Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Worlds of fiction'
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1
Bell, Alice M. "The possible worlds of hypertext fiction." Thesis, University of Sheffield, 2006. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.434659.
2
Stump, Christina M. "Leaves From Other Worlds." Bowling Green State University / OhioLINK, 2020. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=bgsu158618674890876.
3
Mooney, Susan. "Drawing bridges : publicprivate worlds in Russian women's fiction." Thesis, McGill University, 1991. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=60561.
Abstract:
This thesis questions how Russian women's identity is attached to the textual use of public/private spaces in contemporary literature by Russian women writers by drawing from feminist theories. I. Grekova and N. Baranskaia portray female protagonists in their everyday lives, public and private worlds overlapping. While these heroines create stable support systems with other women, male figures enter as interruptive forces in women's lives. Hospital settings in several works by Russian women allow comparisons between women's fictional hospital experiences and those of Muscovite women interviewed. In L. Petrushevskaia's stories, women protagonists' identities are linked to the uncertain quality of locale and the tenuous relationships which transpire in it. Russian women's identity expressed in fiction may change as the self-perceptions of a younger generation of Russian women writers evolve toward a new, gendered concept of self.
4
Schaub, Danielle. "Fragmented worlds: narrative strategies in Mavis Gallant's short fiction." Doctoral thesis, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, 1994. http://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/212667.
5
Kneale, James Robert. "Lost in space? : readers' constructions of science fiction worlds." Thesis, University College London (University of London), 1996. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.309071.
6
Raghunath, Riyukta. "Alternative realities : counterfactual historical fiction and possible worlds theory." Thesis, Sheffield Hallam University, 2017. http://shura.shu.ac.uk/19154/.
Abstract:
The primary aim of my thesis is to offer a cognitive-narratological methodology with which to analyse counterfactual historical fiction. Counterfactual historical fiction is a genre that creates fictional worlds whose histories run contrary to the history of the actual world. I argue that Possible Worlds Theory is a suitable methodology with which to analyse this type of fiction because it is an ontologically centred theory that can be used to divide the worlds of a text into its various ontological domains and also explain their relation to the actual world. Ryan (1991) offers the most appropriate Possible Worlds framework with which to analyse any fiction. However, in its current form the theory does not sufficiently address the role of readers in its analysis of fiction. Given the close relationship between the actual world and the counterfactual world created by counterfactual historical fiction, I argue that a model to analyse such texts must go beyond categorising the worlds of texts by also theorising what readers do when they read this type of fiction. For this purpose, in my thesis I refine Ryan's Possible Worlds framework so that it can be used to more effectively analyse counterfactual historical fiction. In particular, I introduce an ontological domain which I am calling RK-worlds or reader knowledge worlds to label the domain that readers use to apprehend the counterfactual world presented by the text. I also offer two cognitive concepts – ontolological superimposition and reciprocal feedback – that support a Possible Worlds analysis of counterfactual historical fiction and model how readers process such fiction. In addition, I redefine counterpart theory, transworld identity, and essential properties to appropriately theorise the way readers make the epistemological link between a character and their corresponding actual world individual. The result is a fully fleshed out Possible Worlds model that addresses the reader's role by focusing on how they cognitively interact with the worlds built by counterfactual historical fiction. Finally, to demonstrate my model's dexterity, I apply it to three texts – Robert Harris' Fatherland (1992), Sarban's The Sound of his Horn (1952), and Stephen Fry's Making History (1996). I conclude that the Possible Worlds model that I have developed is rigorous and can be replicated to analyse all fiction in general and counterfactual historical fiction in particular.
7
Dillon, Amanda. "'Prism, mirror, lens' : metafiction and narrative worlds in science fiction." Thesis, University of East Anglia, 2011. https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/39033/.
8
Jessee, Sharon A. "A monotony of fine weather imagined worlds in contemporary American fiction /." Access abstract and link to full text, 1986. http://0-wwwlib.umi.com.library.utulsa.edu/dissertations/fullcit/8616607.
9
Chunjing, Liu. "Seeking identity between worlds: A study of selected Chinese American fiction." University of the Western Cape, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/11394/5176.
Abstract:
Magister Artium - MAThe literature of the Chinese diaspora in America is marked by a tension between ancestral Chinese traditional culture and the modernity of Western culture. This thesis explores diaspora theory, as elaborated by Stuart Hall, Homi Bhabha, Gabriel Sheffer and others to establish a framework for the analysis of key Chinese American literary works. Maxine Hong Kingston's seminal novel, The Woman Warrior (1975), will be analysed as an exemplary instance of diasporic identity, where the Chinese cultural heritage is reinterpreted and re-imagined from the point of view of an emancipated woman living in the West. A comparative analysis will be undertaken of Jade Snow Wong's The Fifth Chinese Daughter (1950) and Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club (1989) to identify links between the writers who have grappled with various forms of diasporic identity in their works. An important part of this analysis is the representation and adaptation of Chinese folklore and traditional tales in Chinese American literary works.
10
Garbutt, Ian. "Asperger's syndrome and fiction : autistic worlds and those who build them." Thesis, University of Stirling, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/1893/26133.
Abstract:
Do tangible, testable links exist between the autistic spectrum and creativity? How would such links work from the perspective of an author with Asperger's Syndrome? To what degree would autism mould the author's work, and how would it affect writing technique and style compared to neurotypical (non autistic spectrum authors)? Do these links provide a tangible advantage? Can an Asperger's author successfully engage a non-Asperger's readership? Has Asperger's become fashionable in fiction and if so what are the benefits/consequences? Can an “extraterrestrial stranded without an orientation manual”1 communicate ideas in a meaningful way to non-autistics? Asperger's Syndrome is a form of high functioning autism where those affected express a range of social, behavioural and perceptual traits which have no actual bearing on their level of intelligence. As an author with Asperger's my intention is to examine the degree to which my autism affects my writing technique and style compared to neurotypical (non autistic) creatives. Asperger's sufferers lack empathy and social skills, therefore creating situations a reader can empathise with is challenging. To an Asperger's other people are 'aliens'. If the characters and scenarios in my work are coloured by my difference, then it may be the difference itself which provides the hook for the reader. To what extent do Asperger's authors need to 'pretend to be normal' in order to engage a neurotypical reader, or to make their work generally marketable? Is there an argument that they shouldn't even try? With increasing diagnosis and better understanding of the autistic spectrum, the Asperger's limited but intense range of interests and ability to focus without human distraction might link in to creative excellence that has an appeal far beyond the boundaries of the autistic spectrum. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate whether claims of autistic links to creativity are more than heresay. I examine alleged positive evidence for these links, and see how this evidence ties in with my experience both as an Asperger's and an author, with particular regard to my decisions in crafting my novel The Ghost Land.
11
Bünger, Maja. "Janet Cardiff : Portholes into other Worlds." Thesis, Södertörn University College, The School of Culture and Communication, 2008. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-2068.
Abstract:
This essay is about the relationship between the spatial reality and the imaginary reality in the auditory artwork The Missing Voice (case study b) by Janet Cardiff. The analysis is based on a semiotic model that differentiate between two types of signifieds; a denotative signified and a connotative signified. Those terms, with focus on connotation, is used in relation to sound and linguistic signs in the auditory reality of the artwork.
The first chapter “Den okroppsliga rösten” discusses the relationship between the several voices of fiction and the spatial reality in The Missing Voice (case study b). There are four versions of the voice of cardiff and two other masculine voices that reach out, through the auditory reality, to the participant of the artwork. The participant throws therefore between the spatial reality and the reality of fiction.
