Transformation in Discursive Form of Detective Fiction and the Logic of Consumption Society
| Project/Area Number |
18530370
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Sociology
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| Research Institution | The University of Tokyo |
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Principal Investigator |
UCHIDA Ryuzo The University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Professor (80160282)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2006 – 2007
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| Project Status |
Completed (Fiscal Year 2007)
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| Budget Amount *help |
¥3,930,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000)
Fiscal Year 2007: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000)
Fiscal Year 2006: ¥2,500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,500,000)
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| Keywords | sociology / culture / social consciousness / detective fiction / consumption society / city / crowd / discourse / 文化・社会意識 |
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| Research Abstract |
In my research, at first, I clarified that the birth of the discourse called the detective fiction was fundamentally mediated by the transformation in the social order, especially the appearance of sensational consumer culture and massive crowd in the big city, and described the historical process of coming into being of the detective fiction. Second, I analyzed the elemental structure of the text of detective fiction and discovered the system of "duality," which is defined as both a structural similarity and a little difference between the two persons, detective and criminal (murderer). I constructed the structure of "duality" as a conceptual tool for analyzing the text of detective fiction. The system of "duality' acts an important part for establishing bath similarity and asymmetry between detective and criminal, and functions as the most basic element for constructing the text of detective fiction.
Viewing the history of detective fiction from this perspective, we find the two impor
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tant turning points. The fast turning point coincides with the period of 1920's〜30's, when the formalization of detective fiction was in keen demand by the famous writers. The second began with the period of 1980's, when some works on the theme of the criminal insane had success in gaining great popularity. The first period was the times of coming into being of the high-mass-consumption society, where the consciousness of modern subject was pursued by uneasiness about self-identity. Though the uneasiness brought the formalization of detective fiction, its emptiness could be supplied with nothing but the humanitarian type of discourses focusing on understanding the motive, as was seen in "A Study in Scarlet" created by Conan Doyle. In the second period there was little supplying with the humanitarian discourses, because the positivity and validity of these discourses was destroyed. Instead of the absence of these discourses, a new type of discourses focusing on microscopic process in the scientific crime detection, of which purpose is to identify the criminal as abnormal monster, came to be produced.
In this way, it is the essential contribution of my research that I explained the history of detective fiction according to the correlation of the structural transformation in the text with the logic of consumption society and offered an original genealogical perspective that had never seen in the study or interpretation of detective fiction in the past. Less
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Report
(3 results)
Research Products
(3 results)
