Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Adultery in literature'

This thesis examines literary images of masculinity and femininity, their function and depiction in marriage roles and homo-social relationships in the context of crisis: wifely adultery. The study is heavily reliant upon vernacular texts, especially Old French works from the twelfth and thirteenth century including works from the genres of romance, lais, fables, and fabliaux. Latin works including historia and prescriptive texts such as customaries, penitentials, etiquette texts and medical and canon law treatises are also used to contextualise themes in the Old French literature. The introduction summarises modern literary and historical criticism concerning sexuality in the Middle Ages. It then discusses the influences of the Church, philosophy, medicine, natural theory and society on medieval definitions of sexuality to contextualise the literature which is focal to this thesis. The following four chapters each consider a single character in the adulterous affair: the adulteress, the husband, the lover and the accuser. The literary images of each character are analysed in detail revealing the diversity of depictions between and also within genres. This enables the identification of medieval sexual constructs, challenging some previous critiques of representations of sexuality in the Middle Ages. The final chapter explores the language by which the sexual act is presented. Furthermore, it shows how language is used and occasionally abused in committing, prosecuting and evading punishment for adultery and how it can be wielded as a weapon of women. Through the focus of a body of literature rich in depictions of sexuality, this thesis questions the misogynist overtones often attributed to medieval literature. The diversity of images shows that the literature illustrates a wide range of opinions and ideas reflective of the complexity of sexuality in medieval society.

This thesis examines the sociolegal context of the representation of infidelity in the Anglo-American novel. It locates the first serious Anglo-American treatment of infidelity in the novels of Henry James and Ford Madox Ford; and it situates these writers for the first time in their immediate legal context. The dominant mode through which infidelity was discursively defined during this period was simultaneously legal and sensational: the publication of "Divorce Court" trials in the daily newspapers. The implication of this context for the novel is twofold. The focus on narration from the perspective of the betrayed party prompts a local questioning of knowledge (of knowing one's spouse), and a more general questioning of the epistemoloigcal premises of the realist novel itself. The novels considered here make clear the limitations of a legal discourse committed to a disinterested record of "what happened." In the process, they illustrate several of the narrative innovations most distinctive to the modernist novel. Secondly, what will be called an "aesthetics of suspicion" and "domestic surveillance" distinguishes James's and Ford's novels from the central critical tradition which reads the representation of infidelity as subversive of social norms. Instead, these novels reinforce, thematically and formally, the legal policing of infidelity. Doubt of both conjugal and narrative fidelity, then, becomes the means through which the legal policing of infidelity in the divorce court is covertly extended in the novel.

This thesis is an examination of how the themes of adultery and regeneration are interwoven and explored by selected English novelists in the first half of the twentieth century. It is essential to establish that Ford, Lawrence, Waugh and Greene do not adhere to the ‘archetypal' pattern of the adultery novel established in the nineteenth century and, in fact, turn that pattern on its head. Ford's The Good Soldier and Parade's End provide two differing perspectives. The first uses adultery as a metaphor for the disintegration of English society, mirroring the social disintegration that accompanied the First World War; Parade's End, however, presents an adulterous relationship as being a regenerative force in the post-war society. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover also uses an adulterous relationship as a means of addressing the need for social, and national, regeneration in the inter-war years. Waugh's A Handful of Dust presents a woman's adultery as the ruin of not only a good man, but also civilisation in general; Brideshead Revisited is more religious in tone and traces the spiritual regeneration of its central character, whose conversion, ironically, is made possible through his adulterous relationship. Similarly, Greene's The Heart of the Matter and The End of the Affair portray the process of spiritual regeneration; in both novels this movement towards salvation is intertwined with an exploration of adulterous love. The ultimate question probed in this thesis is how the twentieth century novel of adultery overturns the traditional literary approach to the subject. Adulterous unions and illegitimate children are no longer presented as being exclusively socially destabilising or subversive in these novels; most intriguingly significant is that, in some of these novels, the illegitimate child becomes a symbol of hope, and, indeed, of regeneration.

Luigi Pirandello's two short stories La verita and Certi obblighi and the play derived from them Il berretto a sonagli seem to be, at least on the surface, about adultery. The three male protagonists' dilemmas come about as a result of their wives' sexual transgressions, which consequently impose certain "obligations" upon them. The themes of adultery and betrayal, however, are merely surface elements, used to explore the theatrical nature of identity and of all social experience. Specifically, the three works show how role-playing-within-roles safeguards the identity of the betrayed husbands, by protecting them from social humiliation.
Since all Pirandellian characters role-play, and as a consequence portray and assume multiple identities, this thesis examines the function and significance of this technique in both narrative and theatrical contexts. It attempts to show that while the device is a feature common to all three works, it is in the dramatic adaptation that role-playing in relation to identity acquires its more visible and effective treatment.

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PROQUALI (UFJF)
O presente trabalho dissertativo tem por finalidade demonstrar de que forma a temática do adultério feminino – abordada nos contos A cartomante, de Machado de Assis, e A dama do lotação, de Nelson Rodrigues – aponta para a metamorfose do discurso identitário feminino no decurso de aproximadamente um século, descortinando a influência das mudanças próprias da evolução da sociedade (tanto no âmbito jurídico, como no campo da moral e dos costumes) na ficção literária trazida a efeito pelos autores nos referidos contos. Em decorrência da riqueza temática do corpus literário elegido para análise nesta pesquisa, e no intuito de investigar a evolução do discurso identitário feminino em relação ao histórico do crime de adultério no ordenamento jurídico pátrio, desponta a necessidade de utilização de um referencial teórico interdisciplinar para subsidiar as reflexões concernentes ao processo de construção/transformação da identidade feminina, ao adultério (em especial o praticado pela mulher) e à relação entre o Direito e a Literatura. A partir de tais reflexões, fundamentadas no aporte teórico de autores como Antonio Candido, Arnaldo Sampaio Moraes de Godoy, Michel Foucault, e Simone de Beauvoir, dentre outros, pretende-se demonstrar que as escritas empreendidas por Machado de Assis e por Nelson Rodrigues em A cartomante e A dama do lotação, respectivamente, sugerem certa consonância com os panoramas social e jurídico em vigor no Brasil nos diferentes períodos em que os textos foram produzidos. Finalmente, mediante a análise das tramas desenvolvidas no corpus literário em questão, busca-se, ainda, explorar a factível ideia de que o processo inventivo de seus autores terá sido influenciado pelo olhar social lançado à figura da mulher, no passado subordinada à dominação masculina e hoje potencialmente mais liberta e independente.
This paper aims to demonstrate how the female adultery issue, that appears in the tales: A Cartomante, by Machado de Assis, and A dama do Lotação, by Nelson Rodrigues – reveals the transformation of the female identity discourse during almost a century, showing that the authors’ tales were influenced by the society changing and evolution, both in the legal and in the moral and manners field. Due to the richness theme of each tale and in order to analyze the evolution of the female identity discourse related to the historical adultery crime on Brazilian legal System, it was observed an interdisciplinary theoretical framework to guide reflections on aspects related to the female identity construction/transformation; adultery (mainly those committed by women) and the relationship between law and literature. Based on these reflections, supported by the work of several authors like Antonio Candido, Arnaldo Sampaio Moraes de Godoy, Michel Foucault, Simone de Beauvoir, among others; the paper aims to demonstrate that the literary works developed by Machado de Assis and Nelson Rodrigues in A Cartomante and A dama do lotação, respectively, suggest a certain level of conformity with the social and legal context established in Brazil at the time the texts were produced. Finally, analyzing the plots developed in the literary corpus under consideration, it is possible to explore the perfectly feasible idea that the authors creative process have been influenced by the way the society looked at the woman – in the past subjected to male domination and now potentially more independent and free.

