이글스턴의 『메트로폴리스빌의 수수께끼』를 통한 트웨인과 워너의 『도금시대』의 셀러스 다시보기

Reinterpretation of Colonel Sellers in Twain and Warner’s The Gilded Age through Edward Eggleston’s The Mystery of Metropolisville

Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner's The Gilded Age has received less academic attention than Twain's other major works. While prior interpretations have focused on the novel's criticisms of American political, legal, and financial systems, this paper argues that these interpretations ignore the fundamental framework of the novel. Focusing on the character of Sellers, the paper argues that he represents the negative businessman, similar to Plausiby in Edward Eggleston's novel The Mystery of Metropolisville. Sellers's prominent characteristics of loquacity and business imagination are represented in his map, which he uses to promote his fraudulent schemes. This comparison suggests that The Gilded Age can be interpreted as a critique of the dangers of capitalism and the rise of the negative businessman in the Gilded Age.