Dostoevsky, "White Nights" (1)

 

도스토옙스키의 소설 중 정말 좋아하는 단편. 이 찌질한 열기가 좋다고 할까. 도스토옙스키 찌질미의 정석을 담고 있다고 할까. 천천히 읽어가보며 적어내려가 보려 한다. 

 

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배경: 우리가 어릴 때에나 보게 되는 멋진 밤. 하늘에 별이 가득하고 그 별로 인해 너무 밝아, 나쁜 마음 먹은 사람이 그런 하늘 아래에서 살 수 없을 것 같은 그런 밤. 그날은 오전에 왠지 세상에 나 혼자인 것 같은 그런 우울한 날이었다. 도시 사람들이 모조리 여름을 보내기 위해 떠난 그런 날, 나는 모두를 알지만 아무도 나를 모르는 낯선 그런 고시에 홀로 남겨진 것 같았던 날이었다.

 

 

"It was a wonderful night, such a night as is only possible when we are young, dear reader. The sky was so starry, so bright that, looking at it, one could not help asking oneself whether ill-humoured and capricious people could live under such a sky."

 

1. capricious: given to sudden and unaccountable changes of mood or behavior.

 

"I cannot help recalling my moral condition all that day. From early morning I had been oppressed by a strange despondency. It suddenly seemed to me that I was lonely, that every one was forsaking me and going away from me."

 

2. despondency: a state of low spirit by loss of hope.

3. foresake: abandon

 

*so that 구문

*whether 명사절

*canot help -ing

*과거완료수동태

*it seems that 구문

Nevsky Street, Petersburg.

 

 

"They, of course, do not know me, but I know them. I know them intimately, I have almost made a study of their faces, and am delighted when they are gay, and downcast when they are under a cloud."