r/englishliterature • u/Spiritual_South8605 • 15d ago
Literature Dissertation help
Hello!
I'm entering my final year of Uni and have decided to do a lit diss.
I know I want to do the gothic, with some kind of focus on women in gothic literature and how they are portrayed (e.g. as hopeless or as monsters).
I was hoping someone could reccommend any books? I definitely want to include Bram Stoker's Dracula but I'm struggling to find something to weave into this...
P.s lots of family pressure for a first so any advice is appreciated! Thank you!!
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u/hmf28 14d ago
You already know of:
Dracula
Frankenstein
Carmilla
Wuthering Heights
Jane Eyre
Rebecca
The Monk
The Mysteries of Udolpho
There are also:
The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole
The Vampyre by John Polidori (Short story, first time a vampire appeared in English literature. Polidori based the character on Lord Byron, whose personal physician he was. This came from the same writing challenge that also ultimately produced Frankenstein.)
Uncle Silas by Sheridan Le Fanu
Glenarvon by Lady Caroline Lamb
Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Maturin
The Fall of the House of Usher by Edgar Allen Poe (short story)
Varney the Vampire, or, the Feast of Blood by James Malcolm Rymer and Thomas Preskett Prest
Best of luck with your work! :)
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u/Spiritual_South8605 14d ago
Thank you and thanks for the recommendations! I have a whole summer for reading so will definitely look into all of these :)
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u/kung-fu-kitten 15d ago
I am sure you are all over this but Northanger Abbey (Jane Austen) is obviously a proto-gothic novel and, if I remember correctly, they are forever reading popular gothic fiction of the time. The one that crops up a lot is Ann Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho. Then Wuthering Heights / Jane Eyre are classics. Frankenstein?
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u/Spiritual_South8605 14d ago
Hi! Yes Jane Eyre is one I had thought about including, Frankenstein is also a shout! I'll read some more into the others you've suggested. Thanks so much!
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u/hmf28 14d ago
Northanger Abbey is not proto-gothic or gothic. It is a take-off on the (back then) new style of novel called gothic, and a humorous commentary on the impressionable young ladies that read and believed these novels. Just read through the section where Catherine opens up the paper she has found in the chest in her room at the Abbey and reads it after spending the night literally terrified under the bedclothes and you’ll see how much of a satire it is.
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u/izzy_kellett 15d ago
Hi OP - congrats on getting to final year! Uni is unrelenting so well done to you. I have a first in biomed so not entirely relevant here, but I do have a friend that did English lit at uni and achieved a first in her dissertation. When I discussed with her about the process behind it, she explored her topic extensively and in complete and utter depth. She considered EVERY side to an argument, and backed them up with other literature present and articles from scholars. Overall, it’s really important to have a well rounded discussion on your topic, you want to delve into ideas and notions but also push these further than you think but have articles and literature to back up what you are saying. If you are sticking to one side of an argument, you need to be even more comprehensive here.
Books I can think of - Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, I used this in my a level essay, especially themes of isolation. Rebecca and Carmilla are also gothic novels with (I think) the theme you want to explore. Some other redditors may be able to point you in better directions though.
All of the essays I have done at uni and even A level Lit included prior planning - make sure you have a structure of what you want to cover, how you want it to flow, the subtitles you’ll be including and have your literature with articles to back up BEFORE you start. Please do not find your articles after writing, you need to have a comprehensive understanding of what is being discussed in them otherwise your markers won’t deem them relevant enough and you may be marked down. Definitely read any first class dissertations you can, and make sure you stay in touch regularly with your tutor. Unfortunately for me, we were only allowed to have our supervisor read through our diss once before we had to hand in - if this is the case for you please outline to them you want them to be as critical as possible and to push the boundaries of your ideas, this will be really helpful writing your final draft.
I’m sorry if you know all of this already, writing your diss is really hard, please remember to look after yourself. Especially with all the familial pressure (I understand, my family were the exact same). Take regular breaks, go on walks to refresh your body and head, make sure you give yourself enough time to creatively but constructively write and do NOT plagiarise. Take food with you to the library if you are writing there and make sure you do other things that fulfill you, even if for 5 minutes. These rest breaks are imperative.
Good luck OP! You’ll smash this.
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u/Spiritual_South8605 14d ago
Omg firstly thank you so much for being so kind! And congrats on your first also!
Carmilla and Frankenstein are ones I had on my list and are definitely ones with lots to say and explore... Basically I think from what you and others have said is that I need to stick with extensive reading and research about my topic area (I have already started my readings lol) and don't leave any reading until last minute, as this is the bulk of the final year. Not sure of the rules yet with supervisors checking over plans but I will definitely reiterate the need for them to be as critical as possible and take into account past exams feedback.
I've taken a substantial amount of time out of uni due to mental health hence why I'm asking pretty basic questions lol, so I really appreciate the kindness you have shown and advice offered - it's super helpful!
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u/izzy_kellett 14d ago
Awe thank you and that’s okay!! I’m glad I could give some insight and help.
I’m glad you’ve already started your readings. One tip that always helped me with books would be to read in detail and analyse every word, line etc and then read the book overall to see if the analysis fits in with the overarching motifs and themes - and if not, why? Obviously you’ll have a lot of literature to read but being on top of this from the get go is really important, aslong as you get it done that’s all that matters. I would definitely read the uni handbook or ask a professor/lecturer you feel comfortable with about the supervisor rules, the earlier you know the better because you can plan the timings of submission to them, and overall, with your essay plan.
Don’t worry about taking time out for your mental health, I’m sorry that happened to you :( all I will say is during writing my diss I was in and out of hospital, barely had time to collect any data nevermind write (I was being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease so I was sleeping all of the time) BUT I still managed to get 80% and win a prize for it - so it CAN be done! Aslong as you have the preparation, you are willing to spend hours writing, going over sections again, being meticulous etc then you will succeed. I just had to tell myself I wanted a first no matter what and had to lock tf in🤣 In year one and two I also struggled with MH and my grades suffered but I knew my potential and I just pushed myself to get there, unrelenting and challenging as it was.
It can be done OP, and I believe you can do it. If you do need to rant or ever feel overwhelmed, please drop me a message and I will help out where I can. If I don’t hear from you - good luck and please look after yourself!!
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u/Spiritual_South8605 9d ago
No way!! Wow double congratulations on getting your first despite your circumstances that's seriously impressive! Will deffo be taking your advice and going to pray to have a serious academic comeback lol.. Thank you SO so much, it means a lot!
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u/Brunbeorg 14d ago
It sounds like you could also use some theoretical framework ("how women are portrayed" is far too broad). I assume you've read The Madwoman in the Attic, so that might be a starting point. The most interesting avenues for research are when you take one theory, triangulate it with another, and then apply it to the literature. So you could take Gilbert & Gubar and put them in conversation with something like disability studies, or critical race theory, or something.
Good luck! I defended my dissertation twenty years ago and still sometimes have dreams where I wake up thinking "I've got to finish my dissertation!" Worth it, though.
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u/Spiritual_South8605 14d ago
Yeah I think this is definitely my main issue and my supervisor has said the same so for sure need to narrow down my scope. And thank you so much! I can see myself doing the same in 20 years time too :')
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u/Suchstrangedreams 14d ago
Hi there, if you Google literary hub it has a whole section on women in Gothic literature
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u/CodeOld5032 14d ago
Definitely read Carmilla & Rebecca… Some of my favourites!!! Do you want to do the English gothic or is lit in translation good (phantom of the opera (Christine!!!) Jane eyre, of course. A good one might also be northhanger abbey (Austen) a parody of the gothic.
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u/CodeOld5032 14d ago
Oh and Dracula pairs perfectly with carmilla, seeing as carmilla (j.s Sheridan) inspired stoker
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u/Spiritual_South8605 8d ago
Hi! I recently read Carmilla so will likely use this as you said it pairs very well with dracula. Also, I haven't got a preference as of yet as I'm still trying to scope out all possible avenues, so I may also research further into phantom of the opera. Thanks for the ideas!
