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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12695/204

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Reading Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe and Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness through the Lens of New Materialism
(Kapadokya Üniversitesi, Lisansüstü Eğitim, Öğretim ve Araştırma Enstitüsü, 2024) Selvi, Ayçe
New Materialism, emphasizing the vibrancy and agency of matter, offers a transformative perspective on human and nonhuman relationships, challenging anthropocentric views and highlighting the interconnectedness of all entities. This thesis analyzes Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719) and Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness (1899) through a New Materialist lens, focusing on the agency of materials in a colonial context. It examines the entanglement of materials, elements, and humans, critiquing human exceptionalism and highlighting the exploitative treatment of nonhuman entities during the colonial era. Drawing on theories such as Jane Bennett’s “vibrant matter” and “thing power,” Stacy Alaimo’s “trans-corporeality,” Karen Barad’s “agential realism” and “entanglements,” Nancy Tuana’s “viscous porosity,” and Serenella Iovino and Serpil Oppermann’s “storied matter,” this thesis emphasises the dynamic agency of materials and the roles of the classical elements in shaping both the material world and literary narratives. By incorporating material ecocritical and elemental ecocritical theories, it explores how matter challenges anthropocentric perspectives and expresses interconnectedness. In Robinson Crusoe, the agency of materials, tools and elements such as air, water, and earth is essential to Crusoe’s survival and transformation. In Heart of Darkness, the entanglement of human and nonhuman agencies influences Marlow’s and Kurtz’s experiences and transformations. The overlapping themes of colonialism, imperialism, and human exceptionalism are explored through a New Materialist which emphasizes the interconnected agency of human and nonhuman entities, challenging traditional hierarchical relationships and anthropocentric perspectives. This New Materialist reading critiques human superiority and underscores the interconnected agency of all entities, calling for a more inclusive worldview that fosters ecological awareness and redefines human-nonhuman relationships within colonial narratives.
Posthumanist Transgressions along the Human-Animal Borderline: H.G. Wells’s The Island of Dr. Moreau and Ann Halam’s Dr. Franklin’s Island
(Kapadokya Üniversitesi, Lisansüstü Eğitim, Öğretim ve Araştırma Enstitüsü, 2024) BİLGİN, Şulenur
This thesis offers a posthumanist reading of two science fiction novels, H.G. Wells’s The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896) and Ann Halam’s Dr. Franklin’s Island (2001), and examines human-animal relations through human-animal hybrid characters and their human creators—scientists. Examining the representations of such hybridity as well as the responses to them aims to reveal the anthropocentric mindset embedded in the discourses, ideologies and attitudes observed in the selected novels. The fictional representations of transgressions of human-animal boundaries observed in the novels also offer different ethical stances on human-animal hybrids to compare. The reactions of the characters in the selected novels oscillate between speciesism, which emphasizes the distinction between human and non-human animal species, and trans-speciesism, which seeks to erode the categorical distinction between human and non-human animals, thus inviting people to consider inclusive rather than exclusive ways of seeing and living with animals. In this context, this thesis will treat both Wells’s and Halam’s novels as remnants of anthropocentric ideals, though ironically full of examples of posthumanist potentialities. Thus, this thesis will offer a posthumanist and post-anthropocentric critique of these humanist and anthropocentric novels.
Posthuman and Transhuman Monstrosities: The Ontological and Techno-evolutionary Journeys of “Human” From Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, the Modern Prometheus to Jeanette Winterson’s Frankissstein: A Love Story
(Kapadokya Üniversitesi, Lisansüstü Eğitim, Öğretim ve Araştırma Enstitüsü, 2024) UZUN, Sercan
This thesis investigates the ontological and techno-evolutionary journey of human identity by analysing the representations of the monster and monstrosity in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus and Jeanette Winterson’s Frankissstein: A Love Story. Through a comparative analysis, the study elucidates how these literary works critique and expand the concept of humanity from Enlightenment ideals to posthuman realities. Utilising posthumanist and transhumanist theoretical frameworks, the thesis examines the profound impact of technological advancements on human subjectivity and identity. The figure of the monster emerges as a central motif, symbolising the societal anxieties and aspirations that lie at the intersection of the human and the technological. This thesis reveals how Shelley and Winterson challenge anthropocentric paradigms, advocating for a reimagined understanding of what it means to be human in an era increasingly shaped by technological innovation.
