How did British nineteenth-century literature articulate its relationship to the past? In Past and Present (1843), Thomas Carlyle introduces the Middle Ages through a description of what he believed the collar of a serf would have looked like, dwelling on the shine of the brass as it would have stood out against the green of the forest, as if it were a painting to be evaluated aesthetically for its color palette rather than part of a controversial defense of medieval feudalism. In Adam Bede (1859), George Eliot compares the eighteenth-century setting of her novel to a realist painting, pointing out the visual details that would appear unfamiliar to her contemporary readers, such a "mob-cap" or an old-fashioned spinning-wheel. These moments may appear like intermittent, typically Victorian examples of intrusive editorializing that risk repelling readers from engaging with the world of the past. But my dissertation shows that Carlyle and Eliot are part of a large and important body of Victorian historical texts that seek to engage their reader closer with their evocation of the past through the visual imagination. Romantic historiography had introduced the idea of seeing the past "in the mind's eye", and Victorian writers frequently asked their readers to explicitly treat the past as if it were itself an image. My dissertation argues that a tradition emerged during the nineteenth century which sought to develop that language of vision for a particular purpose: to observe the striking distance, and differences, between the past and the present. And the effect is not one of detachment but its opposite: historical distance is the connecting device that ties the reader to the text, across Victorian historical works. My dissertation moves through the Victorian period broadly conceived, from 1820 to the 1890s, and across genres of novels, poetry and non-fiction prose. This breadth of scope is a consequence of my argument. Many critics treat, for instance, Thomas Macaulay's constant shifts between past and present as a feature of his idiosyncratic style, or Elizabeth Gaskell's minute descriptions of Napoleon-era uniforms as distinctive of the genre of realism. But I show that Victorian literature that deals with the past needs to be understood across styles and genres, in the broader cultural context of their era's fascination with historical distance. Throughout the nineteenth century, the emphasis on the gap between past and present serves to engage, rather than repel, the reader's imaginative investment in the world of the past. The distance between the past and the present works to immerse the Victorian reader more fully in the imagined past, thereby cultivating a more actively critical engagement with history.

This dissertation expands the familiar concept of literary history in order to argue for the historiographic function of literary form in early modern poetry and drama. I propose that the “literary history” of early modern England is not merely the history of literature, but also these writers’ methods of evoking history by means of the literary. For Christopher Marlowe, George Herbert, and many of their contemporaries, the formal capacities of poetry offered methods for describing relationships between events in time, interpreting those events, and mobilizing those interpretations—in short, the formal capacities of poetry become ways of doing history. In the most familiar critical sense, literary history denotes canon-formations, literary influence, and the development of genres, trends, and fashions in poetic style. I demonstrate that early modern poets themselves recognized this sense of literary history, understanding their formal decisions in light of the history of poetic form. When Tudor and Stuart writers adopted a particular style or set of conventions, I argue, they did so with an awareness of how easily these styles could become—or had become—dated. While critics have demonstrated the political valences of writers’ recourse to specific genres and styles, I also insist on the specifically temporal and historical implications of poetic form as such, arguing that poets’ formal decisions, irrespective of earlier uses of those forms, encode ways of looking at and interpreting the past. The temporalities of verse—the way its meter produces forward momentum, its rhyme recalls earlier lines, its lyric voice arrests time—become, for the poets and dramatists I study, tools for understanding historical events and periods. By attending to the inherent temporality of poetry, I uncover the historical arguments poets and dramatists make, even in texts not overtly concerned with historical topics. Indeed, I suggest that the very structure of poetry can become a way of thinking about the past and the passage of time.

This dissertation considers Aeschylus’ Persae and portions of Herodotus’ Histories as attempts to shape memories of the Greco-Persian Wars by invocation of material evidence at very different moments in the fifth century BCE. Given the literary and archaeological nature of our surviving Greek evidence, this consideration is a necessary part of the larger project towards which I work: a history of Persian interactions with Greek sanctuaries during the Greco-Persian Wars. Greek archaeological evidence offers one set of comparative perspectives on these interactions. I attempt to place Aeschylus and Herodotus in dialogue with this evidence in chapters two and three. Herodotus, unlike Aeschylus, depicts respectful Achaemenid behavior at Greek sanctuaries during the Greco-Persian Wars. To contextualize this depiction, I examine earlier sources from the western Achaemenid Empire in chapter four. In so doing, I build on methodology demonstrated in the introductory chapter to consider a second set of comparative perspectives. Close reading of Herodotus in parallel to these sources provides a basis for fully examining types of behavior which have often been explained away in previous scholarship on the historian. Notably, Herodotus’ depiction, unlike our surviving earlier sources from the western Achaemenid Empire, often considers how such behavior relates to more violent aspects of conquest, and as such provides a contrast to these surviving earlier sources. I suggest that this contrast—Herodotus’ depiction of both sacrilege and respectful behavior—can be understood in his historical moment. And yet this suggestion is but a beginning.

