"Traitorous Bodies": Cartesian Dualism in Romance Novels by Susan Johnson and E.L. James

While there have been numerous theoretical approaches to romance novels, a Cartesian analysis is seemingly absent among the current scholarship. Applying René Descartes’s theory of mind/body dualism to the heroines in Susan Johnson’s Seized by Love and E.L. James’s Fifty Shades of Grey reveals not only a separation between the heroines’ minds and bodies, but proves that both heroines are depicted as distinctly body. As such, serious complications arise for the female characters, including the acceptance of sexual violence and submission to the patriarchy.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Literature

Grantor

Texas State University-San Marcos

Year dc:date.issued

2013

Author dc:creator

• Cortesi, Taylor D.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Wilson, Steve M.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Rosenberg, Teya
• Ogletree, Shirley

• Descartes
• Fifty Shades of Grey
• seized by Love
• mind body dualism

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10877/4554

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:digital.library.txst.edu:10877/4554