GOTHIC SPACE IN DAPHNE DU MAURIER'S JAMAICA INN, REBECCA AND MY COUSIN RACHEL

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2022-2-28

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Erdem, Özge

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This dissertation argues that the gothic space in Daphne du Maurier’s novels Jamaica Inn, Rebecca, and My Cousin Rachel displays non-Cartesian and non-Newtonian qualities, which makes it possible to adopt a Thirdspace epistemology to read the novels and discuss the spatial experiences that destabilise Firstspace and Secondspace epistemologies that underlie traditional conceptions of space. This dissertation treats the Gothic as a mode of writing which dealt with the repressed material in the discourse and claims that the repressed in du Maurier’s novels can be addressed by an analysis of space, which can open them to a subversive reading. Therefore, this study will focus on the domestic spaces in the novels, and the outside spaces that surround them, and discuss the role of space in the constitution of subjectivity. It will attempt to show that the psychic and social spaces intrude on one another, and space is built as relational, heterogeneous, spontaneous, and porous in Jamaica Inn, Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel, which will also lead to a different understanding of subjectivity and temporality. It is claimed that her use of the Gothic allows du Maurier to critique the patriarchal discourse and the constitution of patriarchal space and subjectivity through the repression of the feminine. Therefore, the novels will be discussed against the background of spatial and psychoanalytic theories and Gothic criticism, with an aim to create a hermeneutical frame through which du Maurier’s novels can be read based on the analysis of space.

Subject Keywords

Daphne du Maurier, Gothic, Space, Subjectivity, Novel

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/96252

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Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis

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Citation Formats

Ö. Erdem, “GOTHIC SPACE IN DAPHNE DU MAURIER’S JAMAICA INN, REBECCA AND MY COUSIN RACHEL,” Ph.D. - Doctoral Program, Middle East Technical University, 2022.