Leiden University Student Repository

O'Leary, Sarah (2020)

Neglected Wounds and Fantastical Bodies in Jan Carson's The Fire Starters and Nnedi Okorafor's Who Fears Death

Master thesis | Literary Studies (MA)

In this thesis I apply trauma theory to the reading of Jan Carson's magical realist novel, The Fire Starters and Nnedi Okorafor's speculative fiction novel, Who Fears Death. My application of trauma theory focuses in particular on the fantastical bodies of the characters that feature in these two novels. I posit that in spite of their many differences, there is common ground to be found between the two novels through their shared exploration of the neglected traumatic wound as embodied by the fantastical body. I argue that both Carson and Okorafor utilise the fantastical body to disrupt dominant narratives that sublimate the traumatic wound and, furthermore, that it is through these fantastical bodies that the traumatic wound may be properly assimilated and thus allow for hopeful change. The structure of the following thesis is thus centred around the idea that these fantastical bodies may be interpreted as embodying both traumatic wound and, a hopeful change, with each chapter...Show moreIn this thesis I apply trauma theory to the reading of Jan Carson's magical realist novel, The Fire Starters and Nnedi Okorafor's speculative fiction novel, Who Fears Death. My application of trauma theory focuses in particular on the fantastical bodies of the characters that feature in these two novels. I posit that in spite of their many differences, there is common ground to be found between the two novels through their shared exploration of the neglected traumatic wound as embodied by the fantastical body. I argue that both Carson and Okorafor utilise the fantastical body to disrupt dominant narratives that sublimate the traumatic wound and, furthermore, that it is through these fantastical bodies that the traumatic wound may be properly assimilated and thus allow for hopeful change. The structure of the following thesis is thus centred around the idea that these fantastical bodies may be interpreted as embodying both traumatic wound and, a hopeful change, with each chapter containing a section on body as wound and body as change.Show less

Trauma

Speculative Fiction

Magical Realism

Northern Irish

Nigerian American

Fantastical Body

Body as Wound

neglected histories

Nnedi Okorafor

Jan Carson

Author

O'Leary, Sarah

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Specialisation

Literature in Society

Supervisors

Kardux, Joke

ECTS Credits

20

Language

en