Classical Rhetoric and Derrida's Grammatology: rhetoric of Hugh Blair as a "written voice"

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K02464
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Literature in English
• Research Institution: Chuo University
• Principal Investigator: Kanetake Michiko 中央大学, 文学部, 教授 (30338644)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 古典修辞学 / プラトン / ヒュー・ブレア / デリダ / グラマトロジー / ヴィクトリアン・ヘレニズム

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research project was conducted under two phases.
(1) I elucidated the significance, achievements and theoretical possibilities of Hugh Blair's _Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres_ in relation to Derrida's Grammatology. Derrida argues that classical rhetoric started as a branch of metaphysics, and that rhetoric helped consolidate the phonocentric and ontological determination of the Western metaphysical tradition. However, if we read Plato and Blair closely, we understand that Derrida's point is not entirely supportable. Rather than participating in the metaphysical determination, Blair's rhetoric, which realises Plato's description of rhetoric as a written voice, shares a number of insights with Derrida's Grammatology.
(2) I studied Victorian Hellenism as a form of classical reception in post-eighteenth-century Britain, and wrote some pieces on how women writers reacted to this ideology.

Free Research Field

英文学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

(1) 「書かれた声」としての修辞学と、デリダのグラマトロジーの関連についての研究は、研究代表者の知る限り存在しない。この大きな問題系の一側面を明らかにできたのではないかと考えている。
(2) ヴィクトリアン・ヘレニズムについての研究は、国内ではそれほど盛んでないように見受けられる。幾人かの女性作家の作品について論考を発表できたことには、ある程度の意義があると思っている。