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Papers by Katarina Polonsky

Abstract This dissertation explores the connections between the literary representations of rape,... more Abstract
This dissertation explores the connections between the literary representations of rape, blue-collar white men, and masculinity, in the 1980s works of Raymond Carver, Andre Dubus, and Denis Johnson. It suggests that these stories constitute rape narratives, and argues that they critique their era’s dominant model of American masculinity that President Ronald Reagan embodied. It contends that these rape narratives engage with the various tenets of Reaganite masculinity, from the patriarchal household model in the domestic space, the homosocial contender of the all-male public space, to the self-determining cowboy of the wilderness frontier, to reveal these gender constructs as flawed myths. Rather than helping male characters adjust to the 1980s changes, Reaganite masculinity emerges as a limited construct that leads them astray, rendering them as lost white men.
This dissertation’s departure point is the 1980s feminist and poststructuralist contention that gender is a historically-contingent construction. With this in mind, it contextualises these stories’ representations of masculinity in their respective era of the 1980s. This was an era marked by a shifting context of socio-cultural changes that destabilised white American masculinity’s hegemonic power and rendered the gender construct problematic for blue-collar white American men.
As a result, this discussion contributes to the broader dialogue in masculinity studies on white American manhood during this changing era as marked by anger. Though scholarship reads this anger as the overwhelming trajectory of blue-collar manhood in late-twentieth-century American literature, this study suggests, that these stories, transcend representations of anger. By properly contextualising these stories, and examining the rape narrative’s significance, it suggests that the male characters are marked by loss.
With this in mind, I argue these stories critique the era’s dominant model of manhood that President Ronald Reagan championed through their respective male characters. These stories, representing blue-collar men, critique that Reaganite model as insufficient for the 1980s shifting context. Rather than enfranchising the blue-collar characters, it undermines their ability to navigate their socio-cultural landscape.
This dissertation deploys Hannah Arendt’s contention that violence is an ineffective tool for power and liberation, and argues that it demonstrates how Reaganite masculinity’s recourse to behaviours that propagate violence become problematic for the male characters. These rape narratives interrogate the validity of the masculinity that engenders this violence by rendering its behaviours as rigid and ideologically limited.
To demonstrate this, this study examines Reaganite masculinity across three pertinent landscapes. Section One discusses the domestic space, suggesting that the Reaganite model’s muscular dominance impairs the male characters and displaces them from their reality. Section Two considers the all-male public bar, and shows how constructing masculinity through homosocial enactment offers a limited double-bind that engenders consequences that leave them lost. Section Three suggests that the Reaganite myth of the self-determining cowboy leads the men similarly astray as the paragon proves incompatible with their modern 1980s landscape. From the home, to the bar, to the wilderness frontier, the male characters of these stories emerge as less the angry white men that late twentieth-century American literature suggests, than lost white men.

In this paper, I examine how mainstream development discourse pertains to women’s empowerment in ... more In this paper, I examine how mainstream development discourse pertains to women’s empowerment in post-Soviet Russia since 2012. Despite the formal commitment exemplified by Russia’s signing of the United Nations’ Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1981), and its authorising of Western feminist NGO activities, scholars agree that Russian women are currently disenfranchised within an anti-feminist political system. Nonetheless, I contend that women are generating movements and empowering themselves through the creation of quasi-public spheres, through which they are exerting agency and achieving strategic life choices. In this paper, I will demonstrate how women are asserting greater authority over their identities and daily lives, their legal and political voices and capabilities, and their movements and public participation through these quasi-public spheres.

In this peer-reviewed paper, I consider how issues of masculinity and domestic space affect the c... more In this peer-reviewed paper, I consider how issues of masculinity and domestic space affect the central characters in “Neighbors” and “Collectors”, offering a reappraisal of Carver's disenfranchised protagonists.

An exploration into self-reflexivity and linguistic virtuosity in Ishiguro and Winterson's work.

