Proposal

Hey everyone.
So I was planning on waking up early this morning to finish editing my proposal, but an emergency came up a few hours ago and I have to go home right now to take care of it, so this is a very rough draft of my basic proposal that I did not have the chance to look over. I tried to convey a lot of material and I had some trouble channeling my thoughts. I'll come back later tonight and work out all the kinks.

I have always been very fascinated by Carl Jung’s development of archetypes and how they apply to literature. Basically the theory states that archetypes can be used as a literary device to emphasize personality or further traditional narratives. Jung applies this theory to myths and manifestations of the subconscious but several scholars have argued that the archetypal theory can be applied to modern literature.
One thing I noticed when I first started learning about archetypes is that they are largely divided by gender. Granted, in some cases the gender roles are reversed as in the case of the anima/animus, but for the most part the roles are typified into the two sects of gender. I am curious to see how the archetypal theory of self-actualization manifests in the role of a trans-gender individual.
My theory regarding trans-gender archetypes in the novel of Trans-Sister Radio is that the transgendered character, Dana, embodies a double archetype, e.g. the twin double or . Dana represents both sides of the double/counterpart archetype. This archetype represents a physical manifestation of what Jung calls “dissociation,” and the surgical change that Dana goes through within the novel is a physical manifestation of her psychological development. At the end of the novel Dana attains self-actualization by settling all the gender and sexual issues that she struggles with throughout.
My thesis is roughly this: The character Dana within the novel Trans-Sister Radio is an archetypal symbol of a double/counterpart whose dissociation is manifested in her gender issues.

Annotated Bibliography:

Brunel, Pierre. Companion to Literary Myths: Heroes and Archetypes. London: Routledge, 1992. Print.
This is book is roughly a dictionary-format of various archetypes and their role in myths. I’ve transposed the mythical function onto contemporary literature because I feel that it is relevant. I mainly focused on the books descriptions of archetypes in general and how they apply to literature, either through symbols or narrative. This is also where I discovered a description of the double/counterpart archetype for the first time and realized that it applied to our novel.

Jung, C. G., and Marie-Luise Von Franz. Man and His Symbols. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1964. Print.
Basic understand of all the archetypal symbols, their roles, their meanings and their psychological impact. This book is written to explain archetypal symbols in dreams, but the symbols carry over into literature. It also offers some historical examples of the archetypes, e.g. Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde as an archetypal symbol of the double/counterpart. The archetypes depicted in this text are largely gender specific.


Lauter, Estella, and Carol Schreier Rupprecht. Feminist Archetypal Theory: Interdisciplinary Re-visions of Jungian Thought. Knoxville: University of Tennessee, 1985. Print.
This book covers a lot of the same material covered in the other book I found about feminist archetypal theory. But I chose this book because it depicts the historical development of the archetypal theory and its application to literature. The book depicts the historical development from starting with Jung then moving to Frye and finally to Levi-Strauss. This book is more useful in describing how and why subconscious archetypes have become applicable to all types of literature.

Wehr, Demaris S. Jung & Feminism: Liberating Archetypes. Boston: Beacon, 1989. Print.Anima/animus.
This book explores the role of Jungian archetypes and how they fit in with the modern development of the feminist theory. The exploration of feminist archetypes is incredibly significant within Trans-Sister Radio because of the fact that Dana’s transition is applicable to both sides of the gender spectrum but ultimately Dana is inherently female throughout the text. This book has a very interesting section regarding the anima/animus distinction in literary archetypes and suggests that the role of gender in literature is based more on behavior than on anatomy.

Whitmont, Edward C. The Symbolic Quest: Basic Concepts of Analytical Psychology. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1991. Print.
This book focuses on the archetypal narrative in which a journey takes place in order for the characters to attain self-actualization. Whitmont describes the process of transformation and healing in relation to the archetypal quest, emphasizing the significance of dramatic shifts and experiences. He also illuminates the role of the community and a character’s role in relation to societal opinion and the effect it has on the development of the psyche.