[발췌, 해설] 이시구로, The Remains of the Day

출처 1: Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2010. 구글도서

※ 발췌 (excerpt): pp. 172-173,

( ... ) I had half expected her to be angry at this inquiry, but on the contrary, it was almost as though she had been long awaiting an opportunity to raise the very topic. For she said in something of a relieved way:

'Oh, Mr Stevens, it's just someone I knew once when I was at Granchester Lodge. As a matter of fact, he was the butler there at the time, but now he's left service altogether and is employed by a business near by. He somehow learnt of my being here and started writing to me, suggesting we renew our acquaintance. And that, Mr Stevens, is really long and short of it.'

'I see, Miss Kenton. No doubt, it is refreshing to leave the house at times.'

'I find it so, Mr Stevens.'

There was a short silence. Then Miss Kenton appeared to make some decision and went on:

'This acquaintance of mine. I remember when he was butler at Granchester Lodge, he was full of the most marvellous ambitions. In fact, I imagine his ultimate dream would have been to become butler of a house like this one. Oh, but when I think now of some of his methods! Really, Mr Stevens, I can just imagine your face if you were to be confronted by them now. It really is no wonder his ambitions remained unfulfilled.'

I gave a small laugh. 'In my experience,' I said, 'too many people believe themselves capable of working at these higher levels without having the least idea of the exacting demands involved. It is certainly not suited to just anybody.'

'So true. Really, Mr Stevens, what would you have said if you had observed hem in those days!'

'At these sorts of levels, Miss Kenton, the profession isn't for everybody. It is easy enough to have lofty ambitions, but without certain qualities, a butler will simply not progress beyond a certain point.'

Miss Kenton seemed to ponder this for a moment, then said:

'It occurs to me you must be a well-contented man, Mr Steven. Here you are, after all, at the top of your profession, every aspect of your domain well under control. I really cannot imagine what more you might wish for in life.'

I could think of no immediate response to this. In the slightly awkward silence that ensued, Miss Kenton turned her gaze down into the depths of he cocoa cup as if she had become engrossed by something she had noticed there. In the end, after some consideration, I said:

'As far as I am concerned, Miss Kenton, my vocation will not be fulfilled until I have done all I can to see his lordship through the great tasks he has set himsel. The day his lordship's work is complete, the day ^he^ is able to rest on his laurels, content in the knowledge that he had sone all anyone could ever reasonably ask of him, only on that day, Miss Kenton, will I be able to call myself, as you put it, a well-contented man.'

She may have been a little puzzled by my words; or perhaps it was that they had for some reason depleased her. In any case, her mod seemed to change at that point, and our conversation rapidly lost the rather personal tone it had begun to adopt.

It was not so long afterwards that these meetings over cocoa in her parlour came to an end. In fact, I recall quite clearly the very last time we met like that; I was wishing to discuss with Miss Kenton a forthcoming event─a weekend gathering of a distinguished person from Scotland. It is true the event was still a month or so away, but then it had always been our habit to talk over such events from an early stage. On this particular evening, I had been discussing various aspects of it for a little while when I realized Miss Kenton was contributing very little; indeed, after a time, it became perfectly obvious her thoughts were somewhere else altogether. I did on a few occasions say things like: 'Are you with me, Miss Kenton?' particularly if I had been making a lengthy point, and though whenever I did so she would become a little more alert, within seconds I could see her attention drifting again. ( ... ... )


출처 2: 가즈오 이시구로, <남아 있는 나날> 송은경 옮김. 민음사 펴냄. 2009.7(2017.10. 2판 12쇄).

※ 발췌: 211~213쪽,

( ... ... ) 만에 하나 이런 징후들이 그레이엄 씨의 견해, 즉 켄턴 양이 결혼하기 위해 떠날 생각을 하고 있다는 것을 뒷받침하는 것이 사실이라면, 내게는 이 문제를 좀더 캐 보아야 할 의무가 분명 있었다. 그래서 어느 날 저역 우리의 코코아 모임 자리를 빌어 감히 물어보았다.

"그래, 이번 화요일에도 외출할 생각이오, 켄턴 양? 당신이 쉬는 날 말이오."