The second chapter “Den akustiska upplevelsen” discusses what happens when the aucoustic reality is in and out of sync with the spatial reality in The Missing Voice (case study b). When the two soundscapes, the real and the auditory, synchronize it’s difficult for the participant to separate between reality and fiction. Those recorded sounds originate from the spatial reality and therefore connotes this reality. Sometimes Cardiff refers to sounds that are invisible in the spatial reality, the soundscapes are then not in sync with each other, but still the sounds are so close to the spatial reality that they feel real.
The last chapter “Det imaginära rummet” is about the meeting between the real spatiality and the imaginäry. On many occations in the artwork the voice of Cardiff transforms the real room to a room from the past. Then her words connotations reinforces the experience of the presence of the imaginäry room in the real room.
12
Wagner, Jill E. "New worlds lost domains as tranforming enclosures in selected fiction of John Fowles /." Instructions for remote access. Click here to access this electronic resource. Access available to Kutztown University faculty, staff, and students only, 2005. http://www.kutztown.edu/library/services/remote_access.asp.
Abstract:
Thesis (M.A. )--Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, 2005.Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2848. Typescript. Abstract precedes thesis as 2 leafs ( iii-iv ). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 233-237).
13
Ibrahim, Wesam. "Linguistic approaches to crossover fiction : towards an integrated approach to the analysis of text worlds in children's crossover fantasy fiction." Thesis, Lancaster University, 2011. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.684376.
14
Laurie, Henri De Guise. "Transferentiality :|bmapping the margins of postmodern fiction / H. de G. Laurie." Thesis, North-West University, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10394/9670.
Abstract:
This thesis starts from the observation that, while it is common for commentators to divide postmodern fiction into two general fields – one experimental and anti-mimetic, the other cautiously mimetic, there remains a fairly significant field of postmodern texts that use largely mimetic approaches but represent worlds that are categorically distinct from actuality. This third group is even more pronounced if popular culture and “commercial” fiction, in particular sf and fantasy, are taken into account. Additionally, the third category has the interesting characteristic that the texts within this group very often generate unusual loyalty among its fans.
Based on a renewed investigation of the main genre critics in postmodern fiction, the first chapter suggests a tripartite division of postmodern fiction, into formalist, metamimetic, and transreferetial texts. These are provisionally circumscribed by their reference worlds: formalist fiction attempts to derail its own capacity for presenting a world; metamimetic fiction presents mediated versions of worlds closely reminiscent of actuality; and transreferential fiction sets its narrative in worlds that are experienced as such, but are clearly distinct from actuality.
If transreferential fiction deals with alternate worlds, it also very often relies on the reader’s immersion in the fictional world to provide unique, often subversive, fictional experiences. This process can be identified as the exploration of the fictional world, and it is very often guided so as to be experienced as a virtual reality of sorts.
If transreferential texts are experienced as interactive in this sense, it is likely that they convey experiences and insights in ways different from either of the other two strands of postmodern fiction.
In order to investigate the interactive experience provided by these texts, an extended conceptual and analytical set is proposed, rooted primarily in Ricoeurian hermeutics and possible-worlds theory. These two main theoretical approaches approximately correspond to the temporal and the spatial dimensions of texts, respectively. Much of the power of these texts rooted in the care they take to guide the reader through their fictional worlds and the experiences offered by the narrative, often at the hand of fictioninternal ‘guides’.
These theoretical approaches are supplement by sf theoretical research and by Aleid Fokkema’s study of postmodern character.
Chapters 3, 4, and 5 apply the theoretical toolset to three paradigmatic transreferential texts: sf New Wave author M John Harrison’s Viriconium sequence; Gibson’s Sprawl trilogy; and Jeff Noon’s Vurt and Pollen, texts that have much in common with cyberpunk but which make much more extensive use of formalist techniques. Each chapter has a slightly different main focus, matching the text in question, respectively: aesthetic parameters and worldcreation strategies of transreferential fiction; close “guidance” of the reader and extrapolation; and virtual reality and identity games.
The final chapter presents the findings from the research conducted in the initial study. The findings stem from the central insight that transreferential texts deploy a powerful suit of mimetic strategies to maximise immersion, but simultaneously introduce a variety of interactive strategies. Transreferential fiction balances immersion against interactivity, often by selectively maximising the mimesis of some elements while allowing others to be presented through formalist strategies, which requires a reading mode that is simultaneously immersive and open to challenging propositions. A significant implication of this for critical studies – both literary and sf – is that the Barthesian formalist reading model is insufficient to deal with transreferential texts. Rather, texts like these demand a layered reading approach which facilitates immersion on a first reading and supplements it critically on a second.
The final chapter further considers how widely and in what forms the themes and strategies found in the preceding chapters recur in other texts from the proposed transreferential supergenre, including sf, magic realist and limitpostmodernist texts.Thesis (PhD (English))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.
15
Canepari-Labib, Michela. "Word-worlds : the refusal of realism and the critique of identity in the fiction of Christine Brooke-Rose." Thesis, University of Sussex, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.266448.
16
Schmidt, Marcus. "Creating Worlds: Fan Modifications of Civilization 4." Thesis, Örebro universitet, Akademin för humaniora, utbildning och samhällsvetenskap, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-75153.
Abstract:
The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between author, text and user-generated modifications in the context of the computer game Civilization 4. These relationships are studied in part by analyzing how the game mechanics have been modified, and in part through analyzing the communication taking place between players of Civilization 4 in the CivFanatics online forums. The study concludes that fans as creators are increasingly leaning on each other and their self-produced accumulated body of knowledge in the generation of new and further changes to the narrative universe, and that the original creators of the game have all but faded from view. This suggests that fan creativity is not situated against or directed at particular authors (original or otherwise), but a community effort quite independent from original intent.
17
Chapin, Elizabeth. "What Fantasy Can Do for Her: A Critical and Creative Exploration of Secondary and Fractured Worlds." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2015. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/1199.
Abstract:
In making a distinction between secondary and fractured worlds, we can begin to determine the possibilities that fantasy literature, as a wider subject, holds for female characters and for feminine themes. These two areas of fantasy represent very different possibilities for women and the feminine, as a result of their approaches towards the presentation of ideology and authority. These approaches find their root most clearly in the creation of a story’s place and time, a fact I will explore through the lens of Mikhail Bakhtin’s notion of the “chronotope.” For, though both high fantasy and the fantastic question the real, representing, as Rosemary Jackson writes, a “dissatisfaction with what ‘is,’” they undermine the structure of that reality to very different degrees, with one mode seeking out a stabilizing transcendence, while the other revels in an ambiguous immanence. The creative response to this critical exploration will both imaginatively reflect on and practically test the initial questions posed and arguments made, in an effort to more personally understand how each tradition does or does not make room for women and the feminine.
18
Jackson, Vivian Elaine. "New technology in education as viewed through the utopic and dystopic worlds of science fiction." Click here to access dissertation, 2007. http://www.georgiasouthern.edu/etd/archive/spring2007/vivian_e_jackson/jackson_vivian_e_200701_edd.pdf.
Abstract:
Thesis (Ed. D.)--Georgia Southern University, 2007."A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Georgia Southern University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Education." In Curriculum Studies, under the direction of John A. Weaver. ETD. Electronic version approved: May 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 386-402) and appendices.
19
Ibrahim, Wesam Mohamed Abdel-Khalek. "Towards an integrated approach to the analysis of text worlds in children's crossover fantasy fiction." Thesis, Lancaster University, 2010. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.547986.
