Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
open access
This thesis focuses on an under-researched element of Seamus Heaney's oeuvre, namely his four poetry anthologies. Adopting a 'bottom-up' approach, it analyses the anthologies themselves, combining...Show moreThis thesis focuses on an under-researched element of Seamus Heaney's oeuvre, namely his four poetry anthologies. Adopting a 'bottom-up' approach, it analyses the anthologies themselves, combining narratological and paratextual analysis with the close-reading of poetry in order to do so. Following this, it moves to consider their possible significance within different contexts related to Heaney's work more generally.Show less
Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
closed access
This research aims to explore the reciprocal relationship between the arch-texts of Sophocles’ Antigone and Euripides’ Medea and late 20th century adaptations of them by four Irish poets and...Show moreThis research aims to explore the reciprocal relationship between the arch-texts of Sophocles’ Antigone and Euripides’ Medea and late 20th century adaptations of them by four Irish poets and playwrights. Based on a textual analysis of the original texts and adapted versions, I intend to disclose how the Irish adaptors borrow and rework the characters of Antigone and Medea and their well-known tragic stories in order to provide a critique upon tangible Irish socio-political issues. However, by adopting Antigone and Medea, the Irish authors do not merely use the two heroines as instruments for the satisfaction of their authorial aspirations, but they also provide answers to questions regarding the status and understanding of the two rebellious women that remain obscure in the originals. The research will be situated within Classical Reception Studies, a rather new field of research, which – unlike conventional Classics – focuses on the bidirectional process of adaptation arguing that by revisiting a canonical text, the pre-text is a changing object too. It will do so by using theories of reception of the Classics by Charles Martindale, Tim Whitmarsh, and Astrid Van Weyenberg. By doing so, I propose a contemporary understanding of the figures of Antigone and Medea, which liberates them from the moral ambiguity of their transgressive deeds, and instead, considers them as two heroines of Justice.Show less