An Investigation of Immigrants’ Attitudes towards “Other” Immigrants in Zadie Smith’s White Teeth and Sam Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners.
(Kapadokya Üniversitesi, Lisansüstü Eğitim, Öğretim ve Araştırma Enstitüsü, 2024) GÜNDÜZ, Muhammet
The aim of this study is to analyse the attitudes of immigrants residing in the UK towards other immigrants in the literary works of Zadie Smith’s White Teeth and Sam Selvon’s The Lonely Londoners. While Zadie Smith focuses on the characters’ intellectual shifts in attitudes towards each other, Sam Selvon’s characters’ attitudes towards other immigrants show fixed attitudes based on survival strategies in a multicultural setting. Through a comparative analysis, the study scrutinises how these two works shows the intricacies of immigrant attitudes towards other immigrants who are both affected by colonial discourses and current socio-economic difficulties. White Teeth is examined for its depiction of the intellectual changes and identity conflicts experienced by immigrant characters, emphasising their everchanging attitudes that are formed by acculturation and assimilation. In contrast, The Lonely Londoners is analysed for its portrayal of fixed attitudes and survival strategies among immigrants in London. Additionally, it highlights the exploitation of other immigrants, except Moses who shows attitudes of concern and camaraderie for other immigrants. This thesis also calls for policies and procedures that encourage more communication and integration between various cultures. The study illustrates how colonial legacies still impact modern immigrant interactions with other immigrants both from the same and from the different ethnicities advocating for policies and practices that may facilitate greater cross-cultural dialogue and integration. By means of this examination, the thesis enriches a deeper comprehension of the difficulties and prospects of establishing harmonious multinational societies.
Reinterpreting Hunger: Ecological Anxieties and Cannibalistic Foodways in Anthony Burgess’s The Wanting Seed and Joseph D’Lacey’s MEAT
(Kapadokya Üniversitesi, Lisansüstü Eğitim, Öğretim ve Araştırma Enstitüsü, 2023) TAKIM, Cenk
This thesis delves into the analysis of two dystopian novels from twentieth – and twenty-first-century English literature: Anthony Burgess’s The Wanting Seed (1962) and Joseph D’Lacey’s MEAT (2008). The primary focus is on the cannibalism metaphor employed by the narratives. A notable contrast emerges in their use of the cannibalism metaphor: The Wanting Seed employs man-eating as a response to acute circumstances, portraying crude cannibalism in the face of food scarcity, overpopulation, and ecological degradation. In contrast, MEAT reflects vast ecological annihilation and presents cannibalism and capitalism as the two complementary facets. The cannibalism metaphor takes an industrial form, with human bodies being produced and processed akin to factory farming industries. In the broader context of English literature, where the cannibalism metaphor has been employed to project various societal concerns and anxieties, these selected dystopian novels specifically reflect the ecological anxieties of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries through their use of cannibalism. Overpopulation and resource scarcity were prominent eco-anxieties in the twentieth century and continue to be pressing concerns in the twenty-first century; however, emerging issues such as species extinction, the sense of ecological annihilation and fear have become more prominent. The gradual increase in ecological degradation, particularly in the twenty-first century, intensifies contemporary ecoanxieties. The magnitude shift observed in the representation of cannibalism and industrialised cannibalism parallels the shift in eco-anxieties, offering a radical response to the escalating ecological degradation and heightened sense of eco-anxiety.
