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소설가 구보씨의 일일
1933년 사회주의 및 민족주의에 반기를 든 '구인회'에 가입해 활동하며, 실험적인 서사 기법의 소설을 썼던 작가 박태원의 단편 모음집이다. 1930년부터 1941년까지 발표된 작품 가운데, 10편의 단편소설과 3편의 중편소설을 선별해 실었다. 문학과 지성사 한국문학전집의 열다섯 번째 권으로 출간되었다.
우리 문학사의 주옥같은 작품을 한자리에 모은 한국문학전집은 작가별로 편차를 두어 목록을 기획했다. 각 작가의 대표작을 중심으로 구성하되 대표작으로 인정되는 작품들과 숨겨진 수작들도 다양하게 실었다. 또한 작품의 원본을 토대로 연재본과 다른 판본과의 대조로 오류를 수정했다.
각 작가의 전공자들인 책임 편집자들이 충실한 낱말 풀이와 해설, 주석을 통해 작품에 대한 길잡이를 제공한다. 맞춤법과 띄어쓰기의 변환 작업에는 가급적 현대어 표기를 적용시켰고, 저작권 관련 사항도 정식 계약을 체결하여 진행했다.
표제작 '소설가 구보씨의 일일'의 주인공 '구보'는 하루 종일 메모를 위한 노트를 들고 서울 거리를 종일 산책하며, 현대의 풍속을 탐구한다. 이는 소설 쓸 거리를 찾고, 소설을 쓸 수 있는 정신 상태를 갖추기 위한 준비이다. 별다른 사건이 일어나지 않는 구보의 한가한 산보 자체가 소설의 줄거리인데, 그 과정에서도 머리는 바쁘게 움직이며 식민지 자본주의의 시공간을 비판적으로 응시한다.
우리 문학사의 주옥같은 작품을 한자리에 모은 한국문학전집은 작가별로 편차를 두어 목록을 기획했다. 각 작가의 대표작을 중심으로 구성하되 대표작으로 인정되는 작품들과 숨겨진 수작들도 다양하게 실었다. 또한 작품의 원본을 토대로 연재본과 다른 판본과의 대조로 오류를 수정했다.
각 작가의 전공자들인 책임 편집자들이 충실한 낱말 풀이와 해설, 주석을 통해 작품에 대한 길잡이를 제공한다. 맞춤법과 띄어쓰기의 변환 작업에는 가급적 현대어 표기를 적용시켰고, 저작권 관련 사항도 정식 계약을 체결하여 진행했다.
표제작 '소설가 구보씨의 일일'의 주인공 '구보'는 하루 종일 메모를 위한 노트를 들고 서울 거리를 종일 산책하며, 현대의 풍속을 탐구한다. 이는 소설 쓸 거리를 찾고, 소설을 쓸 수 있는 정신 상태를 갖추기 위한 준비이다. 별다른 사건이 일어나지 않는 구보의 한가한 산보 자체가 소설의 줄거리인데, 그 과정에서도 머리는 바쁘게 움직이며 식민지 자본주의의 시공간을 비판적으로 응시한다.
- GenresFictionLiteratureNovella
Paperback
First published January 1, 1934
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June 9, 2020
هل يجب على البطل حقًا أن ينقذ قطة؟ يجعلنا نتعاطف معه كي نُكمل الرواية حتى لو كان أشر الأشرار؟
هل عليه أن يتصرف تصرف ما ينم عن شيء جيد بداخله فنستمر في القراءة ملتمسين له الأعذار على كل الأشياء الشنيعة التي يفعلها؟
حسنًا.. في رواية باك تي-وون الأمر ليس كذلك على الإطلاق.
هي رواية مختلفة من السطور الأولى.
ذلك الفتى الذي يخرج من المنزل تاركًا أمه ورائه، تناديه لكنه لا يرد عليها، يشعر بالذنب قليلًا لكنه لا يفعل أي شيء.
كوبو هو روائي، روائي فاشل وعاطل عن العمل، يكتب بعض المقالات للمتفرقة لكنها لا تغير من كونه فاشلًا.
