Harriet Beecher Stowe and Antislavery Literature

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 24520312
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Literature in English
• Research Institution: Tsuda College
• Principal Investigator: NOGUCHI Keiko 津田塾大学, 学芸学部, 教授 (60180717)
• Project Period (FY): 2012-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: ハリエット・ビーチャー・ストー / アメリカン・ルネッサンス / 反奴隷制文学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this project is to explore the possibility that antislavery literature in mid-nineteenth-century America has formed a literary genre, by examining various antislavery texts published in that era. Considering the great impact of Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin," this study focuses on the novel and its influence on other stories and documents. As a result of this study, it has becomes evident that the antislavery literature can be a new important genre of American literature which includes far more works than expected, going beyond racial, gender, and class differences, and many works that have been neglected. The perspective of this study, antislavery literature, provides us with a possibility to revise the literary canon of what we call American Renaissance which has been traditionally predominated by male white authors since F. O. Matthiessen's classical book, "American Renaissance," was published in 1941.

Free Research Field

ルネッサンス期アメリカ文学