ビンゴー・キッドの洋書日記

英米を中心に現代から古典まで、海外の作品を英語で読み、論評をくわえるブログです

Iris Murdoch の “The Bell”(5)

 さて Dora と鐘の関係だが、これこそネタを割らないように気をつけて説明しないといけない。Dora は Michael 以上に、いやおそらく本書でいちばん鐘に関与している人物だからだ。詳しく書くと、主筋の展開も何もかもバラしてしまう恐れがある。
 差し障りのないところでまず、Dora は Michael とならぶ宗教団体の指導者 James の講話を聞く。こんな話だ。'And what are the marks of innocence? Candour ― a beautiful word ― truthfulness, simplicity, a quite involuntary bearing of witness. The image that occurs to me here is a topical one, the image of a bell. A bell is made to speak out. What would be the value of a bell which was never rung? It rings out clearly, it bears witness, it cannot speak without seeming like a call, a summons. A great bell is not to be silenced. Consider too its simplicity. There is no hidden mechanism. All that it is plain and open; and if it is moved it must ring.' (p.135)
 Dora がこれについてどう思ったのかを示す直接的な記述はない。が、上のくだりの前に、それまで James の説教をぼんやり聞いていた彼女が興味をもって聞きはじめた、という説明はある。鐘は innocence の象徴、鐘は鳴ることに意味がある、というのは注目すべき点だろう。この話に Dora が感化を受けたものと思われる一件がのちに出てくる。
 次に彼女は粗暴な夫を嫌い、宗教団体の起居する田舎 Imber の屋敷をいったん離れてロンドンに戻る。そこでナショナル・ギャラリーを訪れたとき、こんな啓示を受ける。'Dora was always moved by the pictures. Today she was moved, but in a new way. She marvelled, with a kind of gratitude, that they were all still here, and her heart was filled with love for the pictures, their authority, their marvellous generosity, their splendour. It occurred to her that here at last was something real and something perfect. .... She had never thought about the pictures in this way before; nor did she draw now any very explicit moral. Yet she felt that she had a revelation. .... She looked at her watch and found it was tea-time. She remembered that she had been wondering what to do; but now, without her thinking about it, it had become obvious. She must go back to Imber at once. Her real life, her real problems, were at Imber; and since, somewhere, something good existed, it might be that her problems would be solved after all.' (pp.190-191)
 彼女の 'real problems' が何かはさておき、彼女は明らかに一種の救いを求めて Imber に帰ることを決意している。そこで目にしたのは……ううむ、ネタを割らずにどう説明したものか。でもまあ、今までの流れで、とりわけ 'somewhere, something good existed' といったあたりで、おおよそ見当はつくことでしょう。
(写真は宇和島市の住吉山と須賀(すか)川。この川はもともと山の向かって左側、内港のほうに流れて土砂が堆積、船舶の航行の妨げになっていた。昭和7年に付替え工事が完成し、現在のような風景になっている)。