English - Doctoral Theses
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Item The limits of liberation: the co-option of the posthuman subject in contemporary science fiction(University College Cork, 2024) Phelan, Dylan; Allen, Graham; Corcoran, Miranda; Monahan, BarryThis thesis examines the portrayal of the posthuman subject in contemporary science fiction, focusing on how mainstream media co-opts and nullifies its transgressive potential. Posthumans, as hybrid identities, challenge binary distinctions and destabilise oppressive categorisations, offering a profound capacity for subversion and resistance. Contemporary portrayals, however, often undermine this potential by positioning posthuman subjects within traditional hierarchies that reinforce existing power structures. My research investigates this trend across a range of texts, spanning early representations of the posthuman, cyberpunk fiction, contemporary cinema, and contemporary television. I analyse how these portrayals have developed over time, considering historical and cultural influences and identifying the role of capitalism in neutralising these subversive identities through processes of co-option and commodification. To engage with the complexities of this subject, I adopt a threefold theoretical approach. Drawing on the work of posthuman theorists such as Donna Haraway and Rosi Braidotti, I define and analyse the liberatory potential of the posthuman subject. Using the schizo-analytic framework of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, I explore how posthuman identities can both transcend and be constrained by hierarchical categorisations. Finally, employing the post-Marxist theories of Theodor Adorno, Max Horkheimer, and Guy Debord, I examine how capitalist structures absorb and commodify the transgressive possibilities of posthuman identities, reducing their capacity to disrupt the status quo. By integrating these theoretical approaches, my research provides a comprehensive analysis of how posthuman subjects are represented in science fiction and what these portrayals reveal about the nature of power and identity in contemporary society.Item News from Venice: a digital analysis of Cosimo Bartoli’s correspondence and newsletters (1562–1572)(University College Cork, 2025) Mansutti, Sara; Dooley, Brendan; Cosgrave, Michael; Irish Research CouncilThe aim of this study is to analyse Cosimo Bartoli’s contribution to Venice’s news production and circulation in the second half of the sixteenth century. From 1562 to 1572, Bartoli served as the Medici’s official agent in Venice. Like other resident diplomats, his primary responsibility was to gather news and send it to Florence, where the Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo I de’ Medici, his son Francesco de’ Medici and the various secretaries read it. This activity resulted in more than 700 letters and 500 newsletters written by Bartoli that are today kept in the Mediceo del Principato collection at the State Archives in Florence. The complex figure of Bartoli has so far only been studied from a biographical perspective and for his widespread intellectual and technical interests and production. What is lacking, that this thesis aims to address, is an analysis of Bartoli’s Venetian years by examining his role as an informant within the complex framework of European news circulation and the relevant network, which was evolving in a new way during that time due to the development of periodic handwritten newsletters, called avvisi in Italian, and the emergence of new professional figures, the newswriters. The study investigates how and from whom Bartoli obtained the news, what part he played in writing the newsletters he sent to Florence, and the relationship between the letter and newsletter, which were originally sent as one dispatch but were later separated and bound in different volumes. It also examines the Medici’s attitude, interest and reading habits regarding the news they received from Venice, as well as how Bartoli assessed the reliability of the information he obtained. These questions are answered by analysing Bartoli’s letters and newsletters using digital methods. The documents are automatically transcribed using Handwritten Text Recognition and Transkribus, while the automatic transcriptions are corrected by volunteers as part of a crowdsourcing project. The outcome is a semi-automated digital edition published online and available to everyone. Using the transcriptions and metadata collected, Bartoli’s network in Venice is reconstructed and visualisations are created to identify trends. The findings of the study demonstrate that Bartoli had close relationships with three groups from which he obtained the majority of his information: foreign diplomats residing in Venice, in particular the apostolic nuncio and the Imperial ambassador; institutions of the Republic of Venice, specifically the Collegio, the Senate and the Doge; and Venetian patricians. Despite the fact that newsletters were already in circulation at the time, Bartoli relied entirely on letters as his main source of news. He composed the newsletters himself, combining information from a variety of official and unofficial correspondence. To Bartoli, the letters and newsletters he sent were complementary documents and he expected that the Medici or their secretaries would read both with equal attention, which was the case. Practical considerations dictated how the news items were divided between the newsletters and the letters. If Bartoli had managed to obtain the actual letter or a copy of it, the news was summarised in the newsletter; if he had only heard about it or had read it himself but it was not possessed by him, he reported it in the letter. Finally, this study demonstrates that Handwritten Text Recognition is a helpful tool to automatically transcribe vast volumes of handwritten primary sources with a high degree of accuracy, 96% in Bartoli’s case, making the documents searchable and allowing historians to pose new research questions.Item "A vocation without a ministry?" Contexts and developments in contemporary Irish play writing(University College Cork, 2024) Gould, Geoffrey John Anthony; Etienne, Anne; Laird, HeatherThis study focuses on the changing landscape of Irish