لديه أصدقاء، يتفرغون لأجله لكنه لا يرى أبعد من أنفه، يرى الجميع مشغولين بحياتهم، يعطل أصدقائه عن حياتهم لأجل اللاشيء، لأنه لا يملك حقًا ما يفعله في حياته الغارفة، ورغم تطفله على الجميع إلا أنه يحزن لكونهم يملكون حيوات! ذلك الصديق الذي لا يعتبره صديقًا من الأساس ينهي عمله ويهرع إليه ليظل يتحدث مع لساعات، هو لا يصغي إليه، ولا يعتبره صديقًا من الأساس، بل ويقاطعه ويسحبه ورائه هنا وهناك حتى يرغب الشاب في الذهاب إلى النزل الذي يقيم به ليتناول عشائه ويكتب قليلًا، لكن كوبو يتضايق من الأمر.
تدور أحدث الرواية في يوم واحد يقضيها الروائي بين السير هنا وهناك ومحادثة الأشخاص والالتقاء بالعديد من الناس الذين ينتقد سواء مظاهرهم أو تصرفاتهم أو حياتهم مصدرًا الأحكام على الجميع، لكننا لا نرى من هو كوبو، كيف يكون شكله حقًا؟ هل هو بتلك الوسامة؟ لا.. لأن الفتيات لم تبدين مهتمات به هكذا في الرواية .
إنه شخص بغيض لأسوأ حد، ولا نحمل نحوه ذرة من التعاطف، حتى عند الحديث عن حبه السابق، بدا أقرب إلى القصة، وكأنه لم يحدث قط!
إنه شخص منغلق ومنطوي ويبدو أن هذا ما عكسه عليه الاحتلال، أدب فترة الاحتلات الياباني لكوريا الجنوبية غائم جدًا، رمادي، وكئيب.
البطل متفرد ومنغلق في قوقعته، أكاد أجزم أنه لم يذكر أي اسم آخر سواه، على عكس تلك الروايات التي يكون فيها البطل دون اسم ومن حوله يملكون أسماءً إلا أننا طوال الرواية يتكرر اسم "كوبو" باستمرار. ولم يتكرر اسم هكذا سواه! غير أن كوبو ليس اسمه الحقيقي إنه اسم ياباني أو ما فرضه الاحتلال الياباني على الكوريين أن يكون لديهم لقب/اسم ياباني ينادون به بعضهم البعض.
وليس من قبيل المصادفة أن يكون كاتب الرواية ذاته لقبه الياباني كوبو.
فهل كان تي-وون يسقط هذا على نفسه؟
إن كوبو شخص نرجسي، يظن أنه يفهم أفضل من الجميع، فجميع الأشخاص حوله أغبياء، جميعهم تافهين، كوبو حقود وحاسد، ودون مستواه، حتى النساء لم يترك امرأة تمر في الرواية حتى من أمامه حتى وجد فيها عيبًا واحدًا علي الأقل، فمن كانت جميلة تملك فمًا قبيحًا أو غير أنيقة، أو باحثة عن الذهب، أو هي عاهرة، وإن كانت جميلة وأنيقة ومهذبة فهي غبية، أو تعمل بوظيفة متدنية، حتى إنه عندما طلب أن يقابل نادلة ليخرج معها لم يهتم إن وافقت أو رفضت هو فقط يرغب بأن يفعل شيئًا أو أن يفعل أي شيء دون أن يفعل الشيء الوحيد الذي يتوجب عليه فعله وهو الكتابة!
حتى حبيبته التي تركها ولم يفعل شيئًا لأجلها يهدئ من روعه بقول أنها قد تكون وجدت السعادة في مكان آخر، وإن لم تجدها فالمشكلة بشخصيتها هي! وما يعني أنها سلبية!
هو لا يلوم نفسه أبدًا ولا يرى أبعد من أنفه، إن قراءة هذه الرواية تجعلك غاضبًا.
هل عليه أن يتصرف تصرف ما ينم عن شيء جيد بداخله فنستمر في القراءة ملتمسين له الأعذار على كل الأشياء الشنيعة التي يفعلها؟
حسنًا.. في رواية باك تي-وون الأمر ليس كذلك على الإطلاق.
