The Historical Study on the Relations between Travel Writings and Sensibility in the Eighteenth-Century British Public Sphere

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K00432
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 02030:English literature and literature in the English language-related
• Research Institution: Seijo University
• Principal Investigator: Yoshida Naoki 成城大学, 文芸学部, 教授 (90261396)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: トラベルライティング / 公共圏 / 財政＝軍事国家 / イギリス / ゴシック小説

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Laurence Sterne's Sentimental Journey," which is located at a turning point in the long 18th century, is historically examined in terms of how it adapts　texts from the first half of the　century, as well as the political significance of the classification of travelers. I also　examined the economic issues that travelers' movement implies in relation to the　argument on British fiscal-military state. Furthermore, the structural analysis of social and consumer spaces was combined with historical research on the birth of global civil society, and applied to the printing and publishing culture in the coffeehouses, the dramatic works of Richard Steele and John Gay, and the novels of Henry Fielding. The research was then summarized with a historical examination of the supernatural representations of the Gothic novel that emerged under the influence of travel writings in the 1760s.

Free Research Field

英文学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の学術的意義は、トラベルライティングの分析にあたって、作品に登場する旅行者の身体／精神の相互関係を長い１８世紀の文学史に沿って検討した点に認められる。コーヒーハウスにおけるパンフレット文化、世紀前半の劇作品、さらには中葉のリアリズム小説を視野に入れて時間的・空間的移動が表す多様な文化的意義を明らかにした。とくに、旅行者の人種、階級、ジェンダー、セクシュアリティに注目することで、身体／精神の相互関係を多面的に描き出すことができた。さらに、長い18世紀におけるイギリスの財政＝軍事国家の誕生を２１世紀の歴史化に接合する可能性を示すことで、イギリス文学研究の今日的意義を表す研究となっている。