Tesis sobre el tema "Heroic novel"

My study highlights a link of U.S. American hypermasculinity running through Cormac McCarthy's two novels Blood Meridian (1985) and All the Pretty Horses (1992), Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon (1977), and James Baldwin's Another Country (1960). My literary interpretations of these texts suggest that U.S. American hypermasculine man originated in the American frontier and transformed into a definition of hegemonic masculinity embraced by many southern rural American men. These southern rural American men then concocted the myth of the black rapist in order to justify the mass murder of African American men after Reconstruction, inadvertently creating a figure more hypermasculine than themselves. Many black men embraced the myth of the black rapist as well as the baser patriarchal aspects of white male southern power. Consequently, black hypermasculinity evolved into the paragon of American hypermasculinity. Failed Heroes further argues that some protagonists in postwar American literature heroically fail in order not to perpetuate hypermasculinities. Continuing a modernist trend of anti-heroism, the selected protagonists develop into marginalized men due to their failure to live up to hypermasculine societal expectations. The protagonists' failure to perpetuate hypermasculinities proves heroic since it illustrates the destructiveness of these sensibilities; as a result, a sense of ironic heroism emerges from the narratives. In Blood Meridian, set in the mid-nineteenth century U.S. American West, the kid fails heroically to construct a masculine identity outside of the textual order of the judge, indicting the hypermasculine philosophies of the judge and calling into question the book's violence. In no way is the kid a classic hero; rather, his collapse exists as a direct critique of the judge's destructive philosophies. In All the Pretty Horses, set in the mid-twentieth century U.S. American South, John Grady fails to actualize his cowboy fantasy, but proves heroic in exposing its danger and destructiveness. At the end of the novel he vanishes into the countryside a failure, but unlike the mythic cowboy, he assumes the role of heroic failure because his narrative contributes to the relinquishment of a destructive male myth. In Song of Solomon, set in Ohio and Virginia during Reconstruction and the Civil Rights and Black Liberation Movements, Milkman Dead functions as a black man who has the opportunity to break free from choking definitions of black masculinity. In the end he fails to break free and flies to Africa, leaving his family and his only hope at real freedom, his aunt Pilate, to die. Continuing a cycle of male flight at the expense of his family, community, and cultural guide renders him a failure. Morrison's final critique of hypermasculinity positions Pilate as the failed hero and shifts the emphasis of the novel to the women who represent victims of kinship systems and the incest taboo. The incest in the novel functions as a metaphor for Pilate's philosophy that black identity ought to come from black culture, a notion I call cultural incest. Another Country, set in New York City during the 1940s and 1950s, details the plight of an urban African American man struggling to reconcile his homosexual desire with the black hypermasculine cool pose he dons as overcompensation. Rufus Scott's death proves heroic as a critique of the rigid definitions of urban black masculinity. African Americans, and by extension all Americans, might employ their U.S. American history of oppression as a platform for a new vision of masculinity based on heteronormative failure and queerness. The association of blackness with oppression, and as a result non-normative sexuality, presents an opportunity to redefine blackness as abjection. The very failure of African Americans in measuring up to destructive notions of hypermasculinity might exist as a new definition of blackness and masculinity for all Americans.

Le succès retentissant de l’Argenis lors de sa parution à Paris en 1621 allait imposer ce roman en langue latine de Jean Barclay comme une référence pour les romanciers de son temps. L’auteur, poète érudit pensionné par le pape, présentait cette fable héroïque d’un genre nouveau comme un hommage à la monarchie française, dont il réécrivait, sous le voile de la fiction, l’histoire récente et troublée. Roman à clefs, à la fois héroïque et satirique, romanesque et sérieux, parsemé de discours politiques et de poésies, l’ouvrage fut avant tout conçu comme un « roman du prince », exposant pour mieux la défendre une conception absolutiste du pouvoir royal et exaltant à travers son héros le monarque figuré en nouvel Amadis. Notre hypothèse est qu’il allait offrir, à ce titre, un modèle inédit à nombre des romanciers de son époque, et notamment aux premiers auteurs de romans héroïques en France. En analysant la genèse, la poétique et la réception de cette œuvre trop négligée, nous nous proposons d’éclairer son influence sur les romanciers français de la première moitié du XVIIe siècle
The resounding success of Argenis upon its publication in Paris in 1621 established this Latin novel by Jean Barclay as a reference for novelists of his time. The author, a learned poet, presented this heroic fable of a new kind as a tribute to the French monarchy, rewriting its recent and troubled history under the veil of fiction. A “roman à clefs”, both heroic and satirical, filled with political speeches and poetry, Argenis was primarily conceived as a “novel of the prince”, exposing an absolutist conception of monarchy in order to defend it and exalting through its hero the king portrayed as a new Amadis. Our hypothesis is that, as such, it offered an unprecedented model to many of the novelists of his time, especially the early authors of heroic novels in France. By analyzing the genesis, poetics, and reception of this often overlooked work, we aim to shed light on its influence on French novelists of the first half of the 17th century

Soviet writer Vasilii Grossman has been renowned in the West as a dissident author of Life and Fate, which multiple sources, including The New York Times have called "arguably the greatest Russian novel of the 20th century." Grossman, however, was not a dissident, but an official state writer attempting to publish for a Soviet audience. Grossman's work was criticized by Soviets as being "too Jewish", while Jewish scholars have called it "not Jewish enough." And, despite his modern critical acclaim, little scholarship on Grossman exists. In my thesis, I explore these paradoxes. I argue that Grossman attempts to reinterpret traditional state ideas of Sovietness into a more inclusive, democratic version by creating heroes from traditionally marginalized groups. To do this, he reinterprets and inverts traditional tropes of the Socialist Realist genre. Genric limitations on his worldview, however, prevent this vision from being completely realized in the course of his work. I trace Grossman's work from his early short fiction to his Khruschev era novels and show how this trope develops during his career as a Soviet writer and citizen.

The entire thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file; a non-technical public abstract appears in the public.pdf file. Title from PDF of title page (University of Missouri--Columbia, viewed on October 6, 2009). Thesis advisor: Dr. Sheila Grant, Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (MPhil (Visual Arts))--Stellenbosch University, 2008.
This thesis considers the author's project submission, a comic-book entitled The Number One Game, as production of a local heroic myth. The author will show how this project attempts to engage with mythic and archetypal material to produce an entertaining narrative that has relevance to contemporary Cape Town. The narrative adapts previous incarnations of the hero, with reference to theories of archetypes and mythic patterning devices that are derived from the concept of the “mono-myth”. Joseph Campbell's conception of myth as expressing internal psychic processes will be compared to Roland Barthes' reading of myth as a special inflection of speech that forms a semiotic “metalanguage”. The comic-book is a specific form of the language of comics, a combination of image and text that is highly structured and that can produce a rich graphic text. Using the Judge Dredd and Batman comic-books as models it will be shown how The Number One Game adapts traditions of representation, such as in genre references, to local perspective to create a novel interplay of archetypes. It will be shown that this interplay in the author's project work and the rich potential of the comic-book as a site for mythic speech makes the mythic a useful paradigm for considering the expression of ideology in the heroic comic-book.

The aim of this thesis was to explore novel applications for both traditional and contemporary biomaterials in the management of parastomal hernia and anal fistula. Parastomal hernias can be prevented or repaired using synthetic mesh; however, reported complications include infection, fibrosis and potential bowel erosion. The prophylactic role of a cross-linked collagen implant was assessed in terms of safety, feasibility and potential efficacy. Additionally, the human host response to this implant was evaluated. There were no complications related to infection or the implant‟s proximity to the bowel. The implant had excellent biocompatibility and resistance to degradation in most patients, and although fibrovascular in-growth and ECM deposition were limited, it seems to have excellent potential for soft tissue reinforcement and, more specifically, prevention of parastomal hernias. Anal fistulas are in the main successfully treated by surgical fistulotomy, however damage to the anal sphincter complex and subsequent incontinence have led to the development of other techniques which aim to either lessen or avoid such disturbance. One strategy involves the traditional cutting seton, and a modification of this technique, the „snug‟ silastic seton was assessed. In the short-medium term, this modification was demonstrated to be an effective addition to the fistula surgeon‟s armamentarium, although minor incontinence remained a concern. Other approaches employing contemporary biomaterials, fibrin glue and porcine intestinal submucosa, are aimed at tissue repair, rather than minimizing destruction. Their success rates however are highly variable. A pilot study aiming to assess the safety and potential efficacy of an 4 alternative biomaterial, cross-linked collagen in two different physical formats, was presented. In the short-medium term, both formats were shown to be safe, and equally effective. The results justify continued research into the use of biologically derived materials to heal anal fistulas. In conclusion, although disparate pathologies were addressed, both they and the thesis are unified by demonstrating that an understanding of the specific disease pathology, wound healing, and the host response to materials (synthetic and biological) are central to their successful management.

This thesis consists of the novel Brolga and an exegesis examining in what ways the ideas of katabasis and deterritorialisation inform an understanding of descent narratives in contemporary Australian outback fiction. When writing the creative piece, it was observed that Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey was an imprecise model for my manuscript and indeed for many of the contemporary novels I had read written in similar outback settings. On analysis a better fit lies in the idea of a heroic journey from which there is no clear return from the underworld. This narrative form is defined in this thesis as a katabatic narrative. To unpack this narrative trope, the inverse of territoriality, deterritorialisation, is used as a lens to examine the complex thematic and symbolic resonances of the outback in both Brolga and analogous works of contemporary outback fiction.

Lamentations on the absence of tragic texts in the twentieth century center on the untenability of Aristotelian parameters of tragedy within a modern context. These parameters include the immediacy of the dramatic experience as a vehicle for identification with the audience and a hero fully capable of realizing the tragic truth of his existence. Curiously restrained by formal requirements postulated in antiquity, the majority of critics have neglected that modern tragedy may have shed structures no longer culturally relevant while maintaining the essence of the tragic vision. The novel has been largely ignored despite its being perfectly suited for a contemporary communication of the tragic vision. The skepticism shattering the belief that our respective destinies can be fully embodied by another is no obstacle for tragedy in the novel. Through a narrating choric figure acting as mediating consciousness, the novel provides a direct link between reader, hero, and the tragic experience. The very act of narration also sheds light on the creation of the tragic text, extending this link to the tragedian himself. The result is a three-pronged identification, (with the hero, choric figure, tragedian), through which the reader is confronted with the multifarious truths laid bare in the text. These revelations, along with a deliberate absence of closure, compel the reader into the same unending quest to complete the tragic cycle--an experience akin to the catharsis of old.

