잭 런던의 『야성의 부름』에 나타난 문명과 자연 = Civilization and Nature in Jack London`s The Call of the Wild

국문 초록 (Abstract)

잭 런던은 미국 자연주의 문학을 대표하는 소설가로서 인간의 비극적인 운명의 원인을 냉혹한 자연환경과 무관심한 우주적 질서 또는 사회의 구조적인 모순과 부조리에서 찾으려고 하였다. 런던은 찰스 다윈의 생물학적 진화론이나 칼 마르크스의 『자본론』과 같은 당시의 혁신적인 자연과학 이론뿐만 아니라 정치와 사회사상에 공감하면서 그러한 관점으로 인간의 삶을 분석하려고 시도하였다. 그는 19세기 말엽과 20세기 초엽의 세계와 미국의 정치, 경제, 사회의 흐름에 민감하였고 특히 실제로 사회당의 일원으로 정치에 참여하기도 하였다. 런던은 그의 대표작인 『야성의 부름』에서 문명과 자연의 대비적인 시각을 통하여 인간 삶에 대한 날카로운 분석과 진단을 보여주고 있다. 또한 그는 동물 주인공인 개 벅을 등장시켜서 인간의 본성과 문명 그리고 자연에 대한 자신의 견해를 드러내고 있다. 그는 인간의 물욕에 대한 비판과 문명의 비합리적인 요소를 벅이 문명에서 자연으로 이동해 가는 과정을 통하여 명쾌하게 보여주고 있다.

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Jack London, a representative novelist of American naturalism, tried to seek the causes of human beings`` tragic destiny through callous natural environments, indifferent universal order, and social structural inconsistency. London attempted to analyze human beings’ life with the perspectives of Charles Darwin’s biological evolution theory and Karl Marks`` capitalist ideology that were the progressive ideas at the time, and he sympathized with their points of view. Sensitive at the stream of politics, economics, and society in the world and the United States between the late 19th century and the early 20th century, he specially participated in politics as a member of the socialist party. In his masterpiece The Call of the Wild, London showed his astute analysis and diagnosis of human beings life through contrasting views on civilization and nature. He also revealed his opinion of the nature of man, civilization, and nature by putting a dumb animal hero Buck into his novel. He evinced clearly his critique of materialistic worldly-minded people and the irrational aspects of civilization through the process of Buck``s movement from civilization to nature regardless of his will. London continued to probe into the truth of human life and revealed his critical perspective on American society through the literary techniques of naturalism in his other works. Although he asserted that human destiny was mainly influenced by environment, heredity, and chance, he never gave up easily his belief and hope in human beings under any circumstances. He paradoxically emphasized that a warm human love was needed to overcome such absurd and unfavorable conditions rather than violence and hatred in our society.

참고문헌 (Reference)

1 Auerbach, Jonathan, "‘Congested Mails': Buck and Jack's ’Call'" 67 (67): 51-76, 1995

2 Labor, Earle, "The Call of the Wild: A Casebook with Text, Background Sources, Reviews, Critical Essays, and Bibliography" Nelson-Hall 202-216, 1980

3 Wilcox, Earl J., "The Call of the Wild: A Casebook with Text, Background Sources, Reviews, Critical Essays, and Bibliography" Nelson-Hall 178-192, 1980

4 Upton, Ann, "The Call of the Wild: A Casebook with Text, Background Sources, Reviews, Critical Essays, and Bibliography" Nelson-Hall 193-201, 1980

5 Spinner, Jonathan H., "The Call of the Wild: A Casebook with Text, Background Sources, Reviews, Critical Essays, and Bibliography" Nelson-Hall 234-242, 1980

6 Gurian, Jay, "The Call of the Wild: A Casebook with Text, Background Sources, Reviews, Critical Essays, and Bibliography" Nelson-Hall 174-177, 1980

7 Labor, Earle, "The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and Other Stories" Oxford UP 11-22, 1998

8 Dickey, James, "The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and Other Stories" Penguin Books 7-18, 1993

9 London, Jack, "The Call of the Wild" Penguin Books 1993

10 Cassuto, Leonard, "Rereading Jack London" Stanford UP 1-9, 1996

11 Benoit, Raymond, "Notes: Jack London's ‘The Call of the Wild'" 20 (20): 246-248, 1968

12 Xiaofen Zhang, "Naturalism Presented in The Call of the Wild" 1 (1): 278-281, 2010

13 McClintock, James I., "Jack London's Strong Truths: A Study of His Short Stories" Michigan State UP 1997