theatre in the first two decades of the new millennium and its effect on the position of the Irish playwright. The final decade of the twentieth century witnessed the emergence of what has been described as the ‘golden’ generation of Irish playwrights: Marina Carr, Martin McDonagh, Conor McPherson, Mark O’Rowe and Enda Walsh. No Irish playwright of the twenty-first century has garnered a similar type of critical and/or popular reception. My hypothesis is that, in the new millennium, Irish theatre provided an exciting new forum for the work of theatre makers, actor-authors and dance theatre practitioners, reducing the dependence on the playwright’s script and repositioning the relationship between the audience and the stage irrevocably. Where does that leave the playwright? Is there enough support from funding and other bodies to allow the playwright to survive? Is there sufficient support for the playwrights not just to survive but to develop? These were some questions I set out to answer only to find myself asking many more. I examined case studies from the ‘golden generation’ and from three playwrights of the new millennium in an attempt to understand whether extant threads exist through the political, myth and dramaturgy that link all these playwrights to what Tom Kilroy describes as an Anglic tradition. It was also important not to lose sight of so many other talented practitioners working in my profession. As such, bearing in mind the national and international successes of Louise Lowe, Gary Keegan and Feidlim Cannon of the theatre-maker sector; Pat Kinevane, Mikel Murfi, Sonya Kelly and Seamus O’Rourke of the actor-author sector; and the spellbinding work of Michael Keegan-Dolan’s dance theatre, a further aim of the research is to question whether a complete redefinition of the term ‘Irish playwright’ is required.Item Converging for a moment: an overview of immersion in imaginative space in The Earlie King & the Kid in Yellow and All Along the Echo(University College Cork, 2024) Denton, Danny; Gilson, Jools; Corcoran, MirandaThis PhD Thesis by Prior Publication is comprised of two parts: the creative component and the critical component. The creative component consists of the novels I have published to date: The Earlie King & the Kid in Yellow (2018) and All Along the Echo (2022), supplied separately. The critical component is contained in this document, along with a brief appendix. The critical component is entitled “Converging for a moment: a critical overview of immersion in imaginative space in The Earlie King & the Kid in Yellow and All Along the Echo.” It explores the life experiences, practice processes and thematic concerns (often intertwining) that produced the creative component, with a focus on the importance of language, materiality and embodiment in real and imagined spaces. Drawing on writing by Marc Augé, Dora Massey, Virginia Woolf, Sondra Perl, Guy Debord and Lisa Clughen, among others, senses of place, and indeed felt bodily senses, and how writing can approach them, form a fundamental core of that exploration. The thesis also discusses the roles of the reader and the writer in conjuring imaginative work. Using a wide frame of reference, appropriate to the life, work and research of a fiction writer, the aim of the critical component is to chart a path through my life experience and my writing process to my published work, with a focus on theories of place and non-place as a lens for that path. Excluding its prelude, introduction and conclusion, the critical component is formed of four major parts. “The Terms” explains what writing means to me, as an act, and from there builds in how that affects the process by which my work can be produced. “The Process” deals with the evolution of my writing process, with a focus on its materiality and physicality. “The Ideas” probes concepts of place and non-place as presented in Marc Augé’s Non-places: An Introduction to Supermodernity (1997), and “The Work” links these theories about writing and place to my life experience, my creative practice and, ultimately, the creative output that forms the creative component of the thesis.Item Activism and the authorial persona: narratives of addiction, depression and abortion in the writings of Marian Keyes(University College Cork, 2024) Butler, Maria; O Gallchoir, Cliona; O'Sullivan, James; Irish Research CouncilPopular Irish author Marian Keyes has sold over 30 million books, yet she has received little critical attention compared to her literary contemporaries. This study addresses this gap by examining Keyes’ work in the context of the rapid socio-historic changes that occurred in Ireland over the course of Keyes’ publishing career. The goal of this research is to analyse how Keyes utilises her writing to agitate for social change, focusing on her depiction of three significant Irish loci of shame: addiction, depression, and abortion. In doing so, I argue that literature can function as a tool to shift readers’ societal perceptions, thereby facilitating activism through literature. Drawing on Sara Ahmed’s concept of “impression”, I posit that the entirety of the textual and extratextual object (contents, paratexts, and our impression of the author) forms a lasting impression on readers. Therefore, this thesis investigates how Keyes’ writings, branding, and authorial persona collectively contribute to her social activism. By examining the interplay between emotion (affect), cognition, and branding, I demonstrate how Keyes encourages readers to reconsider traditionally shameful topics. Chapter 1 lays the theoretical groundwork for this analysis, integrating the affective and cognitive literary approaches I apply to Keyes’ writings. This is followed by an examination of Keyes’ branding and the impact of her personal history on her readers. The subsequent chapters delve into specific themes: addiction (Chapter 2), depression (Chapter 3), and abortion (Chapter 4), each illustrating how Keyes’ personal experiences and public persona influence and contribute towards her activism. The study concludes that Keyes’ combination of emotional influence, cognitive education, and potential for reparative reading invites readers to reconsider the source of their shame and judgment, increasing social equality.