NONNORMATIVE SUBJECTIVITIES IN ANGELA CARTER‘S FICTION: WISE CHILDREN, THE INFERNAL DESIRE MACHINES OF DOCTOR HOFFMAN AND THE PASSION OF NEW EVE

Date

2026-2-16

Author

Ahmetoğlu, Zehra

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Carter‘s suggestion of an alternative subjectivity marks her as a revolutionary writer as, through this alternative, she seems to point at new possibilities and new sites of existence in patriarchal discourse. However, this alternative site has been harshly criticized by radical feminists. I claim that Carter‘s alternative site suggests a unique kind of feminism and subversion of patriarchal systems. Therefore, the foci in this dissertation are two-fold. On the one hand, I discuss Carter‘s alternative sites of subversion in her fiction by referring to her philosophical position. On the other hand, I point out how she departs from a radical feminist position. My intention is to demonstrate that Carter‘s oeuvre is a response to radical feminism which aims to dethrone the patriarchal discourse altogether since Carter, in her fictional and non-fictional prose, suggests that individuals can emancipate themselves from within the discourse. It is because of this reason that I put Carter in a dialogue with radical feminism in understanding her suggested subjectivity. In this dissertation, Carterian subjectivities are explored in her three novels: Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman, Wise Children, and The Passion of New Eve. I claim that the characters in these novels mirror Carterian understanding of identity. The incentive of choosing these works lies in their different formulation of identity since these novels incorporate a male, female, and a gender-free psyche with an emphasis on their subversive potentialities. Hence, Carter‘s character depictions bring forth a novel approach both to the understanding of the self and feminism.

Subject Keywords

Angela Carter, nonnormativity, radical feminism, self, subjectivity

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/118499

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis