リディア・M・チャイルド『共和国ロマンス』論 -ゴシック・ロマンス,その皮膚とその血と-

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Abstract This paper describes reading A Romance of the Republic as a Gothic romance, revealing the slavery system as a cruel means of repressing human beings to a level below animals and of sexually exploiting black women. One of the leading members of the abolitionist movement, Lydia Maria Child, wrote this novel in 1869 not only to open the road toward admitting the miscegenation of the times but also to underscore the social value of giving educational and vocational training to black people. Child sets the beautiful octroon sisters, being as very light-skinned as white women and gifted in music and art, as the heroines of this narrative. Brought up in a secluded mansion in the suburbs of New Orleans, the sudden realization that they had become slaves on the death of their father befalls them. The narrative begins with their struggle to escape from the bonds of slavery to gain their freedom. The stark realism of the story works to subdue the high spirit of Child's ideal for the Republic. Yet the narrative illuminates for us the superb gothic literary entertainment of escape and pursuit, white-skinned black beauties pitted against a white villain, their encounter as an opera singer and as an audience member, and the exchange of black and white babies, all set in such international cities as Boston, New York and Rome.
2011-04-01