http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/198 Tue, 21 Apr 2026 03:21:19 GMT 2026-04-21T03:21:19Z http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/32383 Title: Timeless: Wings ascend forever – novel extract and gothic reflections: The gothic double and double identities in timeless: Wings ascend forever and R. L. Stevenson’s the strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886), a reflective thesis Authors: Charles-Edwards, Karina Abstract: This thesis includes chapters one to nine of a novel and a critical reflective essay. My novel Timeless: Wings Ascend Forever is a neo-Victorian Gothic Fantasy inspired by R. L. Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886). The novel examines the double identities of the protagonists James and Seraph and explores the moral ambiguity of the characters in a Victorian setting. Through an analysis of the novel as a significant addition to the neo- Victorian gothic and fantasy genres, this critical thesis underscores the importance of reassessing the gothic motif of doubling in both contemporary and forthcoming literary works. The reflective essay focuses on both the novel and Jekyll and Hyde in the context of gothic reflections between the Victorian past and the contemporary present. It examines how double identities interact and how these identities are represented in late-Victorian and neo- Victorian gothic works. This thesis critically reflects on the novel in relation to its key gothic intertexts. The first chapter of the reflective essay explores the types of genres and narrative structures that my novel encounters and the purpose of using the themes and tropes of said genres in relation to the representation of double identities. The second chapter is a comparative study that analyses the novel alongside Jekyll and Hyde in terms of the texts’ representations of double identities, reflecting on questions of moral ambiguity and degeneration. This chapter also reflects on my writing choices and demonstrates the relationship between double identities in contemporary (textual and filmic) reworkings of Victorian gothic fiction and fantasy fiction. This thesis explores the limitations of the gothic double and the implications of double identities in relation to attempts to differentiate between reality and fantasy, considering questions of historical accuracy, myths, and fantastical elements that are central to the construction of my novel and its intertextual relationship with Jekyll and Hyde. Description: This thesis was submitted for the award of Master of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University London Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/32383 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/31719 Title: Checking my body for signs of life: A novel – ‘I think I hated her. I also love her.’ A creative and critical analysis of maternal ambivalence as experienced by the adult daughter Authors: Pizzey, Rebecca Geena Abstract: This thesis comprises a full-length novel, entitled Checking My Body for Signs of Life, and an accompanying critical exegesis. The former falls under the genre of literary fiction, and follows thirty-two-year-old Sky, who, along with her twin sister Jess, is trying to come to terms with the fact that her abusive mother Kelsie has just died. Sky’s attempts to navigate her mother’s death see her confront her traumatic upbringing and subsequent behaviours, the foundations of which are the ambivalence felt between her and her mother. Resultingly, the critical exegesis explores this link, being underpinned by one central question: can daughters ever really know their mothers? To answer this, particular focus is paid to the relationship between maternal ambivalence and first, female hunger, then second, female sexuality, owing to the fact that, for Sky, hunger and sex are two experiences invariably influenced by her mother, in tandem with heteropatriarchal conditioning. My inquiry is based on close analysis of Checking My Body for Signs of Life; in particular, the development of the creative decisions behind it. It also discusses the three main ways my research informed the book: the creative representation of maternal ambivalence as inevitable; maternal ambivalence as situated within heteropatriarchy; and the idea of maternal selves as concealed or ‘split’. The critical essay draws on feminist (Angel 2021; Febos 2021 and 2022; Rich 1976; Srinivasan 2021), psychoanalytic (Parker 1995; Winnicott 1964 and 1994), and fat-activist (Gay 2017; Gordon 2020; Hornbacher 1998; Orbach 1978) approaches. With reference to Donald Winnicott and Adrienne Rich’s representations of maternal ambivalence, Chapter One argues in favour of the existence of private and public ‘selves’, and how the gap between the two inevitably leads to ambivalence. Chapter Two discusses how literal and symbolic hunger is born from ambivalence, contending that the mother informs the daughter’s sense of her ‘self’ as a hungry person within a heteropatriarchal society. Chapter Three examines female sexuality, with a focus on the ambivalence that inevitably – and, it argues, crucially – resides within desire. This thesis concludes with reflection on how the very process of conducting research or producing a thesis is itself an exercise in ambivalence, owing to a requisite degree of enquiry and curiosity. Description: This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University London Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/31719 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/31494 Title: Who gets to have a voice? A comparative analysis of traditional and subversive white saviour narratives in fiction Authors: Jolomba, Warona Abstract: This PhD thesis, Who Gets to Have a Voice? A Comparative Analysis of Traditional and Subversive White Saviour Narratives in Fiction, investigates the enduring presence and evolving forms of the white saviour trope in contemporary literature. It comprises a critical study and a creative component: The Grand Scheme of Things, a novel that interrogates institutional bias through the story of two friends who fabricate their connection to a hit play in order to expose the inequities of the British theatre industry. The critical component traces the legacy of white saviour narratives from canonical texts to recent fiction that consciously subverts or destabilises the trope. Through close textual analysis, this thesis compares traditional narratives that reinforce white moral authority with those that complicate or satirise the trope to reveal underlying structures of racial and cultural power. It draws on postcolonial theory, critical race studies, and narratology to examine how voice, agency, and legitimacy are distributed in these texts, asking: who is allowed to speak, and who is spoken for? By placing the creative and critical components in dialogue, the thesis offers both an analytical and artistic intervention into the cultural logic of the white saviour. The Grand Scheme of Things embodies the theoretical concerns of the research, experimenting with form and voice to highlight the limits of meritocracy, the performance of allyship, and the precarious nature of visibility for marginalised creators. In doing so, this project contributes to wider conversations around authorship, representation, and the politics of storytelling in contemporary literature. Description: This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University London Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/31494 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/29319 Title: Time lines: Prison, coercion and liberation through poetry with critical commentary Authors: Williams, Zoe Description: This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University London Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/handle/2438/29319 2024-01-01T00:00:00Z