20
Blackburn, Alison Carol. "Writing in Other People's Worlds: Two Students Repurposing Extracurricular Fan Fiction Writing to Fulfill Curricular Assignments." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2017. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/6394.
Abstract:
Through interviews and writing sample analysis of two secondary students who are fan fiction writers, this article examines the tensions between curricular writing and extracurricular fan fiction writing. This study finds students have rich extracurricular writing lives, and they repurpose familiar practices from fan fiction writing for the classroom. This study further discusses the role of genre in effective repurposing. This study argues students who develop genre awareness repurpose their extracurricular writing more effectively to fulfill curricular assignments.
21
Derek, Gingrich. "Unrecoverable Past and Uncertain Present: Speculative Drama’s Fictional Worlds and Nonclassical Scientific Thought." Thesis, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/31507.
Abstract:
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.
22
Lottiaux, Mathieu. "Herméneutique des mondes disjonctifs : le sacré et ses conséquences dans la fantasy et la science-fiction (1950-1989)." Electronic Thesis or Diss., Valenciennes, Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France, 2021. http://www.theses.fr/2021UPHF0051.
Abstract:
L’objectif de notre travail est de réunir, au sein d’une analyse commune, les récits de science-fiction et de fantasy, d’en comprendre les mécanismes transversaux et d’en proposer à la fois une relecture et une herméneutique. Pour cela, nous posons l’hypothèse, en nous appuyant sur les travaux de Mircea Eliade et Marc Angenot, que les récits de fantasy et de science-fiction sont des « histoires sacrées » soutenues par un deus otiosus au sein de mondes disjonctifs. La diégèse (le monde fictionnel) de ces récits inclut donc un sacré qui se manifeste (hiérophanies) différemment selon les récits, suivant la sensibilité (Roger Caillois) des personnages, malgré l’apparition de motifs récurrents (l’origine, la paternité, l’espace, la prédiction) et de figures fréquentes (l’apocalypse, la cosmogonie, le père, la mère, le paysage, la prophétie…) ce qui implique une organisation sociale du sacré (Hannah Arendt). A partir de là, nous observons les régulations (Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari ; Roger Caillois) du sacré dans la diégèse et les constantes et variables qui se dégagent au niveau du temps (Mircea Eliade ; Jean-Marie Grassin ; Jean-Paul Engélibert ; Niccholas Serruys), de l’espace (Anna Bugajska ; Roger Caillois ; Hannah Arendt) et de la justice (Roger Caillois ; Hélène Machinal ; Brian Attebery). L’espace diégétique apparait comme un composé de sacré et de profane qui nous permet l’observation de mécanismes transversaux à tous les récits. Notre dernière partie applique les constantes et les variables, issues de notre deuxième partie, articulées par le personnage et sa quête, à des ouvrages opposés par la critique afin de relire l’opposition de la science-fiction et de la fantasy et d’en proposer une relecture commune, dépassant les frontières génériques et temporelles. Les mondes disjonctifs alors des « histoires sacrées » dont les constantes et les variables, dans leur articulation, deviennent une métaphore sociale du sacréThe aim of our work is to understand, in a same analysis, the stories of science fiction and fantasy, to extract the transversal mechanisms and to propose, in a same time, a rereading and a hermeneutic. 333 We base our analysis on the hypothesis that the stories of science fiction and fantasy are “sacred stories” (Mircea Eliade) maintained, in the diegesis (fictional world), by a deus otiosus which is called by Marc Angenot, the absent paradigm. By mixing the works of Marc Angenot and Mircea Eliade, we propose the assumption that the diegesis contains a sacred that emerges (hierophanies) by many ways, and depends on the sensibility of the characters (Roger Caillois). However, we can observe recurrent frames (the origin, the paternity, the space, the prediction) and repetitive figures (the apocalypse, the cosmogony, the father, the mother, the landscape, the prophecy, etc.) that imply a social organization of the sacred (Hannah Arendt). In our second part, we observe the fluctuations (Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari ; Roger Caillois) of the sacred in the diegesis and we extract the constants and the variables about the time (Mircea Eliade ; Jean-Marie Grassin ; Jean-Paul Engélibert ; Niccholas Serruys), the space (Anna Bugajska ; Roger Caillois ; Hannah Arendt) and the justice (Roger Caillois ; Hélène Machinal ; Brian Attebery). So, the diegetic space is made up by sacred and profane which allows us to observe transversal mechanisms in the stories. Our last part, we apply the constants and the variables extracted from the second part and centred around the main character and his quest. We chose productions opposed by the critics to reread the division between the science fiction and the fantasy and to propose a new and common perspective, beyond the generic and temporal borders. So the disjunctive worlds appear like “sacred stories” with variables and constants that are a social metaphor of the sacred
23
Tabib, Claudia. "Samtalets betydelse i högläsningen : En kvalitativ studie om hur lärare i årskurs 4–6 hjälper elever att bygga föreställningsvärldar med hjälp av samtal om skönlitteratur i samband med högläsning i svenskundervisningen." Thesis, Södertörns högskola, Lärarutbildningen, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:sh:diva-44508.
Abstract:
This study aimed to investigate how some teachers talk to students in grade 4-6 about fiction, more specifically, how the teachers in their reading aloud teaching enable students to develop imaginary worlds through conversation. The material was analyzed based on Langer’s (2005) theory about imaginary worlds. Two questions were formulated to answer the study’s aim: How do some teachers plan their conversations about fiction in reading aloud teaching? Moreover, how do teachers’ conversations about fiction vary in reading aloud teaching? The results showed that all teachers plan their conversations about fiction in the reading aloud teaching in different ways. Three of the teachers plan their conversations by reading the fictionin advance to get acquainted with the story and the characters. One teacher plans her conversations about fiction after reading aloud. The result also showed that all teachers vary their conversations about fiction in reading aloudin different ways, such as text extracts from chapters, work with illustrations, book conversations, and keeping the book secret from the students so that they can imagine what the characters and the environment can look like. Finally, the result showed that through the teachers’ conversations, the students were given opportunities to build imaginary worlds and an increased understanding of the text.
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Arauz, Valéria Angélica Ribeiro. "Indivisíveis, intangíveis, impossíveis : mundos ficcionais em I nostri antenati, de Italo Calvino /." Araraquara : [s.n.], 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/11449/102374.
