Document Type
Thesis
Degree
Master of Arts (MA)
Major/Program
English
First Advisor's Name
Martha Schoolman
First Advisor's Committee Title
Committee Chair
Second Advisor's Name
Jason Pearl
Second Advisor's Committee Title
Committee member
Third Advisor's Name
Mark Kelley
Third Advisor's Committee Title
Committee member
Keywords
Disability Studies, Narratology, Dracula, Alterity, The Other, Gothic Fiction, Carmilla. Queen of the Damned, Monstrosity, Bodily Difference, Disability, other, monster, vampire, disabled body, stoker, Bram Stoker, Anne Rice, Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
Date of Defense
3-25-2022
Abstract
The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the various depictions of monstrosity in Gothic literature through the lens of a new theoretical framework, disability narratology — coded patterns operating within literary texts that pertain to the impaired body and its portrayal as monstrous through repetitive tropes that paint bodily differences as horrifying. The villainous other, the monster, is often representative of something more than what the author plainly states. It often works as a stand-in for characteristics deemed undesirable within a cultural group. The monster is a complex being within each text, speaking—or not speaking in some instances—and acting through coded patterns that distinguish the villainous other from the acceptable norm that the main character typically represents. Likewise, disability in literature is portrayed as the antithesis of societal norms and acceptability, To do this work, this thesis will analyze three prominent vampire texts, Carmilla, by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, published in 1872, Dracula, by Bram Stoker in 1897, and Queen of the Damned, by Anne Rice in 1988.
Identifier
FIDC010684
Recommended Citation
Oharriz, Tiffany M., "The Monster Within: Disability Narratology and the Representations of Bodily Difference, Disability, and Monstrosity in Gothic Fiction" (2022). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 4980.
https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/4980
Included in
Literature in English, British Isles Commons, Literature in English, North America Commons
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