Disabled Subjects: Disability Gender and Ethical Agency in Victorian Realism
Fratz, Deborah Mae
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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/81438
Description
Title
Disabled Subjects: Disability Gender and Ethical Agency in Victorian Realism
Author(s)
Fratz, Deborah Mae
Issue Date
2008
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Lauren M.E.Goodlad
Department of Study
English
Discipline
English
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Keyword(s)
Literature, English
Language
eng
Abstract
"While many previous studies of Victorian disability have focused on non-literary works and melodramatic forms, the specific focus on realist fiction offers a fresh perspective on disability's ethical function. Realism's investment in interiority disrupts the often cliched association between physical disability and emotional excess, providing a de-sensationalized though no less ethically urgent depiction of disability. The foremost literary critical goal of this study is to describe the complex ways in which physical difference could stand for ethical authority, making the ""disabled subject"" the repository of exceptional character-building powers in Victorian fiction."
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