Abstract:
Orientador: Maria Lúcia Outeiro FernandesBanca: Adriana Iozzi Klein
Banca: Maria Gloria Cusumano Mazzi
Banca: Rejane Cristina Rocha
Banca: Hilário Antonio Amaral
Resumo: Este trabalho tem como objetivo empreender uma análise sobre a construção dos mundos ficcionais da trilogia I nostri antenati, composta pelos romances Il visconte dimezzato (1952), Il barone rampante (1957) e Il cavaliere inesistente (1959) de Italo Calvino, considerando esses romances como um marco para as escolhas estéticas que acompanhariam esse autor por toda a sua produção ao longo do século XX. Essa leitura está apoiada em três pontos, ou seja, a atuação discursiva de cada um dos narradores; o diálogo estabelecido entre os romances e outros textos literários; e o lugar dessas três narrativas no contexto da produção de Calvino. As três personagens singulares que povoam esses mundos são: um visconde simetricamente dividido, o qual passa a viver entre opostos inclusive no seu trato com a linguagem; um jovem barão, que de cima das copas das árvores acompanha e participa dos destinos da humanidade e até mesmo das mudanças no campo da literatura no final do século XVIII; e um cavaleiro que, apesar de ser o melhor dentre os paladinos do exército francês não é nada além de uma armadura vazia, sustentada por um conjunto de regras e instituições presentes no imaginário das novelas de cavalaria. Assim, as narrativas se propõem a tratar dos antepassados do homem contemporâneo, questionando as posturas positivistas e racionalistas do período conhecido como modernidade, além de serem textos cujos narradores se percebem como elementos de mundos ficcionais singulares e refletem sobre o ato de narrar. Considera-se ainda fundamental o papel do leitor como co-construtor de sentido, responsável enquanto instância discursiva pela existência de uma série infinita de interpretações iniciada pela leitura. Finalmente, entende-se que esses três romances pertencem ao início de uma mudança na escritura de Calvino, que passa a oferecer uma discussão sobre o lugar do homem... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo)
Abstract: This work has the aim of making an analysis of the construction of the fictional worlds of I nostri antenati trilogy, comprised by Italo Calvino's novels Il visconte dimezzato (1952), Il barone rampante (1957) and Il cavaliere inesistente (1959). It considers those novels as a landmark to the aesthetic choices that would follow the author along his work during the 20th century. This reading is supported by three points, which are the discourse of each narrator; the dialogue established between the novels and some other literary texts; and the position of these three novels in the context of Calvino's works. The three singular characters who inhabit these worlds are a symmetrically divided viscount, who starts to live between oppositions, including his way of dealing with language; an young baron, who is on the top of the trees and who follows and participates in the destiny of mankind and even in the changes on literary issues at the end of the 18th century; and a knight who, though he is the best among French army paladins, is nothing beside an empty piece of armor, supported by a framework of rules and institutions that is related to the cavalry novels imaginary. Thus, these narratives propose to discuss the ancestors of contemporary men, by questioning the positivist and rationalist positions of the period known as modernity, moreover they are texts whose narrators see themselves as some singular fictional world components and they reflect about the narrative act itself. We also consider fundamental the rule of the reader as a meaning cobuilder, a discursive instance who is responsible for the existence of an infinite series of interpretations, started on the reading act. We finally understand these three novels as inserted in the beginning of the changing in Calvino's writing, when he starts to discuss the place of mankind in the face of the challenges presented to it after... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)
Doutor
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Arauz, Valéria Angélica Ribeiro [UNESP]. "Indivisíveis, intangíveis, impossíveis: mundos ficcionais em I nostri antenati, de Italo Calvino." Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/11449/102374.
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Este trabalho tem como objetivo empreender uma análise sobre a construção dos mundos ficcionais da trilogia I nostri antenati, composta pelos romances Il visconte dimezzato (1952), Il barone rampante (1957) e Il cavaliere inesistente (1959) de Italo Calvino, considerando esses romances como um marco para as escolhas estéticas que acompanhariam esse autor por toda a sua produção ao longo do século XX. Essa leitura está apoiada em três pontos, ou seja, a atuação discursiva de cada um dos narradores; o diálogo estabelecido entre os romances e outros textos literários; e o lugar dessas três narrativas no contexto da produção de Calvino. As três personagens singulares que povoam esses mundos são: um visconde simetricamente dividido, o qual passa a viver entre opostos inclusive no seu trato com a linguagem; um jovem barão, que de cima das copas das árvores acompanha e participa dos destinos da humanidade e até mesmo das mudanças no campo da literatura no final do século XVIII; e um cavaleiro que, apesar de ser o melhor dentre os paladinos do exército francês não é nada além de uma armadura vazia, sustentada por um conjunto de regras e instituições presentes no imaginário das novelas de cavalaria. Assim, as narrativas se propõem a tratar dos antepassados do homem contemporâneo, questionando as posturas positivistas e racionalistas do período conhecido como modernidade, além de serem textos cujos narradores se percebem como elementos de mundos ficcionais singulares e refletem sobre o ato de narrar. Considera-se ainda fundamental o papel do leitor como co-construtor de sentido, responsável enquanto instância discursiva pela existência de uma série infinita de interpretações iniciada pela leitura. Finalmente, entende-se que esses três romances pertencem ao início de uma mudança na escritura de Calvino, que passa a oferecer uma discussão sobre o lugar do homem...
This work has the aim of making an analysis of the construction of the fictional worlds of I nostri antenati trilogy, comprised by Italo Calvino’s novels Il visconte dimezzato (1952), Il barone rampante (1957) and Il cavaliere inesistente (1959). It considers those novels as a landmark to the aesthetic choices that would follow the author along his work during the 20th century. This reading is supported by three points, which are the discourse of each narrator; the dialogue established between the novels and some other literary texts; and the position of these three novels in the context of Calvino’s works. The three singular characters who inhabit these worlds are a symmetrically divided viscount, who starts to live between oppositions, including his way of dealing with language; an young baron, who is on the top of the trees and who follows and participates in the destiny of mankind and even in the changes on literary issues at the end of the 18th century; and a knight who, though he is the best among French army paladins, is nothing beside an empty piece of armor, supported by a framework of rules and institutions that is related to the cavalry novels imaginary. Thus, these narratives propose to discuss the ancestors of contemporary men, by questioning the positivist and rationalist positions of the period known as modernity, moreover they are texts whose narrators see themselves as some singular fictional world components and they reflect about the narrative act itself. We also consider fundamental the rule of the reader as a meaning cobuilder, a discursive instance who is responsible for the existence of an infinite series of interpretations, started on the reading act. We finally understand these three novels as inserted in the beginning of the changing in Calvino’s writing, when he starts to discuss the place of mankind in the face of the challenges presented to it after... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)
26
Tokdemir, Gokce. "Worlds Subverted: A Generic Analysis Of The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, The Subtle Knife, And Harry Potter And The Philosopher." Master's thesis, METU, 2008. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/3/12609698/index.pdf.
Abstract:
This dissertation aims to study three very important works in English children&rsquos fiction: C. S. Lewis&rsquo
s The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Philip Pullman&rsquo
s The Subtle Knife, the second book of his trilogy His Dark Materials, and J. K. Rowling&rsquo
s Harry Potter and the Philosopher&rsquo
s Stone. The novels will be analyzed in terms of their approaches toward the conventions of fairy tale, fantasy and romance
to this end, the novels are to be evaluated in relation to their concept of chronotope, and the quest of good versus evil. While the secondary world or multiple worlds presented are going to be analyzed in terms of their perception of time and space along with the presentation of the supernatural elements, the characters will be evaluated in terms of the common classification good versus evil. The main argument of this study concentrates on the gradual estrangement from the crystal clear distinctions of the fairy tale genre to a more shadowy, pessimistic, and ambivalent vision of the fantastic in the children&rsquo
s literature.
27
Hultqvist, Kristian. "Den gröne mannens börda : Kolonial plikt i H G Wells The War of the Worlds." Thesis, Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för kultur och estetik, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-196217.
Abstract:
In 1898, H G Wells published The War of the Worlds, a scathing indictment of colonialism from the perspective of the colonized. The following year, Rudyard Kipling penned The White Man’s Burden, describing colonial conquest as driven by duty, for the sake of the subjugated. They shared a vantage point from the literary pedestal of fin-de-siècle London, but what they saw was very different. The War of the Worlds can be read as an allegory of colonialism where the tables are turned and the colonial masters are suddenly exposed to a ruthless and technologically superior power. What can be inferred about the Martians’ motives? Can they be perceived as driven by duty, by wishing to take care of or serve their captives’ needs? With the information provided in the The War of the Worlds, could a Martian Kipling write “The Green Man’s Burden” to motivate the invasion of the Earth? Using postcolonial tools of analysis, this essay digs into the britishness of Wells’ colonizers and colonized, as well as into the britishness of Wells’ own perspective. Some postcolonial theorists argue that representatives of the colonial powers cannot represent the subjugated. Does his background and nationality disqualify Wells to describe the effects of colonialism? I argue that it does not. Staying in the social space of the West helped Wells erode the ideology of colonialism by tailoring it to be received and understood by his target audience, his contemporary countrymen.
