The Twilight of our years: Text, identity, and reader subjectivity
Open Access
Author:
Guillard, Julianne
Graduate Program:
Curriculum and Instruction
Degree:
Doctor of Philosophy
Document Type:
Dissertation
Date of Defense:
April 18, 2011
Committee Members:
Gail Louise Boldt, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor Gail Louise Boldt, Committee Chair/Co-Chair Jacqueline J A Reid Walsh, Committee Chair/Co-Chair Stephanie Cayot Serriere, Committee Member Dana Lynn Mitra, Committee Member
Keywords:
feminist girlhood critical discourse analysis psychoanalytic theory reader response theory Twilight reading identity
Abstract:
What attracts us to the books we read, and why? Do our attractions, and the enjoyment that stems from such attractions, give clues as to who we are? This dissertation is an exploration of those questions. I conducted a case study analysis of discussions that occurred between two groups of readers, one group comprised of adults in graduate school and one group comprised of adolescents in high school, on the Twilight series of books. I employ critical discourse analysis, psychoanalytic, and reader response theories to uncover how both groups of readers use the texts in the formation of their identities. Through reading group discussions, journal writing, and textual analysis, I explore how the readers resist, accommodate, and question subjectivity and identity within the text and outside of the text.
