This thesis examines selected prose fiction works of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley in an effort to establish a clearer understanding of the creative principles informing her writing, based on more evidence than her well-known novel Frankenstein provides. Overturning the hitherto dismissive and/or reductive critiques of her lesser-known works, this thesis challenges negative assessments by reinterpreting the structure of Shelley's fiction. Concentrating particularly on the early Frankenstein(1818), Mathilda (written in 1819), and The Last Man (1826), with a focus on the use of insistent embedded quotations, this thesis begins by exploring Shelley's belief in textuality as a form of "grafting." As scholars have suggested, Shelley's literary borrowings are a result of her materialist-based views of human reality. The persistent use of embedded quotations is one way in which Shelley's fiction represents texts as collations of materials. The core of the argument posits that citational "grafting" has distinctive and striking effects in each of the works examined. In Frankenstein, quotations underscore existential alienation by pointing to the need for texts to fill in the lacunae of human understanding; in Mathilda, the narrator uses citations to create a sense of personal identity; and in The Last Man, citational excerpts are used with the assumption that they are shared pockets of meaning belonging to a community of human readers. This reconceptualization of Shelley's writing contributes to the generic taxonomies that are now being used to retheorize "the novel" in more inclusive and specific ways.

Mary Shelley's gothic novel Frankenstein has traditionally been read by critics as a cautionary tale and social responsibility for their creations. However, like many of its gothic sisters, the novel also contains other substantial lodes which can be mined by the twentieth century literary critic.One largely ignored and potentially rich vein in the novel is the compulsive and self-destructive behavior of Dr. Frankenstein himself. No critic has yet borrowed Freud's black bag of psychoanalytical tools and used them to plumb the subterranean depths of the young scientist's labyrinthian unconscious.After the death of his mother, and despite his protestations to the contrary, Dr. Frankenstein's real desires are unconscious, the primary one being the need for closure of the family circle. These repressed desires are fulfilled by his alter ego, the homicidal monster he stitches together in an obsessive effort to reconcile life and death. The study seeks to reveal Dr. Frankenstein as an allegorical figure representing the dark side of man's nature.

No description available.

The Sentimental/Gothic myth, which dominates much of English and American literature during the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, represents a cultural attempt to achieve unity, but the attempt is foredoomed because the essence of the myth is division. The myth's metaphor is sexual. The division that forms the acknowledged basis of the myth is that between two modes of being, seen as sexual modes: masculinity (power, aggression, violence, energy, dominance, etc.) and femininity (attraction, passivity, submissiveness, etc.). The unity sought by the myth on its acknowledged level is domestic harmony, the infusion of masculine strength into feminine passivity, the taming of masculine power by feminine submissiveness. Thus the myth regardsmarriage as the perfect state and the family as the perfect model of cultural unity. But the myth itself is flawed by a further division, of which the masculine/feminine division is actually a reflection: this is a division of the conscious, Sentimental myth from the largely unconscious Gothic myth. The Gothic, reversing the acknowledged direction of the myth (or carrying it full-circle to its inevitable conclusion), seeks the destruction of femininity by masculinity, the throwing off of feminine submissiveness by masculine violence. Thus it regards death(the "marriage" of murderer and victim) as the perfect state, and sterility, the blasted family, as the perfect model of unity.Mary Shelley's Frankenstein reflects both mythic divisions and their close interrelationship. Its hero seeks to establish his Sentimental masculinity and to achieve domestic unity, but in doing so creates the Gothic Monster who destroys the creator's beloved, his family, and finally drains life from the hero himself. Frankenstein, in form, themes, and characterization, reflects the ironies by which the Sentimental/Gothic myth is divided against itself, and shows the tragic consequences of its divisions.

Magister Artium - MA / This thesis will examine the representation of the figure of Percy Shelley in the text of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818). My hypothesis is that Percy Shelley represents to Mary Shelley a figure who embodies the contrasting and more startling aspects of both the Romantic Movement and the Enlightenment era. This I will demonstrate through a close examination of the text of Frankenstein and through an exploration of the figure of Percy Shelley as he is represented in the novel. The representation of Shelley is most marked in the figures of Victor and the Creature, but is not exclusively confined to them. The thesis will attempt to show that Victor and the Creature can be read as figures for the Enlightenment and the Romantic movements respectively. As several critics have noted, these fictional protagonists also represent the divergent elements of Percy Shelley’s own divided personality, as he was both a dedicated man of science and a radical Romantic poet. He is a figure who exemplifies the contrasting notions of the archetypal Enlightenment man, while simultaneously embodying the Romantic resistance to some aspects of that zeitgeist. Lately, there has been a resurgence of interest in the novel by contemporary authors, biographers and playwrights, who have responded to it in a range of literary forms. I will pay particular attention to Peter Ackroyd’s, The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein (2011), which shows that the questions Frankenstein poses to the reader are still with us today. I suggest that this is one of the main impulses behind this recent resurgence of interest in Mary Shelley’s novel. In particular, my thesis will explore the idea that the question of knowledge itself, and the scientific and moral limits which may apply to it, has a renewed urgency in early 21st century literature. In Frankenstein this is a central theme and is related to the figure of the “modern Prometheus”, which was the subtitle of Frankenstein, and which points to the ambitious figure who wishes to advance his own knowledge at all costs. I will consider this point by exploring the ways in which the tensions embodied by Percy Shelley and raised by the original novel are addressed in these contemporary texts. The renewed interest in these questions suggests that they remain pressing in our time, and continue to haunt us in our current society, not unlike the Creature in the novel.

