|
|
"New Future Selves:" Gender Fluidity in the Short Stories of Jackie Kay and Ali Smith
Stehlíková, Anežka ; Nováková, Soňa (advisor) ; Poncarová, Petra Johana (referee)
1 Abstract This master's thesis examines and juxtaposes the portrayal and construction of gender fluidity in the short stories of two contemporary Scottish writers, Jackie Kay and Ali Smith, positing that it operates as an argument against, and subversion of, culturally and socially specific norms and standards. To be able to elaborate on this argument and accurately assess the examined works, the second chapter of the thesis delineates the theoretical framework through the lens of which the subsequent analysis is carried out. First, the juncture of postmodern feminism and queer theory is used to outline the germane theory of gender. Namely, the ideas of Judith Butler and Mimi Marinucci are drawn on to define gender, its discursive production, performativity, and sociocultural contingence; to explain how and why it may be understood as fluid and what the thesis signifies by the term fluidity, and to underline the means of subversion and effecting change as understood by the two theorists. Subsequently, the chapter maps the intersection of Scottishness and the Scottish sociocultural sphere with gender to elucidate why Kay and Smith's depictions are considered subversive. This section of the thesis summarises the contemporary political agenda regarding gender in Scotland, highlights the traditionally...
|
|
|
Renderings of the Self: The Theme of Fluid Identity in the Work of Jackie Kay
Stehlíková, Anežka ; Nováková, Soňa (advisor) ; Poncarová, Petra Johana (referee)
The bachelor thesis performs an analysis of the treatment of Scottish national and gender identity in selected poetry and fiction of the third modern Scots Makar, Jackie Kay (1961-), and argues that the author's works, regardless of genre, portray identities as self-invented and fluid rather than fixed and environment- or birth-determined. Kay's speakers, characters and narrators recurrently (re)construct their own identities, often in defiance of socially given norms, and, consequently, display one's ability to flexibly formulate own self-concept. The argumentation demonstrating the given depiction of identities is based on an examination of the poetry collection The Adoption Papers (1991), the novel Trumpet (1998), and the short story collection Why Don't You Stop Talking (2002) respectively. The analysis of Kay's poetry and fiction is preceded by the survey of the theoretical framework germane to the identity subcategories focused on in the thesis: Scottishness and gender identity. Conceiving both as social identities which, among other components, constitute an individual's self-concept, the overview provides the chief approaches to the formation of each identity category separately. Delimiting the civic, ethnic and cultural perception of Scottish national identity and the essentialist,...
|
guest ::
RSS feed.