literature & arts

Wilder, Silver Lake, Long Winter, & Little Town

2017年2月13日 月曜日 曇り(零度Cより上で、少し雪が融けている)

Laura Ingalls Wilder, By the Shores of Silver Lake, Harper

But there was something else here that was not anywhere else. It was an enormous stillness that made you feel still. And when you were still, you could feel great stillness coming closer. (ditto, p60)

補註 ローラは12歳、一家は鉄道の西進とともに西、ノースダコタへ。1880年ごろのお話。

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2017年2月17日 金曜日 今朝は昨夜来0度上の温かさで雪が融けてきている。Silver Lake を今朝で読み終わり、次へと進めそうである。

Moving Day
Ma and Mary were glad because this was the end of traveling; they were going to settle on the homestead and never move again. Carrie was glad because she was eager to see the homestead, Laura was glad because they were leaving town, Pa was glad because he always liked moving, and Grace sang and shouted in gladness because all the others were glad. (ditto, p259-260)

Pa sat just outside the doorway, in a chair on the grass. They did not talk. They sat looking, while stars came out one by one and frogs are croaking in the Big Slough. A little wind was whispering. The darkness was velvety soft and quite and safe. All over the huge sky the stars were twinkling merrily. (ditto, p264)

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Laura Ingalls Wilder, The Long Winter (Harper, first published in 1940; revised edition, illustrated by Garth Williams, published in 1953; First Harper Trophy edition, 1971)

ほとんど餓死寸前まで追い込まれた長い寒い冬・・今の時代が氷河時代であること、そして今現在がその間にある間氷期であることを実感させられた。リトルハウス・シリーズの中でも長い、圧巻の一冊かと思う。ローラ・インガルスの文体は独特な稚拙体ではあるが、彼女が生きて深く体験した内容に裏づけられており、実に力強く読者に訴えてくる。

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Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little Town on the Prairie (Harper, first published in 1941; revised edition, illustrated by Garth Williams, published in 1953; First Harper Trophy edition, 1971)

2017年2月22日 水曜日 曇り

Sent Home from School
“We are sent home from school,” Laura said.
Ma sat down. She looked helplessly at Pa. After a dreadful stillness, Pa asked, “Why?” and his voice was stern.
・・・(中略)・・・
Then Pa spoke sternly. “You girls will go back to school tomorrow morning, and go on as though none of this had happened. Miss Wilder may have been wrong, but she is the teacher. I cannot have my girls making trouble in school.”
“No, Pa. We won’t,” they promised.
“Now take off your school dresses and settle down to your books,” said Ma. “You can study here, the rest of the afternoon. Tomorrow you’ll do as Pa says, and likely it will all blow over.” (ditto, Little Town on the Prairie, p164-165)

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