이렇게 물으면 화를 발칵 내지 않을까 예상했었는데 오히여 그녀는 이 이야기가 나오기만 학수고대했던 사람처럼, 참았던 것을 토해내듯 말하기 시작했다.

"아, 스티븐스 씨, 그분은 제가 그랜체스터 로지에 있을 때 알았던 사람일 뿐이에요. 당시에는 그 집 집사로 있었지만 지금은 이 직업을 떠나 이 근처의 어느 업체에 근무하고 계시죠. 제가 여기에 있다는 걸 어떻게 알아내고는 편지를 보내오기 시작했는데, 다시 교제해 보자는 식의 내용이었죠. 더도 덜도 보태지 않고 그게 전부예요, 스티븐스 씨."

"그렇군요, 켄턴 양. 이따금 집에서 나가 보는 것도 기분 전환에 좋지요."

"그건 그래요, 스티븐스 씨."

짧은 침묵이 흘렀다. 이윽고 켄턴 양이 뭔가 결심한 듯한 표정으로 말을 이었다.

"방금 말씀드린 제 지인 말인데요. 제 기억으로는 그는 그랜체스터 로지의 집사로 있을 당시 아주 거창한 야심에 차 있었어요. ( ... ... ) 그의 야망이 실현되지 못한 건 지극히 당연해요."

나는 가볍게 웃고 나서 말했다.

"내 경험으로 볼 때도, 이런 높은 수준에 어떤 것들이 요구되는지 정확히 알지도 못하면서 자신의 업무 능력을 과신하는 사람들이 넘 많아요. 어런 일은겨로 아무나 할 수 있는 게 아니죠."

"그렇고말고요. 궁금하기 짝이 없어요, 스티븐스 씨. 만약 당신이 그 당시의 그를 지켜보았다면 과연 뭐라고 하셨을까!"

"켄턴 양, 이런 수준의 전문성은 아무나 감당할 수 있는 게 아닙니다. 높은 야망을 품는 건 어려운 일이 아니지만 확실한 자질을 갖추지 못한다면 집사로서 일정 수준 이상 발전하기는 힘들죠."

켄턴 양은 이 말을 잠시 되씹는 듯하더니 말했다.

"스티븐스 씨, 당신은 정말 스스로 만족할 만한 위치라는 생각이 들어요. 보시다시피 자신의 업에서 최고의 자리에 오르셨고, 자기 분야의 모든 측면들을 속속들이 잘 관리하고 계시니 말입니다. 인생에서 더 이상 바랄 게 뭐가 있을까 싶을 정도예요."

( ... ... ) 이윽고 내가 잠시 생각해 본 뒤 말했다.

"나로 말하자면 켄턴 양, 내가 최선을 다해 노력하여 나리께서 스스로 짊어지신 저 숭고한 과업들이 마무리되는 것을 볼 때까지는 결코 사명을 다했노라고 할 수 없어요. 나리의 과업이 완결되는 날, '그분'께서 합당한 모든 요청에 부응했노라고 흐뭇하게 자부하시며 명예의 월계관을 누리시게 되는 날, 그날에야 비로소 나도 방금 당신이 말한 바와 같은 만족을 느낄 수 있을 거요."

그녀가 내 말에 좀 어리둥절했는지 모른다. 혹은 내 이야기가 어떤 이유로 그녀를 불쾌하게 만들었을 수도 있다. 어쨌거나 그 순간부터 그녀의 기분이 돌변한 듯 보였고, 다소 친밀한 분위기를 타던 우리의 대화도 급격히 분위기가 바뀌었다.

( ... ... )


출처 3: "Passion and Moral Blindness in The Remains of the Day", Chapter 4 in  Anthony Cunningham, The Heart of What Matters: The Role for Literature in Moral Philosophy, University of California Press, 2001. 구글도서

※ 발췌 (excerpt): pp. 95~ ,

Kazuo Ishiguro's ^The Remains of the Day^ is a tragedy, and like any good tragedy, the story invites our interest and sympathy. Knowing how thing can go wrong is crucial for getting things right, and since most of us know only too well how easily things can go awry, we naturally feel for unfortunate sould. Ishiguro's James Stevens, the consummate English butler, is fascinating because he is done by something other than simple ignorance, poor choices, or bad luck. Ultimately, he is compromised by a carefully sustained ideology that echoes longstanding themes in the Western philosophical tradition. Foremost here is Stevens's steadfast conviction that sound judgment and fidelity to what really matters require detachment from the passions.[주]1  In his flight from passion, he unwittingly nurtures a form of moral myopia, an impoverishing moral blindness. By the time Stevens realizes his plight, it is too late to right most of his errant ways. Howver, we've much to learn about moral vision and both the powers and limits of introspection by attending to Stevens's life and character.