El premio Ig-Nobel de Química de este año 2015 fue entregado al profesor Tom Yuan y su equipo de colaboradores por crear una receta para “deshervir un huevo” de forma sencilla. Aunque no lo aparente, este trabajo es de vital importancia, pues ofrece la posibilidad de regresar proteínas desnaturalizadas y agregadas a su estado natural, lo que podría beneficiar a la industria actual evitando la pérdida de miles de millones de dólares.
Professor Tom Yuan and his team were awarded the Ig-Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2015 for creating a recipe to “unboil” an egg. Although it may seem unimportant, this work has crucial importance, as it offers the possibility of refolding denatured proteins and getting them back to its natural state. This research might have an impact on industry, as it could prevent the loss of billions of dollars.

This thesis applies catFISH, a variant of the standard fluorescence in situ hybridisation technique, to study the neuronal ensembles activated by heroin and cocaine across brain structures involved in motivated behaviour, in the Sprague-Dawley rat. The first chapter reviews the pharmacology of heroin and cocaine, rodent models of drug-related behaviours, and heroin and cocaine's ability to trigger immediate-early gene expression when administered acutely or chronically. It is suggested that the empirical evidence points towards a significant separation between the neuronal systems engaged by the two drugs. The main goal of this thesis was to test whether this separation can be seen within brain areas playing a key role in motivation and reward (e.g. the nucleus accumbens). Since immediate-early genes serve as markers of neuronal activity, and catFISH is a technique which can detect the expression of such genes in response to two separate stimuli, the technique was chosen as the best method to test if heroin and cocaine activate the same neuronal ensembles when administered acutely. The second chapter summarises the methods used across experiments described in following chapters. The third chapter presents an experiment addressing the methodological issues associated with using catFISH to study pharmacological stimuli. The technique was originally used to study the hippocampus and brain activity triggered by stimuli with well-controlled on- and offset (e.g. exposure to a novel environment or discrete cues). Arguably, acute drug injections comprise a stimulus with an on- and offset which can only be controlled indirectly – they depend on the drug dose and route of administration, among other factors. It was shown that acute intravenous injections of heroin and cocaine at doses usually self-administered by animals are suitable stimuli to use with catFISH. Chapter four describes an experiment showing that, across the striatum, the neuronal ensembles activated by an injection of cocaine followed by an injection of heroin overlap significantly less than the neuronal ensembles activated by two consecutive injections of cocaine. This is interpreted as direct evidence for a significant separation between the neuronal pathways activated by heroin vs. cocaine, even in brain areas often considered a common neurobiological substrate for the effects of the two drugs. It must be noted that the magnitude and the nature of this separation depends on the particular part of the striatum and the order in which drugs are administered. Chapter five describes a pilot experiment attempting to incorporate the logic of the catFISH technique into a rodent drug self-administration paradigm. It was found that the rats preferred self-administering heroin over cocaine, and that there was no detectable expression of the homer 1a gene across the striatum in response to acute heroin and cocaine after extended experience with the two drugs. There was also no change from baseline expression of the homer 1a and arc genes in areas of the prefrontal cortex. Finally, chapter six summarises the main findings and the key methodological considerations from all three experiments. As a whole, it is suggested that the experiments in this thesis provide a proof of concept that heroin and cocaine are processed differently by the brain, even within brain areas considered to be common substrates for the reinforcing and addictive properties of the two drugs. Future studies should take this separation into account, as it may have important implications for understanding drug addiction as a whole. The appendices contain representative fluorescence microscopy images of brain tissue analysed for catFISH.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2000.
Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 320-335). Includes filmography (leaves 335-337). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

This dissertation analyzes a typically overlooked novel within the corpus of post-9/11 fiction studies, Jess Walter’s The Zero (2006), and puts forward some hypotheses for this under-examination. It suggests that the debates that arose in the United States in the wake of 9/11—regarding the status of fiction in the face of tragedy, the theses about the demise of irony and satire, the high expectations put on canonical authors to give meaning to the event, and standardized interpretations of what a “good 9/11 novel” should be—all contributed to construct readings of The Zero that fell within the somewhat prescriptive approaches established by the first wave of post-9/11 fiction studies, and thus overlooked the subversive potential of Walter's novel. While recent academic output is starting to explore The Zero in innovative ways, early reception of the novel failed to examine it conceptually and formally, favoring as it did a trauma studies approach that resulted in a bland analysis of the discursive exploration that the novel carries out. On the other hand, the novel’s use of satirical humor has been mostly ignored, and this is partly explained by the currency of outdated theoretical conceptions of what constitutes a satirical novel. Therefore, this dissertation carries out a revision of the theoretical corpus on narrative satire and proposes its renewal through the theories of carnivalization of Mikhail Bakhtin. Approaching the novel through the notions of satirical carnival, dialogism, and intertextuality reveals how satire is a very effective way of exploring and questioning the discursive apparatus that mobilized in the United States after the attacks. Such is the object of the novel, the interaction with, the representation and the eventual subversion of a nationalist discourse that was underpinned by its appeal to foundational myths and cultural themes and that was highly accepted by the general population, which allowed the Bush administration to respond to the attacks in military terms and to suspend certain rights and freedoms on the domestic front, under the premise of promoting security. This dissertation seeks to demonstrate how satire understood this way is especially suited for constructing a dialogical, polyphonic and inquisitive narrative that not only questions but also dialogues with the American nation after 9/11.
La presente tesis explora una novela poco estudiada del corpus de ficción post-11-S, The Zero (2006), de Jess Walter, y propone algunas hipótesis que puedan explicar esta falta de atención. Se sugiere que los debates que se originaron en los Estados Unidos tras el 11-S—respecto al estatus de la ficción frente a la tragedia, la supuesta falta de adecuación del humor satírico e irónico para explicarla, las grandes expectativas depositadas en los autores canónicos para que dieran sentido al hecho, y las interpretaciones un tanto prescriptivas y normativas por parte del campo de los “post- 9/11 fiction studies”—contribuyeron a determinar ciertas lecturas de The Zero dentro de los parámetros establecidos por la primera ola de ficción post-11-S, pasando por alto el potencial subversivo de la novela de Walter. La recepción temprana de la novela ha tendido a desatender el análisis formal y conceptual de The Zero al favorecer una aproximación desde los estudios del trauma que resulta en un análisis insustancial de la exploración discursiva que la novela lleva a cabo. Por otra parte, se ha ignorado casi por completo su uso del humor satírico, y ello en parte se explica por ciertas concepciones teóricas un tanto parciales y anticuadas sobre qué es una novela satírica. Por lo tanto, la tesis lleva a cabo una revisión del corpus teórico sobre la sátira narrativa y propone su renovación a través de las teorías de carnivalización de Mikhail Bakhtin. La aproximación a la novela desde las nociones de carnaval satírico, dialogismo, e intertextualidad revela como la sátira es un modo muy efectivo de explorar y cuestionar el aparato discursivo que se movilizó en Estados Unidos tras los atentados. Tal es el objeto de la novela, la interacción con, representación y eventual subversión de un discurso nacionalista que se sostuvo por la apelación a mitos fundacionales y temas culturales de alta aceptación entre la población, lo cual permitió una respuesta militar y el abandono de ciertas libertades en el frente doméstico con el fin de garantizar la seguridad. La tesis busca demostrar como la sátira entendida de este modo es especialmente idónea para construir un relato dialógico, polifónico e inquisidor que no solo cuestione sino que dialogue con la nación estadounidense tras el 11-S.

This thesis explores structures of melancholy in five of Kurt Vonnegut's early novels, Player Piano, The Sirens of Titan, Mother Night, Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions. The thesis attempts to give new readings to each of the novels by drawing on critical approaches to melancholy and by viewing each text as being subject to contemporary cultural influences. In particular, the thesis maps how each of the novels comments on human progress through a combination of historical, scientific, cultural, social and political paradigms. In the chapters on The Sirens of Titan and Mother Night the protagonist is seen as suffering from a number of melancholic complaints that are closely related to schizophrenia, while the narratives as a whole exploit this splintering of the self to suggest a variety of allegorical readings. The chapters on Player Piano, Slaughterhouse-Five and Breakfast of Champions discuss how the Puritan foundations of American culture play a major part in the construction of the self through the establishment of the Protestant work ethic. These chapters also attempt to expose how many of the ideological concepts that adhere to work, progress and capitalism have melancholic consequences for all involved. Throughout the thesis the relationship between reality and representation, language and authority is seen as being crucial to understanding the depth of Vonnegut's early novels and the way in which each novel deconstructs established values and subverts readers' expectations. Occasionally, the thesis discusses the novels' poststructural concerns as appearing to precipitate melancholy within both readers and characters. However, the thesis also explores how melancholy has been seen historically to galvanise the soul and build up, from the depths of depression, a renewal of spirit. Overall, the thesis shows how melancholy is a constituent part of Vonnegut's novels, connecting his work to the tradition in American melancholic writing created by the founders of the nation. This thesis traces the persistence of this melancholic note within selected Vonnegut novels and its connections with other themes identified within his work.

