アフリカ系アメリカ人作家 James Baldwin (1924-87) は、1950 年代以降、作家、エッセイスト、公民権運動家、人種問題やアメリカ社会を論じる辛辣なコメンテーターとして活躍した。ブラック・ライヴズ・マター運動以降、再評価の機運が高まっている文学者である。
そのボールドウィンの全小説を包括的に紹介する単著研究書執筆を中心とする本研究は、今日的視座からのボールドウィンの再評価と、アメリカにおける人種観の変遷――特にはアカデミアにおけるアフリカン・アメリカン・スタディーズの制度化と洗練の経緯――を統合的に概括していくことを目的とする。
今年度は、二側面において本研究を推進した。基礎研究にあたる伝記的背景の整理と、後期作品の読み直しである。前者については、その一部を日吉紀要『英語英米文学』掲載の論文にまとめた。文献を広範に読んで伝記的背景をまとめることで、ボールドウィンと公民権運動の指導者たちや、後続のブラック・パワー運動を主導したアフリカ系アメリカ人の若い世代との間にある葛藤、ボールドウィンの後期の交友関係や大学とのつながりといった、本研究における重要な基礎事項を確認することができた。
後者については、オンライン開催された米国アメリカ学会の年次大会での口頭発表において経過報告を行った。最後の長編小説 Just Above My Head (1979) において認められる、父権的な異性愛家族規範に強くしばられる傾向にあるアフリカ系アメリカ人家族のイデオロギーとは異なった、必ずしも血縁関係に限定されないゆるやかで流動的な家族関係、あるいは前期作品群に現れる緊張感に満ちたものとは異なった親密な親子関係の模索を、アフリカ系アメリカ人の音楽伝統とからめて考察した。パネルの参加者そしてコメンテーターから特にアフリカ系アメリカ人の音楽伝統を考えるヒントをもらうという大きな成果があった。
In 1950-60s U. S., the African American writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin (1924-87) was widely recognized as one of the eminent social and cultural commentators. His reputation dwindled in the late 1960s when a younger, more militant generation of African American activists emerged, who then attacked Baldwin for his homosexuality. However, in the 2010s, with the rising awareness of the LGBTQ and Black Lives Matter movements, we are witnessing a Baldwin revival.
Indeed, the inaugural volume of James Baldwin Review launched in 2015 opens with an essay entitled "Baltimore is Still Burning: The Rising Relevance of James Baldwin" by its co-editors. Evoking the fierce urgency of now with its inflammatory title, the essay calls our attention to the relevance of Baldwin to this day. Indeed, numerous essays and articles, as well as Raoul Peck's film I Am Not Your Negro (2016), have illustrated what Baldwin had to say about society in the US during the Civil Rights era, and in its wake, has not lost its edge over the passage of time but rings even truer today, especially so in this past decade.
This project reevaluates Baldwin's whole career as well as every novel he published from today's perspective. The project also pays attention to the way "race" has been conceptualized in accordance with the institutionalization of African American studies programs in U. S. academia, with which Baldwin had deep yet somewhat vexed relationship.
In academic year 2021, the project made progress in two aspects: a comprehensive review of his biographies and a study focusing on his last novel, Just Above My Head (1979). As for the former, I have published a part of my research in The Keio University Hiyoshi Review of English Studies. Building on several biographical studies on Baldwin, I have focused on his relationship to Civil Rights leaders and their successors, revealing how he was often alienated in African American communities because of his homosexuality. I have also paid attention to Baldwin's activities at college campuses in his later stage of life.
I read a paper on Just Above My Head at the Annual Meeting of the American Studies Association. The paper examines the novel in its exploration of family relations and the role of music both in forming the family ties and (re-)constructing individuals' identities. The comments I received during the session were helpful in revising my paper.