This thesis examines the public's perception of the palaeolithic Venus figurines, from a theoretical and tactile perspective. Using feminist and queer theory, it intends to uncover modern...Show moreThis thesis examines the public's perception of the palaeolithic Venus figurines, from a theoretical and tactile perspective. Using feminist and queer theory, it intends to uncover modern perceptions of gender, body shape, femininity, and sexualisation and how these might affect and influence understanding of prehistoric objects. It concludes that grasping at the past is a process informed by a multitude of factors, personal and societal, and that artefacts inevitably become projections of our own worldview.Show less
Master thesis | Classics and Ancient Civilizations (MA)
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Catullus’s poetry is known for its freshness, for its potent mixture of sensuality, crude language and erudition, for its fast-and-loose playing with rules and norms both sexual and poetic. But how...Show moreCatullus’s poetry is known for its freshness, for its potent mixture of sensuality, crude language and erudition, for its fast-and-loose playing with rules and norms both sexual and poetic. But how ‘antinormative’ is Catullus really? How much of his play with ancient norms can a modern reader understand? And can modern creative translation serve as an analytical tool to interpret Catullus’s poetry? With Wiegman and Wilson’s (2015) approach to antinormativity in the field of queer studies as guide, this thesis looks at the norm as not just a static limit, but rather as a dynamic average that generates potential for change. Thus, the first chapter examines the presence of (anti)normativity, that is a dynamic movement between acceptance and rejection of the poetic and sexual norms of his time, in five of Catullus’s poems through close reading. The second chapter examines the question of creative translation, in the form of Isobel Williams’s oft-praised translation, which according to reviewer Ed Bedford (2021) manages to grasp Catullus’s meaning more astutely than almost any other translation. Williams’s chosen context for her translations, that of shibari, or Japanese rope bondage, provides a unique perspective on Catullus that forces her to make changes that both emphasize and hide nuances in the Latin. A close reading of Williams’s versions of the same five Catullan poems proves that her creative translation does indeed provide opportunities as an analytical tool, in opening our minds to interpretations of Catullus’s poetry we would not have thought of otherwise. So this thesis shows that both Catullus’s writing and Isobel Williams’s mode of translation can be called (anti)normative. Both authors engage in a dynamic movement of both acceptance and rejection, and it is precisely this movement that gives them strength.Show less
This thesis delves into the concept of the queer 'Other' in Gothic literature, using Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein', Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' and Oscar Wilde's 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' as...Show moreThis thesis delves into the concept of the queer 'Other' in Gothic literature, using Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein', Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' and Oscar Wilde's 'The Picture of Dorian Gray' as examples to analyse the discourse surrounding the figure of the queer Other in nineteenth-century society. Key concepts are the (sexually) queer monster and queer(ing) space and social constructs.Show less
This thesis offers an insight into the emergence of the New Woman, who was initially largely a literary phenomenon, but grew out to become a self-identity for many women after World War I, which...Show moreThis thesis offers an insight into the emergence of the New Woman, who was initially largely a literary phenomenon, but grew out to become a self-identity for many women after World War I, which was enabled by their sudden social and economic freedoms. As such, a period of roughly a hundred years, namely from 1830, the beginning of the Victorian Period, to 1930, the aftermath of the Great War, will be studied, and the role of the New Woman in this period will be largely scrutinized through the literature of that era. Specifically, Daphne du Maurier’s 1938 novel Rebecca will be analysed, and in particular the titular character – who, by being both the title character and the antagonist of the story, represents the unstable and volatile characteristics of what identity can be. By employing Queer Theory, this thesis will hopefully provide a closer understanding as to who exactly the New Woman, personified by Rebecca, was, what she wanted, and how she was perceived in her time – effectively exploring if she was not merely a woman defying social boundaries, but a Queer phenomenon.Show less