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Secretaria da Educação do Estado de São Paulo
The present research tries to question if a story that has been told so many times Santos-Dumont, a national hero, the airplane inventor and father of aviation can still bring something new, singular, able to break the expectancy of the reader. The life and history of Santos-Dumont have already been the theme of hundreds of biographies, many of them written using a traditional model that tries to develop, enhance and perpetuate the heroic image of the aviator. This happens, mainly, because of the proximity of the aviator to the classical myths and of the use of particular laudatory words. The image of the hero is made up from this vision that is one-dimensional and infallible. Walk together, therefore, with the very shape of the speech that the states it, based on a monological truth, absolute, which is intended indisputable. Among so many biographies that try to rebuild the life of Santos-Dumont, and fail precisely at this point, there is one that stands out as a parodic-novel O Brasileiro Voador by Márcio Souza. Facing the impossibility to distinguish the factual from the invention, among the shifts terrains of biographies, this Amazonian author sorts out the elements from original documents about Santos-Dumont in a fictional context. Without giving away the data research, the text is built from the unfolding, moving and condensing the facts that really happened, and they are explored according to the existing, possibilities in the literary environment. When re-organizing the conventional biographies data using parody and fiction, the act of creation of Márcio Souza, alters, erasures and transforms the official history of Santos-Dumont. Thereby, both the myth and the structure of the traditional biographical speech itself are deconstructed by the Amazonian author, showing up the fictional line that holds every biography. Through this process, the parody is precisely the most efficient strategy to break up the sedimented tradition and extract from it, not the hero, but the man with his conflicts and contradictions
Este trabalho procura questionar se uma história contada tantas vezes Santos-Dumont, herói nacional, inventor do avião e ―pai da aviação‖ ainda pode trazer algo novo, singular, capaz de romper o horizonte de expectativa do leitor. A vida e a história de Santos-Dumont já foi tema de mais de uma centena de biografias, muitas delas ordenadas segundo um modelo tradicional que procura enformar, engrandecer e perpetuar a figura heroica do aviador. Isso se dá, principalmente, pela aproximação do aviador a mitos clássicos e pelo uso de determinados vocábulos encomiásticos. O herói que se configura a partir desse olhar é unidimensional e infalível. Caminha junto, portanto, com o próprio formato do discurso que o enuncia, baseado em uma verdade monológica, absoluta, que se pretende incontestável. Em meio a tantas biografias que tentam reconstruir a vida de Santos-Dumont, justamente no ponto em que elas fracassam, sobressai como contrapartida o romance paródico-biográfico O brasileiro voador, de Márcio Souza. Diante da impossibilidade de distinguir, dentro dos domínios movediços do relato biográfico, o factual do inventado, o autor amazonense redistribui os elementos de origem documental sobre Santos-Dumont dentro de um contexto fictício. Sem despojar-se da pesquisa de dados, o texto é construído a partir do desdobramento, deslocamento e condensação de fatos que realmente aconteceram, explorados segundo as possibilidades do espaço literário. Ao reorganizar dados das biografias convencionais por meio de uma enunciação paródico-ficcional, o ato de criação de Márcio Souza altera, rasura e transforma a história oficial sobre Santos-Dumont. Assim, tanto o mito quanto a estrutura do próprio discurso biográfico tradicional são desconstruídos pelo autor amazonense, evidenciando-se o traçado ficcional que sustenta toda biografia. Nesse processo, a paródia é justamente a estratégia mais eficaz para romper a tradição sedimentada e retirar dela não o herói, mas o homem com seus conflitos e contradições

The primary goal of this study was to investigate, document, and understand the reasons that educators who use graphic novels in their classrooms choose to use them, rather than traditional text. Secondary goals were to identify the classes they teach, and to identify commonalities and shared best practices. Interviews were scheduled, to provide the with data about learning objectives, students? reactions, the books they use, types of assignments, the criteria that they use to define the critical elements for success in their classes, as well as the instructors? own relationships with graphic novels. The phenomenological methodology was determined to be the most appropriate method to understand the teacher?s experiences, and allowed the interview subjects to share and expound on their experiences, thoughts, feelings, images, and memories that described a baseline for the practice of using graphic novels in formal learning environment. The findings of the study were interesting, but not completely conclusive. The primary reason for using comics and graphic novels is teach and promote visual literacy, an important, and a critical skill in contemporary society. Another commonality is high level of student engagement and in the material. Although there are similarities among the other findings, including the encouragement of a love of reading, they actually illustrate the lack of standards and best practices and are based upon the preferences and practices of each individual teacher. The lack of standards also is seen in the teachers approach to using the genre to teach social justice, which ranges from a direct approach to addressing the issue through appropriate titles and assignments, to a more subtle and nuanced one, where individual panels are used rather than a complete book.

Les romanciers français de la première moitié du dix-huitième siècle, en privilégiant ledéveloppement de la figure féminine, participent à l’évolution du motif héroïque hérité des sièclesprécédents.L’héroïne de roman est confrontée, au même titre que le héros, aux circonstances dans lesquellesun comportement d’ordre héroïque se décide. Mais il se révèle intéressant de constater l’illustrationambiguë de ce nouveau mérite : la peinture d’une élite féminine côtoie l’évocation d’une immoralitécondamnable. La difficulté est alors de distinguer les sources de cette ambiguïté : réside-t-elle dans lecomportement de l’héroïne ou dans sa représentation dans le récit ?Examiner l’existence d’un héroïsme au féminin, c’est avant tout essayer de mettre en évidence lemode de création du personnage féminin et s’interroger sur son identité romanesque. Le personnageféminin dans le roman de la première moitié du dix-huitième siècle est, en effet, à découvrir au-delàdes contradictions et des incohérences qui nourrissent son portrait.C’est à travers la découverte des constantes, des parentés et des rapprochements entre desromanciers comme Challe, Prévost, Marivaux et Crébillon que l’on peut envisager la problématiquehéroïque du personnage féminin : l’héroïne, d’origine incertaine, séduite, trompée (ou croyant l’être),est toujours victime de sa condition. Une esthétique de la figure féminine que l’on peut retrouver chezcertains romanciers contemporains de ces auteurs par exemple Madame de Tencin, Madame deGraffigny, Montesquieu, Duclos et Mouhy
The French novelists of the first half of the eighteenth century, emphasizing the development of thefeminine, play an important role in the evolution of the heroic pattern inherited from previous centuries.The heroine of the novel, as well as the hero, faces circumstances which require a heroic response.This new merit is, however, ambiguously illustrated: the painting of a female elite includes a hint ofcondemnable immorality. The difficulty is then to distinguish the sources of this ambiguity: does itbelong to the heroine’s behavior or does it reside in its representation in the narrative?To examine the existence of a feminine heroism is first of all to try to highlight the mode of creationof the female character and to question its novelistic identity. The female character in the French novelof the early eighteenth century leaves much to be discovered beyond her portrait’s contradictions andincoherences.By examining the constants, relationships and parallels between novelists such as Challe, Prévost,Marivaux and Crébillon we can better understand the problem of the heroic female character: theheroine, of uncertain origins, seduced, deceived (or believing to be), is always a victim of hercondition. An aesthetics of the female figure is also found in the works of Madame de Tencin, Madamede Graffigny, Montesquieu, Duclos and Mouhy

Joseph Campbell, in The Hero with a Thousand Faces, establishes a pattern for the hero to answer the call to adventure, ask the question of the goddess and receive her boon, and return to his homeland. Campbell does not, however, make any suggestions about a myth whose protagonist is female. Erich Neumann, in The Origins and History of Consciousness, hints that the woman may, indeed, be her own goddess, that she must give herself the boon she already carries. The novels of Anita Brookner illustrate the dual nature of the feminine protagonist: the seeker and the boon giver. The feminine hero (even when Brookner's protagonist is masculine, he exhibits feminine qualities) hears the call to adventure, receives the teachings of the goddess and/or her representative, receives help fromother beings (in myth these would be supernatural beings), realizes that she carries the answer to the cosmic question of selfhood within her, and, following an apotheosis, makes a return to society. Much of the present work is spent delving into both the monomythic and feminist structures of Brookner's novels. Although Brookner characterizes herself as a "reluctant feminist," examination of her novels reveals a subtle adherence to feminist principles which can be ascertained by viewing each novel in terms of the monomyth schema.

This essay investigates the characteristics of Robert Langdon and his female helpers in Dan Brown’s novels Angels and Demons, The Da Vinci Code, The Lost symbol and Inferno.  In each of these novels, the quests are always solved by a male-female team. This essay is therefore going to focus on the character of Robert Langdon and his female helpers with the perspective of the Monomyth by Joseph Campbell. The protagonist Robert Langdon is a Harvard University professor specialised in religious iconology and symbology, but in these four novels he is thrown into breath-taking adventures with dangerous situations, however, with the help of several females he always manages to survive. The aim of this essay is to show how Langdon and his female helpers have the characteristics of a contemporary hero and helper, with the perspective of Campbell’s the Monomyth. Keywords: Character Analysis, Robert Langdon, Hero, Female Helper, the Monomyth, Angels and Demons, The Da Vinci Code, The Lost Symbol, Inferno.

Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns is one of the first graphic novels to redraw the map for this kind of literature but perhaps first and foremost for the characteristics of superheroes and villains. It is a story which we have read before in the sense that Batman, the eternal crime fighter, chases his arch enemies Two Face and the Joker, but it is also a new story in which we meet an ambiguous and complex superhero. Batman has become an old man tormented by his past, in which his side kick Robin died, and the present, where he is forbidden to operate under his alias. It is also a story of a corrupt and inept government and its errand boy, Superman.  In my analysis I have focused on how Miller has changed the superhero and made him more complex than we are used to see. For instance does a super hero have to have superpowers or is it enough to be super-potential?  Furthermore I will show how socio- realism and socio-political issues, such as a corrupt government, have crossed over to comics. My conclusion is that this old Batman has gone from a young crime fighter to an old anarchist and altruist. The fact is that there are no clear borders or lines between good or bad, crime fighter and villain, the characters, and comics, are no longer in black and white but more brought forth in different shades of grey.

