Natsume Soseki's Reception of Great Britain: Constructing a Theory of Literature

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26370263
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Japanese literature
• Research Institution: National Institute of Japanese Literature
• Principal Investigator: NOAMI Mariko 国文学研究資料館, 研究部, 准教授 (60586668)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): TANIKAWA Keiichi 国文学研究資料館, 研究部, 教授 (10171836) ; KOMORI Yôichi 東京大学, 大学院総合文化研究科, 教授 (80153683)
• Research Collaborator: FLORES Linda オックスフォード大学, Oriental Institute, 准教授 ; DODD Stephen ロンドン大学SOAS, Department of East Asian Languages and Culture, 教授 ; TENEV Darin ソフィア大学, Literary Theory Seminar, 准教授 ; BOURDAGHS Michael シカゴ大学, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, 教授
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 夏目漱石 / 西洋思想 / 文学理論 / 小説 / 東洋文学

Outline of Final Research Achievements

I showed that by studying medieval European literature, culture, and thought, as well as modern European and American thought, Natsume Soseki was able to think in a way unconfined by modern frameworks and create novels as well as literary theories that are fresh even from today's perspective. When I was an academic visitor at University of Cambridge in the 2014 academic year and University of Oxford in the 2016 academic year, I engaged in this research based on texts from the time when Soseki studied abroad.
I actively shared my findings at invited lectures in Great Britain and Europe, by holding international symposiums in and outside Japan, as well as in my monograph How to Read Soseki: Light and Darkness, a novel, and Chinese Books and my articles, including 'Communication with Thought: The Location of Soseki Literature' and 'The Formation of Soseki Literature: From Bokusetsuroku to The Wayfarer'.

Free Research Field

日本近代文学