카버의 두 단편소설 비교: 「목욕」과 개정본 「조그마한 좋은 것」의 상이한 구조와 의미 (A Comparison of Carver’s Two Stories: The Different Structures and Meanings in “The Bath” and the Revised “A Small, Good Thing”)

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 한국동서비교문학학회
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· 저자명 : 한정희

초록

This paper aims at comparing their different structures and meanings in Raymond Carver’s two stories: “The Bath,” collected in What We Talk About When We Talk About Love and its revised lengthy version, “A Small, Good Thing,” in Cathedral. Both versions tell of a couple whose son was hit by a car on his eighth birthday and didn’t have his birthday party as he didn’t wake up from a comma; the two stories, however, are quite different in style, tone, and theme. “The Bath,” the shorter version, shows minimalist characteristics, as the story develops in a deadpan narrative, stripped-down vocabularies, and brief descriptions of characters and scenes; this story entirely relies upon the minimalist principle: less is more. As Carver keeps a psychological distance from his subject matter, he induces his readers to feel a threatening mood that multiplies in the mind of a mother seized with fear of her son’s impending death. Contrastingly, “A Small, Good Thing” reveals more fully developed characterization, especially of the boy’s mother and the baker who make several phone calls for the cake that wasn’t picked up; ultimately, however, the revised version, emphasizes a genuine human communication between the two characters, suggesting the positive attitude of a mother who gets ready to start emotional life without her son, overcoming her extreme grief. The contrast between “The Bath” and its revised version reflects Carver’s newly-gained positive attitude toward life that is best shown in Cathedral.

영어초록

This paper aims at comparing their different structures and meanings in Raymond Carver’s two stories: “The Bath,” collected in What We Talk About When We Talk About Love and its revised lengthy version, “A Small, Good Thing,” in Cathedral. Both versions tell of a couple whose son was hit by a car on his eighth birthday and didn’t have his birthday party as he didn’t wake up from a comma; the two stories, however, are quite different in style, tone, and theme. “The Bath,” the shorter version, shows minimalist characteristics, as the story develops in a deadpan narrative, stripped-down vocabularies, and brief descriptions of characters and scenes; this story entirely relies upon the minimalist principle: less is more. As Carver keeps a psychological distance from his subject matter, he induces his readers to feel a threatening mood that multiplies in the mind of a mother seized with fear of her son’s impending death. Contrastingly, “A Small, Good Thing” reveals more fully developed characterization, especially of the boy’s mother and the baker who make several phone calls for the cake that wasn’t picked up; ultimately, however, the revised version, emphasizes a genuine human communication between the two characters, suggesting the positive attitude of a mother who gets ready to start emotional life without her son, overcoming her extreme grief. The contrast between “The Bath” and its revised version reflects Carver’s newly-gained positive attitude toward life that is best shown in Cathedral.

참고자료

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