Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Drama – Fiction'

The intention of this research project is to present the Scientific Protagonist as a defined character type and valid means of literary analysis, and to explore the potential benefit this concept offers to academic enquiry within theatre and drama regarding the representation of scientific stories in fiction. I present the concept of the ‘Scientific Protagonist’ as a main character within a fictional narrative that promotes scientific stories, and solves their problems through the non-martial use of scientific knowledge, innovation or invention. Within dramatic texts, this character-type allows the audience or reader an opportunity to access scientific discourse and learning through a relatable character-led journey, promoting interaction between the imagination and scientific stories. The aim of this research project is to present this concept of the Scientific Protagonist as a valid form of analysis for the critical reading and creation of modern drama and fiction and to demonstrate the interpretive value this concept has to offer in the context of academic interests in the institutions of both theatre and science. This project draws on primary examples of literary art ranging in origin from Renaissance plays to modern novels and film which highlight the gradual emergence of a ‘Scientific Protagonist’ character-type within our cultural stories in recent centuries. Textual examples of the Scientific Protagonist will demonstrate the critical analysis of this character-type with a methodology of creative practice-led research applied simultaneously with post-modern reading methods appropriated from contemporary performance-theory. This research aims to achieve this presentation through a combined approach of Practice-led research along with the reading and analysis practices of New Historicism and Cultural Materialism. This methodology will be applied to samples of literary art in order to support the argument that the use of a Scientific Protagonist as a concept allows audiences to interact with scientific discourse and topics.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Riverside, 2010.
Includes abstract. Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Title from first page of PDF file (viewed May 21, 2010). Includes bibliographical references. Also issued in print.

Though Beckett is best known for Waiting for Godot, his first published work was not a play but a critical essay. That essay, "Dante • • • Bruno • Vico • • Joyce" (1929), a defence of Joyce's "Work in Progress," was the first of a number of occasional essays and reviews he was to write over the next quarter century. Beckett's main ambition during this period was to establish himself as a creative writer; he did not set out to develop a literary aesthetic. Nevertheless, there emerges from these occasional pieces a consistent theory about the relationship between art and the limits of human knowledge, a theory he puts into practice in his early fiction and drama. What Beckett argues in the essays, in essence, is that absolute knowledge lies beyond human reach, and that art must reflect this. If the human artist were possessed of the omniscience and omnipotence of God, he would be able not only to mirror in art the infinite complexity of the world at large, but to devise a succession of works independent of anything previously created. It is because the artist's knowledge and power are limited that he is able only to hint at the world's complexity in works that derive, inevitably, from earlier art. Thus, in his first (as yet unpublished) novel, "Dream of Fair to Middling Women," Beckett uses Chaucer's The Legend of Good Women, Tennyson's "A Dream of Fair Women," and Henry Williamson's The Dream of Fair Women: a Tale of Youth After the Great war as points of departure for the creation of an original novel concerned with the impossibility of making sense of the complexity of life. Similarly, in the novel that follows it, More Pricks Than Kicks. he draws on the comic epic form pioneered by Fielding to present us with a modern innovation: a comic epic of relativism designed to demonstrate that absolute knowledge is unattainable. Subsequently, in Murphy, Hatt, the Nouvelles and Mercier and Camier, Beckett makes it clear that there can be no definitive answers to either metaphysical or epistemological questions; while in his trilogy of novels, Molloy, Malone Dies and The Unnamable, he demonstrates that it is impossible to know anything with absolute certainty about the human mind. Between Malone Dies and The Unnamable, Beckett wrote his first major play, Waiting for Godot, which focuses, like the novels that precede and the stage plays that follow it, on the relationship between art and the limits of human knowledge. As we read the novels in the order in which Beckett wrote them, we become aware of his increasing sophistication in respect of artistic form. This is also the case when we read the plays, and what is especially interesting about them is his experimentation with what can be done not only on stage, but on radio, television and film, to demonstrate the implications of the fact that human knowledge is limited.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2004.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The main aim of study is to investigate characterisation in two of Ngewu's dramas. Ngewu's dramas are contemporary and many scholars have not yet had time to research them. The story in the drama Amadada la afunani ezintsaneni ?( 1998), is about the sexual abuse of children. This is new because the abuse of small children is not seen to indicate culture especially now that even fathers abuse their children. In the olden days children used to look to grown -ups for protection of every kind. The story in the second drama Yeha Mfazi Obulala Indada (1997) , is about a wife who hires assassins to kill her husband. In the past wives were submissive to their husbands. It was unheard of a wife challenging the husband's authority, let alone hiring assassins to kill him. Chapter 1 introduces the aim, the scope, the theories and the methods of the study. Chapter 2 deals with the plot structure of the dramas Amadada la afunani ezintsaneni? (1998) and Yeha Mfazi Obulala Indada (1997) Chapter 3 deals with characterisation in isiXhosa dramas, Amadada la afunani ezintsaneni(1998) and Yeha Mfazi Obulala lndoda (1997) Chapter 4 deals with language and the pattern of stylistic devices Chapter 5 concludes the findings of the study.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die hoofdoel van hierdie studie is om die karakterisering in twee van Ngewu se dramas te ondersoek. Ngewu se dramas is hedendaagse daarom is daar nog veel navorsing daaroor ezintsaneni (1998) gedoen nie. Die storie in die drama Amadoda la afunani handel hoofsaaklik oor die seksuele molestering van kinders. Seksuele kindemolestering is In relatiewe nuwe versknser want dit is taboe in kultuur veral nou dat die bekend is dat kinders deur hulle vaders gemolesteer word. In vroeer jare was kinders van volwassens afhanklik vir beskermering en welvaart. Die tweede drama Yeha Mfazi Obulala lndoda (1997) handeloor I vrou wat sluipmoordenaars huur om haar man om die lewe te bring. In vroeer jare was vroue aan hul mans onderdaning. Dit was ongewoon dat I vrou haar man se gesag sou ondermyn, en nog meer ondenkbaar die huur van sluipmoordenaars om hom om die lewe te bring. In hoofstuk 1 vind ons die doel van die studie, die omvang ,teoretiese raamwerk en metode van die studie. Hoofstuk 2 handeloor die struktuur van die twee Amadoda la afunani ezintsaneni (1998) en Yeha Mfazi Obulala Indoda ( 1997) Hoofstuk 3 handeloor die karakterisering in die isiXhosa dramas, Amadoda la afunani ezintsaneni (1998) en Yeha Mfazi Obulala Indoda (1997) Hoofstuk 4 handeloor die taal en skryfstyl van die skrywer. Hoofstuk 5 bevat die samevatting van die studie.

Heinrich von Kleist (1777-1811) is renowned as an author who posed a radical challenge to the prevailing intellectual, aesthetic and ethical orthodoxies of his age. Recently, his elusive works have frequently been seen to represent a poetics of irony that relentlessly deconstructs the philosophical paradigms of Idealism and reflects a Romantic, even postmodern, view of the fundamental ambiguities of the world. For all that this contributes to our understanding of the famed plasticity and inexhaustibility of his texts, however, a limited reading along these lines effects a decided levelling of social, political and intellectual context, and fails to do full justice to the more complex manner in which Kleist articulates the tensions between the secure modalities of Enlightenment thought and the deep anxieties of the revolutionary age. This study aims to offer a new angle on Kleist’s dialogue with the Enlightenment by reconsidering his investment in the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Where previously critics have tended to conceptualise this from a biographical perspective as a temporary, personal interest borne of the strict antinomies of nature-civilisation and individual-society, an attempt will be made here to re-establish Rousseau’s specific importance as a political thinker whose theories remained a fertile source of creative inspiration and critical reflection for the violent constellations of Kleist’s fiction and drama. Focusing on a cross-section of his work, particular focus will be placed on his explorations of the links between religion and fanaticism (Das Erdbeben in Chili), the legitimacy of revolutionary violence (Die Verlobung in St. Domingo), the performance of nationhood (Die Herrmannsschlacht), and the relationship between patriotism and liberty (Prinz Friedrich von Homburg). Set in the historical context of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars, a mode of discourse will be located which sheds new, important, and at times unexpected, light on the political and ethical issues at play in Kleist’s work.

AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF JAIME MOSS for the Master of Fine Arts degree in MASS COMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA ARTS, presented on FEBRUARY 13TH, 2014 at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. TITLE: ARCHIVING LOSS: THE PAPER MAN BEHIND THE MASK MAJOR PROFESSOR: Sarah Lewison, H.D. Motyl, Fern Logan, Dru Vratil This paper is companion to the narrative short, The Man Who Burned Paper. Both this paper and the film deal with the subject of identity loss as an archive, building on the work of sociologists Andrew J. Weigert and Ross Hastings. Drawing on several sources, including the work of literary scholars, affect theorists, and an excerpt from This American Life, this paper explores what it is to create and lose an identity both experimentally and existentially. It develops beyond this exploration by reconstructing it through a cinematic format that uses memories, flashbacks, and body doubles to narrate one man's identity construction and his journey to come to terms with its loss. It concludes that while identity loss is a unique experience, reflecting upon the loss and dysfunction it can bring can create space to understand the sorrow and pain that accompanies it. It is with hope that the findings discovered from this deeply personal and challenging process will act as a guide towards future actions that allow for new opportunities that improve the quality of life and a broader mindset.

Tumbleweed Road is a novel that began as a short story in a fiction workshop many years ago. The novel is set in the contemporary American South and traces one tumultuous summer in the life of a 14-year-old girl named Carolina Wells. The plot of the story is as follows: Carolina, a 14-year-old girl from Crow, Florida, does not understand her mother and remembers little about her past. In the story, we meet Carolina, her mother, "Mama," and two brothers, Johnny and Austin. Carolina does not understand her mother and her wild nature. At home, Carolina is forced to care for her two younger brothers. Carolina's father is long gone out of the picture, and Carolina was always told by her mother that she has no father - no one worth speaking of, anyway. Carolina can't remember why her father is gone, but remembers the fight that caused him to leave, and she blames her mother entirely for his leaving when she was just a toddler. Carolina questions her Mama about the disappearance of her father, but she refuses to even speak his name. Carolina desperately wants normalcy, family, and love - through a series of life-changing events involving a range of characters, including a spiritual woman across Tumbleweed Road, a mysterious girl named West and an old friend named Cade, this novel is about Carolina's quest to find her place in this world.

Memorial do convento (1982), História do cerco de Lisboa (1989) e O homem duplicado (2002) são as obras de José Saramago (1922 - 2010) sobre as quais se debruça esta tese. Os romances pertencem a dois diferentes momentos da produção literária do autor, e a eleição deles se justifica pela tentativa, empreendida por este estudo, de estabelecer um panorama comparativo que permita analisar as diferenças e as semelhanças de recursos que compõem a retórica narrativa empregada por Saramago. A metanarratividade e as inserções dramáticas, exercitadas por um narrador todo poderoso e pluralizado, são observadas e analisadas, durante o desenvolvimento desta pesquisa, como dois dos principais estratagemas que são comuns aos romances de Saramago e que contribuem para o estabelecimento temático-estrutural de um conflito constantemente explorado nos romances do autor: aquele entre Eu/Outro/Mesmo. Utilizando-se da metanarratividade, o narrador de Saramago se insere e se posiciona criticamente em uma tradição narrativa frequentemente evocada e deteriorada. Os romances do escritor português não se constituem senão em um diálogo crítico contínuo com as narrativas que os precederam, sejam elas historiográficas ou ficcionais. Ao mesmo tempo em que onisciente, uma vez que passeia pela cabeça das personagens e pelo passado/presente/futuro narrativos, o narrador saramaguiano se corporifica dentro do universo ficcional, simulando, já que cerceado pelo sensível, a sua própria limitação diante de um encadeamento de acontecimentos mais largos do que aqueles que o narrador é capaz de acompanhar por meio da visão/audição. A observação e a analise das manifestações metanarrativas e das inserções dramáticas são demonstradas, durante o desenvolvimento deste estudo, como os estratagemas pelos quais se confrontam: Vida e Narrativa, História e Ficção, Passado e Presente. As fricções entre essas categorias e a identificação crítica de suas semelhanças revelam a sombra do Mesmo, da impossibilidade de serem singulares e, por esse motivo, principalmente no que diz respeito à História, da impossibilidade de serem apreendidas como veiculadoras de verdade única e incontestável. A retórica de persuasão impressa nos romances de José Saramago, fundada em um narrador consciente do papel de sua narrativa e paradoxalmente onisciente e limitado, fabrica e sugere a sua própria retórica de leitura, em que se absorve para o universo crítico-ficcional o seu Outro: o leitor.
Memorial do convento (1982), História do cerco de Lisboa (1989) and O homem duplicado (2002) are José Saramagos (1922 - 2010) works on which this thesis focuses. The novels are from two different moments of the authors literary production and their choice is justified by this study attempt to establish a comparative panorama that allows an analysis of the differences and similarities of resources that compose Saramagos rhetoric narrative. The metanarrativity and dramatic insertions, exerted by a powerful and pluralized narrator, are observed and analyzed, throughout this research development, as two of the main stratagems common to Saramagos novels and which contribute to the thematic-structural establishment of a conflict constantly exploited in the authors novels: the one among I/Other/Same. By using metanarrativity, Saramagos narrator inserts and positions himself critically in a narrative tradition frequently evoked and deteriorated. The Portuguese writers novels constitute a continuous critical dialogue with the narratives that preceded them, whether they are historiographic or fictional. While omniscient, once he is aware of the innermost thoughts and feelings of all characters as well as the past/present/future narratives, Saramagos narrator embodies himself in the fictional universe simulating, since he is curtailed by the sensitive, his own limitation in the face of a chain of events broader than those the narrator is able to follow through vision/hearing. Both the observation and the analysis of the metanarrative manifestations and of the dramatic insertions are demonstrated over this study as the stratagems by which they confront themselves: Life and Narrative, History and Fiction, Past and Present. The frictions between these categories and the critical identification of their similarities reveal the shadow of the Same as the impossibility of being singular and for this reason, especially with regard to History, the impossibility of being apprehended as carriers of a single and undeniable truth. The rhetoric of persuasion imprinted in José Saramagos novels, based on a narrator who is aware of his narrative role and is paradoxically omniscient and limited, makes and suggests his own reading rhetoric in which the critical-fictional universe absorbs the Other: the reader.

Thesis advisor: Bonnie Jefferson
Images of crime and authorities' attempts to protect society from evil, which saturate dramatic programming on television, have the potential to influence public perception of crime and of crime-solving tools used in the real world. Although "Criminal Minds," a popular broadcast series, shares this potential, it distinguishes itself from others of its genre through its use of criminal profiling as its crime solving mechanism. Using standards provided in Douglas et al.'s "Crime Classification Manual: A Standard System for Investigating and Classifying Violent Crimes, Second Edition," the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition," and the "Hare Psychopathy Checklist Revised" as theoretical frameworks, this Communication thesis examines how the criminal profiling depictions of two "Criminal Minds" episodes conform to established criminal profiling conventions utilized by law enforcement. Overall, the results of these analyses suggest that the criminal profiling portrayals in the episodes "L.D.S.K." and "Fear and Loathing" adhere to legitimate real life criminal profiling considerations
Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2010
Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Communication Honors Program
Discipline: Communication Department

Using interviews with first time women activists who took part in the 1997 Manchester Airport Runway 2 protest, this thesis explores the construction of stories and knowledge in the process of interview research. As well as the 'topic' of journeys to activism, this project includes an interrogation of the boundaries of 'facts' and 'fictions' and the way knowledge is constructed and presented in academia. Working within a 'feminist framework' and taking seriously issues of referentiality and representation, this thesis argues for an integrated approach to academic writing which refuses binaries of facts/fictions, researcher/researched and self/other and explores ways of foregrounding the researcher as constructor rather than presenter of knowledge.

