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use of the bastard identity

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Date Issued:
2012
Summary:
This project explores the use if illegitimacy within Western discourse over the last three centuries. Illegitimacy was used in Victorian literature as a literary device to drive plot but evolved into a touchstone for Western discourse to explore the bounds of what is considered respectable society. Over time, as illegitimacy has become more mainstream, I contend illegitimate identities have been utilized to serve as a mirror for Western hegemony. In the first chapter, I explore the origins of illegitimacy being used as a literary device in novels by Victorian authors Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins. In the second chapter, I examine the role illegitimacy plays in the origin stories of canonical comic book superheroes Batman and Superman. Lastly, in the third chapter, I scrutinize the role illegitimacy plays in defining the human condition within science fiction as human culture continues to advance technologically towards a post human world.
Title: The use of the bastard identity: from Victorian subverters to superheroes in the twenty-first century and beyond.
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Name(s): Dessler, Ryan.
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Department of English
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Date Issued: 2012
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Physical Form: electronic
Extent: vi, 64 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: This project explores the use if illegitimacy within Western discourse over the last three centuries. Illegitimacy was used in Victorian literature as a literary device to drive plot but evolved into a touchstone for Western discourse to explore the bounds of what is considered respectable society. Over time, as illegitimacy has become more mainstream, I contend illegitimate identities have been utilized to serve as a mirror for Western hegemony. In the first chapter, I explore the origins of illegitimacy being used as a literary device in novels by Victorian authors Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins. In the second chapter, I examine the role illegitimacy plays in the origin stories of canonical comic book superheroes Batman and Superman. Lastly, in the third chapter, I scrutinize the role illegitimacy plays in defining the human condition within science fiction as human culture continues to advance technologically towards a post human world.
Identifier: 820353414 (oclc), 3355567 (digitool), FADT3355567 (IID), fau:3938 (fedora)
Note(s): by Ryan Dessler.
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012.
Includes bibliography.
Mode of access: World Wide Web.
System requirements: Adobe Reader.
Subject(s): Dickens, Charles, 1719-1793
Collins, Wilkie, 1824-1889
Literature and society -- Great Britain -- History -- 19th century
Literature and society -- United States -- History -- 20th century
Comic books, strips, etc -- United States -- Criticism and interpretation
Illegitimacy in literature
Sex role in literature
Sensationalism in literature
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/FAU/3355567
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU