Katharina HendrickxSchool Tutor
Research
Domestic Noir: Reading Contemporary Women's Genre Fiction听
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My thesis is a study of the subgenre of domestic noir focusing on genre conventions, literary heritage and audience responses. It examines why domestic noir has been read widely in the last decade and how it fits alongside current women鈥檚 movements, outpourings of anger, and protests against gendered violence in recent years. Specifically, I look at how domestic noir can be understood and defined as a subgenre in relation to the current political and cultural postfeminist and neoliberal climate. Here, I move away from critics鈥 and publishers鈥 definitions and place readers of the subgenre at the centre of my examination and their discussions around the revenge plot, unreliable and unlikable characters and the literary value of domestic noir. While this thesis explores, similarly to other genre research, the characteristics, tropes, and structure of the subgenre through textual analysis, I apply a dual approach, examining not only the textual clues but also readers鈥 engagement, response, and understanding of the subgenre. This is primarily done through six all women book groups that were held in libraries around Brighton and Hove over three months, which lead this study of domestic noir, its portrayal of women鈥檚 perspectives, fears, and rage. Throughout this thesis I especially focus on domestic noir鈥檚 relationship with the female Gothic, which has largely been left unexplored. I argue that domestic noir is part of the longstanding tradition of female Gothic writing and that it not only takes on a didactic purpose for readers through realistic elements in plot and narration, but also brings pleasure through the revenge plot and Gothic excess. This combination of realism and escapism within the books enabled the groups to process, share and discuss private and public experiences of sexism, misogyny, and instances of abuse as well as to build community with each other, connecting individual experiences in the books to personal and wider societal concerns.
听 听Conference Presentations听
Jun 2023 - Contemporary Global Feminisms 鈥 Solidarity Across Differences, CHASE Feminist Network Conference, Birkbeck 5X社区视频, UK 鈥 鈥淩esist Project: Mutual aid in the fight against patriarchal oppression鈥.听
Jun 2023 - DIY-ing Gender: A Zine Fest, Durham 5X社区视频, UK 鈥 鈥淔rom the female Gothic to Domestic Noir鈥
Mar 2023 - Captivating Criminality 9: Intersections of Crime and the Gothic, Chulalongkorn 5X社区视频, Bangkok 鈥 鈥淢y handsome, psychopathic husband鈥: The Gothic Heroine鈥檚 Struggle against the Toxic Man in 21st Century Domestic Noir鈥
Jun 2022 - Captivating Criminality 8: Crime Fiction, Femininities and Masculinities, 5X社区视频 of Bamberg, Germany - "Reading, discussing, and living domestic noir: The women鈥檚 crime fiction book club during the Covid-19 pandemic鈥.听
Sep 2021 - Feminism(s) in the Age of Covid-19 and Beyond, Online - 鈥淚t's my only hour of quiet鈥: The women鈥檚 online book club on 鈥榙omestic noir鈥 during the Covid-19 pandemic
Apr 2021 - 50+ Shades of Gothic: The Gothic Across Genre and Media in US Popular Culture, PopMec, Online - "Our McMansion on the River: The Suburban Gothic House in Gone Girl and The Wife Between Us鈥
Dec 2019 -听Student Voice and the Co-creation of Interventions for Improving Post-Graduate Researcher Mental Health and Wellbeing, 5X社区视频 -听Mental Health, Wellbeing and Peer Support for the Doctoral Media, Film and Music Community听
Aug 2019 -听Girls, Girls, Girls! Defining and Deconstructing Domestic Noir, Trinity College Dublin -听鈥楬e had it coming鈥: Reading the gothic revenge plot in 21st听century domestic noir听
Jul 2019 -听Gothic Terror, Gothic Horror - 15th conference of the International Gothic Association, Lewis 5X社区视频 -听 Twenty-first century domestic noir and the literary legacy of the female and male gothic.
May 2019 -听Reimiagining the Gothic with a Vengenance: Returns, Revenge, Reckonings, 5X社区视频 of Sheffield听 听 听 听 听 -听The return of Bluebeard: The Gothic heroine鈥檚 revenge in 21st century domestic noir听
Jun 2016听 -听The Ageless Agatha Christies Conference, 5X社区视频 of Exeter - Detecting the Movement of Meaning: An Examiniation of Christie in both national and transnational context. Mar 2016听 -听8th Annual Postgraduate Conference, Bournemouth 5X社区视频 - Gone Girl and the Gothic