With the awareness of climate change our experience of literature has fundamentally changed. Using the heideggarian notions of world and earth, as well as key insights of Timothy Morton regarding...Show moreWith the awareness of climate change our experience of literature has fundamentally changed. Using the heideggarian notions of world and earth, as well as key insights of Timothy Morton regarding the experience of climate change and the experience of literature according to Maurice Blanchot, this thesis tries to show how our experience of literature has changed. The literary texts may have stayed the same, the way in which we read them has certainly not. The awareness of climate change has forced us to recognize that we are connected to and have a bearing on everything else on earth. This awareness makes it so that we read literary texts according to this awareness.Show less
Literary authorship has traditionally been conceptualised by the values of individuality, originality, ownership, and authority. In the digital era, we are experiencing new attitudes towards and...Show moreLiterary authorship has traditionally been conceptualised by the values of individuality, originality, ownership, and authority. In the digital era, we are experiencing new attitudes towards and ideas on authorship which show that these four values are being uprooted. Namely, big publishers are editing texts of deceased children’s book authors such as Roald Dahl. At the same time, the digital medium has become the dominant means of interaction and dissemination of text in society. This thesis aims to identify in which ways the digital medium is taking part in our changing conceptualisations of and attitudes towards literary authorship. To do so, this thesis follows a conceptual framework proposed by Kathleen Fitzpatrick. She theorises that the technological properties and our uses of a medium indirectly shape our conceptualisations of and attitudes towards text and concepts such as scholarly authorship. Therefore, the digital medium and print medium indirectly create different ideas on text and scholarly authorship. Additionally, she posits that this mechanism interplays with societal expectations and the practice of the publisher. Eventually, this thesis presents that literary authorship has changed on all four values by which we traditionally conceptualised authorship and this partly finds it origin with the digital medium and the digitisation of text. Namely, our use of the medium and digital text have indirectly altered our conceptualisations of and attitudes towards text and the practice of the literary author.Show less
To understand how an earlier text informs the reader’s understanding of a new one, I analyze the influence of Henry James's Washington Square on Hanya Yanagihara's To Paradise.
This thesis compares two novels in their portrayal of Muslimas. The two novels that are discussed are Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses and Nadeem Aslam's Maps for Lost Lovers. The thesis argues...Show moreThis thesis compares two novels in their portrayal of Muslimas. The two novels that are discussed are Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses and Nadeem Aslam's Maps for Lost Lovers. The thesis argues that Rushdie applies inaccurate representations of Islam and Muslimas in his novel. Moreover, his novel misuses Ayesha's historical figure and feminizes several different aspects of the religion. It concludes that Rushdie often writes about women, but never from the perspective of these women. Aslam's novel, on the other hand, allocates a lot more time to the female characters and their perspectives. However, it must also be noted that Aslam's portrayal of Islam - and along with that, Muslimas - is heavily Pakistani-oriented, in its most conservative form. Lastly, evident similarities and differences between the two novels were discussed. Here, the thesis concludes that both novels brought about a similar societal effect - namely heightening feelings of Islamophobia -, despite their different approaches to the subject.Show less
This thesis makes a case for literature as a legitimate historical source and argues that literature provides a historical snapshot of social change. The Dutch bakvisroman, a girls’ book about...Show moreThis thesis makes a case for literature as a legitimate historical source and argues that literature provides a historical snapshot of social change. The Dutch bakvisroman, a girls’ book about rebellious girls who are partially tamed at the end of the story, is selected as a case study. The research question therefore is: How does the Dutch bakvisroman negotiate social change from 1894-1921? First, it is analysed via close reading how five such books deal with accepted, controversial and unaccepted gender and class norms - Tine van Berken’s Een Klaverblad van Vier (1894) and De Dochters van den Generaal (1897); Top Naeff’s Schoolidyllen (1900); and Cissy van Marxveldt’s De H.B.S.-Tijd van Joop ter Heul (1919) and Joop ter Heul’s Problemen (1921). How the books are a product of social change is explored by looking into the lives of the women writers, analysing their gender and class attitudes. Lastly, how the books are an agent of social change is explained by discussing the readers’ experience, delving into its reception by pedagogues, but also its reception by girls and boys via memoirs and diaries. By historicising the books, it becomes clear why the bakvisromans perpetuate class norms while being ambivalent towards gender norms, as well as what readers actually internalised from the books.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
This thesis discusses in what ways Morrison's The Bluest Eye and Adichie's Americanah criticize the Eurocentric Standard of Beauty. One part of this standard involves the appreciation of straight...Show moreThis thesis discusses in what ways Morrison's The Bluest Eye and Adichie's Americanah criticize the Eurocentric Standard of Beauty. One part of this standard involves the appreciation of straight hair over the natural hair of black women. As a consequence, women with natural hair are often treated differently than women with European features. Both Morrison and Adichie treat this aspect of the Eurocentric standard of beauty as they show the negative consequences this standard has for women. Moreover, this thesis discusses the lack of solution that is both present in The Bluest Eye and Americanah.Show less
Master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (MA)
open access
This thesis textually re-analyses the 'Poor Man of Nippur' to argue that it can be read as a 'Mock-Heroic Pastiche' via the literary theory of Gérard Genette. Having situated the poem in its...Show moreThis thesis textually re-analyses the 'Poor Man of Nippur' to argue that it can be read as a 'Mock-Heroic Pastiche' via the literary theory of Gérard Genette. Having situated the poem in its historical context, We examine the text via intertextuality, orthography, and theme and motif. Through such a reading, our conclusions pertain to the dating, purpose, and generic definition of the PMN.Show less