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Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES
This research intends to analyze the novel Anna Kariênina, by the Russian writer Liev Tolstoy, in the light of Romanticism and orthodox Christianity, specifically the question of adultery and romantic love, which ends up leading the protagonist to suicide. We deal with the importance of literature since the earliest times, especially how through literature it is possible to get in touch with the religious customs of a nation, that is, their worldview. We create a panorama of the romantic movement and its influence in literature, just as we present the new way of seeing and living the religion that has been given by the historical romantics; beyond, of course, the very conception of romantic love, which dates back to this period. We observe Tolstoy as a religious agent, passing through his main body of work, thus arriving at the question of the desire that, in the end, closes the research in a detailed analysis of the work, which certainly serves the whole theoretical path.
Esta pesquisa pretende analisar o romance Anna Kariênina, do escritor russo Liev Tolstói, à luz do Romantismo e do cristianismo ortodoxo, especificamente a questão do adultério e do amor romântico, o que acaba por levar a protagonista ao suicídio. Tratamos a importância da literatura desde os tempos mais remotos, principalmente como por meio da literatura é possível entrar em contato com os costumes religiosos de um povo, ou seja, sua cosmovisão. Tecemos um panorama do movimento romântico e sua influência na literatura, da mesma forma como apresentamos a nova maneira de ver e viver a religião que se deu a partir dos românticos históricos; além, claro, da própria concepção de amor romântico, que data desse período. Observamos Tolstói como um agente religioso, perpassando suas principais obras, chegando assim na questão do desejo que, por fim, encerra a pesquisa numa análise detalhada da obra, que se serve, certamente, de todo o caminho teórico percorrido.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Georgia State University, 2009.
Title from title page (Digital Archive@GSU, viewed July 22, 2010) Sheri Joseph, committee chair; John Holman, Josh Russell, committee members. Includes bibliographical references (p. 38).

Cette étude littéraire examine la transgression sexuelle par l’adultère, dans l’ouvrage Des contes et nouvelles en vers écrit par La Fontaine entre 1665 et 1671, publié par Claude Barbin jusqu’en 1671. Ces contes érotiques décrivent à travers le caractère satirique de l’auteur, les relations extra-conjugales des deux sexes dans un ton grivois et moralisateur. La Fontaine s’est minutieusement inspiré des parties de la littérature du Décameron de Boccace et de l’Arioste en réécrivant ces contes. Après la dernière publication Des contes et nouvelles en vers l’oeuvre est saisie puis interdite en 1675 par La Reynie considérée comme trop provocatrice. L’oeuvre de La Fontaine s’oppose par son contenu aux convenances de l’époque. En cela le texte de l’auteur pourrait être considéré comme libertin. Les personnages représentent différents corps sociaux et font l’objet de railleries et de caricatures. Ici l’étude décrit par exemple comment les textes présentent des sujets scandaleux de manière cachée. L’opposition entre le rôle, le statut, la condition sociale et le souhait du désir de chaque personnage des contes se présentent dans les personnages aussi bien masculins que féminins. Notre analyse explore la représentation des personnages féminins et leurs relations à l’adultère à travers les regards des personnages masculins et celui de l’auteur. L’étude prend appuie sur des recherches historiques et prend en compte le système hiérarchique des personnages et la condition sociale de la femme dans le rôle d’épouse. Le style satirique de La Fontaine se caractérise par la volonté de critiquer les moeurs sociales d’une période spécifique de l’histoire, celle du XVIIe siècle. L’analyse étudie deux aspects celle de la transgression sexuelle de la femme et celui du regard d’objectification porté sur elle. L’étude examine si cette transgression peut être mise en corrélation avec un débat sociétal sur la définition du mariage de l’époque.
This literary study examines sexual transgression through adultery, in the work Des contes et nouvelles en vers written by La Fontaine between 1665 and 1671, published by Claude Barbin until 1671. These erotic tales describe through the satirical character of the author, the extra-marital relations of both sexes in a grizzly and moralizing tone. La Fontaine was meticulously inspired by the parts of the literature of Boccaccio's Decameron and Ariosta in rewriting these tales. After the last publication Of Tales and News in Verse the work is seized and then banned in 1675 by La Reynie considered too provocative. The work of La Fontaine is opposed by its content to the conveniences of the time. In this the author's text could be considered libertine. The characters represent different social bodies and are the subject of taunts and caricatures. Here the study describes, for example, how the texts present scandalous subjects in a hidden way. The opposition between the role, the status, the social condition and the desire of the desire of each character of the tales are presented in the characters both male and female. Our analysis explores the representation of female characters and their relationship to adultery through the eyes of male characters and that of the author. The study is based on historical research and takes into account the hierarchical system of the characters and the social status of the woman in the role of wife. The satirical style of La Fontaine is characterized by the desire to criticize the social mores of a specific period of history, that of the seventeenth century. The analysis studies two aspects: that of the sexual transgression of the woman and that of the objectification look on her. The study examines whether this transgression can be correlated with a societal debate over the definition of marriage at the time.

Le divorce comme objet d’étude littéraire, la proposition peut surprendre. La répartition distributive des champs et des domaines de pensée exigerait que l’on en fasse, au choix, le sujet d’une réflexion historique, politique, juridique, sociale ou morale. De littérature, il n’est en revanche point question. En 1884, la réhabilitation du divorce dans la législation française est pourtant l’œuvre d’une combinatoire inédite entre politique et littérature. Depuis les tribunes et les colonnes des journaux, dans les essais et dans les livres, la narration des malheurs matrimoniaux d’hommes et de femmes pris dans les tenailles de la loi, se débattant contre une fatalité civile qui contraint leur vie privée et conjugale, crie en faveur du démariage. Alors que les liens entre le récit et la revendication d’une désunion légale sont séculaires, noués notamment dans les œuvres de George Sand, le combat de plumes mené contre l’indissolubilité du mariage va significativement révolutionner la pensée de la littérature à thèse, encourager une réflexion sur la fonction de l’écrivain, sur son rapport au droit, et démontrer le pouvoir de la littérature sur les mœurs et sur la rédaction des lois. Outil d’analyse précieux pour comprendre le fait intellectuel, littéraire et narratif des débuts de la IIIe République, le motif du démariage sert de plus l’étude de la représentation de la conjugalité dans le récit français de la fin du XIXe siècle. Devenu légal, le divorce bouleverse en effet l’imaginaire du récit de mœurs privées et inaugure de nouvelles situations narratives : la rencontre avec l’ancien époux, la jalousie du nouveau mari, la seconde nuit de noces, le passé sexuel de la femme deviennent bientôt les lieux communs et les lois narratives du genre. La promulgation du divorce éprouve néanmoins rudement les coutumes narratives françaises : en offrant une solution au récit d’adultère, le divorce brise un modèle narratif séculaire, et oblige le récit à repenser ses fatalités et ses formes
Divorce as an object of literary study, the proposal may surprise. The distinctiveness of fields and areas of research requires that a choice be made to study the question from a historical, political, legal, social or moral point of view. Literature, however, is never even considered. In 1884, the rehabilitation of divorce in French legislation was the result of an unusual combination of politics and literature. From the editorials and columns of the newspapers, in essays and in books, the narration of matrimonial misfortunes of men and women caught strangled by the law, wrestling against a civil inevitability that constrains their private and conjugal life, clamors for un-marriage. While the ties between literature and the claims for legal disunion are secular, linked in the works of George Sand, the battle of pens fighting against the indissolubility of marriage will significantly change the thinking of engaged literature and encourage a reasoning on the role of the writer, his relation to the law, and to demonstrate the power of literature on morals and the drafting of legislation.As a valuable analytical tool to understand the intellectual, literary and narrative aspects of the beginnings of the Third Republic, the un-marriage topic can be used to study the representation of conjugality in the French narrative of the end of the 19th century. Henceforth legal, divorce in fact transforms the imagination of literature on private morals and inaugurates new narrative situations: the encounter with the former husband, the jealousy of the new husband, the second wedding night, and the sexual past of the woman, all soon become common practice in the literary genre. The promulgation of divorce nevertheless rudely tests French narrative customs: by offering a solution to stories of adultery, divorce breaks a secular narrative model, and obliges literature to rethink its fatalities and its forms

