Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1996. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [269]-287).

A literatura romântica inglesa se constituiu basicamente de poesia, pois foi produzida em uma época em que ficção em prosa era vista como mero entretenimento. Alguns romancistas, excepcionalmente, são rotulados como “românticos”, mas Mary Shelley não aparece entre eles. Durante mais de um século, sua obra permaneceu restrita às sessões dos livros que tratam da exótica literatura gótica. A presente dissertação argumenta que a crítica literária não tem reconhecido a óbvia relação de Frankenstein com o romantismo inglês. Para evidenciar tal envolvimento, será apresentada uma análise do conjunto de imagens do romance que busque revelar os elementos românticos ali contidos. A análise se baseia, principalmente, nas idéias de Northrop Frye a respeito da natureza e função de imagens na literatura. O conceito de intertextualidade também será utilizado como ferramenta para a análise da inserção de imagens no romance e da inserção do romance no contexto do romantismo inglês. O trabalho é dividido em três partes. A primeira explora as relações de Frankenstein com a vida de Mary Shelley e com o romantismo inglês. A segunda expõe a base teórica em que esta dissertação se apóia. A última apresenta a minha leitura da teia de imagens do romance. Ao final, espero poder validar a tese proposta: que Frankenstein incorpora os valores estéticos e filosóficos do romantismo e merece, portanto, ser situado no seu devido lugar no cânone literário inglês como o representante legítimo do romantismo em prosa. / Romantic English literature – written at a time when prose fiction was predominantly a medium for sheer entertainment – is rooted in poetry. One or two novelists may exceptionally be granted the adjective “Romantic”, but Mary Shelley is not ranked among them. For centuries, her work has been restricted to that section in handbooks reserved for exotic Gothic literature. This thesis argues that literary criticism has failed to recognize Frankenstein’s obvious relation with the movement. The argument will be fostered by a brief look at such handbooks, and developed through the analysis of the imagery of the novel, so as to trace the Romantic elements there contained. The analysis relies mainly on the frame developed by Northrop Frye concerning the nature and function of imagery in literature. The concept of intertextuality will also be useful as a tool to account for the insertion of images in the novel, and for the novel’s insertion within the Romantic context. The work is divided into three parts. The first contextualizes the main issues set forth by Frankenstein, establishing connections with the life of the author and with the Romantic movement. The second exposes the theoretical basis on which the thesis is grounded. The last presents my reading of the novel’s web of images. In the end, I hope to validate the thesis proposed, that Frankenstein embodies the aesthetic and philosophical assessments of the English Romantic agenda, and therefore deserves to be situated in its due place in the English Literary canon as the legitimate representative of Romanticism in prose form.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:25:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-03-02Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:13:43Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 alegrette_ay_me_arafcl.pdf: 573460 bytes, checksum: 4e564e7284dc1d936b52f3ee5ff8275f (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / A dissertação de mestrado, “Frankenstein: uma releitura do mito de criação”, tem como principal objetivo demonstrar como a escritora inglesa Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, por meio de seu romance Frankenstein, ou o moderno Prometeu (1818), conseguiu criar um novo mito, isto é, o mito de Frankenstein, contribuiu para a renovação do romance gótico e para a criação de uma nova modalidade literária - a ficção científica. No primeiro capítulo foi realizado um estudo sobre as origens, características e principais obras do romance gótico. No segundo capítulo é abordada a relação entre mito e literatura e são analisados quais mitos aparecem no enredo do romance de Mary Shelley, enfatizando-se a importância do relato mítico de Prometeu. No terceiro capítulo é estudada a construção do discurso narrativo mítico de Frankenstein e é demonstrada a intertextualidade dessa obra com outros textos, tais como poemas, romances e estudos filosóficos e científicos. No quarto e último capítulo é demonstrado a releitura do mito de criação feita por Mary