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Magic in Christopher Whyte's Novels
Karlasová, Markéta ; Poncarová, Petra Johana (advisor) ; Theinová, Daniela (referee)
Thesis Abstract While the Gaelic poetry of Scottish critic, translator, and novelist Christopher Whyte (1952) has received both critical attention and acclaim, his four English-language novels to date are generally less known and studied. All Whyte's novels deal with the themes of gender, queerness, and challenging heteronormativity, with magic also featuring prominently in three of his four works. The focus of this thesis is on the three novels that present magic and fantastic elements as an important part of their plot: Euphemia MacFarrigle and the Laughing Virgin, The Warlock of Strathearn and The Cloud Machinery. The objective of this work is to give an overview of the magical elements and their use in each of the novels with focus on the integral topics of identity, gender and sexuality, while also aiming to explore the theme of the fantastic in each of them. To examine the element of the fantastic in each novel and provide a theoretical framework for the research, this thesis employs the 1975 English edition of Tzvetan Todorov's survey The Fantastic: A Structuralist Approach to a Literary Genre. The thesis is structured into three integral chapters, each focusing on one of the chosen novels, exploring the origin, use and limitations of magic in the specific novel. The thesis presents an overview of...
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