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott is often praised for the way it encourages women to chase their own dreams and break out of the rigid gender norms that often confine them. However, simultaneously...Show moreLittle Women by Louisa May Alcott is often praised for the way it encourages women to chase their own dreams and break out of the rigid gender norms that often confine them. However, simultaneously, the novel also seems to value and even encourage nineteenth-century ideals and gender roles, and encourage women to be selfless. The question then becomes how the novel is able to promote these seemingly contradicting values alongside each other, and what effect this has on its message. This thesis set out to find an answer to this question by examining in detail how both self-fulfillment and selflessness are being promoted in Little Women. Doing so showed that the novel actually approaches both ideas with incredible nuance. Women are generally encouraged to pursue self-fulfillment, regardless of societal expectations and gender norms, but only when selflessness is part of this self-fulfillment. Similarly, selflessness is encouraged as long pursuing it does not happen at the expense of personal happiness and fulfillment. The novel shows that the two ideas are, in fact, more complicated than they seem, and that though self-fulfillment and selflessness appear to be two opposing values, they are actually not mutually exclusive.Show less
Words have some power to change our reality, but it is limited. We cannot use speech to directly physically affect the world around us. One could order a rock to move, and it would not move. Even...Show moreWords have some power to change our reality, but it is limited. We cannot use speech to directly physically affect the world around us. One could order a rock to move, and it would not move. Even those things we can do through speech are limited. One could tell that same rock “I take you, rock, to be my lawfully wedded rock”, and fail to be part of the first ever rock-human marriage. There are conditions that must be met for the act to be successful. Austen states: “The uttering of the words is, indeed, usually a, or even the, leading incident in the performance of the act ... but it is far from being usually, even if it is ever, the sole thing necessary if the act is to be deemed to have been performed” (8). Neither of these limitations are the case in Arda (the name of the world that contains Middle-earth). In Arda, speech acts can effect entirely physical outcomes. To name one well-known example: Gandalf utters the word “friend” in Elvish, and the Doors of Durin open to him. These days this may seem less magical than it did a decade ago, given the advent of voice-recognition and voice assistants, but there are still not many people who would go up to a stone door that does not contain any electronics and expect it to open at the sound of the correct password. That Gandalf does expect this suggests that the world in which he lives operates differently from ours on a fundamental level.Show less
This thesis analyzes the social and academic value of fanfiction concerned with LGBTQ+ representation in Young Adult Literature. Since the heteronormative discourse looks upon LGBTQ+ as a...Show moreThis thesis analyzes the social and academic value of fanfiction concerned with LGBTQ+ representation in Young Adult Literature. Since the heteronormative discourse looks upon LGBTQ+ as a controversial theme, LGBTQ+ identities and storylines in media such as literature are often stereotyped and negative. Young Adult Literature finds itself in a position where it can provide positive LGBTQ+ representation because of its tendency towards realism. However, existing power structures still prevent this genre from fully reaching its potential. This potential can be realized through fanfiction, an open discourse available on the internet. On fanfiction platforms, people with LGBTQ+ identities write the narratives they need based on official media stories, such as literature and movies. This thesis offers two comparative analyses. First, I will compare the non-LGBTQ+ Young Adult novels The Hunger games: Catching Fire and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, with a selection of corresponding LGBTQ+ fanfiction. In the second part, I present a comparison between the LGBTQ+ Young Adult novel Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe and a selection of corresponding LGBTQ+ fanfiction. Both of these analyses research the interpretations by fanfiction writers of the Young Adult novels on which they are grafted, highlighting their specific needs with regard to LGBTQ+ representation.Show less
Nineteenth-century London expanded tremendously due to British imperialism. The Britons were acquinted with new cultures and religions. Besides the benefits of the forming of London as metropolis,...Show moreNineteenth-century London expanded tremendously due to British imperialism. The Britons were acquinted with new cultures and religions. Besides the benefits of the forming of London as metropolis, the citizens experienced new anxieties. Urbanisation from immigrants led to xenophobia. The use of alcohol and opium rose and the city became even more divided wealth wise. Stevenson, Wilde and Stoker explore these Victorian anxiety.Show less
Research master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (research) (MA)
closed access
In this thesis, Guido delle Colonne's Historia Destructionis Troiae will be analysed anew. Scholars have often assessed the work and its author very negatively: they claimed the work had no moral...Show moreIn this thesis, Guido delle Colonne's Historia Destructionis Troiae will be analysed anew. Scholars have often assessed the work and its author very negatively: they claimed the work had no moral message, that it was badly written, and that Guido was very misogynistic in his depiction of women. In this thesis, the Historia will be analysed intertextually to show that Guido was not a bad translator of the French Roman de Troie (his main point of focus), but that he played with his pre-text to create an original work of history with its own moral aims and messages. In the second chapter, a case study of the character of the Amazonian queen Penthesilea will show how learned and complexly constructed the work actually is. Penthesilea questions the traditional gender norms, showing that not all women are bad in Guido's work. By transcending these gender norms, she is able to question a social construct that is even more important to reform in Guido's eyes: chivalry and its intricate connection with warfare. Guido wishes to show that chivalry has no place in warfare and that eventually, war brings destruction and misery upon all. While reading this work, the reader is constantly invited to delve further into the material and extract valuable moral lessons from it.Show less
A study on the representation of refugees in European literature, from which four modes of infrahuman representation appeared. "Dit zijn de namen" by Tommy Wieringa is used as a case study.