I. THE STORY

Perhaps the first thing to note about ^Remains^ is that the tale is an introspective narrative spun by the novel's main character. Thus, bereft of any omniscient narrator in this travel diary, we have good reasons to be duly skeptical. Few of us can entirely escape the temptation to interpret the past selectively in our favor, and even the most detached observer can never see the whole landscape. Nevertheless, there is ample evidence that Stevens works hard to see things clearly, even if he is sometimes slow to draw the conclusions that we cannot avoid. He plods along methodically in his reflections, at times correcting mistaken recollections ( ... ... ) In short, Stevens engagesin nothing less than a Socratic effort to know himself, even if he does not begin with this goal in mind.

( ... ... )

Stevens's unparalleled fidelity to his craft and lord is guided by his commitment to "dignity." Throughout the novel, Stevens struggles to refine a vision of this ideal. His articulation emerges out of two anecdotes about his fater, William Stevens. ( ... ) The common denominator to both stories is William's ability to silence this emotions in the service of professional ends. For James Stevens, emotions are potential threats to the equanimity that are utterly essential to a great butler. ( ... ... )

( ... ... )

As we shall see, Stevens's struggle to embody something like the Stoic ideals of ^ataraxis^ (freedom from emotional disturbance) and ^apartheia^ (passionless detachment) is his ultimate undoing.

Stevens has ample reason to think that he lives true to his ideal of dignity and deserves a place in the pantheon of great English butlers. Darlington's internationl conference in 1923 stands out as a watershed event in his professional development. William Stevens, who has come to work at Darlington Hall in his twilight years, takes ill in the midst of the conference, and Stevens refuses to abandon his duties to remain by his dying father. Instead, he attends to the smooth running of the conference. Miss Kenton, Darlington Hall's housekeeper, offers to attend to Stevens's father and Stevens explains, " 'Miss Kenton, please don't think me unduly improper in not ascending to see my father in his deceased condition just at this moment. You see, I know my father would have wished me to carry on just now. ... To do otherwise, I feel would be let him down' " (^Remains^, 110).  When Stevens recalls this experience early in the novel, he does so with a "large sense of triumph."

Stevens's sense of triumph does not survive the novel. The most obvious factor in his altered self-understanding is the benefit of hindsight. Time demonstrates that Darlington was an unwitting pawn in the Nazi scheme to keep the British at bay while they prepared for conquest. And since a butler's success depends partly upon the moral worth of his house ( ... ... ), Stevens can hardly preserve the same self-assessment. Slowly but surely Stevens backs away from Darlington's defense. At two points he denies having known Darlington, though he tries later to rationalize his denials as something else. By the end of the novel, the best that he can muster is "Lord Darlington wasn't a bad man. He wasn't a bad man at all" (243). This is hardly high praise for his lord, and in a crucial sense as his lord goes, so goes Stevens.

( ... ... )

Finally, there is Stevens's growing awareness, however dim at first, of another path he might have chosen, a different kind of life with Miss Kenton. Stevens's odyssey is really a struggle to appreciate and admit how he squandered his life by forsaking love. By the end of his journey, faced by Kenton for the last time and by the full realization of his mistake for the first time, he finally admits that, "at the moment my heart was breaking"(^Remains^, 239).  ( ... ... )

( ... ... )

Nevertheless, despite Stevens's shield of "professionalism," Kenton perseveres in their relationship and even engages in some good-natured flirtation with Stevens. Stevens himself acknowledges the naughtiness of their playful conversation by stressing that "we would never have carried on in such a vein within the hearing of staff members" (^Remains^, 156). ( ... ... )

( ... ... ) When Stevens addresses the issue with Kenton out of a professional "responsibility to probe the matter further," Kenton informs him "in something of a relieved way" ("it was almost as though she had been long awaiting an opportunity to raise the very topic") that her "acquaintance" is a former butler who once enjoyed aspirations to reach Stevens's professional level but simply hadn't the right stuff (^Remains^, 171-172). And then a crucual interchange follows:

"It occurs to me you must be a well-contented man, Mr Steven. Here you are, after all, at the top of your profession, every aspect of your domain well under control. I really cannot imagine what more you might wish for in life."

