Greek Lessons 희랍어 시간 by Han Kang 한 강

"This is the third book by Han Kang that I have read, following The Vegetarian and Human Acts. Greek Lessons is about a woman who loses her language and speech, and her Greek teacher, who has a genetic condition causing progressive blindness. Some parts of the writing were a bit hard for me to comprehend; however, in many instances, I was overjoyed by the sheer sensory experience of the novel. It's no surprise that Han Kang writes with poetic beauty, as seen in these words: 'If snow is the silence that falls from the sky, perhaps rain is an endless sentence.' The woman who lost her language felt that the reasons for losing it were not simple. I believe rejecting language was her mind's way of protesting against the weapon (words) that wounded her. Han Kang writes with such sincerity and brevity that makes this novel a compelling read....."

심플하게 말하면 지루한 남녀의 이야기다. 복잡하게 말하면 눈이 멀어져 가고 있는 남자와 말(언어)을 잃어버린 여자의 만남을 시적, 철학적, 심리적으로 잘 묘사하고 있는 작품이다. 읽기 시작하기 전에 한글판 미리 보기를 먼저 볼 것을 추천한다. 내용이 쉽지 않고 이 작가의 다른 작품들처럼 시적이고 함축적인 표현들이 많이 나오기 때문에 읽는데 어려움이 있을 수 있다. 한국말이 어렵다는 것을 알 수 있게 해주는 작품인데 영어번역에 참여한 분들의 능력이 대단한 거 같다. 작품에 등장하는 언어나 철학에 관한 이야기들은 흥미로웠다. 

--.... these two verbs mean "to suffer" and "to learn". Do you know they're almost identical? What Socrates is doing here is punning on these words to remark on the similiarity of the two actions.

-- 'You know how they say that, to the Ancient Greeks, virtue wasn't goodness or nobility, but the ability to do a certain thing in the very best way - arete was their world, the capacity for excellence..... Who would be best able to think about life? 

-- That it is in this tired, worn context that I understand Plato. That he himself knew that such beauty does not exist. And that there is no complete thing, ever. At least in this world.

--... with a greeting or a smile was exhausting. Sometimes simply saying hello and smiling felt like labour.

-- If snow is the silence that falls from the sky, perhaps rain is an endless sentence......

                                                                                                                                               본문 중에서