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The wild goose chase : the illusion of gender in Virginia woolf’s Orlando
Dissertation (MA (Creative Writing))--University of Pretoria, 2017.
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| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | English |
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2026
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| _version_ | 1867613534974640128 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author2 | Medalie, David |
| author_browse | Medalie, David |
| author_facet | Medalie, David |
| collection | Thesis |
| description | Dissertation (MA (Creative Writing))--University of Pretoria, 2017. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/110018 |
| institution | University of Pretoria (South Africa) |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:37:41.144Z |
| license_str | Not specified — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| publishDateRange | 2026 |
| publishDateSort | 2026 |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository |
| spelling | oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/110018 The wild goose chase : the illusion of gender in Virginia woolf’s Orlando Medalie, David nicdac@mweb.co.za Da Conceicao, Eunice The Year of the Dragonfly Orlando Virginia Woolf identity fantasy gender fluidity transgenre transgender transsexual androgyny drag bisexuality performativity discourse unity of mind gender spectrum social transformation. Dissertation (MA (Creative Writing))--University of Pretoria, 2017. The Year of the Dragonfly is a coming-of-age novel which depicts the isolation and fears of a boy who is on the brink on adulthood as he struggles to come to grips with his transgender identity. It explores society’s prejudices and expectations with regard to gender identity, and the complexities of neoteric relationships, alongside a quest for authenticity. This transgender theme is examined further in the dissertation through an analysis of gender in Virginia Woolf’s Orlando, a parodic fantasy that spans almost four hundred years, which includes a protagonist who presents initially as male and then becomes female. The protagonist’s sudden sex change from male to female lends itself to the investigation of the novel as a transgenre, a text that radically engages with the multiple forms of trans-existence evident in the protagonist’s vacillation between the gender binary. Orlando opens up a space for the articulation of fluid gender identities, which position the transsubject along a flexible spectrum or continuum, both of which imply a range of possibilities between two extreme points. The transsexual and transgender aspects of the novel are also explored in relation to fantasy as a means of investigating gender and sexuality, the social construction of gender through performativity and the insufficiency of language in the depiction of gender, all of which invite the reader to question the validity of a single projected identity. Since gender identity has come to be seen by many as fluid, something which cannot be contained within the current gender dichotomy, an alternative option is considered in Woolf’s vision of androgyny as a harmonious balance between the masculine and feminine polarities. This dissertation challenges the normative gender dichotomy and shows how Orlando deconstructs it into a more positive androgynous form within which the trans-individual can explore new modes of sexual identity through an alternative discourse. Unit for Creative Writing MA (Creative Writing) 2026-05-15T17:26:05Z 2026-05-15T17:26:05Z 17/03/31 2017 Dissertation http://hdl.handle.net/2263/110018 en application/pdf |
| spellingShingle | The Year of the Dragonfly Orlando Virginia Woolf identity fantasy gender fluidity transgenre transgender transsexual androgyny drag bisexuality performativity discourse unity of mind gender spectrum social transformation. The wild goose chase : the illusion of gender in Virginia woolf’s Orlando |
| title | The wild goose chase : the illusion of gender in Virginia woolf’s Orlando |
| title_full | The wild goose chase : the illusion of gender in Virginia woolf’s Orlando |
| title_fullStr | The wild goose chase : the illusion of gender in Virginia woolf’s Orlando |
| title_full_unstemmed | The wild goose chase : the illusion of gender in Virginia woolf’s Orlando |
| title_short | The wild goose chase : the illusion of gender in Virginia woolf’s Orlando |
| title_sort | wild goose chase the illusion of gender in virginia woolf s orlando |
| topic | The Year of the Dragonfly Orlando Virginia Woolf identity fantasy gender fluidity transgenre transgender transsexual androgyny drag bisexuality performativity discourse unity of mind gender spectrum social transformation. |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/2263/110018 |