DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln

Title

Japanese Branch Report 2004

Authors

Keiji Yata

Date of this Version

2005

Document Type

Article

Citation

The George Eliot Review 36 (2005)

Comments

Published by The George Eliot Review Online https://GeorgeEliotReview.org

Abstract

On Saturday, 27 November 2004, the eighth annual convention of the George Eliot Fellowship of Japan was held at Literature Hall in Kobe College (Kobe Jogakuin).

The morning session began with an opening address by Kazuo Fujikawa (Okayama University), followed by a welcome address by Masako Hirai (Kobe College). In the morning, we had three papers. The first two papers were introduced and commented upon by Toshie Maeda (Kansai University), while Hiroshi Oshima (Hyogo University of Teacher Education) introduced and commented upon the third.

Nana Yano (Shirayuri College) read the first paper, 'Hetty and Water Imagery in Adam Bede'. Her paper analysed the functions of water imagery in the novel, particularly in connection with Hetty. Ms. Yano argued that images like tears, the pond and the sea represent Hetty's feelings in some crucial scenes, while also symbolising the dream world she inhabits.

The second paper was 'A Stylistic Analysis of Middlemarch: Effects of "Empathy" and Two Levels of Polyphony' by Masayuki Teranishi (Takamatsu National College of Technology). This paper offered a stylistic analysis of the characterisation of Dorothea Brooke and Mr. Brooke in Middlemarch. Dr Teranishi explained how surface level polyphony can be distinguished from deep level polyphony, and concllided that this distinction is essential to any polyphonic approach to Middlemarch.

The third speaker, Chieko Watanabe (Aoyama Gakuin University) read a paper titled 'The Secret of Success in Adam Bede: Its Structural Relation to Goethe's Die Wahlverwandtschaften (Elictive Affinities)'. This paper emphasised that, before George Eliot began writing novels, she had studied Goethe's novel in detail. By comparing the structure of Adam Bede with that of the German novel, Dr Watanabe pointed out the parallels between the two texts, and concluded that Eliot had established the structure of Adam Bede under the influence of the narrative method of Die Wahlverwandtschaften.

The afternoon session began with a welcome speech by Professor Sonoko Harada, the President of Kobe College, which is one of the oldest women's universities in Japan. The General Meeting of the Fellowship, presided over by Professor 'Fujikawa, followed. The meeting's agenda included financial reports, publications of the Fellowship, and the future use of the Internet to promote the activities of the Fellowship, among other items, and they were explained by Kimitaka Hara (Nihon University). Shizuko Kawamoto (Tsuda College), the President of the George Eliot Fellowship of Japan, read a message from the Secretary of the Fellowship in UK to the Japanese members, who were greatly impressed by the enormous contribution by the Secretary to the George Eliot readership all over the world.