Ce travail de recherche vise à présenter une collection de récits traditionnels persans, soit tirés et traduits des ressources indiennes, soit écrits et composés directement en persan dans le sous-continent. Notre attention s'est portée sur les récits en prose qui détiennent plusieurs emprunts de la tradition et la culture indienne, et ceux qui sont enrichis par des éléments narratifs et imaginaires fabuleux. Ces spécificités apparaissent dans de divers aspects : la structure du récit-cadre, les thèmes principaux et les personnages des contes. Les récits indo-persans sélectionnés sont présentés en détail par des informations sur leurs auteurs / traducteurs, la date et le lieu de composition, leurs thématiques, leurs sources originales, les manuscrits disponibles et d'autres références. La recherche actuelle est également un effort pour la pratique et le développement de la perception symbolique dans les récits classiques. Touti-Nâme, choisi comme le corpus de notre étude, nous fournit des scènes sur la vie sociale, les relations intimes et conjugales dans les contextes individuels et sociaux. J’ai examiné les thèmes dominants de la ruse des femmes, du conflit entre le désir et la loi, du rêve et du rire à travers des approches mythiques et symboliques. Le rôle prépondérant des personnages féminins et des perroquets sont étudiés profondément dans les contes. J'ai aussi essayé d'analyser les aspects psychiques des personnages par le biais de l'approche psychanalytique jungienne. Des exemples concrets de l'autorité et des jeux de pouvoir entre les sexes sont donnés dans Touti-Nâme comme spécificité des sociétés traditionnelles patriarcales
The present research aims to introduce a collection of Persian traditional narratives, either translated from Indian sources, or written and composed directly into Persian language in the sub-continent. Our focus has been on prose narratives which hold multiple specificities borrowed from Indian tradition and culture, and are enriched by fabulous and imaginary narrative elements. Such specificities appear in diverse aspects : the frame structure of the stories, the leading themes and the typical Indian characters. These stories are presented in detail by providing information about their authors / translators, date and place of composition, themes, original sources, available manuscripts and other references.The current research is also an endeavor to practice and develop symbolic perception in classical stories. Touti-Nâme, chosen as our target text, demonstrates social life, conjugal relationships and power-struggle in both individual and social contexts. The dominant themes of women’s guiles and tricks, love and law conflict, dream and laughter have been examined through mythical and symbolic approaches. Women characters and birds such as parrots have gone through profound studies due to their predominant roles within the tales. I have also tried to study psychological aspects of story characters and their role in the events by means of the Jungian psychoanalytical approach. Concrete examples of gender authority and power-games in traditional patriarchal societies have been given in Touti-Nâme

Mon sujet de thèse a porté sur les nombreuses figures du couple dans l'œuvre romanesque et théâtrale de Jean Giraudoux. La lecture des œuvres de cet auteur m'a conduit naturellement vers cette problématique. Nous retrouvons dans les pièces de théâtre et dans les romans, différentes représentations du couple qui questionnent la relation conjugale. Les personnages mis en scène par Giraudoux cherchent à déconstruire la représentation traditionnelle et à imposer de nouveaux rapports. Ma thèse reprend tous ces enjeux et se présente en trois parties. La première offre une vue assez large sur la notion de couple. J'y traite notamment de la question des origines et je reviens sur les influences qui ont pu marquer notre auteur. Cette partie définitionnelle a été capitale pour circonscrire notre problématique mais aussi pour évoquer la culture de l'écrivain. Dans cette partie, j'interroge aussi le langage du couple, j'y analyse le discours ainsi que les mots qui ont tendance parfois à se transformer en véritable maux. Enfin, dans cette partie, j'évoque la relation de l'altérité en montrant ses points d'application au sein du couple. Dans la deuxième partie, la réflexion se précise, j'analyse essentiellement la rupture du couple, les facteurs déclencheurs. Par ailleurs, pour comprendre la déroute que vit le couple, il était nécessaire de revenir au contexte de l'époque. En effet, la relation classique entre l'homme et la femme a subi un changement dû à un mouvement d'émancipation féminine accentuée par la fin de la seconde guerre mondiale. L'adultère se lit alors dans tous les comportements. Après avoir été conçu mentalement, il est revendiqué par les femmes qui entendent mettre fin à toutes les supercheries. Je m'interroge aussi dans cette partie sur la position même de l'auteur qui est quelquefois ambigüe. En effet si Jean Giraudoux est un fervent féministe, c'est aussi un écrivain conservateur qui pense que la guerre des sexes ne peut aboutir. La position de Giraudoux est donc beaucoup plus nuancée que celle d'un Margueritte, par exemple. Dans la troisième partie, j'élargis ma problématique à la question du bonheur qui est aussi une thématique intrinsèque à celle du couple. Je montre qu'il y a tout d'abord dans l'œuvre un conflit entre le plaisir et le bonheur. Ce dernier est une pure façade qui accule les personnes à vivre ensemble. Les hommes sont d'ailleurs particulièrement attachés à leur bonheur, ils se l'arrachent comme du gibier. La femme quant à elle, fière et digne, se moque et se détourne de ce bonheur fait de prosaïsme et célèbre un art de vivre qui se fonde sur la jouissance totale. Elle abroge le système de valeurs revendiqué par les hommes qui veulent notamment en faire une figure sacrificielle. L'œuvre est à ce titre iconoclaste à plusieurs niveaux, elle bouscule les repères traditionnels et rend compte de nouveaux comportements qui sont un écho des mutations que connaît la France à cette époque.

“The Bedroom and the Barnyard: Zoomorphic Lust Through Territory, Procedure, and Shelter in ‘The Miller’s Tale’” is an academic endeavor that takes Chaucer’s zoomorphic metaphors and similes and analyzes them in a sense that reveals the chaos of what is human and what is animal tendency. The academic work is expressed in the adjunct creative project, Haunchebones, a 10-minute drama that echoes the tale and its zoomorphic influences, while presenting the content in a stylized play influenced by Theatre of the Absurd and artwork from the medieval and early renaissance period.

Le texte suivant est une réflexion sur la création et la théorie derrière mon projet de maitrise appelé ‘Of course I love you, the flower said’. Cette installation, basée sur la littérature classique pour enfants, est composée de plusieurs éléments dont trois cabanes distinctes et un environnement qui les entoure. Cette installation a comme but d’entièrement transformer la salle d’exposition afin de créer une possibilité d’immersion pour le visiteur. Elle est de l’ordre du fantastique et de l’imaginaire et prend son point de départ dans la dualité entre l’enfance et l’état adulte. Chaque cabane présente un diffèrent type d’art à l’intérieur, notamment un surplus de dessins, une muraille et une projection d’images virtuelles. Ainsi chaque forme d’art, l’élément de la cabane et le jardin entourant sont discutés prenant en compte comme ensemble, ils créent l’effet d’immersion désirée.
The following text is a reflection on the creation and theory behind my master’s project titled ‘Of course I love you, the flower said’. This installation, based on classic literature for children, is composed of various elements such as distinct cabins and the environment around them and aims to entirely transform the gallery space in order to create a possibility of immersion for the viewer. The installation itself is of the order of the imaginative and the fantastic and has a starting point in the child-adult duality. Each cabin features a different type of art on the inside, namely a surplus of drawings, a mural and a projected slideshow of virtual images. Hence each of these different art-forms, alongside the element of the cabin and the outside ‘garden’, are discussed with special regards to how together, they achieve the aimed for immersion.

O objetivo deste trabalho é primeiramente demonstrar como os personagens de L’Écume des jours vivem num mundo da primazia da individualidade e do instante presente em oposição ao mundo dos adultos, fundado na preocupação com o dia de amanhã e com os interesses coletivos. Em seguida, tentamos provar que a harmonia desse mundo em que evoluem nossos personagens é rompida pelo casamento do casal Colin/Chloé. E também desvelar em que medida os protagonistas – Colin e Chloé – aderem aos valores do mundo adulto através do casamento. Para tanto, utilizamos sobretudo a base teórica da obra de Georges Bataille: La Littérature et le mal. Nessa obra, o escritor, ensaísta e pensador francês afirma que a literatura, enquanto expressão da individualidade, representa uma transgressão da ordem estabelecida. Assim o que pôde ser equivocadamente considerado como mal, de fato, são apenas manifestações (ou tentativas) de trangressão. Bataille coloca do lado do bem as preocupações coletivas de acumulação de bens e de perpetuação da espécie, fundados na razão e no cálculo. Do outro lado, o do mal, o pensador coloca a criança que representa a fruição do momento presente, o lazer, fundados na paixão. Por outro lado, com a intenção de compreender melhor o tecido narrativo da obra L’Écume des jours, procedemos, antes dessa análise temática, a um estudo da organização da narrativa no qual examinamos pontos como o narrador, o tempo e o espaço, os personagens e a dinâmica da ação.

KATAOKA, Ayla Maria Diógenes, O Mundo de Flora: a infância através do olhar arguto de uma menina. 2009. 115 f. Dissertação (Mestrado em Letras) – Universidade Federal do Ceará, Departamento de Departamento de Literatura, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras, Fortaleza-CE, 2009
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A dissertação pretende analisar a representação da infância no romance O mundo de Flora, de Angela Gutiérrez, através da categoria personagem. A análise e interpretação dos episódios pueris, que envolvem a protagonista, permitem afirmar que a argúcia e a inventividade são traços infantis marcantes de sua personalidade. A análise da relação entre mundo infantil e mundo adulto na narrativa é feita com base na convivência da personagem nos âmbitos da família, do entorno social e da escola. O convívio com os familiares e com as pessoas simples da redondeza dá-se de forma afetiva e atenta, possibilitando-lhe um enriquecimento da subjetividade e questionamentos acerca das coisas do mundo. A experiência na escola, por sua vez, é marcada pelo sentimento de medo e pela vivência do autoritarismo pedagógico. A detecção do ambiente afetivo e sócio-cultural em que ela viveu sustenta a hipótese de uma infância bem vivida. O acercamento do tema começa pelo itinerário da pesquisa, traçado por diferentes textos que trazem a criança como motivo, apontando, assim, para a natureza intertextual deste ensaio. O diálogo temático estabelecido entre a menina da narrativa em estudo e as outras crianças literárias oportuniza refletir, pela voz da literatura, sobre a infância na contemporaneidade.
Ce mémoire a l’intention d’analyser la représentation de l’enfance dans le roman O mundo de Flora, d’Ângela Gutiérrez, à l’aide de la catégorie personnage. L’analyse et l’interprétation des épisodes puérils qui impliquent le protagoniste permettent d’affirmer que l’argutie et l’inventivité sont des caractéristiques enfantines remarcables de sa personnalité. L’analyse du rapport entre le monde de l’enfant et de l’adulte dans la narrative est bâtie sur la convivialité du personnage dans le cadre de la famille, de la société et de l’école. La convivialité avec ses proches et avec d’autres gens du voisinage se passe de façon affectueuse et attentive, lui rendant possible un enrichissement de la subjectivité et des questionnements à propos des choses du monde. L’expérience à l’école, de son côté, est remarquée par le sentiment de peur et par l’expérience de l’autoritarisme pédagogique. La découverte du cadre affectif et socio-culturel où elle a vécu soutient l’hypothèse d’une enfance bien vécue. La délimitation du thème commence par l’itinéraire de recherche, tracé par de différents textes qui présentent l’enfant comme thème, conduisant, de cette façon, au caractère intertextuel de cet essai. Le dialogue thématique établi entre la fille du roman cible et les autres enfants personnages littéraires, rend opportun la réflexion, par la voix littéraire, de l’enfance dans la contemporanéité.

Le nombre d’auteurs contemporains qui écrit pour les adultes et pour les enfants va croissant, à tel point que la critique anglophone a forgé le terme de crosswriters pour les désigner. Ce travail se propose d’observer ces va-et-vient entre L’école des loisirs et les Éditions de l’Olivier de 1991 à 2011. Ces circulations répondent à d’importants enjeux éditoriaux et témoignent du rôle crucial des éditeurs dans l’accompagnement des écrivains. Cette thèse s’intéresse plus particulièrement à Christophe Honoré et Manuela Draeger (un des hétéronymes d’Antoine Volodine). Tous deux usent singulièrement du crosswriting puisque certains de leurs textes pour enfants et de leurs textes pour adultes se répondent au point qu’un inter-dit peut siéger dans le blanc qui sépare ces deux corpus. Ce phénomène d’intratextualité, adossé à un geste de polyadresse, remet en cause l’intransitivité supposée de la littérature car pour être décrypté, ce dit en suspens appelle un lecteur transgénérationnel. Cet inter-dit est le lieu où se jouent des transitions d’un âge vers un autre, des transmissions d’une génération à une autre... Mais c’est aussi le lieu de ce qui ne passe pas et vient trouer l’œuvre pour faire écho au trauma individuel ou collectif. Et si c’est toujours le texte pour adultes qui délègue au texte pour enfants ce qui ne peut être articulé dans une langue adultocentrée, ces transferts ne viennent jamais suturer la béance du dispositif intratextuel mais explorent en littérature jeunesse d’autres rapports à la langue et disent quelque chose de l’être de langage que nous sommes
The number of contemporary authors who write both for adults and children keeps rising, so much so that anglophone criticism has coined the term crosswriters to label the phenomenon. This work proposes to observe back-and-forth crossings between L’école des loisirs and Éditions de l’Olivier between 1991 and 2011. What motivate these crossings are important editorial stakes that attest to the crucial role played by publishers in guiding their authors. This dissertation will look more specifically to Christophe Honoré and Manuela Draeger (one of Antoine Volodine’s heteronyms). Both writers resort to crosswriting in singular ways as some of their children’s books and books for adults respond to one another to such an extent that what I call an “inter-diction” lodges itself in the interstice that divides their respective corpuses. This phenomenon of intratextuality, supported by a gesture of polyaddress, calls into question literature’s supposed intransitivity given that, in order to be decrypted, this suspended diction calls for a transgenerational reader. This inter-diction is the stage where are performed transitions from one age to another and where occur transmissions from one generation to the next. But it is also the site of what does not pass, of what punctures the work in an echo to individual or collective trauma. And if it is always the texts written for an adult readership that devolve to those for children what cannot be articulated in an adultocentered language, these transfers never seek to suture the abyss opened by intratextuality but rather explore through children’s literature alternative relations to language, thereby teaching us something about the linguistic beings that we are

