2020 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
The influence of Eastern religion on selected British authors
| Project/Area Number |
19K00416
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| Research Institution | Nagoya University |
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Principal Investigator |
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| Project Period (FY) |
2019-04-01 – 2024-03-31
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| Keywords | Iris Murdoch / Ted Hughes / Lawrence Durrell / intertextuality / myth / British literature / Eastern religion / shamanism |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
During the period April 2020 to March 2021, I have not been able to travel or attend conferences due to the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions. However, I have continued work on the research topic.
I have published an article in Deus Loci, the peer-reviewed journal of the International Lawrence Durrell Society, on the relationship between the theme of exile and Tibetan Buddhism, in particular the Bardo Thodol, in Durrell's work.
Three other articles related to my research topic are about to be published: an article on Murdoch to be published this year in SLI Studies in the Literary Imagination; an essay entitled,“Iris Murdoch and The Tale of Genji", accepted for an edited collection, Iris Murdoch and the Literary Imagination, to be published by Palgrave in 2022; and an essay entitled“The Aesthetics of Perfection and Imperfection in Iris Murdoch’s An Accidental Man" in a forthcoming volume, ed. Peter Cheyne.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
3: Progress in research has been slightly delayed.
Reason
The research continues to follow two inter-connected paths: the first is the question of how the authors studied were influenced by philosophical aspects of Eastern religion, notably Buddhist/Shinto philosophy, but also Hinduism, shamanism and Sufism, and the second is the extent to which they draw on the literature, folklore and myth of these religions in the creation of their novels and poetry through intertextual allusion and mythical re-workings. Over the past year, I have gained an increased understanding of the way in which a preoccupation with Eastern thought connects with the authors' positions with regard to Western philosophy, particularly in the case of Iris Murdoch.
I am also currently working on an essay on E.M. Forster and Buddhism which I have been invited to contribute as a book chapter for a volume entitle Re-membering Hospitality in the Mediterranean, edited by Isabelle Keller-Privat of Toulouse University.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
I will continue to explore the research theme in the work of the authors in question. The abstract has been accepted for the next Asian Studies conference in Bali in October 2021, and I plan to attend this conference subject to travel restrictions being lifted.
I have submitted an abstract for a paper to be given at the online conference of the International Iris Murdoch Society in July 2021, on Iris Murdoch's novel Nuns and Soldiers, which includes a discussion of Buddhistic and Shinto themes.
I have been invited to submit an essay for a publication in India, for which I will, after further discussion with the editor, submit either an article on Ted Hughes and Buddhism or an article on Durrell.
I have also submitted an abstract for a HOTEMS conference in Athens in September which might take place digitally. My paper will be primarily on the phenomenology of space in the hotel novels of Arnold Bennett, but may also have a Buddhistic angle.
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| Causes of Carryover |
During the period April 2020 to March 2021, I have not been able to travel or attend conferences due to the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions. I plan to attend these conferences subject to travel restrictions being lifted.
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