An Ecofeminist Analytical and Comparative Review of the Landscapes of Anglo-American Female Gothic LiteraryTradition

• Autores: Naiara Berganzo Besga
• Directores de la Tesis: Raúl Montero Gilete (dir. tes.), Martin Simonson (codir. tes.)
• Lectura: En la Universidad del País Vasco - Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea ( España ) en 2025
• Idioma: inglés
• Programa de doctorado: Programa de Doctorado en Literatura Comparada y Estudios Literarios por la Universidad del País Vasco/Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea
• Menciones:
  • Internacional
• Calificación: Sobresaliente
• Materias:
  • Ciencias de las artes y las letras
• Enlaces
  • Tesis en acceso abierto en: ADDI
• Resumen

  • This research project aims to explore the ways in which the study of landscapes of Female Gothic literature, from an ecofeminist perspective, reveals the role of patriarchy in the exploitation and degradation of the female body and the natural environment, as well as the ways in which these natural landscapes represent the experience of women and other minorities under the violent structures of capitalist and patriarchal society. To this end, based on the central role that the Gothic landscape plays in the construction of the atmosphere of horror and terror characteristic of the genre and the relationship that is established between the Gothic heroine—together with other minorities—and her natural environment, taking an ecofeminist standpoint, we are going to compare and analyse the Gothic landscapes of three of the most representative British works from the early years of the genre—Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho (1794), Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818), and Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights (1847)—alongside two other illustrative serialised works of American contemporary Female Gothic fiction—Louise Erdrich’s Fleur duology formed by Tracks (1988) and Four Souls (2004), and Octavia E. Butler’s Xenogenesis Trilogy (Lilith’s Brood) comprised of Dawn (1987), Adulthood Rites (1988), and Imago (1989). Finally, the results obtained will be compared and the perceived similarities and differences will be pointed out, which will be considered to draw conclusions and propose a theory that identifies and collects the main characteristics of the subgenre of the Female Gothic in the Anglo-American literary tradition.