Motivation spelar en betydande roll för hur inläraren lyckas tillägna sig ett andraspråk, då processen är tidskrävande och fordrar elevens fortsatta engagemang (Gass & Selinker, 2008, s. 426). I ämnet svenska som andraspråk ska, enligt Skolverket, läsning och analys av skönlitteratur ingå (Skolverket, 2011, s. 2). Då böcker med ofta obegriplig text kan upplevas som svåröverkomliga hinder i andraspråksundervisningen kan motivation bli den drivkraft som hjälper eleven att överkomma motgångar och distraktioner i läsandet. Denna närstudie av en åttaårig elev i andraklass avsåg att undersöka hur drama som pedagogiskt verktyg i läsandet av en av skolan tillhandahållen skönlitterär bok påverkade hens motivation och upplevelse av läsningen och hur hen gav uttryck för detta. Studien är sålunda en kvalitativ, fenomenologisk studie av ett barn med engelska som förstaspråk. Audioinspelningar nyttjades för att dokumentera de dramabaserade aktiviteter som användes vid läsandet av boken, samt elevens reaktioner. Till analysen transkriberades delar av inspelningarna. Resultatet visade på att informantens engagemang, inlevelse och motivation beträffande läsningen ökade vid användning av drama. Hen spelade som inför publik, skrek och skrattade, illustrerade fysiskt, gestaltade inlevelsefullt karaktärerna, improviserade, och läste med ökad målmedvetenhet och läsförståelse. Hen gav också verbalt uttryck för sin glädje genom att fråga: ”Can we dramatize it? Please!”
Motivation is an important component of success in second language acquisition, as the process is both time-consuming and involved (Gass & Selinker, 2008, p. 426). According to Skolverket, the reading and analysis of fiction is a subject requirement in Swedish as a second language (Skolverket, 2011, s. 2). Books with incomprehensible words can be perceived as insurmountable obstacles in SLA, and motivation can be the driving force prompting the learner to conquer these unavoidable hurdles and distractions. The aim of this close study of an eight-year-old child in second grade was to analyze how drama as a motivation tool affected the learner’s reading experience and how the child expressed their related feelings. Consequently, the study is a qualitative, phenomenological study of a student with English as their L1. Audio recordings were used to document the drama-related activities used in the reading of the book, as well as the student’s reactions. For the analysis, parts of the recordings were transcribed. The results showed that the student’s commitment, empathy, and motivation regarding the reading increased when drama was used. The learner acted as if they were in front of an audience, laughed and screamed, illustrated with their body, embodied the characters emphatically, improvised, and read with increased conviction and understanding. Additionally, the learner verbally expressed their joy by asking: “Can we dramatize it? Please!”

