Gender in Selected British Twentieth-Century Dystopian Novels
| Thesis title in Czech: | Problematika genderu ve vybraných britských dystopických románech 20. století |
|---|---|
| Thesis title in English: | Gender in Selected British Twentieth-Century Dystopian Novels |
| Key words: | gender|dystopie|britská literatura|dvacáté století|Aldous Huxley|Katherine Burdekin|William Golding |
| English key words: | gender|dystopia|British literature|twentieth century|Aldous Huxley|Katherine Burdekin|William Golding |
| Academic year of topic announcement: | 2021/2022 |
| Thesis type: | Bachelor's thesis |
| Thesis language: | angličtina |
| Department: | Department of Anglophone Literatures and Cultures (21-UALK) |
| Supervisor: | Mgr. Petra Johana Poncarová, Ph.D. |
| Author: | hidden - assigned and confirmed by the Study Dept. |
| Date of registration: | 28.10.2021 |
| Date of assignment: | 01.11.2021 |
| Administrator's approval: | not processed yet |
| Confirmed by Study dept. on: | 04.11.2021 |
| Date and time of defence: | 16.06.2022 10:00 |
| Date of electronic submission: | 30.05.2022 |
| Date of proceeded defence: | 16.06.2022 |
| Submitted/finalized: | committed by student and finalized |
| Opponents: | Mgr. Miroslava Horová, Ph.D. |
| Guidelines |
| This thesis will explore the topic of gender in selected British dystopian novels from first half and middle of the 20th century, mainly Lord of the Flies (1954) by William Golding, Swastika Night (1937) by Katherine Burdekin, and Brave New World (1932) by Aldous Huxley, through the lens of gender and feminist approaches.
The theoretical part of this thesis will cover the historical background of the novels, in connection to the first wave of feminism. It will also explore the literary context and comment on the role gender plays in dystopias in general. The latter part will focus on the hierarchy and layout of the dystopian societies described in the individual novels and analyse the established ideology and its values regarding gender roles and gender-coded behaviour. These values include the position and autonomy of women and their reproductive rights or duties in Brave New World and Swastika Night or the rejection of the feminine in Lord of the Flies and its impact on the outcome of the novel. It will also examine individual characters and their acceptance of or disagreement with the values imposed by society and its influence on the story. Concepts such as toxic masculinity, patriarchal society, objectification, and gender performativity shall also be addressed and the reflection of these real-life phenomena in the selected novels will be examined. |
| References |
| Aardema, Jennifer. “The Not-Yet of Gender Equality: The Representation of Gender in Dystopian Literature.” MA thesis, University of Utrecht, 2014.
Claeys, Gregory, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Utopian Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013. Connell, R. W. Masculinities. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2005. Eylem, Jessica. “The Women of Brave New World: Aldous Huxley and the Gendered Agenda of Eugenics.” (2018) Ray Browne Conference on Cultural and Critical Studies. 2. https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/rbc/2018conference/011/2 Flood, Michael. “Toxic masculinity: A primer and commentary.” XY. 7 July 2018. https://xyonline.net/content/toxic-masculinity-primer-and-commentary. Holland, Jack. A Brief History of Misogyny – The World’s Oldest Prejudice. London: Robinson, 2006. Jones, Libby Falk. “Breaking Silence in Feminist Dystopias.” Utopian Studies, no. 3 (1991). https://www.jstor.org/stable/20718920. Lothian, Alexis. “A Speculative History of No Future: Feminist Negativity and the Queer Dystopian Impulses of Katharine Burdekin's Swastika Night.” Poetics Today 37, no. 3 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1215/03335372-3599507. |