『사일러스 라팜의 성공』에 나타난 풍자의 재해석

Abstract

Satire is the genre which could be classified as literature using humor, sarcasm and irony to show that someone or something is foolish and bad, and helps the lower class have the chance to ridicule the behaviors of upper class and their weaknesses or character flaws in European medieval period. The Rise of Silas Lapham(1885) written by William Dean Howells shows the satire to the upper class of New Englanders in the U.S. in the end of 19th century. In fact, Howells believed the future of American writing depended on novels of which form he considered had been shifting from ‘romance’ to a serious form, and he said that realism was “nothing more and nothing less than the truthful treatment of material.” But not only was the status and ethics of Businessmen in 19th century considered as the object of satire to the upper class of New Englanders, the upper also tried to adhere to the tradition from the Old World. For Howells, this kind of Boston Brahmin's adherence to the Old Form might have inversely been interpreted as the object of satire. But the hero as well as anti-hero of The Rise of Silas Lapham, by himself seemed to be a Menippus when he was forced to go into the New World of the Corey'world. Of course, Lapham is not the typical Menippus in 19th century as defined by Mikhail Bakhin or Northrop Frye. But Lapham could be interpreted as a rustic or clown who mocks himself but also a veteran and a businessman who appeared in 19th century.