Abstract : In this thesis, I explore the kids-take-charge (KTC) motif within recent school stories produced for young adult audiences, situated in terms of a genealogy of school stories. The corpus of school stories includes English- and French-language works produced as fiction, film, or life-writing, both for teens and adults in Canada, the US, and the UK. This thesis identifies the historical and ideological shifts that may have given rise to the motif. School stories lend themselves to the identification of some of the distinct models of selfhood and ‘coming into one’s own’ that have figured prominently in works about and for adolescents in various sociocultural contexts. The research question that is asked is: Why is this type of story emerging now, and what social purposes might it serve? The question is inspired by the possible impact of power relations on youth in society, discussed in Disturbing the Universe: Power and Repression in Adolescent Literature by Roberta Trites, who suggests that power is everywhere in young adult literature because power is the key category of the adolescent experience. The thesis also draws on the work of theorists such as Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Beverly Lyon Clark, Henry Giroux, George Herbert Mead and Charles Horton Cooley, among others. The corpus includes the following works: The Lightning Thief, part of the Percy Jackson series by American author Rick Riordan; Schooled, by Canadian-born author Gordon Korman; the Harry Potter series by JK Rowling; High School Musical, a film that appeared in movie theatres and was shown on the Disney Channel; Harriet’s Daughter by M. NourbeSe Philip; and variations on the classic residential and early school stories as they travelled to the New World, such as Louisa May Alcott's Jo's Boys; Thomas Hughes' Tom Brown School Days, LM Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables, and Ralph Connor's Glengarry School Days, among other works. iv Chapter One establishes the contours of the KTC motif via a variety of contemporary fictional works for young adults through contrasting the stories of change-making by young adults in these works with patterns found both in classic British school stories of the 19th century and in early Canadian and American variations on the theme. The chapter explores what it means for young people to achieve an adult sense of self, and what resources they are expected to engage in the process. The chapter also examines the kinds of models of youth selfhood and emerging adulthood that can be linked to the KTC motif. In Chapter Two, I argue that a qualitatively new motif concerning power and agency has emerged within a number of school stories produced over the past two decades. As I identify it, the KTC motif is characterized by three defining features, whether it appears in works of fantasy or realism. First, the central protagonist must confront a problem or crisis of systemic importance; how this challenge is resolved will affect an entire school, community, or even—in works of fantasy—the fate of entire worlds. Second, stories that feature the KTC motif generally de-emphasize the importance of adult mentors in preparing young people for, and guiding them through, these challenges. Third, the KTC motif enshrines a particular notion of the ‘authentic self’ as the source of personal power and agency: victory is assured only insofar as the central protagonist becomes and remains ‘true’ to himself or herself. Finally, I ask what the vision of power and agency implicit in the KTC motif could mean for young people as they move toward becoming adult actors in a complex and globalizing world. In Chapter Three, I examine questions that enable me to access the model of social change, comparing these accounts to a narrative of social change in the broader world. I also assess how adolescents are liable to view and interpret their own experiences through a global v lens as prodigious consumers of narratives produced in a global culture. This chapter assesses the extent to which social forms of difference and inequality, such as gender, race, and class, are integrated into presentation of the problem and strategy/solution within the KTC motif, and how social changes are encouraged by young protagonists. In the KTC motif, I find that self-actualization brings power—and power from within trumps power from without, at least within cultures based on Western individualism. Exceptions are discussed through the examples of narratives based on Caribbean-Canadian identities (Norbese-Philip) and on indigenous identities. Contemporary school stories that follow the KTC motif continue to have a moralizing or didactic bent, in keeping with a trend in YA literature that underlines the agency of youth protagonists over that of adults. Where the classic school story ultimately affirms the existing order, the KTC motif suggests that the existing power order is corrupt. I suggest that the KTC motif may in part reflect the needs of a post-industrial, knowledge-based economy, in which people are flexible, self-motivated, and willing to believe that whether they succeed or fail depends not on the soundness of institutions, but on the strength of their own unique talents and even their personal 'authenticity.'
Résumé : Dans cette thèse, j’explore le modèle de l’enfant qui prend charge "kids-take-charge (KTC)", à travers des récits produits pour des audiences de jeunes adultes, en termes de généalogie de récits scolaires. Le corpus des récits scolaires inclut des travaux en anglais et en français produits comme science-fiction, film ou faits vécus, pour les adolescents et les adultes du Canada, des États-Unis et le Royaume-Uni. Cette thèse identifie les changements historiques et idéologiques qui ont pu causer la naissance de ce modèle. Les récits scolaires ont mené à l’identification de certains modèles distincts d’individualité et "coming into one’s own" qui ont figurés principalement dans les travaux sur et pour les adolescents dans des contextes socioculturels variés. La questionrecherche qui est posée est : pourquoi ce genre d’histoire émerge maintenant, et quel but social peut-il servir ? La question est inspirée par l’impact possible du pouvoir des relations sur la jeunesse dans la société, examiné dans Disturbing the Universe : Power and Repression in Adolescent Literature par Roberta Trites, qui suggère que le pouvoir est partout et la littérature de jeunes adultes parce que le pouvoir est la catégorie clé de l’expérience des adolescents. Cette thèse nous amène aussi au travail des théoriciens comme Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Beverly Lyon Clark, Henry Giroux, George Herbert Mead et Charles Horton Cooley parmi tant d’autres. Le corpus inclut les travaux suivants : The Lightning Thief, partie de la série Percy Jackson des auteurs américains Rick Riordan; Schooled, de l’auteur canadien Gordon Korman; la série des Harry Potter de JK Rowling; High School Musical, un film qui est apparu sur les écrans de cinéma et qui a été diffusé sur la chaine Disney ; Harriet’s Daughter de M. NourbeSe Philip; et variations des classiques sur les pensionnats et récits scolaires qui ont voyagé dans le temps, comme Louisa May Alcott's Jo's Boys; Thomas Hughes' Tom Brown School Days, LM Montgomery's Anne of vii Green Gables, and Ralph Connor's Glengarry School Days, pour ne nommer que ceux-là. Le chapitre 1 établit les contours du motif "KTC” à travers une variété d’œuvres de fiction contemporaines pour jeunes adultes en contrastant les histoires des changements faits par les jeunes adultes dans ces travaux avec des modèles trouvés dans les classiques récits scolaires britanniques du 19e siècle et dans les premières variations canadiennes et américaines sur le sujet. Le chapitre examine également les types de modèles d’individualité des adolescents et jeunes adultes qui peuvent être liés au motif “KTC”. Au chapitre 2, je soutiens qu’un relativement nouveau concept concernant le pouvoir et l’agence est apparu dans un certain nombre de récits scolaires produits dans les deux dernières décennies. Comme je conceptualise le motive KTC, 3 fonctions bien définies que ce soit dans les ouvres de fantaisie ou le réalisme. Premièrement, le personnage central doit confronter un problème ou une crise d’importance systémique ; comment ce défi est résolu affectera une école entière, une communauté ou même – dans les œuvres de fantaisie – le destin du monde entier. Deuxièmement, les récits qui représentent le concept KTC insistent généralement moins de l’importance de mentors adultes dans la préparation et la supervision des jeunes à affronter ces défis. Troisièmement, le concept KTC conserve la notion particulière du "soi authentique" comme source du pouvoir personnel et agentivité : la victoire est assurée seulement dans la mesure où le protagoniste central devient et demeure "vrai" pour lui et elle-même. Finalement, je demande qu’est-ce que la vision du pouvoir et de l’agentivité du concept du KTC implique pour les jeunes lorsqu’ils deviennent des acteurs adultes dans un monde complexe et globalisé. Au chapitre 3, j’examine les questions qui me permettent d’accéder au modèle du changement social en comparant les explications du changement social dans un monde plus large. J’évalue aussi comment les adolescents sont susceptibles de voir et d’interpréter leur propre expérience à viii travers une lentille globale comme consommateurs prodigieux de récits produits dans une culture mondiale. Ce chapitre évalue la mesure dans laquelle les différentes formes sociales et l’inégalité, comme le sexe, la race et la classe sociale sont intégrés dans la présentation du problème et la stratégie/solution dans le motif KTC et comment les changements sociaux sont encouragés par les jeunes protagonistes. Dans le motif KTC, je constate que le développement personnel apporte le pouvoir – et le pouvoir de l’intérieur est un atout du pouvoir de l’extérieur, au moins dans les cultures basées sur l’individualisme occidental. Les exceptions sont traitées dans les exemples de récits basés sur les identités Cara𝑖𝑖𝑖bes-canadiennes (Norbèse-Philip) et sur les identités indigènes. Les récits scolaires contemporains qui suivent le motif KTC continuent d’avoir un penchant moralisateur ou didactique, conformément à une tendance dans la littérature jeunesse qui souligne l’agentivité des jeunes protagonistes sur celui des adultes. Où l’histoire scolaire classique affirme en fin de compte l’ordre établi, le motif KTC suggère que le pouvoir établi est corrompu. Je suggère que le motif KTC peut en partie refléter les besoins d’une économie post-industrielle basée sur la connaissance dans laquelle les gens sont flexibles, motivés et décidés à croire que s’ils réussissent ou non de dépend pas de la force des institutions, mais de leur force de caractère et même de leur propre "authenticité".