A Posthumanist Ecocritical Reading of Maggie Gee’s The Ice People and Jeanette Winterson’s The Stone Gods: Recontextualising the Ecological Centre
(Kapadokya Üniversitesi, Lisansüstü Eğitim, Öğretim ve Araştırma Enstitüsü, 2023) Mutlu, Alperen
This study examines Jeanette Winterson’s and Maggie Gee’s attitudes towards the culture/nature dichotomy from a posthumanist ecocritical standpoint, discussing their approaches regarding the association of humans with culture and nature. The thesis focuses on the connectedness between nature and culture as opposed to their separation. It also sets the conversation into a more extensive ecotheoretical setting, which does not just study our ethical and environmental perspectives; instead, it suggests answers for how we reconstruct our anthropocentric and ecological views on nature, humans, and cyborgs. Drawing on posthumanism and contemporary ecocriticism, thus, this study contends that in these novels, The Ice People and The Stone Gods, humans are not portrayed as superior to nature but as part of cultures, nature, and technologies. These two works foreground the exploitative systems that degrade the environment and socially oppressed people who are the explication to ecologically devalued spaces and rebuild the thought of the centre by representing it as variable and replaceable with its margins.
Gender Performativity in George Eliot’s Middlemarch and Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles
(Kapadokya Üniversitesi, Lisansüstü Eğitim, Öğretim ve Araştırma Enstitüsü, 2023) Duran, Gülcan
This thesis aims to examine the depiction and performance of gender roles in George Eliot’s Middlemarch and Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles, using Judith Butler’s theory of performativity as the primary lens for analysis. The novels are analysed not only as Victorian texts reflecting the dominant gender ideologies of their time but also through the lens of contemporary gender theory, thus bridging the historical and the modern in a comprehensive discourse. Building on Butler’s argument that gender is a social construct that is repeatedly performed and reinforced through social norms, this study explores how the female characters in these novels challenge or reinforce gender norms through their performances. Therefore, the introduction discusses the representation of women and gender roles in the selected novels and contextualises them within the Victorian era. It also engages with the ongoing academic debates on sex and gender, bringing together various perspectives that emphasise the socially constructed nature of gender. The first chapter focuses on gender roles in George Eliot’s Middlemarch, showing how women are forced to conform to a predetermined model of femininity. It emphasises how limited opportunities and education are crucial to women's identities, lives, and destinies. The second chapter analyses the struggles of women oppressed and exploited by men and social structures in Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the D’Urbervilles. Through an in-depth analysis of Tess’s life and the challenges she faces, this chapter shows how gender roles are imposed and maintained by social norms and how non-conforming women are marginalised as a result. This thesis reveals how writers of different genders reflect, with slight variations, the normative gender roles in the Victorian male-dominated society and portrays gender identity as unstable, artificially constructed and inseparable from historical context.
Attracted to Monsters: Women’s Desire and Queer Traces in Frankenstein and Carmilla
(Kapadokya Üniversitesi, Lisansüstü Eğitim, Öğretim ve Araştırma Enstitüsü, 2023) Lebe Watson, Zeynep
Drawing upon gender and queer studies, the aim of this thesis is to explore how human and nonhuman relations unravel a liminal space in which new subjectivity might be born. In examining these relations, the study might create an expanded understanding of homosexuality to illustrate the overstepping of certain borders or the blending and overlapping a series of classifications, as well as portraying a self-identification process. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) and Sheridan Le Fanu’s Carmilla (1872) respectively depict how attraction to and fear of the nonhuman are juxtaposed in terms of desires, be it monstrous or sexual. In this sense, Shelley’s and Le Fanu’s monsters will be analyzed as they constantly lure their human partners, as well as being stalkers who chase their victims until one of the parties’ death. The human and nonhuman partners, being the same sexes in both works, will be interpreted as queer with certain situational examples and quotations from the texts. Women’s sexual desires will be also read as a pushing power to queerness. In Frankenstein, the chastity and passiveness of women will be underlined and the indifference towards women by Victor will be seen as a factor which makes him turn to other studies of interest so that he creates his own desire of science which results in the birth of the monster. In Carmilla, on the other hand, the unleashing of Carmilla’s sexual power will be seen as the driving force for the