| dc.description.abstract | This project argues that surveillance fiction plays an important role in bridging the gap between academic and public discussions of digital surveillance. Specifically, the thesis explores how two surveillance fiction novels, Dave Eggers’ The Circle, and M.T. Anderson’s Feed, engage with surveillance topics in a way that creates a space for reflection and understanding of our current digital landscape which is characterised by widespread surveillance. Framed by surveillance theory, the thesis explores how surveillance mechanisms develop and how they affect regular people in our daily lives, and how these novels present recipes for resistance against the surveillant assemblage. Contributing to the field of surveillance studies this thesis, showcases the unique perspectives that literary studies have to offer an interdisciplinary field with a long history of focusing on surveillance effects, without taking into account the experience of surveillance on the subject. The thesis is divided into three chapters. “From Convenience to Compliance” provides an overview of the current situation of digital surveillance and explores how compliance with new surveillance mechanisms is agreed to; “Feeling Surveillance in The Circle” explores the ways in which constant surveillance, and total transparency, affects characters’ emotions, behaviours and relationships in The Circle’s narrative; and “Resisting Surveillance in Feed” explores the strategies for resistance offered by the novel. | |