Feminist Science Fiction: Cherie Priest’s The Clockwork Century

• Thesis title in Czech: Feministická sci-fi literatura: Mechanické století Cherie Priest
• Thesis title in English: Feminist Science Fiction: Cherie Priest’s The Clockwork Century
• Key words: Cherie Priest|genderové role|feminismus|Marleen S. Barr|sci-fi literatura|steampunk
• English key words: Cherie Priest|gender roles|feminism|Marleen S. Barr|science fiction|steampunk
• Academic year of topic announcement: 2016/2017
• Thesis type: diploma thesis
• Thesis language: angličtina
• Department: Department of Anglophone Literatures and Cultures (21-UALK)
• Supervisor: Mgr. Pavla Veselá, Ph.D.
• Author: hidden - assigned and confirmed by the Study Dept.
• Date of registration: 19.10.2016
• Date of assignment: 20.10.2016
• Administrator's approval: not processed yet
• Confirmed by Study dept. on: 27.10.2016
• Date and time of defence: 29.01.2018 09:00
• Date of electronic submission: 30.12.2017
• Date of proceeded defence: 29.01.2018
• Submitted/finalized: committed by student and finalized
• Opponents: David Lee Robbins, Ph.D.

Guidelines

Marleen S. Barr, one of the pioneers of feminist science fiction criticism, is an outspoken commentator on gender inequality in this genre. In her Feminist Fabulation: Space/Postmodern Fiction, Barr defines feminist science fiction as metafiction about patriarchal fiction. She speaks out against both authors and critics who recycle narratives restricted by a patriarchal view of the world in which women are silenced and/or relegated to the position of an accessory made to behave in a stereotypically feminine manner. In this respect, feminist steampunk fiction can be read as a meditation on established gender norms.
Cherie Priest’s work is a prime example of such a re-examination of gender stereotypes that Barr calls for. As both a woman and a writer of science fiction she has adopted a feminist approach in her steampunk series The Clockwork Century. In it, Priest examines the role of gender and class in nineteenth-century America, and often portrays the struggle of women for equality of opportunity while at the same time having to constantly re-assert their own identity. The Clockwork Century novels all feature strong female protagonists who, in their own ways, challenge established notions of femininity and masculinity.
The aim of the thesis is thus to examine feminist attitudes in The Clockwork Century series and to discuss how they impact and redefine women’s place in Priest’s fictional rewriting of the American Civil War. Barr’s feminist science fiction theory will be applied to identify and analyze how Priest’s heroines rebel against the perceived status quo. I will argue that Priest emphasizes gender and class equality through conscious self-empowerment of her heroines who liberate themselves from gender constraints by refusing to submit to the conventional feminine roles assigned to them by the patriarchal Western culture.

References

Primary Sources:
Priest, Cherie. Boneshaker. New York: Tor Books, 2009.
Priest, Cherie. Clementine. Michigan: Subterranean Press, 2010.
Priest, Cherie. Dreadnought. New York: Tor Books, 2010.
Priest, Cherie. Ganymede. New York: Tor Books 2011.
Priest, Cherie. The Inexplicables. New York: Tor Books 2012
Priest, Cherie. Fiddlehead. New York: Tor Books, 2013.

Secondary Sources:
Anselmi, Dina L., and Anne L. Law. Questions of Gender: Perspectives and Paradoxes. New York: McGraw-Hill Humanities, 1997.
Barr, Marleen S., ed. Envisioning the Future: Science Fiction and the Next Millennium. Middletown: Wesleyan University Press, 2003.
Barr, Marleen S. Feminist Fabulation: Space/Postmodern Fiction. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1992.
Gross, Cory. "A History of Misapplied Technology: The History and Development of the Steampunk Genre." Steampunk Magazine. 2 May 2007: 54-61. Web.
Heilmann, Ann, and Mark Llewellyn. Neo-Victorianism: The Victorians in the Twenty-First Century. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
James, Edward, and Farah Mendlesohn, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Kohlke, Marie-Luise, and Christian Gutleben, eds. Neo-Victorian Families: Gender, Sexual and Cultural Politics. Amsterdam and New York: Rodopi, 2011.
Onion, Rebecca. "Reclaiming the Machine: An Introductory Look at Steampunk in Everyday Practice." Neo-Victorian Studies. Autumn 2008: 138-163. Web.
Roland, Paul. Steampunk: Back to the Future with the New Victorians. Harpenden: Oldcastle Books Ltd., 2014.
Rose, Margaret. "Extraordinary Pasts: Steampunk as a Mode of Historical Representation." Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts. 2009: 319-333. Web.