two young ladies to pursue a queer romantic path. In the introduction, the theme of queerness in gothic literature will be explored from the perspective of lesbian feminism and queer theory. Queerness will be read as a recurring theme in gothic literature as an eerie motif that is considered as something to be avoided and escaped from. In the first chapter, Shelley’s Frankenstein will be reinterpreted with the analysis of the women characters and the relationship between Victor Frankenstein and his creature. What this study will demonstrate is that Dr Frankenstein’s uneasy attraction to the monstrous creature might be considered as “queer” and the motif of women’s desire as the driving force. In other words, female characters’ suppressed desires will be demonstrated as the driving force to queerness. These characters will be such as but not limited to Elizabeth and Mrs. Frankenstein. In the second chapter, Le Fanu’s Carmilla will be examined with regard to lesbian feminism and queer theory. The characters will be analyzed in accordance to their sexual desires, and the romantic relationship between Laura and Carmilla will be evaluated and again will be found as queer. Female characters’ sexual tendencies will be scrutinized and identified as overpowered and unleashed in Carmilla’s case though being propulsive force to lesbianism. After the analyses of the works, there will be a comparison of the homosexual attractions in Frankenstein and Carmilla and how these works portray the attraction of a monster will be shown. It will be concluded that the sexual orientation of the characters, their interest to the nonhuman and certain parallel motifs in the novels point out the queerness of the works. The empowerment of women’s desires will be also found repressed in the first work, whereas this is unleashed in the latter although giving the same result that is queerness.
Denunciation of Humanity: A Posthumanist Reading of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels
(Kapadokya Üniversitesi, Lisansüstü Eğitim, Öğretim ve Araştırma Enstitüsü, 2023) TÜMER, Volkan
Posthumanism is a theory that has been put forward as a reaction to the failing aspects of humanism. It is basically a response to the alleged shortcomings of the humanist thought. Critical posthumanism focuses on the critical discourses rather than technological aspects of posthumanism. The theory is anti-anthropocentric, and is against speciesism. It criticizes the humanist ideology by rejecting the notion of the human as the focal point in Western thought and practices. It rejects the humanist idea that language and reason are human-specific characteristics, and it asserts that these two characteristics are utilized in order for the human to dominate the nonhuman. In this context, this thesis analyzes Gulliver’s Travels from the perspective of the posthumanist theory, and aims to exhibit how the work presages posthumanism as early as in the eighteenth-century by deconstructing and defamilarizing human bodies and reason.
An Ecofeminist Reading of Doris Lessing's The Grass is Singing (1950) and Its Film Adaptation The Killing Heat (1981)
(Kapadokya Üniversitesi, Lisansüstü Eğitim, Öğretim ve Araştırma Enstitüsü, 2023) Özçelik, Merve Nur
This thesis examines the ecofeminist elements present in Doris Lessing’s debut novel The Grass is Singing and its film adaptation, The Killing Heat, directed by Michael Raeburn, with a special focus on the themes of patriarchy, racism, capitalism, and colonialism. It interlocks these themes with environmental and feminist issues, particularly in the context of the Rhodesian landscape depicted in both mediums. Rhodesia is a land-locked country where environmental changes have been observed as a direct consequence of colonial exploitation and domination. The effects of environmental degradation such as drought, food shortage and water scarcity have impacted not only human but also non-human entities as propounded by the ecofeminist theory. The thesis aims to shed light on the multiple perspectives and approaches employed by the author and the director in addressing the complex interplay between gender, race, class, and the environment. Both the novel and the film present simultaneous domination and exploitation of women and nature at the hands of patriarchal, colonial and capitalist injustices. They represent, if not critique, the violent and unjustified domination of African landscape by colonial pursuits under the guise of a well-celebrated mission of civilizing the savage and taming the wild. The first chapter traces the historical evolution of ecofeminism and its relevance to the analysis of The Grass is Singing and The Killing Heat. The second chapter looks at the novel, with a focus on the ecofeminist elements that are present in it. The final chapter examines The Killing Heat, by exploring how ecofeminist elements in the novel are translated onto the screen. The study discovers that ecofeminism is a relevant theoretical framework for the analysis of both works. Ultimately, the present thesis contributes to the scarce research on ecofeminism and provides new insight into the ecofeminist analysis of literature and film.
