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''The Master of Man: The Story of a Sin'' was a best-selling 1921 novel by Hall Caine. The fictional story is set on the Isle of Man and is concerned with Victor Stowell, the Deemster's son, who commits a romantic indiscretion and then gives up on all of his principles in order to keep it a secret. However, in the face of the mounting consequences, Victor confesses publicly to his crime and is punished, but redemption comes through a woman’s love. The penultimate of Caine's novels, it is romantic and moralistic, returning to his regular themes of sin, justice and atonement, whilst also addressing "the woman question." It was adapted for a film entitled ''Name the Man'' in 1924 by Victor Sjöström. Despite the large international sales upon the book’s release, it was found to be old-fashioned by critics and it has been out of print since the 1930s. ==Genesis== The central idea for the plot of ''The Master of Man'' came from a correspondence which Hall Caine had in September 1908. Following a performance of the theatrical version of his earlier novel, ''The Christian'', Caine was identified as a likely signatory in a petition against the harsh punishment of a woman named Daisy Lord. After giving birth to a child out of wedlock the young woman had killed the child secretly but was discovered and arrested. At the trial she explained that "I thought I would put an end to it so that it should not have the trouble I have had."〔''Hall Caine: Portrait of a Victorian Romancer'' by Vivian Allen, Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997, p. 380〕 Caine signed the petition but he kept the accompanying letter as a record of its story.〔''Hall Caine: Portrait of a Victorian Romancer'' by Vivian Allen, Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997, pp. 373 - 384〕 In writing about the novel for promotional purposes, however, Caine makes no mention of this English case of Daisy Lord. Instead, he attributed his inspiration to a vague story from Manx legal history:〔('The Master of Man' ) in ''Manx Quarterly'', Douglas: S. K. Broadbent, Vol. IV, No. 27, October 1921, pp. 257 - 262〕
Described as a ''Roman à clef'' by Caine's modern biographer, the novel also used many themes and occurrences from Caine's own life.〔''Hall Caine: Portrait of a Victorian Romancer'' by Vivian Allen, Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997, p. 383 - 384〕 One notable instance of this is the episode where Bessie is sent away to be educated before she would be fit to marry the educated and higher-class Victor Stowell, which clearly recalls Caine's having set up Mary Chandler in Sevenoaks in order to be educated before their own marriage.〔''Hall Caine: Portrait of a Victorian Romancer'' by Vivian Allen, Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997, p. 160 - 161〕 As was usual in Caine's work, he makes no acknowledgement of his main sources, instead writing that "while the principal incidents of the tale I have now to tell owe something to reminiscence, I have exercised so freely the storyteller's licence in telling them () that I can claim no better authority for my story than that of an independent creation, with a general background of fact."〔 Caine first spoke of his ideas for the novel to Bram Stoker in 1912 shortly before his death.〔''Hall Caine: Portrait of a Victorian Romancer'' by Vivian Allen, Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997, pp.373-384〕 Although Caine then began work on the novel in 1913, he put it aside in order to concentrate on writing in support of the Allies during World War I, apparently not picking it up again until one day after the Armistice, on the 12th of November 1918.〔 By the autumn of 1919 the book had begun to appear in serial form in magazines in America and in the UK, although the episodes had to be later interrupted and held back due to problems with Caine’s health and personal life (through strain on his marriage and also at the death of his publisher, William Heinemann). After working on the novel in St. Moritz, the Savoy Hotel in London and at his home, Greeba Castle, in the Isle of Man, the book was completed and ready for publishing in book form in July 1921.〔''Hall Caine: Portrait of a Victorian Romancer'' by Vivian Allen, Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997, pp.373-384〕 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「The Master of Man」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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