This thesis examines the creation of character in the work of Theodor Fontane. Although he is repeatedly praised as a great writer of human character, there is no comprehensive analysis of how Fontane's characters work. This thesis is intended to fill this surprising gap in Fontane research. Its analyses do not focus on the author-text interaction as many traditional critical approaches do, but instead look at what takes place between the text and the reader. The first section, entitled 'Character in Theory', has two chapters presenting my concept of literary character. It draws on the findings of cognitive studies, including formerly neglected aspects such as affective reading and empathy. The second section, 'Character in Practice', contains four chapters. Chapter three demonstrates how our emotions can contribute to our understanding and what role is played by empathy. Chapter four shows the active role readers are required to play when putting together information about characters in Fontane's polyphonous novels. Chapter five focuses on character speech, and chapter six asks to what extent Fontane's characters can be seen to develop. The third section, 'Character in Context', takes a less hermeneutic approach. Chapter seven asks what our expectations of Realist characters are and how these influence our reading of Fontane. Chapter eight examines how our access to these characters has changed compared to the author's contemporary readership. Chapter nine presents an excursus, looking at the author's development from renditions of 'real' people to fictional characters. The last section compares this author's creations to the tentatively Modernist characters of Thomas Mann's Buddenbrooks. My findings show that Fontane's characters demand and support a more active reading than Realism is usually given credit for. They suggest that the concept of Realist characters as largely descriptive creations needs to be examined critically.

Tennyson's 1859 Idylls of the King responds to and comments on a complex of mid-Victorian fears centered on female sexuality, adultery, and the rising assertiveness and power of women. Tennyson revises his medieval sources in order to make adultery the unifying element in all four early idylls. By making his characters severally revise the appearance of Guinevere's adultery, Tennyson illustrates England's growing difficulty in determining truth. Because Tennyson's poem is now usually read as idylls excerpted from the whole or as the completed work of twelve idylls, it is difficult to see the centrality of the Woman Question in the 1859 idylls each named for a woman: "Enid," "Vivien," "Elaine," and "Guinevere." Critics often read the women as schematic versions of "true" or "false": Enid the true wife, Vivien the false harlot, Elaine the true and innocent virgin, Guinevere the falsely adulterous wife. Tennyson, however, undercuts each of these stereotypes, while at the same time illustrating the hazards of individualism. All four women defy traditional authority in ways not found in Tennyson's sources. Geraint believes that Enid, like Guinevere, is potentially adulterous. Enid is not, but she moves from being properly assertive to becoming dangerously controlling. Vivien is not the unprincipled harlot that Merlin names her, but she seizes powerful knowledge that had previously belonged only to males. Elaine, kept from marriage by Lancelot's adulterous love for Guinevere, is not the sweet medieval maiden who dies for lack of love. Instead, her sexual willfulness becomes monomania; she chooses death and controls her family. Guinevere's adultery is indeed contagious, but Tennyson shows clearly that, nonetheless, Guinevere has a far clearer-eyed view of reality, of life's "lights and shadows" than does her "blameless" husband. The kingdom falls not because of Guinevere's adultery, as Arthur believes, but because of many misguidedly selfish decisions, including those of Arthur himself. By the end of the 1859 Idylls, it is evident that Tennyson is investigating the transition in nineteenth-century England from traditional authority to individual choice, with all its "wealth and all the woe." Women's increasing assertiveness is central to that worrisome process.

This thesis takes up J. G. Ballard's contention, that 'the act of intercourse is now always a model for something else,' to show that Don DeLillo uses a particular sexual, cultural economy of adultery, understood in its many loaded cultural and literary contexts, as a model for semantic reproduction. I contend that DeLillo's fiction evinces a promiscuous model of language that structurally reflects the myth of the adulterous triangle. The thesis makes a significant intervention into DeLillo scholarship by challenging Paul Maltby's suggestion that DeLillo's linguistic model is Romantic and pure. My analysis of the narrative operations of adultery in his work reveals the alternative promiscuous model. I discuss ten DeLillo novels and one play - Americana, Players, The Names, White Noise, Libra, Mao II,Underworld, the play Valparaiso, The Body Artist, Cosmopolis, and the pseudonymousAmazons - that feature adultery narratives. I demonstrate that these narratives resist conservative models of language, space, and sex by using promiscuity as a method of narrative control. I argue that DeLillo's adultery narratives respond subversively to attempts to categorise his work, and that he extends the mythologised rhetoric of the adulterous triangle by adopting sexual transgression as a three-sided semantic structure that connects language, sex, and space. I refer to theories of narrative, postmodernity, space, desire, and parody to show that DeLillo's adultery narratives structurally influence his experiments with linguistic meaning. My analysis reveals that contradiction performs at several spatial, sexual, and dialogical levels to undermine readings that suggest DeLillo's language models pure meaning. I identify the sexualised fissure within DeLillo's semantic style that is exposed by the operation of contradiction. I believe this gap distinguishes DeLillo from postmodern fiction's emphasis on the placeless, because it is a meaningful space that emphasises the reproductive adulteration of signification. I expose several sites of dialectic rupture, including the hotel/motel room, oppositional and metaphorical description, the journey, the image, and the secret. I contend that sex in these transgressive narratives is a model for something else: promiscuous meaning. This thesis demonstrates that DeLillo's fiction charts the typography of the mythical third side of the adulterous triangle in order to respond to language's own promiscuity.

Krishna Baldev Vaid is one of the most innovative and significant writers of Hindi fiction. He has relentlessly tested the boundaries of acceptability in Hindi fiction, and has refused to bow to pressure to conform to dominant paradigms regarding what Hindi literature should look like. The purpose of this thesis is to show that accusations that Vaid's fiction is obscene, un-Indian and lacking social engagement reflect certain anxieties regarding what constituted 'authentic' Indian literature in the postcolonial context. I argue that criticism of Vaid's more controversial work, and the subsequent relegation of his fiction to the periphery, has been the result of a set of postcolonial circumstances whereby establishing a modernity which could be asserted as both modern and Indian was considered important. In the case of Hindi literature ideas regarding what constituted 'good' Hindi fiction were heavily influenced by the social and political milieu of post-colonial India and the establishment of this uniquely Indian style of modernity. The thesis takes the themes of sexual transgression and nation as the basis for analysis of selected short fiction by Vaid to demonstrate how Vaid critiques the postcolonial discourse of the time. I argue that Vaid's fiction has been marginalized as a result of a postcolonial crisis in Hindi criticism, despite, or perhaps because of, his relentless challenging of normative discourse and his absolute refusal to conform to the boundaries dictated by his contemporaries. In the texts analysed Vaid uses rupture, dissonance, irony and wit to destabilize the predominating discourse regarding sexual transgression and nationalist sentiment. After analysis of selected fiction of Vaid based on the themes of sexual transgression and nation, the thesis proceeds to an outline of the crisis in postcolonial Hindi criticism, criticism of Vaid's work, and rebuttal from Vaid regarding the criticism he has received and the environment he considers it reflects. The main contribution of the thesis is to show that criticism of Vaid's fiction has been heavily influenced by postcolonial anxieties regarding Indianness and authenticity and that this reflects more about the environment in which he wrote than the literature itself. The evidence shows that rather than demonstrating a lack of social engagement, obscenity or undue imitation of Western models, Vaid is deeply engaged with the Indian postcolonial environment and challenges the very basis on which it was constructed.