28
Rosén, Eriksson Ellinor. "Elever och lärares resonemang kring läsning av skönlitteratur. : Redogörelse över hur läsning av skönlitteratur i klassrummet påverkas av lokala faktorer, regler och strategier." Thesis, Karlstads universitet, Institutionen för språk, litteratur och interkultur (from 2013), 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-68361.
Abstract:
Syftet med denna studie är att undersöka vilka faktorer som påverkar elevers intresse och lust till att läsa skönlitteratur och vilka strategier som används för att motivera till läsning. För att möjliggöra denna studie intervjuas femton elever i en klass fem och deras tre lärare genom en metod som kallas fokusgrupper. Fokusgrupper är en kvalitativ intervjumetod som grundar sig helt på deltagarnas personliga upplevelser och åsikter. Deltagare i fokusgrupper får i förhand information om vad som skall diskuteras vid intervjutillfället. Det är deltagarnas diskussioner och resonemang som sedan analyseras och används som data till examensarbetet. Resultatet av studien visar att deltagarnas läsning av skönlitteratur präglas av en rad olika faktorer som skall gynna läsningen. Den främsta och viktigaste faktorn för att gynna den skönlitterära läsningen är valet av skönlitterär bok, den skall helst vara tilltalande och spännande.The aim of this study is to investigate which factors that affect students interest and desire to read fiction and what strategies are used to motivate reading. In order to enable this study, fifteen students are interviewed in class five and their three teachers through a method called focus groups. Focus groups are an interview method that takes place in the participens per- sonal experiences and opinions. Participants in focus groups receive prior information about what should be discussed before and at the interview session. It is the participants discussions and reasoning that are important and then analysed and used as data for the exam project. The results of the study show that the participants reading of fiction is characterized by a variety of factors that should benefit from reading. The primary and most important factor for favouring the literary reading is the choice of fiction literature, it should preferably be appealing and exciting.
29
Andolfatto, Lorenzo. "Paper worlds : the chinese utopian novel at the beginning of the twentieth century, 1902-1910." Thesis, Lyon 3, 2015. http://www.theses.fr/2015LYO30033.
Abstract:
A travers cette recherche, nous souhaitons identifier et définir le genre duroman utopique de la fin des Qing via la lecture attentive d'une sélection deromans chinois écrits entre 1902 et 1910. A partir de l'analyse de romans telsque Xin Zhongguo weilai ji de Liang Qichao (1902 ), Shizi hou de Chen Tianhua(1905), Xin shitou ji de Wu Jianren (1908) et Xin Zhongguo de Lu Shi'e(1910), nous pensons qu'un tel genre littéraire puisse être considéré à la foiscomme un produit particulier du climat de fragmentation socio-historique quicaractérise la période de la fin des Qing, et comme un prisme utile à sacompréhension. La structure de cette thèse est celle d'un itinéraire critique àtravers l’imaginaire utopique chinois moderne. Cet itinéraire est débuté par latraduction de l’histoire courte Xinnian Meng, écrite par Cai Yuanpei en 1905. Lecorps de cette recherche est divisé en cinq chapitres: dans le premier, lalégitimité de la catégorie générique de "wutuobang xiaoshuo" comme outilcritique valable est questionnee; le deuxième chapitre concerne les deuxromans inachevés de Liang Qichao et Chen Tianhua, dont l'étatd’«incomplétude» est utilisé comme métaphore pour la compréhension de laconstruction utopique; le troisième chapitre touche à la relation entre le romanutopique de la fin des Qing et ses modèles étrangers; enfin, dans les deuxderniers chapitres, les éléments critiques développés dans les sectionsprécédentes de la thèse sont appliqués à la lecture attentive de Xin shitou ji deWu Jianren et de Xin Zhongguo de Lu Shi'e, deux des romans les plusintéressants écrits durant cette périodeWith this research it is our intention to identify and define the genre of the lateQing utopian novel from the close reading of a selection of Chinese novelswritten between 1902 and 1910. With the analysis of novels such as LiangQichao's Xin Zhongguo weilai ji (1902), Chen Tianhua's Shizi hou (1905), WuJianren's Xin shitou ji (1908) and Lu Shi'e's Xin Zhongguo (1910), we believethat such a literary genre can be considered both as a peculiar product of theclimate of socio-historical fragmentation that characterises the late Qingperiod, and as a useful lens for its understanding. The structure of this thesis isthat of a critical itinerary within the Chinese modern utopian imaginary. Thisitinerary is introduced by the translation of the short story Xinnian meng,written by Cai Yuanpei in 1905. The body of this research is divided into fivechapters: in the first one, the legitimacy of the generic category of “wutuobangxiaoshuo” as a viable critical tool is put under question; the second chapterconcerns the two unfinished novels by Liang Qichao and Chen Tianhua, whosecondition of “incompleteness” is adopted as metaphor for the understanding ofthe utopian construct; the third chapter concerns the relation between the lateQing utopian novel and its foreign models; while in the last two chapters, thecritical framework developed in previous sections of the thesis is applied to theclose reading of Wu Jianren's Xin shitou ji and Lu Shi'e's Xin Zhongguo, two ofthe most interesting novels written in this period
30
Bauer, Jessica, Theresia Ertmer, and Josefin Kühn. "Medienpädagogische Analyse des Films „In This World“." Technische Universität Dresden, 2018. https://tud.qucosa.de/id/qucosa%3A31429.
Abstract:
Im Rahmen des leitenden Themas „Kinder auf der Flucht“ soll der Film „In This World“ als ein geeignetes Medium dienen, eine Filmanalyse unter Betrachtung medienpädagogischer Mittel vorzunehmen. Die mehrfach prämierte Semi-Dokumentation vermag die Realität unserer politischen Welt so mit Fiktion und Inszenierung zu verbinden, dass eine klare Trennung vom Zuschauer nicht mehr eindeutig auszumachen ist. Die dadurch überzeugende Darstellung der globalen Wirklichkeit bezieht sich auf eine Problematik, die trotz gesellschaftlicher Kritik oft unausgesprochen bleibt: vom Krieg und dessen Folgen, die in erster Linie die Unschuldigen oder Unbeteiligten solcher Auseinandersetzungen betreffen.
31
Cristofari, Cécile. "Cosmogonies imaginaires : les mondes secondaires dans la science-fiction et la fantasy anglophones, de 1929 à nos jours." Thesis, Aix-Marseille, 2013. http://www.theses.fr/2013AIXM3030.
