This paper aims at an analysis of major themes in Patrick White's novels with special attention given to the awareness of Australian identity as the chief motif in The Tree of Man, Voss, The Eye of the Storm, A Fringe of Leaves, and The Vivisector. No less important is the study into the autobiographical inspiration behind White's characters.

Women characters in American literature of the nineteenth century form an overwhelmingly lovely group, but a search through some of the overlooked works reveals a thin but discernible thread of plain, even homely, heroines. Most of these fall into the stereotypical "old maid" category, and, like their real-life counterparts, these "undesirable" women are considered failures, even if they have money or satisfying careers, because they do not have boyfriends, husbands, or children. During the twentieth century, the old maid figure develops into someone not just homely, but downright ugly; in addition, the number of these characters increases, especially in the latter half of the century. In many works written since the 1960s, the woman's ugliness is such an intrinsic part of the story that it could not take place if she were beautiful. In subtle ways, these "ugly woman" stories begin to question the overwhelming value placed on beauty, to question the narrow definition of beauty in American society as a whole, and to suggest that the price for such a "blessing" might indeed be too high. Rather than settling for being a mere "heroine"—which still carries feminine connotations of passive behavior and second-class status—the ugly woman's increase in power over her own life and the lives of others, allows her to achieve a status more in keeping with the more "masculine" and active role of hero.

This diploma thesis A Gender Analysis of Selected Novels of Miloš Urban researches two concrete literary texts, novels Sedmikostelí and Lord Mord, which are analysed from gender perspective. By using two methods, feminist "resisting reading" and discursive analysis, there are uncovered various ways of female's characters construction, which are put in the social and cultural context. Theoretically the work is patterned on Judith Fetterley's concept, which was created during second wave of feminism, and it is connected to new poststructuralist and deconstructivist approaches. In this theses literature is perceived as space of impressing and encountering different discourses. Senses, categories and relations, incuding gender relations, are deconstructed in this space. This theses's core is the analysis of different categories and forms of femininity, which are reproduced in Urban's texts. It tries to show the possibility to read literary text "against the hair" and to not succumb to its interpellations. In this way it stresses personality of reading individual and his/her ability to complete/reshape text during every single process of reading and to produce new senses and categories. Keywords: feminism, gender analysis, Lord Mord, Sedmikostelí, Urban Miloš, resisting reading, women characters

In this dissertation I attempt an evaluation of Barbara Pym as a feminist writer. I study the central protagonists in Pym's twelve novels in the context of British society in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. I have drawn on feminist critical paradigms in my reading of Pym's novels in order to highlight my insights into her women characters. Chapter One examines Pym 's use of comedy and subversion in relation to her main protagonists. Chapter Two explores the 'Excellent Woman' figure in Pym's fiction and the issue of spinsterhood. Chapter Three scrutinises Pym's use of satire and tragedy in relation to her heroines. Chapter Four investigates the emergence of the 'fallen' and 'formidable' women figures in Pym's novels, and analyses the ageing spinster figure. My conclusion is that Barbara Pym is a humanist feminist of some importance, who succeeds in illuminating her heroines' struggles against patriarchy in the context of a changing British society. / English Studies / M.A. (English)

In this dissertation I attempt an evaluation of Barbara Pym as a feminist writer. I study the central protagonists in Pym's twelve novels in the context of British society in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. I have drawn on feminist critical paradigms in my reading of Pym's novels in order to highlight my insights into her women characters. Chapter One examines Pym 's use of comedy and subversion in relation to her main protagonists. Chapter Two explores the 'Excellent Woman' figure in Pym's fiction and the issue of spinsterhood. Chapter Three scrutinises Pym's use of satire and tragedy in relation to her heroines. Chapter Four investigates the emergence of the 'fallen' and 'formidable' women figures in Pym's novels, and analyses the ageing spinster figure. My conclusion is that Barbara Pym is a humanist feminist of some importance, who succeeds in illuminating her heroines' struggles against patriarchy in the context of a changing British society. / English Studies / M.A. (English)

MAAS / M. E. R. Mathivha Centre for Languages, Arts and Culture

The purpose of this essay is to investigate how representations of bicycling women in literary works by H.G. Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, Dorothy Richardson, Grant Allen, George F. Hall, and Alice Meynell express mental and physical freedoms that had previously been denied women due to archaic societal norms. The selected pieces of literature are from the late 19th century and early 20th century, a period during which both the bicycle boom and female emancipation contributed in significant ways to societal change. Through close readings, examples are given of how the New Woman character used the bicycle as a catalyst in the struggle for emancipation and a feminist approach is applied to explore how literary bicycling women characters oppose the stipulated gender norms, challenge the prevailing gender dichotomy and hierarchy, and attain new aspects of freedom. This essay shows that the bicycle grants women characters in the selected texts not only physical aspects of freedom but psychological ones as well. / Uppsatsens mål är att undersöka hur representationer av kvinnliga cyklister i litterära verk författade av H.G. Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, Dorothy Richardson, Grant Allen, George F. Hall och Alice Meynell uppvisar olika aspekter av psykisk och fysisk frihet vilka tidigare förvägrats kvinnor på grund av konservativa samhällsnormer. De valda litterära verken är skrivna runt sekelskiftet 1900, under en tid då både cykelns popularisering och kvinnans frigörelse bidrog till samhällets omdaning. Genom närläsning ges exempel på hur den moderna kvinnan (the New Woman) som skönlitterär karaktär använde cykeln som en katalysator i kampen för frigörelse, och genom ett feministiskt perspektiv undersöks hur cyklande kvinnor motsatte sig de stipulerade könsnormerna, utmanade könsmaktsordningen, och uppnådde nya typer av frihet. Uppsatsen visar att cykeln ger kvinnliga karaktärer i de valda texterna såväl fysisk som psykisk frihet.