1998 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
North American Haiku in English after the World War II
| Project/Area Number |
08610535
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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 |
文学一般(含文学論・比較文学)・西洋古典
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| Research Institution | Tokyo Institute of Technology |
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Principal Investigator |
SUGAWAEA Katsuya Tokyo Institute of Technology, Foreign Language Research and Teaching Center, Associate Professor (30171135)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1996 – 1998
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| Keywords | haiku / B. H. Chamberlain / R. H. Blyth / Rod Wilmot / ロッド・ウィルモット |
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| Research Abstract |
In this research, the introduction of haiku, the genuine Japanese verse form, to the West and its reception by Westerners, especially by the North-Americans in the post World War II period were studied in terms of the comparative poetics.
Firstly, a close analysis of B.H.Chamberlain's paper on haiku, "Basho and the epigram" was conducted. Chamberlain never discarded his deeply embedded Western poetics and relegated haiku as a form of epigram, thus creating an impression that haiku was a piece of unfinished poem. He never understood the characteristics of the haiku-form.
On the contrary, R. H. Blyth, one of the greatest contributors to the Western reception of haiku, properly appreciated the Japanese poetics and translated haiku so that the Western readers could fully grasp the meaning of each haiku piece. It is not surprising that Blyth's Haiku in four volumes exerted a profound influence in the post-war period among the younger generation. Blyth's translation, however, made use of a context of his own invention, namely Zen, which was also highly popular in North America.
Thirdly, as a case study of the North American haiku, some pieces in the anthology Erotic Haiku edited by Rod Wilmot were discussed in terms of their poetics. The analysis showed that North American haiku poets were sincerely interested in the human affairs, which fact might show that they belonged to the Western literary tradition, in contrast to the Japanese one with its emphasis on the appreciation of nature.
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Research Products
(6 results)
