An analytical comparison of foxes within European and Japanese beast tales
department or school: Creative and Critical Studies, Faculty of (Okanagan)
data provider: DSpace
degree campus: UBCO
creator: Boss, Aaron
issued: 2020-10-15T18:06:08Z
issued: 2020
related degree: Master of Arts - MA
degree grantor: University of British Columbia
description: The use of foxes as a trickster figure is a common motif in cultures around the world, with two prominent manifestations being Reynard the Fox – the villainous protagonist of the Reynard Cycle from medieval and Early Modern Europe, and the kitsune – multiple-tailed supernatural foxes from Japanese folklore, literature, and mythology. 19th and early-to-mid 20th century scholarship utilized dated methodologies of formalism and structuralism, leading to comparisons of superficial similarities and speculations of a common origin. This thesis offers an analysis of both the Reynard Cycle and Japanese kitsune narratives utilizing methodologies drawn from both anthrozoology and cultural-historical analysis. I argue that the character of Reynard did not so much shape medieval European attitudes on foxes as he was shaped by pre-existing prejudices refracted through contemporary political concerns. In contrast, the kitsune of Japan encompass both secular and spiritual narratives, with their roles ranging from serving as moralistic – if sexist – warnings about women who did not conform to their social norms, to servants of Inari – the deity of commerce and agriculture, to the stars of tragic romances and vengeful plots to sow destruction and chaos. The thesis concludes by evaluating the two methodologies in relation to the two corpora.
aggregated CHO: https://circle.library.ubc.ca/rest/handle/2429/76288
note: AN ANALYTICAL COMPARISON OF FOXES WITHIN EUROPEAN AND JAPANESE BEAST TALES by Aaron Boss B.A., The University of British Columbia, 2020 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies (IGS) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Okanagan) October 2020 © Aaron Boss, 2020 ii The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the College of Graduate Studies for acceptance, a thesis/dissertation entitled: An Analytical Comparison of Foxes Within European and Japanese Beast Tales submitted by Aaron Boss in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts . Dr. Greg Garrard – Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies Supervisor Dr. Michael Treschow – Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies Supervisory Committee Member Nina Langton – Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies Supervisory Committee Member Dr. Mo Pareles – Department of English Language and Literatures University Examiner iii Abstract The use of foxes as a trickster figure is a common motif in cultures around the world, with two prominent manifestations being Reynard the Fox – the villainous protagonist of the Reynard Cycle from medieval and Early Modern Europe, and the kitsune – multiple-tailed supernatural foxes from Japanese folklore, literature, and mythology. 19th and early-to-mid 20th century scholarship utilized dated methodologies of formalism and structuralism, leading to comparisons of superficial similarities and speculations of a common origin. This thesis offers an analysis of both the Reynard Cycle and Japanese kitsune narratives utilizing methodologies drawn from both anthrozoology and cultural-historical analysis. I argue that the character of Reynard did not so much shape medieval European attitudes on foxes as he was shaped by pre-existing prejudices refracted through contemporary political concerns. In contrast, the kitsune of Japan enc…
has type: Thesis/Dissertation
date issued: 2020-11
is shown at: 10.14288/1.0394744
language: eng
degree discipline: Interdisciplinary Studies
provider: Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
publisher: University of British Columbia
rights: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
rights URI: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
scholar level: Graduate
type: Text
identifier URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/76288