The alteration of representation in young readers’ editions of Nathaniel Philbrick's "In the Heart of the Sea" and Mary Lee Shetterly's "Hidden Figures".
A theoretical debate between three thinkers on the future of literature in the age of new media shows there is dissent regarding whether literature’s narrative and new media’s database forms can...Show moreA theoretical debate between three thinkers on the future of literature in the age of new media shows there is dissent regarding whether literature’s narrative and new media’s database forms can productively coexist or that the latter will supplant the former. To make sense of these different views, this thesis will consider the question of how reading skills change on the basis of interrelations between literature and new media. The case-study, David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest, seems to have a proto-database form while being essentially narrative. It may, therefore, be considered a hybrid between old and new media as well as a reflection of media-literature evolution itself. The novel builds a signification structure into the text that directs the reading direction nonlinearly, allowing for a plurality of voices and ways of looking at the world. Interpreted nonlinearly, Infinite Jest offers an allegory not for reading but precisely for the impossibility thereof. It self-consciously reflects on postmodernism and, specifically, its central thematic of illegibility: it is a novel self-aware of its own impossibility. Infinite Jest diagnoses the illegibility of texts in the age of postmodernism, where one can no longer rely on clear-cut strategies for reading but must employ a creativity in learning how to read as a production rather than a discovery of meaning. Novels like Infinite Jest, it appears, serve as mental practice for new media reading, which requires the reader to switch between reading strategies, or what I coin the modulation proposal, to deal with the phenomenon of ‘information overload.’ Infinite Jest shows that hybridization of narrative and database, or of literature and new media, is a viable – and, hopefully, long-term – possibility for the literature of the future. Literature is right now in the process of adapting itself by borrowing elements from new, digital media, and, re-inventing itself as a form of art that transcends the medium of the book, i.e., literature becomes transmedial. To stay relevant in the age of digital media, literature needs to reinvent itself time and again.Show less
This thesis focuses on African American hip-hop music. How does this music form produce a connection between black people and how does it create a community? Hip-hop music has a performative...Show moreThis thesis focuses on African American hip-hop music. How does this music form produce a connection between black people and how does it create a community? Hip-hop music has a performative function in producing a collective identity based on race, and now that new generations of African Americans are growing up in a world steeped in hip-hop culture, it is important to try and understand this performativity. How does hip-hop music produce a construct of blackness? And how is this performative function complicated by the many contradictions in hip-hop: commercial hip-hop balances on a fine line between emancipating African Americans and reproducing negative stereotypes of African Americans.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 discusses three contemporary feminist dystopias that have been published between 2016 and 2018. It argues that feminist dystopian fiction can contribute to the understanding of the...Show moreThis thesis discusses three contemporary feminist dystopias that have been published between 2016 and 2018. It argues that feminist dystopian fiction can contribute to the understanding of the female struggle in the United States by reflecting on reproductive rights and body politics in a dystopian setting. Through three thematic studies, language, genre and imposed boundaries on the female body, this thesis shows how the feminist dystopian genre places the female body in the midst of political and social disturbances. Amid the current political environment that seeks to restrict reproductive health care and rights for women, these novels challenge its readers' perception of their realities. This helps instigate change and a critical attitude towards current social issues and anxieties that are affecting the safety and health of women nationwide.Show less
This paper facilitates a conversation between a classical Chinese Zen Buddhist story and contemporary French feminist theory. Hélène Cixous' work is used as a mirror to explore the significance of...Show moreThis paper facilitates a conversation between a classical Chinese Zen Buddhist story and contemporary French feminist theory. Hélène Cixous' work is used as a mirror to explore the significance of the exceptional appearance of a nude female body and a celebrated vagina in this Zen text.Show less
The aim of this study is to analyse recent changes in masculinity and the relationship between masculinity and literature. Two novels of British 'ladlit' author Nick Hornby are discussed. In the...Show moreThe aim of this study is to analyse recent changes in masculinity and the relationship between masculinity and literature. Two novels of British 'ladlit' author Nick Hornby are discussed. In the first part of the thesis, the differences between traditional and modern masculinity are explained. In the second part, a comparison is made between the differing views on masculinity of Hornby's male and female protagonists. It is shown that while the male protagonists move from a traditional outlook on masculinity to a more modern one, the female protagonists go back to the traditional view. The study shows that Hornby's novels both strongly support a return to traditional gender roles and the old standards of masculinity.Show less
In this thesis I will give a reading of the films Big Eyes (Tim Burton, 2014) and Bright Star (Jane Campion, 2009), in which authorship is addressed or at stake. Burton’s film is about the female...Show moreIn this thesis I will give a reading of the films Big Eyes (Tim Burton, 2014) and Bright Star (Jane Campion, 2009), in which authorship is addressed or at stake. Burton’s film is about the female painter Margaret Keane and Campion’s film is about the last three years of the life of the poet John Keats (1795-1821) For my analyses I will use Foucault and Barthes’ theories of the author as starting point because their theories are, especially in certain circumstances, such as in the case of female authorship, still relevant today. The overall research question of my thesis is: ‘when or in what circumstances are the theories of Foucault and Barthes relevant, and when are they not relevant?’Show less
