2007-09-09

미국의 번영을 기원하는 찬가로서의 디 워

"그는 '디 워'가 이렇다 할 만한 인과관계나 배경에 대한 설명없이 조선의 이무기와 여의주가 미국에 출현하고 마침내 착한 이무기가 그 여의주를 얻어 승천하는 것으로 설정된 것은 "미국의 국운이 더욱 번성할 것을 기원하는 찬가로밖에 해석되지 않는다"고 주장했다."

기사는 여기에서 확인할 수 있음. 내가 이 소식을 접한 곳은 여기

불행하게도 학교 도서관에 계간 종합문예지 '너머'가 비치되어 있지 않아서 내일 당장 원문을 찾아볼 수는 없지만, 기사에 소개된 내용만을 놓고 볼 때, 이는 김정란 교수의 여성주의적 해석에 이은 또 하나의 인문학적 쾌거라 하지 않을 수 없을 듯.

2007-08-30

The Birds In Your Garden



"The Birds In Your Garden"

It's six o'clock, the birds are singing.
I'm wide awake whilst you're still fast asleep.
I went outside, into your garden.
The sun was bright & the air was cool
And as I stood there listening
Well the birds in your garden they all started singing this song
"Take her now. Don't be scared, it's alright.
Oh, come on, touch her inside.
It's a crime against nature - she's been waiting all night.
Come on, hold her, & kiss her & tell her you care
If you wait 'til tomorrow she'll no longer be there.
Come on & give it to her.
You know it's now or never."
Yeah, the birds in your garden have all started singing this song.

My father never told me about the birds & the bees.
And I guess I never realised that I would ever meet birds as beautiful as these.
I came inside, climbed to your bedroom.
I kissed your eyes awake & then I did what I knew was only natural.
And then the birds in your garden, they all started singing this song
"Take her now. Don't be scared, it's alright.
Oh, come on, touch her inside.
It's a crime against nature - she's been waiting all night.
Come on, hold her, & kiss her & tell her you care
If you wait 'til tomorrow she'll no longer be there.
Come on & give it to her. You know it's now or never."
Yeah, the birds in your garden have all started singing this song.
Yeah, the birds in your garden, they taught me the words to this song.

2007-08-29

Four Poems

Four Poems



I think it will be winter when he comes.
From the unbearable whiteness of the road
a dot will emerge, so black that eyes will blur,
and it will be approaching for a long, long time,
making his absence commensurate with his coming,
and for a long, long time it will remain a dot.
A speck of dust? A burning in the eye? And snow,
there will be nothing else but snow,
and for a long, long while there will be nothing,
and he will pull away the snowy curtain,
he will acquire size and three dimensions,
he will keep coming closer, closer . . .
This is the limit, he cannot get closer. But he keeps approaching,
now too vast to measure . . .



——



If there is something to desire,
there will be something to regret.
If there is something to regret,
there will be something to recall.
If there is something to recall,
there was nothing to regret.
If there was nothing to regret,
there was nothing to desire.



——



Let us touch each other
while we still have hands,
palms, forearms, elbows . . .
Let us love each other for misery,
torture each other, torment,
disfigure, maim,
to remember better,
to part with less pain.



——



We are rich: we have nothing to lose.
We are old: we have nowhere to rush.
We shall fluff the pillows of the past,
poke the embers of the days to come,
talk about what means the most,
as the indolent daylight fades.
We shall lay to rest our undying dead:
I shall bury you, you will bury me.




by Vera Pavlova
(Translated, from the Russian, by Steven Seymour.)

2007-08-26

'타인의 취향'이라는 칼럼을 니체가 읽는다면

타인의 취향

"말은 똥을 치워주는 사람이 아니라 채찍으로 때리는 사람을 주인으로 여긴다." 김규항과 진중권의 최근 행적을 니체가 봤다면 아마 이렇게 말했을 것이다. 인터넷 세상이 그리 만만하지 않다는 것을 자신의 블로그를 통해 확인시켜주고, 다섯 명 대표선수 불러내서 밟아준 진중권은 대중들, 적어도 디씨인사이드 디워갤러로부터 일종의 존경심, 흑인 래퍼처럼 말하자면 리스펙트Respect를 얻었다. 반면 김규항이 뒤늦게 싸지른 이 대중영합적인 글은, 심지어는 이 글을 읽는 대중들에게도 존중받지 못할 것이다. 이미 '디 워'열풍이 끝난 후에야 그들의 비위를 맞춰주는 이따위 짤막한 칼럼 따위가 뭐에 쓸모가 있단 말인가. '디 워'와 관련하여 진중권이 김규항의 이름을 단 한 번도 호명한 적이 없다는 점을 상기해본다면, 이건 순전히 김규항의 치졸한 경쟁심에서 비롯한 지면 및 원고료 낭비일 뿐이다. 그리고 그 책임은 온전히 김규항에게 있다. 본인의 말마따나 "동네 양아치들이 싸우다 파출소에 잡혀가도 ‘선빵'을 가리는법"이니 말이다. 간만에 만나는, 김규항다운 글이다.

jar, v.1

I. 1. intr. To make or emit a harsh grating sound; to make a musical discord; to sound harshly or in discord with other sounds. Also fig.

. . . 1816 BYRON Ch. Har. III. iv, Perchance my heart and harp have lost a string, And both may jar.

from the OED.