Through the Devil's Mirror: The Villain and the Sinthomosexual as Manifestations of the Death Drive

<p>Lee Edelman’s <em>No Future: Queer Theory and the Death Drive</em> (2004) offers a model for reading queer sexuality and societal place very much in line with that which begins to emerge in early Gothic literature, including Matthew Lewis’s <em>The Monk: A Romance</em> (1796). The Gothic villain aligns with Edelman’s sinthomosexual to illustrate a pattern of victimization and retaliation which results in both the villain and sinthomosexual’s persistent abjection from the social order. However, a close reading of Lewis’s narrative for its depiction of psychological trauma rooted in sexual expression suggests that this queer negativity is not the sum total of the queer experience within the eighteenth century nor contemporary society. With the aid of a selection of prominent queer theorists and gothic scholars, this thesis endeavors to demonstrate the necessity of hope even as discrimination remains a reality.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts - English

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English

Year dc:date.available

2020

Author dc:creator

• Markus, Andrew

Contributors dc:contributor

• Elizabeth Tasker-Davis
• Kevin West
• Ericka Hoagland

• Gothic
• Lewis
• Terror
• Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Studies
• Literature in English, British Isles

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/357

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.sfasu.edu:etds-1381