Graduation Date
Summer 2017
Document Type
Dissertation/Thesis
Program
Master of Arts degree with a major in English, emphasis in Literary & Cultural Studies
First Committee Member Name
Mary Ann Creadon
First Committee Member Email
mac4@humboldt.edu
First Committee Member Affililation
HSU Faculty or Staff
Second Committee Member Name
Michael Eldridge
Second Committee Member Email
michael.eldridge@humboldt.edu
Second Committee Member Affililation
HSU Faculty or Staff
Subject Categories
English
Abstract
In this project, I examine three major British works of literature produced in the last two decades of the nineteenth century: Robert Louis Stevenson’s The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray, and Thomas Hardy’s Jude the Obscure. I show that these works reflect popular trends and fears that arose during this time, including notions of decadence and fears of degeneration. Using Julia Kristeva’s conception of abjection, as described in her work Powers of Horror, I argue that developments throughout the Victorian era: namely the advent of the theory of evolution, the rise and expansion of large-scale industrialization, and the moral and economic benefits and ramifications of global colonization, ultimately led to social and individual insecurities that reverberated throughout popular literature of the time. I conclude that these cultural attitudes and insecurities can be seen reflected in works of literature and in their depiction of characters and behaviors whose self-abjection are a reflection of a society with an unstable self-image.
Citation Style
MLA
Recommended Citation
Imholte, Robin A., "Abjection in late nineteenth century British literature" (2017). Projects. 17.
https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/projects/17
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