“A Great Secret Bias”: Mapping Bisexuality in Eighteenth-Century Literature.
| Název práce v češtině: | “A Great Secret Bias”: Mapovaní bisexuality v literatuře 18. století |
|---|---|
| Název v anglickém jazyce: | “A Great Secret Bias”: Mapping Bisexuality in Eighteenth-Century Literature. |
| Klíčová slova: | sexuální dvojznačnost|bisexualita|sexuální identita|Queer studia|sexuální fluidita|britská literatura|John Cleland|Maria Edgeworth|Charlotte Charke |
| Klíčová slova anglicky: | sexual ambiguity|bisexuality|sexual identity|Queer studies|sexual fluidity|British Literature|John Cleland|Maria Edgeworth|Charlotte Charke |
| Akademický rok vypsání: | 2021/2022 |
| Typ práce: | diplomová práce |
| Jazyk práce: | angličtina |
| Ústav: | Ústav anglofonních literatur a kultur (21-UALK) |
| Vedoucí / školitel: | PhDr. Soňa Nováková, CSc. |
| Řešitel: | skrytý - zadáno a potvrzeno stud. odd. |
| Datum přihlášení: | 11.01.2022 |
| Datum zadání: | 12.01.2022 |
| Schválení administrátorem: | zatím neschvalováno |
| Datum potvrzení stud. oddělením: | 13.01.2022 |
| Datum a čas obhajoby: | 07.09.2022 00:00 |
| Datum odevzdání elektronické podoby: | 12.08.2022 |
| Datum proběhlé obhajoby: | 07.09.2022 |
| Odevzdaná/finalizovaná: | odevzdaná studentem a finalizovaná |
| Oponenti: | Mgr. Miroslava Horová, Ph.D. |
| Zásady pro vypracování |
| My research will focus on the depiction of bisexuality in 18th century literature. Despite being one of the important categories in the contemporary Queer Discourse, bisexuality still seems to be overlooked in today’s cultural scene or criticized for being too ambiguous or unclear. This is prominently featured in some novels that are today considered as being involved with the depictions of homoerotic relations, even though many of them might be in a more nuanced reading described as dealing with more complex, even bisexual connections. I aim to trace back bisexuality and show its omnipresence in 18th century literature, the time period when nonstandard sexual identities started to acquire visibility. Such reading might shed some light on the nature of sexuality, which is fluid, polymorphous and complex, instead of being regarded as fixed and defined. In my reading of sexuality, I will work with the groundbreaking theories of Michel Foucault and other theorists, however I intend to aim at expanding this framework to include the still very intangible phenomenon of bisexuality. Maria Edgeworth’s novel Belinda, John Cleland’s erotic novel Fanny Hill: Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure as well as Charlotte Charke’s A Narrative Of The Life Of Mrs. Charlotte Charke will be the template on which the research will be based and the argument evolved. Though quite different at first glance, these novels feature the phenomenon of bisexuality that crosses the boundaries of genres and time. While Cleland’s novel provocatively blurs the line between different sexual identities, Belinda, in a manner unusual to Edgeworth, offers an account of both homosexual and heterosexual desire, insisting, at the same time, on the ideals of domesticity and femininity. Charlotte Charke’s memoirs give an account of her life as a daughter of Colley Cibber. Though being forced to stick to the “gentlewoman tasks”, Charlotte chooses to be fluid instead. Charlotte’s fluidity is expressed in her interaction with cross-dressing that complicates her sexual identity and raises the question of the validity of sexual labels. Bisexuality will then be considered from two different perspectives, relevant to Queer Studies: a historical and an unhistorical one. It might help us to reconsider the limiting character ascribed to sexual identity in 18th century as well as develop a new methodology that embraces sexual ambiguity. |
| Seznam odborné literatury |
| Bibliography
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