Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

2008.10.26 일 13:19  다이어리 내용

읽어두면 좋다 하여 Virginia Woolf 의Mrs. Dalloway를 읽는 중.

콤마와 (,) 데쉬 (-) 와 semicolon (; ) 으로 스타일있게 (? )  철갑처럼 무장한 문장들에서 알맹이를 (= 의미) 골라내는게 쉽지 않다.

 

자꾸, -,; 만 응시하게 된다.

 

 

 

 

 

2008. 12. 14 :

요 며칠 이곳엔 Flash Flood 경고가 있을 정도로 비가  쏟아지는 날씨였습니다.

읽고 있던 책 몇권을 마칠 수 있기에는 좋은 시간이었고요.

 

Virgina Woolf 씨의 이 책은... 스타카도 식의 딱딱 멈추고 끊어지면서도

숨 가쁘게 이어지는-, 와 -, ; 그리고 ( )이 대거 출동하는 문장인지라 -

 

아마도 영국분이신지라? 

그리고 시대적인 것도 있어 이런 문체일까?

추측해봅니다.

 

내용은 약간 우울한 ( 뭐 제게는 우울했습니다) 철학적인 요소가 있고요.

중년이 된 세 사람이 자신들의 20대 시절을 회상하는 부분. 이루지 못한 사랑,

내면에는 지독한 삶의 가치에 대한 회의감.

그래도 삶의 겉 표면에 집중하고 ( superficial ) 살아가야 하는. 살아내야 하는.

 

작가의 눈은 마치 인물들의 마음을 들여다보는 카메라처럼 이 인물에서 저 인물로

이동하며 그들의 생각을 묘사하는데요.

그런 면에선  컨템포라리 하고 도회적인 스타일이란 느낌이 들었으며

그 시대에선 아방 가드 ( avant -garde ) 한 소설이었을 거란 생각이 듭니다.

 

그럼, 그녀의 문체를 여기 한 문장 소개하지요.

 

It was due to Richard; she had never been so happy. Nothing could be slow enough; nothing last too long. No pleasure could equal, she thought, straightening the chairs, pushing in one book on the shelf, this having done with the triumphs of youth, lost herself in the process of living, to find it, with a shock of delight, as the sun rose, as the day sank. Many a time had she gone, at Bourton when they were all talking, to look at the sky; or seen it between people’s shoulders at dinner; seen it in London when she could not sleep. She walked to the window. 
It held, foolish as the idea was, something of her own in it, this country sky, this sky above Westminster. She parted the curtains;
 she looked. 
Oh, but how surprising!—in the room opposite the old lady stared straight at her! She was going to bed. And the sky.
 It will be a solemn sky, she had thought, it will be a dusky sky, turning away its cheek in beauty. But there it was—ashen pale, raced over quickly by tapering vast clouds. It was new to her. The wind must have risen. She was going to bed, in the room opposite.
 It was fascinating to watch her, moving about, that old lady, crossing the room, coming to the window. Could she see her? It was fascinating, with people still laughing and shouting in the drawing-room, to watch that old woman, quite quietly, going to bed. She pulled the blind now. 
The clock began striking. The young man had killed himself; but she did not pity him; with the clock striking the hour, one, two, three, she did not pity him, with all this going on. There! the old lady had put out her light! the whole house was dark now with this going on, she repeated, and the words came to her, Fear no more the heat of the sun. She must go back to them. But what an extraordinary night! 
She felt somehow very like him—the young man who had killed himself. She felt glad that he had done it; thrown it away. The clock was striking.
 The leaden circles dissolved in the air. He made her feel the beauty; made her feel the fun. But she must go back. She must assemble.
 She must find Sally and Peter. And she came in from the little room."

 

 

 

 

 

*** 이 소설을 온라인으로 읽을 수 있는 e-book 링크 : http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/w/woolf/virginia/w91md/

 

 

책 속에 나오는 단어 하나가 모르는 단어여서 검색해보니 사전에는 없는 소설가가 invent 한 단어였어요.

검색하다 발견한 사이트 ( 이 소설에 나오는 단어들에 대한 ) 소개합니다.:

http://wordweary.wordpress.com/2007/07/17/words-from-woolfs-mrs-dalloway/