The following thesis represents an attempt to account for the novelist Don DeLillo's last three novels (Underworld (1999), The Body Artist (2001), and Cosmopolis (2003)) through the examination of what I conceive as DeLillo's philosophy of language. It is my assertion that the crucial and articulating aspect of DeLillo's philosophy of language is his investment in, and investigation of, irony. As I argue, DeLillo's novels presume a certain conjugation of what I refer to as the work of irony (the seemingly impossible work of tendering both the allegorical imperative of naming and the ironic imperative of Otherness) with the work of art. In other words, DeLillo's theory of language reveals his theory of art and, thus, his own theory of writing. This aesthetic philosophy becomes the critical tool with which DeLillo evaluates the various symbolic economies of a culture and its individuals caught within late capitalism. The impossibility of defining irony becomes, for DeLillo, a metaphor by which to understand language itself as what I refer to as a fallen and tender economy, constituted by an Otherness, which language can only tender. In his novels, DeLillo, I argue, suggests that language and subjectivity ought to be conceived of as forms of a faith in an Otherness, impossible to represent as such, to which all speech, violence, art, commodity and reproduction are indebted, and which we may mourn and represent - as we must - more or less faithfully, more or less blindly, and, by virtue of irony, more or less tenderly. The possibilities of faith and the ethical in art and representation, thus, for DeLillo, arise through an attention to an Otherness that can only be tendered through the very tenderness (fallenness, profanity, weakness) of allegory and language. To understand this is to understand the role of irony in DeLillo's philosophy, and also to understand DeLillo's profound commitment to language, his renovation of allegory through its mortification by irony and, thus, its remembering and mourning of Otherness. In this regard, DeLillo shares much with the melancholia of deconstruction as evinced within the language philosophies of Jacques Derrida and Paul de Man, in particular, Derrida's economic consideration, differance, and his notion of the work of mourning, both of which, I argue, offer the reader of DeLillo's texts ways of tendering the work of irony.

This thesis contributes to critical theoretical interpretation of Sophocles' Antigone. Analyzing texts by Kelly Oliver, Jacques Lacan, and Judith Butler, the thesis demonstrates how the work of these writers re-installs oppositional binarism, the form of thought that undergirds the hierarchical structure of Western metaphysics as exemplified in the dialectical philosophy of G. W. F. Hegel. Focusing on texts by Carol Jacobs, Martin Heidegger, and Jacques Derrida, the thesis analyzes the performative effect of Antigone, as sister figure, in the graphics of these works. Employing a deconstructive and performative critical approach, the thesis explores the theoretical productivity of a "sororal" graphics, that, dispersing and subverting binarism, opens the texts and their interpretation to alterity. The thesis demonstrates how critical reading of the performativity of Antigone as sister figure implicates ethicological discussion on justice in relation to family, genre/gender, classification, and inheritance.

This doctoral study, composed of four films and an exegesis, configures a new conceptualisation of death in and through film, assembling an intricate theorisation of ‘the mediated I’ and ‘the unmediated I’ of the witness. This thesis focuses on the consciousness of the witness, through locating a position and expression in reflective, reflexive, experiential, critical and artistic practice. My research questions the witness’s attempt to ‘manage’ the experience and tracks the self reflective process of thought s/he undertakes in the face of death, dying, coma and suffering. In probing the subjective experiences of the witness, the knowledge of disaster and the absent Other gives way to a moment of distinction between the spectator and the witness. The actual movement being proposed between the two is through the ways in which they both are activated through the reality of death. Critical and creative practice encourages a recognition of - and identification with - the possible meditations and negotiations of the witness. It aims to infuse a configuration of the witness by way of reflection in consciousness and artistic formulation. This thesis proposes a conceptual diagnosis as the original contribution to knowledge. I identify apathy as an anti-choice and unrecognised necessity of consciousness in the face of death, dying, coma and suffering. The research offers a new insight into the existential encounter of the witness. The aim of the practice component is to re-present and re-vision everyday encounters on television and in media alongside metaphors, possible meditations and negotiations to the subjective experience in and through filmic gaze. The visual propositions complement the written text by means of displaying the fear and anguish of the witness, and the attitude towards the Other, disaster and the irrecoverable death. The aim in turning this subject matter into an academic study has been to align two different perceptions: visual and theoretical practice. These two conceptual terms have offered distinct ways of handling the unsettling encounter from not only a witness’s point of view but also from the perspective of a researcher and the film-maker. Together, the visual and theoretical strategy reveal the workings of consciousness and creative meditation of the witness to identify the struggles against internal and external terror in being a witness. The research is interdisciplinary, deploying philosophy, literary and artistic theory. Yet it is not a contribution to the specialised discipline of philosophy, sociology or psychoanalysis of death, dying and suffering, but offers a critical and creative matrix combining inventive and reflexive approaches. This practice-based doctoral study challenges the artist and practitioner to create and then raise awareness through a dynamic, reflexive and interpretative discourse. It fuses genres, including autobiography, literary studies and visual arts. The relationship between the exegesis and films provide an innovative pathway through creative meditation and negotiation of the witness by integrating filmic presentations as an integral loop in the research. Every chapter frames a dialogue between already existing theories of death, dying and grief and filmic texts to transform experience into visuality through constructing a descriptive insight and artistic expression.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2009. / "Graduate Program in Comparative Literature." Includes bibliographical references (p. 146-154).

Thesis (M.A. in Christian Formation)--Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, 2004. / Abstract. Thesis supervisor: Daniel S. Schipani. Appendix 1: "A Questionnaire for People Who Are (or at One Time Were) Widowed." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 141-150, 191-194).

