生きる意味について考えさせられる一冊。“Of Human Bondage” 📚by Somerset Maugham

“Of Human Bondage” 📚by Somerset Maugham

“He called to mind his idea of the pattern of life: the unhappiness he had suffered was no more than part of a decoration which was elaborate and beautiful; he told himself strenuously that he must accept with gaiety everything, dreariness and excitement, pleasure and pain, because it added to the richness of the design”

What is the meaning of life? Philip, the protagonist, asks himself that throughout the novel. He is given a Persian carpet by Cronshaw, a bohemian poet and his friend. Every once in a while, it occurs to him that life has no meaning. However, he realizes in the end that people will add his or her own meanings to their lives by experiencing their lives.

This passage reminds me of the existentialist philosophy that existence precedes essence. Maugham’s works are page-turners and beautifully crafted.

---

サマーセット・モーム　『人間の絆』

モームの文章は流麗で、読ませる。個人的にはこの作品に登場する語学(フランス語)講師の描写が好きだ。 よれよれの服を着た、風変わりな冴えない男。ただ、憎めない何かがある。

生きる意味とは何だろうか？主人公フィリップは詩人のクロンショーからペルシア絨毯をもらい、人生の意味を暗示される。結局人生の意味などないかもしれないが、素晴らしい経験も辛い経験も、喜びも苦しみも、全てその絨毯の豊かなデザインになっていくのだと悟る。

心に残る一節である。この長い小説を原文で読み終えた時の達成感は未だに忘れられない。とにかく、モームの文章に魅せられた。