Why Tarzan in Jungle Has No Whisker ?

The Flight of Vampire

By Michel Tournier

428 pages, 15 thousand Won, Modern Literature

Great writer of French literary circle Michel Tournier wrote this `Reader`s Note`. The writer interprets with uniquely own sophisticated prism the various texts ranging from classics of all the European culture including the U.K. and Germany to popular novels.

Why Tarzan has no facial hairs? As he is sure a human in a wild land, he should be wrapped up in hairs. Even that is the case, the reason he has no whisker is that he is a conceptual and utopian human who is the object of dream. Tarzan is a `fabricated adult` and an eternal lad who meets the dream of `Child-adult` presented by Louseau in `Emille.`

Why `the Red and the Black` of Stendhal has been such an enthusiastic object for more than two centuries? Because people read out in the book the struggle between the ambitious Julien and the emotional Julien, instead of commonly conceived struggle between Julien and the society. Julian chose sex, not a sword, for his struggle against the existing social order. Julien Sorel is a mixture of Don Juan and a revolutionary. Compared to this interesting interpretation, the perspective that Gunter Grass tried to overturn the tradition of Germany`s growing-up novels through a hero in `Tin Box` who stopped to grow looks like rather common.

The author explains the title of books, which is seemingly a little bit grotesque, saying, `A book is a vampire. It roams around crazy to fill up its hunger for warmth and life and searches for readers who have blood and flesh.`

Yoon-Jong Yoo gustav@donga.com