A Comparative Literary Study on the Nullification of the Self in British Romanticism and Medieval Japanese Literature

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K00462
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 02050:Literature in general-related
• Research Institution: Waseda University (2023); Tsuru University (2021-2022)
• Principal Investigator: Kikuchi Yuki 早稲田大学, 文学学術院, 教授 (70613751)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 自我の無化 / 北村透谷 / カーライル / バイロン / Annihilation of Self / 芭蕉 / 崇高（自然の崇高） / 回心

Outline of Final Research Achievements

First, it was revealed that Kitamura Tokoku drew on the concept and image of the polysemic sublime in Western aesthetics when he connected the orientation towards the nullification of the self in British Romanticism with the orientation towards the nullification of the self in medieval Japanese literature. In addition, the origins of Thomas Carlyle's idea of the 'Annihilation of Self', which had a major influence on Tokoku's thought, became clear, and the significance of Carlyle's thought became apparent from an examination of its relationship with Novalis and Goethe. Furthermore, after reconsidering the meaning of the word 'annihilation', the subject of this study, in relation to accelerationist thought, I re-read Tokoku's dramatic poem “Horai Kyoku”, which depicts both the annihilation of society and the annihiation of the self, from a contemporary perspective, to clarify the possible modernity of Tokoku's orientation towards the nullification of the self.

Free Research Field

比較文学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

北村透谷がイギリス・ロマン主義から受容した「自然の崇高」にまつわる無限性と危機の感覚と、中世日本文芸の精神性、特に芭蕉における「物我一致」の境地とを結びつけようと試みていたことを明らかにできたことは、〈自我の無化〉について国際的・世界的な視座から考究する基点の確保という観点から、一定の学術的な意義があったと考えている。
また、カーライルが主張する「自我の滅却」の思想的な淵源と現代的意味を双方明らかにできたことも、思想史の文脈を踏まえつつ現代思想の知見を援用して〈自我の無化〉という主題にアプローチする道の開拓につながったと考えている。