소설 되짚어 읽기의 묘미 - 존 스타인벡의 『에덴의 동쪽』과 영화

John Steinbeck"s East of Eden: Reading the Text through Elia Kazan"s Movie

&nbsp;&nbsp;The situation of family is an important theme in the American East of Eden, though it has been criticized as a weak novel on account of its diffuse structure, contains one of Steinbeck&quot;s important themes concerning ethics and human nature. And its adapted movie of Elia Kazan, as a superb film of auteurism, offers the cinematic vision to contrast the different worlds from the novel to the movie, and to reevaluate the author&quot;s main theme, especially concentrating on the omission and traces of an oriental philosopher Lee.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;It is not overstating to say that the hero of the novel is Lee who integrates all the conflicted worlds of the characters in the novel. With the philosophical Chinese servant missing, the director Kazan risks omitting the discussion of timshel . Lee may be regarded as a secondary character as an onlooker, but he represents the voice of wisdom and reason at the crucial time of the events of the story, and often articulates some of the novel’s most important themes.<BR>&nbsp;&nbsp;The oriental philosopher has disappeared physically in the process of transference from one medium to another, but the traces of his philosophical idea and attitude toward life can be found in the transformed characters. So it can be said that the concept of Lee&quot;s timshel in the movie is revealed not through his direct speeches but in the transformed acts of characters, especially through the changed images of Abra and Kate.