هي رواية مختلفة من السطور الأولى.
ذلك الفتى الذي يخرج من المنزل تاركًا أمه ورائه، تناديه لكنه لا يرد عليها، يشعر بالذنب قليلًا لكنه لا يفعل أي شيء.
كوبو هو روائي، روائي فاشل وعاطل عن العمل، يكتب بعض المقالات للمتفرقة لكنها لا تغير من كونه فاشلًا.
لديه أصدقاء، يتفرغون لأجله لكنه لا يرى أبعد من أنفه، يرى الجميع مشغولين بحياتهم، يعطل أصدقائه عن حياتهم لأجل اللاشيء، لأنه لا يملك حقًا ما يفعله في حياته الغارفة، ورغم تطفله على الجميع إلا أنه يحزن لكونهم يملكون حيوات! ذلك الصديق الذي لا يعتبره صديقًا من الأساس ينهي عمله ويهرع إليه ليظل يتحدث مع لساعات، هو لا يصغي إليه، ولا يعتبره صديقًا من الأساس، بل ويقاطعه ويسحبه ورائه هنا وهناك حتى يرغب الشاب في الذهاب إلى النزل الذي يقيم به ليتناول عشائه ويكتب قليلًا، لكن كوبو يتضايق من الأمر.
تدور أحدث الرواية في يوم واحد يقضيها الروائي بين السير هنا وهناك ومحادثة الأشخاص والالتقاء بالعديد من الناس الذين ينتقد سواء مظاهرهم أو تصرفاتهم أو حياتهم مصدرًا الأحكام على الجميع، لكننا لا نرى من هو كوبو، كيف يكون شكله حقًا؟ هل هو بتلك الوسامة؟ لا.. لأن الفتيات لم تبدين مهتمات به هكذا في الرواية .
إنه شخص بغيض لأسوأ حد، ولا نحمل نحوه ذرة من التعاطف، حتى عند الحديث عن حبه السابق، بدا أقرب إلى القصة، وكأنه لم يحدث قط!
إنه شخص منغلق ومنطوي ويبدو أن هذا ما عكسه عليه الاحتلال، أدب فترة الاحتلات الياباني لكوريا الجنوبية غائم جدًا، رمادي، وكئيب.
البطل متفرد ومنغلق في قوقعته، أكاد أجزم أنه لم يذكر أي اسم آخر سواه، على عكس تلك الروايات التي يكون فيها البطل دون اسم ومن حوله يملكون أسماءً إلا أننا طوال الرواية يتكرر اسم "كوبو" باستمرار. ولم يتكرر اسم هكذا سواه! غير أن كوبو ليس اسمه الحقيقي إنه اسم ياباني أو ما فرضه الاحتلال الياباني على الكوريين أن يكون لديهم لقب/اسم ياباني ينادون به بعضهم البعض.
وليس من قبيل المصادفة أن يكون كاتب الرواية ذاته لقبه الياباني كوبو.
فهل كان تي-وون يسقط هذا على نفسه؟
إن كوبو شخص نرجسي، يظن أنه يفهم أفضل من الجميع، فجميع الأشخاص حوله أغبياء، جميعهم تافهين، كوبو حقود وحاسد، ودون مستواه، حتى النساء لم يترك امرأة تمر في الرواية حتى من أمامه حتى وجد فيها عيبًا واحدًا علي الأقل، فمن كانت جميلة تملك فمًا قبيحًا أو غير أنيقة، أو باحثة عن الذهب، أو هي عاهرة، وإن كانت جميلة وأنيقة ومهذبة فهي غبية، أو تعمل بوظيفة متدنية، حتى إنه عندما طلب أن يقابل نادلة ليخرج معها لم يهتم إن وافقت أو رفضت هو فقط يرغب بأن يفعل شيئًا أو أن يفعل أي شيء دون أن يفعل الشيء الوحيد الذي يتوجب عليه فعله وهو الكتابة!