The transformation of a historical figure into a literary character reflects a twofold interest. On the one hand it shows an interest in that figure in its given historical context, and on the other hand it reveals a topical interest, which uses that figure and its historical context to establish connections and parallels to the present of a respective writer. Hans Kohlhase, a poor merchant from the area around Berlin during the first half of the 16th century, whose legal quarrel with a Saxon nobleman led to a feud that lasted for several years and only came to an end with his execution in 1540, first appeared as a literary character in Heinrich von Kleist's story Michael Kohlhaas. Since then about three dozen adaptations of the theme have been written in the German language, a number reflecting a continually renewed interest in that character as well as in the themes of rebellion, authority and justice. An unpublished dissertation on the history of the Kohlhaas-theme, written in 1970 by Herbert Schillinger at the University of Vienna, was found to have considerable short-comings. In searching for his primary texts the author evidently did not go to a lot of trouble and simply used those adaptations mentioned by Elisabeth Frenzel in her Stoffe der Weltliteratur. Moreover, his unreflected classification of the individual works according to literary periods reveals a profound lack of judgement, is often questionable, and sometimes totally inappropriate, e.g. when he classifies Arnolt Bronnen's work from 1929 under 'Expressionist Drama'. Schillinger's individual chapters consist of short biographies of the writers and superficial plot-summaries of their texts. Not once does he consider aspects of historicity of a given adaptation, nor does he even attempt to discuss why the Kohlhaas-theme may have aroused the interest of writers at a particular point in history and how this may be reflected in their works. Likewise, Schillinger does not deal at all with the theoretical discussion of thematology that had begun in the early sixties. His failure to explain his terminology, his use of the terms 'theme'(Stoff) and 'motif' as synonyms, suggests that he is not even aware of that debate. Avoiding Schillinger's short-comings, this dissertation presents the first extensive study of one of the most important themes of German literature, its adaptations and transformations through almost two centuries. In the past a major point of criticism put forward against traditional thematological studies has been that they did not deal with the aspects of historicity of a theme and its adaptations, but rather judged many texts in their relation to some canonized masterpiece, often the first literary version of the theme by a classical author. In response to that justified criticism, this study focuses on the aspects of historicity. An adaptation of a historical theme contains two levels of historicity: one includes all elements -- events, people etc. -- belonging in the actual time and historical circumstances of the theme -- in our case the early 16th century; this level will be comprised under the term 'historicity' of a theme. The other level contains elements reflecting the time of a given adaptation and will be called the 'topicality' of a theme. Adaptations will be analyzed in their own historical context, their relation to prevalent ideas, ideologies, literary movements or fashions. In short, 'topicality' reflects the discourses, in Foucault's sense, in which various writers partake. These two aspects, historicity and topicality, as well as their relation to each other, will be at the center of the analyses of the individual adaptations. A third aspect is of chief interest in dealing with texts which do not simply adapt the theme but transform it. This is the aspect of 'intertextuality'. In most cases such works contain postfigurations of the Kohlhaas-character. Their protagonists live in a different time and under different circumstances, but explicit intertextual relations to the Kohlhaas-theme -- usually to Kleist's story -- justify the inclusion of these works in this study. In these cases the intertextual relations to the theme or one of its adaptations are of special interest. However, texts need to have such intertextual references in order to be of concern for this study. A simple similarity of a central motif without any such references is not sufficient and thus does not justify including a work in a dissertation on the history of the Kohlhaas-theme. Heinrich von Kleist, the first writer to adapt the theme may, as his initial Kohlhaas-fragment suggests, have originally planned to write a character-novella. Comparable to the protagonist of a classical tragedy, Kohlhaas, through his insistence on pursuing his understanding of justice to an untenable extreme, would turn this virtue into a tragic flaw and violate the very justice he intends to uphold. However, speculations about Kleist's original plans for the continuation of the fragment must necessarily be fruitless. In dealing with the published complete story, this analysis ascertains an interest significantly different from what the fragment suggests. After the initial exposition of its protagonist as a righteous citizen of the state, the text focuses on the wrong-doings of the authorities. By introducing two states, instead of only one in the fragment, Kleist confronts the explicitly negative portrayal of the government of Saxony with the positive counter-example of the Elector of Brandenburg. By judging the conduct of the authorities using the terminology of enlightenment theories of government and justice, the text goes beyond the level of the historicity of the theme and reveals its topical interest in the latter. The brutal rebellion of Michael Kohlhaas, his attempt at overthrowing the government and changing the order of the world evokes the French Revolution, its causes as well as its development. As Goethe did in his assessment of that historical event, Kleist blames the unjust government, which violated the social contract in Rousseau's sense, for the out-break of the uprising, without, however, justifying the latter. The description of the brutality and inhumanness of Kohlhaas' feud is sufficient evidence against that uprising. Thus, in the elector's concluding judgements the outrage against the authorities is regarded as justified, but the means of the uprising are condemned. The mysterious episode about the gipsy and her prophecies, which critics have interpreted in many different ways, symbolically comprises the central action of the text: by abusing their power the despotic authorities provoke the uprising of the people, which itself is not approved of in its excesses and whose leader therefore has to be punished. By employing contemporary theories about the state Kleist's adaptation of the theme attempts to appeal to absolutist governments to prevent revolution through reforms. The first phase of adaptations of the Kohlhaas-theme after Kleist reflects the struggle between revolutionary and restorative tendencies before and around 1848. Maltitz, a writer with democratic inclinations seems to be mainly interested in the motif of 'pride of social class'. Not only the members of the nobility in his play, but the protagonist as well act according to that passion. However, what will become the main trait of many later dramatizations does already becomes apparent in this play: the interest in the theme, especially in its inherent social conflicts, is overshadowed by the writer's efforts to copy the great tragedies of the classical period. In his attempt to place the protagonist in a situation of tragic guilt he subordinates the genuinely social conflicts of the theme to a normative conception of tragedy and the tragic; Kohlhas acts out of tragic blindness and thus he becomes guilty; his rebellion is condemned. As does Kleist's story, the play ends with a demand for a just government. Clearly anti-revolutionary intentions guide Eichendorff's adaptation of the theme. In a postfiguration of Kleist's Kohlhaas he discredits the French Revolution and thus revolutionary tendencies in his own time. Through intertextual references he also condemns the deeds of Kleist's protagonist. The dramatist Schindler employs the Kohlhaas-rebellion as a parallel to the unsuccessful revolution of 1848. Like large parts of the liberal bourgeoisie in that year, Schindler's Kohlhaas puts his trust in an absolutist ruler and thus abandons his anti-feudal position. However, the question whether revolutionary actions are justified never occurs in this play. Rather, Schindler concentrates on the reasons for the failure of a social uprising, whose justification and necessity are upheld at the end of the play. Far from making such explicit, statements for or against social change, most of the works of the following phase of adaptations are the work of epigones. In the 1860s the reception of German classical literature produced a flood of adaptations of historical themes such as the one about Kohlhaas. In these works topicality hardly manifests itself in explicit references, but rather in their absence, as well as in the dramatic conception. By modifying the initial unjust action against Kohlhaas from an act of arbitrariness into a forgivable mistake, Ising basically erases the potential conflicts of the theme, which in his play do not arise from social circumstances but are the result of stubbornness. Thus, individual guilt becomes the focus of his drama. Finally recognizing his guilt, Ising's Kohlhaas willingly accepts his just punishment. Due to the harmonizing character of this adaptation, both worldly and spiritual leaders, the two electors and Martin Luther, are positive, flawless figures. The drama employs a pattern which can be found in several other adaptations of that time: the Elector of Saxony does not know about Kohlhaas' complaints; Luther succeeds in convincing the rebel to give up; and the Elector of Brandenburg tries in vain to save him from capital punishment. The adaptation of Prölß follows exactly the same pattern. Both Schenk and Graff alleviate the conflicts of the theme by motivating them in a completely new way. Instead of class-struggle and arbitrary actions of the nobility both employ erotic emotions as a triggering motif. Essential elements of the theme thus become secondary. Obviously these concessions to the expectations of a mass-audience reduce social conflict to individual passions. A common flaw of all these plays is a certain inconsistency in the course of their action. The main reason for this may be found in the incompatibility of the harmonizing tendency of these texts with their closeness to Kleist's story. The only outstanding work of this phase in the history of the theme is the novel by Franzos, who, in a postfiguration of Kohlhaas, deals with the interpretation by the famous jurist Rudolf von Ihering. Franzos questions the claim of his protagonist, and thus that of Kleist's Kohlhaas, to act in the name and for the good of society. The analysis of adaptations written between 1890 and 1910 established two main characteristics reflecting topicality. As part of a new national identity arising in the Wilhelminian era, Kohlhaas becomes a model-figure, the prototype of a true German as described in some important manifests of German irrational ideology of the time. His acting according to his feeling for right and wrong is seen as a typical trait of German nature and, raised above Roman law, becomes the guarantor of appropriate action. Authors like Holzer and Prellwitz focus on the specific German nature of their protagonist by contrasting his character traits with those allegedly held by other nationalities. Since Kohlhaas becomes a figure of national identity, both criticism of the authorities and dealing with the phenomena of rebellion and social change become secondary or are even neglected. The play by Prellwitz exemplifies this in a characteristic way: the conflict is settled in a conciliatory fashion, and even though Kohlhaas receives his punishment his violent actions are described as a natural force, as a true, unrestrained expression of German nature -- this is an early indication of the coming barbarism of fascist ideology and thus proof that its roots lie in the irrationalist thoughts of the Second Reich. In addition, the positive role of the Elector of Brandenburg in Kleist's story is utilized by Prellwitz, John and Geyer in order to glorify his descendant, Kaiser Wilhelm II. Besides such ideological utilization of the theme there are other adaptations that are clearly influenced by the literary movement of Naturalism. These works not only show a strong interest in social problems but also reveal a new concept of historical drama. More than any writer before him Zoozmann sticks to the available historical documents. So does Weitbrecht, who, moreover, enlarges the level of historicity by including the historical dispute between Thomas Munzer and Martin Luther about authority and social change. His play turns into a study of the possibilities as well as the failure of social revolution in the Reformation period. A very similar interest can be found in Stramm's adaptation of the theme, which is strongly indebted to the drama of Gerhart Hauptmann. Stramm puts Kohlhaas's struggle into the larger frame of the peasant rebellion of 1525. Realistic depictions of the social misery of the peasants mark this play, which finally focuses on the failure of the uprising. The protagonist becomes an early fighter for civil rights, a forerunner of the future struggle for liberty and equality. Under the rule of National-Socialism, where Kleist is turned into a classic of the 'new Germany', the ideological utilization of the Kohlhaas-figure continues. In his violent resistance to injustice and his insistence on his feeling for right and wrong he becomes a prototype for the fascists, who in his struggle see an analogy to their fight against the Weimar Republic. However, the reception of the theme is often ambivalent since the motif of resistance against authority and state does not quite agree with the totalitarian rulers. Therefore Kohlhaas seemed also apt to become a symbol of resistance against the regime. Bronnen's two versions of his adaptation of the theme paradigmatically demonstrate these two opposing views of Kohlhaas. The first, written towards the end of the Weimar Republic, defends the protagonist's actions with the very phrases Bronnen used elsewhere to defend fascist terrorists. In the later version, written shortly after the war, Kohlhaas becomes a symbol of resistance against injustice and authority. Most adaptations of the thirties vary between these two possibilities. Mayer-Exner explicitly declares the action of his play to be a mirror image of current events and makes his Kohlhaas a symbol of the 'awakening' of the German people. The text does not portray the feud but focuses on the description of a morbid state controlled by Jewish bankers. Kohlhaas sets out to fight that state. Brecht's parable on fascism has a protagonist who turns out to be an anti-Kohlhaas collaborating with the rulers. Through intertextual reference Kleist's Kohlhaas becomes a positive counter-example, and thus again a symbol of resistance. A more subtle criticism of the Nazi-regime is found in Gilbricht's adaptation. The drama concentrates on unmasking an extremely despotic government. In the end Kohlhaas 's refusal to accept mercy does not express an acknowledgement of his guilt, but is an act of defiance, a continuation of his resistance. Geisenheyner's play does not explicitly reflect Nazi-ideology but rather the everyday consciousness of certain social classes under the conditions of the Third Reich. Finally, Bergengruen's novel contains another postfiguration of Kleist's Michael Kohlhaas. The text's criticism of its protagonist's actions thus includes criticism of Kohlhaas as well. Written only a few years after the break-down of the Nazi-regime, the Christian message of the novel, promoting obedience to any authority, turns into a justification of the so-called 'Inner Emigration'. Again Kohlhaas becomes a figure of resistance, this time, however, with negative connotations. After this phase of the history of the Kohlhaas-theme, as well as after this phase of German history, there are no adaptations for about two decades. A film based on Kleist's story, produced in the late sixties, does show a new interest in the theme which has its roots in the new political climate created by the leftist student movement. In the struggle of Kohlhaas, writers find analogies to present conflicts; the historical becomes topical once again. Best's continuation of Kleist's story primarily intends to establish the connection between past and present. Kohlhaas emigrates to America, where he becomes the founder of a libertarian commune whose example has an influence on a famous Russian revolutionary of the 20th century and from there on current political movements. East-German adaptations by Schutz and Dresen show that under the political system they live in, original quotes from Kleist's text can produce new, dissident connotations. Moreover, Schutz creates a hero who contradicts normative aesthetic rules of socialist writing. The failure of his revolt hints at the GDR as the product of an imported revolution that was at no time an expression of the will of the people and has not led to real change. Schutz's drama becomes an inquiry into the dilemma of German revolutions. Besides revealing a strong interest in revolutionary movements in German history, Karsunke's adaptation reflects the current phenomenon of terrorism. In his protagonist's actions the author criticizes terrorism in its wrong choice of means to achieve social change. But in the description of the authorities' counter-actions he refers to the West-German state's over-reacting against terrorism. In postfigurations of Kohlhaas, the texts by Walter and Eue focus on precisely these two aspects. Finally, Plessen's novel contains several of the characteristics found in adaptations of this phase. She too establishes analogies between past and present and at the same time reflects on the problems of such an undertaking. Plessen's Kohlhaas becomes a representative of an 'alternative scene' in the Reformation period, who, like some of his contemporary models, walks a thin line between Utopian ideas of liberty on the one hand, and terrorist actions on the other hand. And once again the reactions of the authorities are condemned. This study shows that the Kohlhaas-theme is indeed one of the most important themes in German literature. After Faust, Kohlhaas is the most significant literary figure to have been taken from German history. Again and again the different adaptations based on his life reflect, either in content or in form, a topical interest. The diversity of the different texts illustrates the many aspects of the historicity of any adaptation of a historical theme.
Arts, Faculty of
Central Eastern Northern European Studies, Department of
Graduate

