Thesis
A feminist rhetorical approach to Amy Dillwyn: eavesdropping on Welsh writing in English
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
2019
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/103250
Abstract
Welsh writing in English has long been a byzantine topic that brings up issues of identity and nationality, and in turn, has often been excluded from the Welsh literary canon. Writing in 2004, Kirsti Bohata addresses the exclusion of Welsh writing in English, and notes that "[e]ven within Wales itself, the status of Welsh writing in English is generally very low" (12) and that [t]he lack of prestige accorded to the academic research of this body of writing further marginalizes this literature" (12). For this thesis, I will be focusing on Welsh women writing in English--or more specifically, I will be discussing the Welsh author Amy Dillwyn and her first two novels, The Rebecca Rioter and Chloe Arguelle. Throughout my thesis, I use a feminist rhetoric lens in my analysis of Dillwyn's two novels to bring attention to the efficacy of interpreting Welsh literature through a feminist rhetoric lens, and how feminist rhetoric also provides a suitable framework to challenge the literary canons that have for so long excluded Welsh women writing in English. I adopt Krista Ratcliffe's concept of rhetorical eavesdropping in order to distance myself from the texts and pose questions, while also analyzing the ways in which Dillwyn uses eavesdropping as a rhetorical tool in her novels and henceforth positions her readers as eavesdroppers. I argue that eavesdropping is used as a rhetorical tool in The Rebecca Rioter to challenge the transmission of narratives and stories, whereas in Chloe Arguelle, eavesdropping conjoined with satire works challenges the concept of marriage for economic gain, while also questioning the gendered roles that accompany marriage as an institution.
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Details
- Title
- A feminist rhetorical approach to Amy Dillwyn
- Creators
- Jessica Elizabeth Grace Woolley
- Contributors
- Donna L. Potts (Degree Supervisor)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- English, Department of
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University; [Pullman, Washington] :
- Identifiers
- 99900525278701842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis