Date of Award

Spring 5-31-2024

Document Type

Honors Project

University Scholars Director

Dr. Joshua Tom

First Advisor/Committee Member

Dr. Traynor Hansen

Keywords

Dickens, Wollstonecraft, life writing, autobiography, autobiographical novel

Abstract

This paper looks at Letters written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark by Mary Wollstonecraft and David Copperfield by Charles Dickens as significant texts that combine fiction and life writing. Looking at fictional and autobiographical elements within each text, this paper argues that these authors manipulate genre to make significant claims about feminism and child activism. They participate in self-crafting—taking the self, something that is personal, and making it public and political. This paper argues that fiction allows the life writer to expand past the limitations of a single lifetime and speak to truths larger than the self. Letters written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark and David Copperfield establish fiction as an important part of autobiographical activist narratives and arguments.

Comments

A project submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the Bachelor of Arts degree in Honors Liberal Arts.

Seattle Pacific University

2024

Presented at the SPU Honors Research Symposium Date 18 May 2024

Copyright Status

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/

Additional Rights Information

Copyright held by author.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Download

Share

COinS
 
Copyright Status

This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. In addition, no permission is required from the rights-holder(s) for educational uses. For other uses, you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).