L’objectif de cette thèse est d’explorer un mode particulier de transmission des messages contenus dans les œuvres romanesques, et plus précisément une mise en scène basée sur la représentation et la recréation d’un processus initiatique. Pour cela, après avoir étudié la permanence de l’initiation dans le monde postmoderne et délimité sa présence dans la littérature, il a été proposé une théorie et une méthode d’analyse du roman qui se veulent utiles aussi bien pour les personnages que pour le lecteur. Afin de valider cette proposition théorique et méthodologique, une application pratique en a été réalisée dans l’analyse de l’œuvre d’Antonio Muñoz Molina. En effet, les romans de l’écrivain espagnol présentent la double caractéristique d’un engagement éthique constamment réaffirmé et d’une recherche esthétique marquée tant par l’écriture labyrinthique que par la volonté d’interaction avec le lecteur. Or, l’analyse de l’évolution des personnages et de la représentation du Lecteur Modèle en suivant l’hypothèse d’une transformation initiatique a permis de mettre au jour une réitération de l’emploi du processus dans les différents romans. De plus, ce même angle d’étude des œuvres s’est révélé particulièrement apte à l’analyse des romans d’Antonio Muñoz Molina car le prisme de l’initiation a favorisé la mise en place d’une vision globale des romans prenant en compte tant leur forme que leur fond, la structure narrative que le message éthique, les personnages que le lecteur
The broad objective of this thesis was to explore a particular way of transmitting messages contained in novels, and more precisely a mise en scene based on the representation and re-creation of an initiatory process. In this view, after studying the permanence of initiation in the post-modern world and defining its presence in literature, a theory and a method of analysing novels were suggested as being useful for the characters as well as for the reader. So as to confirm this theoretical and methodological proposition, a practical implementation was carried out in the analysis of Antonio Muñoz Molina’s work. Indeed the novels of the Spanish writer feature both a constantly reaffirmed ethical commitment and an aesthetics research characterised by labyrinth writing and the will of interacting with the reader. Besides, the analysis of the characters’ development and representation of the Model Reader according to the hypothesis of an initiatory transformation brought to light the reiteration of the use of the process in the various novels. In addition, this very angle of the novels’ study proved to be particularly suitable in the analysis of Antonio Muñoz Molina’s because the initiation prism helped the implementation of a global vision of novels that took into account both their style and content, both the narrative structure and ethical message and both the characters and reader

This essay analyses the female hero in four urban fantasy novels, and evaluates several examples of the genre to find out whether or not the heroes can be found to be "sheroes" or traditionally male heroes. The study outlines the myth of the hero's journey and gives examples of the masculine as well as the feminine approach and how they apply to the four novels. The attributes of the hero are also reviewed and put into perspective within the studied material. It appears that while it is often argued that the urban fantasy genre has strong woman protagonists, the heroes therein are not "sheroes" since they behave like typically male heroes.

Presenting and applying an ideal developmental model for the classical existential hero, or main character, provides a functional paradigm for discrimination between essentialist and existential texts. In particular it allows for degrees of fine existential differentiation amongst the hero's acts of any literary work. The paradigm does so by making it possible clearly to discern and describe the "recuperation" that a reader must do to render an "impaired" text intelligible. The paradigm covers four phases of transformational activity by the hero, more or less successfully negotiated, depending on the given work under analysis; vacillation/bad faith; crisis/arrest; abrogation/nothingness; and nihilation/project choice. Only one of the three novels so analyzed, Camus' The Stranger, contains a hero, Meursault, who is able to engage this paradigm successfully. The other two novels, not generally associated with existentialism, Heller's Something Happened and Chopin's The Awakening, reveal important and explicable variations of the model, but neither finally gives an exemplary authentic hero. The value of this paradigm is the way it functions as a dynamic heuristics, as a template, to isolate and render meaningful the dimensions of the career of each main character of these works as an "existential murderer." After an introduction of the paradigm, the thesis analyzes the tragic suicide of Mrs. Edna Pontellier, the comic infanticide of Bob Slocum, and the tragicomic homicide of Meursault.

A jornada do herói é uma trajetória autoformativa presente em narrativas ancestrais que, ultrapassando barreiras espaços-temporais, ainda ecoam nas produções contemporâneas, sem perder suas potencialidades simbólicas. Seguindo pelas trilhas do Imaginário Simbólico, acompanharemos protagonistas das obras em quadrinhos É um pássaro, de Steven T. Seagle e Teddy Kristiansen, Daytripper, de Gabriel Bá e Fábio Moon, e Habibi, de Craig Thompson, que trilham seus caminhos através do labiríntico processo de conhecimento do mundo e de si. Partindo dos caminhos metodológicos da Mitopoética e da mitologia comparada, seguiremos em busca dos fios que compõem o tornar-se quem se é, em uma investigação poética que mescla itinerários autoformativos ficcionais presentes nas Histórias em Quadrinhos, destacando a valorização da experiência, o papel das narrativas na constituição de si e as tessituras com a Pedagogia da Escolha, bem como as relações entre a composição artística dos quadrinhos, sua relação com a jornada heroica e os processos educativos.
\"The hero\'s jornney is a sellf-formative path present in ancestral narratives which, going beyond space-time barriers, still echo in contemporary productions without losing its symbolic potential. Following the paths of the structure of imaginary Symbol, we\'ll keep up the protagonists of the comics It\'s a bird, from Steven T. Seagle and Teddy Kristiansen, Daytripper, created by Gabriel Bá e Fábio Moon, e Habibi, from Craig Thompson, who tread their way through the labyrinthine of world knowledge process and of itself. From the methodological ways of mythopoetic and comparative mythology, we will searching for the threads that indicates \"how one becomes what one is\", in a poetic investigation that merges processes of self-formatives itineraries in comic books, highlighting the value of the experience, the role of narrative in the constitution itself and the tessitura with the Pedagogy of choice , as well as relations between the artistic composition of the comic, the relationship with the heroic journey and educational processes.

Esta pesquisa apresenta um estudo dos protagonistas do romance Histoire de Juliette, ou Les prospérités du vice (1801) do Marquês de Sade. O objetivo do trabalho é evidenciar a progressão dos enunciados filosóficos dos personagens, dentro das cenas libidinosas nas quais são proferidos, relacionando as teorias e as práticas particulares de cada herói com os traços de seu caráter. Tal abordagem supõe a tese de que há uma interdependência entre os argumentos do libertino e sua construção dentro da narrativa ficcional. Cada devasso expõe um conjunto singular de ideias, determinado por suas características morais, físicas e por outros aspectos que constituem o gênero do romance filosófico. Logo, este estudo não propõe uma interpretação específica para o pensamento de Sade, mas salienta a oposição e a convergência de ideias em sua obra, acentua o debate entre os personagens, expõe, portanto, a diversidade dos discursos libertinos.
This research intends to analyze the protagonists from the novel Histoire de Juliette, ou Les prospérités du vice (1801) by the Marquis de Sade. Our goal is to evidence the development of the philosophical statements of the characters, within the libidinous scenes where they take place, relating the theory and practice of each hero with his/her personality. This approach assumes an interplay between the libertine\'s arguments and their construction in the fictional narrative. Each person presents a unique set of ideas, determined by his/her moral and physical traits, in addition to all the other aspects found in the philosophical novel gender. We, therefore, do not present a specific interpretation for the thinking of Sade, rather, we stress the opposition and convergence of ideas in his work, underlining the debate among the characters to point out the diversity of discourse amidst the libertines.

Orientador: Álvaro Luiz Hattnher
Banca: Fábio Akcelrud Durão
Banca: Orlando Nunes de Amorim
Resumo: O presente trabalho analisa a descentralização do paladino super-heróico na narrativa Invincible (2003), de Robert Kirkman. Para tanto, toma a personagem Super-Homem como arquétipo narrativo de super-herói e modelo criador do conceito paladinesco nos comic books e, por isso, recorta algumas das variadas histórias desta personagem que é narrada desde a década de 40. O enfoque da seleção foram as recriações e re-narrações do universo diegético do Homem de Aço, que, em conjunto com o estudo comparativo da narrativa gráfica de Kirkman, forneceram elementos para observar e comprovar a descentralização do conceito do super-herói paladino. O conceito de descentralização foi retirado das teorias sociais de Zygmund Bauman (2005) e de Stuart Hall (2009), acerca da crise de identidade do sujeito pós-moderno, e compreendido aqui como o deslocamento da identidade, sua liquidez. Portanto, sua aplicação como ferramenta de análise de narrativas é desenvolvida pela evidenciação das relações intertextuais que o universo de Invencível possui com as histórias do Super-Homem, dessa forma, demonstrando por meio das referências textuais, como a mudança dentro do paladino está relacionada a crise de identidade
Abstract: The present work analyses the super-heroic paladin decentralization in Robert Kirkman's narrative, Invincible (2003). Because of this, it takes the Superman character as the narrative archetype and the creator model of the paladin concept in the comic books, so it selects some of the many stories of this character narrated since the 40s. The re-creations and the retelling of the Man of Steel's diegetic universe were the focus of the selection to, in union with the comparative study of Robert Kirkman's graphic narrative, Invincible (2003), look and prove the super-hero paladin concept's decentralization in Kirkman's narrative. The decentralization concept is taken from the social theories of Zygmund Bauman (2005) and Stuart Hall (2009) about the post modern subject crisis and its understood here as the identity's displacement, it's liquidity. Therefore it's application as a tool to narrative analyses is developed by the demonstration of the intertextetual relationship that the Invincible universe shows towards Superman stories, thus showing by textual references how the paladin changing is related to the identity crisis
Mestre

Literary criticism has attacked more than once the romantic historical novel condemning it because it was presenting both at a time historical events and historical fiction, what was, according to some critics, encroaching upon the verisimilitude of the historical facts introduced in this kind of novel as well as diminishing the quality of the fictional story while hindering the process of creativity of the writers. Of course, the historical Spanish novel has also suffered from these pessimistic judgements, but it has been accused too of being in no way original for it was taken mainly as an imitation of Scott's works. We do not share this opinion, however, and think on the contrary that Spain has produced great historical fictions which are original from the standpoint of their plots and their characters.
In the first part of this thesis we will show how the Spanish hero of the historical, romantic novel is far from the model of hero typically depicted by Scott. The main objective of this study will be to define the entity or the masculine Spanish protagonist of the genre in question. For this purpose, we will compare three protagonists, Usdrobal, Macias and Jimeno, from three chosen Spanish novels, between each other and with other secondary characters, especially with their antagonists. The physical and moral aspects will be particularly underlined as we examine, for example, Lavater's science and, at the same, time, the actions, reactions and attitudes of these protagonists. As a result, we will be able to establish their profile and personality. Parallels will also be made, whenever useful, with other significant Spanish and European characters. In this analysis it will be made clear that these romantic beings who suffer terribly throughout their lives are vulnerable and original in opposition to both the traditional and the Scottian heroes.

