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''Gone with the Wind'' is a novel written by Margaret Mitchell, first published in 1936. The story is set in Clayton County, Georgia, and Atlanta during the American Civil War and Reconstruction era. It depicts the struggles of young Scarlett O'Hara, the spoiled daughter of a well-to-do plantation owner, who must use every means at her disposal to claw her way out of the poverty she finds herself in after Sherman's March to the Sea. A historical novel, the story is a ''Bildungsroman'' or coming-of-age story, with the title taken from a poem written by Ernest Dowson. ''Gone with the Wind'' was popular with American readers from the onset and was the top American fiction bestseller in the year it was published and in 1937. As of 2014, a Harris poll found it to be the second favorite book of American readers, just behind the Bible. More than 30 million copies have been printed worldwide. Written from the perspective of the slaveholder, ''Gone with the Wind'' is Southern plantation fiction. Its portrayal of slavery and African Americans is controversial, as well as its use of a racial epithet and ethnic slurs. However, the novel has become a reference point for subsequent writers about the South, both black and white. Scholars at American universities refer to it in their writings, interpret and study it. The novel has been absorbed into American popular culture. Margaret Mitchell was imaginative in the use of color symbolism, especially the colors red and green, which surround Scarlett O'Hara. Mitchell identified the primary theme as survival. She left the ending speculative for the reader, however. She was often asked what became of her lovers, Rhett and Scarlett. She replied, "For all I know, Rhett may have found someone else who was less difficult."〔 Two sequels authorized by Mitchell's estate were published more than a half century later. A parody was also produced. Mitchell received the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for the book in 1937. It was adapted into a 1939 American film. The book is often read or misread through the film. ''Gone with the Wind'' is the only novel by Mitchell published during her lifetime.〔(Obituary: Miss Mitchell, 49, Dead of Injuries ) (August 17, 1949) New York Times. Retrieved May 14, 2011.〕 ==Biographical background and publication== Born in 1900 in Atlanta, Georgia, Margaret Mitchell was a writer and a Southerner throughout her life. She grew up hearing stories about the American Civil War and the Reconstruction from her tyrannical Irish American grandmother who endured its suffering. Her forceful and intellectual mother was a suffragist who fought for the rights of women to vote. As a young woman, Mitchell found love with an army lieutenant who was killed in World War One, and she would carry his memory for the remainder of her life. After studying at Smith College for a year, during which time her mother died from the Spanish flu, she returned to Atlanta. An unsuccessful marriage to an abusive bootlegger husband followed. She then got a job writing feature articles for the ''Atlanta Journal'' at a time when Atlanta debutantes did not work. She married again, this time to a man who shared her interest in writing and literature. Margaret Mitchell began writing ''Gone with the Wind'' in 1926 to pass the time while recovering from an auto-crash injury that refused to heal.〔("People on the Home Front: Margaret Mitchell" ), Sgt. H. N. Oliphant (October 19, 1945) ''Yank'', p. 9. Retrieved May 12, 2011.〕 In April 1935, Harold Latham of MacMillan, an editor who was looking for new fiction, read what she had written and saw that it could be a best-seller. After Latham had agreed to publish the book, Mitchell worked for another six months checking the historical references and rewriting the opening chapter several times.〔("The Making of Gone With the Wind" ), Gavin Lambert (February 1973)'' Atlantic Monthly''. Retrieved May 14, 2011.〕 Mitchell and her husband John Marsh, a copy editor by trade, edited the final version of the novel. Mitchell wrote the book's final moments first and then wrote the events that led up to it.〔Joseph M. Flora, Lucinda H. MacKethan, Todd Taylor (2002), ''The Companion to Southern Literature: themes, genres, places, people, movements and motifs'', Louisiana State University Press, p. 308. ISBN 0-8071-2692-6〕 ''Gone With the Wind'' was released to the public in June 1936. 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「Gone with the Wind」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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