Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
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My thesis explores the ways in which Eiichiro Oda’s successful manga series One Piece uses cultural references to prevent singular storytelling. It studies the incorporation, adaptation, and...Show moreMy thesis explores the ways in which Eiichiro Oda’s successful manga series One Piece uses cultural references to prevent singular storytelling. It studies the incorporation, adaptation, and transformation of popular cultural elements in the characters Donquixote Doflamingo and Usopp. This process highlights the continuous flow of cultural capital, which in turn opens up and acknowledges the plurality and diversity of perspectives, voices, and narratives.Show less
Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
open access
2023-08-30T00:00:00Z
In this thesis I use two nineteenth-century novels (Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South [1854] and Émile Zola's Au Bonheur des Dames [1883]) to analyze how novelistic things, depicted in their...Show moreIn this thesis I use two nineteenth-century novels (Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South [1854] and Émile Zola's Au Bonheur des Dames [1883]) to analyze how novelistic things, depicted in their stages of production and exchange, represent the contradictory nature of life under industrial capitalism. In my readings of the two novels I emphasize how, in a new world of industrial production and conspicuous consumption, new ways of relating to things emerged. These things were no longer products of the household or made to measure, as the nineteenth century saw an increase in factory-produced, mass-market goods whose bonds with their human makers and owners were deeply shaped by the new economic system. It is these bonds – complicated, contradictory and sometimes puzzling – that my thesis focuses on.Show less
Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
open access
2023-08-30T00:00:00Z
When we read a book of history, we produce a mental image of the past we read about. That mental image is informed by the text. Sometimes, when we read a book of history, the text is so vivid, the...Show moreWhen we read a book of history, we produce a mental image of the past we read about. That mental image is informed by the text. Sometimes, when we read a book of history, the text is so vivid, the descriptions so penetrating, that we are left with more than an image: emotion, thought, realisation. The text has affected us. This act of communication, the communication of ‘historical experience,' is the focus point of this thesis. To explore this fascinating concept, the main case study is Johan Huizinga's Herfsttij der Middeleeuwen. The choice for this work is twofold: one, Johan Huizinga is the first person to introduce the concept of historical experience, which he called historische sensatie; two, Herfsttij der Middeleeuwen is a work of history known for its affective use of language. Focussing on those textual elements that drive historical experience, this paper will explore how Herfsttij der Middeleeuwen is able to convey this affect of the (imagined) past. Further, the Dutch source text will be compared to the three English translations to see how historical experience transfers in a translation process.Show less
Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
open access
In popular culture, the European Middle Ages (ca. 500-1500) are commonly portrayed as a culturally homogenous time period in which the supremacy of the white, heterosexual male is taken for granted...Show moreIn popular culture, the European Middle Ages (ca. 500-1500) are commonly portrayed as a culturally homogenous time period in which the supremacy of the white, heterosexual male is taken for granted. This makes the period attractive to the far-right, whose members view the Middle Ages as an alternative to our modern, multicultural times. In the past, Medieval imagery and rhetoric have consequently been appropriated by groups and individuals ranging from the Ku Klux Klan and the Nazis to Anders Breivik, the Charlottesville protesters and Vladimir Putin. In this thesis, Guus van der Peet examines how the appropriation of history has taken place in the Dutch Language Area. He analyses four case studies: 1) an antisemitic sequel to the Middle Dutch classic Vanden Vos Reinarde; 2) the academic publications of Jan de Vries, a national-socialist professor in Leiden; 3) two Youtube videos from the Flemish far-right student association Schild & Vrienden; 4) two speeches by alt-right politician Thierry Baudet. In the end, Van der Peet concludes that there is a significant difference between the Flemish and Dutch appropriation of the past. Whereas the Flemish far-right repeatedly references the Middle Ages, the Dutch far-right deviates from the international tradition by instead appropriating the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.Show less
Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
open access
This thesis examines the depiction of solitude in the novels Caleb Williams, Frankenstein, and A Tale of Two Cities, and the relationship between these depictions and eighteenth- and nineteenth...Show moreThis thesis examines the depiction of solitude in the novels Caleb Williams, Frankenstein, and A Tale of Two Cities, and the relationship between these depictions and eighteenth- and nineteenth-century discourses on solitude. In particular, this thesis shows the tension between philosophies of sociability and sympathy, such as Rousseau’s and Hume’s, and the moral dimension of solitude. While previous research has examined solitude by focusing on either Romantic solitude or on loneliness as an imposed condition by social forces, this thesis aims to investigate the moral value of solitude, and its relation to social criticism. Taking a cultural materialist approach, this thesis examines cultural discourses surrounding solitude and offers close readings of the novels to argue that these novels present sociability as a divisive force in society, and solitude as both necessary to foster a connection to humanity, and a necessary condition for justice and morality. The privileging of solitude over sociability shows how these novels respond to the emphasis of Enlightenment philosophy on sympathy and similarity and suggest an alternative foundation for justice and morality in situations where sociability and similarity are insufficient.Show less
