This thesis explores the themes of family, loss and belonging in Wes Anderson's Rushmore (1998), The Darjeeling Limited (2007), and Moonrise Kingdom (2012). The thesis connects objects and places...Show moreThis thesis explores the themes of family, loss and belonging in Wes Anderson's Rushmore (1998), The Darjeeling Limited (2007), and Moonrise Kingdom (2012). The thesis connects objects and places within these films to the abovementioned themes, and shows parallels between the use of objects in these films and the way in which objects are used in George Eliot's novel The Mill on the Floss (1860) - objects have a multiplicity of functions in both. Key to Anderson's films are relations between characters, and objects and places in the films signify these bonds. In the end, the characters in the films find a place to belong in the other.Show less
This thesis takes three works of prose fiction from the Victorian and Edwardian period that contain animal characters that interact with the human world. The fantastic narratives that will be...Show moreThis thesis takes three works of prose fiction from the Victorian and Edwardian period that contain animal characters that interact with the human world. The fantastic narratives that will be explored are: Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865); Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Books (1894-5); and Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows (1908). Furthermore, it argues that anthropomorphism and zoomorphism act as core elements in these narratives to describe the complex formation of identity in Victorian Britain and to provide an opportunity covertly to criticize issues in the Victorian social class system. Furthermore, the thesis analyses these magical worlds as places where children’s imagination can play with the animal-human divide.Show less
This thesis examines how Ruth Ware's The Turn of the Key (2019), Floria Sigismondi's The Turning (2020) and Mike Flanagan's The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020) portray the governess as the true victim...Show moreThis thesis examines how Ruth Ware's The Turn of the Key (2019), Floria Sigismondi's The Turning (2020) and Mike Flanagan's The Haunting of Bly Manor (2020) portray the governess as the true victim of the story, instead of the children, as perhaps happens in Henry James's The Turn of the Screw (1898).Show less
This thesis explores some of the different ways that scholars and authors have dealt with the Arthurian legends when working within different cultural contexts. The aim of this thesis is to analyze...Show moreThis thesis explores some of the different ways that scholars and authors have dealt with the Arthurian legends when working within different cultural contexts. The aim of this thesis is to analyze the use of Arthurian legends over time and to compare the relevance of those legends in cultures familiar with the story, such as America, and cultures less familiar with the story, such as Japan. The comparison will be aimed at shedding light on how differences in the interpretations of Arthurian legends between America and Japan reflect, or are caused by, differences in each culture’s familiarity with said legends.Show less
This thesis looks at how adolescence is symbolised by children's journeys to exotic Fairylands. This is a place where they learn to integrate their emotional side (id/unconsious) with their moral...Show moreThis thesis looks at how adolescence is symbolised by children's journeys to exotic Fairylands. This is a place where they learn to integrate their emotional side (id/unconsious) with their moral/conscious side (superego/ego/persona). The integration of these elements signifies maturity. The thesis takes Bruno Bettelheim's Freudian analysis of the Brothers Grimm's fairy tale 'Brother and Sister' as a 'base structure' and looks at how this structure is applicable to three books from the early twentieth century: Nesbit's "Phoenix and the Carpet", J.M. Barrie's "Peter and Wendy" and Hope Mirrlees's "Lud-in-the-Mist".Show less
This thesis offers an analysis of the development of Salman's Rushdie's work through a close reading of two early novels (Midnight's Children and The Satanic Verses) and two most recent novels (The...Show moreThis thesis offers an analysis of the development of Salman's Rushdie's work through a close reading of two early novels (Midnight's Children and The Satanic Verses) and two most recent novels (The Golden House and Quichotte). The research question is to establish whether a major change in style has taken place. The premise is that a shift seems to have taken place from what Brian McHale calls the ontological dominant in postmodernism to an ethical and moral dominant. This thesis focuses particularly on typical postmodern topics such as the questioning of the ontological relationship between reality and truth, since Rushdie’s style of fantastical writing invites such a focus.Show less
