2020 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Japonisme and Henry Miller: Empirically Proving the Impact of Japan on his Life and Works
| Project/Area Number |
18K12321
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| Research Institution | The University of Kitakyushu |
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Principal Investigator |
WAYNE E.ARNOLD 北九州市立大学, 外国語学部, 准教授 (20740624)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2018-04-01 – 2022-03-31
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| Keywords | Henry Miller / Japonisme / archive / Literature / Interviews / Kubo Sadajiro / Ueno Shiori / Field research |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
COVID-19 has clearly slowed research. However, due to several previous research trips in the United States and in Japan, I have a large digital collection of most of the materials needed to complete this stage of the project on Henry Miller and Japan. Since research trips did not occur, I have been able to spend significant time writing and doing online conferences. This time has resulted in the successful completely of two lengthy articles on Miller and Japan. Both articles have been accepted by reputable peer-reviewed journals. “Four Japanese in Search of Henry Miller” was published in spring of 2021, and “The Samurai and the Artist: Henry Miller’s Reflections on the Death of Mishima” will be published in the summer of 2021. During the composition of both of these articles, I was able to make further discoveries concerning Miller and Japan. Perhaps the most important discovery has been finding a hand-written Japanese translation of Miller’s notes on Mishima Yukio. The original English version of these notes are lost. This new material will be incorporated into my book project. In addition to these two articles, I have also drafted my book proposal for this topic. The book proposal will be sent to Oxford University Press, as they have a special section of publications that relate to America and Japan. I also presented my research at 4 conferences this past year. I was the chair for the panel “Henry Miller in New Contexts,” at the Northeast Modern Language Association conference.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
1: Research has progressed more than it was originally planned.
Reason
I believe I have nearly all the material needed to begin the work on the book form of my research. Thanks to a presentation I gave in March, some missing information in the form of a letter from Henry Miller to a Japanese translator, written in 1947, has been uncovered. I now have significant data to make the empirical connection between Miller and Japan spanning from 1920 to 1980. The publication of two of my articles means that I now have composed a number of important articles that can be revised into book chapters. The layout for my book has been decided, and I will chronologically track Miller’s connection with Japan. This last year has led to several new discoveries about Miller and Japan thanks to the help of my Japanese Henry Miller scholar companions.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
The next stage of research will be the composition of the book. I will write two chapters in order to send them together with the book proposal. Additionally, I hope to receive a few digital scans of documents from UCLA that will help clarify Miller’s connection with Japan in the 1940s. In the recently discovered letter by Miller, he mentions his connection with Kenneth Rexroth and Japan. This information is important and was previously unknown. Hopefully the library will allow copies of materials, as they are currently closed due to COVID. I will give one more presentation on Miller and Japan relating to the weekly gossip magazines published in Japan. Thanks to the help of Yahoo Auction, I have been able to locate numerous articles that were previously unknown to previous Miller scholars. In June, I will present on “Henry Miller and Japanese Tabloid Magazines,” at the prestigious Pop Culture Association conference.
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| Causes of Carryover |
I plan to do one more research trip to the USA in March of 2022, as long as COVID does not cancel the conference. There is also additional funds needed for checking the translation work related to Miller materials in Japanese.
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