Making Space: the Case for Amatory Fiction, 1660-1740
MAKING SPACE: THE CASE FOR AMATORY FICTION, 1660-1740 _______________ A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Department Of English University of Houston _______________ In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy _______________ By Chrisoula M. Gonzales May, 2017 MAKING SPACE: THE CASE FOR AMATORY FICTION, 1660-1740 _________________________ Chrisoula M. Gonzales APPROVED: _________________________ Ann Christensen, Ph.D. Committee Chair _________________________ David Mazella, Ph.D. _________________________ Maria Gonzalez, Ph.D. _________________________ Lynn Voskuil, Ph.D. _________________________ Robert Shimko, Ph.D. University of Houston _________________________ Antonio D. Tillis, Ph.D. Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences Department of Hispanic Studies ii MAKING SPACE: THE CASE FOR AMATORY FICTION, 1660-1740 _______________ An Abstract of a Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Department of Psychology University of Houston _______________ In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy _____________ By Chrisoula M. Gonzales May, 2017 ABSTRACT This dissertation explores amatory fiction as a genre significant to English literary history. I ground the study of amatory fiction in literary history, specifically exploring the ways that amatory fiction participates in the development of the novel. In amatory fiction, female characters express desire in a public setting, a feature that distinguishes amatory fiction from the novel, where characters more often express themselves in private, domestic spaces. By analyzing the various expressions of female desire in the works of Aphra Behn, Delarivier Manley, Eliza Haywood, and Daniel Defoe, I show that female characters are motivated to inhabit public space because they seek to know themselves as sexual, social, and political agents.
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