Linguistic Estrangement in Selected Science Fiction
| Thesis title in Czech: | Jazykové odcizení ve vybraných dílech vědeckofantastické literatury |
|---|---|
| Thesis title in English: | Linguistic Estrangement in Selected Science Fiction |
| Key words: | vědeckofantastická literatura|jazykové odcizení|genderové normy|jazyková změna|Suzette Haden Elgin|Marge Piercy|Ann Leckie |
| English key words: | science fiction|estrangement|linguistic estrangement|gender norms|gendered language|language change|Suzette Haden Elgin|Marge Piercy|Ann Leckie |
| Academic year of topic announcement: | 2017/2018 |
| Thesis type: | Bachelor's 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: | 20.02.2018 |
| Date of assignment: | 04.04.2018 |
| Administrator's approval: | not processed yet |
| Confirmed by Study dept. on: | 09.04.2018 |
| Date and time of defence: | 05.09.2019 08:30 |
| Date of electronic submission: | 13.08.2019 |
| Date of proceeded defence: | 05.09.2019 |
| Submitted/finalized: | committed by student and finalized |
| Opponents: | Colin Steele Clark, M.A. |
| Guidelines |
| Science fiction is “our best and most powerful resource for trying out social changes before we make them, to find out what their consequences might be” as stated by Suzette Haden Elgin.[1]From a wide spectrum of social changes that science-fiction narratives offer, I have chosen the perception and representation of gender and sexuality. For my analysis, I use selected science-fiction novels that are set in the future and that explore possible changes in the gender/sexuality distinctions. Woman on the Edge of Time (1976) by Marge Piercy pictures three different realities, including the familiar world, the utopian society and the dystopian world. The recently published trilogy Imperial Radch including Ancillary Justice (2013), Ancillary Sword (2014), and Ancillary Mercy (2015) by Ann Leckie can be defined as a space opera. The unifying feature of these works rests in the fact that they portray societies where gender and/or sexuality are treated differently from what is familiar in our reality, and it is possible to see the difference manifested in language. In these narratives, familiar English undergoes the transformation that enables it to express new distinctions in gender and sexuality as well as new relations between the sexes. Therefore, in my work, I seek to describe how the novels ‘estrange’ the reader from the established gender norms by means of transforming language. [1]Cited in Susan Squier and Julie Vedder, “Afterword: Encoding a Woman's Language,” Native Tongue, Suzette Haden Elgin (New York: The Feminist Press, 2002) 305. |
| References |
| Attebery, Brian. Decoding Gender in Science Fiction. New York: Routledge, 2002. Eckert Penelope and Sally McConnell-Ginet. Language and Gender. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Hubble, Nick and Aris Mousoutzanis. The Science Fiction Handbook. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013. James, Edward and Farah Mendlesohn. The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Leckie, Ann. Ancillary Justice. London: Orbit, 2013. Leckie, Ann. Ancillary Mercy. London: Orbit, 2015. Leckie, Ann. Ancillary Sword. London: Orbit, 2014. Piercy, Marge. Woman on the Edge of Time. New York: Fawcett Books, 1976. Shklovsky, Viktor. Theory of Prose. Champaign: Dalkey Archive Press, 1991. Shklovsky, Viktor. A Reader. Edited and translated by Alexandra Berlina. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2017. Suvin, Darko. Metamorphoses of Science Fiction: On the Poetics and History of a Literary Genre. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1979. Tymn, Marshall. The Science Fiction Reference Book. Washington: Starmont House, 1981. |