The Temporality of Social Criticism: Nostalgia and Its Paradox in Dystopian Fiction and Science Fiction

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K13119
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 02030:English literature and literature in the English language-related
• Research Institution: Kobe University (2023); Rikkyo University (2019-2022)
• Principal Investigator: Nakamura Asami 神戸大学, 国際文化学研究科, 講師 (80827709)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: サイエンス・フィクション / スペキュラティブ・フィクション / ノスタルジア / 記憶 / ジェンダー / セクシュアリティ / ユートピア / ディストピア

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research focused on nostalgia and its political dimension in Anglophone dystopian literature and/or SF (science/speculative fiction), particularly through the lens of gender and sexuality. The term nostalgia, a Greek compound of nostos, returning home, and algos, pain, signifies a wistful longing for home, or by extension, a particular era in the past. In dystopian fiction and SF, which depicts the individual as an effect of social systems rather than an autonomous and independent being, nostalgia is not merely a private emotion but rife with political meanings. By focusing on diverse subjectivities of nostalgia, this project shed light on two aspects of nostalgia in dystopian fiction and SF: first, nostalgia as a means of reparative reimagining by minoritarian subjects, and secondly, as an affect that reinforces the restoration of traditional gender roles and the return to fantasies of unspoiled nature, which is often mobilized by those who are in power.

Free Research Field

英語圏文学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

ノスタルジアとは自身が「ホーム」と名指す場所、ひいては過去を切望する情動を示す。ここで、ディストピア文学が「ユートピア的」とされる所以の一つに、多くの作品において、過去を切望し理想化するノスタルジアが、非理想的な未来への不安と対置されていることが挙げられる。「いま・ここ」を拒否、あるいは迂回するノスタルジアに注目することで、社会批判のレトリックを多角的に読解する術を提示することができたと考える。