1997 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Historical Background of Ulysses
| Project/Area Number |
07610480
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
英語・英米文学
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| Research Institution | Hosei University |
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Principal Investigator |
YUKI Hideo Hosei University, Faculty of Literature, Professor, 文学部, 教授 (70210581)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1995 – 1997
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| Keywords | Ulysses / Joyce / Dublin |
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| Research Abstract |
The aim of this study is to elucidate the historical background of James Joyce's Ulysses, mainly focusing on such topics as literature, politics, religion, music, education, economics, food, transport, and folklore. Joyce's text presupposes the knowledge about Dublin--especially Dublin around 1904--and shows the narrative world without telling the suitable background. His literary strategy is that of the extreme realist, and we cannot understand the subtle meaning of the story without knowing such backgroud. This study started to tackle the problem and reveal the various aspects obscured thus far in his text.
We examined Ulysses throughly and could uncover the many hidden meanings of the story. We cannot understand Gerty desperately aspiring for marrige without knowing the social context. We never understand why so many people in Dublin respect Long John in so far as we don't know the fact that his position as subsheriff involves the election of mayor. We must conjecture that the nightshirt which Bloom puts on has something to do with the social hierarchy of those days. Thus, we enlarged the spheres of our research when we came to know that Joyce intentionally igonored to inform readers of the historical contexts of his work.
Of course, we cannot put aside Joyce as a modernist. The material of Dublin Joyce makes use of is contextualized from the modernist point of view. But such research has also to be based on the historical knowledge.
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