Transnational and Inter-disciplinary Research on the Confrontation of Modern Japanese Literature with Biology and Eugenics

Research Project

Project/Area Number	16K02616
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Section	一般
Research Field	Literature in general
Research Institution	Aoyama Gakuin Women's Junior College
Principal Investigator	TSUJI YOSHIHIRO 青山学院女子短期大学, 現代教養学科, 准教授 (50409588)
Project Period (FY)	2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2018)
Budget Amount *help	¥2,600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥600,000) Fiscal Year 2018: ¥780,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥180,000) Fiscal Year 2017: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000) Fiscal Year 2016: ¥910,000 (Direct Cost: ¥700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥210,000)
Keywords	優生学 / 国文学 / 比較文学 / 思想史 / 宮澤賢治 / 〈動物〉論 / 韓江（Han Kang） / 韓国文学 / 自然主義 / ハンセン病 / 動物論
Outline of Final Research Achievements	Through a detailed analysis of the discourse, this study discusses the dynamics and significance of the confrontation between various literary fields and the biological or eugenic ideology in modern Japan. Methodologically, I eliminate the typical naive positivism that assumes that any term which is influenced by western thought is merely a trace of the west, literally. Rather, the current study emphasizes the multifaceted effect of this confrontation within literature, which is closely observed and examined in the discourse of multi-layered code conversion, metaphorical transposition, projection, image reproduction structure, etc.,based on collection of empirical primary materials from international perspectives.
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	依然として優生思想がその背景に関わっていると指摘される現今の問題の多さとその歴史的経緯の理解の混乱ぶりからすれば、本研究の緊要性は増したと言える。その論点は、われわれの「近代性」と骨絡みである自然史的発想の問題にあるが、それがどのように透明化し、見え難くなってしまったのかについて、近代における文学という感情の構造の装置を多言語的・歴史的アプローチによって分析することにより、その一端を明らかにした。