The story of Bluebeard by Perrault (1697) has been reiterated or adapted as a particular motif or theme in cultural references since its inception. The tale of Bluebeard, or the motif of Bluebeard,...Show moreThe story of Bluebeard by Perrault (1697) has been reiterated or adapted as a particular motif or theme in cultural references since its inception. The tale of Bluebeard, or the motif of Bluebeard, that all-important turning point in the story, has been used to criticize not only the notion of female subjectivity but also other cultural aspects. Bluebeard, symbolises that which is wrong in society. This is what makes Perrault’s tale a popular tale that has been retold and adapted into cinema and literature. Examples are the Grimm Brothers’ The Robber Bridegroom(1942) and Fitcher’s Bird(1992).The Bluebeard motif is also an important myth in feminist theory. Braidotti and Smelik use the myth of Bluebeard in an essay concerning the problem of female subjectivity, which responds in part to Laura Mulvey and Theresa de Lauretis’ works regarding female subjectivity.Show less
In this thesis, I analyse six Taiwanese short stories written by contemporary women writers. I use feminist theory, namely Lu Hsiu Lien's 'New Feminism', to examine the position of economically...Show moreIn this thesis, I analyse six Taiwanese short stories written by contemporary women writers. I use feminist theory, namely Lu Hsiu Lien's 'New Feminism', to examine the position of economically independent women in Taiwan and their gender display.Show less
In this thesis I examine concerns about incompetent and effeminate Chinese masculinities within the context of modern Chinese history, with a focus on the works 'Half of Man is Woman' by Zhang...Show moreIn this thesis I examine concerns about incompetent and effeminate Chinese masculinities within the context of modern Chinese history, with a focus on the works 'Half of Man is Woman' by Zhang Xianliang, 'Beijing Comrades' by Bei Tong, and 'Shanghai Baby' by Wei Hui.Show less
This thesis targets count Dracula, in some of the many western cinematographic adaptations that have been based on Bram Stoker’s novel. The main objective is to show how this character can vary...Show moreThis thesis targets count Dracula, in some of the many western cinematographic adaptations that have been based on Bram Stoker’s novel. The main objective is to show how this character can vary across those films. Thereof, two theoretical axes will construct an epistemological device, to evince Dracula’s variations; these correspond to Jungian theory and Mieke Bal’s narratology.Show less
The notion of the spectacle, developed in the era of traditional media, represented a sharp and accurate prediction of the society to come. Guy Debord envisioned the alienation and separation of...Show moreThe notion of the spectacle, developed in the era of traditional media, represented a sharp and accurate prediction of the society to come. Guy Debord envisioned the alienation and separation of individuals from each other and from themselves by means of images, as well as the commodification of life. At the time Debord developed his critique of the spectacle, television was increasingly expanding its monopole and flattening the general discourse to one reality. This same reality was soon to be fragmented, together with individuality, by the arrival of the internet and social media. The Italian TV program BLOB, broadcasted on Italian public television since 1989, and its presence on social media, could help us to understand more about these dynamics.Show less
What is the function of the hacker in Deleuze's society of control? Is the hacker a form of resistance, or does the hacker have another function? This question will be the guideline in this thesis,...Show moreWhat is the function of the hacker in Deleuze's society of control? Is the hacker a form of resistance, or does the hacker have another function? This question will be the guideline in this thesis, which uses the theoretical texts of Foucault, Deleuze, and Galloway to create a theoretical framework through which the hacker types of the manifestos of Anonymous, The Invisible Committee, and McKenzie Wark's A Hacker's Manifesto will be analyzed in the television series Mr. Robot, and the video games Watch Dogs and Watch Dogs 2. In the conclusion, the hacker is seen as a persona that has a different position, because of his knowledge of protocol, yet resisting the power while working in this protocol remains difficult.Show less
This thesis is about the relation between knowledge and literature in The Order of Things written by Michel Foucault. Literature plays an important role in this book, because it owes its existence...Show moreThis thesis is about the relation between knowledge and literature in The Order of Things written by Michel Foucault. Literature plays an important role in this book, because it owes its existence to a passage of Borges, and because Cervantes and Sade are discussed in relation to the discontinuities in the episteme of Western Culture. Why does Foucault ascribe such an important role to literature in a philosophical book that addresses itself to the general space of knowledge? Foucault seems to imply that there is something that literature can do in relation to positive knowledge. This thesis is about the strange, epistemological status of literature in Foucault's earlier work. What is the role and function of literature with regard to the discontinuities Foucault establishes in the Western episteme? And what could the role of Borges be in The Order of Things?Show less
The departure of this study was shaped by my attempt to answer how literature denies losing contact with the events. In other words, my concern was one’s state of getting used to their frequent...Show moreThe departure of this study was shaped by my attempt to answer how literature denies losing contact with the events. In other words, my concern was one’s state of getting used to their frequent appearance in the everyday: in conversations, in newspapers, in topics of discussion. This is because habituating oneself to any event, to any disaster, would bring an end to every possible response to life. Nothing meaningful can remain after the event, if there is none of its impacts to be sensed. Literature, on the other hand, has the aesthetic capacity to resist such idea. It has the capacity to be attentive to the sensation of events: to how every moment will, and should continue to make us startled, to make us disturbed, and provoked. This is also the very reason why Sylvia Plath and Ingeborg Bachmann, whose texts are central to this study, are writing for the sake of what comes, and should come after the event. By telling about this, they deny, in their own writing, to bring an end to the ability to response.Show less
Non-native English accents, imprinted with the organic condition of a foreign tongue, sometimes can trigger harassment and violence from native speakers. Being a ‘scandalous’ linguistic performance...Show moreNon-native English accents, imprinted with the organic condition of a foreign tongue, sometimes can trigger harassment and violence from native speakers. Being a ‘scandalous’ linguistic performance of an alien body, non-native accents epitomize how the body demarcates the agency of speech, and at the same time how speech impinges on the bodily domain. To understand accent-related violence and the intertwined relation between body and speech, this paper examines accented speech within a hate speech paradigm, and seeks to add a further degree of nuance to this area by including a close reading of certain scenes depicted in literary texts. Accented English, often labeled as ‘broken’ or ‘fractured,’ determines to a large extent the social relevance of the speaking body. Moreover, accented speech functions not always as a voluntary ‘coming-out;’ in some cases, the accented speaker is not socially sanctioned to remain silent, but is forced to speak out his/her foreignness. However, accented speech does not necessarily point to passivity; it questions the native speaker’s ingrained perception of his/her ‘natural’ bond with the mother tongue, all the while giving rise to a different kind of survivability for the accented speaker.Show less