Abstract:
J'ai voulu étudier un phénomène qui sous-tend l'écriture de la littérature spéculative (science-fiction et fantasy) aujourd'hui : la création d'un « monde secondaire », selon l'expression de J.R.R. Tolkien. Deux problèmes se posaient de prime abord. Premièrement, l'ensemble culturel et éditorial que recouvre l'expression « littérature spéculative » est relativement flou, du fait des problèmes de délimitation des genres et de la problématique culturelle plus générale (la littérature spéculative est-elle définie par des motifs littéraires, ou par l'appareil culturel qui l'entoure ?). Deuxièmement, un « monde secondaire » est-il uniquement un univers inventé entièrement différent ou détaché du monde réel, ou peut-il recouper le monde réel, etc. ? La littérature spéculative étant un genre foisonnant et en pleine évolution, j'ai pris le parti de ne pas donner de réponses définitives. Plutôt que de tenter de tracer des frontières, j'ai cherché à mettre en évidence les différents éléments dont se constituent les mondes secondaires : les traditions du genre sur lesquels les auteurs s'appuient pour transmettre la vision d'un univers original à leurs lecteurs, entre mise en avant de l'originalité et utilisation d'éléments connus comme soubassement, ainsi que la vision particulière de l'histoire, de la géographie et de la place de l'humanité dans le monde que les auteurs développent. Cette réflexion se veut située à la fois en amont et en aval de l'acte d'écriture. Elle se conclut sur les questions qui se posent aux auteurs contemporains : questions de renouvellement du genre, ou d'ouverture sur les autres médias, en particulier ceux que pratiquent les amateursI endeavoured to study a phenomenon underlying contemporary speculative fiction (science fiction and fantasy): the creation of a ‘secondary world', to use J.R.R. Tolkien's phrasing. I had to solve two preliminary problems. First, the cultural and economic phenomenon that speculative fiction represents has a blurry outline, questions regarding genre delimitation and wider cultural problems (is speculative fiction defined only by a number of literary patterns, or by the whole cultural apparatus that goes with it?) being difficult to answer. Secondly, does the notion secondary worlds only apply to invented worlds that are entirely different or detached from the real world, or can it be applied to texts that take place at least partly in the real world, etc.? Speculative fiction being a diverse genre that has been steadily evolving for years, I have chosen to avoid giving definitive answers to those questions. Instead of looking for boundaries, I have tried to emphasise the various building blocks of secondary worlds in speculative fiction: the traditions of the genre authors rely on to convey their view of an original universe to their readers, in a dialogue between known elements used as a foundation and the idiosyncratic view of history, geography and the place of mankind in the particular secondary world developed by the author. In an attempt to open this study to the contemporary practice of world-building, I have concluded with the questions that speculative fiction authors face today: how to renew the tropes of the genre, how speculative fiction pervades other media, in particular the practices of fans
32
Romagnoli, Bethonico Marina. "IMAGE-FICTION, IMAGE-ACTION. Mise en jeu de la photographie contemporaine entre théorie des mondes possibles et théorie des actes d’image." Thesis, Paris 3, 2019. http://www.theses.fr/2019PA030034.
Abstract:
Cette recherche porte sur la possibilité d’une application des théories des mondes possibles aux arts visuels. Une introduction à cet univers théorique est d’abord présentée, à partir des textes fondateurs, ainsi que son application dans les études littéraires, jusqu’au contexte des arts visuels. Une introduction aux théories des actes de langage est également réalisée, pour arriver au champ des actes d’image. À travers un corpus hétérogène, composé de photographies contemporaines produites par des artistes de diverses nationalités, les catégories d’image-fiction et d’image-action sont développées, articulant une théorie des mondes possibles visuels. La dynamique existante entre l’image, l’artiste et le spectateur, déclenchée par ces deux types d’image, est ensuite analysée par le biais de la théorie des actes d’image. À partir d’une méthode de recherche théorique et imagétique basée sur la pensée complexe, on explore l'idée d'une transmission des "manières de faire monde", qui émerge d'une image-fiction active proposant un jeu d’image. L'hypothèse travaillée est que l’acte d’auto-dénonciation de l’image-fiction permet au spectateur de trouver des pistes de la manipulation de l’image, instaurées par le "fingere" de l’artiste. Finalement, l’image-fiction – produite, manipulée – fait acte de simulation d’un fragment de monde possible au moment où elle présente d’autres versions pour le monde des phénomènes, pour l’histoire et pour les individus. Ainsi, elle ouvre des voies de la fiction vers l’action, invitant le spectateur à la construction de nouveaux contextes collectifs dans l’actualitéThis research focuses on the possibility of applying the theories of possible worlds to the visual arts. First, an introduction to this theoretical universe is presented, starting from its foundational texts, as well as its application in literary studies, to the context of the visual arts. An introduction to speech act theories is also provided, in order to arrive at the field of image acts. Through a heterogeneous corpus, composed of contemporary photographs produced by artists of various nationalities, the categories of image-fiction and image-action are developed, articulating a theory of visual possible worlds. The dynamics between the image, the artist and the viewer, triggered by these two types of images, are then analyzed through the theory of image acts. Starting from a theoretical and image-based research method founded on complex thought, we explore the idea of a transmission of "ways of worldmaking", which emerges from an active image-fiction proposing an image play. The hypothesis worked on is that the act of self-denunciation of the image-fiction allows the viewer to find trails of the image’s manipulation, initiated by the artist's "fingere". Finally, the image-fiction – produced, manipulated – enacts a simulation of a fragment of a possible world as it presents other versions for the world of phenomena, for history and individuals. In this way, it opens up paths from fiction towards action, inviting the viewer to construct new collective contexts in the present
33
Imber, Thomas. "Poétique des mondes mythographiques : essai sur la bande dessinée de science-fiction et ses super-héros." Paris 3, 2007. http://www.theses.fr/2007PA030143.
Abstract:
Cette étude de la littérature transautoriale (récits traités par plusieurs auteurs), notamment la mythologie gréco-romaine et les comics américains de super-héros, est centrée autour des mondes fictionnels. L’étude comporte une analyse des structures et des contraintes narratives spécifiques aux œuvres traitant de récits ou de personnages hérités d’un auteur antérieur, et de la tendance à remplir le temps mytho-historique d’une tradition. Des questions de temporalité, séquentialité, et simultanéité sont abordées. Le rôle que joue la relation entre un monde fictif et le monde empirique dans la définition des genres est mis à l’étude, ainsi que les concepts de mondes parallèles et de divergence historique. Les trois principales littératures étudiées — la mythologie antique, la science-fiction et les comics de super-héros — sont par ailleurs mises dans leur perspective historiqueThis study of transauthorial literature (stories which are treated by more than one author (namely, Greek and Roman mythology and American super-hero comics) focuses on fictional worlds. It analyzes both the reception of established myth, determining the narrative structures and constraints which arise from the use of pre-existing fictional worlds and characters, and the tendancy towards the completeness of the ‘mythico-historic’ time of a given tradition. Questions of temporality, sequentiality, and simultaneity are addressed. There is an examination of the relation between a fictional world and the empirical world in determining genres, and the ideas of parallel worlds and historical divergence are examined as well. Historical perspectives of the three primary literatures studied (ancient mythology, science fiction, and superhero comics) are offered
34
Singh, Ravinder Sher. "Journey to another world in the works of Nirmal Verma /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/11097.
35
Lopez, Miguel Anthony. "New World Massive." PDXScholar, 2017. https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds/3675.
Abstract:
A New World, At Last is set on a distant colony world, many thousands of years into the future.
The path there has not been direct or bloodless. The humans who colonized this New World are the descendants of an Earth that has suffered cataclysmic climate change, collapse, and a subsequent millennia-long reconstruction. They stand on the shoulders of giants, uncovering and exploiting the technology of the Old Earth in order to ensure that such a collapse, once discovered, can never happen again. These new people, Colonials, set about making the New World in the image of their own.
A scant hundred years after they settle the world, the Ecumene arrive.
The Ecumene are humans as well, our own descendants, refugees who packed onto massive, life-sustaining generation ships that left Old Earth, burning a slow and steady path towards distant, potentially habitable worlds. The journey for the Ecumene took nearly a thousand years; in this time, a cult of destiny and destination fomented aboard a ship they began to see as their ark. They follow The Path, the way to the promised land of the New World, known to their distant ancestors as their ultimate destination.
