2010 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

Reconsider the Occidental medieval culture and show its contemporary significance-according to the French modern thought

Research Project

Project/Area Number	20520304
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	European literature (English literature excluded)
Research Institution	Hosei University
Principal Investigator	SAKAI Takeshi Hosei University, 文学部, 教授 (70205706)
Project Period (FY)	2008 – 2010
Keywords	フランス現代思想 / 西欧中世文化 / バタイユ / フーコー / ロマネスク芸術 / 武勲詩 / 神秘神学 / 騎士道文化
Research Abstract	According to the French modern thought, especially to the philosophy of Georges Bataille and Michel Foucault, I reconsidered several aspects of the Occidental medieval culture and pointed out their unexplored characteristics. Particularly in the field of Theology, Literature and Iconography, I presented the influences of indescribable affections animating creators and appreciators in the Middle Ages. The contemporary significance of this study consists in two suggestions. It suggests that the modern historical studies should reflect on their positivistic method based exclusively on the literal documents and that, for understanding our contemporary cultures, we should give flexible and patient attention to human dark affections, which are too contradictory and changeable to be seized by the literal expression.