The Role of Hidden Wordplay in Anglo-American Detective Fiction

Research Project

Project/Area Number	19K13109
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Review Section	Basic Section 02030:English literature and literature in the English language-related
Research Institution	Kobe City University of Foreign Studies
Principal Investigator	Kinugawa Shosuke 神戸市外国語大学, 外国語学部, 准教授 (10779424)
Project Period (FY)	2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2022)
Budget Amount *help	¥4,160,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥960,000) Fiscal Year 2022: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000) Fiscal Year 2021: ¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000) Fiscal Year 2020: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000) Fiscal Year 2019: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000)
Keywords	英米文学 / 探偵小説 / 犯罪文学 / 言葉遊び / Mark Twain / Agatha Christie / Charles Willeford / Sara Paretsky / Detective / wordplay / pun / riddle / race / gender / fairplay / detective fiction / feminism / Detective Fiction / Wordplay / Mystery / Crime Fiction / ミステリー / 暗号
Outline of Research at the Start	本研究の目的は英米探偵小説における隠れた言葉遊ひの役割を明らかにすることである。英米探偵小説における言葉遊びの研究は極めて少なく、隠れた言葉遊びについてはその存在事態がほとんど認知されていない。本研究は英米探偵小説における言葉遊びの役割を本格的に解明しようする初の試みである。これまで「面白いギミック」程度に考えられていた言葉遊びが、実は形式面でも主題面でも重要な技法であることを示すことで、探偵小説というジャンルの研究に新たな批評的視点を提供する。
Outline of Final Research Achievements	The purpose of this study is to understand the role of hidden wordplay in Anglo-American detective fiction. Toward this end, I began by collecting and organizing primary and secondary sources that serve as the basis for my research, mainly detective fiction, crime fiction, criticism concerning these genres and relevant scholarship on the topics of race, gender, wordplay and cryptography. I then selected fictional works from among the collected materials that will serve as the primary subject of analysis for the research project. Furthermore, I published an article elucidating an aspect of the relationship between Twain's detective fiction and wordplay in an international journal dedicated to Twain studies. The fact that the article was published in a leading Twain research journal is evidence that research coming out of this project has been recognized as meaningful. Moreover, I was able to find additional relevant fictional works that broaden the scope of the project.
Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements	本研究は英米探偵小説における言葉遊びの役割を本格的に解明しようする初の試みであり、探偵小説の新たな読み方を提示する研究である。また、探偵小説というジャンルにおける特定の技法の研究や、分析の対象とする作家のそれぞれの研究にも新たな知見をもたらす。さらに、英米文学全般における言葉遊びの研究への貢献も期待できる。