著者

越智 敏之

出版者

英米文化学会

雑誌

英米文化 (ISSN:09173536)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.43, pp.87-107, 2013-03-31 (Released:2017-06-20)

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'Gentrification' is a process in which a working-class or a vacant area of a city center transforms into middle-class residential or commercial district. The middle-class people who have migrated to those areas are called 'gentrifiers'. In the 80s, because it came to be widely understood that this process contributed to the rise in rents and the displacement of low-income residents, the resistance against 'gentrification' grew in intensity. East Village, the setting of Rent, was very famous for this resistance. There is, however, interesting difference between the resistance in Rent and that of East Village. Jonathan Larson, the author, does not depict, as a main character, local people in this musical, who were, of course, leading players in the actual resistance. The participants in his version of the resistance were only so called 'pioneer gentriflers'. At the early stage of 'gentrification', 'pioneer gentrifiers' move into deteriorated areas. The influx of these people makes socially, culturally mixed and exciting communities. At the same time, though, it can cause the upward pressure on rents, and then, full-scale gentrification begins, which, in turn, displaces not only local people but also lower income 'pioneer gentrifiers'. In this thesis, I will consider what the author really wants to represent in this musical. He does not try to depict the resistance against the East Village gentrification itself. What he wants to depict is his ideal version of gentrification, which would make communities more energetic and exciting.

著者

越智 敏之

出版者

英米文化学会

雑誌

英米文化 (ISSN:09173536)

巻号頁・発行日

no.41, pp.51-63, 2011-03-31

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Not only called 'fish' by other characters such as Trinculo and Stephano, but also, by the magic of Ariel, soaked into pickle-like filthy water as if he were salted fish under the curing process, Caliban is metaphorically described as fish. Abstinence lay at the core of Christianity, and fish was a preferred food for fast days, or 'fish days' in Christendom. In the thirteenth century, on more than half the days of the year, Christians ate fish for religious reasons. Then why could fish possibly be used as a metaphor to describe this monstrous slave in the New World? The nature of fish days began to change after the Reformation in England which had adopted Protestantism. Catholic doctrines, including dietary teachings, came to be no longer strictly followed, but ironically the government had to enforce the observance of fish days for nonreligious reasons; they needed to encourage the fishing industry in order to feed people, especially the increasing urban poor, and to stimulate the building of ships as a safeguard against possible Spanish attacks. And salted fish, which came to be supplied increasingly from the New World fishing banks, became vital staples not only for the poor but for soldiers and sailors in the days of religious wars and exploding international commerce. Although, with people more and more disregarding the old rules of the Church, salted fish, the metaphor for Caliban, was not a favored food, it supported the social and economic system of England and helped its expansion into the New World.

著者

越智 敏之

出版者

英米文化学会

雑誌

英米文化 (ISSN:09173536)

巻号頁・発行日

no.43, pp.87-107, 2013-03-31

---

'Gentrification' is a process in which a working-class or a vacant area of a city center transforms into middle-class residential or commercial district. The middle-class people who have migrated to those areas are called 'gentrifiers'. In the 80s, because it came to be widely understood that this process contributed to the rise in rents and the displacement of low-income residents, the resistance against 'gentrification' grew in intensity. East Village, the setting of Rent, was very famous for this resistance. There is, however, interesting difference between the resistance in Rent and that of East Village. Jonathan Larson, the author, does not depict, as a main character, local people in this musical, who were, of course, leading players in the actual resistance. The participants in his version of the resistance were only so called 'pioneer gentriflers'. At the early stage of 'gentrification', 'pioneer gentrifiers' move into deteriorated areas. The influx of these people makes socially, culturally mixed and exciting communities. At the same time, though, it can cause the upward pressure on rents, and then, full-scale gentrification begins, which, in turn, displaces not only local people but also lower income 'pioneer gentrifiers'. In this thesis, I will consider what the author really wants to represent in this musical. He does not try to depict the resistance against the East Village gentrification itself. What he wants to depict is his ideal version of gentrification, which would make communities more energetic and exciting.

著者

越智 敏之

出版者

英米文化学会

雑誌

英米文化 (ISSN:09173536)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.29, pp.59-72, 1999-03-31 (Released:2017-06-20)

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Medical theories during Elizabethan period were based upon the medieval physiological concept of four humors. It was then believed that the macrocosm as well as the microcosm was fundamentally composed of the four elements - air, fire, water, and earth, while the microcosm (human body) had four humors - blood, yellow bile, phlegm, and black bile, each being thought to correspond with each of the four elements: for example, blood corresponds with air. Diseases were thought to be the result of the imbalance of these four humors. The humor doctrine was dominant not only in medical theories, but in the field of culinary art. Every foodstuff, as it is a part of the macrocosm, was also believed to be composed of the same four elements, each of which, when ingested, turn to each of the four humors. Consequently, it was understood that, if a body is short of blood, a foodstuff full of air such as milk should be taken. This tells us that the Elizabethans believed the microcosm could be a part of the macrocosm through the act of eating - you are what you eat. In Macbeth there are so many metaphors expressing inability to eat, and in the 'Banquet Scene' all the guests cannot eat because they are hosted by the mad king. To my thinking, when Macbeth shouts, "let the frame of things disjoint, both the worlds suffer," Shakespear dramatized the total collapse of the two cosmos that was in one through the act of ingestion.