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Life Enjoyment Literature through Memento Mori: Our Town and The Ecclesiastes

  • Journal of Modern English Drama
  • Abbr : JMBARD
  • 2013, 26(1), pp.81-117
  • Publisher : 한국현대영미드라마학회
  • Research Area : Humanities > English Language and Literature > English Literature > Contemporary English Drama

Yonghee Lee 1

1강원대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

When Thornton Wilder wrote Our Town in 1938, there were harsh criticisms on the play in that he ignored a particular social condition in U. S. A.; rather, he sang about humanity and love. It was just after World War I and the Great Depression that American society had undergone serious confusing circumstances. Wilder seemed to neglect his responsibility as a writer, compared to other contemporary writers; therefore, Our Town was severely attacked during that time. Nevertheless, this play received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1938 and until now, has been beloved by a lot of readers and theatre audience all over the world. Likewise, the book of Ecclesiastes has been situated in the middle of hot debates whether it should have been included in Bible or not due to its seemingly pessimistic, at the same time, hedonistic tendency of the narrator, Qohelet. The Ecclesiastes demonstrates apparently Qohelet’s nihilism by describing human beings’ life as hebel, which usually means lack of worth or value. However, Qohelet was neither a hedonist nor a nihilist; rather, he turned out to be an optimist, showing an affirmative attitude toward life. Hebel is such an abstruse word that a number of Bible exegetists had difficulty catching its real meaning. Recent studies manifest the meaning of this word should be understood as lack of permanence, instead of ‘useless’ or ‘in vain.’Both Our Town and the Ecclesiastes appear to follow the tragic and pessimistic tendency about human life; in fact it was a literary device for conveying the message of Carpe diem. By confronting the naked truth about human existence such as the limitation of acknowledgment and human finitude caused by death, in other words, Memento Mori, readers and audiences need realizing the preciousness of daily lives and of living in the moment. Furthermore, this paper displays the similarities between these two literary works in terms of the emphasis on Carpe diem with other people in a community, and awe and wonder toward the eternal and God. By doing so, Our Town and the Ecclesiastes are verified as effective literary works praising human life and encouraging people to seize the day.

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