Shelley, a conseqüente criação do mito de Frankenstein, e as diversas interpretações e releituras que o romance recebeu, terminando com Blade Runner (O caçador de andróides, 1982), filme do cineasta inglês Ridley Scott que, ao promover a atualização do mito de Frankenstein, deu uma contribuição significativa para sua permanência em nossa cultura / The main aim of this Master’s Thesis, “Frankenstein: a rewriting of the myth of creation, is demonstrate how the English writer Mary Shelley in her novel Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus (1818), created a new kind of myth, renewed the gothic novel and gave origin to a new literary genre - science fiction. The first chapter discusses – the origins, characteristics and main works of the Gothic literature. The second chapter explores the relationships between myth and literature, and analyses which myths are present in the plot of Mary Shelley’s novel, stressing the importance of the Promethean’s story. The third chapter is concerned with the construction of mythic narrative discourse and with the novel’s intertextuality with different kind texts, such as poems, another novels and philosophical and scientific studies. The fourth and last chapter concentrates on Mary Shelley’s rewriting of the myth of creation, on the different ways her novel was interpreted and read, and it finishes with study of the film by the English director Ridley Scott, Blade Runner (1982), that offered a major contribution to update and foster the permanence of the Frankenstein’s myth in our culture

A literatura romântica inglesa se constituiu basicamente de poesia, pois foi produzida em uma época em que ficção em prosa era vista como mero entretenimento. Alguns romancistas, excepcionalmente, são rotulados como “românticos”, mas Mary Shelley não aparece entre eles. Durante mais de um século, sua obra permaneceu restrita às sessões dos livros que tratam da exótica literatura gótica. A presente dissertação argumenta que a crítica literária não tem reconhecido a óbvia relação de Frankenstein com o romantismo inglês. Para evidenciar tal envolvimento, será apresentada uma análise do conjunto de imagens do romance que busque revelar os elementos românticos ali contidos. A análise se baseia, principalmente, nas idéias de Northrop Frye a respeito da natureza e função de imagens na literatura. O conceito de intertextualidade também será utilizado como ferramenta para a análise da inserção de imagens no romance e da inserção do romance no contexto do romantismo inglês. O trabalho é dividido em três partes. A primeira explora as relações de Frankenstein com a vida de Mary Shelley e com o romantismo inglês. A segunda expõe a base teórica em que esta dissertação se apóia. A última apresenta a minha leitura da teia de imagens do romance. Ao final, espero poder validar a tese proposta: que Frankenstein incorpora os valores estéticos e filosóficos do romantismo e merece, portanto, ser situado no seu devido lugar no cânone literário inglês como o representante legítimo do romantismo em prosa. / Romantic English literature – written at a time when prose fiction was predominantly a medium for sheer entertainment – is rooted in poetry. One or two novelists may exceptionally be granted the adjective “Romantic”, but Mary Shelley is not ranked among them. For centuries, her work has been restricted to that section in handbooks reserved for exotic Gothic literature. This thesis argues that literary criticism has failed to recognize Frankenstein’s obvious relation with the movement. The argument will be fostered by a brief look at such handbooks, and developed through the analysis of the imagery of the novel, so as to trace the Romantic elements there contained. The analysis relies mainly on the frame developed by Northrop Frye concerning the nature and function of imagery in literature. The concept of intertextuality will also be useful as a tool to account for the insertion of images in the novel, and for the novel’s insertion within the Romantic context. The work is divided into three parts. The first contextualizes the main issues set forth by Frankenstein, establishing connections with the life of the author and with the Romantic movement. The second exposes the theoretical basis on which the thesis is grounded. The last presents my reading of the novel’s web of images. In the end, I hope to validate the thesis proposed, that Frankenstein embodies the aesthetic and philosophical assessments of the English Romantic agenda, and therefore deserves to be situated in its due place in the English Literary canon as the legitimate representative of Romanticism in prose form.

