This thesis will reveal that The Road contains many literary techniques, motifs and themes that can be traced back specifically to Romantic texts in the apocalyptic tradition, as well as...Show moreThis thesis will reveal that The Road contains many literary techniques, motifs and themes that can be traced back specifically to Romantic texts in the apocalyptic tradition, as well as philosophical ideas concerning human ethics that were developed within Romantic and later science fiction literature, initially in response to Kantian ethics. These specific themes and ideas will serve as the framework of reference for this research, to be introduced and placed in context in the following subsections.Show less
This thesis describes Lady Hester Pulter’s (1605-1678) poetry, and, in particular, focuses on religious and royalist components in her work. Pulter lived for most of her life in Cottered,...Show moreThis thesis describes Lady Hester Pulter’s (1605-1678) poetry, and, in particular, focuses on religious and royalist components in her work. Pulter lived for most of her life in Cottered, Hertfordshire, where she wrote a prose romance and a collection of poetry. Her work has survived in one manuscript (MS Lt q 32) that was discovered in the University of Leeds’ Brotherton Library in 1996. Pulter wrote her poetry during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and the ensuing period of the Commonwealth and the Protectorate. She openly expressed her support of the king and the royalist cause in her poems. For Pulter, Charles I was unquestionably the country´s and the church´s leader. The political aspect, though, is also present in the less obviously political poetry. References to politics crop up through the whole collection. Royalism was an integral part of her life and an inseparable part of her language. In fact, the political component forms an important characteristic of her work.Show less
C.S. Lewis is often criticized for being misogynist. In this thesis, I analyse the Chronicles of Narnia using the theory of Theological Feminism to point out that Lewis is not, in fact, misogynist,...Show moreC.S. Lewis is often criticized for being misogynist. In this thesis, I analyse the Chronicles of Narnia using the theory of Theological Feminism to point out that Lewis is not, in fact, misogynist, but in some ways even progressive in the way he portrays gender in the Chronicles. In order to contextualise and the novel better, I also analyse The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien and The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge using the same parameters. This study proves that none of these authors are anti-feminist or misogynistic while simultaneously pointing out which remarks and/or situations from the books do stem from Victorian ideology which the authors adhered to.Show less
This thesis explores to what extent Austen's Juvenilia and her adult novels "Northanger Abbey", "Sense and Sensibility" and "Pride and Prejudice" were shaped by her reading and understanding of the...Show moreThis thesis explores to what extent Austen's Juvenilia and her adult novels "Northanger Abbey", "Sense and Sensibility" and "Pride and Prejudice" were shaped by her reading and understanding of the Gothic tradition.Show less
Articulating child consciousness poses authors with a double bind. Can children’s language be applied by adult authors to grasp the consciousness of a child? And can an adult still grasp and...Show moreArticulating child consciousness poses authors with a double bind. Can children’s language be applied by adult authors to grasp the consciousness of a child? And can an adult still grasp and emulate a consciousness that he himself has evolved beyond? This thesis analyses whether the portrayal of child consciousness in a selection of English Modernist fictional works is successful.Show less
This thesis examines how a memorial’s narration, stakeholders, and assigned purposes have led to the creation of the National September 11 Memorial. This thesis argues that the stakeholders, the...Show moreThis thesis examines how a memorial’s narration, stakeholders, and assigned purposes have led to the creation of the National September 11 Memorial. This thesis argues that the stakeholders, the creators (the LDMC and the designers), financers, family advocacy groups, and politicians, have constructed a complex memorial that not only serves a cathartic or political purpose, but that also raises questions about the current state of memorialization, its purpose and urgency, in modern American society. By defining the National 9/11 Memorial as a cathartic memorial, a narrative of healing has been created. At the same time, a narrative of victimization has been assigned to the memorial. This victimization offers political capital to the American political apparatus, but also proves to be problematic for certain family advocacy groups of firefighters and policemen who perished in the attacks; these family members desire a heroic memorial to remember their loved ones. These conflicting narratives raise questions about how the memorial will be used and interpreted in the future.Show less
