Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 213-225). Also available in an electronic version.

The representation of female subjectivity in Latin America literature reflects a tension between the patriarchal dominant discourses that has shaped the imaginary of female subjects bodies and women writers that seek to control and change those dominant textual representations. The term autophagy gives rise to a conceptual framework for analyzing the visible (bodily) and the symbolic effects of writing and representing female subjects within authoritarian contexts. In my dissertation, through the analysis of women writers figurations of hunger, consumption, body image, and the writing process, I illustrate how female authors confront and respond to the mechanisms that have historically defined and constituted feminine subjectivity. The women writers studied include Alejandra Pizarnik, Clarice Lispector and Edwidge Danticat. In my analysis of their texts, I explore the way in which these authors have relied on a linguistic self-consciousness to confront the patriarchal discursive systems and the oppressive imaginary that is, at times, internalized. In exploring the symbolic field of female subjects, I show how eating disorders as defense mechanisms are part of the symptoms that serve to expel the internalized symbolic violence that hinders and often destroys the sense of completeness in women.

<p>Some works of fiction by Puerto Rican authors present characters that have one surprising characteristic in common: a void of individuality. What would constitute the core of these personae has been displaced to the point of annihilation by the neo-colonial political system which the U.S. maintains over Puerto Rico. The works studied in this masterâs thesis represent an attempt by the islandâs inhabitants to describe the lasting consequences of the relationship between master and slave, which is a fundamental part of the current political status of the island, through fiction. The texts, written between 1965 and 2012, use different methods to articulate the effect that modern colonialism has on Puerto Ricans. The first works studied, <i>Down These Mean Streets</i> (1967) and <i>Seven Long Times</i> (1974) by Piri Thomas, along with <i>Short Eyes</i> (1975) by Miguel Piñero, establish a literary dialogue with the famous <i>Autobiography of Malcolm X</i> (1965) to demonstrate the impossibility of âconversionâ, religious or otherwise, in the micro-society in penitentiaries, even though conversion is arguably the fundamental goal of prisons. The second chapter performs an in-depth analysis of the science fiction novel <i>Exquisito cadáver</i> (2001) by Rafael Acevedo, using the psychoanalytic theory of Julia Kristeva as presented in <i>New Maladies of the Soul</i> (1995), to show how the characters suffer from one of these maladies. In the third chapter, <i>The Head</i> (2005), <i>Trance</i> (2007) and <i>Wicked Weeds: A Zombie Novel</i> (2010), novels written by Pedro Cabiya, along with the first issue, âHambreâ (2012), of the graphic novel <i>Las extrañas y terribles aventuras de Ãnima sola</i> by the same author, use Zombie characters (both voodoo Zombies and âPhilosophical Zombiesâ) to emphasize the condition of absence of self amongst Puerto Ricans. These island authors have highlighted, via different means, the same problems with the same root cause: the neo-coloniality of Puerto Rico.</p> <p>Algunos textos de ficción por autores puertorriqueños presentan personajes que tienen una característica sorprendente en común: un vacuo de individualidad. Lo que constituiría el meollo de estos personajes ha sido desplazado hasta la aniquilación por el sistema político neo-colonial mantenido por los EE.UU. en que se encuentra Puerto Rico. Las obras estudiadas en esta tesis de maestría son un intento boricua de detallar a través de la ficción las consecuencias duraderas de la relación entre amo y siervo, la cual es parte fundamental del estatus político actual de la isla. Los textos, escritos entre 1965 y 2012, usan métodos diferentes para articular el efecto del colonialismo moderno sobre los puertorriqueños. Las primeras obras estudiadas, <i>Down These Mean Streets</i> (1967) y <i>Seven Long Times</i> (1974) de Piri Thomas, junto con <i>Short Eyes</i> (1975) de Miguel Piñero, entran en discusión con la célebre <i>Autobiography of Malcolm X</i> (1965) para demostrar la imposibilidad de la âconversiónâ, ya sea religiosa o social, en la microsociedad de la prisión, a pesar de que ésta sea la meta fundamental de la institución penitenciaria. El segundo capítulo analiza detalladamente la novela de ciencia ficción <i>Exquisito cadáver</i> (2001) de Rafael Acevedo, usando como base la teoría psicoanalítica de Julia Kristeva en <i>Las nuevas enfermedades del alma</i> (1995) para demostrar cómo los personajes en la novela padecen de una de estas enfermedades. En el tercer capítulo, <i>La cabeza</i> (2005), <i>Trance</i> (2007) y <i>Malas hierbas</i> (2010), novelas escritas por Pedro Cabiya, y el primer número, âHambreâ (2012), de la historieta <i>Las extrañas y terribles aventuras de Ãnima sola</i> por el mismo autor, utilizan personajes Zombis (tanto Zombis del vudú como Zombis filosóficos) para destacar la condición de ausencia de ser. Estos autores isleños enfatizan en formas diferentes los mismos problemas con la misma raíz: la neo-colonialidad de Puerto Rico.</p>

This dissertation investigates the representation of music in early modern Spanish and colonial Latin American literature. It takes a historicist approach, exploring the cultural connectedness of two central concepts: musical humanism (the Renaissance rebirth of Neoplatonic theory, including the Harmony of the Spheres and the power of music to influence human emotions) and imperial providentialism (the belief that God favored the Spanish Empire with divine providence). Using these two ideologies as a basis for interpreting the literary depiction of music, the dissertation argues that the humanistic concept of the power of music becomes intertwined with the power of empire. The interaction of these ideas can be observed in 1) the sixteenth-century music books for the vihuela, 2) the early seventeenth-century chronicles of colonial history by Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala and the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, and 3) the mid-seventeenth-century musical theater of the playwright Pedro Calderón de la Barca. In these examples, the âtrueâ music of Catholic Spain is imbued with the power to revive the glories of Rome in a Christian empire by erasing the presence of Jewish and Moorish music, to subjugate (or defend) indigenous peoples and their traditions in the New World conquest, and to promote harmony of the four continents under the guiding gaze of a powerful Baroque monarch. In each case, both Renaissance music and the Spanish Empire are portrayed as the heirs of the classical tradition, displaying an ideological view of the power of music.

University of Macau / Faculty of Arts and Humanities. / Department of Portuguese

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2007. / Full text release at OhioLINK's ETD Center delayed at author's request

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1997. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 280-287).

No description available.

Typescript (photocopy) / Bibliography: p. 308-318. / xvi, 318 leaves tables 28 cm

No description available.