Cette thèse porte sur la trajectoire éditoriale et artistique de la collection Vertigo créée en 1993 par DC Comics, maison d’édition états-unienne spécialisée dans la bande dessinée. Je me propose d’aborder Vertigo à travers l'apport des scénaristes britanniques employés par DC Comics depuis le milieu des années quatre-vingt. Leur rôle est en effet considérable, tant au moment de la fondation de Vertigo par la rédactrice Karen Berger que dans le succès ultérieur dont jouit la collection. La genèse de Vertigo met en lumière l’importance du phénomène appelé l’ « Invasion britannique », c’est-à-dire l’arrivée sur le marché états-unien de nombreux créateurs qui sont nés et travaillent à l’étranger pour DC Comics. Cette « invasion » révélera au public américain des scénaristes de tout premier plan tels Alan Moore, Grant Morrison ou Neil Gaiman, dont la série The Sandman est considérée comme un jalon majeur de l’histoire du média. La critique existante au sujet de Vertigo en général tend d’ailleurs à se focaliser sur la portion du corpus produit par les Britanniques, mais sans nécessairement prendre acte de cette spécificité culturelle. Le travail à mener est donc double ; d'une part, il s'agira de retracer une histoire du label en tant qu'instance productrice d'une culture médiatique particulière, qui s'inscrit dans un contexte socio-historique et repose sur les pratiques et les représentations de l'ensemble des acteurs (producteurs et consommateurs au sens large), eux-mêmes nourris d'une tradition qui préexiste à l'apparition de Vertigo. Il sera dès lors possible de prendre appui sur cette connaissance contextuelle pour interroger la poétique du label, et ainsi identifier les spécificités d’une « école » britannique au sein de cette industrie culturelle
This thesis deals with the editorial and aesthetic history of the Vertigo imprint, which was created in 1993 by DC Comics, a US-American comics publisher. I shall consider in particular the contribution of British scriptwriters employed by DC and then by Vertigo from the 1980s onwards. Theise creators played a tremendous role, both at the time of Vertigo's founding by editor Karen Berger and at a later date, as the imprint gathered widespread recognition. The genesis of the Vertigo imprint sheds light on the so-called “British Invasion”, that is to say the appearance within the American industry of several UK-based creators working for DC Comics. Spearheaded by Alan Moore, the “invasion” brought to the fore many of the most important scriptwriters of years to come, such as Grant Morrison and Neil Gaiman, whose Sandman series has been described as a major landmark in the recognition of the medium. Existing criticism regarding Vertigo tends to focus on the body of work produced by British authors, without necessarily discussing their national specificity. My goal is therefore double; on the one hand, I intend to write a history of the label as the producer of a specific media culture that belongs to a given socio-historical context and is grounded in the practices and representations of the field's actors (producers and consumers in a broad sense). On the other hand, the awareness of the context in which the books are produced shall allow me to interrogate the imprint's poetics, thus identifying the specificity of a “British school of writing” within the comics mainstream industry

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Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)
O presente trabalho analisa a descentralização do paladino super-heróico na narrativa Invincible (2003), de Robert Kirkman. Para tanto, toma a personagem Super-Homem como arquétipo narrativo de super-herói e modelo criador do conceito paladinesco nos comic books e, por isso, recorta algumas das variadas histórias desta personagem que é narrada desde a década de 40. O enfoque da seleção foram as recriações e re-narrações do universo diegético do Homem de Aço, que, em conjunto com o estudo comparativo da narrativa gráfica de Kirkman, forneceram elementos para observar e comprovar a descentralização do conceito do super-herói paladino. O conceito de descentralização foi retirado das teorias sociais de Zygmund Bauman (2005) e de Stuart Hall (2009), acerca da crise de identidade do sujeito pós-moderno, e compreendido aqui como o deslocamento da identidade, sua liquidez. Portanto, sua aplicação como ferramenta de análise de narrativas é desenvolvida pela evidenciação das relações intertextuais que o universo de Invencível possui com as histórias do Super-Homem, dessa forma, demonstrando por meio das referências textuais, como a mudança dentro do paladino está relacionada a crise de identidade
The present work analyses the super-heroic paladin decentralization in Robert Kirkman‘s narrative, Invincible (2003). Because of this, it takes the Superman character as the narrative archetype and the creator model of the paladin concept in the comic books, so it selects some of the many stories of this character narrated since the 40s. The re-creations and the retelling of the Man of Steel‘s diegetic universe were the focus of the selection to, in union with the comparative study of Robert Kirkman‘s graphic narrative, Invincible (2003), look and prove the super-hero paladin concept‘s decentralization in Kirkman‘s narrative. The decentralization concept is taken from the social theories of Zygmund Bauman (2005) and Stuart Hall (2009) about the post modern subject crisis and its understood here as the identity‘s displacement, it‘s liquidity. Therefore it‘s application as a tool to narrative analyses is developed by the demonstration of the intertextetual relationship that the Invincible universe shows towards Superman stories, thus showing by textual references how the paladin changing is related to the identity crisis

This thesis is an exploration of ancestral narratives in the fiction of Thomas Keneally and Christopher Koch. Initially, ancestry in literature creates an historical relationship which articulates the link between the past and the present. In this sense ancestry functions as a type of cultural memory where various issues of inheritance can be negotiated. However, the real value of ancestral narratives lies in their power to aid in the construction of both personal and communal identities. They have the potential to transform these identities, to transgress “natural” boundaries and to reshape conventional identities in the light of historical experience. For Keneally, ancestral narratives depict national forbears who “narrate the nation” into being. His earlier fictions present ancestors of the nation within a mythic and symbolic framework to outline Australian national identity. This identity is static, oppositional, and characterized by the delineation of boundaries which set nations apart from one another. However, Keneally’s more recent work transforms this conventional construction of national identity. It depicts an Irish-Australian diasporic identity which is hyphenated and transgressive: it transcends the conventional notion of nations as separate entities pitted against one another. In this way Keneally’s ancestral narratives enact the potential for transforming identity through ancestral narrative. On the other hand, Koch’s work is primarily concerned with the intergenerational trauma causes by losing or forgetting one’s ancestral narrative. His novels are concerned with male gender identity and the fragmentation which characterizes a self-destructive idea of maleness. While Keneally’s characters recover their lost ancestries in an effort to reshape their idea of what it is to be Australian, Koch’s main protagonist lives in ignorance of his ancestor’s life. He is thus unable to take the opportunity to transform his masculinity due to the pervasive cultural amnesia surrounding his family history and its role in Tasmania’s past. While Keneally and Koch depict different outcomes in their fictional ancestral narratives they are both deeply concerned with the potential to transform national and gender identities through ancestry.

The design of cultural centre is situated in part Kozia Hôrka( well-known city swimming pool), in its advantage takes natural scenery and calm atmosphere of place. Into action of performance brings a message in form of body of reservoir, function of centre is divided into small parts placed in area Kozia Hôrka. Orientation of objects comes mainly from local natural ispirations. Complex is multifunctional in concept, counts with several sorts of culture - sports events. Whereby the main function of swimming pool is preserved and added for higher comfort of inhabitants. Architecture of objects comes from idea of floating leaf on water level and body of reservoir. Objects stylizely illustrate this idea. The design takes the game of solids of organic and strictly ortogonal shapes. Two mutual opposites, in interaction. Objects smoothy and with respect encroach the environment, which is enough marked by human. Simplicity in used materials ( glass, steel, wood ) give transparency and purity to whole solution.

