마침 잘 읽은 세 권의 소설

 

요새 읽은 세 권의 소설이, 어쩐지 읽고 싶어져서 읽은 거지만, 마침

읽었어야 좋을 책을 읽었다는 생각이 든다. 요새 스트레스를 주는

어떤 일에서 마음이 벗어나 있게 해주면서 간접적으로는 그 일에 대해

담담한 마음을 갖는 데에 소설 속 이야기들이 도움이 되어주어서다.

 

Louise Erdrich 의 LaRose (2016) 와 Willa Cather 의, 2년 만에

다시 읽은, The Professor's House (1925), 그리고 Ursula K.

Le Guin 의 Lavinia (2008) 가 그 책들이다.

 

다 내가 좋아하는 작가들인데다 Vergil 의 The Aeneid 에 나오는

(공주/여왕) Lavinia 가 주인공인 일인칭 소설 Lavinia 를 비롯, 다

특이한 이야기나 배경의 소설들이고 삶과 죽음에 대한 어떤 간명한

느낌을 갖게해준다.

 

 

 

 

   

 

   

 

 

 

 

아래는 The Professor's House 에서:

 

A man can do anything if he wishes to enough, St. Peter

[the professor's name] believed. Desire is creation, is the

magical element in that process. (p 19)

 

one must go living, Godfrey. But it wasn't the children

who came between us" There was something lonely and

forgiving in her voice, something that spoke of an old

wound, healed and hardened and hopeless.... He wished

he knew just how it seemed to her. He had been mistaken,

he felt. The heart of another is a dark forest, always, no

matter how close it has been to one's own. (p 78)

 

Their ways parted, and both went on more cheerful than

when they met. (p 84)

 

Bur one couldn't do one's own things in another person's

way; selfish or not, that was the truth. (p 139)

 

He did not regret his life, but he was indifferent to it. It

seemed to him like the life of another person. (p 243)

 

"In great misfortunes," he told himself, "people want to be

alone. They have a right to be. And the misfortunes that

occur within one are the greatest ...." (p 250)