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''A Business Career'' is a novel by African-American author Charles Chesnutt that features the life of a "new woman" of the late 19th century; she enters the world of business instead of embracing the tradition roles of women. It explores a failed romance between two successful upper-class members. A family’s vendetta against the man who allegedly destroyed the family's fortune is revealed to be mistaken. The novel was unusual for its time as Chesnutt wrote only about white society. The book was completed in 1890 but Chesnutt, who had published only a few short stories by then, was unable to interest a publisher in it. Editor Walter Hines Page encouraged him in his writing and later published other works by him. Chesnutt's account of white society in this novel may have contributed to that failure. Since the late 20th century, there has been a revival of interest in Chesnutt. This novel was published posthumously in 2005 with an introduction and editing by Matthew Wilson. == Plot summary == The story takes place in 1890s in the Midwest city of Groveland (critics consider this a fictional stand-in for Cleveland, where Chesnutt lived). At the Truscott Refining Company, the male stenographer has just been fired. Stella Merwin fills in temporarily; she has already learned shorthand. When an opportunity opens up, she stays in the job longer than intended. The company is owned by the man whom her family believes has destroyed its reputation and honor. Stella Merwin's father, Henry, was a very successful man in the oil refining business, providing the Merwin family with status and a life of wealth. At the peak of his success, he hit financial troubles. These led to the loss of the family fortune as well as his death, attributed to heart disease. Before his death, Merwin assured his family: his wife, daughter Stella and son George, that they would be taken care of financially by his profitable investments. He directed them to see his most trusted employee, Wendell Truscott for assistance in the matter, as Merwin had given him related papers. With the loss of their wealth, the Merwins must change their lives. They move from the city to a small town where they lived off a small annual income produced by the estate and additional money earned from Mrs. Merwin’s writing career. This was enough money to give Stella a strong education, but a far cry from what the family was used to during their good times. Mrs. Merwin blames the family’s financial difficulties on Wendell Truscott because she believes that he ruined her husband and, stole money from him, and took over his company. Because of the complicated history between Wendell Truscott and the Merwin family, Stella Merwin takes her job under the false name Miss Smith. She wants the job in order to lean more about Truscott, whom she has been told to despise as the man who caused her family's financial downfall. Stella comes to swift judgments about her employer. She concludes that he is a cold-hearted boss who does not care about establishing relationships with his employees, but also that he is a very smart, savvy businessman who efficiently gets missions accomplished. Stella quickly takes a liking to her job, which starts out with her transcribing letters dictated by Truscott. Impressed with her performance, Truscott increases her responsibilities; he entrusts her to write letters according to his direction. instead of copying what the proprietor says, she gains his trust enough to write letters on her own, and gives her the charge of reviewing the financial books daily. Mrs. Merwin is thrilled that Stella is working for The Truscott Refining Company. She does not care that Stella is getting great experience in the business world and her schooling in shorthand is being put to good use; instead, she wants Stella to use her position in the office to infiltrate Truscott's files to find evidence that he committed fraud against Henry Merwin to restore the family to their previous position of wealth. Stella struggles slightly with the moral implications of betraying her boss, but she will do anything to help her family leading to her decision to find the incriminating documents. The mother visits her daughter and as they walk around the city she comments on how the rich residents made their money insisting that they did so in a dishonorable fashion. The only people that Mrs. Merwin believes amassed their fortune nobly are her husband and her friend Matilda Wedderburn. Besides for being Mrs. Merwin's old friend, Matilda Wedderburn is the love interest of Wendell Truscott. Matilda inherited great wealth from her father, and is a leader in literary and musical circles. She is a very independent woman whose only reason to marry is for true love because she has everything else on her own. Miss Weddburn and Truscott have known each other forever, but their courtship intensifies as they engage in activities together such as going to the theater. Matilda says Wendell is as close to her perfect man that she has ever met. She invites him to her home for dinner hoping that he will ask her to marry him there. Wendell has the same feelings for Miss Wedderburn so he writes a response to Matilda’s invitation that implies that he is planning on asking her to marry him that night; however, Truscott notices that his stenographer Miss Smith (Stella) is a beautiful young lady. He changes his mind when, "It occurred to him as he sat there, that perhaps a woman might be young in years, and yet not immature in mind, and that youth might possess a charm that maturity would lack." Truscott tears up the letter and instead writes a less passionate response. When that night comes the two are in an intimate setting in which Matilda expects Wendell to ask her to marry her, but instead he abruptly leaves crushing her hopes of marriage. Later on Miss Wedderburn visits the office of The Truscott Refining Company where she recognizes Miss Smith as the Merwin’s daughter, and she suspects that the young stenographer is the reason Truscott has a change of heart. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「A Business Career」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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