<p> This thesis, by analyzing how rape is treated in William Shakespeare&rsquo;s <i> Titus Andronicus</i> (1592-3), Thomas Middleton and William Rowley&rsquo;s <i> The Changeling</i> (1622), and Aphra Behn&rsquo;s <i>The Rover</i> (1677), details how the early modern English theater frequently dramatizes the period&rsquo;s problematic understanding of rape. These texts reveal the social and legal illegibility of rape, illuminating just how deeply ambivalent and inconsistent patriarchy is toward female sexuality. Both using and departing from a feminist critical tradition that emphasized rape as patriarchy&rsquo;s sexual entrapment of women, my readings of the period&rsquo;s legal treatises and other documents call attention to the ambiguity of how rape is defined in early modern England. As represented in these three plays, male rapists exploit the period&rsquo;s paradoxical views of female sexual consent, thus complicating how raped women negotiate their social and legal status. The process of disclosing her violation ultimately places a raped woman in an untenable position.</p>

<p> This dissertation focuses on Thomas Mann&rsquo;s <i>Joseph and His Brothers</i> and addresses the following questions: what does Mann&rsquo;s novel have to offer to the field of comparative mythology and how might this biblical retelling be relevant for contemporary readers? One approach the dissertation takes in addressing these questions is examining the novel&rsquo;s relationship to the biblical book of Genesis and to Jewish midrashic traditions. Through a biographical study of Thomas Mann, the dissertation also examines his primary motivations in writing the novel in the first place. The dissertation focuses on detailed discussion of particular stories in Mann&rsquo;s retelling and how his versions expand the biblical narrative by weaving in parallels from other myths spanning multiple traditions. This ultimately leads to an exploration of the novel&rsquo;s contemporary significance. </p><p> Considering modern day parallels to the nationalistic one-sidedness of Thomas Mann&rsquo;s time, the study concludes that Mann&rsquo;s Joseph tetralogy is just as relevant today as when it was originally written. The assertions made throughout the dissertation point to how this novel can serve as a model for how myths of diverse religious traditions can respectfully interact. </p>

<p> This is a study of the rise of science fiction as a subculture in the 1960s through an analysis of the first and longest-running commercial science fiction magazine in Japan: <i>SF Magazine.</i> Much of the research on science fiction in Japan focuses on the boom in the 1980s or on the very first science fictional texts created in the early years of the twentieth century, glossing over this pivotal decade. From 1959-1969, <i>SF Magazine </i>&rsquo;s covers created a visual legacy of the relationship of the human body to space that reveals larger concerns about technology, science, and humanity. This legacy centers around the mediation of human existence through technology (called the posthuman), which also transforms our understanding of gender and space in contemporary works. I examine the constellation of Japanese conceptions of the body in science fiction, its manifestations and limits, exploring how the representation of this Japanese, posthuman, and often cyborgian body is figured as an absence in the space of science fiction landscapes. <i>SF Magazine</i> was used by consumers to construct meanings of self, social identity, and social relations. Science fiction illustration complemented and supported the centrality of <i>SF Magazine,</i> making these illustrations integral to the production the of science fiction subculture and to the place of the body within Japanese science fiction. Their representation of space, and then in the later part of the 1960s the return of the body to these covers, mirrors the theoretical and emotional concerns of not just science fiction writers and readers in the 1960s, but the larger social and historical concerns present in the country at large.</p><p> The horrifying and painful mutability of bodies that came to light after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki manifests, in the latter years of the 1960s in science fiction, as the fantastically powerful mutating bodies of super heroes and cyborgs within the science fictional world. The bombed spaces of the postwar (largely ignored in mainstream 1960s media) were reimagined in productive ways on the covers of <i>SF Magazine,</i> mirroring the fiction and nonfictional contents. It is through this publication that a recognizable community emerges, a particular type of identity becomes associated with the science fiction fan that coalesced when the magazine began to offer different points of articulation, both through the covers and through the magazine&rsquo;s contents. That notion of the science fiction fan as a particular subjectivity, as a particular way to navigate the world, created a space to articulate trauma and to investigate ways out of that trauma not available in mainstream works.</p><p> My work seeks to build on literary scholarship that considers the role commercial and pulp genres fiction play in negotiating and constructing community. I contribute to recent scholarship in art history that investigates the close relationship of Surrealism to mass culture movements in postwar Japan, although these art historians largely center their work on advertising in the pre-war context. Furthermore, my project reconsiders the importance of the visual to a definition of science fiction: it is only when the visual and textual are blended that a recognizable version of science fiction emerges &ndash; in the same way the magazine featuring the work of fans blurred the boundary between professional and fan. Hence, although the context of my study is 1960s Japan, my research is inseparable from larger investigations of the visual and the textual, the global understanding of science fiction, the relationship between high art and commercial culture, and contemporary media studies. This work is therefore of interest not only to literary science fiction scholars, but also to researchers in critical theory, visual studies, fan studies, and contemporary Japanese culture.</p>

