"Utopia" in Contemporary American Literature

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K12951
• 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: Keio University (2021-2022); University of Tsukuba (2020)
• Principal Investigator: LARSON Michael 慶應義塾大学, 法学部(日吉), 訪問講師 (10840184)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: アメリカ文学 / ユートピア / ディストピア / SF小説 / 冷戦期 / マルクス主義文学理論 / 新歴史主義

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this study was to approach the wave of utopian fiction that appeared in the United States in the second half of the Cold War from a new angle. In particular, the focus was to be on new kinds of bodily states or "affects," which these works depict. However, as a result of complications due to the corona virus and new insights found in the course of research, the focus gradually shifted.
One initial category of investigation was the bodily states created by utopian labor, however, this led to research on the new understandings of community in this wave of utopian fiction. Thus, this research revealed how ideas of community changed over the course of the Cold War on the American political left, and how this impacted ideas of utopia. Moreover, insights into the changing conception of community led to research on new conceptions of the self and attitudes toward totality, or the idea of the world as a comprehensible whole -- all of which were changing during the period.

Free Research Field

アメリカ文学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

簡潔に言えば、日本でアメリカ文学を研究することは、過去 150 年に渡り歴史が絡み合ってきたアジア太平洋における2つの大国間の相互理解の促進に役立つと考えられる。本研究では、ユートピア的なSF小説に焦点を当てることで、アメリカ文化において、重要な影響力のある側面としてのアメリカ大衆文化のより深い理解に役立った。