Skip to Main Content
 

Global Search Box

 
 
 
 

Files

File List


Jennifer_Johnston_CompleteThesis.pdf (479.48 KB)

ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Exploring Queer Possibilities in Jeanette Winterson's The Stone Gods

Johnston, Jennifer H
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1383575341

Abstract Details

2013, Master of Arts (MA), Bowling Green State University, English/Literature.
Science fiction has always been a genre that explores unimaginable worlds and possibilities. Jeanette Winterson does just this in her novel The Stone Gods. In this project, I suggest that Jeanette Winterson's The Stone Gods is a narrative metaphor for how acts that oppose social norms may disrupt the repetition of norms and allow for queer, alternative identities and cultures. I offer this argument as one approach to how queer politics can continue its endeavors to recognize alternative identities, including blended identities in gender and sexuality, as well as alternative communities, including queer groups that encompass multiple identity categories. I first examine the android, Spike, and posit that Winterson uses Spike to demystify gender binaries and present a possibility of a blended identity. This blended identity is ultimately a fusion of a binary. Furthermore, Spike demonstrates Butler's theory that subjects form an identity because of the social norms acting on the subject. Next, I posit that the novel also demystifies the romantic, subversive couple and instead explores how a queer collective might be more effective in subverting dominant society and norms. Here, Winterson presents a queer collective that aspires towards a queer utopia. As a result, the collective is able to imagine endless alternative communities for all identity categories. Ultimately, Winterson's The Stone Gods explores possible queer, alternative identities and communities and supports the value of the continued imaginings of these alternatives.
Bill Albertini, Ph. D (Advisor)
Jolie Sheffer, Ph. D (Committee Member)
78 p.
British and Irish Literature; Comparative Literature; Gender Studies; Literature; Robots; Womens Studies
Queer Studies; Queer Theory; Literature; Comparitive Literature; Gender Studies; Science Fiction; Contemporary British Literature; Jeanette Winterson; The Stone Gods; Science Fiction Novels; Billie and Spike; Androids; Identity Construction

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Johnston, J. H. (2013). Exploring Queer Possibilities in Jeanette Winterson's The Stone Gods [Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1383575341

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Johnston, Jennifer. Exploring Queer Possibilities in Jeanette Winterson's The Stone Gods. 2013. Bowling Green State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1383575341.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Johnston, Jennifer. "Exploring Queer Possibilities in Jeanette Winterson's The Stone Gods." Master's thesis, Bowling Green State University, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu1383575341

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

bgsu1383575341
2,541
© 2013, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by Bowling Green State University and OhioLINK.