Thesis advisor: William Stanwood
Thesis advisor: Lindsay Hogan
Never before has it been so important to investigate the way in which televised historical drama recreates and represents the past, for, as Robert Rosenstone (2003) acknowledges, “the increasing presence of the visual media in modern culture and the vast increase in TV channels seems to ensure that most people now get their knowledge of the past, once school is over, from the visual media” (p. 10). Therefore, this research uses the popular PBS Masterpiece Theatre program Downton Abbey as a case study to examine the accuracy of depictions of historical periods in contemporary television programs with the intent of discovering the impact of historical fiction on audiences’ perceptions of the past and, subsequently, on the collective memory of the public domain. Using a reception analysis approach, this research considers both producer-encoded and audience-decoded content within the four categories of (I) Setting, Details, and Design; (II) History; (III) Behavior; and (IV) Agenda, Values, and Effects outlined by Paul B. Weinstein (2001) to form conclusions concerning the relationship between the encoding and decoding of Downton Abbey, in particular, as well as the larger implications these findings have for televised historical drama and society’s collective memory, in general. Ultimately, this essay argues that through its precision of post-Edwardian detail, Downton Abbey attempts to construct a veil of accuracy behind which the series’ narrative is theoretically able to operate freely and without rigid constraint by history’s “hard and fast rules” (Fellowes, 2012a, p. 60). The findings also reveal an incongruity between this philosophy of encoding and the subsequent decoding process of Downton Abbey’s audience members. Finally, this study offers two potential functions historical drama may serve in contemporary society: as either a catalyst for historical inquiry or as a purveyor of distinctly modern, as opposed to historical, lessons
Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2014
Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: College Honors Program
Discipline: Communication Honors Program
Discipline: Communication

Wine & Beer tells the story of childhood friends Brian and Vic who, after spending some time apart, deal with the tensions of sexual orientation after they attempt to renew their friendship. At the beginning it seems that Vic's sexuality will not be a problem, but after the two friends hang out in a local bar, Brian realizes his hometown is not as tolerant as he is. The couple is faced with family and social concerns, which goes from the argumentative to the violent. As the main characters try to mingle with the conservative town, they soon find themselves looked upon by a small town resistant to change. This 35-minute film explores homophobia and violence in small town USA.

The histories of the Theater and of the Novel have rarely been linked to one another. Nevertheless, studying the evolution of the two arts as of the seventeenth century, allows us to pinpoint and define the sources of contamination. It is more precisely in the nineteenth century that the history of both the Theater and the Novel became envenomed, going from fresh influences to disloyal relations during which time the Theater faded by admitting romanesque realism to take the stage. By denying its capacity to reveal the "real", the Theater failed its possibilities and let its art be disinterested from the theatricality showing all that should have been evoked. Men of theater participated at recapturing the theatrical art so to regain confidence on stage and near 1950, an avant-garde movement flourished to favor a renewal of vitality for the theater with a new language which utilizes all of what the scene could provoke. This "New Theater" is soon followed by a similar romanesque enterprise, the "New Novel", a group of novelists also wishing to acknowledge the right to explore a new style of writing.

Three contemporary authors – Suzan-Lori Parks, Natasha Trethewey, and Colson Whitehead – within the African American Literary Tradition explore relationships to history in light of a dominant rhetoric that represents African American history through a white, hegemonic lens. In Parks’ The America Play, Trethewey’s Bellocq’s Ophelia, and Whitehead’s The Intuitionist, these authors comment on historical representation through such symbols as iconic figures like Abraham Lincoln, photographs, and elevators as starting points to explore the possibility of an independent space for African American history. Rather than remarking on just the representation of the artifact, however, the authors enter a conversation on how history is remembered and experienced. Parks, Trethewey, and Whitehead each form their own expression on historical representation; in each case, their works address the ability, or inability, to achieve historical intimacy amidst a push back from hegemonic narratives in the public eye. Historical intimacy, as the leading concept of the dissertation, refers to developing a close proximity to history not as a mere representation but as lived experience. Parks sees historical insight developing only through brief moments of intimate contact, if at all. Trethewey imagines personal, even sensual, familiarity with the subjects of her poems as a way of breaking through social frames and learning to connect with the past. Whitehead works through paradoxes to dissolve representational patterns of discourse, like verticality, and reach for a post-rational space wherein both open historical possibility, which stresses self-reflexivity, and a foundation in a “real,” experienced history unlock the opportunity for the construction of an intimate history. Although no author presents historical intimacy as an achieved goal, their works suggest varying degrees of potential and connection.

This doctoral thesis studies a cycle of British film and television fictions produced in the years 2005-2011 and set retrospectively in the 1980s. In its identification and in-depth textual and contextual analysis of what it terms the ‘Eighties Cycle’, it offers a significant contribution to British film and television scholarship. It examines eighties-set productions as members of a sub-genre of British recent-past period dramas begging unique consideration outside of comparisons to British ‘heritage’ dramas, to contemporary social dramas or to actual history. It shows that incentives for depicting the eighties are wide-ranging; consequently, it situates productions within their cultural and industrial contexts, exploring how these dictate which eighties codes are cited and how they are textually used. The Introduction delineates the Eighties Cycle, establishes the project’s academic and historical basis and outlines its approach. Chapter 1 situates the work within the academic fields that inform it, briefly surveying histories and socio-cultural studies before examining and assessing existing scholarship on Eighties Cycle productions alongside critical literature on 1980s, 90s and contemporary British film and television; nostalgia and retro; modern media, history and memory; British and American period screen fiction; and transmedia storytelling. Chapter 2 considers how a selection of productions employing ‘the eighties’ as a visual and audio style invoke and assign meaning to commonly recognised aesthetic codes according to their targeted audiences and/or intended messages. Chapter 3 investigates semi-autobiographical dramas that bear the mark of remembering, from the vantage point of the present, a time of fast expansions and shifts in the global media landscape. Chapter 4 explores how historical fictions locate historical knowledge in the decade’s refraction through modern media and reconstruct, deconstruct or ironise these mediations to meet particular cultural or industrial demands. Chapter 5 identifies two spin-offs that exploit shifts toward transmedia production and distribution by using eighties iconography as the set pieces for an immersive fantasy world, considering how and why their source texts are adapted and what this implies for past representation. Finally, the Conclusion reviews the project’s findings and briefly considers possible factors for the cycle’s deceleration and transformation after 2011. Ultimately, this project sees the Eighties Cycle as a by-product of shifts in Britain toward advanced globalisation and new mediation that have facilitated access to domestic and international mediated recent pasts. These productions operate within a distinct recent-past period screen fiction mode, engaging audiences equipped with comprehensive notions of the eighties as circulated in media. Meaning is produced in how these notions are structured; sometimes they are lauded, sometimes parodied, sometimes criticised or ironised, and sometimes they are simply cited for the sheer pleasure of recall.

