No description available.

This thesis traces the emergence of a distinct literary tradition of female-authored short fiction in Wales. It knits together a range of theoretical frameworks, including travel writing theories, ethnography and auto-ethnography, and ecofeminism, in order to adequately describe, elucidate and critique the evolution of the form from the late 1830s to the present day. The Introduction looks at the history of the theory of short fiction, especially the work of Frank O’Connor and Clare Hanson, as well as European models. Chapter One explores the interrelations between an emergent short fiction form, the sketch and travel literature, through the lenses of imperial travel writing theories, home tour writing, the sketch and Sandra A. Zagarell’s ‘narrative of community’. Chapter Two looks at writers from the 1920s to 1950, examining the ways in which discourses of anthropology, specifically ethnography and auto-ethnography, combined with further elements of Zagarell’s theories, can shed light on narrative techniques and recurrent tropes. Chapter Three examines the politically volatile period of the 1960s and 1970s, focusing particularly on the ways in which short fiction is caught up in debates surrounding ecofeminism, the environment and women’s bodies. The final chapter looks at current trends in contemporary short fiction, especially language loss, devolution and a sense of belonging. This chapter also considers how recent prestigious competitions are shaping trends in short fiction, as well as uncovering recurring metaphors which tie into movements in wider feminist theory, such as Adrienne Rich’s work on salvage and recovery. The conclusion looks ahead to new directions in both theoretical stances and the form itself, such as electronic publishing and further avenues for recovering material.

This study investigates the practice of writing a novel with its starting point in family photographs. It consists of the novel itself in latest draft form as well as a theoretical commentary on the writing of it. The particular focus for discussion is how the visual informs the written text and how the visual and verbal together become ‘imagetext’.1 The novel is narrated in the first person by Lily Adams who learns from the many ancestral portraits in black and white that line the halls of her childhood home that what they embody is not visually representative of a past she has been encouraged to believe in, but rather of one she is now forced to question as the pictures speak to her, in their own voices, of a world re-focused through their own lens. A critical commentary follows in three chapters: a chapter on ‘punctum’ discusses motivation and photography as a technical and creative driver for this work, and the following one on ‘ekphrasis’ makes literary connections between two main drafts, one in third person (see Appendix) and the other (latest) in first person, looking in detail at the way ‘ekphrasis’ or visual to verbal translation has developed in these two versions. The growth of the idea from earlier beginnings is traced and related to the notion of ekphrasis as it has shaped the later drafts. The concluding chapter on ‘ekphrastic realism’ draws these strands together by making an attempt to situate my novel within the canonical intersection of ekphrasis and magical realism. These make a contribution to an understanding of the concept of ekphrasis by way of ekphrastic writing, known merely as an obscure literary genre.

La recherche vise la construction d'un nouveau paradigme de compréhension de la lecture et une définition cohérente du dialogisme par la réévaluation crjtique des méthodes et des perspectives analytiques et par la mise en relation de la linguistique actuelle (textuelle et cognitive) avec l’herméneutique, la sémiotique et la psychanalyse. On explicite les formes particulières de dialogisme impliquées dans le processus de lecture (dialogisme textuel, contextuel et intersubjectif). On analyse leur interdépendance dans le fonctionnement du texte littéraire afin de découvrjr les nouvelles possibilites de compréhension des textes littéraires permises par la perspective dialogique. / The search aims the construction of a new paradigm of understanding the act of reading and of coherent definition of dialogism by a crjtical review of the methods and of the analytjcal perspectives and by the connection between nowadays linguistics and hermeneutical or psychoanalytical approaches. We descrjbe the forms of dialogism (textual, contextual and intersubjective) and we analyze their interdependence in the act of reading in the order to discover new ways to understand the literature by a dialogical approach.

