Cannibal Mother: Strategic Essentialism, Gender Complexity, and the Birth/Demise of Alice Sheldon in James Tiptree Jr.
| dc.contributor.advisor | Myers, Kate | |
| dc.contributor.advisor | Raiskin, Judith | |
| dc.contributor.advisor | Sinclair, Chris | |
| dc.contributor.author | Scharff, Ellen | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2021-07-27T18:50:25Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2021-07-27T18:50:25Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2021 | |
| dc.description | 58 pages | |
| dc.description.abstract | Alice Sheldon, under the penname James Tiptree Jr., published a variety of science fiction novels and short stories in the 1970s, which explored concepts of feminist and gender theory through the lens of futuristic utopias and alien species. This study considers how Alice Sheldon’s personal writing, including diaries, letters, and essays informs and transforms the theoretical work operating in the science fiction she published under the penname James Tiptree, Jr.. Focusing on Sheldon’s essays, diaries, and letters, and Tiptree’s “Love is the Plan the Plan is Death,” “The Women Men Don't See,” and “Houston, Houston, Do You Read?,” I argue that Tiptree’s science fiction develops Sheldon’s personal ideology regarding essentialist thinking, motherhood, and homosexuality, by exploring concepts of feminist and gender theory through the lens of futuristic utopias and alien species. Furthermore, I argue that these developments suggest that “Tiptree” may have represented not only a penname but also a realization of Sheldon’s masculine identity. Tiptree’s science fiction and gender theory explore the personal identity and gender complexity of Sheldon as an individual and writing as Tiptree allowed Sheldon to possess an intellectual and social identity that she was otherwise denied. | en_US |
| dc.identifier.orcid | 0000-0001-6903-3933 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/1794/26556 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_US | |
| dc.publisher | University of Oregon | |
| dc.rights | CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 | |
| dc.subject | Gender studies | en_US |
| dc.subject | LGBTQ studies | en_US |
| dc.subject | Literature | en_US |
| dc.subject | Women's studies | en_US |
| dc.subject | Modern literature | en_US |
| dc.title | Cannibal Mother: Strategic Essentialism, Gender Complexity, and the Birth/Demise of Alice Sheldon in James Tiptree Jr. | |
| dc.type | Thesis/Dissertation |