A Study of Influential Relationship between the Nineteenth Century British Popular Drama and Englishness

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K02329
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Literature in English
• Research Institution: Ritsumeikan University (2016-2018); Yamato University (2015)
• Principal Investigator: KANAYAMA Ryota 立命館大学, 文学部, 教授 (70224590)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: ヴィクトリア朝 / 大衆演劇 / イングリッシュネス / アングロ・サクソニズム

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study has tried to focus on the nineteenth century British popular drama as a source of generating the sense of Englishness, and prove that the patriotic mood described in the contemporary melodrama had a close relationship to the xenophobic atmosphere and racial discourse which had started to appear as the British Empire began to lose its hegemony around the end of the nineteenth century. Before this study was undertaken, my hypothesis was that Anglo-Saxonism began to have its clear entity during the Victorian period. However, it turned out that the British Isles have always been invaded from its enemies since time immemorial, and the indigenous people were conscious of their mongrel background.
As the result of this study, I came to the conclusion that the nineteenth century British popular drama has shown how familiar British people had found with the German people, for the latter relatively had kept its purity as an ethnic group.

Free Research Field

英文学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

この研究の結果、今日の世界で最も影響力が大きいことが当然視されている英米圏の文化が、脆弱な根拠の上に成り立っていることが示唆された。このことにより英語中心主義を相対化する視点が得られるとともに、自国中心主義を掲げる英米両国の国民の中にある混血への不安、あるいは白人文化の衰退への恐怖などが見て取れる。有史以来、外部からの侵略を受けてきた歴史を持つイギリス人の中にある混血性への不安あるいは純潔性への憧れは、これとは正反対に、優れたものを掛け合わせることでさらに優れたものが生まれるはずだという理想化に繋がり、これがアメリカ合衆国のモットーの一つである「多からの統一」に繋がった可能性も考えられる。