영어로 읽는 고전 _ 부스 타킹턴의 혼란
부스 타킹턴의 "혼란: 소설"은 20세기 초에 쓰여진 소설 작품입니다. 이야기는 급속히 성장하고 산업화되는 중부 도시를 배경으로, 사회적 변화, 야망, 부, 그리고 옛 가치관과 현대성 사이의 충돌이라는 주제를 탐구합니다. 이야기의 중심에는 셰리단 가족이 있으며, 특히 야심 찬 아버지 제임스 셰리단과 자신에게 주어진 기대에 어려움을 겪는 내성적인 아들 비브스 사이의 대조에 초점을 맞춥니다.
소설의 도입부는 독자에게 변화하는 도시의 대조적인 모습—깨끗하고 쾌적한 마을에서 부와 성장 추구에 의해 움직이는 분주하고 연기 나는 대도시로의 변화—을 소개합니다. 타킹턴은 생생한 이미지를 통해 도시를 야망과 그 혼란을 체현하는 사람들에 의해 특징지어지는 살아있는 존재로 묘사합니다.
우리가 셰리단 가족을 만나면서, 초점은 제임스의 성취와 부에 대한 자부심과 비브스의 허약한 체질 및 그들의 생활 방식에 대한 불만족이 병치되는 것으로 옮겨갑니다. 이러한 역학은 가족 내의 복잡한 관계를 드러내고 소설 전반에 걸쳐 탐구되는 개인적 갈등과 사회적 비평이라는 주제의 무대를 마련합니다.
Classics Read in English _ The Turmoil: A Novel by Booth Tarkington
In his compelling novel "The Turmoil," published in the early 20th century, Booth Tarkington offers a penetrating examination of American progress and its costs through the lens of one family's experience in a rapidly industrializing Midwestern city. As the first installment in what would become his celebrated "Growth" trilogy, the novel establishes Tarkington's nuanced critique of materialism and the human casualties of unchecked industrial development.
The narrative opens with a sweeping portrait of a city in transformation—once a clean, peaceful community now engulfed by the smoke and noise of factories, its landscape increasingly dominated by chimneys and smokestacks that both signify and enable its economic ascendance. Tarkington personifies this urban environment as a living, breathing entity driven by an insatiable appetite for growth and prosperity, consuming both resources and people in its relentless march forward.
Against this dynamic backdrop, Tarkington introduces the Sheridan family, emblematic of the new industrial elite. Patriarch James Sheridan embodies the American success story—a self-made industrialist who has clawed his way to prosperity through determination and an unwavering belief in material progress. His pride in his achievements manifests in a palatial new home and ambitious plans for his children to continue his legacy.
The central tension of the novel emerges through his youngest son, Bibbs Sheridan—sensitive, literary, and physically frail—who stands as the antithesis to his father's robust materialism. Initially excluded from the family business due to his health, Bibbs observes his family and city with the detached perspective of an outsider. His poetic sensibilities and philosophical nature place him at odds with his father's pragmatic worldview and the city's celebration of industrial might.
As the opening chapters unfold, Tarkington skillfully establishes the philosophical conflict that will drive the narrative: James's conviction that prosperity and progress are unquestionable goods versus Bibbs's intuitive sense that something essential to human fulfillment is being sacrificed in the pursuit of material success. Through this family dynamic, Tarkington begins his exploration of the turmoil—both literal and metaphorical—that accompanies America's transition from an agrarian society to an industrial powerhouse, raising questions about the nature of progress that remain startlingly relevant today.
Among the contents
There is a midland city in the heart of fair, open country, a dirty and wonderful city nesting dingily in the fog of its own smoke. The stranger must feel the dirt before he feels the wonder, for the dirt will be upon him instantly. It will be upon him and within him, since he must breathe it, and he may care for no further proof that wealth is here better loved than cleanliness; but whether he cares or not, the negligently tended streets incessantly press home the point, and so do the flecked and grimy citizens. At a breeze he must smother in the whirlpools of dust, and if he should decline at any time to inhale the smoke he has the meager alternative of suicide.
