著者

Tanaka Takanobu

雑誌

人文研究 (ISSN:04913329)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.51, no.4, pp.431-447, 1999-12

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I Introduction : Martin Chuzzlewit (1843-44) has an overall "design," a grand unifying theme. This is the theme of selfishness and all its fruits and is loudly enunciated by old Martin and the narrator at the end of the first monthly number. Many critics such as J. Hillis Miller and Steven Marcus read the novel as centered around this theme, and regard old Martin as a sort of "human providence." Stuart Curran, arguing that the myth of the loss of Eden is central to the whole idea of the novel, identifies him with the "stern Deity of the Old Testament, the God of Truth." Old Martin restores justice and order, and brings a happy ending. This reading can be reviewed from a different perspective, that is, the father-son relationship when we notice old Martin is a patriarch. In fact, the theme is itself developed as centered around such relationships as old Martin and his grandson young Martin, Anthony Chuzzlewit and his son Jonas, Tom Pinch and his "father" Pecksniff, and Tom and his new father-figure old Martin after he knows Pecksniff's true character. ……