Beyond Hermeneutics of Suspicion: Everyday Reading Practices in England

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K02484
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Literature in English
• Research Institution: Hitotsubashi University
• Principal Investigator: Ikawa Chitose 一橋大学, 大学院社会学研究科, 教授 (20401672)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 英文学 / 徴候的読み / 表層的読み / 読書会 / 解釈共同体

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research project has critically reexamined the psychoanalytical/Marxist method which has been widely followed in studies of English literature. This method called "hermeneutics of suspicion" is based on the premise that the literary text represses its true meaning awaiting for the interpreter-scholar to diagnose and rewrite what remains unrealized in its surface. This research has successfully integrated the theoretical approach with the empirical research on the everyday reading practices of the general reader in England.

Free Research Field

英文学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の意義は、「素養ある読者」という理論的構築物を前提とした従来の「読者反応論」とは異なり、これまで学術調査の対象とされてこなかったNPOなどの協力を得ながら、読書会や文学フェスティバルへの参加、読み物雑誌や書評サイトなどの購読や閲覧とそれらへの投稿、さらに読み聞かせボランティアや創作コースへの参加までを広義の読書経験と捉えて、一般読者にとっての読むことの意味を多面的に捉えた点にある。