American Literature through Islands: Rethinking Rhetoric of American Isolationism

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26370324
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Literature in English
• Research Institution: Wayo Women's University
• Principal Investigator: Sakuma Mikayo 和洋女子大学, 人文社会科学系, 教授 (00327181)
• Research Collaborator: Hall David D. ; Kevorkian Martin ; O'neille Bonnie Kerr
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: アメリカン・ルネサンス / 孤立主義 / 島嶼 / メルヴィル / エマソン / ソロー / トランセンデンタリスト

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Nineteenth-century America marked its expansionism which is manifested in its westward movement. Moreover, the islands in the Pacific Ocean attracted attention in terms of territorial interest outside of the American continent. A plethora of news and reports on the islands in the mid-nineteenth century revealed the tendency toward expansion among American journalists. The nineteenth-century American authors, however, had doubt about American expansionism. My study inquired into the origin of anti-expansionism among American authors such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau and Herman Melville. My research on the tension between such authors and journalism suggests that traditional American isolationism could affect American authors and led their mindset to seek true isolationism and anti-expansionism.

Free Research Field

アメリカ文学・文化