<책 소개> * 이 도서는 영어만으로 구성되어 있습니다. '경계의 집(The House on the Borderland)'은 영국의 유명 작가 윌리엄 호프 호지슨(William Hope Hodgson)이 1908년에 발표한 고전 공포 소설입니다. 이 작품은 두 명의 탐험가가 아일랜드의 한 버려진 집에서 기묘한 일기장을 발견하며 시작합니다. 일기장에는 현실과 환상이 뒤섞인, 시간과 공간을 초월하는 괴이한 체험이 기록되어 있습니다. 공포와 환상, 그리고 코스믹 호러의 정수가 담긴 이 소설은 H.P. 러브크래프트를 비롯한 후대 작가들에게도 큰 영향을 끼쳤습니다. 영문판으로 읽을 경우, 원작 특유의 고풍스러운 문체와 분위기를 직접 느낄 수 있고, 영어 표현력을 키우는 데도 유익합니다. <저자 소개> 윌리엄 호프 호지슨(William Hope Hodgson, 1877~1918)은 영국의 소설가, 시인이자 사진작가로, 주로 공포, 판타지, 모험소설을 집필했습니다. 그의 대표작에는 '경계의 집', '밤의 뱃사람들'(The Boats of the 'Glen Carrig'), '바다의 목소리'(The Voice in the Night) 등이 있습니다. 그는 바다를 무대로 한 독특한 호러 미학과 환상적인 이야기로 당대와 후대의 작가들에게 깊은 영향을 주었으며, 오늘날에도 독창적인 공포문학의 선구자로 평가받고 있습니다. <목차> 표지 목차 I THE FINDING OF THE MANUSCRIPT II THE PLAIN OF SILENCE III THE HOUSE IN THE ARENA IV THE EARTH V THE THING IN THE PIT VI THE SWINE-THINGS VII THE ATTACK VIII AFTER THE ATTACK IX IN THE CELLARS X THE TIME OF WAITING XI THE SEARCHING OF THE GARDENS XII THE SUBTERRANEAN PIT XIII THE TRAP IN THE GREAT CELLAR XIV THE SEA OF SLEEP THE FRAGMENTS XV THE NOISE IN THE NIGHT XVI THE AWAKENING XVII THE SLOWING ROTATION XVIII THE GREEN STAR XIX THE END OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM XX THE CELESTIAL GLOBES XXI THE DARK SUN XXII THE DARK NEBULA XXIII PEPPER XXIV THE FOOTSTEPS IN THE GARDEN XXV THE THING FROM THE ARENA XXVI THE LUMINOUS SPECK XXVII CONCLUSION copyrights (참고) 분량: 약 27 만자 <미리 보기> Right away in the west of Ireland lies a tiny hamlet called Kraighten. It is situated, alone, at the base of a low hill. Far around there spreads a waste of bleak and totally inhospitable country; where, here and there at great intervals, one may come upon the ruins of some long desolate cottage—unthatched and stark. The whole land is bare and unpeopled, the very earth scarcely covering the rock that lies beneath it, and with which the country abounds, in places rising out of the soil in wave-shaped ridges. Yet, in spite of its desolation, my friend Tonnison and I had elected to spend our vacation there. He had stumbled on the place by mere chance the year previously, during the course of a long walking tour, and discovered the possibilities for the angler in a small and unnamed river that runs past the outskirts of the little village. I have said that the river is without name; I may add that no map that I have hitherto consulted has shown either village or stream. They seem to have entirely escaped observation: indeed, they might never exist for all that the average guide tells one. Possibly this can be partly accounted for by the fact that the nearest railway station (Ardrahan) is some forty miles distant. It was early one warm evening when my friend and I arrived in Kraighten. We had reached Ardrahan the previous night, sleeping there in rooms hired at the village post office, and leaving in good time on the following morning, clinging insecurely to one of the typical jaunting cars. It had taken us all day to accomplish our journey over some of the roughest tracks imaginable, with the result that we were thoroughly tired and somewhat bad tempered. However, the tent had to be erected and our goods stowed away before we could think of food or rest. And so we set to work, with the aid of our driver, and soon had the tent up upon a small patch of ground just outside the little village, and quite near to the river. Then, having stored all our belongings, we dismissed the driver, as he had to make his way back as speedily as possible, and told him to come across to us at the end of a fortnight. We had brought sufficient provisions to last us for that space of time, and water we could get from the stream. Fuel we did not need, as we had included a small oil-stove among our outfit, and the weather was fine and warm. It was Tonnison’s idea to camp out instead of getting lodgings in one of the cottages. As he put it, there was no joke in sleeping in a room with a numerous family of healthy Irish in one corner and the pigsty in the other, while overhead a ragged colony of roosting fowls distributed their blessings impartially, and the whole place so full of peat smoke that it made a fellow sneeze his head off just to put it inside the doorway. Tonnison had got the stove lit now and was busy cutting slices of bacon into the frying pan; so I took the kettle and walked down to the river for water. On the way, I had to pass close to a little group of the village people, who eyed me curiously, but not in any unfriendly manner, though none of them ventured a word. As I returned with my kettle filled, I went up to them and, after a friendly nod, to which they replied in like manner, I asked them casually about the fishing; but, instead of answering, they just shook their heads silently, and stared at me. I repeated the question, addressing more particularly a great, gaunt fellow at my elbow; yet again I received no answer. Then the man turned to a comrade and said something rapidly in a language that I did not understand; and, at once, the whole crowd of them fell to jabbering in what, after a few moments, I guessed to be pure Irish. At the same time they cast many glances in my direction. For a minute, perhaps, they spoke among themselves thus; then the man I had addressed faced ’round at me and said something. By the expression of his face I guessed that he, in turn, was questioning me; but now I had to shake my head, and indicate that I did not comprehend what it was they wanted to know; and so we stood looking at one another, until I heard Tonnison calling to me to hurry up with the kettle. Then, with a smile and a nod, I left them, and all in the little crowd smiled and nodded in return, though their faces still betrayed their puzzlement. It was evident, I reflected as I went toward the tent, that the inhabitants of these few huts in the wilderness did not know a word of English; and when I told Tonnison, he remarked that he was aware of the fact, and, more, that it was not at all uncommon in that part of the country, where the people often lived and died in their isolated hamlets without ever coming in contact with the outside world. "I wish we had got the driver to interpret for us before he left," I remarked, as we sat down to our meal. "It seems so strange for the people of this place not even to know what we’ve come for." Tonnison grunted an assent, and thereafter was silent for a while. Later, having satisfied our appetites somewhat, we began to talk, laying our plans for the morrow; then, after a smoke, we closed the flap of the tent, and prepared to turn in. "I suppose there’s no chance of those fellows outside taking anything?" I asked, as we rolled ourselves in our blankets. Tonnison said that he did not think so, at least while we were about; and, as he went on to explain, we could lock up everything, except the tent, in the big chest that we had brought to hold our provisions. I agreed to this, and soon we were both asleep.