Due to the realities of space travel, time passed differently for the Ecumene than it did for the Colonials. What was a thousand year journey on the ship translates to a more than six thousand year period of time back on Earth. The massive gulf in time and experience makes for a difficult reunion between these two disparate relatives.
Tensions arise as the Colonial Administration attempts to process these sudden arrivals and to integrate them into their system to prevent a complete collapse of their nascent biome. They hold the revelatory memory of a world subjected to poor stewardship and shy away from continuing down that path again. They see themselves as outnumbered and unfairly burdened, the sudden caretakers of a vast population of the children of the humans who sent the Old Earth into a long, terrible dark age.
The bulk of A New World, At Last takes place thirty years after the arrival of the Ecumene ark, the Armstrong. A New World, At Last follows Edison Moss, the young son of a Colonial farmer ("agrineer"). Ed has recently discovered that he was adopted illegally; he is undocumented, from an unwanted class. In an act of rebellion, he leaves home on a quest of discovery, only to find that the answers he gets are not necessarily the answers to the questions he wanted to ask. His decade-long journey takes him from the heart of the colony to the frontier; along the way he befriends an agent of the Ecumene's more violent resistant group and becomes a participant in the movement.
A New World, At Last also follows the story of an artist contemporary with Ed's time. Victor James Custodio, famous sculptor and crafter of prosthetic bodies for the rulers of Earth, flees to the New World in a quest to outrun a fate that has been chasing him through all of his lives. Victor's story parallels Ed's in a sense as both are, ultimately, pilgrimages; attempts to ask and have answered that ultimate question: who am I, where do I belong, and what do I do about it?
36
Blázquez, José M. "Participatory worlds : audience participation in fictional worlds." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2018. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/53599/.
Abstract:
Consumer participation in the production of information, knowledge and culture has become increasingly popular in the last three decades. Although these participatory practices have been successfully incorporated into business models in many sectors, media and entertainment industries are still quite reluctant to invite audiences to create canonical content for their storyworlds. Media conglomerates hold a firm grip over their intellectual property and only allow selected parties to participate in the production of official content for their franchises. In contrast, participatory worlds are fictional worlds which allow audiences to contribute with canonical additions to their expansion. In participatory worlds, audience members are welcome to contribute to the content production chain and/or decision-making processes, having the chance to become contributors and co-authors of the texts. This thesis critically examines participatory worlds with the aim of understanding what they are and how they operate within the industrial context. This research introduces two models of participatory worlds, the ‘sandpit’ and ‘spin-off’ models, based on the location and medium where audience participation takes place, primary or ancillary works, and uses one case study to illustrate each of these: the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) Lord of the Craft (2011- ) and Grantville Gazette (2003- ), an e-zine rooted in the 1632 Universe. These case studies are compared with commodities produced and systems employed by media conglomerates in the management and canonical expansion of their fictional worlds in order to establish similarities and differences among them and determine where participatory worlds stand in respect to the media and entertainment industries. The concept of ‘intervention’ is introduced to define the capabilities that audience members are given to contribute canonically and make an impact in a storyworld. This thesis explores the factors which determine the degree of ‘intervention’ given to participants in participatory worlds by examining two further case studies, the web drama Beckinfield (2010-2013) and the TV show Bar Karma (2011), in addition to the aforementioned. The comparison of the four case studies reveals different approaches to audience participation within these practices.
37
Boyne, Martin R. "Rebuilding words, constructing worlds : a stylistic analysis of lexical and syntactic creativity and their role in fictional-world creation in Russell Hoban's Riddley Walker." Thesis, Lancaster University, 2012. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.655730.
Abstract:
Russell Hoban's 1980 novel Riddley Walker is most obviously characterised by distinctive orthography, yet it also contains a high degree of lexical and syntactic creativity. This study explores the nature and extent of that creativity, illustrating that, while much of the novel is written in standard English, in the area of the lexicon there is a range of neologisms, including derivations, original coinages, and reanalysed forms; in the area of syntax, the novel contains a number of standard and nonstandard sentence types, with several participial and verbless sentences and many instances of parataxis. The principal contention of this thesis is that the combined effects of lexical and syntactic creativity help to project a fictional world that relies heavily on eroded and subsequently restructured forms of standard English, as well as being influenced by spoken language to a greater extent than by written. A range of theoretical and methodological approaches in stylistics is employed to analyse and explain the language of the novel. In addition to traditional methods of analysing fiction, the study uses corpus methods to generate hypotheses and substantiate findings, supported throughout by collocational analysis. The theoretical core of the study is located in cognitive stylistics: deictic shift theory, schema theory, conceptual blending, contextual frame theory, and fictional-world theory more broadly are all assessed in order to determine how appropriate they are for an analysis of the role of the novel's language in projecting the fictional world. The study proposes a model of dual-world lexical reference to explain how reanalysed lexical forms place readers between the actual world and the world of the text when interpreting such forms. While syntax cannot be analysed using the same framework, the findings in the lexicon are extended to syntax to show that the two types of creativity are mutually reinforcing. Ultimately, readers construct the fictional world through negotiating meaning on both the lexical and the syntactic levels by means of the linguistic distinctiveness of the novel.
38
Dreshfield, Anne C. ""All are finally fictions": Fan Fiction as Creative Empowerment Through the Re-Writing of "Reality"." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2013. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/237.
Abstract:
This paper examines online fan fiction communities as spaces for identity formation, collaborative creativity, and fan empowerment. Drawing on case studies of a LiveJournal fan fiction community, fan-written essays, possible world theory, and postmodern theories of the hyperreal and simulacrum, this paper argues that writing fan fiction is a definitive, postmodern act that explores the mutable boundaries of reality and fiction. It concludes that fans are no longer passive consumers of popular media—rather, they are engaged, powerful participants in the creation of celebrity representation that can, ultimately, alter reality.
39
Hensley, Martin. "The Green World of Dystopian Fiction." TopSCHOLAR®, 2006. http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/276.
Abstract:
Northrop Frye was the first theorist to develop the green world archetype; Frye used the term to refer to a recurring motif in Shakespearean comedy. In several of Shakespeare's comedies, the protagonists leave the civilized world and venture into the green world, or nature, to escape from the irrational law of society, which is the case in such comedies as As You Like It and A Midsummer Night's Dream. Elements of the green world can also be found in Shakespearean tragedy, where the natural retreat serves as a temporary escape for the protagonists. Such a green world exists in three of the most well known examples of dystopian fiction: George Orwell's 1984, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, and Yevgeny Zamyatin's We. In these three novels, the protagonists take flight from the repressive dystopia and journey into nature. In the green world, the protagonists attain individual freedom and identity and experience emotions, passions, beauty, the past, and the power of language. Each of these elements, which are associated with the green world, stand in opposition to the dystopian society's doctrine. The green world, then, becomes an escape, a place where the protagonists can temporarily live a free life away from the tyrannical powers of the dystopic society. The dystopian green world experience follows a pattern of flight, immersion, and departure. In the first segment, the protagonists flee from the oppressive society and into nature; in the second, they immerse themselves within the green world where they experience new sensations, emotions, and gain new insights and understanding; in the third, the protagonists depart the green world and return to the civilized world in order to confront it with the knowledge they have gained while immersed in the green world. This pattern can also be viewed as a symbolic cycle that moves from death to rebirth to death. The first death is the death-like stasis of the dystopia and of the protagonist, who is just a part of the whole and not truly an individual. The symbolic rebirth conies when the protagonists depart the green world as individuals with new know ledge and experiences. Lastly, the second symbolic, or sometimes literal death, comes when the protagonists confront the dystopia with their new knowledge, have that knowledge challenged by an agent of the dystopia, usually in the form of a trial, and, finally, are symbolically or literally destroyed by the dystopian agent.