Il progetto “La Maschera dell’Antieroe. Evoluzione della Mitologia e della Filosofia del Supereroe in Fumetti e Graphic Novel, dalla Dark Age a Oggi” nasce con lo scopo di analizzare e approfondire gli aspetti filosofici propri della narrativa supereroica, considerando prevalentemente il media nel quale tale narrativa ha preso vita, il fumetto, ma senza tralasciare le più recenti manifestazioni del fenomeno come film e serie televisive. L’obiettivo è stato quello di scoprire quelle che sono le strutture tipiche del mondo supereroico e quali sono i concetti filosofici in esse impliciti. A questo proposito non si è utilizzato un determinato autore attraverso il quale analizzare la figura del supereroe, ma piuttosto si è cercato di partire da fumetti e graphic novel stessi, svelando gradualmente la filosofia che gli è propria. Per questo motivo, come è evidente dalla bibliografia, è stato necessario considerare un vasto numero di autori. Si è considerata la narrativa supereroica come “specchio” del mondo e della società occidentale, nel senso Stendhaliano del termine. Si inizia a parlare di supereroi con Superman, pubblicato per la prima volta su Action Comics #1 nel 1938. La figura non è rimasta immutata, ma si è evoluta e modificata assieme alla società nella quale è nata. Pur considerando anche le prime due età del fumetto supereroico, la Golden Age e Silver Age, si è scelto di partire dalla Dark Age, età che comincia circa all’inizio degli anni ’80. Questa è ancora oggi considerata la più grande (e da alcuni l’ultima) trasformazione che il genere ha conosciuto e dalla quale è nato il supereroe così come lo conosciamo oggi. Questa trasformazione è legata a quella che è una profonda crisi della società americana degli anni ’60 e ’70, crisi che esplode anche nel mondo dei supereroi influenzando, da un lato una decostruzione della figura stessa del supereroe e di ciò che rappresenta, dall’altro la nascita e l’ascesa di un elevato numero di antieroi che domineranno questo periodo. Testi come Watchmen di Alan Moore e The Dark Knight Returns di Frank Miller sono pietre miliari e opere emblematiche di questa Age. È stato osservato che aspetti caratteristici della rivoluzione della Dark Age sono riapparsi, mutatis mutandis, oggi: dopo un periodo di transizione del corso degli anni ’90, la figura del supereroe e dell’eroe è nuovamente controversa e a volte ambigua, mentre l’antieroe ha sempre più successo. Per questi e altri motivi si è voluta designare l’età contemporanea con il termine di Post-heroic Age. Il lavoro è stato strutturato in quattro sezioni principali. La prima, riguardante il supereroe, ha inquadrato le strutture e i concetti base di questa narrativa. Chiave per comprendere tale figura è il suo dualismo e il suo rapporto con la maschera. La maschera, intesa come idolo e doppia identità è l’elemento più distintivo del genere. Il supereroe non solo si “nasconde” dietro una maschera come facevano personaggi quali Zorro o The Phantom, ma assume una seconda identità legata a un simbolo e a una differente Weltanschauung. Questa doppia identità definisce il rapporto tra il personaggio e la sua società, permettendo all’eroe di mantenersi in un fondamentale stato liminale, in bilico tra il mondo umano, la società che protegge e della quale è parte grazie all’identità civile, e il mondo “super”, inumano, del quale fa parte nel momento che indossa la maschera. È possibile già cogliere, nel rapporto del supereroe con la maschera, le contraddizioni e le aporie che una tale figura comporta in particolare in relazione alla legge e alla morale. Il supereroe combatte per difendere lo status quo, la Giustizia, il “Bene”, ma per farlo agisce necessariamente al di fuori della legge, è – de facto – un criminale. È solo il permanere nello stato liminale che gli permette di “sopravvivere” e operare all’interno di questa contraddizione fondamentale. Perderlo significa – spesso – perdere lo status di “supereroe”, diventando un antieroe o un villain. Per approfondire il concetto di “maschera” si sono rivelate fondamentali le opere di Friedrich Nietzsche e Jean-Paul Sartre. Altro elemento chiave preso in esame è stato il rapporto del supereroe con la violenza, analizzato facendo riferimento principalmente all’opera di René Girard. Quali sono e cosa comportano i metodi utilizzati dall’eroe? Fino a dove può spingersi il supereroe per difendere il “Bene”? E in cosa consiste esattamente questo “Bene”? Queste le domande che hanno guidato questo punto dell’analisi. La seconda sezione ha preso in esame il villain, il cattivo. Fondamentale è il rapporto che lega tra loro le due figure, che si sono rivelate meno distanti di quanto potrebbero inizialmente sembrare. L’analisi sul villain ha definito e approfondito differenti tipologie. La separazione dei vari tipi di cattivo non è netta, ma è stata metodologicamente utile per focalizzarsi su determinati aspetti che un determinato villain rivela: ad esempio per approfondire il legame tra villain ed eroe si sono considerati il Doppelgänger e il genio criminale, l’arcinemico del supereroe. Le altre categorie individuate sono quella del mostro, del comandante nemico, del comune supercriminale e del villain eroico. Alla base dell’analisi sul villain sta la figura del mostro, inteso anche in senso morale. Il mostro è una figura chiave per studiare non solo il cattivo ma anche la dimensione dell’inumano, rappresentata dalla maschera e legata, quindi, anche al supereroe. La terza sezione è il “cuore” di questo lavoro e si concentra sulla figura dell’antieroe. Tale figura si è rivelata centrale per comprendere e definire chi è il supereroe oggi. La domanda “quando un personaggio è un antieroe, quando invece un villain o un supereroe?” non permette una facile risposta. Elementi chiave per stabilire chi è un antieroe si sono rivelati essere la maschera, il rapporto del personaggio con la società, e il conflitto morale che di norma propone. Centrali le figure antieroiche definite “Ribelli” e “Rivoluzionari”, personaggi come V di V per Vendetta, Rorschach di Watchmen o il Punitore dell’universo Marvel. Da un punto di vista filosofico si è fatto riferimento principalmente, ma non solo, ad Albert Camus (Il Mito di Sisifo e L’Uomo in Rivolta) e al concetto di Übermensch Nietzschiano. Altre tipologie di antieroi prese in considerazione sono state: le “Parodie” (come Deadpool o l’italiano Rat-Man), i “Non-eroi”, personaggi cioè che rifiutano il ruolo di eroe e la maschera (come molti mutanti dell’universo Marvel o Jessica Jones) e infine le antieroine. Lo studio delle antieroine apre l’ultima sezione dell’opera, incentrata sulla figura della supereroina, o più in generale sulla superdonna. Si è rivelato necessario considerare separatamente e approfonditamente la figura della donna nell’universo supereroico, in quanto questa presenta delle peculiarità non indifferenti rispetto ai superuomini e ha conosciuto un’evoluzione differente. L’universo supereroico era, e in parte ancora è, principalmente maschile e a tratti maschilista. Sono state descritte e approfondite le questioni riguardante il sessismo presente nella narrativa supereroica e gli stereotipi legati alla donna, costretta spesso ad assumere ruoli “piatti” della vittima, della fidanzata o della femme fatale. Aspetto fondamentale venuto alla luce è il legame che tutte le figure femminili hanno con il concetto di antieroe, in quanto personaggi di rottura e critica di un universo prevalentemente maschile. L’analisi sulla superdonna ha anche fornito l’occasione di ripercorrere le età del fumetto supereroico e le tematiche affrontate nel corso del lavoro, per mostrarne le similitudini e le differenze nel caso specifico di eroine e villainesses. In particolare, è stato studiato il tema del corpo, in relazione alla superdonna, ma anche al supereroe in generale, tema che chiude il lavoro andando anche a ricollegarsi direttamente con quello della maschera.
The project “The Mask of the Antihero. Evolution of the Mythology and Philosophy of the Superhero in Comics and Graphic Novels, from the Dark Age to the Present” aims to analyse and explore philosophical aspects inside the superheroes’ narrative, by considering comics and graphic novels, without neglecting the most recent manifestations of the phenomena like film and series. The objective is to define the structures of the superhero’s genre and the implicit philosophical concepts. The method is not to consider a specific author to analyse the superhero figure, but rather to start from comics and graphic novels themselves and gradually reveal their philosophy. Thus, as it is evident from the bibliography, it was necessary to consider various authors. In this work, the superhero’s narrative is considered a Stendhalian “mirror” of the western world and society. The genre starts with Superman, who appears for the first time on Action Comics #1 in 1938. The “superhero” did not remain unchanged since the so-called Golden Age, but he evolved together with the society in which he was born. The first two Ages of superheroes’ history (Golden and Silver Age) are taken into account, but the exam starts with the Dark Age (early 1980s). The Dark Age’s transformation is today still considered the biggest (sometimes even the last) revolution of the genre, which defines the superhero as he is today. The Dark Age’s revolution is directly linked with a profound crisis of US-society during the 1960s and 1970s. This crisis affected the superhero’s world and forced a deconstruction of the superhero figure. The “Good” the superhero embodied is questioned, and new antiheroes arise and dominate these years. Graphic novels like Alan Moore’s Watchmen and Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns are emblematic milestones of this Age. It is observed that Dark Age’s characteristic aspects have reappeared, mutatis mutandis, today: after a transitional period in the 1990s, the figure of the superhero and the hero is again controversial and sometimes ambiguous, while antiheroes are increasingly successful. For these and other reasons, the contemporary Age is designated with the term Post-heroic Age. The thesis is divided into four main sections. The first concerns the superhero, and it considers the basic structures and concepts of superhero’s narrative. The key to understanding the superhero’s figure is its dualism and its relationship with the mask. The mask is intended as an idol and double identity; it is the genre’s clearest marker. Superheroes do not just “hide” behind a mask: they assume a whole new identity linked to a symbol and a different Weltanschauung. The double identity defines superhero’s relation with society and thanks to it the character can remain in a liminal state, in a balance between the human world, the society he protects, and the “super”, inhuman one, the world of the mask. The relation with the mask shows the contradictions and the aporias, which the superhero figure implies, especially in connection with law and morality. The superhero fights to defend the status quo, Justice and “Good”, but his mission requires that he acts outside the law. He is – and must be – a criminal. Only thanks to his liminal state he can operate despite this critical contradiction. If the superhero loses this state, he could become an antihero or even a villain. The works of Friedrich Nietzsche and Jean-Paul Sartre are fundamental to define the concept of “mask”. Another significant element examined is the superhero’s relationship with violence, analysed mainly through René Girard’s work. What are the methods used by the hero, and what do they involve? How far can the superhero go to defend the “Good”? Furthermore, what exactly is this “Good”? These questions guide this point of the analysis. The second section is regarding the villain. The relation between hero and villain is crucial, and the two figures prove to be less different as they seem at the beginning. There are different villain types: this distinction is methodologically useful for examining aspects revealed by a particular villain category. For example, the Doppelgänger and the Archenemy studies help define the relationship between superhero and supervillain. The other villain types are the Monster, the Enemy Commander, the Common Super-Criminal, and the Heroic Villain. The Monster (also in a moral sense) is the basis of the analysis regarding the villain. The Monster is also a crucial figure to study the inhuman dimension connected to the mask and, consequently, to the superhero. The third section is the “heart” of this work, and it is focused on the antihero. This figure proved to be central to comprehend and define the superhero today. The following questions do not have an easy answer: “Why do we define a character an antihero? Why a villain or a superhero?” Key elements to define an antihero are his mask, the relationship with his society, and the moral conflict he usually causes. The antiheroic figures defined as “Rebels” and “Revolutionaries” are fundamental for understanding what an antihero is: they are characters such as V (V for Vendetta), Rorschach (Watchmen) or The Punisher (Marvel universe). From a philosophical point of view, Albert Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus and The Rebel and the Nietzschean Übermensch are crucial at this point of the analysis. Other types of antiheroes taken into consideration are the “Parodies” (such as Deadpool or the Italian Rat-Man), the “Non-heroes”, (characters who reject the role of hero and the mask, like many mutants of the Marvel universe or Jessica Jones) and finally the antiheroines. The chapter about the antiheroines opens the last section, which considers the superheroine and the superwoman in general. It is necessary to consider superwomen separately because they present important peculiarity compared to supermen, and they had a different evolution. The superheroes’ universe was, and in part still is, male-dominated and sometimes even sexist. The issues concerning the sexism present in superhero fiction and the stereotypes related to women often forced to assume the stereotypical roles of the victim, girlfriend, or femme fatale, are described and deepened. A fundamental aspect revealed is the link that female figures have with antiheroes, as characters of rupture and criticism of a predominantly male universe. Superwoman’s analysis also provides an opportunity to retrace the ages of superhero comics and the issues addressed in the course of the work to show the similarities and differences in heroines and villainesses’ specific case. In particular, the body’s theme is studied, concerning both superwomen and superheroes. This theme closes the work by reconnecting directly with that of the mask.

