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''My Official Wife'' is an 1891 novel by Richard Henry Savage, popular in its day, soon after adapted for the stage, and for silent films in 1914 and 1926, and a German-language film in 1936. ==Book== Savage wrote the first draft of his first novel in 1890, while recovering in New York after being struck by illness in Honduras. Encouraged by friends who lauded his five-chapter tale of adventure set in contemporary Russia, Savage was inspired to rewrite and expand the story into a novel. First published by Archibald Clavering Gunter's Home Publishing Company in May 1891, it was a quick best-seller, and was translated into multiple languages,〔Vollmer, Clement. (The American Novel in Germany, 1871-1913 ), p. 26 (1918) (German translation is ''Meine offizielle Frau'', which "became well known and cherished by German readers in the following years.")〕 but not Russian, as it was reportedly banned in Russia.〔(5 July 1891). (Literature ), ''The Morning Call'', col. 3〕〔Mathes, George P. (July 1894). (Won Sudden Fame ), ''The Bookseller's Friend'', p.15 〕 Though not every review was so glowing,〔(7 September 1891). (New Books (review) ), ''The New York Times'' (this review ran in September 1891, when the book had been out a few months, and was described as "wild, rough in part, and slangy, but for all that no means wanting in effectiveness .... The dramatic elements in Russia are not wanting; they are overwhelming.")〕〔(13 July 1891). (With the Books ), ''St. Paul Daily Globe'', p. 4, col. 6 ("one of the most entertaining of the lighter books of the season ... just the book for hammock weather")〕 ''The Times'' in London notably called it "a wonderful and clever ''tour de force'', in which improbabilities and impossibilities disappear, under an air that is irresistible."〔(''Current Opinion'', p. 177. ) Current Literature Pub. Co, 1891〕 Buoyed by the novel's success, Savage began producing more books at a rapid rate, about three a year. In 1913, the ''Bookman'' noted that while few Americans may know Pushkin, Chehkov, or Korolenko, "very many Americans have, at some time in their lives, dipped into the pages of Colonel Savage's perfectly trivial story."〔(About the Continent in One Hundred Novels ), ''The Bookman'' (August 1913)〕 An 1896 synopsis of the novel: This clever skit is permeated by a Russian atmosphere, in which visions of the secret police, the Nihilists, and social life in St. Petersburg, are blended like the vague fancies of a trouble dream. Many claims were made regarding the basis for the novel's heroine, all of which Savage denied.〔 For example, some papers reported that a Sophie Gunsberg, executed in 1891 in Russia, was the inspiration.〔(18 October 1891). (Literature ), ''The Morning Call''〕 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「My Official Wife」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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