The Formation of Russian Subjectivity in the World-system: Late 19th Century Russian Literature in the Light of New Economic Criticism

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K02565
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: European literature
• Research Institution: Kanazawa University
• Principal Investigator: Hiramatsu Junna 金沢大学, 外国語教育系, 准教授 (60600814)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: ロシア文学 / 新経済批評 / 贈与交換 / 近代世界システム / ドストエフスキー

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study examines Russian literature (in particular, Dostoevsky’s texts) of the latter half of the 19th century, when Russian society escalated its modernization process. It does so based on economic theories such as gift exchange and world-systems. In this time period, modern impersonal social institutions (monetary economy, for instance) that function without personal elements such as a belief in God, subjection to a monarch, or neighborly love were introduced into Russian society more systematically than previously. However, on the periphery of the modern world-system, the introduction of the new institutions to the country paradoxically strengthened dependence on personal relationships with neighbors and belief in God. This study explores this logic through analyses of literary texts and illuminates the relationships between the economic aspects of Russian society and the formation of human subjectivity, which shaped the artistic form of the literary texts of the time.

Free Research Field

ロシア文学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

ソ連崩壊から30年を経た現代のロシアは、再び「西側社会」との冷戦関係に突入したように見える。「西欧」と近いが、しばしば西欧に対する敵対性や異質性（専制的政治体制、経済的後進性など）を指摘されるロシアの社会・言説構造の根源はどこにあるのか。この問いに答えるため、近代化が本格化する19世紀後半のロシアの文学や歴史状況の分析を行い、近代世界システムの「周縁」に位置するロシア社会で形成された人間主体のありかたを提示したことに、本研究の学術的・社会的意義があると考えられる。