Reconsidering Later Mark Twain from the Perspective of His Unpublished Novel

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 23520302
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Literature in English
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: SATOUCHI Katsumi 大阪大学, 言語文化研究科(研究院), 准教授 (10215874)
• Project Period (FY): 2011-04-28 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: マーク・トウェイン / 未発表作品 / 19-20世紀転換期アメリカ / 自伝 / 作家の晩年

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this research project, I tried to elucidate the importance of Which Was It? , a novel-length story which is one of the most underappreciated among Mark Twain’s later writings. For this purpose, I closely analyzed this story while translating it into Japanese language. In analyzing the story, I also referred to Twain’s other tales and autobiographical essays and sketches, as well as to other related materials written by his contemporaries. As a result of these examinations, I found out that Which Was It? has many important motifs characteristic not only to Twain’s last years but also to his height as a writer. Moreover, I demonstrated the further significance of Which Was It? by showing that it gives us deeper insight into intricate multi-racial (or multi-ethnic) aspects of U.S. society during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century.

Free Research Field

アメリカ文学