고원의 푸른 바람과 조각난 미국의 꿈 : 윌라 캐더의 『교수의 집』 (The Blue Mesa and the Broken Dream of America : Willa Cather’s The Professor’s House)

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· 저자명 : 한미야

초록

This paper aims to investigate Cather’s perception of her age in The Professor’s House , especially regarding her imperialistic attitude .
The protagonist Tom Outland and St. Peters find people in materialistic and selfish way of life deplorable and try to take refuge in the western territory which has been the home place of Native Americans.
Cather agrees with Emerson that human beings can restore their innate holiness by living in Nature. What is problematic about this viewpoint is that they regard the nature in Western Frontier as a ‘virgin land’ which could be interpreted as a ‘resourceful Frontier’.
That is, westward expansion is converted to the discovery and conquest of territory which is vacant and contains valuable natural resources with no ownership.
Tom Outland, a representative cowboy, discovers relics of Native Indians called “The Cliff City” on the Mesa Verde. With the multi-cultural tolerance, he appreciates the people who had built the “City” and accepts them as his ancestors. Also, as a part of nature he lives in, he appreciates the sublime beauty of the outlandish landscape and unifies with the deity in nature. However, his love of nature and holistic attitude toward life is incompatible with the society he lives in. But his life ends with a sudden death in a war.
The professor, St. Peter, realizes the failure of himself and his age through the communion with Tom. Memories of Tom lets him decide to stop his hopeless way of life and return to nature where he could revive his primitive self. Nevertheless, it seems that he can’t find his way to the future for his naive perception of his age. For Cather’s heroes flee from their age, they can’t but give a silent favor to imperialistic America.

영어초록

This paper aims to investigate Cather’s perception of her age in The Professor’s House , especially regarding her imperialistic attitude .
The protagonist Tom Outland and St. Peters find people in materialistic and selfish way of life deplorable and try to take refuge in the western territory which has been the home place of Native Americans.
Cather agrees with Emerson that human beings can restore their innate holiness by living in Nature. What is problematic about this viewpoint is that they regard the nature in Western Frontier as a ‘virgin land’ which could be interpreted as a ‘resourceful Frontier’.
That is, westward expansion is converted to the discovery and conquest of territory which is vacant and contains valuable natural resources with no ownership.
Tom Outland, a representative cowboy, discovers relics of Native Indians called “The Cliff City” on the Mesa Verde. With the multi-cultural tolerance, he appreciates the people who had built the “City” and accepts them as his ancestors. Also, as a part of nature he lives in, he appreciates the sublime beauty of the outlandish landscape and unifies with the deity in nature. However, his love of nature and holistic attitude toward life is incompatible with the society he lives in. But his life ends with a sudden death in a war.
The professor, St. Peter, realizes the failure of himself and his age through the communion with Tom. Memories of Tom lets him decide to stop his hopeless way of life and return to nature where he could revive his primitive self. Nevertheless, it seems that he can’t find his way to the future for his naive perception of his age. For Cather’s heroes flee from their age, they can’t but give a silent favor to imperialistic America.

참고자료

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