Gender and Texts in the Great Awakening

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K02556
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Literature in English
• Research Institution: Sophia University
• Principal Investigator: Masui Shitsuyo 上智大学, 文学部, 教授 (80181642)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: エドワーズ / 大覚醒運動 / 流行小説 / 女性 / 宗教トラクト / 宣教活動

Outline of Final Research Achievements

"Exploring the relation between gender and religion during the 18th and 19th century Great Awakening periods" was the major theme of this project. My paper "Female Piety and Evangelical Ritualization of Death," which dealt with Abigail Hutchinson's role in the Great Awakening led by Jonathan Edwards was the initial work I published for this project. Since then, I have pursued this theme for similar female figures who appear repeatedly in 19th century popular novels. Hawthorne, Poe, Alcott, Stowe and Twain, in particular used this female type in their works. From July 2018 to August 2019, I was affiliated with History Department, Harvard University, and continued my research on both American and British Tract Society publications at Houghton Library. I gave a paper on Phillis Wheatley at the NeMLA convention in March 2019. In August, I also gave a paper on conversion narratives at the John Bunyan Society International Conference, the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.

Free Research Field

アメリカ文学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

１８世紀以降の宗教リバイバルと１９世紀流行小説との関係を探る本研究は、ジョナサン・エドワーズが取り上げた女性回心者の記録が、１９世紀アメリカ文学の女性像に強い影響を与えていることに注目した。その媒介となったのが宗教小冊子（トラクト）である。本研究は、大衆の読み物としてアメリカ全土に配布されたトラクトが多くの読者を開拓し、特に人気の高いエドワーズによるアビガイル・ハチンソンの描写を起点として、薄命の少女像が１９世期アメリカ小説に頻繁に登場し人々の心を動かす原因を検証した。無料、安価な大衆の読み物として配布されたトラクトと流行小説との関係に注目し、米国流行小説の黎明期の文化史を探ることができた。