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Et in Arcadia Ego: A Class and Gender Analysis of 'Brideshead Revisited' and 'The Secret History'

Bovide Lindén, Hanne LU (2017) ENGK01 20171
English Studies
Abstract
Even though Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited and Donna Tartt’s The Secret History were written almost fifty years apart, they share many similarities. They are both forms of academic novels and they both depict the University and College as places excluded from the surrounding world where the characters can act out their desires in their adolescent years before they enter adulthood. In both novels, the protagonists come from lower or middle class backgrounds and are invited into the upper class. They both become infatuated and fall in love with the people in that world and the world itself. By comparing these two novels and analysing them using a class and gender perspective, this essay studies how factors like the academic world,... (More)
Even though Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited and Donna Tartt’s The Secret History were written almost fifty years apart, they share many similarities. They are both forms of academic novels and they both depict the University and College as places excluded from the surrounding world where the characters can act out their desires in their adolescent years before they enter adulthood. In both novels, the protagonists come from lower or middle class backgrounds and are invited into the upper class. They both become infatuated and fall in love with the people in that world and the world itself. By comparing these two novels and analysing them using a class and gender perspective, this essay studies how factors like the academic world, class, gender and sexuality affect the protagonists in their admiration for the surrounding characters, but also how these factors affect each other. This essay argues that during the time the characters are within the closed environment of the school they defy norms of gender and sexuality but as they step out of that environment they begin to act according to the social structures of the rest of society. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Bovide Lindén, Hanne LU
supervisor
organization
course
ENGK01 20171
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
The Secret History, Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh, Donna Tartt, Sexuality, Gender, Class, Homosexuality, Academic Novel
language
English
id
8917575
date added to LUP
2017-08-23 14:08:02
date last changed
2017-08-23 14:08:02
@misc{8917575,
  abstract     = {{Even though Evelyn Waugh’s Brideshead Revisited and Donna Tartt’s The Secret History were written almost fifty years apart, they share many similarities. They are both forms of academic novels and they both depict the University and College as places excluded from the surrounding world where the characters can act out their desires in their adolescent years before they enter adulthood. In both novels, the protagonists come from lower or middle class backgrounds and are invited into the upper class. They both become infatuated and fall in love with the people in that world and the world itself. By comparing these two novels and analysing them using a class and gender perspective, this essay studies how factors like the academic world, class, gender and sexuality affect the protagonists in their admiration for the surrounding characters, but also how these factors affect each other. This essay argues that during the time the characters are within the closed environment of the school they defy norms of gender and sexuality but as they step out of that environment they begin to act according to the social structures of the rest of society.}},
  author       = {{Bovide Lindén, Hanne}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Et in Arcadia Ego: A Class and Gender Analysis of 'Brideshead Revisited' and 'The Secret History'}},
  year         = {{2017}},
}