Understanding Scarlett Thomas’ Fiction: the Anti-Heroic Heroine
Abstract
In 2004 Scarlett Thomas published PopCo, the third volume of a trilogy devoted to contemporary pop culture and its effects. Through the experiences of her heroine, Alice Butler, we get to know the inner struggle of someone who inhabits a daily routine of an inconsistent occupation and lifestyle. This particular character, remarkable for her interest in unsolved riddles and strong dissatisfaction with the 21st century society, is but the accumulation of common features of Thomas’ previous figures, as well as the inspirational source for her later novels. Consolidated as an archetype, Thomas also proposes her female character as an alternative role model to the typical heroine. This paper aims to analyse the character of Alice Butler as heroine and anti-heroine in the context of her novel, together with the precursors and descendants, and the reasons why she serves as a role model.
Keywords: Scarlett Thomas, PopCo, archetype, heroine, anti-heroineDownloads
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors who publish with this journal agree to retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal. Also, authors will retain the rights on their work, even if they will be granting The Grove. Working Papers on English Studies a non-exclusive right of use to reproduce, edit, distribute, publicly communicate and show their work. Therefore, authors are free to engage in additional, independent contracts for non-exclusive distribution of the works published in this journal (such as uploading them to an institutional repository or publishing them in a book), as long as the fact that the manuscripts were first published in this journal is acknowledged.