Mark Twain at the Turn of the Century,1890-1910: On His Rhetoric of Anti-Imperialism

这个项目集中在马克·吐温的生活和工作中一个相对被忽视的时期，特别是在世纪之交，1890-1910年。尽管马克·吐温最后的岁月可能很复杂，但我在这里描绘的他最后的岁月可能会帮助读者看到一个仍然相当活跃，对我们种族的未来并不悲观的马克·吐温。我讨论了他的反帝国主义修辞，主要是在他的游记《跟随赤道》（1897）和他的故事《年轻撒旦的编年史》（1969）中。可以得出的一些结论包括：(1)尽管吐温早年在西方学到的“联想式”和“离题式”讲故事的幽默风格仍然存在，但它已经在社会和政治上发生了变化。这种转变是社会和政治两方面深入思考的新阶段的结果。

This project focuses on a relatively neglected period in Mark Twain's life and work, and specifically on the period at the turn of the century, 1890-1910. Complex as his last years might be, the picture of his last years I draw here might help readers to see a Mark Twain who is still quite active and not necessarily pessimistic over the future of our race. I discuss his rhetoric of anti-imperialism, mainly in his travelogue Following the Equator (1897) and his story “The Chronicle of Young Satan" (1969). Some conclusions that could be drawn include: (1) Although Twain's humorous style of “associative" and “digressive" storytelling, which he learned from his early years in the West, is still alive, it has been transformed socially and politically. (2) That transformation is the result of a new phase of deep thinking, both social and political.