The notion, which has persisted over many years, of Mary Shelley as the conservative daughter of a radical, proto-feminist mother can be traced to the views of Edward Trelawney, a contemporary and fair-weather friend of Shelley. This study, by exploring female identity, largely in terms of modern feminist psychoanalytic theory, in several of Shelley's lesser-known novels, attempts to contribute to the efforts of those who have challenged such notions and who have strived to render a more accurate portrait of Mary Shelley. / Anne Mellor's discussion of female identity in Shelley's sentimental novels, Mathilda, Lodore and Falkner, (in her book Mary Shelley: Her Life, Her Fiction, Her Monsters) does much to dispel the notion of Shelley's apathy with regard to gender politics. Mellor convincingly argues that these novels celebrate what she terms the "relational" identity of their heroines, and thus "support a feminist position which argues that female culture is morally superior to male culture." She further maintains, however, that these novels simultaneously reveal the damage that such an identity can do to a woman's personal development. / My paper challenges Mellor's assertion that Lodore and Falkner Shelley's last novels, portray relational identity with ambivalence. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Letras, Departamento de Teoria Literária e Literaturas, 2008. / Submitted by Priscilla Brito Oliveira (priscilla.b.oliveira@gmail.com) on 2009-09-09T20:59:14Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissert_Janaina Fontes.pdf: 962665 bytes, checksum: d3e9bfcb2facb6d6d8d11970f7ce2ec6 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Guimaraes Jacqueline(jacqueline.guimaraes@bce.unb.br) on 2009-12-12T12:18:06Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissert_Janaina Fontes.pdf: 962665 bytes, checksum: d3e9bfcb2facb6d6d8d11970f7ce2ec6 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2009-12-12T12:18:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissert_Janaina Fontes.pdf: 962665 bytes, checksum: d3e9bfcb2facb6d6d8d11970f7ce2ec6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / A experiência da maternidade tem suscitado complexos sentimentos desde os mitos existentes nas primeiras sociedades, que comparavam a capacidade reprodutiva das mulheres às forças da natureza. Durante os séculos, tal comparação foi distorcida pela sociedade patriarcal para satisfazer seus interesses, causando a opressão e o sofrimento de milhares de mulheres. Esse processo está presente também na literatura, que é capaz de refletir e perpetuar essas distorções ou desconstruí-las, contribuindo para novas visões dessa complexa experiência. Neste trabalho, analiso a representação da maternidade em romances de autoria feminina, mais precisamente, Maria, or the Wrongs of Woman e Mary, a Fiction, de Mary Wollstonecraft (escritora inglesa do século XVIII), e Fair Exchange, de Michèle Roberts (escritora inglesa contemporânea), auxiliada por exemplos em diversos textos teóricos de como o papel da mãe foi construído ao longo do tempo e pela contribuição dos estudos feministas para a desconstrução dos mitos patriarcais sobre a maternidade. _________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT / The experience of motherhood has roused complex feelings since the myths existing in the first societies, wich used to compare women’s reproductive capability to the forces of nature. Throughout the centuries, such comparison was distorted by the patriarchal society in order to satisfy its interests, causing the oppression and the suffering of thousands of women. This process is also present in literature, which is able to reflect and perpetuate these distortions or deconstruct them, contributing to new views on this complex experience. In this work I analyze the representation of motherhood in novels written by women, more precisely, Maria, or the Wrongs of Woman and Mary, a Fiction, by Mary Wollstonecraft (eighteenth-century English writer) and Fair Exchange, by Michèle Roberts (comtemporary English writer), assisted by examples in different texts of how the mother’s role has been constructed throughout time and by the contributions of the feminist studies for the deconstruction of patriarchal myths about motherhood.

No description available.

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