Thesis (D.Phil.)--University of Oxford, 2008. / Supervisor: Dr Ros Ballaster. Bibliography: leaves 281-290.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2005. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 173-182). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Abstract Both Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen) and Bridget Jones’s Diary (Helen Fielding) have been thoroughly examined by literary critics. When discussed from a feminist perspective, critics are ambiguous as some claim that the novels work against feminist values rather than the reverse. This essay aims to add to the existing discussion, with focus on narration, specifically the narrative authority heroines Elizabeth and Bridget claim. Thus, it is situated within feminist narratology, examining the discourse of the narrative rather than the story. Analysis is conducted with Alison Case’s concept feminine narration, where women traditionally have been narrative witnesses without authority. Through acts of plotting and preaching, authority is claimed by which the narrator can control the meaning the reader is meant to derive from the narrative. I argue that Elizabeth and Bridget both assert narrative authority throughout their stories, thus breaking gendered conventions by claiming agency in traditionally male positions. Additionally, the comparative analysis enables discussion on “Chick lit” literary status, which has been questioned by critics.             Analysis shows that both Elizabeth and Bridget assert narrative authority throughout their stories, by acts of plotting and preaching. Often, both heroines meet male characters attempting to usurp narrative authority by assuming the role of master-narrator, a figure who traditionally possesses more authority. By avoiding these attempts, Elizabeth and Bridget escape the position as narrative witnesses and claim authority, thus directing the readers towards the intended meaning of respective narratives. Furthermore, the comparative analysis opens up for a broader discussion of issues women have faced, and continue to face, throughout time.

This thesis is a collection of poems.

This thesis analyses protagonist Elizabeth Bennet in Jane Austen’s book Pride and Prejudice (1813) and protagonist Bridget Jones in Helen Fielding’s book Bridget Jones' Diary (1996) from a gender theory perspective. I use a comparative method to analyse how two themes are portrayed in the books: family and marriage and education and career.  The study shows that Elizabeth, from a gender perspective, is controlled by the society and her family's expectations that she must marry a man of the right table. Bridget, on the other hand, lives in accordance to the patriarchal norm, but this seems rather appear on a more personal level. Regarding education and career it seems to have gone from seeing this as an important part of being a woman not just for herself personally but also for being more attractive for men, to an objective perspective where education seems to define your work ability instead of the woman herself.  The study, in a didactic point of view, can be useful for teachers to help their pupils to see how gender is constructed and deconstructed from time to time. The syllabus of the subject of Swedish gives opportunities for the pupils to discuss and maybe first and foremost problematize gender and equality in both a literary historical perspective and a personal way.

Defoe and Fielding were intensely concerned with the social conditions of the time. The upsurge in crime constituted a threat to the ordinary citizen as well as a danger to civilized values. As Fielding in particular showed, exploitation of the ordinary citizen took place under the guise of respectability. It was the task of the writer to remove this guise and examine the real motives behind the actions of a particular individual and judge that person according to strict moral standards. The criminal was not simply a member of the lower classes; he could be a member of the aristocracy or of the government. The times were corrupt; Defoe and Fielding had to come to terms with this corruption by examining the motives behind it and the possible remedies for it. The difference between the various levels in society becomes blurred in their writings in order to make the point that robbery on the highway and robbery by the apparently respectable memeers of society are one and the same thing; both have to be exposed in order to preserve civilized standards. Both writers were searching for the truth, and took care to examine the individual circumstances surrounding a person's lapse into crime so that the fairest judgement possible could be made. This seeking after truth guides them in their fight against crime and corruption

No description available.

This thesis examines Fielding Burke's Call Home the Heart, Grace Lumpkin's To Make My Bread, and Myra Page's Gathering Storm through the lens of ecofeminism, an interdisciplinary theory that contributes the necessary insight into the link between the abuse of power on personal, political, and economic levels that underlies the human oppression and environmental exploitation experienced by the novels' characters and communities. A resurrection of the Gastonia novels through the framework of ecofeminism will contribute to the scholarly discourse regarding this maturing theory as well as intensify the critical body of work concerning the Gastonia novels themselves. This thesis, in conjunction with the works of instrumental Appalachian scholars, literary critics, and historians as well as major landmark texts in the field of ecofeminism such as Kathy Warren's Ecofeminism: Women, Culture, Nature and Greta Gaard's Ecofeminism: Women, Animals, Nature, purposes to advance the critical standing of the Gastonia novels.

The eighteenth century is famous for producing literary satire, primarily in verse (and later prose) form. However, during this period, a new dramatic form also arose of which satire was the controlling element. And like the writers of prose and verse satires, playwrights of dramatic satire claimed that their primary aim was the correction of moral faults and failings. Of course, they did not always succeed in this aim. History has shown a few, however, to have had a significant impact on the ideas and lives of their audiences. This thesis is an attempt to demonstrate how these satiric dramas achieved their reformative aims by tracing the theatrical experience of an eighteenth-century audience through Victor Turner's stages of liminality. Turner explains the different ways in which specific genres of theatre (1) create a performance space that is apart from, but still draws symbolically on, the outside world, (2) invite the participation of their audiences in that space, and (3) urge audiences to act in different ways as they leave the theatre space. By examining plays in these ways, we can see how the plays affected the ideas and outlooks of audience members. Because satiric drama invited a high level of participation from audience members, because it invited them into a very "liminal" space, it frequently served to sway audience members' tastes, and in some cases even helped to revolutionize social and literary institutions.

In the chapters of my thesis, I explore how "soft" consciousness-raising novels of the first, second and third-waves of feminism practice underground feminism by covertly exposing women's socio-political issues outside of the confines of feminist rhetoric. In moving away from the negative connotations of political language, the authors enable the education of female audiences otherwise out of reach. Working from and extending on various theorists, I construct a theoretical model for what I term underground feminism. Running on the principal of conducting feminist activism without using feminist rhetoric, underground feminism challenges the notion that "subtle" feminism means weak feminism. In illustrating how underground feminism works in novels and in physical activism, I hope to encourage the recognition of the political utility of women's writings that do not fit the strict archetypes of feminist authorship. Analyzing the effectiveness of covert feminist conversion narratives, I discuss one soft consciousness-raising novel for each wave. The novels - Sarah Grand's The Heavenly Twins (1893), Dorothy Bryant's Ella Price's Journal (1972), and Helen Fielding's Bridget Jones's Diary (1996) - accused by scholars of employing weak feminist politics, are investigated as feminist literature that disidentifies with the feminist label with the possibility of facilitating a wide spread conversion process in "would be" feminists. After analyzing how the novels place women's issues at the center of discourse by discussing female education, women's voice, and narrative control, I consider how the underground feminism implicit in the texts extends to activism outside of literature. I also end by arguing that these novels enable a more intricate conversation about women's issues in which the voices of both self-identified and non-identified feminists are recognized.