2008 맨부커상을 수상한 인도 작가 아라빈드 아디가의 작품 'The White Tiger'.
(맨부커상은 영국연방 국가 내 소설을 대상으로 수여하는 권위있는 문학상입니다.)
<화이트 타이거>는 영혼의 자유에 관한 이야기며, 아름다움에 눈을 뜨는 것이 얼마나 중요한지, 그러나 그것이 얼마나 어려운 일인지에 관한, 강렬하고 거칠고 블랙 유머로 가득한 소설이다.
입자가 거친 흑백사진 느낌의 간결하고도 터프한 스타일로, 비굴한 하인에서 환멸과 배신을 맛본 다음 살인과 도피행각을 거쳐 기업가로서 자수성가하기에 이르는 주인공의 파란만장 스토리를 그려낸다. 리얼리티가 충만한 작품으로, 더러는 견딜 수 없이 구린내가 나고, 참담하기 짝이 없는 비극을 적나라하게 묘사한다.
자수성가한 기업가 발람은 어느 날 중국 총리가 인도의 기업가정신을 배우기 위해서 인도를 방문한다는 뉴스를 라디오에서 듣는다. 그는 곧바로 펜을 들어 총리에게 편지를 쓴다. '내가 아니면 감히 누가 기업가정신을 이야기한단 말인가!' 그렇게 발람은 현란한 내러티브로써 굴곡진 일생을 파노라마처럼 풀어놓는다
Introducing a major literary talent, The White Tiger offers a story of coruscating wit, blistering suspense, and questionable morality, told by the most volatile, captivating, and utterly inimitable narrator that this millennium has yet seen.
Balram Halwai is a complicated man. Servant. Philosopher. Entrepreneur. Murderer. Over the course of seven nights, by the scattered light of a preposterous chandelier, Balram tells us the terrible and transfixing story of how he came to be a success in life -- having nothing but his own wits to help him along.
Born in the dark heart of India, Balram gets a break when he is hired as a driver for his village's wealthiest man, two house Pomeranians (Puddles and Cuddles), and the rich man's (very unlucky) son. From behind the wheel of their Honda City car, Balram's new world is a revelation. While his peers flip through the pages of Murder Weekly ("Love -- Rape -- Revenge!"), barter for girls, drink liquor (Thunderbolt), and perpetuate the Great Rooster Coop of Indian society, Balram watches his employers bribe foreign ministers for tax breaks, barter for girls, drink liquor (single-malt whiskey), and play their own role in the Rooster Coop. Balram learns how to siphon gas, deal with corrupt mechanics, and refill and resell Johnnie Walker Black Label bottles (all but one). He also finds a way out of the Coop that no one else inside it can perceive.
Balram's eyes penetrate India as few outsiders can: the cockroaches and the call centers; the prostitutes and the worshippers; the ancient and Internet cultures; the water buffalo and, trapped in so many kinds of cages that escape is (almost) impossible, the white tiger. And with a charisma as undeniable as it is unexpected, Balram teaches us that religion doesn't create virtue, and money doesn't solve every problem -- but decency can still be found in a corrupt world, and you can get what you want out of life if you eavesdrop on the right conversations.
Sold in sixteen countries around the world, The White Tiger recalls The Death of Vishnu and Bangkok 8 in ambition, scope, and narrative genius, with a mischief and personality all its own. Amoral, irreverent, deeply endearing, and utterly contemporary, this novel is an international publishing sensation -- and a startling, provocative debut.