Thesis (M.A. in Christian Formation)--Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, 2004. / Abstract. Thesis supervisor: Daniel S. Schipani. Appendix 1: "A Questionnaire for People Who Are (or at One Time Were) Widowed." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 141-150, 191-194).

Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro / Esta tese tem como objetivo analisar as formas a partir das quais os evangélicos vivenciam a morte. Tendo em vista uma revisão da bibliografia, a autora aponta para o fato de que a ortodoxia pentecostal apresenta a morte como um evento irreversível diante do qual não existem possibilidades de negociação com o sagrado em favor dos que partiram nem mecanismos de interação entre vivos e mortos. Esse modelo contrasta com o que foi convencionalizado pela tradição católica e que é reconhecido como sendo indicativo da riqueza dos ritos de morte no Brasil. Nesta tese, a autora desenvolve um trabalho etnográfico no distrito da Praia de Mauá, em Magé, no Rio de Janeiro, procurando compreender como os evangélicos experimentam o enlutamento e o ritualizam para além do que rege a sua ortodoxia. Ao observar os contextos da cidade, do cemitério, das igrejas e das casas dos evangélicos durante processos de enterro e luto, a autora argumenta que o enfrentamento da morte e a avaliação do destino dos mortos levam em consideração negociações que têm como referência a cosmologia do catolicismo, que é re-interpretada a partir de diversos termos, tais como os modelos de pessoa socialmente aceitos e a possibilidade de conforto emocional dos enlutados. Neste sentido, na relação entre as religiões, a tese coloca em destaque antes dinâmicas de encapsulamento e compartilhamento do que de colapso e contraste. / This thesis is focused on the ways the evangelical people experience the death. The literature review evidenced that the Pentecostal orthodoxy presents the death as an irreversible event, so there are no possibilities to deal with the sacred in order to favor the ones who had already gone and no ways to interact them with the living ones. This point of view contrasts with the one that has been conventionalized by the Catholic tradition, recognized as indicating the richness of Brazilian deaths rites. Our research shows an ethnographic work in the district of Praia de Maua, in Magé, Rio de Janeiro, intending to contribute to the comprehension of how evangelicals experience the funeral patterns and ritualize them, exceeding their orthodoxy. Observing evangelicals city, cemetery, churches and homes during burial and mourning processes, it was possible to argue in this thesis that to face the death and to evaluate the deads fate take into account negotiations which refers to the Catholicism cosmology. The Catholicism cosmology is re-interpreted from a variety of terms, such as models of socially acceptable person and the possibility of emotional comfort among the bereaved ones. Therefore, in the relationship between religions, this work emphasizes the encapsulation and sharing dynamics rather than the collapse and contrast. .

This document explores and expands my perspective on dealing with mental health issues, grieving and sorrow through a material based practice. It portrays private spaces that grows and seeks universal connections. Feelings that is persevered between layers that takes physical form between the skin and the fabric. Adornments manifests themselves through the body, and when they are passive and sleeping, they dream of belonging.

A project around loss and absence. This work is a reflection on tradition, mourning and the importance to remember. Based on how crafts relate to society in ceremonial contexts by being a tool to communicate with others. By having a reflective relation with tradition this fiber works intend to transfer the innate poetic language of symbolic materials used in rituals around death and commemoration in Mexico into new forms through specific repetitive actions in the making. Delving into the unique physical qualities of onion skin, sugar, beeswax, corn husks and paper. Seeking to evoke an emotion by diverting our perception of ordinary materials.

En este artículo, sostenemos que las novelas Rosa Cuchillo y La hora azul proyectan procesos individuales de duelo en un orden social mítico que se limita a reproducir el fantasma de la nación cercada (Ubilluz) como (seudo) propuesta de solución al conflicto armado acontecido en el Perú entre 1980-2000. En Rosa Cuchillo, la protagonista Rosa Cuchillo atraviesa un proceso de duelo por haber perdido a su hijo subversivo, Liborio, mientras que, en La hora azul, el protagonista Adrián Ormache sufre un proceso de duelo a causa de una crisis de la figura paterna idealizada que tenía de su fallecido padre militar. Estas experiencias individuales de duelo tienen como desenlace la apertura al orden social a través del mito del eternoretorno (Debord), en Rosa Cuchillo, y del mito del progreso (Benjamin) en La hora azul. Situados en el tiempo mítico, se hacen tangibles los alcances sociales de las novelas entendidos como una reproducción de propuestas que no cuestionan el fantasma de la nación cercada: Rosa Cuchillo propone un pachacuti de runas, mientras que La hora azul propone una ética tutelar que mantiene el status quo. / In this paper, I propose that the novels Rosa Cuchillo and La hora azulproject individual processes of mourning in a mythical social order thatlimits itself to reproduce the phantom of the enclosed nation (Ubilluz) asa (seudo) proposal to solve the internal conflict that took place in Perubetween 1980-2000. In Rosa Cuchillo the main character, Rosa Cuchillo,goes through a process of mourning due to the loss of his terrorist son,Liborio, whereas in La hora azul the main character, Adrián Ormache,undergoes a process of mourning due to the crisis of the idealized paternalfigure he had of his dead military father. These individual experiences ofmourning result in an opening to the social order by means of the mythof the eternal return (Debord) in Rosa Cuchillo and the myth of progress(Benjamin) in La hora azul. Located in a mythical time, the social consequencesof the novels become apparent: they reproduce proposals thatdo not question the phantom of the enclosed nation, since Rosa Cuchilloproposes a pachacuti of runas, whereas La hora azul suggests a form oftutelary ethics that maintains the status quo.