A Posthumanist Analysis of the Representations of Climate Anxiety in James Graham Ballard’s Post-apocalyptic Climate Fiction Tetralogy
(Kapadokya Üniversitesi, Lisansüstü Eğitim, Öğretim ve Araştırma Enstitüsü, 2023) Doğan, Bekir Ercan
Global climate change is the greatest existential threat that the Anthropocene era has brought to humanity, and environmental disasters have caused great concerns about the future of our planet. This serious threat has had very important reflections in the field of literature as well as the scientific fields. Many authors have written works dealing with environmental problems in this context. As a result, climate fiction is born as a new genre in fiction. In addition, a new understanding has emerged for people to re-examine their relationship with nature today. Contrary to the traditional humanist understanding, posthumanism questions and discusses the superiority of the human being over nature and human agency. On the other hand, the negative consequences of environmental disasters caused by climate change have brought along some psychological problems. In this context, the concept of solastalgia (climate anxiety) was put forward by Glenn Albrecht. This study includes a comprehensive analysis of the representations of climate anxiety in James Graham Ballard’s climate fiction tetralogy, published in the early 1960s, in terms of posthumanism. Four selected novels of J.G. Ballard, The Wind from Nowhere (1961), The Drowned World (1962), The Burning World (1964) and The Crystal World (1966) are analysed in this context. These four novels by the famous British author are considered to be among the main examples of climate fiction. In the four novels analysed in this thesis, it is emphasised that the bonds between humans and nature are vitally important and that deterioration of the natural balance by humans causes great problems and disasters both physically and spiritually. From the posthumanist stance, it is necessary for modern humans to revise their relationship with nature. In addition, Ballard vividly describes how vulnerable humans are and how human civilisation could be destroyed in the event of catastrophes.
Power and Toxic Bodies in Naomi Alderman’s The Power and Sophie Mackintosh’s The Water Cure
(Kapadokya Üniversitesi, Lisansüstü Eğitim, Öğretim ve Araştırma Enstitüsü, 2022) Nazik, Şemse
In the dystopian tradition, control over the lives and bodies of individuals is realized through several techniques. In Naomi Alderman’s The Power (2016) and Sophie Mackintosh’s The Water Cure (2018), such relationship between the physical body and the influence upon other people within the limitations of the body are the central issues discussed. Female characters in both texts begin to change their perspective about power over other male characters soon after they realize the changes within their body. In The Power, this becomes possible through the skein, the electrical power discovered within only women’s bodies, which becomes deadly for men. This type of physical power is gradually transformed into an imbalanced political and social power. So, the skein becomes an embodied power, which can be interpreted as a form of agency from the perspective of new materialism. In The Water Cure, the unexpected absence of patriarchal figures leads the female protagonists to quit routine practices such as water rituals that are assumed to keep them away from the deadly toxins of the world outside. The real existence of electrical power and the hypothetical existence of toxins in these texts indicate that such nonhuman matters contribute to determining the whole political and social systems. Regarding these issues, studies mainly about new materialism, power and gender relations are included in this study to demonstrate that power and gender relations can be closely related to individuals’ relation to nonhuman matter and the material world. In light of these, this thesis aims to indicate that the double meanings of “toxicity” and “power” are deeply interconnected to each other in that the literal meaning of power and toxicity has repercussions in the understanding of their figurative meanings, which results in dystopian worlds endowed with toxic people and manipulative powerful individuals.
The Postcolonial "Other" in Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood's End and its TV Adaptation
(Kapadokya Üniversitesi, Lisansüstü Eğitim, Öğretim ve Araştırma Enstitüsü, 2022) İkiz, Nusret Emre
This thesis aims to examine the concept of the “Other,” which entered into our lexicon after postcolonialism by looking at it from the angle of science fiction. To do this, the thesis will compare Arthur C. Clarke’s Childhood’s End published in 1953 with its 2015 American miniseries adaptation directed by Nick Hurran. These works were chosen specifically because they can be used to establish a clear vision of the evolution of the “Other.” The “Other” existed before postcolonialism in different forms. Therefore, this thesis will delve into colonialism and imperialism, also the terms such as postcolonialism and neo-colonialism which are a must for understanding the main topic. For this reason, the first chapter was set aside to explain these terms and their place in science fiction. In the second chapter, the term “Other” is detailed and its place within Anglo-American culture is explained. Also, in this chapter, the evolution of the “Other” within science fiction has been given its place. The third chapter puts all of this acquired knowledge into practice by examining Childhood’s End. The writer’s experiences during the periods of colonialism and postcolonialism are put against the twenty-first century American culture in order to understand the effect of time on the work. Different varieties of “Other” present within the novel and the miniseries are discussed and the discussions are used to show the effect of a different time and culture.
