Japanese Branch Report- 2010

On Saturday 4 December 2010, the Fourteenth Annual Convention of the George Eliot Fellowship of Japan was held at Okayama University. The morning session began with an opening remark by Hiroshi Oshima (Hyogo University of Teacher Education), followed by a Welcome Address by Shintetsu Fukunaga (Okayama University). In the morning, we had three papers presented. The first two papers were introduced and commented upon by Shota Nakajima (Tokushima Bunri University), and the third by Mizue Aida (Nihon University). The first paper was \u27The Seductive Power of Eyes - Re-examining Maggie Tulliver in The Mill on the Floss\u27 by Eri Yoshimura (Kobe Jogakuin College). The purpose of her presentation was to re-examine Maggie through the description of her eyes and her exchange of looks with Philip and Stephen. Her eyes falling on Philip represented a sense of pity for him, and when she looked down on his deformed figure, her look seemed even to suggest her superiority to him. As for Stephen, she tempted him with her attractive eyes, and the memory of them tortures him even after her death. Maggie could be defined as a heroine whose eyes never lose their power to attract. The second paper was \u27A point of View and Unreality in The Lifted Veil\u27 by Kazue Hayase (Bukkyo University). She pointed out that, as this work is a first-person narrative, the readers had the same point of view as the protagonist and were under the false impression that unreality is reality. The first-person narrative in this story enables Eliot to offer the deep psychological and philosophical description which makes this story particularly remarkable. Therefore, \u27The Lifted Veil\u27, though a short novel, had a great influence upon her later works. The third paper was \u27Reading The Mill on the Floss from E. M. Forster\u27s Artistic Point of View\u27 by Chiyuki Kanamaru (Aichi Bunkyo University). She remarked first that, according to E. M. Forster, fiction is truer than history because it goes beyond the evidence. As for George Eliot, Forster considers her personal commitment in The Mill on the Floss. Kanamaru says that the reading of The Mill on the Floss from his artistic point of views leads us to find\u27 something beyond the evidence\u27 in Maggie\u27s death. In the end Maggie and Tom achieved a full reconciliation with each another. This denouement shows, Professor Kanamaru concludes, that Eliot accepted the love of God associated with human compassion in spite of the doubt she cast on Christianity