I could think of no immediate response to this. In the slightly awkward silence that ensued, Miss Kenton turned her gaze down into the depths of he cocoa cup as if she had become engrossed by something she had noticed there. In the end, after some consideration, I said:

"As far as I am concerned, Miss Kenton, my vocation will not be fulfilled until I have done all I can to see his lordship through the great tasks he has set himsel. The day his lordship's work is complete, the day ^he^ is able to rest on his laurels, content in the knowledge that he had sone all anyone could ever reasonably ask of him, only on that day, Miss Kenton, will I be able to call myself, as you put it, a well-contented man."

She may have been a little puzzled by my words; or perhaps it was that they had for some reason depleased her. In any case, her mod seemed to change at that point, and our conversation rapidly lost the rather personal tone it had begun to adopt.

The blow strikes home. Like Alcibiades desperately searching for some sign that Socrates might have some interest in earthly love, in ^his^ charms and pleasures, Kenton goes fishing and catches a speech about all-consuming professional duty, the very last thing she hoped to hook.

( ... ... ) When she returns and informs him that she had accepted the offer, he extends perfunctory congratuations as he hurries upstairs where "matters of global significance [are] taking place" (^Remains^, 219). And when she later tries to apologize for trying to hurt him back by describing how she and her suitor enjoy laughs at his expense, Stevens utters what may be the most revealing confession in the novel: " '^I have not taken anything you have said to heart, Miss Kenton.^ In fact, I cannot recall what it is you might be referring to. Events of great importance are unfolding upstairs and I can hardly stop to exchange pleasantries with you' " (226; emphasis added).  And so, Kenton leaves Darlington Hall and life goes on for Stevens. Only during the course of his journey, indeed, only with his final meeting with Kenton does the true natue of his quest become clearer to him. ( ... ... )


II. SALVAGING THE REMAINS ( ... ... )


III. THE BIGGER PICTURE ( ... ... )


출처 1: ※ 발췌 (except), pp. 242~ ,

( ... ... ) The man turned his gaze back to the sea again, took a deep breath and sighed contentedly. We then proceeded to sit there together quietly for several moments.

'The fact is, of course,' I said after a while, 'I gave my best to Lord Darlington. I gave him the very best I had to give, and now─well─I find I do not have a great deal more left to give.'

The man said nothing, but nodded, so I went on:

'Since my new employer Mr Farraday arrived, I've tried very hard, very hard indeed, to provide the sort of service I would like him to have. I've tried and tried, but whatever I do I find I am far from reaching the standards I once set myself. More and more errors are appearing in my work. Quite trivial in themselves─at least so far. But they're of the sort I would never have made before, and I know what they signify. Goodness knows, I've tried and tried, but it's no use. I've given what I had to give. I gave it all to Lord Darlington.'

'Oh dear, mate. Here, you want a hankle? I've got one somewhere. Here we are. It's fairly clean. Just blew my nose once this morning, that's all. Have a go, mate.'

'Oh dear, no, thank you, it's quite all right. I'm very sorry, I'm afraid the travelling has tired me. I'm very sorry.'

'You must have been very attached to this Lord whatever. And it's three years since he passed away, you say? I can see you were very attached to him, mate.'

'Lord Darlington wasn't a bad man. He wasn't a bad man at all. And at least he had the privilege of being able to say at the end of his life that he made his own mistakes. His lordship was a courgageous man. He chose a certain path in life, it proved to be a misguided one, but there, he chose it, he can say that at least. As for myself, I cannot even claim that. You see, I trusted. I trusted in his lordship's wisdom. All those years I served him, I trusted I was doing something worthwhile. I can't even say I made my own mistakes. Really─one has to ask oneself─what dignity is there in that?'