A literatura romântica inglesa se constituiu basicamente de poesia, pois foi produzida em uma época em que ficção em prosa era vista como mero entretenimento. Alguns romancistas, excepcionalmente, são rotulados como “românticos”, mas Mary Shelley não aparece entre eles. Durante mais de um século, sua obra permaneceu restrita às sessões dos livros que tratam da exótica literatura gótica. A presente dissertação argumenta que a crítica literária não tem reconhecido a óbvia relação de Frankenstein com o romantismo inglês. Para evidenciar tal envolvimento, será apresentada uma análise do conjunto de imagens do romance que busque revelar os elementos românticos ali contidos. A análise se baseia, principalmente, nas idéias de Northrop Frye a respeito da natureza e função de imagens na literatura. O conceito de intertextualidade também será utilizado como ferramenta para a análise da inserção de imagens no romance e da inserção do romance no contexto do romantismo inglês. O trabalho é dividido em três partes. A primeira explora as relações de Frankenstein com a vida de Mary Shelley e com o romantismo inglês. A segunda expõe a base teórica em que esta dissertação se apóia. A última apresenta a minha leitura da teia de imagens do romance. Ao final, espero poder validar a tese proposta: que Frankenstein incorpora os valores estéticos e filosóficos do romantismo e merece, portanto, ser situado no seu devido lugar no cânone literário inglês como o representante legítimo do romantismo em prosa. / Romantic English literature – written at a time when prose fiction was predominantly a medium for sheer entertainment – is rooted in poetry. One or two novelists may exceptionally be granted the adjective “Romantic”, but Mary Shelley is not ranked among them. For centuries, her work has been restricted to that section in handbooks reserved for exotic Gothic literature. This thesis argues that literary criticism has failed to recognize Frankenstein’s obvious relation with the movement. The argument will be fostered by a brief look at such handbooks, and developed through the analysis of the imagery of the novel, so as to trace the Romantic elements there contained. The analysis relies mainly on the frame developed by Northrop Frye concerning the nature and function of imagery in literature. The concept of intertextuality will also be useful as a tool to account for the insertion of images in the novel, and for the novel’s insertion within the Romantic context. The work is divided into three parts. The first contextualizes the main issues set forth by Frankenstein, establishing connections with the life of the author and with the Romantic movement. The second exposes the theoretical basis on which the thesis is grounded. The last presents my reading of the novel’s web of images. In the end, I hope to validate the thesis proposed, that Frankenstein embodies the aesthetic and philosophical assessments of the English Romantic agenda, and therefore deserves to be situated in its due place in the English Literary canon as the legitimate representative of Romanticism in prose form.

This thesis explores the relationship between the Female Gothic novel of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century and the social context of women at that time. In the examination of the primary works of Ann Radcliffe, Mary Wollstonecraft and Mary Shelley, this study investigates how these female writers work within the Gothic genre to explore issues related to the role of women in their society, in particular those concerned with sexual identity. It is contended that the Gothic genre provides these authors with the ideal vehicle through which to critique the patriarchal definition of the female, a definition which confines and marginalizes women, denying the female any sexual autonomy. The Introduction defines the scope of the thesis by delineating the differences between the Female Gothic and the Male Gothic. Arguing that the Female Gothic shuns the voyeuristic victimisation of women which characterizes much of the Male Gothic, it is contended that the Female Gothic is defined by its interest in, and exploration of, issues which concern the status of women in a patriarchy. It is asserted that it is this concern with female gender roles that connects the overtly radical work of Mary Wollstonecraft with the oblique critique evident in her contemporary, Ann Radcliffe’s, novels. It is these concerns too, which haunt Mary Shelley’s texts, published two decades later. Chapter One outlines the status of women in the patriarchal society of the late eighteenth century, a period marked by political and social upheaval. This period saw the increasing division of men and women into the “separate spheres” of the public and domestic worlds, and the consequent birth of the ideal of “Angel in the House” which became entrenched in the nineteenth century. The chapter examines how women writers were influenced by this social context and what effect it had on the presentation of female characters in their work, in particular in terms of their depiction of motherhood. Working from the premise that, in order to fully understand the portrayal of female sexuality in the texts, the depiction of the male must be examined, Chapter Two analyses the male characters in terms of their relationship to the heroines and/or the concept of the “feminine”. Although the male characters differ from text to text and author to author, it is argued that in their portrayal of “heroes and villains” the authors were providing a critique of the patriarchal system. While some of the texts depict male characters that challenge traditional stereotypes concerning masculinity, others outline the disastrous and sometimes fatal consequences for both men and women of the rigid gender divisions which disallow the male access to the emotional realm restricted by social prescriptions to the private, domestic world of the female. It is contended that, as such, all of the texts assert the necessity for male and female, masculine and feminine to be united on equal terms. Chapter Three interprets the heroine’s journey through sublime landscapes and mysterious buildings as a journey from childhood innocence to sexual maturity, illustrating the intrinsic link that exists between the settings of Gothic novels and female sexuality. The chapter first examines the authors’ use of the Burkean concept of the sublime and contends that the texts offer a significant revision of the concept. In contrast to Burke’s overtly masculinist definition of the sublime, the texts assert that the female can and does have access to it, and that this access can be used to overcome patriarchal oppression. Secondly, an analysis of the image of the castle and related structures reveals that they can symbolise both the patriarchy and the feminine body. Contending that the heroine’s experiences within these structures enable her to move from innocence to experience, it is asserted that the knowledge that she gains, during her journeys, of herself and of society allows her to assert her independence as a sexually adult woman.

