School of Critical Studies

The character of Lucifer has always fascinated us as readers, however in recent years we have seen the rise of a new kind of devil. In a significant number of texts, the Judeo-Christian God is not the supreme creator, but one god among many coexisting pantheons. By reducing God’s position, these authors transform religion into mythology, and thus, Lucifer’s story is transformed from a cosmological war to a smaller, more personal family drama, dramatically changing the tone of his punishment for rebelling.

Once reduced to the level of family drama, God fulfils every single one of the NSPCC’s criteria for an emotionally abusive parent. Whilst biblical relationships have always been used as a prism for family politics, recently the nature of these politics have been changing rapidly – a process mapped in literary reconfigurations. Lucinda’s research aims to demonstrate that by using Lucifer as an everyman figure, these stories symbolize not only a growing disgust at the abuses of power that western society has committed throughout history in the name of God, but also a rejection of patriarchal hierarchical structures.

• Holdsworth, L. 2019. [Forthcoming] The Problem of Evil in Pseudo-Taoist Secondary Worlds. In: Barbini, F. ed. The Evolution of Evil in Fantasy and Science Fiction. Edinburgh: Luna Press.

• Recipient of Bond Essay Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Literary Studies, University of Nottingham

• ‘Weak as Women’s Magic: The Domesticity of Women’s Magic’ at Glasgow International Fantasy Conversations, 27^th April 2018

Affiliations

• Lucinda leads the University of Glasgow’s Intersectional Fantastika Reading Group