Representation of the Provinces and Provincial Cities in Emile Zola's Novels and the Question of the Character Movement

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K20024
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: 0102:Literature, linguistics, and related fields
• Research Institution: Waseda University
• Principal Investigator: NODA Minori 早稲田大学, 理工学術院, 准教授 (20907092)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-08-30 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: エミール・ゾラ / フランス自然主義文学 / リアリズム / 地方都市 / 移動 / 交通 / 地方

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Focusing on Emile Zola’s novels such as the Rougon-Macquart and Lourdes, first volume of Three Cities series, this study examines the literary representations of the provinces and the regional cities depicted in these works and re-read them in light of materials such as the preparatory notes written by the author prior to writing the works. It examines also the issue of the movement of characters within the spaces depicted in these works.
The results of this study were published in a research paper entitled "Representation of the Railway in Zola's The Human Beast and Lourdes: From the Perspective of Landscape, Movement, and Perception" (Stella, Kyushu University Society for French Language and Literature, Vol. 41). In addition, a co-authored collection of essays related to the similar theme of this research is scheduled to be published in the future.

Free Research Field

ヨーロッパ文学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

鉄道をはじめ、科学技術の飛躍的な進展のあった時代に、文学と科学がどのような関係を切り結びながら作品が生み出されていくかという問題に関して、エミール・ゾラの小説作品を分析対象として、文学と歴史の観点から地方や地方都市の文学的表象に着目しアプローチを試みた本研究の学術的意義は、これまで都市、とりわけパリを中心とする文学表象に重点が置かれる傾向のあった19世紀文学研究において、新たな視点をもたらし得る。また本研究の社会的意義として、科学技術が社会の中で応用されはじめた黎明期の時代における人間と科学、及び人間と空間との関係についても示唆を与える研究である。