Date of Award
1999
Document Type
Thesis - ECU Access Only
Publisher
Edith Cowan University
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts Honours
Faculty
Faculty of Community Services, Education and Social Sciences
First Supervisor
Dr Richard Rossiter
Second Supervisor
Dr Susan Ash
Abstract
Evidence: the Diaries of Charlotte Smith is a young adult novel aimed at the 13-15 year old reader. It is set in an outer Perth suburb and deals with 15 year old Charlie's experience of going to a new school, dealing with her alcoholic mother and developing an obsession with an older girl. The novel is written primarily in diary form, but is framed by a letter written some time after the events in the diaries have occurred, and dissolves at the end into various legal and journalistic texts. 'For the defence: the formation and representation of lesbian desire in teenage texts' is a critical essay exploring some of the theoretical issues pertinent to the representation of lesbian desire and the politics of interpreting this representation. It utilises Teresa de Lauretis' reading of classical psychoanalytic theory; Vanessa Wayne Lee's suggestions for classifying and evaluating texts for young emerging lesbian readers; and aspects of the critical materialist reader response theory of Janice A. Radway and David Rudd.
Recommended Citation
Lawrinson, J. M. (1999). Evidence : the Diaries of Charlotte Smith and, For the Defence : The Formation and Representation of Lesbian Desire in Teenage Texts. Edith Cowan University. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses_hons/987