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
Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
closed access
In this thesis I want to create an intersectional, queer intervention in animal studies taking previous animal, critical race studies and queer theory intersections – ecofeminism, material feminism...Show moreIn this thesis I want to create an intersectional, queer intervention in animal studies taking previous animal, critical race studies and queer theory intersections – ecofeminism, material feminism and queer ecology – into account within the context of literary studies and cultural analysis. Therefore, I want to ask: In what way do intersectional alliances – both theoretical and artistic – formed from an animal and queer studies perspective, affirmatively (re)imagine (material) queer intimacies human-nonhuman relations to contribute to an nonanthropocentric framework? To answer this question, I want to employ the term/concept queer as both a critical and productive tool that enables transgression of disciplines and even the academy itself, into the material reality of non-human animals to examine human-animal relations and intimacies.Show less
