2004 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Anti-Slavery Movement and Literature of Concord in Antebellum America
| Project/Area Number |
15520188
|
|---|
| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
|
| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
|---|
| Section | 一般 |
|---|
| Research Field |
ヨーロッパ語系文学
|
|---|
| Research Institution | KYUSHU UNIVERSITY |
|---|
Principal Investigator |
TAKAHASHI Tsutomu Kyushu University, Graduate Faculty of Languages & Cultures, Associate Professor, 大学院・言語文化研究院, 助教授 (10216731)
|
|---|
| Project Period (FY) |
2003 – 2004
|
| Keywords | Concord / Anti-slavery Movement / William Lloyd Garrison / Ralph W.Emerson / Henry D.Thoreau / Transcendentalism / Fugitive Slave Law / Daniel Webster |
|---|
| Research Abstract |
The purpose of this project was to investigate the anti-slavery movement in mid-19^<th> century America and to see its influence upon the literary activities in Concord, Massachusetts. By placing once again the literary texts of Ralph W.Emerson and Henry D.Thoreau in the political context of antebellum America, I attempted to illustrate the close linkage between their works and the discourse of emancipation.
In 2003,I mainly investigated the anti-slavery activities in 19^<th> century Concord. I made a research trip to Pennsylvania State University where I stayed for three weeks and concentrated myself on studying the abolitionist movement and other anti-slavery activities, including the Underground Railroad. The outcome of the research was shaped into the article "Anti-Slavery Movement and Walden-A Study of ‘Higher Laws" (Studies in English Language and Literature, No.55,2005).
In 2004,I attempted to see how the discourse of emancipation was historically related to the rise of romantic literature in America, including transcendentalists' writings. My publications in this area includes "Thoreau's Poetics of Body" (Dawn in Me : Essays on the 150^<th> Anniversary of Walden, 2004), Dialogue between Nature and Literature : Urban, Pastoral, and Wild(Co-editor, 2004), "Literature on the Edge : A Study of Walden"(forthcoming).
|