حتى حبيبته التي تركها ولم يفعل شيئًا لأجلها يهدئ من روعه بقول أنها قد تكون وجدت السعادة في مكان آخر، وإن لم تجدها فالمشكلة بشخصيتها هي! وما يعني أنها سلبية!
هو لا يلوم نفسه أبدًا ولا يرى أبعد من أنفه، إن قراءة هذه الرواية تجعلك غاضبًا.
August 5, 2016
"내일부터, 내 집에 있겠소, 창작하겠소"
"Tomorrow...from tomorrow, I'll stay at home, I'll write."
"구소설가 구보씨의 일일/ "A Day in the Life of Kubo the Novelist" by 박태원(Pak Taewon) is Volume 93 in Asia Publishers' bilingual series of Modern Korean short stories.
a sketch of Kubo drawn by Pak's friend, the author Yi Sang, rather disappointingly omitted from this edition
For my general comments on the series see https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...?. The fact that this is Volume 93, with an additional K-Fiction series of 15+ books also published, shows the sheer size of the undertaking.
This story has been translated by Sunyoung Park working with Jefferson J.A. Gatrall and Kevin o'Rourke and comes with an afterword from a literary critic, in this case, Chun Jung-hwan.
Pak is known for his experimental prose, and even the Korean version comes with 83 footnotes, albeit many explain Japanese loan words (written as the novel is during the Japanese colonial occupation) which are no longer used.
The translator admits to having made the difficult decision to "make two major adjustments in translating Pak Taewon's experimental prose". Specifically she simplified in places two particular features in the English rendition: Pak's odd uses of tenses ("he habitually starts a paragraph in the past tense, and then, as if staging a scene, narrates the tense in the present. Also he tends to assign the past tense to external actions, while everything that is filtered through Kubo's perception is described in the present tense."), and his odd use of commas to separate subject and predicate. Her rationale is that his use of such devices is not always consistent, can be confusing and doesn't always produce the same effect in English, although only the third seems convincing.
Kubo, second son of a middle-class family, is aged 26 when the novel starts:
"His mother feels heavy hearted. She is sorry for her son. He has no intention of looking for a regular job. He just reads, writes and wanders aimlessly through the night."
"어머니는 어디 월급 자리라도 구할 생각은 없이, 밤낮으로, 책이나 읽고 글이나 쓰고 혹은 공연스레 밤중까지 쏘다니고 하는 아들이, 보기에 딱하고, 또 답답하였다." (NB the Korean original is just one sentence, which has been chopped into four simpler sentences in the translation)
In a neat echo of the contemporary story The World's Most Expensive Novel in the same bilingual series, "his mother thinks that a regular* job would be much better than writing.". Although she is proud when he sells a piece of work and gives her money to buy a new skirt, immediately going around her neighbours wearing it, to boast, "such scenes do not happen often."
(* the Korean word for such a job - 월급쟁이- implies a regular monthly salary)
His mother's frustrations are understandable. Kubo is a published novelist but his day-to-day activity seems to mainly involve "wandering the streets aimlessly with a walking stick in one hand and a notebook in the other", although he justifies this as "only proper than an urban novelist should be well acquainted with the gates of the city". And it's just such a "Day in the Life of Kubo the Novelist" that comprises the story.
While he wanders Kubo worries about his health, watches people (but seldom interacting with them), and ponders his own loneliness, and his lack of fulfilment.
"What is my greatest wish? Kubo lit a cigarette. While cleaning his pipe at the hearth, Ishikawa Takuboku (+) once asked what is my real desire? Kubo felt he ought to have such a desire, but he found he hadn't."
(+ an early 20th Century Japanese poet and novelist)
He worries about his weak eyesight, his poor hearing (which he self diagnoses "for no particular reason", while devouring a medical dictionary, as due to "chronic wet otitis media catarrh"), and countless other conditions from which he suffers, or at least believes he does "Constipation. Irregular urination. Fatigue. Ennui. Headache. Heavy-headedness...
[...]
It's not just his nerves. With this head, with this body, what will I ever accomplish. Kubo feels somewhat threatened by the energetic body and resilient gait of a virile man just passing."
