Read in English _ The Trail of the Hawk: A Comedy of the Seriousness of Life by Sinclair Lewis
Written in the early twentieth century, Sinclair Lewis's The Trail of the Hawk: A Comedy of the Seriousness of Life opens with the boyhood adventures of Carl Ericson, a lad brimming with mischief and imagination in his small hometown of Joralemon, Minnesota. As Carl works his way through the trials of childhood and the expectations of his Norwegian-American heritage, the novel probes themes of personal growth and the search for meaning amid life's everyday routines. At the outset we meet Carl, an imaginative eight-year-old caught up in all manner of mischief—pretending to lead armies, dreaming of hunting and adventure. His dealings with his family reveal a mixture of affection and tension, especially with his strict father. Longing to explore the world beyond his own backyard, Carl finds his adventures leading to a chance meeting with Gertie Cowles, a girl newly arrived in town. Their first encounters capture both the innocence of childhood and the first stirrings of adolescent feeling, setting the stage for a journey that will carry Carl from a playful boy into a young man wrestling with his identity and his aspirations.
Among the contents
Carl Ericson was being naughty. Probably no boy in Joralemon was being naughtier that October Saturday afternoon. He had not half finished the wood-piling which was his punishment for having chased the family rooster thirteen times squawking around the chicken-yard, while playing soldiers with Bennie Rusk.
He stood in the middle of the musty woodshed, pessimistically kicking at the scattered wood. His face was stern, as became a man of eight who was a soldier of fortune famed from the front gate to the chicken-yard. An unromantic film of dirt hid the fact that his Scandinavian cheeks were like cream-colored silk stained with rose-petals. A baby Norseman, with only an average boy's prettiness, yet with the whiteness and slenderness of a girl's little finger. A back-yard boy, in baggy jacket and pants, gingham blouse, and cap whose lining oozed back over his ash-blond hair, which was tangled now like trampled grass, with a tiny chip riding grotesquely on one flossy lock.
