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A Study on the Convention of the Ghost Story and the Detective Novel in the Victorian Popular Literature

Research Project

Project/Area Number 15520146
Research Category

Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)

Allocation TypeSingle-year Grants
Section一般
Research Field ヨーロッパ語系文学
Research InstitutionYamagata University

Principal Investigator

NAKAMURA Takashi  Yamagata University, Faculty of Literature and Social Sciences, Associate Professor, 人文学部, 助教授 (00207888)

Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) HARA Eiichi  Tohoku University, Graduate School of Arts and Letters, Professor, 大学院・文学研究科, 教授 (40106745)
Project Period (FY) 2003 – 2004
Project Status Completed (Fiscal Year 2004)
Budget Amount *help
¥3,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,100,000)
Fiscal Year 2004: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,300,000)
Fiscal Year 2003: ¥1,800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,800,000)
KeywordsDickens / Mrs.Wood / Mary Braddon / Ghost / Detective / Murder of Husband / Madness / Sensation Novel / コリンズ / ブラッドン
Research Abstract

Interactions between Dickens's novels -especially those written after the mid century -and the sensation novels in the 1860s have been neglected to such an extent that few critics have hitherto explored the relationship of the two in detail ; however, themes and conventions such as the ghost story and the detective novel are unmistakable marks that correlate Dickens to the sensationalists. Their similarities are to be summarized in seven items.
First, heroines rather than heroes occupy central places. Second, those heroines are characterized by their sexual transgressions such as bigamy and illicit love affair. Third, female angels and/or demons are the criminals, committing murder of husband, arson, and poisoning. Fourth, a doppelganger theme is formed by two heroines who are so similar to each other that one is mistaken for the other, while creating another favorite motif of mistaken identity. Fifth, the mistaken identity motif brings about the ghost story in which one of two heroines functions as a ghost, not real but imagined. Sixth, a male detective is rendered so as to disclose secrets and crimes of the enchanting heroine. Seventh, a male detective has a secret desire to demolish strong-minded heroines.
The works that have been examined in this context are Dombey and Son, David Copperfield, Bleak House, Hard Times, East Lynne, Mrs.Halliburton's Troubles, Lady Audley's Secret, The Doctor's Wife, John Marchmont's Legacy and the like.
"Sikes and Nancy,"a public reading version of Oliver Twist read in Dicken's final years is a blatant example demonstrating Dickens is beyond doubt a sensationalist who makes use of murder of a husband, and a ghost element to evoke the sensation. Hysteria -or madness -as a female malady transforms an angelic heroine into a demon, whose subversiveness calls into question Victorian chauvinistic, patriarchal society.

Report

(3 results)
  • 2004 Annual Research Report   Final Research Report Summary
  • 2003 Annual Research Report
  • Research Products

    (9 results)

All 2005 2004 Other

All Journal Article (8 results) Publications (1 results)

  • [Journal Article] メドゥーサの肖像-公開朗読とセンセーション・ノヴェルのヒロインたち-2005

    • Author(s)
      中村 隆
    • Journal Title

      英文学研究 81巻

      Pages: 79-95

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
    • Related Report
      2004 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Journal Article] 18世紀小説の「演劇的語り」と「ポストモダン的語り」2005

    • Author(s)
      原 英一
    • Journal Title

      英語青年 150巻

      Pages: 658-659

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
    • Related Report
      2004 Annual Research Report 2004 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Journal Article] The Portrait of a Victorian Medusa : Nancy in the Public Reading Version of Oliver Twist and the Heroines in the Sensational Novel2005

    • Author(s)
      Takashi Nakamura
    • Journal Title

      Studies in English Literature 81

      Pages: 79-95

    • NAID

      110008158902

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
    • Related Report
      2004 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Journal Article] Dramatic Narrative and Post-Modernist Narrative in the Eighteenth-Century Novel2005

    • Author(s)
      Eiichi Hare
    • Journal Title

      The Rising Generation (Eigo Seinen) 150

      Pages: 658-659

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
    • Related Report
      2004 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Journal Article] メデゥーサの肖像-公開朗読とセンセーション・ノヴェルのヒロインたち-2005

    • Author(s)
      中村 隆
    • Journal Title

      英文学研究 81巻

      Pages: 79-95

    • Related Report
      2004 Annual Research Report
  • [Journal Article] 『バーナビー・ラッジ』と徒弟のロマンス2004

    • Author(s)
      原 英一
    • Journal Title

      ディケンズフェロウシップ日本支部年報 27号

      Pages: 130-150

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
    • Related Report
      2004 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Journal Article] Barnaby Rudge and the Romance of an Apprentice2004

    • Author(s)
      Eiichi Hara
    • Journal Title

      The Japan Branch Bulletin The Dickens Fellowship 27

      Pages: 130-150

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
    • Related Report
      2004 Final Research Report Summary
  • [Journal Article] 『バーナビー・ラッジ』と従弟のロマンス2004

    • Author(s)
      原 英一
    • Journal Title

      ディケンズ・フェロウシップ日本支部年報 27号

      Pages: 130-150

    • Related Report
      2004 Annual Research Report
  • [Publications] 中村 隆: "Ghost and Money in Great Expectations"Shiron. No.41. 19-66 (2003)

    • Related Report
      2003 Annual Research Report

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Published: 2003-04-01   Modified: 2016-04-21  

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