Cette thèse explore le leitmotiv de la prostitution dans l’oeuvre de Tennessee Williams et soutient que la plupart des personnages de Williams sont engagés dans une forme de prostitution ou une autre. En effectuant une analyse formaliste des textes de Williams qui illustrent toute forme de prostitution, avec une attention particulière à quatre grandes pièces, A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), Suddenly Last Summer (1958) et Sweet Bird of Youth (1959), cette présente étude fait valoir que le dramaturge utilise un mode de fiction—le gothique—en lien avec une pratique transgressive—la prostitution—pour relier les classes sociales et troubler les catégories de prostitution. Ce faisant, Williams offre une vision plus représentative et nuancée de la prostitution. Théoriquement, cette thèse repose sur des oeuvres critiques portant sur le genre, la sexualité et l'histoire de Michel Foucault, David Savran, et Michael Paller afin de situer la dramaturgie de Williams dans le contexte historique et culturel des années 1940 et 1950. La première partie de cette thèse (chapitres un et deux) fournit de nombreuses informations autobiographiques et biographiques qui expliquent pourquoi la prostitution est devenue le thème de prédilection pour Williams. Cette section met l’accent sur sa préoccupation constante à l’égard de sa prostitution artistique (en prostituant son art pour le succès commercial) et sexuelle (en payant pour des prostitués). Cette partie présente également un inventaire détaillé des prostituté(e)s, que je divise en trois catégories: 1) la prostitution des enfants, 2) la prostitution masculine et 3) la prostitution féminine. La deuxième partie de cette étude, composée des chapitres trois et quatre, identifie les personnages de Williams qui s’engagent dans une forme de prostitution morale. Ce groupe comprend ceux qui tirent directement profit de la prostitution des autres ainsi que ceux qui se marient uniquement pour un gain financier ou une promotion sociale ou les deux. L’oeuvre de Williams résiste la représentation stéréotypée de la prostituée en littérature comme étant uniquement de sexe féminin ou provenant des classes sociales défavorisées ou les deux. La prostituée de Williams n’est ni une figure romantique ni une rebelle menaçant la société. Cette thèse conclut qu’en représentant des enfants prostitués, des femmes de rue, des prostitués de sexe masculin, des souteneurs, des proxénètes, des propriétaires de bordels, des leaders corrompus et des personnes qui se prostituent en concluant des mariages de convenance, Williams a effectivement et incontestablement dramatisé la prostitution sous toutes ses formes.
This dissertation explores the leitmotif of prostitution in the work of Tennessee Williams and provocatively contends that most Williams characters are engaged in one form of prostitution or another. Performing a close reading of relevant texts by Williams that illustrate any form of prostitution, with special attention given to four major plays, A Streetcar Named Desire (1947), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), Suddenly Last Summer (1958), and Sweet Bird of Youth (1959), this study argues that the playwright uses a transgressive mode of fiction—the gothic—in conjunction with a transgressive practice—prostitution—to link the social classes and to blur the boundaries between the literal and the figurative prostitutes. In so doing, Williams offers a more calibrated, nuanced view of prostitution. Theoretically, this dissertation reposes on critical works on gender, sexuality, and history by Michel Foucault, David Savran, and Michael Paller to fully contextualize Williams’s work and to discuss the attitude towards, and place of, prostitution within the cultural zeitgeist of the 1940s and 1950s. Part A (chapters one and two) provides ample autobiographical and biographical evidence to explain that Williams’s use of prostitution as a recurring theme results from his lifelong preoccupation with, and indulgence in, an amalgam of prostitutions: artistic (prostituting his art for money) and sexual (paying for sex). It also presents a detailed inventory of the playwright’s literal prostitutes, whom I classify into the following three categories: 1) child prostitution, 2) male prostitution, and 3) female prostitution. Part B, comprising chapters three and four, engages with theory and history and identifies Williams characters who qualify as moral prostitutes. This group includes those who directly profit from prostituting others and those who marry exclusively for financial gain, social advancement, or both. Williams’s work eschews the stereotypical representation of prostitutes in literature as lower-class streetwalkers or morally bankrupt females or both. The playwright neither presents the prostitute as a romantic figure of transcendence nor as a rebellious one who threatens society. This dissertation concludes that by depicting child prostitutes, female streetwalkers, male hustlers, gay-for-pay studs, pimps, procurers, brothel operators, the morally compromised powers that be, and those who prostitute themselves by entering into loveless marriages, Williams has effectively and incontrovertibly dramatized whoredom in all of its forms.

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Although initially dismissed as superficial, Harold Pinter’s Betrayal, Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing, and Patrick Marber’s Closer use the theme of marital betrayal as a trope to investigate metatheatrical and epistemological issues. This study aims to demonstrate how these three plays define and explore the concept of authenticity within the fictional as well as the actual world; how arbitrary the construction and mediation of the characters’ identities are, not only from their own perspective, but also from the audience’s; the significance of the audience’s role in these plays and how issues of authenticity, fictionality and dishonesty impact on a genre that depends on illusion. This study intends to provide a new interpretation of these three texts through an analysis drawn from postmodern and poststructuralist theories, concerning the concept of authenticity within art and language. This study finds that the fictional worlds in these plays are created through mediation, which includes everyday language as well as complex works of art. Authenticity is shown to be an elusive concept. Language is either unsuccessfully used to force authentic responses from characters, or as a shield. In Betrayal, language functions as a protective barrier, preventing the characters from knowing one another. The Real Thing suggests that although inauthenticity may be established, the inverse is not necessarily true. In Closer, the characters try in vain to access authenticity through different registers of language. Furthermore, neither the body nor the mind is shown to be the locus of authenticity in Closer. Within the postmodern context where originality is impossible, mimicry is not seen as something external and inauthentic, but as inextricably part of human existence. The audience is drawn into the fictional world of these plays as its members are able to identify with the disillusionment of the characters and their inability to form a definitive view of each other. Simultaneously, the audience is ousted from the fictional world by being reminded of the author’s presence through metatheatrical devices. These plays take advantage of the fictional status of theatre to explore issues of authenticity, positioning them in direct opposition to postdramatic and verbatim plays.
Afrikaans & Theory of Literature
D. Litt. et Phil. (Theory of Literature)

Text in English
Although initially dismissed as superficial, Harold Pinter’s Betrayal, Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing, and Patrick Marber’s Closer use the theme of marital betrayal as a trope to investigate metatheatrical and epistemological issues. This study aims to demonstrate how these three plays define and explore the concept of authenticity within the fictional as well as the actual world; how arbitrary the construction and mediation of the characters’ identities are, not only from their own perspective, but also from the audience’s; the significance of the audience’s role in these plays and how issues of authenticity, fictionality and dishonesty impact on a genre that depends on illusion. This study intends to provide a new interpretation of these three texts through an analysis drawn from postmodern and poststructuralist theories, concerning the concept of authenticity within art and language. This study finds that the fictional worlds in these plays are created through mediation, which includes everyday language as well as complex works of art. Authenticity is shown to be an elusive concept. Language is either unsuccessfully used to force authentic responses from characters, or as a shield. In Betrayal, language functions as a protective barrier, preventing the characters from knowing one another. The Real Thing suggests that although inauthenticity may be established, the inverse is not necessarily true. In Closer, the characters try in vain to access authenticity through different registers of language. Furthermore, neither the body nor the mind is shown to be the locus of authenticity in Closer. Within the postmodern context where originality is impossible, mimicry is not seen as something external and inauthentic, but as inextricably part of human existence. The audience is drawn into the fictional world of these plays as its members are able to identify with the disillusionment of the characters and their inability to form a definitive view of each other. Simultaneously, the audience is ousted from the fictional world by being reminded of the author’s presence through metatheatrical devices. These plays take advantage of the fictional status of theatre to explore issues of authenticity, positioning them in direct opposition to postdramatic and verbatim plays.
Afrikaans and Theory of Literature
D. Litt. et Phil. (Theory of Literature)

La situación que atravesaba Puerto Rico a finales del siglo XIX y principios del XX alteraba la rutina de los puertorriqueños. La isla pasó de ser colonia de España a ser territorio de los Estados Unidos. Entonces la identidad del puertorriqueño se convirtió en un proyecto nacional. Los cambios económicos surgidos bajo el gobierno estadounidense, dieron pie para que la mujer comenzara a reflexionar sobre su papel social y se organizaran. Se creó una división entre la mujer obrera quien se enfocaba en las luchas laborales y la burguesa quien aspiraba a tener un lugar de igualdad al lado del hombre basándose principalmente en su intelecto. En las luchas de la mujer burguesa se destacó una figura: Ana Roqué de Duprey. Roqué se destacaba principalmente por su desempeño como educadora. Incursionó en la política, la ciencia, la literatura y el feminismo. Luchó por el sufragio de la mujer y se esforzó por proveer para ésta una plataforma de entrenamiento, fuente de ingreso e intercambio de ideas y proyectos. Se le recuerda como la primera feminista de la isla y por haber conseguido el voto para la mujer. Este trabajo propone resumir el contexto histórico en el que se desenvolvía Ana Roqué, develar los recursos utilizados por la mujer burguesa para conquistar sus metas, descubrir el mensaje de emancipación femenina escondido en su literatura y abundar sobre el legado de Ana Roqué por medio de sus manuscritos y el análisis de su obra más conocida Luz y sombra (1903).