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Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES
This research paper aims at investigating the relationship between history and fiction in the construction of Arthur Miller s play The Crucible, 1953. After situating the reader in the context of the modern American Theater, as in the period of the author's life, in an attempt to situate the text in the context of Miller s time, seeking an interpretation that incorporates dialectically the exteriority to the interiority of the work, we trace the real facts which happened in Salem in 1692, in a chronological and sequential order, as befits a historical investigation. Searching for a better comprehension of The Crucible, we examined the relationship between history and fiction, as understood by important philosophers and theorists throughout the centuries. Based on essential parameters to the understanding of this complex relationship and in possession of relevant concepts about the theory of drama, we analysed the play in the light of the proposed theories. The main results show that, The Crucible is a play based on the story of the tragic episode of the Salem Witch Hunts, but it is not history in the sense the word is used by an academic historian. The work concludes that Arthur Miller was careful enough to adjust the historical material he raised about Salem to his fictional purposes and, through dramatic strategies, he not only showed the historical events from a critical perspective, but he was also able to create an excess of meaning that transforms his historical play into an allegory of oppression and persecution.
A presente pesquisa tem por objetivo investigar as relações entre história e ficção na construção da peça The Crucible (As Bruxas de Salém, 1953), de Arthur Miller. Após situar o leitor no teatro moderno norte-americano e na vida do autor, buscando assim enquadrar os estudos do texto no contexto da época de Miller, visando uma interpretação que dialeticamente integre a exterioridade à interioridade da obra, rastreamos os fatos reais ocorridos em Salém em 1692, numa ordem cronológica e sequencial, como nos orienta uma investigação histórica. Numa tentativa de melhor compreender As Bruxas de Salém, examinamos com mais profundidade a relação entre história e ficção, tal como compreendida por importantes filósofos e teóricos ao longo dos séculos. Com base em parâmetros essenciais à apreensão dessa complexa relação e de posse de uma série relevante de conceitos sobre a teoria do drama, analisa-se a peça à luz das teorias propostas. Os principais resultados mostram que, As Bruxas de Salém é uma peça baseada em relatos e documentos históricos relativos ao trágico episódio da caça às bruxas de Salém, mas não é história no sentido em que a palavra é usada pelo historiador acadêmico. O trabalho conclui que Arthur Miller teve o cuidado de ajustar o material histórico por ele levantado em Salém ao seu propósito dramático e que, através de estratégias dramáticas, não apenas mostrou os eventos históricos sob uma perspectiva crítica, como também foi capaz de criar um excesso de significado que transforma sua peça histórica numa alegoria da opressão e da perseguição.

English is, can be, and ought to be taught through various teaching modes for deeper learning to take place successfully. ‘Creative writing’ has shown to be, according to previous research and interviewed high school teachers, a successful tool for teaching English as a foreign language, just as it can help students reach requirements and course goals constituted by the National Agency for Education in Sweden. Furthermore, creative forms of the English language are shown to be largely what motivate high school students the most to learn English, and what interest them about the English language in general. Nevertheless, ‘creative writing’ is rarely practiced when teaching English as a foreign language at Swedish high schools. Together, these findings suggest that ‘creative writing’ should be used more frequently as a tool for teaching English in Sweden. A prerequisite for actualizing the suggestion is education of English teachers in how to teach it properly.

Cette étude examine la lecture des textes de théâtre comme des textes de fiction, visant à faire sortir ce genre de lecture du cadre de l’analyse textuelle au sein duquel on a tendance à l’enfermer. L’examen s’effectue à la lumière de l’interrogation sur le suicide dans le drame français du XIXe siècle : son objectif est de cerner l’effet que le suicide d’un personnage exerce sur le lecteur. Pour ce faire, nous nous servons du concept de lecteur virtuel, destinataire implicite et atemporel des effets du texte selon Vincent Jouve ; ce lecteur immerge au sein du monde possible de fiction soutenu par le dispositif qui se fonde sur la tripartition Réel - Symbolique - Imaginaire de Lacan.La réflexion est structurée en cinq parties : l’introduction théorique est suivie des analyses qui portent, respectivement, sur le mélodrame, le drame romantique, le drame naturaliste et le drame symboliste. En nous penchant sur l’effet du suicide fictionnel sur le lecteur, qui est systématiquement relié au questionnement de la catharsis, nous traitons également de l’évolution des formes et genres théâtraux évoqués dans l’optique de la lecture « virtuelle ». Ainsi, lire le drame français du XIXe siècle, c’est voyager de la certitude optimiste du mélodrame à l’indétermination tragique du drame symboliste, du suicide effectif aux morts probablement volontaires, de la catharsis « larmoyante » à l’anticatharsis
This study examines the reading of drama texts as the reading of fictional texts, aiming to broaden the current approach according to which the reading of drama texts is mainly limited to text analysis. This question is examined in the light of the issue of suicide in 19th-century French drama. The principal aim of this study is therefore to understand the impact of the character’s suicide on the reader via the detailed analysis of the ins and outs of the suicidal act. The study applies Vincent Jouve’s concept of the virtual reader, who is defined as an implicit and atemporal recipient of the text effects. This reader emerges in a fictional world that is supported by an operative device (dispositif) based on the Lacanian triptych of the Real, the Symbolic and the Imaginary.The dissertation consists of five chapters. The theoretical discussion is followed by four chapters that deal, respectively, with melodrama, romantic drama, naturalist drama, and symbolist drama. In addition to the effect of the fictional suicide on the reader (which is systematically connected to the catharsis), the evolution of theatrical genres and forms is explored from the perspective of “virtual” reading. Thereby, the reading of 19th-century French drama could be viewed as a journey from the optimistic certainty of melodrama to the tragic indeterminacy of symbolist drama, from actual to probable suicides, from “sorrowful” catharsis to anticatharsis

In modern times German authors have made ample use of the Job-theme. The study examines the transformations that the story of Job has undergone in German narrative and dramatic works from Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's Der neue Hiob (1878) to Fritz Zorn's Mars (1977). The most striking feature of these works lies in their diverse characterization of the Job-figure. As a mythical figure he remains synonymous with the sufferer, but he may be characterized as patient or impatient, humble or arrogant, innocent or guilty, rich or poor, courageous or cowardly; he may be a Jew or a Christian, a Nazi or an anti-Nazi, a believer or an agnostic. The authors have retained most of the characters included in the Old Testament story. The Job-figure usually has a wife (who doubts and despises God), a number of children (who die in an impending disaster), and several friends (who accuse him of wrong-doing). Concerning the plot, most writers have excluded any prologue in heaven. The suffering of the Job-figure (usually brought on by the loss of loved ones, by physical pain and by mental agony) is always central to the story. More often than not, however, the modern Job-figure exhibits a form of impatience and impiety once misfortune has struck. A theophany (literal confrontation with God) does not occur, but a divine agent may be provided in the form of a dream or a vision, or indirectly by nature. An epilogue (the restoration of Job's health, possessions and children) is usually omitted, but some authors imply a renewal of Job, so as to suggest a purpose for and a hope after his arduous trials.
Arts, Faculty of
Central Eastern Northern European Studies, Department of
Graduate

Between good and evil there's a whole lot of gray: Welcome to The Circuit. A shady private security firm recruits criminals straight out of prison and sells its services to the highest bidder, saint and sinner alike (mostly sinners). Through the trials and tribulations of a diverse ensemble cast, the show explores some of my absolute favorite themes in storytelling: gray morality, found families, and unlikely heroes. Follow our gritty and guarded lead Shaye as she struggles to tame a group of talented and contentious ex-cons under the shadow of her ambitious and manipulative father, all the while struggling to maintain her integrity in a world where nobody's the good guy. This thesis is an original television drama series, and consists of two full episodes as well as thirteen episode synopses for season one. It is also a work in progress, so feedback is welcome.