Jonathan Edwards’ “Personal Narrative” is a chronological, retrospective account of Edwards’ spiritual life interposed with comments and reflections on his experiences with the Divine. He describes...Show moreJonathan Edwards’ “Personal Narrative” is a chronological, retrospective account of Edwards’ spiritual life interposed with comments and reflections on his experiences with the Divine. He describes multiple powerful, highly emotional encounters as he recounts his religious development from his childhood to the present. It stands as a central text of eighteenth-century spirituality, a touchstone of religious thinking in this period. This thesis argues that concerns with the fallibility of language are central to Jonathan Edwards’ “Personal Narrative” (c.1740), as he struggles adequately to describe spiritual experience in words even as that experience is said to go beyond language, including in its emotional and bodily effects.Show less
William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is, among many other things, a play that subtly criticises the patriarchal society in which it is set, advocating a more equal society instead, and...Show moreWilliam Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream is, among many other things, a play that subtly criticises the patriarchal society in which it is set, advocating a more equal society instead, and this interpretation is confirmed and built upon by Henry Purcell and Benjamin Britten in their respective operas based on the play.Show less
This thesis investigates how Henry James’s The Princess Casamassima, George Gissings’s Demos and Frances Hodgson Burnett’s Little Lord Fauntleroy address contemporary social anxieties about class...Show moreThis thesis investigates how Henry James’s The Princess Casamassima, George Gissings’s Demos and Frances Hodgson Burnett’s Little Lord Fauntleroy address contemporary social anxieties about class and gender identity by exploring the themes of inheritance and social mobility in relation to the idea of the gentleman. In all three novels the male main character tries to improve his own social position while at the same time he tries to deal with social inequality. Driven by their ideals Hyacinth Robinson, Richard Mutimer and Cedric Errol all try to make positive contributions to the society they live in. Their attempts are not equally successful.Show less
This thesis analyzes how the representation of Anton Chigurh in Joel and Ethan Coen’s neo-noir film No Country for Old Men (2007), translates a postmodern obscurity of good and evil and how this...Show moreThis thesis analyzes how the representation of Anton Chigurh in Joel and Ethan Coen’s neo-noir film No Country for Old Men (2007), translates a postmodern obscurity of good and evil and how this phenomenon characterizes a post 9/11 American society. While analyzing various aspects of the film, most importantly its dramatis personae, it becomes evident that representations of serial murder as the portrayal of serial killer Anton Chigurh in No Country for Old Men, alongside Ed Tom Bell and Llewelyn Moss, in addition to the film’s narrative and dialogue, contribute to the ambiguation of the dividing line between good and evil, leaving the serial killer at a borderline state. The confusion surrounding the serial killer is in an era that has been marked by a postmodern ambiance of unpredictability, angst, and perplexity. As such, representations of the serial killer epitomize and challenge the complexities and the growing moral dilemma in contemporary post 9/11 American society.Show less
This is a thesis that analyses several Dr Who serials in relation to concepts such as Colonialism, Empire, Fascism, and Humanist values. As such it treats its popular-culture subject seriously and...Show moreThis is a thesis that analyses several Dr Who serials in relation to concepts such as Colonialism, Empire, Fascism, and Humanist values. As such it treats its popular-culture subject seriously and shows how such long-running TV serials are much more than just commercial entertainment.Show less
Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
open access
This thesis argues that the literary relevance of The Private Memoirs is its examination of the sometimes problematic desire for belonging and self-realisation. The novel, seen as a satirical...Show moreThis thesis argues that the literary relevance of The Private Memoirs is its examination of the sometimes problematic desire for belonging and self-realisation. The novel, seen as a satirical Bildungsroman, shows that Robert Wringhim’s failure both to reach maturity and assimilate into society is the result of his inability to change. One needs to constantly (re)negotiate between self and other to safely integrate into society – this is a form of Bildung, as understood in Herder’s conceptualisation of the term. However, Robert fails to integrate, because he refuses to change his early identity, which, in turn, leads to the creation of a doppelgänger. Also, his parents teach Robert that he is preordained to live in heaven which causes him to feel that above all he belongs to this future state. Ultimately, with no self-realisation and a strong desire to go to where he feels he belongs, Robert’s short life can only end in his premature death. Finally, The Private Memoirs is not merely a critique of bad parenting or religious excess. Rather, Robert and his family become a metonymy for something larger and more prevalent: liberalism and civil society, where freedom becomes freedom to have property, rather than freedom of thought. In the end, liberalism is portrayed as a system of exclusion rather than inclusion of differences.Show less