Submitted by Miriam Lucas (miriam.lucas@unioeste.br) on 2017-08-24T17:48:46Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Eliane Davila Savio 2017.pdf: 1114768 bytes, checksum: fc8363dafb17b86226c01c74d8d43026 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-24T17:48:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Eliane Davila Savio 2017.pdf: 1114768 bytes, checksum: fc8363dafb17b86226c01c74d8d43026 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-03-20 / This dissertation intends to study the History of Paraguay and the literally works of Antônio Augusto Roa Bastos, by using as corpus his romance, I, the Supreme. This study has as a primary objective to demonstrate that, through interdisciplinarity it is possible to work History and Literature, broadening horizons and acquiring knowledge. It also intends to unravel a country that remains very much unknown, especially in educational institutions of the triple border, despite its many great authors, where Augusto Roa Bastos is just an example. To become familiar with his work and life is extremely important to the study of Hispanic-American Literature and, to understand it, it is necessary that said study is done in an interdisciplinary way, since his work it tied together with Paraguay’s History. Paraguay, a small country dominated by a dictatorial system for many years, which started with the Perpetual Dictator José Gaspar Rodriguez de Francia in 1811, when Paraguay’s independence from the Spanish Empire was decreed and ended with Alfredo Stroessner’s government in 1989. The data for this research was obtained through bibliographic fonts and readings of other thesis and dissertations (which are vast, showing that the author is objects of many studies in the academy). Because it is a theme that requires studying subjects related to History as social process and Literature as a form of expression for society – holder of historicity and a documental font for historic knowledge – this research show an analytical emphasis, with theoretical support from scholars from both areas. / Esta dissertação visa promover um estudo sobre a História do Paraguai e a Literatura do escritor Antônio Augusto Roa Bastos utilizando como corpus o romance de sua autoria Eu o Supremo. O estudo tem como objetivo primordial demonstrar que, por intermédio da interdisciplinaridade, é possível trabalhar a História e a Literatura e assim ampliar os horizontes quanto à aquisição de conhecimentos. Igualmente objetiva descortinar um país literariamente desconhecido, principalmente, no sistema educacional da tríplice fronteira, ao que pese a grandeza de seus escritores, entre eles Augusto Roa Bastos. Conhecer sua obra e sua trajetória literária é de suma importância para o estudo da Literatura Hispano-americana e, para entendê-la, faz-se necessário estudá-lo sob a perspectiva interdisciplinar, pois suas obras estão imbricadas com a História do Paraguai. País de pequena expressão na América Latina que foi por, anos dominado pelo sistema ditatorial, iniciando com o Ditador Perpétuo José Gaspar Rodriguez de Francia, em 1811, quando foi declarada a independência do Império Espanhol e findando com o governo de Alfredo Stroessner em 1989. Os dados para a pesquisa foram obtidos de fontes bibliográficas e leituras em dissertações e teses, o que por sinal é farto, demonstrando que o autor é objeto de vastos, mas inesgotáveis pesquisas no meio acadêmico. Por se tratar de um tema que envolve estudos relacionados à História como um processo social e a Literatura, como uma forma de expressão artística da sociedade, possuidora de historicidade e como fonte documental para a produção do conhecimento histórico, esta pesquisa apresenta um enfoque analítico, com suportes teóricos traçados por estudiosos do campo de ambas as ciências.

