The Popularity of the Tableau Vivant in the Victorian Age: Historical Facts and Its Representation in Literature

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24720132
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Literature in English
• Research Institution: Kyoritsu Women's University
• Principal Investigator: Urano Kaoru 共立女子大学, 文芸学部, 准教授 (80612746)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 活人画 / 視覚芸術 / ヴィクトリア朝 / 劇場文化 / 芸術における検閲 / 英米小説

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research looks at the Victorian popular entertainment called "the tableau vivant" from two perspectives: historical facts and its representation in literature. In the beginning, the tableau vivant was privately performed by the upper class as a refined amusement, but it gradually gained popularity and came to be practiced by people of other classes. Toward the end of the nineteenth century, the artistic legitimacy of the tableau vivant stirred a welter of controversy. In this we can see the mixture of desire, nostalgia, and hesitation people felt about visual arts while their visual experience underwent an unprecedented change. The representation of the tableau vivant in literature also reflects such historical situations.

Free Research Field

イギリス文化・文学