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This thesis is a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of the popular genre of postfeminist romantic novels. Its aim is to unravel the ideology of a postfeminist discourse by means of a CDA of popular romantic fiction. The theoretical part of the thesis discusses the concept of post-feminism as a counter-movement to feminism and its position within popular culture, the status of (romantic) relationships in a postmodern society and presents the method and approach (CDA), the material and the established hypotheses. The empirical analysis is a corpus analysis of eleven selected postfeminist romantic novels. It critically investigates the usage of specific linguistic means in popular romantic fiction and how they contribute to the construction of the gendered body, the construction of a feminine identity based on consumption in our postmodern society and gender stereotypes in general. This thesis is aimed at readers interested in the method and approach of Critical Discourse Analysis and corpus analysis and the discourse(s) of (post)feminism and its influence on popular culture(s).

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Birgit Steinkellner, Mag.a phil.: Master in English and Spanish Studies at Karl-Franzens-University Graz (Austria). Teacher of English and Spanish as a Foreign Language.

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