Throughout the years, young adult dystopian fiction has become a well-known and widely-read genre. Simultaneously, the division of the world into typically masculine or feminine matters has changed...Show moreThroughout the years, young adult dystopian fiction has become a well-known and widely-read genre. Simultaneously, the division of the world into typically masculine or feminine matters has changed as well. This same idea applies to literary genres. Science fiction has been dominated by male characters and writers throughout the years, for instance in books such as Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World and George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, or in television series like Star Trek and Babylon 5. Nevertheless, the more contemporary young adult dystopian novels, as a subgenre of science fiction, have seen an emergence of other heroic protagonists, namely girls. These girls, such as Katniss Everdeen in Suzanne Collin’s Hunger Games, are suddenly able to exert agency in a genre that initially mainly had male protagonists, and in which female characters were merely supporting those real heroes. In fact, the modern female protagonists use their gendered traits to drastically change the society they live in. While these capacities were usually not given to young women in dominant patriarchal societies, nowadays it has been made possible by the increasing presence of conventions of the romance genre in science fiction, and its subgenre, dystopian fiction. The combination of the conventions of both genres results in a change of subject matter of dystopian fiction, but also a change in the intended audience. This is because both genres have a different focus as well, as the focus of science fiction is scientific and technical developments and societal problems, whereas the focus of romance fiction is romantic behaviour, emotions, and relationships. The increasing popularity of contemporary young adult dystopian fiction shows that adolescents are ready for a change. My thesis will analyse the portrayal of female characters in a popular Young Adult dystopian fiction series, namely Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games (2008-2010), and it will examine how the genres of science fiction and romance have merged together, and what the consequences have been. To ensure a thorough analysis that is supported by relevant and substantiating theories, the thesis is divided into two parts. The first part contains thorough analyses of the romance genre, the science fiction genre, and the latter’s subgenre dystopian fiction. The focus is on these genres, for the reason that the text in question, The Hunger Games, fuses these genres, and one of the objectives of this thesis is to place Young Adult dystopian fiction between the two seemingly conflicting genres, in order to show that these two genres have combined their characteristics. By examining these genres individually, I shall eventually demonstrate to what extent these genres merged together, and what the consequences have been in terms of role division and the distribution of power between the male and female characters. The second part of my thesis explores the portrayal of female characters in Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, to research the extent to which certain characteristics of the romance genre and the strong female characters have invaded the science fiction and dystopian genre, and what the effects have been in this particular series. In other words, the second part will demonstrate how romance in The Hunger Games has resulted in the creation of a strong female character, Katniss Everdeen, who exerts agency and who is able to use her femininity in order to rebel against and change the government of Panem. This part consists of three chapters, all of which contain an analysis of one book of the trilogy. The three analyses will show how the female protagonist in the series has obtained agency by embracing her own femininity, which has been made possible by the addition of important characteristics of the romance genre, and how this change in agency, created by the combination of the two genres, enables her to fight against and bring down the totalitarian government, and create a better place for all Panem’s citizens.Show less
This thesis examines the depiction of pastoral nature in four novels set in the Interbellum period and written in the 1940s, using ecocritical theory to explore how these authors view the English...Show moreThis thesis examines the depiction of pastoral nature in four novels set in the Interbellum period and written in the 1940s, using ecocritical theory to explore how these authors view the English landscape. The chosen novels, Philip Larkin’s A Girl in Winter, Dodie Smith’s I Capture the Castle, Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh and L.P. Hartley’s The Shrimp and the Anemone, show different views on the English rural landscape but also share elements like childhood innocence and country estates. The analysis focuses on topics such as nostalgia, escapism and “Englishness”, using ecocritical concepts, for example retreat and return and the machine in the garden. The text argues that although nature is often idealised in connection with the past, the authors do not represent the landscape before the war as a merely idealised one. Realistic aspects disturb the harmony and nostalgic elements can become active examples for the future, which shows that the pastoral can be a functional genre in the field of ecocriticism.Show less
Through the application of theory developed by Deleuze and Guattari this essay digs into the disruptive potential of the surreal and mythic imagery present in Hedayat's novel 'The Blind Owl'. The...Show moreThrough the application of theory developed by Deleuze and Guattari this essay digs into the disruptive potential of the surreal and mythic imagery present in Hedayat's novel 'The Blind Owl'. The whirlpool of time and space in 'The Blind Owl', ensuing from a mixture of linear and cyclic time-frames, allows for a scrutiny of the novel along the lines of (Deleuzian) concepts such as aion and chronos, spiritual and bare repetition and the spiritual automaton.Show less
