An analysis of queer narratives in Michael Cunningham's The Hours

Samai, András (2018) An analysis of queer narratives in Michael Cunningham's The Hours. Masters, Szegedi Tudományegyetem.

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Abstract

Michael Cunningham’s 1998 novel The Hours presents one day in each of the three protagonists’ lives during a day in June. Many comparative studies have been written on Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway and The Hours. The focus of these studies is often Virginia Woolf, who Cunningham turned into a fictional character in his novel. Although Woolf’s influence on Cunningham’s work is undisputable, there are less studies emphasizing the novel’s significance regarding its focus on queer issues such as AIDS, homonormative time or the influence of the past on how people lived their lives. The aim of this thesis is to explore how the idea of queer narratives are shaped in The Hours. To examine this, first the background of each protagonist is presented. These three protagonists are Virginia Woolf, Laura Brown and Clarissa Vaughn. Although they are living at different locations, in different times, their narratives can be called queer as they do not fit into heteronormative time. The reason for this is that there are certain moments that break the linear narrative and they do not contribute to a heterosexual development story. They also constantly question their relationships with people around them. Through these interactions, there are several issues presented that place each character within a queer narrative. These include issues such as suicide, mental health, marriage, family and the HIV/AIDS crisis which all affect the queer community as well. Queer moments are also examined as they play a fundamental role in how the queer narratives are formed and expressed in the novel. These moments are also explored by examining the three protagonists’ encounter with certain secondary characters. Within these interactions between characters, there is often a conflict caused by a dominant narrative such as heteronormativity or homonormativity. While heteronormativity is mainly the source of conflicts in the chapters relating to Virginia and Laura, the dominant narrative in the New York queer communities is homonormativity.

Institution

Szegedi Tudományegyetem

Faculty

Faculty of Arts

Department

Angol Tanszék

Discipline

Humanities

Institute

Angol-Amerikai Intézet

Specialization

angol

Supervisor(s)

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Subjects:	06. Humanities
Depositing User:	szerkesztő BTK
Date Deposited:	2019. Apr. 30. 14:22
Last Modified:	2019. May. 02. 07:25
URI:	https://diploma.bibl.u-szeged.hu/id/eprint/74754

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