Construction of Masculinity and Promotion of Militarist Spirit; English Literature from Later 19th to Early 20th Century

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K02306
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Literature in English
• Research Institution: Osaka City University
• Principal Investigator: NOZUE NORIYUKI 大阪市立大学, 大学院文学研究科, 教授 (70198597)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 高橋 章夫 大阪市立大学, 文学研究科, その他 (10527724) ; 藤井 佳子 大阪市立大学, 大学院文学研究科, 非常勤講師 (70379527)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 男性性 / 軍国主義精神 / 唯美主義 / 第一次世界大戦 / 筋肉的キリスト教 / パブリックスクール / 児童文学 / 墓碑銘

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This project has researched how masculinity was constructed and contributed to promoting militarist spirit in the U.K. from the late Victorian era to the First World War in three points of view. First, we have analyzed how verbal representation was related to homosexuality and militarist spirit in the case of classically trained aesthetes such as J. A. Symonds and Walter Pater, and what strategies they used; secondly, we have investigated how those who represented “Muscular Christianity,” Charles Kingsley and Thomas Hughes, played a crucial role in building and exalting masculinity and militarist ethos among boys, with a focus on their books for children and school stories; and lastly, we have examined how popular literature and epitaphs on the First World War helped to construct the spirit and then transform it, and what it really was.

Free Research Field

19世紀後半のイギリス文学および文化、表象文化論