Thesis (MA (African Languages))--University of Stellenbosch, 2005.
This study aims at highlighting one of the crucial aspects of Xhosa drama: how women have been regarded by a variety of communities as being inferior to men. This stereotype pervades almost all spheres of life. The low status assigned to women find its way into literature as well. Ngewu’s drama “Yeha mfazi obulala indoda” and Taleni’s drama “Nyana nank’uNyoko” has been examined. In most Xhosa literature, women are portrayed as submissive, obedient and minor characters. The advent of Ngewu’s work changed this scenario by portraying women as independent characters. This has led to great conflict with male characteristics and this demonstrates clearly that partriarchal domination is deep rooted in Xhosa culture.

Il est question d’analyser une tendance marquée des séries de science-fiction contemporaines, qui proposent un récit complexe et feuilletonnant, impliquant une intense participation de la part des spectateur.ice.s ; ces dernie.re.s se voient promettre, via l’énigme, la quête et/ou le voyage dans le temps, un dénouement qui serait la conséquence logique des évènements mis en scène. Au travers des énigmes de Lost (2004-2010, ABC), de la quête des humains dans Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009, Sci-Fi) ou de l’utilisation du voyage dans le temps dans Doctor Who (2005- ?, BBC1), il est possible de déceler des mécanismes narratifs visant à entretenir l’illusion d’une progression réfléchie vers un dénouement tantôt mis en avant, tantôt repoussé, dans un contexte de production où les scénaristes ne sont pas maîtres de leur récit. Babylon 5 (1993-1999, TNT), série dont le récit a été effectivement prévu à l’avance, sert de maître-étalon, tandis que Fringe (Fox, 2008-2013) permet d’envisager les limites de cette tendance. La capacité de ces programmes à construire une « intrigue macroscopique » à l’échelle de la série toute entière, éclaire plus largement les processus narratifs à l’œuvre dans la majorité des séries narrativement complexes contemporaines (au sens de Mittell). Au fil des liens avec l’intrigue des cycles littéraires, et d’une méthodologie centrée sur la visualisation de l’intrigue macroscopique, on peut, en s’appuyant sur une narratologie des séries télévisées encore expérimentale, entrevoir une poétique de l’écriture prospective télévisuelle. Dans une perspective contextualiste, il est vital de garder en vue les conditions d’écriture, de production et de réception de ces objets atypiques ; en retour, ces récits prospectifs apportent un nouvel éclairage au projet d’une narratologie transmédiatique porté par les études contemporaines du récit
The aim of this work is to analyse a specific trend in contemporary science-fiction TV series : narratively complex programs (Mittell) that require an increased investment from the viewer and seem to make the promise of a logical and fulfilling ending where truth is revealed, quests are achieved and time-travel paradoxes are resolved. Looking at the mysteries from Lost (2004-2010, ABC), the quest of the Thirteenth Tribe in Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009, Sci-Fi) or the never-ending use of time-travel in Doctor Who (2005- ?, BBC1), it is possible to isolate narrative mechanisms that alternately foreshadow and defer the ending, in a world where writers can’t have full control over the plot. Babylon 5 (1993-1999, TNT), a show written in advance by its creator, will be our Rosetta Stone, while Fringe (Fox, 2008-2013) will take us to the edge of that growing trend. These programs’ ability to construct a “macroscopic plot” on the scale of the entire series, shines a light on narrative process operating in the majority of narratively complex TV series. Taking a closer look at research on literary cycles, and creating narrative diagrams to visualize this macroscopic plot, it is possible to outline a poetic of prospective writing, drawing on television series narratology. Following a contextualist view, it is important to consider the writing, production, reception of these programs; in return, studying macroscopic plots in TV series can give new clues for transmedial narratology (Herman)

The growing accessibility of quantum mechanics and chaos theory over the past eighty years has opened a new mode of world-creating for dramatists. An increasingly large collection of plays organize their fictional worlds around such scientific concepts as quantum uncertainty and chaotic determinism. This trend is especially noticeable within dramatic texts that emphasize a fictional, not material or metafictional, engagement. These plays construct fictional worlds that reflect the increasingly strange actual world. The dominant theoretical approaches to fictional worlds unfairly treat these plays as primarily metafictional texts, when these texts construct fictional experiences to speculate about everyday ramifications of living in a post-quantum mechanics world. This thesis argues that these texts are best understood as examples of speculative fiction drama, and they speculate about the changes to our understanding of reality implied by contemporary scientific discoveries. Looking at three plays as exemplary case studies—John Mighton’s Possible Worlds (1990), Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia (1993), and Tony Kushner’s Homebody/Kabul (2001)—this thesis demonstrates that speculative fiction theories can be adapted into fictional worlds analysis, allowing us to analyze these plays as fiction-making texts that offer nonclassical aesthetic experiences. In doing so, this thesis contributes to speculative fiction studies, fictional worlds studies, and the dynamic interdisciplinary dialogue between aesthetic and scientific discourses.

Beckett remains one of the most important writers of the twentieth century whose radical experimentations in form and content won him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969. This Critical Companion encompasses his plays for the stage, radio and television, and will be indispensable to students of his work. Challenging and at times perplexing, Beckett's work is represented on almost every literature, theatre and Irish studies curriculum in universities in North America, Europe and Australia. Katherine Weiss' admirably clear study of his work provides the perfect companion, illuminating each play and Beckett's vision, and investigating his experiments with the body, voice and technology. It includes in-depth studies of the major works Waiting for Godot, Endgame and Krapp's Last Tape, and as with other volumes in Methuen Drama's Critical Companions series it features too a series of essays by other scholars and practitioners offering different critical perspectives on Beckett in performance that will inform students' own critical thinking. Together with a series of resources including a chronology and a list of further reading, this is ideal for all students and readers of Beckett's work.
https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu_books/1072/thumbnail.jpg

Sans corps, pas d'histoires. Vecteur d'action, instrument de la narration, et support d'un lien d'identification fort entre le spectateur et le personnage, le corps est la principale figure des médiums cinématographique et télévisuel. Si le cinéma a toujours, depuis ses balbutiements, glorifié la vivacité inépuisable des corps, parallèlement déjà, planait la face inversée de cette exposition, la menace muette de la mort. Mais si le dernier souffle avant la mort est bien souvent encore, au cinéma et à la télévision, synonyme d'ultime communion avec la vie et de résistance à la mort, qu'en est-il du corps et du personnage quand la mort s'en est saisi à jamais et qu'il ne reste plus aux vivants, personnages et spectateurs, qu'à se confronter au cadavre ? Figure parasitaire, le cadavre n'est ni un personnage ni même un figurant. A la fois signe vide et noyau narratif, c'est à partir de lui et de son examen pendant l'autopsie ou sur les lieux du crime que va se nourrir et se développer l'intrigue policière. Et s'il peut paraître secondaire, voire accessoire, à regarder les fictions policières sous l'angle de son non-regard fixe et opaque, il donne à voir quelque chose du crime, de son caractère profondément injuste, et des rapports qu'entretiennent les vivants avec une mort qui se présente sur la table d'autopsie, sous ses traits les plus abjects. L'enjeu de cette thèse sera d'envisager la façon dont les fictions policières mettent en scène le cadavre comme le reflet, d'une troublante précision, d'un défaut contemporain de distanciation face à la mort. Il s'agira bien pour nous, et selon un principe analogue à celui qu'applique le philosophe Maxime Coulombe dans son essai sur les zombies, de considérer le cadavre fictionnel comme « analyseur de la société contemporaine » et comme « symptôme de ce qui taraude la conscience de notre époque »
Without bodies, no stories. A vehicle of action, a narrative agent, and the support of a strong identification link between the audience and the character, the body is the main figure of cinematographic and television mediums.If cinema has always, from its early stages, glorified the endless liveliness of bodies, the reverse side of this exposure has simultaneously been lingering: the mute threat of death. However, in films or in television series, if the last breath before death is often synonymous with a ultimate communion with life and with a resistance to death, what happens to the body and the character when death has seized them for ever, and the living – characters and audience – are only left facing the corpse? As a parasite figure, the corpse is neither a character nor even an extra. Both an empty sign and a narrative core, the crime plot will indeed develop from the corpse and its examination, during the autopsy or on the crime scene. And whereas the corpse may seem secondary, even minor, if we look at crime fictions from the angle of its fixed and opaque non-look, it still allows us to see something of the crime and of its deeply unfair nature, and of the relations between the living and a death that appears in its most abject features on the autopsy table. In this study, we will examine how crime fictions stage corpses as disturbingly precise reflects of a contemporary lack of perspective in front of death. Similarly to the philosopher Maxime Coulombe in his essay on zombies, we will consider the fictional corpse as an "analyser of contemporary society" and as a "symptom of what is tormenting the consciousness of our time"

