表題番号：2013B-041 日付：2014/04/09
研究課題The aesthetic resonance of sino-japanese characters in German Literature and Philosophy
研究者所属（当時） 資格 氏名
（代表者） 文学学術院 教授 クラヴィッター　アルネ
研究成果概要
The aim of the project was to investigate the role of sino-japanese characters in the German history of ideas and literature over the last four centuries by analyzing the notion German scholars had of the ideographic nature of sino-japanese characters and how this notion is manifest in literature. The main questions of my research were: how did sino-japanese written characters inspire German intellectuals and poets throughout the last four centuries? How did they perceive those characters, which, in most cases, they were not able to read or understand? How can the aesthetical dimension of the written characters as seen by poets, artists and academic researchers be described and analyzed? How can Chinese written characters serve as a medium for poetry? So far intercultural literary research has been concentrated on the transfer of literary motives and ideas and on the circulation of knowledge. In contrast to this, I focused on the effects of unreadability, which is caused by the concept of cultural Otherness. In this respect, I analyzed the resonances of foreign sounds, graphical elements of ‘written characters’ in German literature, and the resonances of aesthetical concepts imported from East Asia. In my research, I draw on post-structuralist theoretical thinking and methods of comparative aesthetics recently brought forth by the French sinologist and philosopher François Jullien. I will made use of Stephen Greenblatt’s concept of ‘resonance’ as circulating social energy in order to develop the notion of resonance.
Along with new insights into the historical role of sino-japanese characters in German philosophy and literature (for example concerning Murr's proposal to use Chinese characters as a universal language), I elaborated upon a theory of resonance which renders it possible to describe aesthetic effects of written characters beyond signification. The results of my research have been published in several articles in peer-reviewed academic journals in Germany.