2004 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Researches in the Theme of Re-Constructing of National Consciousness in English Literature
| Project/Area Number |
14510530
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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 | Kyushu University |
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Principal Investigator |
SONOI Eishu Graduate School of Kyushu University, Faculty of Humanities, Professor, 人文科学研究院, 教授 (00069709)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
SONOI Chine Ryukyu University, Faculty of Literature and Law, Associate Professor, 法文学部, 助教授 (70295286)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2002 – 2004
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| Keywords | national consciousness / reconstruction / Andrew Marvell / British slave trade / Romantic sensibility / public and moral nature / 道徳的性質 |
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| Research Abstract |
The researches have been made on the themes of reconstructing of the national consciousness which are seen to appear in the literary, and in some cases in the non-literary, texts of English Literature mainly in the period of the 17th century and 18th and 19th century romantic age.
The national consciousness in the 17th century has a nature of political and religious polemics that are typically found in John Milton's prose pamphlet works, in which he vehemently defended Cromwell's regime and attacked English churches. The works worked as the defense of the English nation in various aspects in the time of spiritual confusion and crisis in England in the wake of the civil war and the unstable pre-restoration sentimentality of the English people then. Andrew Marvell's Cromwellian trilogy and later satirical works also contributed to reconstruct this sense among the English readers. Marvell's works are essentially conscious of the public nature of literature, i.e. the literature as social cr
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iticism and moral admonition. It is possible to read his hidden sense of pro-monarchical attitude in the lines of the eulogy for Cromwell who executed the king, which might appeal to people's nostalgic sense. The researches have made it clear that both Milton and Marvell in their works, and other political materials of the Interregnum period, show altogether that they worked closely with the people's rising sense of freedom both in spirit and society. The theme of national consciousness shows an ironical aspect in the works of romantic poets, particularly when focused on the literary and political subjects of the pros and cons of slave trading in Britain. Coleridge is the key figure in this discussion. He showed a subtle change of attitude in maintaining the anti-slavery campaign in Bristol, with a result of turning himself into man of admitting slave systems. In the researches we have made it clear that these contradictions were significantly related with the newly risen race theories, Christianity and particularly with the romantic sensibility which involves a limited sense of spiritual liberation as well as the sense of humanistic idealism. This understanding was then led to the discussion of the basic nature of romantic literature and how it appealed to the sense of spiritual freedom and the formation of the British national consciousness. Six articles have been published with two oral presentations on the literary meetings, in the study of the subjects above. These researches are recognized as the basis studies on the elucidations of moral and public nature of English literature. Less
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Research Products
(12 results)
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[Book] 英文学と道徳2005
Author(s)
園井英秀 (編著)
Total Pages
392
Publisher
九州大学出版会
Description
「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
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