Cette thèse est l’étude d’une sélection d’œuvres littéraires mexicaines et françaises concernant les évènements historiques de l’Intervention française au Mexique (1862-1867) et du Second Empire Mexicain (1864-1867). Ces œuvres s’étalent entre le XIXe et le XXIe siècle et ont été sélectionnés pour leurs réflexions poétiques et politiques exemplaires et d’autre part parce qu’elles ont contribuées à la construction d’une iconographie culturelle et identitaire mexicaine. Les genres romanesque et théâtral ont été sélectionnés pour pouvoir établir une étude comparative diachronique. Le choix des œuvres et des auteurs a été établi en fonction du traitement de l’Intervention française et de leur importance. Les œuvres analysées correspondent au sous-genre du roman-feuilleton du XIXe siècle avec, pour la littérature française, Benito Vázquez (1869) de Lucien Biart et Doña Flor (1877) de Gustave Aimard et, pour la littérature mexicaine, Clemencia (1869) de Manuel Altamirano et El Cerro de las Campanas (1868) de Juan Mateos. Les pièces de théâtre Corona de Sombra (1943) de Rodolfo Usigli et Charlotte et Maximilien (1945) de Maurice Rostand sont traitées de manière comparative et la pièce El Tuerto es Rey (1970) de Carlos Fuentes est analysée de manière complémentaire. Quant aux manifestations littéraires historiques plus contemporaines, nous incluons Noticias del Imperio (1987) de Fernando del Paso et Yo, el francés de Jean Meyer (2002). Cet ensemble propose une analyse comparative, linguistique, sémiotique et littéraire des œuvres citées. Il invite à une réflexion approfondie sur l’interprétation que la littérature ou l’égo-histoire ont proposé de ce conflit, un conflit armé et politique dont la mémoire a traversé l’histoire et les productions littéraires mexicaines et françaises
In this doctoral dissertation, we are studying a selection of both Mexican and French literary works related to the historic events of the Second French Intervention in Mexico (1862-1867) and of the Second Mexican Empire (1864-1867). This body of works has been published between the XIXth and the XXIth century and has been selected, both because their poetic and political thoughts are emblematic of this period and because they have contributed to the construction of a Mexican cultural and identity iconography. We have decided to select the fiction and theatrical genres, to carry out a comparative and diachronic analysis. The decision of which literary works and authors to include has been made based on how both the French Intervention and the way it has been depicted in literature, have been dealt with in particular in each literary work and each author we considered to studied. The studied novels belong to the sub-genre of serialized fiction in the XIXth century with, on the French side, Benito Vázquez (1869) by Lucien Biart and Doña Flor (1877) by Gustave Aimard and, on the Mexican side, Clemencia (1869) by Manuel Altamirano and El Cerro de las Campanas (1868) by Juan Mateos. As far as theatre plays are concerned, we have carried out a comparative study of both Corona de Sombra (1943) by Rodolfo Usigli and Charlotte et Maximilien (1945) by Maurice Rostand. We have completed our analysis with a complementary study of El Tuerto es Rey (1970) by Carlos Fuentes. Regarding more contemporaneous historic and literary creations, we chose to include Noticias del Imperio (1987) by Fernando del Paso and Yo, el francés by Jean Meyer (2002). This corpus allows to carry out a comparative, linguistic, semiotic and literary analysis of afore-mentioned works. Such analysis calls for a thorough reflection on the interpretation of conflict, an armed and political conflict which influenced both History and Mexican and French literary productions

This thesis is based on a practice based research project with women in prison led by Lois Weaver, Peggy Shaw and myself. The project, Staging Human Rights II, took place in two prisons in England, HMP Highpoint and HMP and YOI Bullwood Hall, and two prisons in Brazil, Presidio Nelson Hungria and Penetenciaria Talavera Bruce. The research was conducted between September 2001 and June 2003. The project was part of a larger, umbrella programme, Staging Human Rights, which sought to find ways, through performance methodologies, in which the language of human rights could incorporate the everyday lives and experiences of people within the criminal justice system. Within this context, Weaver and Shaw called upon non-cognitive, postmodern performance strategies through which the women in prison witnessed their own lives through the testimony of performance. Theoretical considerations of witness and testimony frame the thesis, situating performance as an act of witness, and positioning testimony as an urgent and critical epistemological act in the field of Applied Performance. My research was guided by two questions: what can be known of the possibilities of performance by working with women in prison? What can be known of the context of women's prisons through performance? The thesis is structured into two sections. Section I, made up of Chapters 1-5, considers the theoretical and practical contexts in which the practice based research was undertaken. Section II, Chapter 6, considers each of the five performance residencies and In The House, the performance event in which the research culminated on 23 June 2003. This section calls upon performative writing to both describe and reflect upon the practice and its context. Through writing this thesis, I am bearing witness to what I have come to understand of the possibilities of performance and the experiences of women in prison through performance practice with women in prison.

U ovoj disertaciji istražuju se mnogobrojni oblici utopije unekolikim, prvenstveno u književnim segmentima složenog i obimnogopusa H. Dž. Velsa, kao i u nekolikim, prvenstveno u književnimsegmentima ne tako obimnog, ali takođe složenog opusa G. Kosteljnika.Studiju čine trinaest poglavlja.Prvo je uvodno, te se u njemu najpre objašnjavaju predmet, cilj imetodologija istraživanja, a potom se razmatraju najfrekventniji pojmovi:opšta i naučna fantastika, i, iznad svih, glavni pojam, utopija. Osvetljavajuse i njena geneza, i njene karakteristike, i njene funkcije.U drugom poglavlju su najpre izloženi faktori nastajanja, postojanja inestajanja utopija, a u nastavku je prezentirana iscrpna tipologija utopija.U trećem i četvrtom poglavlju govori se o formiranju stvaralačkihličnosti H. Dž. Velsa i G. Kosteljnika.Narednih šest poglavlja ispunjeno je odeljcima putem kojih seosvetljava romaneskno, pripovedačko i diskurzivno (esejističko,sociološko, politikološko, naučnopopularno i publicističko) stvaralaštvo H.Dž. Velsa, kao i poetsko, pripovedačko, dramsko i diskurzivno (esejističko,teološko, književnokritičko, lingvističko i publicističko) stvaralaštvo G.Kosteljnika.Jedanaesto poglavlje je zaključno. U njemu je još jednom razmotrenznačaj utopije uopšte, a naročito u delu dvojice protagonista ove disertacije:H. Dž. Velsa i G. Kosteljnika.
This thesis researches numerous forms of utopia in several, primarilyliterary segments from complex and comprehensive opus of H. G. Wells, aswell as in several, primarily literary segments of not so comprehensive, butalso complex opus of G. Kosteljnik.The study consists of thirteen chapters.The first chapter is introductory, where the subject matter, aim andmethodology of the research are explained, and the most frequent notionsare considered: general fantasy and science fiction, and, above all, the mainnotion, utopia. Some light is being shed on its genesis, its characteristicsand its functions.In the second chapter, the factors for its emergence, existence anddisappearance are presented, along with exhaustive typology of utopias.The tird and fourth chapter deals with formation of creativepersonalities of H. G. Wells and G. Kosteljnik.The following six chapters include the extracts through which Ithrow light on romanesque, narrative and discursive (essayistic,sociological, politicological, popular scientific and publicistic) artisticcreation of H. G. Wells, as well as poetic, narrative, dramatic anddiscursive (essayistic, theological, literary-critical, linguistic andpublicistic) artistic creation of G. Kosteljnik.The eleventh chapter is conclusion. It once again considers thenotion of utopia in general, and particularly in the works of the twoprotagonists of this thesis: H. G. Wells and G. Kosteljnik.