영어로 읽는 고전 _ 부스 타킹턴의 그의 사람들
부스 타킹턴의 "그의 사람들"은 20세기 초에 쓰인 소설입니다. 이 이야기는 로버트 러스 멜린이라는 작은 마을 출신의 젊은 남자를 중심으로 하는데, 그는 유럽 사회의 화려한 세계, 특히 로마의 엘리트 문화에 자신을 담그고 싶어합니다. 그가 이 새로운 환경을 탐색하면서, 그는 상류 사회에 내재된 매력과 기만을 경험합니다. 소설의 시작에서 멜린은 그랜드 콘티넨탈 호텔의 야자수실에서 펼쳐지는 활기찬 장면에 매료되어 고귀한 손님들을 관찰합니다. 기쁨에 압도된 그는 자신을 "그의 사람들" 중 하나로 여기며, 어린 시절부터 이런 만남을 갈망해 왔습니다. 처음에는 희망적인 낭만적 관념으로 가득 차 있던 그는 보리가드 부인—카리스마 있는 백작부인—을 만나게 되는데, 그녀는 이 우아한 삶에 대한 그의 매혹을 더욱 불러일으킵니다. 일련의 만남과 관찰을 통해, 멜린의 이상주의는 사회적 역학의 현실과 충돌하며, 이 새로운 사회 내에서 인정받기 위한 그의 추구 과정에서 정체성, 야망, 그리고 배신의 가능성이라는 복잡성으로의 여정을 예고합니다.
Classics Read in English _ His Own People by Booth Tarkington
"His Own People" by Booth Tarkington is a perceptive exploration of social aspiration and disillusionment set in the early 20th century. The narrative follows Robert Russ Mellin, a young man from small-town America who yearns to belong among the sophisticated European elite he has long romanticized.
The story opens in the ornate palm-room of Rome's Grand Continental Hotel, where Mellin observes the international aristocracy with undisguised delight. Overcome with emotion, he experiences a profound sense of belonging, convinced that he has finally found "his own people"—the cultured society he has dreamed of joining since childhood. In this moment of elation, Mellin believes his provincial past is behind him and his rightful place in this glittering world secured.
His enchantment deepens upon meeting Madame de Vaurigard, a charismatic countess whose continental charm and apparent interest in him further validate his social aspirations. Through her introduction, Mellin gains access to an inner circle of seemingly distinguished individuals who welcome him with flattering attention.
As Mellin navigates this new social landscape, Tarkington subtly reveals the contrast between appearance and reality. The protagonist's earnest enthusiasm and romanticized perceptions begin to collide with the more complex and potentially duplicitous nature of his new acquaintances. His naïve idealism serves as both his vulnerability and his defining characteristic, setting the stage for a journey that will test his understanding of genuine connection versus superficial acceptance.
The early chapters establish the central tension between Mellin's desperate desire to belong and the reader's growing awareness of his possible exploitation. Through this premise, Tarkington crafts a nuanced examination of identity, social pretense, and the universal human longing for community—raising questions about what constitutes "one's own people" and the price of admission to worlds beyond our origins.
Among the contents
The glass-domed “palm-room” of the Grand Continental Hotel Magnifique in Rome is of vasty heights and distances, filled with a mellow green light which filters down languidly through the upper foliage of tall palms, so that the two hundred people who may be refreshing or displaying themselves there at the tea-hour have something the look of under-water creatures playing upon the sea-bed. They appear, however, to be unaware of their condition; even the ladies, most like anemones of that gay assembly, do not seem to know it; and when the Hungarian band (crustacean-like in costume, and therefore well within the picture) has sheathed its flying tentacles and withdrawn by dim processes, the tea-drinkers all float out through the doors, instead of bubbling up and away through the filmy roof. In truth, some such exit as that was imagined for them by a young man who remained in the aquarium after they had all gone, late one afternoon of last winter. They had been marvelous enough, and to him could have seemed little more so had they made such a departure. He could almost have gone that way himself, so charged was he with the uplift of his belief that, in spite of the brilliant strangeness of the hour just past, he had been no fish out of water.
서평(Book Review)
부스 타킹턴의 "그의 사람들"은 사회적 열망과 환멸에 대한 날카로운 통찰을 담은 작품이다. 로마의 유럽 엘리트 사회에 속하기를 갈망하는 소도시 출신 미국인 로버트 러스 멜린의 여정을 통해, 타킹턴은 외관과 실체, 진정한 소속감과 피상적 수용 사이의 간극을 섬세하게 그려낸다. 순진한 이상주의자인 주인공이 화려한 사교계와 보리가드 백작부인 같은 매력적 인물들에게 매료되는 과정에서, 이 소설은 정체성, 사회적 가식, 그리고 우리 모두가 가진 소속에 대한 보편적 열망의 본질을 탐구한다.
Booth Tarkington's "His Own People" offers a sharp insight into social aspiration and disillusionment. Through the journey of Robert Russ Mellin, a small-town American yearning to belong among Rome's European elite, Tarkington delicately portrays the gap between appearance and reality, genuine belonging and superficial acceptance. As the naive idealist protagonist becomes captivated by the glittering social scene and charismatic figures like Countess de Vaurigard, the novel explores the nature of identity, social pretense, and the universal human longing for belonging.