Current Search: Culler, Drew (x)
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Title
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“Call Me Tess”: articulating and unwriting identity in Tess of the d’Urbervilles.
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Creator
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Culler, Drew, Edwards, Hilary, Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College, Florida Atlantic University
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Abstract/Description
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In Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles, male characters inscribe and project stereotyped images of femininity onto the novel’s eponymous heroine. In this thesis, I argue that Tess defies these inscriptions and projections not only through her use of violence, but also through a radical form of submission. Tess, who is often described by critics as a victim of fate, becomes in my argument a formidable figure; even her death, which is frequently read as a capitulation to the forces against...
Show moreIn Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles, male characters inscribe and project stereotyped images of femininity onto the novel’s eponymous heroine. In this thesis, I argue that Tess defies these inscriptions and projections not only through her use of violence, but also through a radical form of submission. Tess, who is often described by critics as a victim of fate, becomes in my argument a formidable figure; even her death, which is frequently read as a capitulation to the forces against her, becomes in this interpretation a deliberate act of defiance. Tess obliterates her own body, the contested site of inscription and projection, in order to deny it to her persecutors.
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Date Issued
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2011
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PURL
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http://purl.flvc.org/fau/fd/FA00003573
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Format
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Document (PDF)
