Date of Graduation

5-2024

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in English (PhD)

Degree Level

Graduate

Department

English

Advisor/Mentor

Lissette L. Szwydky

Committee Member

Sean P. Connors

Second Committee Member

Susan Marren

Keywords

Gender; Neo-victorian; Nineteenth century; Popular culture

Abstract

The murders of Polly Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly in London in 1888 by the serial killer commonly known as “Jack the Ripper” were grotesque displays of violence against vulnerable women. As unsolved crimes, they have continuously been sensationalized and fictionalized since they occurred, beginning with dime novels like The Whitechapel Murders; Or, On the Track of a Fiend (1888) and continuing with novels like Stalking Jack the Ripper (2016). The sheer number of adaptations is staggering. This extensive adaptation process results in the mythologization of Jack the Ripper as a culture-text. This study aims to explore how the fictionalizations of these brutal murders and mutilations, commonly called Ripperature, have evolved in popular culture and media. Using an interdisciplinary approach, I examine these texts through the lenses of gender, neo-Victorianism, and media studies. This dissertation argues that the Ripperature genre often attempts to cross gender and genre boundaries while, more often than not, reinforcing traditional and often harmful ideologies. Broken into two significant sections concerning “Jill the Ripper” and detective figures and studying texts across forms, I found that in Ripperature, women’s bodies are continuously policed by patriarchal forces while simultaneously fetishized as corpses. This research advances the conversation around our contemporary fascination with adapting the Victorians, particularly Victorian villains, as well as the commitment of neo-Victorian texts to gender justice.

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