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Digital archive of theses discussed at the University of Pisa

 

Thesis etd-06052024-221940


Thesis type
Tesi di laurea magistrale
Author
BARNI, CHIARA
URN
etd-06052024-221940
Thesis title
Mad Scientists and Dangerous Discoveries in the Gothic Interpretation
Department
FILOLOGIA, LETTERATURA E LINGUISTICA
Course of study
LINGUE, LETTERATURE E FILOLOGIE EURO - AMERICANE
Supervisors
relatore Prof.ssa Giovannelli, Laura
Keywords
  • Gothic literature
  • hubris
  • knowledge
  • science
Graduation session start date
05/07/2024
Availability
Withheld
Release date
05/07/2064
Summary
Supervisors: Professor Chris Baldick and Professor Lucia Boldrini.

My dissertation aims to explore the archetypical figure of the ambitious doctor who falls victim of his own Wissensdurst and hubris. His projects deliberately involve trespassing boundaries, yearning for a supreme knowledge which may lead to madness. Myth, religion and global literature have always condemned these overzealous dreamers as sinners, warning about the fatal risk of such aspirations.
Taking the myths of Icarus, Pandora, Prometheus and Faust as starting points, I primarily focus on four British and American doctors: Frankenstein, Moreau, Jekyll and Valdemar. Re-elaborated through a gothic narrative, these works are certainly more than just horror stories. They deal with deep passions, philosophical questions, and ethical anxieties. Emerged as a reaction to Enlightenment values and rationality, order and social progress, gothic fiction deals with irrationality, excess and transgression, frequently involving madness, the supernatural and the macabre. It exposes the fears and foibles of mainstream society, unlikely juxtapositions and uncanny coincidences. In my research, I also examine several emerging aspects: segregation and otherness; manipulation of Nature; time reversion, both in ontogenetic and phylogenetic terms; creators, creatures and their controversial relationship.
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