2006 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Native American Representation in Herman Melville's Novels
| Project/Area Number |
15520209
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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 |
ヨーロッパ語系文学
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| Research Institution | Fukuoka University |
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Principal Investigator |
OSHIMA Yukiko Fukuoka University, Faculty of Humanities, Professor, 人文学部, 教授 (40168919)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
OGURA Izumi Daito Bunka University, Faculty of Law, Professor, 法学部, 教授 (00185563)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2003 – 2006
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| Keywords | American literature / Herman Melville / Native American representation / the Pequot |
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| Research Abstract |
Yukiko Oshima studied the representation of Native Americans by a 19^<th> century American writer, Herman Melville (1819-1891). While Melville's African representations have been explored by critics since Carolyn Karcher's groundbreaking Shadow over the Promised Land (1980), Native American representation has suffered long neglect, although such representation should be weighed as heavily as the African question for Melville. Oshima has extracted Native American elements from Melville's major novels such as Moby-Dick, Pierre, Israel Potter, and The Confidence Man and show how they extend into "John Marr," his late work.
Oshima along with Izumi Ogura focused on the gap between the Pequot War accounts and historical "facts." Ogura, whose special field is Puritan studies, analyzed how the white settler desire to expand their land made them uphold the idea of "natural right." Ogura analyzed this in a monograph John Cotton and Puritanism and, in details, another full-length analysis of the war. Oshima explored the war from Native American perspectives focusing on the relevant works, such as Moby-Dick whose setting is a whaler named after the tribe and Israel Potter whose protagonist Potter is once compared to a Pequot slave, and concluded Melville had significant knowledge of the tribe. Oshima, through her exploration of Melville's other treatment of Amerindian tribes, concluded that one of the unique characteristics of Melville is his ability to imagine the racial Other: significant characters assume their voices and gestures.
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Research Products
(11 results)