In this thesis I set out to study how the reading of fictional literature is viewed, legitimatized and operationalized in two educational domains: the recently revised steering documents that all Swedish teachers must relate to, as well as a selection of teaching materials designed for education in the Swedish language for upper secondary school. The teaching material I have studied has been recently updated in order to correspond with the new steering documents. I relate my analysis to previous research about the use of fiction in education, and I also combine my analysis of the two educational domains to see whether the underlying intentions of the steering documents have influenced the revision of the teaching material. The outcome indicates that the steering documents’ previous focus on culture has diminished although a certain insecurity as to how to use the concept and deal with the issue of whose culture should be taught can be identified. The hierarchy between different “subjects” within Swedish language education remains, as well as the ambivalent view on literary canon. The steering documents for upper secondary school Swedish remain remarkably uncritical where the reading of fiction is concerned. In my analysis of the teaching material, I find that while the new steering documents’ focus on methods and concepts from traditional literary criticism has affected the material, it has not resulted in an increase of text-centered assignments in the teaching material.

ABSTRACT Speculative fiction (science fiction, fantasy, and horror) has steadily gained popularity both in culture and as a subject for study in college. While many helpful resources on teaching a particular genre or teaching particular texts within a genre exist, college teachers who have not previously taught science fiction, fantasy, or horror will benefit from a broader pedagogical overview of speculative fiction, and that is what this resource provides. Teachers who have previously taught speculative fiction may also benefit from the selection of alternative texts presented here. This resource includes an argument for the consideration of more speculative fiction in college English classes, whether in composition, literature, or creative writing, as well as overviews of the main theoretical discussions and definitions of each genre. In addition, this work includes a short history of speculative fiction, bibliographies of suggested sample themes for each genre, sample course syllabi and assignment/activity suggestions, and strategies for obtaining and using hard-to-find texts for prospective teachers.

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / English Studies / Master / Master of Arts

This thesis investigates the impact of the Christian clergy on daily life in Anglo-Saxon England in the seventh and eight centuries AD. Noting from the outset an interpretative impasse in historical sources, the archaeological record is explored for what it may reveal concerning those areas and peoples most hidden from historical scholarship. Noting problems with techniques that assume clear distinctions between Christian and pagan ritual - in particular funerary ritual - the anthropology of religious phenomena and religious conversion is introduced to support and expand that critique, but also to focus attention on the sophistication of the problem to be addressed. It is argued that the social sciences are ill-equipped to investigate religious phenomena and that a more subtle, if more complicated, approach is required. Considering the coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England as an encounter between missionaries and their audience, we are encouraged to investigate the subtle tensions implicit in that relationship. The relationship is thus recast in terms of access to literacy, since this is a distinguishing factor of the clergy in England in the seventh and eighth centuries. Literacy, modelled as a set of discursive practices embedded in and re-produced through social relationships, is investigated from the perspective of the archaeology of surveillance. Two cases from Hampshire - Micheldever and Saxon Southampton (or Hamwic) - support the view that literacy can be used as a means of investigating the missionary encounter. It is proposed that, by the first half of the eighth century, the populations of these two areas were drawn into an intricate engagement with the clergy, facilitated by the bureaucratic and discursive deployment of literacy practices. Though necessarily more complicated than approaches that depend on the archaeology of the cemeteries to investigate the relationship between the clergy and the laity, this insight does at least do justice to the complexity of the issue being discussed.

This thesis examines accounts of the regal period in Cicero's de republica, Varro, Dionysius of Halicarnassus and Livy, as well as references to the period in Propertius IV and Ovid's Fasti. Cicero, Varro and Dionysius all present idealized accounts of the period, responding to the aetiological traditions concerning it, and making Rome's founders represent ideal originators, in different ways depending on the nature of their interests. Cicero acknowledges the problems of idealizing history, pointing to the influence of historical context on views of history. Dionysius' historiographical theories are examined, revealing a coherent theory in the light of which Dionysius' idealization can be seen as an informed attempt at an historical reconstruction. Livy too gives the regal period an originative function, to display in microcosm many themes important in later history. His interest in the origin of Rome's problems prevents him from idealizing the period. Instead he demonstrates political and social development under the kings which leads to a republic where the tensions of Rome's later history can be foreseen. Elegy had traditionally rejected history, but in Propertius IV history is included, much of it regal. Propertius establishes a particular relationship between the regal period and the elegist which is continued in Ovid's Fasti. Both poets reinterpret history, applying the self-conscious skill which had hitherto rejected historical material, and subverting expectations of the relationship of past to present. Ovid also displays kinship to themes of the Augustan revival, celebrating the present as the culmination of the past. The main unifying feature of all accounts is the dominance of the author's view of the present in shaping his version of history, stemming from the importance of the regal period as the period of Rome's origins. In the conclusion, these writings are placed within their Augustan context.

Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of St Andrews, May 2007.