And he more, astutely, diagnoses his loneliness as "a consequence of his irresolute personality". His mother tried to arrange a marriage, but the socially awkward Kubo failed to follow up on the first introduced meeting with the girl, ("he didn't want to cause her any unwarranted distress, in case she wasn't interested in him"). When today, months later, he fortuitously sees her on a tram, he deliberately avoids any eye contact, only to regret it the second she steps off.
He then recalls when his indecisiveness cost him the chance of love while he was living in Tokyo. A girl he met through an uncharacteristically bold move (he read her notebook in a coffee shop to find her address) tells him at the end of their first romantic date she is already engaged to someone Kubo knows and asks for his advice. But to her disappointment Kubo defers to the other: now he reflects
"When she blamed me through her sobs, saying that my sense of loyalty and fear of reproach derived from a lack of love and passion, she was evidently right.
...
I should have run after her. I should have seized her slender shoulders, I should have confessed that all my words till now have been lies, that I can never forego our love, that we must fight against all obstacles."
Finally, after his day of wandering and pondering he decides;
"Tomorrow...from tomorrow, I'll stay at home, I'll write.
Kubo the Novelist is materially longer (twice the average) than the other books I have read in the series, and this makes for a more substantial story, closer to a novel(la). While some of the experimentation with language is unfortunately lost in translation, it's a fascinating character study as well as an exploration of 1930s Seoul in the era of "colonial modernity" as Korea, while still under Japanese rule, came increasingly under Western cultural influence. Recommended.
"Tomorrow...from tomorrow, I'll stay at home, I'll write."
"구소설가 구보씨의 일일/ "A Day in the Life of Kubo the Novelist" by 박태원(Pak Taewon) is Volume 93 in Asia Publishers' bilingual series of Modern Korean short stories.
a sketch of Kubo drawn by Pak's friend, the author Yi Sang, rather disappointingly omitted from this edition
For my general comments on the series see https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...?. The fact that this is Volume 93, with an additional K-Fiction series of 15+ books also published, shows the sheer size of the undertaking.
This story has been translated by Sunyoung Park working with Jefferson J.A. Gatrall and Kevin o'Rourke and comes with an afterword from a literary critic, in this case, Chun Jung-hwan.
Pak is known for his experimental prose, and even the Korean version comes with 83 footnotes, albeit many explain Japanese loan words (written as the novel is during the Japanese colonial occupation) which are no longer used.
The translator admits to having made the difficult decision to "make two major adjustments in translating Pak Taewon's experimental prose". Specifically she simplified in places two particular features in the English rendition: Pak's odd uses of tenses ("he habitually starts a paragraph in the past tense, and then, as if staging a scene, narrates the tense in the present. Also he tends to assign the past tense to external actions, while everything that is filtered through Kubo's perception is described in the present tense."), and his odd use of commas to separate subject and predicate. Her rationale is that his use of such devices is not always consistent, can be confusing and doesn't always produce the same effect in English, although only the third seems convincing.
Kubo, second son of a middle-class family, is aged 26 when the novel starts:
"His mother feels heavy hearted. She is sorry for her son. He has no intention of looking for a regular job. He just reads, writes and wanders aimlessly through the night."
"어머니는 어디 월급 자리라도 구할 생각은 없이, 밤낮으로, 책이나 읽고 글이나 쓰고 혹은 공연스레 밤중까지 쏘다니고 하는 아들이, 보기에 딱하고, 또 답답하였다." (NB the Korean original is just one sentence, which has been chopped into four simpler sentences in the translation)
In a neat echo of the contemporary story The World's Most Expensive Novel in the same bilingual series, "his mother thinks that a regular* job would be much better than writing.". Although she is proud when he sells a piece of work and gives her money to buy a new skirt, immediately going around her neighbours wearing it, to boast, "such scenes do not happen often."
(* the Korean word for such a job - 월급쟁이- implies a regular monthly salary)
His mother's frustrations are understandable. Kubo is a published novelist but his day-to-day activity seems to mainly involve "wandering the streets aimlessly with a walking stick in one hand and a notebook in the other", although he justifies this as "only proper than an urban novelist should be well acquainted with the gates of the city". And it's just such a "Day in the Life of Kubo the Novelist" that comprises the story.
