著者

野中 美賀子

出版者

奈良女子大学大学院人間文化研究科

雑誌

人間文化研究科年報 (ISSN:09132201)

巻号頁・発行日

no.31, pp.1-13, 2015

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In the early 19th century, Westerners such as William Chambers, George Macartney,and Thomas De Quincey encountered the Orient with feelings of surprise, interest, difference,and displeasure. Edward W. Said mentions in Orientalism (1978) that the Orient is the image ofthe other that repeatedly appears in the depth of the mind of the West (1). "Kubla Khan"displays a polarity of images conveying Coleridge's ambiguous feelings toward the Orient.Coleridge uses his theory of polarity in his representations of the Orient. This theory statesthat the oppositions between polar extremes compete with each other, thereby maintaining abalance. This paper argues that representations of the Orient that include opposite images aremostly balanced with precarious elements. These precarious elements express the true natureof Coleridge's ambiguous feelings for the Orient.This paper divides" Kubla Khan" into five parts: the river Alph (lines 1–11 and 25–30),chasm (lines 12–24), pleasure dome (lines 31–36), Abyssinian maid (lines 37–47), and society (lines48–54). It considers how each aspect of the Orient depicted therein exemplifies theprecariousness included in Coleridge's theory of polarity. The Orient was an imaginary worldfor Coleridge, who had not seen it and had only read books or heard talks about it. Thus, it is anon-existential thing or an unknown world that is not easily accepted but cannot be ignoredand evokes various feelings. Therefore, the balance of ambiguous feelings for the OrientinColeridge's mind cannot avoid instability and lacks permanence.