'Now, look, mate, I'm not sure I follow everything you're saying. But if you ask me, your attitude's all wrong, see? Don't keep looking back all the time, you're bound to get depressed. And all right, you can't do your job as well as you used to. But it's the same for all of us, see? We've all got to put our feet up at some point. Look at me. Been happy as a lark since the day I retired. All right, so neither of us are exactly in our first flush of youth, but you've got to keep looking forward.' And I believe it was then that he said: 'You've got to enjoy yourself. The evening's the best part of the day. You've done your day's work. Now you can put your feet up and enjoy it. That's how I look at it. Ask anybody, they'll all tell you. The evening's the best part of the day.'


출처 2: ※ 발췌, 298~300쪽

( ... ... ) 노인은 다시 바다로 시선을 돌리더니 숨을 깊이 들이켜 흡족하게 한숨을 내쉬었다. 그리고 얼마간 우리는 말없이 나란히 앉아 있었다.

내가 먼저 입을 열었다.

"사실 나는, 달링턴 경께 모든 걸 바쳤습니다. 내가 드려야 했던 최고의 것을 그분께 드렸지요. 그러고 나니 이제 나란 사람은 줄 것도 별로 남지 않았구나 싶답니다."

노인은 아무 말 없이 고개만 끄덕였으므로 나는 계속 말했다.

"새 주인인 패러데이 어르신께서 도착하신 후로 내 나름대로 정말 열심히, 무던히도 애써 왔습닏. 그분께서 받아 마땅하다고 생각되는 수준으로 봉사를 하려고 말입니다. 그런데 노력하고 노력했지만 무슨 일을 하든 지난날 내가 설정했던 기준들에 한참 미달해 있는 나 자신을 발견하게 됩니다. 나의 직업에서 점점 더 많은 실수들이 나타나고 있어요. 지극히 사소한 것들이죠. 적어도 지금까지는 말입니다. 그러나 예전 같았으면 결코 저지르지 않았을 실수들이에요. 그게 무엇을 의미하는지 저는 잘 압니다. 나는 맹세코 노력하고 노력했지만 아무 소용이 없어요. 나는 주어야 했던 것을 줘 버렸습니다. 달링턴 나리께 모두 줘 버렸지요."

"저런, 형씨. 손수건이 필요해요? 내가 어디 넣어 가지고 왔는데, 아, 여기 있군. 아주 깨끗한 거라오. 아침에 내가 코만 한 번 풀었어요. 이걸 써요, 형씨."

"아니, 괜찮아요. 고맙지만 됐습니다. 미안합니다. 여행을 하다 보니 좀 지쳤나 봅니다. 정말 미안하게 됐어요."

"그 나리인가 뭔가 하는 양반한테 애착이 컸던 것 같군요. 돌아가신 지 3년째라고 했죠? 내가 볼 때 그 양반한테 너무 집착했어요, 형씨."

"달링턴 나리는 나쁜 분이 아니셨어요. 전혀 그런 분이 아니었습니다. 그리고 그분에게는 생을 마감하면서 당신께서 실수했다고 말씀하실 수 있는 특권이라도 있었지요. 나리는 용기 있는 분이셨어요. 인생에서 어떤 길을 택하셨고 그것이 잘못된 길로 판명되긴 했지만 최소한 그 길을 택했노라는 말씀을 하실 수 있습니다. 나로 말하자면 그런 말조차 할 수가 없어요, 알겠습니까? 나는 '믿었어요.' 나리의 지혜를. 그 긴 세월 그분을 모셔 오면서 내가 뭔가 가치 있는 일을 하고 있다고 믿었지요. 나는 실수를 저질렀다는 말조차 할 수 없습니다. 여기에 정녕 무슨 품위가 있단 말인가 하고 나는 자문하지 않을 수 없어요."

"이봐요, 형씨. 내가 당시늬 이야기를 제대로 이해한 건지 어떤지는 모르겠소만, 만약 나한테 묻는다면 이런 태도는 정말 잘못되었다고 말하고 싶어요, 알겠어요? 만날 그렇게 뒤만 돌아보아선 안 됩니다.