A Study on the Formation of the Concept of Classical Novels in Modern China

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K00373
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 02020:Chinese literature-related
• Research Institution: Ritsumeikan University
• Principal Investigator: UEHARA Noriko 立命館大学, 産業社会学部, 教授 (50452917)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 中国古典小説 / 翻案 / 受容

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study was originally intended to deepen the discussion of the issue from an overseas literature review. However, in the second year of the research, the direction was modified due to the Corona disaster. In recent years, literary works have been analyzed and examined through the concept of adaptation in various fields, and we thought it would be possible to reconsider the subject of this study more effectively. Although the structure of the film analyzed differed from that of the original work, the verbosity of the script was stripped away in the finished film, and it became a work that the audience themselves could appreciate, including the off-screen story. The film was characterized by the fact that this adaptation, through twists and turns, ended up with “an expression that does not say much,” just like a classic novel, and we concluded that this method of expression itself was a form of acceptance of the classics.

Free Research Field

中国古典小説研究

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の意義としては、海外で出版された明代白話小説の英訳本を調査した結果、西洋で好まれる中国古典小説の題材の選定の傾向や、訳者が比較的入手しやすい中国古典小説を使用したのではないかという仮説が導かれたことが挙げられる。国際学会での口頭発表を通して、中国および欧米在住の研究者と意見交換できたことも収穫であった。また、唐代伝奇小説の翻案作品について調査したことで、映画とその原作である唐代伝奇小説との内容の比較を行い、現代人が古典作品の受容のあり方を考察することとなった。古典作品を現代の映像娯楽作品に翻案する現象にまで分析範囲を広げられたことは派生的成果といえよう。