異文化間におけるテクストの受容-「狼と七匹の子やぎ」の読みの比較-  [in Japanese] The Reception of the Text in the Different Societies : The Comparison of Intercultural Readings of The Wolf and Seven Little Kids from Grimm's Fairy Tales  [in Japanese]

The purpose of this study is to examine how the same text, in this case, The Wolf and Seven Little Kids by the Grimm Brothers, could be read and interpreted differently by children and mothers in Japan, Korea and China. Using this texts, a survey was conducted whereby a group of children and mothers were asked to express their impressions about the tale (e.g., their degree of the interest in the story, their impressions about the cruelty and the fear depicted in the story), the contents of tale (e.g., the most desirable character, the most interesting point, and the most fearful point), the opinions about the death of the wolf, and the interpretation of the tale. The results of the survey produced the following findings : 1. With the degree of value consciousness used as a cultural index, which is defined as awareness of moral values here, the more various the degree of value consciousness in a particular society is, the greater the difference is in the way both children and mothers read the text. For example, Japanese society has the most various value consciousness among the three countries mentioned above, and shows the biggest difference between the readings of children and mothers. In contrast, children and mothers in China have more similar value consciousness than the other two countries, therefore the degree of difference of readings in China is the smallest among the three countries. Some societies permit various interpretations depending on age, while other societies have a more common interpretation irrespective of age, thus making it clear that each individual society possesses their own particular framework of interpretation. 2. The fact that the interpretation of the text is affected by the value consciousness illustrates the relationship between the reading and the teaching of virtues such as honesty, reliance, compassion, in each country. On one hand, readers in Japan take strong objection to the death of the wolf and they cherish the mother's love for the children. On the other hand, Readers in Korea and China would agree to the death of wolf, extracting some lessons from the story and they would stress the need to take precautions against other evils or penalties for bad deeds. In addition, children and mothers in Korea emphasize obedience towards the parents and both children and mothers in China interpret this story as a means to express the importance of fostering child's development and independence.