The dissertation "And the Sea looked : a novel in the making" is an exploration of the creative process of a prose fiction novel called „And the Sea Looked‟. Following the lives of three women, the novel reflects on the idea that universal Peace (the end of all wars) will only be possible if individuals, through the power of their choices in the way they live their ordinary lives, strive to transcend the separations and imperfections of the Material World, ultimately finding a universal unity ("oneness") in the ideal love existing in Plato‟s superior, Divine World. The psychological creative process behind the making of the novel is investigated in-depth and a short critical interpretation of the novel is included. / English Studies / M.A. (English)

La formule «narrateur non crédible » apparaît sous la plume du théoricien américain Wayne C. Booth, au début des années Soixante. Par-là, il entend rendre compte de situations dans lesquelles le lecteur repère une distance entre le récit que rapporte le narrateur et ce que le texte donne à entendre par ailleurs. Cet effet de distance repose sur la détection, par le lecteur, d’indices textuels corroborant son sentiment. Le problème principal est alors celui de l’interaction entre l’« interface » que constituent le texte et le lecteur qui l’actualise. Au-delà du pacte de lecture noué entre l'œuvre et son lecteur, entrent également en ligne de compte certaines attentes correspondant à l’expérience commune ou façonnées par la culture littéraire. L’objectif de cette thèse est ainsi d’élaborer une synthèse des travaux passés et actuels sur la notion de narrateur non fiable. Un premier axe décline les différentes hypothèses et méthodes d’approche des textes permettant d’expliquer que certains narrateurs apparaissent moins fiables que d’autres. Un deuxième axe s'inscrit dans une perspective typologique et présente différentes formes de non fiabilité, invitant en outre à repérer les indices présents au sein des textes. Une troisième partie se concentre sur la question de l’interaction entre données textuelles et choix interprétatifs du lecteur. Elle propose pour cela l’étude de plusieurs œuvres contemporaines aux pactes de lecture ambigus ou indécidables. Un dernier temps du travail interroge les enjeux esthétiques et anthropologiques des narrations non fiables, le procédé étant symptomatique des tensions et des interrogations qui traversent notre société. / The term « unreliable narrator » has been coined by the American theorist Wayne C. Booth, in the early Sixties. By this word, he intends to account for situations when the reader finds discrepancies between the narrative reported by the narrator and what the text suggests elsewhere. This distance effect is based on the reader’s detection of textual indices corroborating his feeling. The main problem is that of the interaction between the « interface » that constitutes the text and the reader who gives it an existence. Beyond the reading pact knotted between the work and its reader, there are also some expectations corresponding to the common experience or shaped by the literary culture. The aim of this thesis is to develop a synthesis of the past and actual studies about unreliable narrator. A first axis outlines the different hypothesis and the methodes of textual approach making it possible that some narrators appear less reliable than others. A second time is part of a typological perspective and present different forms of unreliability, inviting in addition to identify the clues present in the texts. A third part focuses on the interaction between textual data and the reader interpretative choices. For this purpose, it proposes the study of several contemporary works with ambiguous and indecidable reading pacts. A final part of work examines the aesthetic and anthropological issues of unreliable narratives, the process being symptomatic of the tensions ans questions that cross our society.

The dissertation "And the Sea looked : a novel in the making" is an exploration of the creative process of a prose fiction novel called „And the Sea Looked‟. Following the lives of three women, the novel reflects on the idea that universal Peace (the end of all wars) will only be possible if individuals, through the power of their choices in the way they live their ordinary lives, strive to transcend the separations and imperfections of the Material World, ultimately finding a universal unity ("oneness") in the ideal love existing in Plato‟s superior, Divine World. The psychological creative process behind the making of the novel is investigated in-depth and a short critical interpretation of the novel is included. / English Studies / M.A. (English)

