Welcome to my blog! My name is Mia Tobin Power and I’m a student of the MA Modernities programme at University College Cork. I’ll be updating this blog throughout the year as I research and work on my Masters thesis.
I also did my BA in English at UCC. My undergrad dissertation was titled “”The Evil That Men Do”: Representations of Patriarchy in Twin Peaks and Succession.” In it, I analysed how two popular contemporary TV shows introduced critiques of patriarchy into the mainstream entertainment landscape by embedding them within their narratives and central relationships. I was delighted to win the UCC English Department’s Louise Clancy Memorial Prize for this dissertation.
This year, I plan to research counternarratives in literature, thus continuing my investigation into how literary texts examine societal power dynamics. I am interested in how art can be used as a form of resistance, both by an author in crafting a text and by characters within a narrative. The title of my blog, Survival is Insufficient, comes from Emily St. John Mandel’s 2014 novel Station Eleven. Mandel uses this phrase in the novel to convey the importance of art in society. I agree with her that merely getting by in life is not enough; we need art both as a form of escapism and a vehicle for societal critique. Come with me as I explore and share my thoughts on these themes on this blog!