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@PHDTHESIS{Turnbull:1015207,
author = {Turnbull, Anna Teresa},
othercontributors = {Schneider, Ralf and Strasen, Sven-Knut},
title = {{I}mpossible body transformations: female character bodies
and reader cognition in speculative fiction},
school = {Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen},
type = {Dissertation},
address = {Aachen},
publisher = {RWTH Aachen University},
reportid = {RWTH-2025-06260},
pages = {1 Online-Ressource : Illustrationen},
year = {2025},
note = {Veröffentlicht auf dem Publikationsserver der RWTH Aachen
University; Dissertation, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische
Hochschule Aachen, 2025},
abstract = {This dissertation examines the representation of impossible
character bodies in speculative fiction, with a particular
focus on sense-making strategies that readers use to
understand physically impossible representations of
character bodies. The focus of this project is on processes
of schema and blending theory, the influence of established
genre conventions, and metamorphoses of gendered bodies. In
particular, it focuses on how the character bodies
represented challenge and question the readers’
expectations. The basis for this study is, on the one hand,
Ralf Schneider’s cognitive theory of character reception,
which is based on the fact that readers bring pre-structured
mental models of character bodies into the reading process
that are influenced by genre expectations and real
experiences. These models are based on learned schemata of
human bodies and societal norms that are questioned when
readers encounter characters whose bodies deviate from these
expectations. On the other hand, Jan Albers’ concept of
‘unnatural narratology’ is used, in particular the
reading strategies based on it that readers use to
understand text elements (e.g., characters) that are outside
of what is physically, logically or humanly possible. This
dissertation mainly deals with the assumption that readers
who are confronted with bodies that defy familiar schemata
use strategies to find meaning, such as ‘blending’
existing knowledge structures and genre conventions to
restructure their mental models. The focus of this work is
on speculative literature, a genre known for body
transformations that violate what is physically, logically
or humanly possible. This genre also allows for the blending
of different genres, subgenres and elements from different
areas that can be summarized under the umbrella term of
speculative literature. Key questions guiding the research
include how bodily transformations challenge previous
knowledge structures, how genre conventions are subverted,
and how gendered transformations empower female characters.
The aim of the analysis is to understand how speculative
fiction, with its unnatural elements, can alter narrative
possibilities and cognitive perception. The three texts
analysed in this work were selected according to specific
criteria to highlight how speculative fiction’s
manipulation of genre conventions and the exploration of
gendered bodily transformations offer readers opportunities
to reflect and grow beyond the limits of their own cognitive
perception. The texts analysed in this project were selected
according to the following criteria: a) they represent
explicit cases of ‘body blending’ that go beyond or defy
what is physically, logically, or humanly possible; b) the
narrative worlds in which these character bodies appear
resemble the natural, spatial, and temporal rules of the
world as we know it; c) the characters affected by the
transformations represented in the texts can be read as
(biologically) female; d) the texts contain genre elements
from more than one genre of speculative literature. In these
stories, the grotesque changes that take place in relation
to female bodies challenge the reader’s knowledge of
bodies and especially of their own bodies, but at the same
time the transformations represented also serve as a way to
overcome trauma, (male) domination and oppression, as well
as grief, and to transform the changed or changing female
body into something to be respected or even feared. In doing
so, the selected texts draw attention in particular to how
the naturally changing female bodies, whether due to
puberty, pregnancy, motherhood or aging processes, are still
fundamentally seen as different. Each of the analyses
follows a consistent structure, starting with a genre
assessment that highlights the texts’ connections to
classical myths, fairy tales and folk tales. The readers'
reading strategies are then examined to understand the
physical changes represented, focusing on the nature of the
blend and its effects on the reader. Finally, this work
examines how the body transformations represented impact
representations of femininity and how they allow female
characters to challenge normative expectations. By examining
these character bodies—particularly those of female
characters undergoing empowering transformations—it
illustrates how the body, in its representation and
transformation, serves as a critical site for challenging
norms, engaging with affect, and expanding the boundaries of
literary and cognitive experience. Ultimately, literature
allows us to confront the limits of our own perceptions and
offers new ways to engage with the complexity of embodied
experience in the narratives we encounter.},
cin = {793110},
ddc = {400},
cid = {$I:(DE-82)793110_20140620$},
typ = {PUB:(DE-HGF)11},
doi = {10.18154/RWTH-2025-06260},
url = {https://publications.rwth-aachen.de/record/1015207},
}
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