An essay on language and creativity

Abstract This dissertation explores the connections between the literary representations of rape,... more Abstract
This dissertation explores the connections between the literary representations of rape, blue-collar white men, and masculinity, in the 1980s works of Raymond Carver, Andre Dubus, and Denis Johnson. It suggests that these stories constitute rape narratives, and argues that they critique their era’s dominant model of American masculinity that President Ronald Reagan embodied. It contends that these rape narratives engage with the various tenets of Reaganite masculinity, from the patriarchal household model in the domestic space, the homosocial contender of the all-male public space, to the self-determining cowboy of the wilderness frontier, to reveal these gender constructs as flawed myths. Rather than helping male characters adjust to the 1980s changes, Reaganite masculinity emerges as a limited construct that leads them astray, rendering them as lost white men.
This dissertation’s departure point is the 1980s feminist and poststructuralist contention that gender is a historically-contingent construction. With this in mind, it contextualises these stories’ representations of masculinity in their respective era of the 1980s. This was an era marked by a shifting context of socio-cultural changes that destabilised white American masculinity’s hegemonic power and rendered the gender construct problematic for blue-collar white American men.
As a result, this discussion contributes to the broader dialogue in masculinity studies on white American manhood during this changing era as marked by anger. Though scholarship reads this anger as the overwhelming trajectory of blue-collar manhood in late-twentieth-century American literature, this study suggests, that these stories, transcend representations of anger. By properly contextualising these stories, and examining the rape narrative’s significance, it suggests that the male characters are marked by loss.
With this in mind, I argue these stories critique the era’s dominant model of manhood that President Ronald Reagan championed through their respective male characters. These stories, representing blue-collar men, critique that Reaganite model as insufficient for the 1980s shifting context. Rather than enfranchising the blue-collar characters, it undermines their ability to navigate their socio-cultural landscape.
This dissertation deploys Hannah Arendt’s contention that violence is an ineffective tool for power and liberation, and argues that it demonstrates how Reaganite masculinity’s recourse to behaviours that propagate violence become problematic for the male characters. These rape narratives interrogate the validity of the masculinity that engenders this violence by rendering its behaviours as rigid and ideologically limited.
To demonstrate this, this study examines Reaganite masculinity across three pertinent landscapes. Section One discusses the domestic space, suggesting that the Reaganite model’s muscular dominance impairs the male characters and displaces them from their reality. Section Two considers the all-male public bar, and shows how constructing masculinity through homosocial enactment offers a limited double-bind that engenders consequences that leave them lost. Section Three suggests that the Reaganite myth of the self-determining cowboy leads the men similarly astray as the paragon proves incompatible with their modern 1980s landscape. From the home, to the bar, to the wilderness frontier, the male characters of these stories emerge as less the angry white men that late twentieth-century American literature suggests, than lost white men.

In this paper, I examine how mainstream development discourse pertains to women’s empowerment in ... more In this paper, I examine how mainstream development discourse pertains to women’s empowerment in post-Soviet Russia since 2012. Despite the formal commitment exemplified by Russia’s signing of the United Nations’ Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (1981), and its authorising of Western feminist NGO activities, scholars agree that Russian women are currently disenfranchised within an anti-feminist political system. Nonetheless, I contend that women are generating movements and empowering themselves through the creation of quasi-public spheres, through which they are exerting agency and achieving strategic life choices. In this paper, I will demonstrate how women are asserting greater authority over their identities and daily lives, their legal and political voices and capabilities, and their movements and public participation through these quasi-public spheres.

In this peer-reviewed paper, I consider how issues of masculinity and domestic space affect the c... more In this peer-reviewed paper, I consider how issues of masculinity and domestic space affect the central characters in “Neighbors” and “Collectors”, offering a reappraisal of Carver's disenfranchised protagonists.

An exploration into self-reflexivity and linguistic virtuosity in Ishiguro and Winterson's work.

An essay on language and creativity