Dystopian Fiction Through the Lens of Ecofeminism and Ecofascism: The Depiction of Woman and Nature in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and Its TV Adaptation (2017)
(Kapadokya Üniversitesi, Lisansüstü Eğitim, Öğretim ve Araştırma Enstitüsü, 2022) Köylüoğlu, Mehmet
The subject of this thesis is to examine ecofeminist and ecofascist viewpoints in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) and its TV adaptation by Bruce Miller. As a sub-concept of ecocriticism, ecofeminism proclaims that the oppression of women and victimization of non-human nature stems from patriarchal mindset. Men need to keep women and non-human nature under control, because they see themselves as superior. As another sub-concept of ecocriticism, ecofascism is based on the far-right ideologies and it asserts that the individuals need to sacrifice themselves for the benefit of the environment. Therefore, the destruction of environment and infertility causes the emergence of ecofeminist and ecofascist glimpses in The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) and its TV adaptation. While both the novel and the TV adaptation focus on the problems of women and non-human nature, they also highlight the inequality in authoritarian patriarchal power. The aim of this thesis is to understand and interpret the predicted dystopian future alternative with ecofeminism and ecofascism, which are theories and methods proper for examining the most vital problems of the world, through a speculative fictional work and its adaptation. For this, first of all, the history and perspective of ecofeminist and ecofascist theory are examined. Then, Margaret Atwood's work and its TV adaptation are discussed with the help of these theories.
The Representations of History through Fiction: Christy Lefteri’s The Beekeeper of Aleppo and Victoria Hislop’s Those Who Are Loved
(Kapadokya Üniversitesi, Lisansüstü Eğitim, Öğretim ve Araştırma Enstitüsü, 2022) Khazne, Yasser
In this thesis, Christy Lefteri’s The Beekeeper of Aleppo (2019) and Victoria Hislop’s Those Who Are Loved (2019) are studied from a New Historicist approach. The thesis starts with an introduction that briefly studies the representations of historical events in historical accounts. It also includes a comparison between Old Historicism and New Historicism.
DECIPHERING THE REPRESENTATIONS OF WOMEN AND FEMALE MADNESS IN HENRIK IBSEN’S A DOLL’S HOUSE AND GEORGE BERNARD SHAW’S MRS. WARREN’S PROFESSION
(Kapadokya Üniversitesi Lisansüstü Eğitim, Öğretim ve Araştırma Enstitüsü, 2021) Sarısoy, Rabia
In the nineteenth century, which was dominated by the moral values of the society, women were subjected to patriarchal discourses in many fields of their lives due to the strict social norms and gender-based definition of social roles. Literary works of the nineteenth century also describe the secondary positions of women. The representation of women in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and George Bernard Shaw’s Mrs. Warren’s Profession suggests that women in these plays have adopted masculine attitudes to achieve their independent identities. Thus, women characters in the selected plays are portrayed as mad by the playwrights of the works in order to alienate them from society because madness becomes a gendered illness in this period. Furthermore, it is argued and illustrated in this study that women in these plays adopt masculine qualities in order to express characters’ strengths. The aim of this thesis is to demonstrate that women are alienated from society through the label of “madness” if they reject the cultural norms. Two plays based on the nineteenth-century point of view towards women are analysed within the frame of the concept of female madness. The selected plays also exhibit women’s enslavement and representation in a patriarchal society. In this context, this study concludes that female madness has been a feint illness to suppress women in the nineteenth century.

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