Dissertação de Mestrado em Estudos Portugueses Interdisciplinares apresentada à Universidade Aberta
Este trabalho analisa três personagens femininas de Os Maias, de Eça de Queiroz, verdadeiramente notáveis pela coragem e determinação com que lutam pela mudança dos seus destinos, mesmo que para isso tenham de praticar adultério: Maria Monforte, Maria Eduarda e a Condessa de Gouvarinho. Através do adultério Maria Monforte insurge-se contra as normas discriminatórias de uma sociedade que ao homem tudo permite, mas que espartilha a liberdade de acção da mulher, os seus sentimentos e emoções. Ela mostra a sua independência face à mesquinhez de todos aqueles que, por viverem presos à aparência, não consumam as suas paixões. Embora não consiga legitimar as suas relações, Maria Eduarda não é uma mulher fácil e inconstante. É a força das circunstâncias e a necessidade de sobrevivência que a atiram sucessivamente para os braços de dois homens que não ama. Quando encontra a verdadeira paixão, avassaladora e sem limites, o seu passado estigmatiza-a. No entanto, detentora de uma forte consciência moral, luta até ao fim para provar que é uma “boa mulher”. A Condessa de Gouvarinho, presa num casamento por conveniência, é notável pela irreverência e audácia que revela no jogo de sedução em que envolve Carlos da Maia. Apaixonada, luta com tenacidade por uma relação que alie o amor ao prazer físico, provando estar à frente da sua época. Para ela o adultério é a única forma de saciar o desejo, por isso ela se apresenta sempre picantemente tentadora. Estas personagens mostram bem a força da mulher oitocentista que tenta libertar-se dos rígidos códigos que a oprimem.
This work analyses three female characters in Os Maias, by Eça de Queiroz, who are truly remarkable because of the courage and determination with which they fight for the change in their fate, even though they have to become adulterous: Maria Monforte, Maria Eduarda and the Countess of Gouvarinho. Through adultery Maria Monforte rebels against the discriminatory rules of a society which allows everything to man but confines the woman’s freedom of action, her feelings and emotions. She shows her independence towards the paltriness of all those who, because they live attached to appearances, don’t accomplish their passions. Although she can’t legitimize her relationships, Maria Eduarda isn’t an easy and capricious woman. The circumstances and the need of survive throw her successively to the arms of two men who she doesn’t love. When she finds the true, overwhelming and limitless passion, her past stigmatizes her. However, as she possesses a strong moral sense of right and wrong, she fights till the end to prove that she is a “good woman”. The Countess of Gouvarinho, caught in a marriage of convenience, is remarkable for the irreverence and audacity she reveals in the game of seduction in which she enfolds Carlos da Maia. In love, she fights tenaciously for a relationship which combines love and physical pleasure. This way she proves she is beyond her age. Adultery is, for her, the only way to satiate the desire. That’s why she always presents herself stimulatingly seductive. These characters are a good example of the strength of the eight hundredth century’s woman who tries to get rid of the strict codes that oppress her.

This thesis deals with an analysis of chosen books written by a famous German writer Thedor Fontane. Particularly, there are three main books I have chosen for my analysis ? Desire, Torment, Effie Briest and L?Adultera. There is a theoretical part at the beginning of my thesis. I have focused on dealing with specialized foundation. This represents later a basic part for a following analysis in the second, practical part. The second part, the analysis of books, includes general information about the book, brief content of a book and attributes of main characters. It is followed by comparison of historical reality with reality shown in the book. At the end of the whole thesis, there is the third part ? comparison of all three novels, generally as well as from the point of view of the main characters and the historical fidelity of books.

Cette thèse a été subventionnée par Le Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture (FRQSC)
Dans cette thèse, l’auteur s’est penché sur la question de l’apprentissage/enseignement du vocabulaire en français langue seconde (L2). Depuis plusieurs années, la recherche en L2 fait face à une question essentielle : celle de l’efficacité de différentes approches d’enseignement lexical afin de favoriser l’apprentissage des mots. Certains chercheurs (par ex. Krashen, 1982, 1989) considèrent que l’apprentissage du vocabulaire en L2, tout comme celui des aspects morphosyntaxiques, se produit uniquement de façon incidente pendant l’exposition aux différents échantillons de la langue (c.-à-d., l’intrant) et à travers des activités centrées sur le sens communicatif telles que la lecture de textes. D’autres (par ex. Laufer, 2005, 2006) préconisent une approche plus explicite de l’enseignement du vocabulaire, centrée sur les aspects formels des éléments lexicaux (form-focused instruction). Cette question n’a pas fait l’objet d’une recherche exhaustive, surtout en ce qui concerne les modalités de l’enseignement centré sur la forme (FFI) et le moment approprié (le FFI intégré vs le FFI isolé) pour le fournir, d’où l’importance de cette recherche. Trois études expérimentales ont été effectuées afin d’examiner l’efficacité de différentes approches d’enseignement du vocabulaire en français. Quarante-deux apprenants de français L2 ont participé à deux études de cas multiples (n = 9 et n = 10) et à une étude quasi-expérimentale (n = 23). Les deux premières études ont servi de pilotes pour l’élaboration de la méthodologie de la troisième étude. L'intervention expérimentale (quatre périodes de 45 minutes chacune) ciblant 36 mots a été réalisée à travers trois conditions expérimentales (FFI intégré, FFI isolé et répétition) et une condition de contrôle (apprentissage incident via la lecture). Chacun des participants a bénéficié de toutes les conditions. En d’autres termes, parmi les mots ciblés, certains devaient être appris incidemment, certains à travers une exposition répétée et certains ont été enseignés par le FFI intégré et le FFI isolé. Des tâches lexicales ont été administrées avant et deux fois après l'intervention. Les résultats indiquent les avantages du FFI en comparaison avec l'apprentissage incident et la répétition sans aucune différence significative entre le FFI isolé et le FFI intégré. La conclusion de cette thèse met l’emphase sur l’importance du FFI afin d’améliorer l’apprentissage du vocabulaire, tout en précisant le caractère indispensable des activités de récupération pour diminuer la perte de l’apprentissage produit.
In this thesis, the author examined the question of vocabulary learning/teaching in French as a second language (L2). L2 research has been interested in the effects of different approaches of lexical instruction on vocabulary learning. Some researchers (e.g. Krashen, 1982, 1989) contend that L2 learning, vocabulary and morphosyntax, occurs incidentally through the exposure to comprehensible input and through meaning-based activities such as reading. Others (e.g. Laufer, 2005, 2006) advocate a more explicit approach to vocabulary teaching, focused on the form of lexical elements. The effects of lexical form-focused instruction (FFI) have not been thoroughly investigated, particularly its different modalities and timing (integrated FFI vs isolated FFI), hence the relevance of this research. Three experimental studies were conducted to examine the effectiveness of different vocabulary teaching approaches in French as an L2. Forty-two L2 French learners participated in two multiple case studies (n = 9 and n = 10) and a quasi-experimental study (n = 23). Among other things, the first two studies were designed to serve as pilots for the methodological design of the third study. The experimental intervention (four periods of 45 minutes each) targeting 36 words was carried out through three experimental conditions (integrated FFI, isolated FFI and repetition) and a control condition (incidental learning through reading). Each participant benefited from all the conditions. In other words, among the targeted words, some had to be learned incidentally, some through repeated exposure and some were taught by the integrated FFI and the isolated FFI. Lexical tasks were administered before intervention started and twice after it ended (immediate posttest and delayed posttest). Results indicate the advantages of FFI compared to incidental learning and repetition. However, there is no significant differences between the isolated FFI and the integrated FFI. The conclusion of this thesis emphasizes the importance of FFI in order to improve the vocabulary learning, while specifying the necessity of the retrieval activities to reduce learning loss.