2013 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

The Development of Unionism and the Formation of Early-Modernist Narrative in British Fiction

Research Project

Project/Area Number	23520347
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Section	一般
Research Field	Literature in English
Research Institution	Kwansei Gakuin University
Principal Investigator	ITO Masanori 関西学院大学, 商学部, 教授 (10322976)
Project Period (FY)	2011 – 2013
Keywords	イギリス文学 / 労働運動 / 初期モダニズム / 群衆
Research Abstract	This project, dealing mainly with fictional works by Joseph Conrad and H. G. Wells, investigated how the development of late nineteenth-century trade unionism and labour movements influenced the formation of early-modernist narrative. By focusing on the relationship between the rise in labourers' "voices," observed in the popular media, and the specific features of contemporary fictional narrative, this research demonstrated how the unique aestheticism of early-modernist literature arises in response to the multiplication of speeches within the class society after a series of successful labour campaigns. Furthermore, it was discovered that the fictional role of crowds expands as the social influence of labourers as a mass increases in the age of unionism.

(6 results)