“The Pleasures of the Text”: Mark Twain’s Following the Equator
Keywords:
Mark Twain, Orientalism, imperial discourse, narrative strategy, satireAbstract
This article examines Mark Twain’s Following the Equator in relation to Orientalist and imperial discourse. It argues that the text simultaneously constructs and critiques Orientalist perspectives through a layered narrative strategy. The study highlights how satire and narrative “shifters” destabilize apparent objectivity.
(The abstract and keywords were prepared retrospectively for indexing purposes using AI-assisted tools and editorial review, based on the original article. They did not appear in the original publication.)
References
Barthes, Roland. The Rustle of Language. Trans. Richard Howard. London: Basil
Blackwell, 1986.
Barthes, Roland. Pleasure of the Text. Trans. Richard Miller. New York: Noonday,
1988.
Fanon, Frantz. The Wretched of the Earth. 1961. Trans. Constance Parrington.
Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1977.
Galligan, Edward L. The Comic Vision in Literature. Athens, GA: University of
Georgia Press, 1984.
Iser, Wolfgang. “Representation: A Performative Act.” The Aims of
Representation: Subject/Text/History. Ed. Murray Krieger. New York: Columbia
University Press, 1987. 217-232.
Jones, William. The Works. 13 volumes. 1807. New Delhi Agam Prakasham, 1980.
Kinglake, Alexander. Eothen: Traces Of Travel Brought Home From The East.
1844. London: Picador, 1995.
Kipling, Rudyard. Kim. 1901. London: Macmillan, 1965.
Mill, James. The History of British India. 3 volumes. 1817. New Delhi: Associated
Publishing House, 1978.
Morris, Jan [then James]. Pax Brittanica: The Climax of an Empire.
Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1984.
Said, Edward. Orientalism. 1978. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1990.
Said, Edward. Culture and Imperialism. New York: Knopf, 1993.
Sewell, David R. Mark Twain’s Languages: Discourse, Dialogue and Linguistic
Variety. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987.
Steen, Gerard. Understanding Metaphor in Literature: An Empirical Approach.
London: Longman, 1994.
Twain, Mark. Following the Equator. 1897. Vol. II. New York: Harper and
Brothers, 1904.
Twain, Mark. The Autobiography of Mark Twain. 1906-1907. Ed. Charles Nerder.
New York: Harper and Brothers, 1959.