This dissertation charts a lineage of nineteenth-century British literary interventions into the arena of science and philosophy jointly known as vitalism. Intended in part as a contribution to the history of science, Passive Life reconstructs the largely forgotten genealogy of a robust tradition of Victorian-era materialist vitalism, or vital materialism: the theory that a principle of life inheres in all physical matter. I connect this scientific trend to a concurrent surge of cultural engagement with the seventeenth-century philosophy of Baruch Spinoza, whose monist doctrine received renewed attention as experimental developments in biology, physics, physiology, and epidemiology increasingly supported a vital materialist account of the nature of life. Through readings of novels by Mary Shelley, Harriet Martineau, and George Eliot, I position these three women writers as key figures in vitalism’s cultural reception. By attending to the thematic resonances between their novels and materialist vitalism’s major principles and provocations, Passive Life traces the narrative arc of Victorian vitalism, deepening and expanding extant scholarly accounts of the rich interchange among literature and science in the nineteenth century. Moving beyond reception history, however, this dissertation argues that the novels of Shelley, Martineau, and Eliot worked to construct critical interpretations of vitalist theory with a shared emphasis on passivity as a fundamental feature of life. Through innovative techniques of description and characterization, their fiction locates the passivity of life at the level of the material body, in its inherent contingency, fluidity, and impressibility. The view of embodied subjectivity that thus emerges from these novels complicates the liberal humanist model that rose to predominance in Victorian culture and privileged an active, self-determining subject. Within the counter-tradition to which Shelley, Martineau, and Eliot belonged, the idea of “passive life” occasioned pressing ethical and political quandaries involving the relationships between self and other and between subject and environment. On the one hand, treating embodied life as passive pointed speculatively toward more liberated, open-ended, and mutually sustaining forms of communal being. On the other hand, “passive life” also suggested the vulnerability and precarity of bodies helplessly exposed to their material and affective surroundings, raising important questions regarding intention, obligation, and accountability. How do we live well in a world where so many other embodied lives impress upon our own? Can pain and harm be prevented in such a world? What habits of perception and practices of sociality might be evolved and adapted to the realities of passive life? In confronting these questions, nineteenth-century British fiction provides conceptual frameworks well suited to interrogating the political and ethical implications of the twenty-first-century new materialist turn.

The word "necrophilia" brings a particular definition readily to mind – that of an act of sexual intercourse with a corpse, probably a female corpse at that. But the definition of the word did not always have this connotation; quite literally the word means "love of the dead," or "a morbid attraction to death." An examination of nineteenth-century literature reveals a gradual change in relationships between the living and the dead, culminating in the sexualized representation of corpses at the close of the century. The works examined for necrophilic content are: Mary Wollstonecraft’s Mary, A Fiction, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights, and Bram Stoker’s Dracula and The Jewel of Seven Stars.

