Rabelais, magic and literary imagination

Research Project

Project/Area Number	15H06114
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	European literature
Research Institution	The University of Tokyo
Principal Investigator	SEKIMATA Kenichi 東京大学, 大学院総合文化研究科, 助教 (80759283)
Project Period (FY)	2015-08-28 – 2017-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2016)
Budget Amount *help	¥2,730,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥630,000) Fiscal Year 2016: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000) Fiscal Year 2015: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000)
Keywords	フランス・ルネサンス / ラブレー / 魔術と文学 / 仏文学 / ルネサンス文学
Outline of Final Research Achievements	Our research reveals that Rabelais' work, which is inspired by humanists such as Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim, Celio Calcagnini and Rhodiginus, abounds in allusions to Renaissance magic. We explain how these images of magic stimulate the reader's imagination and encourage the reader's intellectual exploration. We also discovered several specific passages which influenced Rabelais' work, and analyzed his works focusing on the dual structure of debunking magic while at the same time using its workings to stimulate the reader.