A European getaway for female monsters

Tárkányi, Ádám (2024) A European getaway for female monsters. HUNGARIAN STUDIES: A JOURNAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR HUNGARIAN STUDIES AND BALASSI INSTITUTE, 38 (1). pp. 62-72. ISSN 0236-6568

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Abstract

In my study, I explore representations of otherness and alienation in the Athena Club trilogy by Theodora Goss, a Hungarian-born writer currently living and working in the United States. In the first part of the analysis, I focus on the relationship between female identity and monstrosity. I argue that monstrosity in Goss’ novels can be seen in the deconstruction of traditional nineteenth-century female roles. Hence, the female monsters of the Athena Club can be interpreted as a metaphor for self-realization and a representation of otherness. In the second part of the analysis, I will examine the experience of alienation from the perspective of the protagonist (Mary), along the opposition of home and abroad. I will point out that the experience of the new cultural environment, and more specifically the positive experience with Hungarian cultural realities, means the final elimination of the experience of alienation.

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