After 1815's eruption of Mount Tambora, the following period was named the "Year without a Summer" and experienced irregularly cold weather, failed crops, rampant disease, and riots. In the summer of 1816, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley met in the Alps and wrote "Darkness," "Mont Blanc," and Frankenstein respectively. This thesis focuses on these works' depictions of nature in light of how these features may have been impacted by the climate. It argues in Chapter One that the volcanic eruption caused global climate changes that affected these writers. In Chapter Two, it illustrates differences in nature's representation between first generation and second generation Romantic works. The conclusion synthesizes the arguments made in Chapters One and Two, suggesting that 1816's climate affected these writers in such a way as to produce an environment from which science fiction could emerge in Frankenstein. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2015. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

A presente dissertação tem como objetivo estabelecer um diálogo entre três obras da literatura britânica do século XIX: o romance Frankenstein (1818), da autora Mary W. Shelley; a novela O Médico e o Monstro (1886), de autoria de Robert Louis Stevenson; e o romance A Ilha do Dr. Moreau (1896), de H. G. Wells. Tal comparação será feita com base nas convenções advindas dos gêneros Gótico e Ficção científica, presentes nas obras. Como principal alicerce teórico para a definição de gêneros entendem-se as considerações de Tzvetan Todorov, que defende que os gêneros são inevitáveis como horizonte de interpretação, além de serem entidades em constante mudança numa cadeia de influências através da qual novos gêneros são criados a partir de outros pré-existentes. O presente trabalho parte desse pressuposto para determinar de que maneira os gêneros Gótico e Ficção científica estão presentes nas obras, observando como os traços do Gótico, ao se adaptarem através do tempo, deram lugar a convenções ainda semelhantes, mas que já apontavam para o que posteriormente seria considerado um novo gênero literário. Primeiramente, são feitas considerações sobre conceitos de gênero textual/literário através do tempo, as quais mostram o quanto seu estudo permaneceu constante. A seguir são definidas certas convenções dos dois gêneros, assim como o modo como dialogam entre si. A segunda parte do trabalho analisa as duas primeiras obras em ordem cronológica, Frankenstein e O Médico e o Monstro, de maneira a perceber a predominância de convenções do Gótico – especialmente relacionadas ao conflito interior dos personagens, como o "duplo" – ao mesmo tempo que a emergência de temas da ciência, como os de criador/criatura e ambição científica. O último capítulo verifica como a primeira fase da Ficção científica de H. G. Wells em geral e A Ilha do Dr. Moreau em particular resgatam convenções dos dois gêneros supracitados, ao mesmo tempo servindo como consolidador das convenções do último. Conclui-se, portanto, que houve uma evolução que possibilitou a emergência de um novo gênero ligado ao contexto histórico das obras, o que legitima a consideração dos gêneros como entidades mais livres e não restritivas, que podem estar presentes em diversas obras ao mesmo tempo e ampliar seu horizonte de interpretação. / This thesis establishes a dialogue among three books from 19th century British literature: the novel Frankenstein (1818), by M. W. Shelley; the novella Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886), by Robert Louis Stevenson; and the novel The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896), by H. G. Wells. This comparison is made based on the specific Gothic and Science fiction conventions present in the books. The main theoretical support for the definition of genres employed here comes from Tzvetan Todorov. The author argues that genres are inevitable as horizons of interpretation, entities in constant change which tend to create new genres from pre-existent ones, in a chain of influences. This thesis considers this supposition to determine how Gothic and Science fiction make themselves present in the works analyzed, in a way that Gothic traits, being adapted through time, give way to similar but yet innovative conventions, which subsequently would be considered a new literary genre. Primarily, considerations concerning the concept of genres through history are made, all of which show how this study was kept constant. Hereafter, certain conventions regarding both genres are defined, as well as the manner they dialogue amongst themselves. The second part of the thesis is dedicated to the analysis of Frankenstein and Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and establishes the predominance of Gothic conventions – especially the ones related to the inner conflict of the characters, such as the "double" –, while considering the emergence of scientific themes, such as the creator/creature relationship and scientific ambition. The last section verifies how the first cycle of H. G. Wells' Science fiction in a broad sense, and The Island of Dr. Moreau in a strict sense, reemploy conventions of both genres, serving to consolidate the latter. Therefore, it is concluded that there was an evolution which enabled the emergence of a new genre, considering the historical contexts and the books analyzed. This consideration justifies genres as wide-ranging, non-restrictive entities, which may be present in various works simultaneously and broaden their horizon of interpretation.