A Study of the Cultural Self-image of the American South in Southern Literature in the Early 1940s

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24520293
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Literature in English
• Research Institution: Kyushu University
• Principal Investigator: Kotani Koji 九州大学, 言語文化研究科(研究院), 教授 (40127824)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: アメリカ文学 / ウィリアム・アレクサンダー・パーシー / ウィリアム・フォークナー / ロバート・ペン・ウォレン / 『護岸の灯火』 / 『村』 / 『ジョン・ブラウン伝』 / 南部文芸復興

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In the present study on the cultural self-image of the American South in Southern literature in the early 1940s, I took up mainly three literary works: William Alexander Percy’s Lanterns on the Levee, William Faulkner’s The Hamlet, and Robert Penn Warren's biography of John Brown. I investigated Percy’s mental attitude to the traditional values of the aristocratic segment of Southern society and pointed out the possibility of detecting Percy’s potential inclination for a liberal view of Southern history, despite his accepted reputation as an apologist of the traditional South. My discussion of Faulkner’s The Hamlet, which is not yet complete enough to be published, centers around Ratliff's way of narration and the cultural discourses spread in 1930s. As for Warrn's biography, I discussed his demystification of Brown and his criticism of Ralph Waldo Emerson and the concept of the higher law, which　lies behind the mythologized figure of Brown.

Free Research Field

アメリカ文学