A New Approach to the American Colonial Period : New Historicism and the Analysis of a Multicultural Society

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

What were the colonial days in the United States of America? They were often considered as a cradle of the modern America. That means the colonial days are the base for the most powerful country of the whole world for the last half century. As for Massachusetts Bay colony, it has been studied from a point of view of the relationship between Puritanism and theocracy.We started from collecting the first-hand material, which we can't access to in Japan, and assessed, from the various points of view. It has led to affirmation of the need to reconsideration of traditional methodology of approach to the colonial period of the U.S. We also discussed and studied so-called 'Salem Witchcraft Trial', and got the conclusion that testimony by the accused were twisted by upper class whose representatives were ministers and judges. The conflict between upper class, and lower class which included most of people who were accused of as witches, reflected on the handling of evidences. But the accused had tried hard to invent a consistent 'story' which would help them survive the trial and eventually it became one of resources of American literature.Modern writers have paid their concern to reexamination of authentic history of America, that is 'canon', and begun to reread the history and concluded that the history should base on ethnicity and multiculturalism. Analyzing their works, we have, to some degree, succeeded in clarifying the process of the birth of American literature.