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"Utopia" in Contemporary American Literature

Research Project

Project/Area Number 20K12951
Research Category

Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists

Allocation TypeMulti-year Fund
Review Section Basic Section 02030:English literature and literature in the English language-related
Research InstitutionKeio University (2021-2022)
University of Tsukuba (2020)

Principal Investigator

LARSON Michael  慶應義塾大学, 法学部(日吉), 訪問講師 (10840184)

Project Period (FY) 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
Project Status Completed (Fiscal Year 2022)
Budget Amount *help
¥2,210,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥510,000)
Fiscal Year 2022: ¥520,000 (Direct Cost: ¥400,000、Indirect Cost: ¥120,000)
Fiscal Year 2021: ¥390,000 (Direct Cost: ¥300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥90,000)
Fiscal Year 2020: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000)
Keywordsアメリカ文学 / ユートピア / ディストピア / SF小説 / 冷戦期 / マルクス主義文学理論 / 新歴史主義 / Utopia / Science Fiction / Public Art / post-human / community / Slusser, George / Le Guin, Ursula / Robinson, Kim Stanley / science fiction / utopian / dystopia / catastrophe / labor / SF / Science fiction / Chinese / Utopia/dystopia / American Literature / Affect / ユトピア・ディストピア / 現代アメリカ文学
Outline of Research at the Start

This research focuses on how the body has been portrayed in utopian and dystopian works in 20th-
century American literature, combining insights from two subfields: utopian studies and affect theory.

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this study was to approach the wave of utopian fiction that appeared in the United States in the second half of the Cold War from a new angle. In particular, the focus was to be on new kinds of bodily states or "affects," which these works depict. However, as a result of complications due to the corona virus and new insights found in the course of research, the focus gradually shifted.
One initial category of investigation was the bodily states created by utopian labor, however, this led to research on the new understandings of community in this wave of utopian fiction. Thus, this research revealed how ideas of community changed over the course of the Cold War on the American political left, and how this impacted ideas of utopia. Moreover, insights into the changing conception of community led to research on new conceptions of the self and attitudes toward totality, or the idea of the world as a comprehensible whole -- all of which were changing during the period.

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

簡潔に言えば、日本でアメリカ文学を研究することは、過去 150 年に渡り歴史が絡み合ってきたアジア太平洋における2つの大国間の相互理解の促進に役立つと考えられる。本研究では、ユートピア的なSF小説に焦点を当てることで、アメリカ文化において、重要な影響力のある側面としてのアメリカ大衆文化のより深い理解に役立った。

Report

(4 results)
  • 2022 Annual Research Report   Final Research Report ( PDF )
  • 2021 Research-status Report
  • 2020 Research-status Report
  • Research Products

    (6 results)

All 2022 2021 2020

All Journal Article (2 results) (of which Int'l Joint Research: 1 results,  Peer Reviewed: 1 results) Presentation (4 results) (of which Int'l Joint Research: 2 results)

  • [Journal Article] Accumulating and Realizing the Radical Potential of Catastrophe in Karen Tei Yamashita’s "Through the Arc of the Rain Forest"2021

    • Author(s)
      Larson Michael
    • Journal Title

      Utopian Studies

      Volume: 32 Issue: 3 Pages: 494-512

    • DOI

      10.5325/utopianstudies.32.3.0494

    • Related Report
      2021 Research-status Report
    • Peer Reviewed
  • [Journal Article] "The Vulgar and the Sublime"2020

    • Author(s)
      Michael Larson
    • Journal Title

      Kyoto Journal

      Volume: 99 Pages: 215-215

    • Related Report
      2020 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] Community in the Philosophy of Jean-Luc Nancy and Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Dispossessed”2022

    • Author(s)
      Larson Michael・William
    • Organizer
      Utopian Studies Society (Europe) 22nd Annual Conference
    • Related Report
      2022 Annual Research Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] Kim Stanley Robinsonの小説に描かれる地質年代の考察: Mars 三部作とThe Years of Rice and Saltにおける登場人物としての『社会有機体』2022

    • Author(s)
      Larson Michael・William
    • Organizer
      日本アメリカ文学会第61回全国大会
    • Related Report
      2022 Annual Research Report
  • [Presentation] “Reading Kenji Miyazawa after 3.11: Region, Utopia, and Modernity"2021

    • Author(s)
      Michael Larson
    • Organizer
      The 11th Asian Conference on Cultural Studies, IAFOR, Japan (online)
    • Related Report
      2021 Research-status Report
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] 「アーシュラ・K・ル・グィンの『所有せざる人々』における仕事について」2021

    • Author(s)
      Michael Larson
    • Organizer
      日本英文学会関東支部第20回大会 (online)
    • Related Report
      2021 Research-status Report

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Published: 2020-04-28   Modified: 2024-01-30  

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