40
Maynes-Aminzade, Elizabeth. "Macrorealism: Fiction for a Networked World." Thesis, Harvard University, 2013. http://dissertations.umi.com/gsas.harvard:11157.
Abstract:
Victorian novels were, generally speaking, big. But what forms did their bigness take? Why did a "macro" aesthetic prevail in the mid-nineteenth century? And why, after losing influence in the following century, has it returned in recent years? This dissertation identifies three distinct features - one spatial, one temporal, one intellectual - crucial to that aesthetic. Moreover, it explains why that kind of fiction, which I call macrorealism, has come into fashion at two different historical moments.
41
Herzing, Melissa Jean. "The Internet World of Fan Fiction." VCU Scholars Compass, 2005. http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/1046.
Abstract:
Fan fiction, the most popular creative outlet for fans, allows the amateur writer an opportunity to be published and receive immediate feedback from peers. As educators, we can learn from the fan communities as they participate in online activities, especially fan fiction. Students are more likely to embrace entertaining and creative assignments. And since much of the world is linked to the Internet in one way or another, we can allow students an opportunity to not only improve their writing skills, but also enhance their knowledge of the Internet and its capabilities. My study included online interviews with fan fiction writers and readers as well as the examination of fan fiction texts and websites. By exploring this relatively unknown genre of writing and reading, I believe teachers of composition can use fan fiction to their advantage by encouraging students to write creatively using subject matter that interests them in some way.
42
Branigan, Jacob. "The Better World Movement." VCU Scholars Compass, 2017. http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/4751.
Abstract:
This thesis is a portion of a novel manuscript. The novel is tentatively titled The Better World Movement. These thirteen chapters introduce the reader to the main character, Smith Anderson, who is banished from his dream college after the first semester of his freshman year. Forced to start again at a different college, Smith becomes close with his roommates, meets a girl, and begins assisting an ethically ambiguous professor. When the professor implements troublesome social experiments on the student body, Smith and his friends must reconcile the mistakes of their pasts and decided what is best for the world as they know it—transparency, or improvement at great cost.
43
Pfalzgraff, Ella. "The World Still Undiscovered." ScholarWorks@UNO, 2017. http://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/2352.
Abstract:
“The World Still Undiscovered” explores a particular way of seeing the common setting, i.e., the so-called West, of all seven of the short stories contained therein, specifically responding to two ideas of the West: in America, that the West is somewhere you can go to find the freedom to grow up independent of the oppression of civilization; and in Canada, that the West is a place that is inherently deadly and therefore boxes people into small, narrow towns. Each of these stories resists that binary.
44
McGowan, Lee Hugh. "Faster Than Words." Thesis, Queensland University of Technology, 2011. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/59448/1/FasterThanWords_LMcGowan.pdf.
Abstract:
This practice-led research contextualises and advances the novel as a form within the fiction of football (commonly referred to as soccer in Australia). This is a field which has undergone very little academic scrutiny.
Through adapting and developing a distant reading model of abstraction and using it in conjunction with closer textual analyses, this research develops the first historiography of football fiction. The model is used to realise a set of broad conventions, map relationships across the body of work and identify growth areas. The thesis argues that football fiction exhibits qualities which warrant the works being described collectively as a genre. A comparison of young adult and adult football fictions will highlight the similarities and differences that occur in literary technique in texts aimed at these readerships, as they appear to be distinct to football fiction.
The generic conventions and identified divergences are used to inform and are reflected in an original novel-length work of young adult fantasy football fiction, entitled Blaming David Beckham. The objectives of this novel, as an extension to the research, are to explore and demonstrate the findings and advance the understanding of the generic elements of football fiction.
45
Best, Karen. "A FLOATING WORLD: STORIES." Master's thesis, University of Central Florida, 2010. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETD/id/2070.
Abstract:
A Floating World is a collection of short stories inspired by fairy tales. Often set in worlds where the mundane and the fantastic come together, these stories explore moments of strangeness that slip beyond the bounds of realist fiction. Fantastical events intrude into mundane reality as characters attempt to reconcile the known with the unknowable.M.F.A.
Department of English
Arts and Humanities
Creative Writing MFA
46
Reu, Allison. "At the End of the World." ScholarWorks@UNO, 2014. http://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1889.
47
Burton, William James. "In a perfect world : utopias in modern Japanese literature /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/11144.
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Kawakami, Chiyoko. "The hybrid narrative world of Izumi Kyōka /." Thesis, Connect to this title online; UW restricted, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/6670.
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Rine, Abigail. "Words incarnate : contemporary women’s fiction as religious revision." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/1961.
Abstract:
This thesis investigates the prevalence of religious themes in the work of several prominent contemporary women writers—Margaret Atwood, Michèle Roberts, Alice Walker and A.L. Kennedy. Relying on Luce Irigaray’s recent theorisations of the religious and its relationship to feminine subjectivity, this research considers the subversive potential of engaging with religious discourse through literature, and contributes to burgeoning criticism of feminist revisionary writing. The novels analysed in this thesis show, often in violent detail, that the way the religious dimension has been conceptualised and articulated enforces negative views of female sexuality, justifies violence against the body, alienates women from autonomous creative expression and paralyses the development of a subjectivity in the feminine. Rather than looking at women’s religious revision primarily as a means of asserting female authority, as previous studies have done, I argue that these writers, in addition to critiquing patriarchal religion, articulate ways of being and knowing that subvert the binary logic that dominates Western religious discourse. Chapter I contextualises this research in Luce Irigaray’s theories and outlines existing work on feminist revisionist literature. The remaining chapters offer close readings of key novels in light of these theories: Chapter II examines Atwood’s interrogation of oppositional logic in religious discourse through her novel The Handmaid’s Tale. Chapter III explores two novels by Roberts that expose the violence inherent in religious discourse and deconstruct the subjection of the (female) body to the (masculine) Word. Chapters IV and V analyse the fiction of Kennedy and Walker respectively, revealing how their novels confront the religious denigration of feminine sexuality and refigure the connection between eroticism and divinity. Evident in each of these fictional accounts is a forceful critique of religious discourse, as well as an attempt to more closely reconcile foundational religious oppositions between divinity and humanity, flesh and spirit, and body and Word.
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Vang, Jens. "Bland gröna gubbar och röda faror : En historisk studie om vanligt förekommande teman i amerikansk science-fictionskräckfilm under McCarthyeran." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för kulturvetenskaper (KV), 2018. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-74648.
Abstract:
The following study has its origin and context in the politically polarised McCarthy era of the American history. With the WWII in retrospect, politicians in Western nations quickly acknowledged the potential impact and sphere of influence of popular culture and its ability to form public opinion. During this period attempts were made to censor culture from underlying socialist messages in order to spread and awake support for the government, especially in mainstream Hollywood productions. However, how successful were these attempts and did it actually create a resistance against the censorship’s proclaimers? This study analyses four different Hollywood science fiction films from the 1950’s and argues that the underlying messages were more diverse than previously expected. Some of the productions seemed to endorse the McCarthyist values, whereas others more clearly rejected these sets of values, implicitly claiming they were a highly irrational response to an unstable international situation.