著者

山根 明敏

出版者

武庫川女子大学

雑誌

武庫川女子大学紀要. 人文・社会科学編 (ISSN:09163115)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.44, pp.35-42, 1996

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The Beast in the Jungle, which was written by Henry James in 1903, has been an object of study for a long time. Not a few critics seem to agree on the point that this is a story of a man who is under an obsession of something rare and strange and cannot accept a woman's love. But it is important to bear in mind that John Marcher, the protagonist of this work, does not remember even having such an obsession. It is May Bartram who reminds him of his secret as a missing link for their association. The aim of this paper is to examine relationships between Marcher and May over the obsession. I will use the term "fiction" to refer to his obsession and consider their relation by regarding Marcher as a <narrator/writer> of the fiction and May as a <listener/reader> of it. Viewed in this light, we can regard this short story as a kind of interpretation game over the fiction.