Manipulation, Stalking, Violence: Women's Victimisation in Selected Novels by Patricia Duncker

Seminar paper from the year 2013 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 1,3, University of Paderborn, language: English, abstract: In the course of the seminar “Patricia Duncker’s Fiction” we read, analysed and discussed several works by the British author that all had the similarity of being mysterious, uncanny and captivating. What made these attributes arise was not only the thrilling plot but also the character constellation. Most of the works contain only two or three protagonists and the particularity that the relationship between these protagonists only seems to be harmonious but that is actually based on an unequal balance of power. While one character is superior and dominates the thoughts and actions of the other person, the latter is not able to escape or prevent this inferiority leading to fear, confusion or even death. Interestingly enough, one can state that in Patricia Duncker’s works this unequal relationship is not arbitrary in reference to sexes but often portrays women as victims and men as offenders. In some cases the victim and the offender are even lovers, which makes it difficult to recognise the offender’s obsession with the victim from the beginning. Moreover, it is conspicuous that every work contains different types of women’s victimisation, i.e. manipulation, stalking and violence but that each work clearly focuses on one type in particular. Consequently, all works together contribute to the reader’s understanding about the range and varieties of this recurring topic. In this term paper I will focus on this victimisation of women in Patricia Duncker’s works and analyse The Deadly Space Between, The Strange Case of the Composer and His Judge and the short story Stalker in Seven Tales of Sex and Death. At first, I will give a short definition of the term victimisation in a sociological context and explain the above mentioned typical subcategories. Then, I will analyse the focused type of victimisation in the different works in order to show that more than one of the mentioned types of victimisation appear but that one of them always predominates. To understand how the victimisation is carried out I will afterwards also look at the victim’s introspection and perception by others. In the next step, I will do a short comparison of the victimisation and victims in the different works and finally, as a conclusion, sum up the main findings and give an outlook over further possibilities to expand the topic.