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Wordplay and Ciphers in Mark Twain's Literature

Research Project

Project/Area Number 16H07128
Research Category

Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up

Allocation TypeSingle-year Grants
Research Field Literature in English
Research InstitutionKobe City University of Foreign Studies

Principal Investigator

Kinugawa Shosuke  神戸市外国語大学, 外国語学部, 講師 (10779424)

Project Period (FY) 2016-08-26 – 2018-03-31
Project Status Completed (Fiscal Year 2017)
Budget Amount *help
¥2,080,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥480,000)
Fiscal Year 2017: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000)
Fiscal Year 2016: ¥780,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥180,000)
KeywordsMark Twain / マーク・トウェイン / Wordplay / 言葉遊び / Encryption / 暗号 / アメリカ文学 / American Literature / Riddle / Puzzle / Humor / Prince and the Pauper / Tom Sawyer / 英米文学 / トウェイン / クレメンス / 探偵小説 / 文学論
Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this study is to show that the nineteenth-century U.S. author Mark Twain used wordplay as a medium of encryption in his literature. I gathered examples of Twain’s wordplay and encryption, as well as evidence of his interest in these two kinds of writing, from his published texts, notebooks, letters, manuscripts, and marginalia. I also conducted research on the culture of wordplay in the nineteenth-century U.S. from which Twain’s interest in wordplay developed. I then combined these two perspectives into a critical framework for examining the use of clandestine wordplay as a tool of encryption in Twain’s literature. Finally, I used this framework to examine how Twain uses wordplay to encode his prose fiction, mainly his short stories and novels.

Report

(3 results)
  • 2017 Annual Research Report   Final Research Report ( PDF )
  • 2016 Annual Research Report
  • Research Products

    (1 results)

All 2017

All Presentation (1 results) (of which Int'l Joint Research: 1 results)

  • [Presentation] Realism and Detection in William Faulkner and Mark Twain's Detective Stories2017

    • Author(s)
      Shosuke Kinugawa
    • Organizer
      NEMLA (Northeastern Modern Language Association)
    • Place of Presentation
      ボルチモア市(アメリカ合衆国)
    • Year and Date
      2017-03-24
    • Related Report
      2016 Annual Research Report
    • Int'l Joint Research

URL: 

Published: 2016-09-02   Modified: 2019-03-29  

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