Il progetto “La Maschera dell’Antieroe. Evoluzione della Mitologia e della Filosofia del Supereroe in Fumetti e Graphic Novel, dalla Dark Age a Oggi” nasce con lo scopo di analizzare e approfondire gli aspetti filosofici propri della narrativa supereroica, considerando prevalentemente il media nel quale tale narrativa ha preso vita, il fumetto, ma senza tralasciare le più recenti manifestazioni del fenomeno come film e serie televisive. L’obiettivo è stato quello di scoprire quelle che sono le strutture tipiche del mondo supereroico e quali sono i concetti filosofici in esse impliciti. A questo proposito non si è utilizzato un determinato autore attraverso il quale analizzare la figura del supereroe, ma piuttosto si è cercato di partire da fumetti e graphic novel stessi, svelando gradualmente la filosofia che gli è propria. Per questo motivo, come è evidente dalla bibliografia, è stato necessario considerare un vasto numero di autori. Si è considerata la narrativa supereroica come “specchio” del mondo e della società occidentale, nel senso Stendhaliano del termine. Si inizia a parlare di supereroi con Superman, pubblicato per la prima volta su Action Comics #1 nel 1938. La figura non è rimasta immutata, ma si è evoluta e modificata assieme alla società nella quale è nata. Pur considerando anche le prime due età del fumetto supereroico, la Golden Age e Silver Age, si è scelto di partire dalla Dark Age, età che comincia circa all’inizio degli anni ’80. Questa è ancora oggi considerata la più grande (e da alcuni l’ultima) trasformazione che il genere ha conosciuto e dalla quale è nato il supereroe così come lo conosciamo oggi. Questa trasformazione è legata a quella che è una profonda crisi della società americana degli anni ’60 e ’70, crisi che esplode anche nel mondo dei supereroi influenzando, da un lato una decostruzione della figura stessa del supereroe e di ciò che rappresenta, dall’altro la nascita e l’ascesa di un elevato numero di antieroi che domineranno questo periodo. Testi come Watchmen di Alan Moore e The Dark Knight Returns di Frank Miller sono pietre miliari e opere emblematiche di questa Age. È stato osservato che aspetti caratteristici della rivoluzione della Dark Age sono riapparsi, mutatis mutandis, oggi: dopo un periodo di transizione del corso degli anni ’90, la figura del supereroe e dell’eroe è nuovamente controversa e a volte ambigua, mentre l’antieroe ha sempre più successo. Per questi e altri motivi si è voluta designare l’età contemporanea con il termine di Post-heroic Age. Il lavoro è stato strutturato in quattro sezioni principali. La prima, riguardante il supereroe, ha inquadrato le strutture e i concetti base di questa narrativa. Chiave per comprendere tale figura è il suo dualismo e il suo rapporto con la maschera. La maschera, intesa come idolo e doppia identità è l’elemento più distintivo del genere La seconda sezione ha preso in esame il villain, il cattivo. Fondamentale è il rapporto che lega tra loro le due figure, che si sono rivelate meno distanti di quanto potrebbero inizialmente sembrare. L’analisi sul villain ha definito e approfondito differenti tipologie. La separazione dei vari tipi di cattivo non è netta, ma è stata metodologicamente utile per focalizzarsi su determinati aspetti che un determinato villain rivela: ad esempio per approfondire il legame tra villain ed eroe si sono considerati il Doppelgänger e il genio criminale, l’arcinemico del supereroe. Le altre categorie individuate sono quella del mostro, del comandante nemico, del comune supercriminale e del villain eroico. La terza sezione è il “cuore” di questo lavoro e si concentra sulla figura dell’antieroe. Tale figura si è rivelata centrale per comprendere e definire chi è il supereroe oggi. La domanda “quando un personaggio è un antieroe, quando invece un villain o un supereroe?” non permette una facile risposta. Elementi chiave per stabilire chi è un antieroe si sono rivelati essere la maschera, il rapporto del personaggio con la società, e il conflitto morale che di norma propone. Centrali le figure antieroiche definite “Ribelli” e “Rivoluzionari”, personaggi come V di V per Vendetta, Rorschach di Watchmen o il Punitore dell’universo Marvel. Da un punto di vista filosofico si è fatto riferimento principalmente, ma non solo, ad Albert Camus (Il Mito di Sisifo e L’Uomo in Rivolta) e al concetto di Übermensch Nietzschiano. Lo studio delle antieroine apre l’ultima sezione dell’opera, incentrata sulla figura della supereroina, o più in generale sulla superdonna. Si è rivelato necessario considerare separatamente e approfonditamente la figura della donna nell’universo supereroico, in quanto questa presenta delle peculiarità non indifferenti rispetto ai superuomini e ha conosciuto un’evoluzione differente.
The project “The Mask of the Antihero. Evolution of the Mythology and Philosophy of the Superhero in Comics and Graphic Novels, from the Dark Age to the Present” aims to analyse and explore philosophical aspects inside the superheroes’ narrative, by considering comics and graphic novels, without neglecting the most recent manifestations of the phenomena like film and series. The objective is to define the structures of the superhero’s genre and the implicit philosophical concepts. The method is not to consider a specific author to analyse the superhero figure, but rather to start from comics and graphic novels themselves and gradually reveal their philosophy. Thus, as it is evident from the bibliography, it was necessary to consider various authors. In this work, the superhero’s narrative is considered a Stendhalian “mirror” of the western world and society. The genre starts with Superman, who appears for the first time on Action Comics #1 in 1938. The “superhero” did not remain unchanged since the so-called Golden Age, but he evolved together with the society in which he was born. The first two Ages of superheroes’ history (Golden and Silver Age) are taken into account, but the exam starts with the Dark Age (early 1980s). The Dark Age’s transformation is today still considered the biggest (sometimes even the last) revolution of the genre, which defines the superhero as he is today. The Dark Age’s revolution is directly linked with a profound crisis of US-society during the 1960s and 1970s. This crisis affected the superhero’s world and forced a deconstruction of the superhero figure. The “Good” the superhero embodied is questioned, and new antiheroes arise and dominate these years. Graphic novels like Alan Moore’s Watchmen and Frank Miller’s The Dark Knight Returns are emblematic milestones of this Age. It is observed that Dark Age’s characteristic aspects have reappeared, mutatis mutandis, today: after a transitional period in the 1990s, the figure of the superhero and the hero is again controversial and sometimes ambiguous, while antiheroes are increasingly successful. For these and other reasons, the contemporary Age is designated with the term Post-heroic Age. The thesis is divided into four main sections. The first concerns the superhero, and it considers the basic structures and concepts of superhero’s narrative. The key to understanding the superhero’s figure is its dualism and its relationship with the mask. The mask is intended as an idol and double identity; it is the genre’s clearest marker. Superheroes do not just “hide” behind a mask: they assume a whole new identity linked to a symbol and a different Weltanschauung. The double identity defines superhero’s relation with society and thanks to it the character can remain in a liminal state, in a balance between the human world, the society he protects, and the “super”, inhuman one, the world of the mask. The second section is regarding the villain. The relation between hero and villain is crucial, and the two figures prove to be less different as they seem at the beginning. There are different villain types: this distinction is methodologically useful for examining aspects revealed by a particular villain category. For example, the Doppelgänger and the Archenemy studies help define the relationship between superhero and supervillain. The other villain types are the Monster, the Enemy Commander, the Common Super-Criminal, and the Heroic Villain. The third section is the “heart” of this work, and it is focused on the antihero. This figure proved to be central to comprehend and define the superhero today. The following questions do not have an easy answer: “Why do we define a character an antihero? Why a villain or a superhero?” Key elements to define an antihero are his mask, the relationship with his society, and the moral conflict he usually causes. The antiheroic figures defined as “Rebels” and “Revolutionaries” are fundamental for understanding what an antihero is: they are characters such as V (V for Vendetta), Rorschach (Watchmen) or The Punisher (Marvel universe). From a philosophical point of view, Albert Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus and The Rebel and the Nietzschean Übermensch are crucial at this point of the analysis. The chapter about the antiheroines opens the last section, which considers the superheroine and the superwoman in general. It is necessary to consider superwomen separately because they present important peculiarity compared to supermen, and they had a different evolution.

碩士
中國文化大學
中國文學系
106
Nowadays, when we talk about Chinese wuxia novels, most of us will think of Jin Yong, a well-known writer, immediately. His novels are real cliffhangers; moreover, the characters he made are mostly impressive. Since wuxia novels usually convey strongly moral values, it has been an intention for readers to explore the characters who might be more heroic in the book. In this case, this thesis is going to research the heroes in Jin Yong’s wuxia novels. To start it, we need to understand the definition of “hero” to Jin Yong at first. However it is hard to distinguish the source of information and also, most of the information we could find out is doubtful. Therefore, the author has taken the interviews which Jin Yong personally participated in for research reference to analyze the heroes in Jin Yong’s wuxia novels. Chapter one is an introduction to the research motive and the purpose, complete with the research method and the research area to identify the topic. Chapter two is about the background of Jin Yong and his wuxia novels. By understanding the background of the writer and his principles of creativity, we realize how Jin Yong shaped the images of his heroes. Chapter three focuses on the images of the heroes. The author lists the heroic qualities and explains the behavior in general definition. Chapter four discusses the ego-type heroes in Jin Yong’s wuxia novels by using Freud’s theory to analyze their traits and personalities. Chapter five explores the superego-type heroes in Jin Yong’s wuxia novels by Freud’s theory to analyze their traits and personalities. Chapter six is a conclusion. To generalize and comment all the heroes created by Jin Yong and then give a message to readers that it is not only entertaining but also educational to read a Jin Yong’s wuxia novel.

