A Study on the Function and Prospects of Austrian Theory in Central European Cultural Studies

2019 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K02574
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: European literature
• Research Institution: Musashi University
• Principal Investigator: KATSURA Mototsugu 武蔵大学, 人文学部, 教授 (40613401)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Keywords: 中欧 / オーストリア論 / ムージル / カカーニエン / 批判 / 翻訳 / テクスト生成

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The function and relevance of R. Musil's Kakanien concept in Central European studies after the Cold War is studied from three perspectives: (1) a comparison with the Austrian theories by Musil's contemporaries, (2) its relation to the process of producing "The Man Without Qualities", and (3) an analysis of the reception of the concept to date. Unlike the Austrian theories of his contemporaries, which depend on the specific qualities of the country, such as its Germanness and Catholicism, Musil's Kakanien has the critical function of deconstructing the qualities and extracting the elements in the background. This is inherited as a method by non-German Austrian writers who superimpose two different cities as "landscapes as possibilities" and their worldview in which the distinction between the two is unimportant.

Free Research Field

ドイツ文学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

「中欧」や「カカーニエン」といった概念についての研究は、国民国家的枠組みや言語集団的枠組みとは異なり、ヨーロッパの国境・言語横断的な文化的広がりを考察できる点で有効であり、またEU のような経済論理に根差した枠組みとは異なり、経済的に脆弱で発信力の弱い小国の文化的な存在意義を強調できる点に特色がある。なかでも本研究は、中欧文化を「カカーニエン」というキーワードで読み解く妥当性と問題点を探るうえでテクスト生成論や翻訳論といった文学的分析手法を用いる。それにより異なる民族や言語の「間」にある中欧ならではの文化状況をすくいあげることができる点に特徴と学術的意義がある。