While he wanders Kubo worries about his health, watches people (but seldom interacting with them), and ponders his own loneliness, and his lack of fulfilment.
"What is my greatest wish? Kubo lit a cigarette. While cleaning his pipe at the hearth, Ishikawa Takuboku (+) once asked what is my real desire? Kubo felt he ought to have such a desire, but he found he hadn't."
(+ an early 20th Century Japanese poet and novelist)
He worries about his weak eyesight, his poor hearing (which he self diagnoses "for no particular reason", while devouring a medical dictionary, as due to "chronic wet otitis media catarrh"), and countless other conditions from which he suffers, or at least believes he does "Constipation. Irregular urination. Fatigue. Ennui. Headache. Heavy-headedness...
[...]
It's not just his nerves. With this head, with this body, what will I ever accomplish. Kubo feels somewhat threatened by the energetic body and resilient gait of a virile man just passing."
And he more, astutely, diagnoses his loneliness as "a consequence of his irresolute personality". His mother tried to arrange a marriage, but the socially awkward Kubo failed to follow up on the first introduced meeting with the girl, ("he didn't want to cause her any unwarranted distress, in case she wasn't interested in him"). When today, months later, he fortuitously sees her on a tram, he deliberately avoids any eye contact, only to regret it the second she steps off.
He then recalls when his indecisiveness cost him the chance of love while he was living in Tokyo. A girl he met through an uncharacteristically bold move (he read her notebook in a coffee shop to find her address) tells him at the end of their first romantic date she is already engaged to someone Kubo knows and asks for his advice. But to her disappointment Kubo defers to the other: now he reflects
"When she blamed me through her sobs, saying that my sense of loyalty and fear of reproach derived from a lack of love and passion, she was evidently right.
...
I should have run after her. I should have seized her slender shoulders, I should have confessed that all my words till now have been lies, that I can never forego our love, that we must fight against all obstacles."
Finally, after his day of wandering and pondering he decides;
"Tomorrow...from tomorrow, I'll stay at home, I'll write.
Kubo the Novelist is materially longer (twice the average) than the other books I have read in the series, and this makes for a more substantial story, closer to a novel(la). While some of the experimentation with language is unfortunately lost in translation, it's a fascinating character study as well as an exploration of 1930s Seoul in the era of "colonial modernity" as Korea, while still under Japanese rule, came increasingly under Western cultural influence. Recommended.
December 27, 2025
For some reason, this style really works for me. Maybe it's the time period, the modernism or whatever, but man, I love this. Kubo is literally me
April 29, 2022
Read for my Intro to Modern Korean Literature class. This is another work that examines the relationship between Korean intellectuals and their loved ones during the period of Japanese colonization. I think the idea of the narrator being a mother for the first few paragraphs was very effective in putting you in the shoes of how the average Korean person felt about this era. I really appreciated how the narration switched several times, which is something I've noticed with many other Korean authors. Makes me wonder if those works are referencing this, or if this work is one that inspired that style of writing.
November 16, 2022
Apparently this novel was sort of an exercise in the Korean language and what it was capable of. So unfortunately I'm sure a lot was lost in translation.
However, it was also a fascinating glimpse into a solitary life during the Japanese occupation of Korea.
A very interesting short read. And I see from another commenter that Yi Sang drew of picture of Kubo!
However, it was also a fascinating glimpse into a solitary life during the Japanese occupation of Korea.
A very interesting short read. And I see from another commenter that Yi Sang drew of picture of Kubo!
Read
May 16, 2020“A heart that can be consoled for a while with a little money, doesn’t it deserve sympathy, love even?”
more of a skim than anything so i can’t really rate it. undeniably cool with the context of time and place but can’t help but find it rather roundabout
more of a skim than anything so i can’t really rate it. undeniably cool with the context of time and place but can’t help but find it rather roundabout
November 28, 2022
Had to read this for class and I despise required reading but good read
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