<영어로 읽는 고전 _ 나다니엘 호손의 가면무도회의 전설>
“LEGENDS OF THE PROVINCE HOUSE”는 Nathaniel Hawthorne의 또 다른 단편 소설로, 1835년 그의 컬렉션 "Twice-Told Tales"에도 출판되었다.
이 이야기는 보스턴 점령 말기 영국 총독이 주최한 가면무도회에서 벌어지는 기묘한 사건을 그리고 있다.
무도회 도중 영국군 장교들과 충성파 귀족들은 가짜 워싱턴과 반란군 지휘관들을 조롱하는 광대들의 익살극을 즐기고 있다. 그러나 반란군에 동조하는 노인 졸리프 대령은 그 광경을 못마땅해 한다.
한밤중이 되자 갑자기 장송 행진곡이 울려 퍼졌고, 계단 위에는 메사추세츠 식민지의 초대 청교도 총독들과 영국 총독들의 행렬이 나타난다. 군복을 입은 마지막 인물은 얼굴을 가린 채 행진을 마치고 사라졌는데, 사람들은 그가 장군 본인일지도 모른다고 수군거린.
졸리프 대령은 영국의 식민 통치가 끝났음을 선언하며, 무도회장을 떠난다. 그날 이후로 사람들은 해마다 Province House에 총독들의 유령이 출몰한다는 소문을 퍼뜨리는데...
화자는 Province House를 방문한 후 이 이야기를 듣게 되지만, 주위의 현대적 풍경에 싸여 옛날 이야기에 빠져들기 어려워한다. 하지만 화자는 현관을 지날 때 경외감에 사로잡히고, 그 순간만큼은 과거와 현재를 잇는 역사적 경험을 하게 된다.
<A classic read in English_ LEGENDS OF THE PROVINCE HOUSE by Nathaniel Hawthorne >
“LEGENDS OF THE PROVINCE HOUSE” is another short story by Nathaniel Hawthorne, also published in his collection “Twice-Told Tales” in 1835.
This story depicts a strange incident that occurred at a masquerade ball hosted by the British Governor in the final days of the Occupation of Boston.
During the ball, British officers and loyalist nobles enjoy the antics of clowns mocking the fake Washington and the rebel commanders. However, Colonel Jolliff, an old man who sympathizes with the rebels, disapproves of the scene.
At midnight, a funeral march suddenly rang out, and a procession of the first Puritan governors of the Massachusetts colony and the British governors appeared on the stairs. The last person in military uniform disappeared after the march with his face covered, and people whispered that he might be the general himself.
Colonel Jolliff leaves the ballroom, declaring the end of British colonial rule. From that day on, people spread the rumor that the ghosts of governors haunt the Province House every year...
The narrator hears this story after visiting the Province House, but finds it difficult to become immersed in the old story amidst the modern scenery around him. However, when the speaker passes the front door, he is struck by a sense of awe, and at that moment, he has a historical experience that connects the past and the present.
Summary
One afternoon last summer, while walking along Washington street, my eye was attracted by a sign-board protruding over a narrow archway nearly opposite the Old South Church. The sign represented the front of a stately edifice which was designated as the “OLD PROVINCE HOUSE, kept by Thomas Waite.” I was glad to be thus reminded of a purpose, long entertained, of visiting and rambling over the mansion of the old royal governors of Massachusetts, and, entering the arched passage which penetrated through the middle of a brick row of shops, a few steps transported me from the busy heart of modern Boston into a small and secluded court-yard.
