Gender and the abject in the symbolic landscapes of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and Olive Schreiner's "The Story of an African Farm"
by McAdams, Janine, M.A., FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY, 2010, 113 pages; 1486277

Abstract:

The literature of the fin de siècle challenged established societal norms through its use of avant-garde literary forms and controversial subject matter. This study will examine the use of landscape metaphors in two major works of fin de siècle literature, Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Olive Schreiner's The Story of an African Farm, in order to reveal how these texts critique and re-vision the social dualities of gender. A wide range of literary theories—including, feminist theory, semiotics, and ecocriticism—are used to interpret these authors' influential narratives. This thesis will also apply Julia Kristeva's theory of the abject—as representing the permeability of the physical and social bodies—to critically examine the literal and metaphorical landscapes of Stevenson's city and Schreiner's farm. Thus, these visionary texts embody an organic and feminist understanding of the self as a permeable social construct that exists free of borders.

 
AdviserOliver Buckton
SchoolFLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY
SourceMAI/ 49-01, p. , Oct 2010
Source TypeThesis
SubjectsModern literature; African literature; British and Irish literature; Gender studies
Publication Number1486277
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