2021 Fiscal Year Annual Research 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 / Archives / Life Writing / Literature |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
In the final year of this project, I was able to achieve most of the major objectives of the research goals, and the research conducted, interviews, and articles published have resulted in a much larger public awareness of Miller’s connection to Japan. In 2021, one of Miller’s last remaining Japanese friends, Ueno Shori (上野霄里), passed away. I had the opportunity to interview Ueno on two occasions, and he allowed me to view his extensive collection of letters. The relationship between Miller and Ueno was published in the article, ヘンリー•ミラーと上野霄里：太平洋を隔てた友情, in 2019. With the Kakenhi funding, numerous archives trips were undertaken in Japan and the United States. Undoubtedly, the most important discovery made during archival research was locating Miller’s letters to his longtime friend Bezalel Schatz. Miller scholars have searched for decades for Miller’s half of the correspondence to his Israeli friend. I discovered the letters in the 久保記念観光文化交流館, in Tochigi Prefecture. A lengthy overview of the 30-year correspondence was published in デル夕：ヘンリーミラー、アナイスニン、ロレンスダレル研究論集, in 2019. Another significant achievement was the publication of the first extensive study on Miller’s text concerning Yukio Mishima, “The Samurai and the Artist: Henry Miller’s Reflections on the Death of Mishima,” in 2021. While the momentum and achievements of the overall project were slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic, I believe that the overall success of the project has been rewarding.
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