The smoke is like the bad breath of a giant panting for more and more riches. He gets them and pants the fiercer, smelling and swelling prodigiously. He has a voice, a hoarse voice, hot and rapacious trained to one tune: “Wealth! I will get Wealth! I will make Wealth! I will sell Wealth for more Wealth! My house shall be dirty, my garment shall be dirty, and I will foul my neighbor so that he cannot be clean—but I will get Wealth! There shall be no clean thing about me: my wife shall be dirty and my child shall be dirty, but I will get Wealth!” And yet it is not wealth that he is so greedy for: what the giant really wants is hasty riches. To get these he squanders wealth upon the four winds, for wealth is in the smoke.
서평(Book Review)
부스 타킹턴의 "혼란"은 산업화되는 미국 중서부 도시를 배경으로 물질적 진보와 인간적 가치 사이의 충돌을 탐구하는 통찰력 있는 소설입니다. 셰리단 가족, 특히 자수성가한 산업가 제임스와 그의 내성적이고 문학적인 아들 비브스 사이의 갈등을 통해, 타킹턴은 끊임없는 성장과 번영 추구가 개인과 사회에 미치는 영향을 예리하게 포착합니다. 한때 평화로웠던 도시가 연기와 소음으로 가득 찬 산업 중심지로 변모하는 과정은 미국의 급격한 사회 변화와 그 대가에 대한 심오한 메타포로 작용하며, 진정한 진보의 의미에 관한 질문을 제기합니다.
Booth Tarkington's "The Turmoil" is an insightful novel exploring the clash between material progress and human values against the backdrop of an industrializing Midwestern American city. Through the conflict between the Sheridan family, particularly self-made industrialist James and his introspective, literary son Bibbs, Tarkington sharply captures the impact of relentless pursuit of growth and prosperity on individuals and society. The transformation of a once-peaceful town into a smoke-filled industrial hub serves as a profound metaphor for America's rapid social change and its costs, raising questions about the true meaning of progress.
부스 타킹턴(1869-1946)은 미국의 소설가이자 극작가로, 20세기 초 미국 문학계에서 가장 인기 있고 성공한 작가 중 한 명이었습니다. 그는 두 번이나 퓰리처상을 수상했는데, 1919년 '위대한 앰버슨가(The Magnificent Ambersons)'와 1922년 '앨리스 애덤스(Alice Adams)'로 각각 수상했습니다. 인디애나 주 인디애나폴리스 출신인 타킹턴은 중서부 중산층 마을의 생활과 미국 사회의 변화를 작품에 담아냈습니다. 그의 소설 '펜로드(Penrod)' 시리즈는 어린 소년의 모험을 그린 작품으로 널리 사랑받았으며, '세븐틴(Seventeen)'은 청소년기의 사랑과 성장통을 다룬 작품입니다. 타킹턴의 작품은 주로 빠르게 변화하는 산업화 시대의 미국 사회, 특히 중서부 소도시의 모습과 가치 변화를 섬세하게 포착했습니다. 그는 생전에 미국에서 마크 트웨인의 뒤를 잇는 국민 작가로 여겨졌으나, 오늘날에는 그의 명성이 다소 줄어들었음에도 불구하고 미국 문학사에서 중요한 위치를 차지하고 있습니다.
Booth Tarkington (1869-1946) was an American novelist and playwright who was one of the most popular and successful authors of the early 20th century. He was a two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, receiving the award for "The Magnificent Ambersons" in 1919 and for "Alice Adams" in 1922. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, Tarkington captured the life of middle-class Midwestern towns and the changing American society in his works. His "Penrod" series, which chronicled the adventures of a young boy, was widely beloved, and "Seventeen" dealt with teenage love and growing pains. Tarkington's works primarily focused on capturing the nuances of American society during the rapidly industrializing era, particularly the changing landscape and values of small Midwestern towns. During his lifetime, he was considered a national literary figure second only to Mark Twain in America, and although his reputation has somewhat diminished today, he remains an important figure in American literary history.