| 研 究 |
The concept of English Language Literature today has been marred by the belief that it is something older than it actually is. For the first hundred years after its inclusion as a field worthy of scholarly inquiry, it remained in a linguistic limbo detached from the Classical Studies due to the inability to justify the merit of scholarship. Only after the Great War was any approach to look beyond the value of entertainment formulated. In as much as this was a pubescent reaction to authority, it was all a departure from the linguistic limbo that mired that first century. Yet, in order to find a justification for itself, English Language Literature scholarship began to assume the framework of other modes of inquiry as a scientific guise. The result was a paradoxical split that pitted certain examples of English Language writing against what came to be considered lesser forms of English Language writing: Fiction vs. Literature. The pursuit of the second century of scholarship became a continual struggle with this paradox. In order to be worthy of scholarly pursuit, the writing must attempt to grapple with the question of what it means to be human, and thus demonstrate value beyond being just mere entertainment. As English Language Literature progresses into its third century, it has become incumbent upon scholarship to renegotiate this misguided view. Only by going back to the birth of writing in the English Language to its first antecedents is it actually possible to approach a more responsible discussion that is based within the rules of scientific inquiry. Only in this way is it possible to find a justification for English Language Literature that is not based on the paradox that currently exists. |
教員紹介参照＜参照＞