This thesis analyses Billy Prior, the main fictional character in Pat Barker’s Regeneration trilogy, a young man who does not know any boundaries and who challenges the concepts and ideas that had been the foundations of his society until the beginning of the XXth century. Authority, sex, class divisions, gender roles and the war are the main areas of discussion. This work examines also the dialogue between Modernism and Postmodernism, the cultural context when the novels are set and written respectively. Of great importance too is the analysis of the trilogy as an example of the genre historical novel and of the use Pat Barker does of intertextuality.

Cette thèse commence comme une simple question en réponse au modèle du « parfait flâneur » que Baudelaire a élaboré dans Le peintre de la vie moderne (1853): un flâneur peut-il être imparfait? Je suggère trois interprétations possibles du mot « imparfait ». Il permet d’abord de sortir le flâneur du strict contexte du Paris du dix-neuvième siècle et permet des traductions imparfaites de personnages dans d’autres contextes. Ensuite, le flâneur déambule dans la dimension « imparfaite » de l’imagination fictionnelle – une dimension comparable à l’image anamorphique du crâne dans la peinture Les ambassadeurs de Holbein. Enfin, il réfère à l’imparfait conjugué, « l’imparfait flâneur » peut rappeler le personnage antihéroïque de l’humain dont l’existence est banale et inachevée, comme la phrase « il y avait ». Ces trois visions contribuent à la réinterprétation du flâneur dans le contexte de la fin du vingtième siècle. Mon hypothèse est que l’expérience urbaine du flâneur et la flânerie ne sont possibles que si l’on admet être imparfait(e), qu’on accepte ses imperfections et qu’elles ne nous surprennent pas. Quatre études de romans contemporains et de leurs villes respectives forment les principaux chapitres. Le premier étudie Montréal dans City of forgetting de Robert Majzels. J’examine les façons par lesquelles les personnages itinérants peuvent être considérés comme occupant (ou en échec d’occupation) du Montréal contemporain alors qu’ils sont eux-mêmes délogés. Quant au deuxième chapitre, il se concentre sur le Bombay de Rohinton Mistry dans A fine balance. Mon étude portera ici sur la question de l’hospitalité en relation à l’hébergement et au « dé-hébergement » des étrangers dans la ville. Le troisième chapitre nous amène à Hong-Kong avec la série Feituzhen de XiXi. Dans celle-ci, j’estime que la méthode spéciale de la marelle apparait comme une forme unique de flânerie imparfaite. Le quatrième chapitre étudie Istanbul à travers The black book d’Orhan Pamuk. Inspiré par les notions de « commencement » d’Edward Saïd, mon argumentaire est construit à partir de l’interrogation suivante : comment et quand commence une narration? En lieu de conclusion, j’ai imaginé une conversation entre l’auteur de cette thèse et les personnages de flâneurs imparfaits présents dans les différents chapitres.
This dissertation begins with a simple question in response to “the perfect flâneur” model that Baudelaire elaborated in his 1853 essay “The Painter of Modern Life”: can a flâneur be imperfect? I suggest three possible inferences behind the word “imperfect.” First, it should liberate the flâneur from the strict context of nineteenth-century Paris, and allows for imperfect translations of the figure into other urban contexts. Second, the flâneur also strolls in the “imperfect” dimension of fictional imagination, a dimension comparable to the anamorphic skull in Holbein’s painting The Ambassadors. Third, in the grammatical meaning of imperfect verb tenses, “imperfect flâneur” can also refer to the anti-heroic figure of the living, whose existence remains incomplete and mundane as in the phrase “it was.” All three implications contribute to the reinterpretation of the flâneur in late twentieth-century contexts. My premise is that to experience the city as a flâneur, or to make flânerie possible in the city, one should concede being imperfect, anticipate imperfections, and come to terms with them. Four in-depth studies of contemporary novels and their respective cities constitute the main chapters. Chapter One reads Robert Majzels’s City of Forgetting and Montreal. I examine the ways in which homeless characters could be said to occupy – or, fail to occupy – contemporary Montreal from their dislodged position. Chapter Two focuses on Rohinton Mistry’s A Fine Balance and Bombay. My reading evolves around the question of hospitality in relation to the accommodation and un-accommodation of strangers in the city. Chapter Three brings us to XiXi’s Feituzhen series and Hong Kong: I address the special method of hopscotching as a unique form of imperfect flânerie in XiXi’s works. In Chapter Four, I study Orhan Pamuk’s The Black Book and Istanbul. Inspired by Edward Said’s notions of beginning, I frame my argument with the enquiry: how and when does a narrative begin? In lieu of Conclusion, I imagined a conversation between the writing subject of this dissertation and the imperfect flâneurs featured in each chapter.

University of Technology, Sydney. Dept. of Chemistry, Materials and Forensic Science.
This research has focused on the development of analytical methods for the quantification of benzodiazepines and opiates in forensic samples. Both these classes of drugs are regularly encountered in forensic toxicology, especially in cases of fatal heroin overdose, and thus quantitative methods for their analysis are particularly relevant. Chapter 1 outlines the nature of the heroin problem in Australia and the different drug policies currently employed to help reduce the problems associated with heroin use and overdose. The involvement of metabolic factors and CNS depressants, such as benzodiazepines, in heroin overdose is discussed. An introduction to post-mortem drug analysis, as well as a comprehensive review of previously published methods for the analysis of heroin, its metabolites and benzodiazepines in biological samples, is presented. Chapter 2 describes procedures for the synthesis of commonly encountered morphine and benzodiazepine metabolites as an alternative to purchasing these metabolites commercially. Yields of 48, 25, 74 and 70% were obtained for M3G, M6G, 7-aminonitrazepam and 7-aminoclonazepam respectively. Chapter 3 documents the development of a rapid capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) method for the analysis of nine benzodiazepines using dynamically prepared doubly-coated capillaries, consisting of a polycation of poly(diallyldimethylammonium chloride) (PDDAC) and a polyanion of dextran sulfate (DS). The addition of cyclodextrins to the background electrolyte (BGE) was also investigated as a means of improving analysis time. The validated method was successfully applied to the analysis of spiked beverages, with run times of less than 6.5 minutes. Chapter 4 describes the optimisation of a gradient HPLC separation of nine benzodiazepines using artificial neural networks (ANNs) in conjunction with experimental design. Various outputs and types of training data were investigated to yield the most appropriate ANN, which gave predictive errors of less than 5% for six of the nine analytes studied. A novel chromatographic function was also developed as a means of assessing the quality of chromatographic separations. The optimised method was validated for blood and successfully applied to authentic post-mortem samples. The limits of detection of the method ranged from 0.0057 to 0.023 pg/mL, and recoveries were in the order of 58 - 92%. Chapter 5 details the development of a simple and rapid HPLC method for the simultaneous determination of morphine, M3G, M6G and codeine. Following SPE, the analytes were determined in post-mortem blood samples taken from heroin- related deaths. Cases involving the use of benzodiazepines in conjunction with heroin were found to have lower ratios of M6G/MOR and M3G/MOR, suggesting rapid death following heroin administration. M6G/M3G ratios were calculated to investigate the possible contribution of M6G towards heroin overdose with respect to its potential analgesic activity. M6G/M3G ratios were higher in cases involving the use of heroin only.

碩士
中國文化大學
俄國語文學研究所
95
Dostoevsky is considered the philosopher of the Russian people. А.З.Штейнберг made the following remark to define the relationship between Dostoevsky and Russia: “To understand Russia, one must experience the Russia under Dostoevsky’s pen; once you understand Dostoevsky, you understand Russia.” В.С.Соловьев (Vladimir Solovyov) described the thought of a writer as: “Between God and a complete man there is Christianity and God must fully exist in the body of this complete man.” The concept here that needs further explanation is the “man” created by a writer has to maintain the “sparkle” in his undying soul and this sparkle can be found in the soul of even the vilest and the darkest human being. Dostoevsky's tenacity about man can be understood in his determination to “find humanity in man.” This determination had resulted in the unique and rich humanitarian spirit that can be detected in his works. He was convinced that in the soul of every man, even that of the most wicked and sinful ones, the so-called “God's sparkle” could be found. He was therefore absolutely confident in a man's final choice between the good and the evil. In her analysis of the Russian literary works, Н.В.Кулибина particularly chose words like awe and fear to explain: “In the realm of semantics, other languages only convey human emotions (or moods) as words suggest on the surface; yet in Russian, the same words, whether judging from the surrounding realities or historic roots, bear a uniqueness that is Russian alone.” With the help of these words, we are therefore able to have a firmer grasp of the life of differet eras. Dostoevsky's novels indeed carry this uniqueness. Д.С.Лихачев stated: In Dostoevsky's works, the worlds surrounding his protagonists, be it the human crowds, the natural conditions or the envoronments, contain an unthinkable “sense of shock.” The key words (Ключевые слова) form the foundation of the most important ideas of each novel. They ingeniously weave through the story line at a characteristically high frequency. Just as Е.Вольф pointed out: Key words can develop the microstructure as well as extend or compress the density of the story. They have the function of infiltrating through the entire literary work, create different schemes by way of semantic duplication, and concretize repeated semantic ideas throughout the story. Permanant semantic definitions are often developed in correspondence with the “vocabulary” and are directly linked to the author's intention. In his attempt to present reality in its maximum value, while making sure the practicality of the semantics and exact conveyance of the message, Dostoevsky adopted words with precise semantic definitions. From the analysis, the connection between the order and the frequency of words in the author’s choice of vocabulary is obvious. In the narrow context, the author uses at high frequency words with precise semantic definitions such as pain, disease and fear. The application of these words with comprehensive meanings (emotions and situations) can help expand literary ideas, achieve the plot function, and guide readers to see clearly how the essence of crime begins to induce negative emotions and experience the emotions Raskolnikov perceives.

The aim of this diploma thesis is to analyze and compare outstanding Anglo-American dystopias. The main attributes of dystopias, use of power, propaganda, censorship, and economic repercussions are described, as well as the hero's attitude towards society. This thesis analyses Golding's Lord of the Flies, Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984, Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451, Huxley's Brave New World and London's The Iron Heel. The thesis focuses on similarities and differences in those dystopias.