Στην παρούσα εργασία μελετώνται θεωρητικές προϋποθέσεις για τη χρήση αφηγηματολογικών όρων και μεθόδων στην ανάλυση και τη διδασκαλία της ανεπτυγμένης/ λογοτεχνικής αφήγησης και προτείνεται ένα πλαίσιο προσέγγισής τους ως τμήματος μιας ευρύτερης διαδικασίας κριτικής ανάγνωσης της λογοτεχνίας. Στο διδακτικό παράδειγμα που παρουσιάζουμε, επιχειρείται μια εφαρμογή της αφηγηματικής υπερδομής και των τεχνικών της αφήγησης στο Μικρό Πρίγκιπα του Εξυπερί με μια μέθοδο ανάλυσης του αφηγηματικού λόγου που αντλεί από τις αρχές της Αφηγηματολογίας και κυρίως από τη θεωρία του Αφηγηματικού Λόγου του Gerard Genette. Στο επίκεντρο της προσέγγισης είναι το αφηγηματικό κείμενο: δεν είναι το αφηγηματικό περιεχόμενο, η «αφηγημένη ιστορία», αλλά η αφηγηματική γραφή, η πράξη του αφηγείσθαι, με απώτερο στόχο την ανάδειξη του τρόπου που συγκεκριμένα αφηγηματικά περιεχόμενα και τεχνικές παράγουν σημασία. Πρόκειται για μια «εσωτερική» ανάλυση του αφηγηματικού κειμένου, όπου αυτό που ενδιαφέρει δεν είναι η ερμηνεία του αλλά η αποκάλυψη των συμβάσεων που καθιστούν δυνατό το νόημά του. / The subject of the study in the present project is the theoretical preconditions for the use of narrative terms and methods in the analysis and teaching of literary narration. Furthermore, a frame of approach as part of wider process of critical reading of literature is proposed. In the teaching example that we present, an attempt is made to apply the narrative hyper structure and the techniques of narration in Le Petit Prince of Exupery using a method of analysis of narrative discourse that mainly draws from the principles of Narratology and mainly from the theory of Narrative Discourse of Gerard Genette. The narrative text is at the epicentre of the approach: it is not the narrative content, but the narrative form of writing, the act of narrating (narration), the ultimate goal of which is to highlight the way specific narrative content and techniques produce meaning. It is an ‘internal’ analysis of narrative text, the interest of which does not lie in its interpretation but the revelation of conventions that make its meaning possible.

Cette étude de l’œuvre d’Albert Cossery interroge les relations entre parole et silence qui la gouvernent. Sous cet angle, le paradoxe s’impose comme une clé de lecture essentielle. Il permet de questionner le statut d’une écriture suspendue à la menace de son extinction. Dans un premier temps, la thèse envisage la dimension existentielle de la création littéraire pour Cossery, ce qui soulève une triple problématique touchant l’autobiographie, le rapport au temps et l’inscription dans l’espace. A chaque fois, un même constat s’impose : écrire est aussi vital que subsidiaire, car le dandy Cossery entend faire de sa vie une œuvre, sublimer le monde tangible, et y affirmer sa liberté. En toute cohérence, ses huit récits principaux, que la deuxième partie analyse dans leur épaisseur diégétique, s’accordent à révéler l’imposture universelle, à promouvoir une résistance active à son règne avant de plaider pour une résistance passive. C’est une révolution solitaire qui se trouve proposée et qui redéfinit le rapport de l’individu au réel. Un tel parcours de création, orienté vers la paix intérieure et le silence littéraire, vise à l’épure. Dans la dernière partie, l’écriture de Cossery, examinée dans ses aspects historiques, génériques et stylistiques, apparaît promise à une esthétique de la faute, au risque de passer pour une faute d’esthétique. Sa finalité est, là encore, méta-discursive. Son but n’est plus de se multiplier en livres ni de se constituer en œuvre, mais de se taire et de se laisser vivre dans la réception. L’écriture fonde un pacte de lecture qui se résorbe dans sa propre finalité. En foi de quoi, elle dessine, dans sa progression, un mouvement spiralaire. Le silence qui suit l’écriture est celui d’un bonheur de vivre enfin réalisé. / To wonder about the writing status of Albert Cossery’s literary work and understand the connection between the words and the silence leads to three directions (autobiography, time, space) which come down to the same conclusion: it is as essential to write as it is to stop writing. The dandy Cossery turns his life into an art and transcends the world. Therefore, his eight main novels bring to light a universal deception, followed by an active resistance to face it and finally a passive resistance driving to freedom. It is an individual revolution that will help oneself to relocate within the world. This path to inner peace and literary silence is an outline. From a linguistic point of view (literary movement, genre and stylistic), Cossery’s writing includes deliberate errors that make it aesthetic. Its ending is here again outside literature. His intention is not only to build a literary work but to keep silent and live it the way it is perceived. In the end, three approaches of the writing have been presented and three similar and paradoxal conclusions have been found out: writing claims the end of its own writing. The overall theme of this thesis shapes it into a spiral. The silence that follows the writing enables the happiness of living.