Relationship between History and Literature in the Mid-Meiji Period

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K13390
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Japanese literature
• Research Institution: Sophia University (2018-2020); Prefectural University of Kumamoto (2017)
• Principal Investigator: Kimura Hiroshi 上智大学, 文学部, 准教授 (70613173)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 坪内逍遥 / 『小説神髄』 / 在野史学 / 田口卯吉 / 山路愛山 / 徳富蘇峰

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Tsubouchi Shoyo emphasized the value of the subject of the lives of the people in Shosetsu Shinzui (the Essence of the Novel). However, it is not just novelists like Tsubouchi Shoyo who emphasized the lives of the people. What I would like to pay attention to is the appearance of the consciousness in the historical narrative of the Mid-Meiji Period that not only the official affairs of heroes and politicians, but also their inner life, private life, and the experiences of people, must be recorded. This study clarifies the relationship between such historical studies and literature.

Free Research Field

日本近代文学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

従来の研究では、二葉亭四迷や尾崎紅葉のような実作者に焦点を当てて明治時代の文学状況を把握するのが通例である。しかし実作者という範疇に収まらない者たち、硬派言論人、在野歴史家、宗教家といった非文学者たちも明治文学史のなかで無視できない役割を担っていた。現に国木田独歩の日記には、田口卯吉、竹越与三郎、志賀重昂、内村鑑三などの名前が繰り返し登場する。こうした日記の記述に対応する、文学者と非文学者の言説が交錯し合いながら新たな文学状況が築かれていく様子を本研究は明確に描き出した。