“The darkness hung about our tiny circle”: Representations of and responses to power in the ‘dark academia’ novels The Secret History and If We Were Villains
Författare
Summary, in English
The aesthetic and literary genre of dark academia has become popular due to its romanticisation of immersive academic learning and lifestyles. It has however been criticised for its frequent glorification of and focus on Eurocentric educational institutions which celebrate Western
patriarchal exclusivity. This thesis examines in how far this is true of the genre’s prominent novels Donna Tartt’s The Secret History and M. L. Rio’s If We Were Villains which remain popular despite their traditional contents. I thereby intend to support a critical examination of contemporary literary
trends and to identify the persisting value in popular exclusive texts. My analysis relies on a Foucauldian and queer feminist reading to concretely determine the novels’ featured power structures and their representation. I find that the novels put forth a nuanced depiction of attractive yet dangerously corrupting academic circles which promise their students social ascent. The students’ struggles against excessive individual power aim to ensure the continuation of their undisturbed ideal academic space at the cost of human lives. The narratives thereby advertise ‘dark academia’ less than they are fascinating, dark cautionary tales, encouraging the genre’s current transformation to explicitly diverse and postcolonial DA literature.
patriarchal exclusivity. This thesis examines in how far this is true of the genre’s prominent novels Donna Tartt’s The Secret History and M. L. Rio’s If We Were Villains which remain popular despite their traditional contents. I thereby intend to support a critical examination of contemporary literary
trends and to identify the persisting value in popular exclusive texts. My analysis relies on a Foucauldian and queer feminist reading to concretely determine the novels’ featured power structures and their representation. I find that the novels put forth a nuanced depiction of attractive yet dangerously corrupting academic circles which promise their students social ascent. The students’ struggles against excessive individual power aim to ensure the continuation of their undisturbed ideal academic space at the cost of human lives. The narratives thereby advertise ‘dark academia’ less than they are fascinating, dark cautionary tales, encouraging the genre’s current transformation to explicitly diverse and postcolonial DA literature.
Avdelning/ar
- Master's Programme: Literature - Culture - Media
Publiceringsår
2024
Språk
Engelska
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Dokumenttyp
Examensarbete för masterexamen (Två år)
Ämne
- Languages and Literatures
Nyckelord
- dark academia
- elite
- The Secret History
- If We Were Villains
- power
- Foucault
- queer
- feminist
- Eurocentric institutions
- literary aesthetic
- romanticisation
- Donna Tartt
- M.L. Rio
Handledare
- Barbara Barrow