Genre, gender, and their effects in "The case of the organic gone"

Locklin, A (2025) Genre, gender, and their effects in "The case of the organic gone". PhD thesis, Bath Spa University.

Abstract

This dissertation combines my contextualizing research 'Genre, Gender, and Their Effects', with my high-concept novel, The Case of the Organic Gone. My novel is a science fiction detective mystery in the form of a case report, retrospectively written by my primary protagonist. My research situates my novel in its larger history. In a future world where people are divided into castes according to their genetic profile, Darlene Friday is an Altered Side Effect who is thirty-one but appears eleven, a victim of genetic technologies that are part of the story. Darlene pursues a private investigation with the help of her sixteen-year-old adopted sister, Iris, a Normal who has not been subject to genetic changes, and, later, a mysterious Altered woman named Kit. The three must determine how an Organic tween student died. At the time the case report is being written, after the novel's main events, Darlene is caring for an old friend, Althea, whose genetic Alterations have caused Side Effects that are even more devastating than Darlene's. Their investigation will change the lives of these characters forever. My supporting research, 'Genre, Gender, and Their Effects', explores the dynamic relationship between traditional and experimental styles of writing. My overarching framework prioritizes openness over closedness in meaning-making, representational choices and form. My research contextualizes 'The Case of the Organic Gone' in its larger history. I explore the influences that were formative to my novel, including key novels by Jonathan Lethem, Philip K. Dick, and Shirley Jackson. Next, I explore definitions about literary and speculative fiction and how they offer strategies for achieving structural, character, and conceptual openness, while considering applicable novel exemplars. Following this, I examine the role of interpretation as a potentially closed system according to a scholar from the field of psychiatry. Whether the closed meaning-making of traditional mysteries is suitable preparation for understanding life is explored. As treated in previous chapters, other novels are examined as exemplars. Next, I look at open genders in several important novels by Virginia Woolf, Angela Carter, and Ursula Le Guin. I conclude my research by returning to where my novel started in terms of its experimental form. I also consider the relationship between ethics and aesthetics, and the benefits of using open indeterminacy in novel writing. Several other novels are noted in this conclusion, including two female narrators by Jeff VanderMeer. Through this research and creative process, I discovered strategies which transformed my art and enabled me to complete this practice-based project.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Keywords:	PhD by practice, creative writing, fiction, novel, science fiction, detective novel, genre, gender, meaning-making, representational choices, form
Divisions:	School of Writing, Publishing and the Humanities
Date Deposited:	11 Jun 2025 09:21
Last Modified:	11 Jun 2025 09:21
URI / Page ID:	https://researchspace.bathspa.ac.uk/id/eprint/17068

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