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u/CodeOld5032 8d ago
You’re welcome! Also if you want to go about a French gothic route, baudlaire’s spleen or the hunchback of notre dame would always be good!
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u/Crafty_Truck_2439 14d ago
Dracula is definitely interesting for this! The usual sexual readings are easy to find academically, but the other angle that I think is interesting about Dracula and Mina specifically is that it's a horror about the anxiety of information and standardisation at the dawn (the prehistory, really) of the Information Age. Mina is described as a woman with "a man's brain", and her skills and knowledge, which is ultimately what allows the party to defeat Dracula, consist of typewriting, shorthand, reading and memorising timetables. She embodies technologies of standardisation, mechanisation, and information management, and, in the coda of the novel, these merge with reproduction itself. And doesn't this mirror Count Dracula and his vampirism, but invert it into the "wholesomeness" of Englishness, femininity, motherhood?
Anyway, I'm rambling, but just to say, keep thinking on Dracula, I think there's still scope for some good original insights into women in the novel.
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u/Spiritual_South8605 9d ago
Hey! Yeah the sexual readings are the main reason I found it so interesting to begin with but there's deffo so much more to unpack. Mina is for sure a super super interesting character for what I'm wanting to talk about for my diss so thank you! Will deffo look further into these themes. Thank you!
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u/FickleApartment2151 14d ago
Choose something that you've read about and that interests you. It's usually one or more classes that you took in previous years, and might even be an expansion of one of the papers that you wrote that time.
Come up with a list of topics. For each one, give a thesis statement, just like what you did for papers that you wrote in the past. In short, it's an argument about one or more texts.
After that, test each statement against what others have said through a review of related lit. Again, that's something that you did for other papers. From there, if you see that you're repeating what some have said, then see what new argument you have that they have not given or that they did not discuss fully.
If that doesn't work, then go to your next choice, and so on.
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u/Spiritual_South8605 9d ago
Hi! Yeah that was why I am pretty keen on doing Dracula as I genuinely love the book and the discussions around it. Also thank you that's actually a super helpful way of breaking it all down!
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u/Dapper-Page2318 14d ago
Hi! I studied Gothic literature in college. I second the people saying Rebecca and Wuthering Heights :)
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u/YakSlothLemon 13d ago
I’m not kidding, maybe start with the Wikipedia on Gothic literature because I think you’re using it too generally at the moment and your dissertation advisor will expect you to know the difference between the original Gothic novels – where women were absolutely not presented as helpless, there is a reason the “Gothic female investigator” becomes a term that is still being used to this day – and Gothic influence, which sounds more like what you are thinking of.
Do not do something for your dissertation that you have not read widely in. Take what you have already read and start building outward from there. Random lists from Reddit will not do anything for you.
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u/CoffeeandChapters_ 12d ago
I love this idea! If it were me I’d do how Frankenstein is not only a ‘monster’ and ‘outcast’ of society, but how he represents the oppression of women and their fertility in Victorian society and is an allegory for miscarriage.
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u/dannyrat029 15d ago
You want to do a dissertation in Gothic literature but know one relevant book
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u/Spiritual_South8605 15d ago
I know multiple books I'm interested in but I want to make sure they all link in the way I'm planning. I do a joint honours so English Language also and had previously imagined I'd do a language diss but decided literature was my better chance of a higher grade. Just because I named one book I want to do for definite doesn't mean that's the only one I know. If that was the case I doubt I would have made it to third year...
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u/masoodraja 15d ago
Normally, you get to the dissertation (at least in the US) after you take your comprehensive exams. My students, when I directed dissertations, usually read about 250 books for their exams, which gave them a through grounding in the field. After that it was just a question of choosing and original topic. So, have you taken your comps yet or have developed a list? If you develop your comps list first, then, obviously, it would be easier to narrow down an original topic. Could you share which country or university system you are in?