<p> This study examines the representation of women in Emile Zola&rsquo;s famous series Les Rougon-Macquart. Critics have described Zola&rsquo;s novels and their presentation of women as misogynist, yet this judgment obscures many of the textual details establishing the female protagonists&rsquo; relationships to industrial capitalism and the rapidly changing social landscape in late nineteenth century France. This study reexamines the narrative synthesis between Zola&rsquo;s naturalist &ldquo;objective&rdquo; narrator and his female protagonists. It also highlights one particular pairing that of Adelaide Fouque and her opportunist daughter-in-law, Felicit&eacute; Puch: Whereas Adelaide, the biological matriarch of the family who figures in each of the twenty novels, does not have an active voice, Felicit&eacute; as maternal <i>protectrice</i> of the family speaks frankly, even aggressively. Zola uses this pairing to link one generation to the next, a key structural element of his naturalist project. Ultimately, Zola&rsquo;s representation of women is more complex than might otherwise be understood.</p>

This paper explores the various relationships found in John Steinbeck's "Of Mice and Men," Tennessee Williams's "A Streetcar Named Desire," Franz Kafka's "The Metamorphosis," and F. Scott Fitzgerald's "Tender is the Night." The exploration of each demonstrates the common theme of parasitic relations and the toll this dynamic takes on the persons involved.

Orientador: Diana Junkes Bueno Martha / Banca: Maria Celeste Tommasello Ramos / Banca: Antonio Roberto Esteves / Resumo: Neste trabalho de pesquisa, o objetivo é analisar e comparar aspectos dos projetos literários de Jorge Luis Borges e Haroldo de Campos, dando ênfase ao modo pelo qual os dois escritores se relacionam com a tradição literária para construir em suas obras uma releitura do cânone a partir de um movimento que Borges enunciou no conhecido texto "Kafka y sus precursores" e Haroldo de Campos denominou Poética Sincrônica. Assim, o trabalho atrelará, centralmente, o desenvolvimento do projeto literário de ambos em relação ao seu paideuma, procurando apontar como cada um percebe a importância da tradição estabelecendo relações entre o aspecto local das culturas nas quais estão inseridos e o universal. Para realizar este estudo, utilizaremos, como base, alguns caminhos teóricos, colocando-os em diálogo: em primeiro lugar, um estudo de cunho histórico-crítico para contextualizar as obras do escritor argentino e brasileiro, apontando, a partir desse estudo histórico, as relações entre literatura, cultura e sociedade que suas obras deixam entrever. Em seguida, será feito um estudo de alguns textos críticos desses autores, para esclarecermos de que modo percebem a relação com a tradição. Para isso será necessário contar o suporte de referências da teoria da literatura, sobretudo aqueles voltados para a compreensão da relação do escritor moderno e contemporâneo com a tradição, tais como Harold Bloom (A angústia da influência); Leyla Perrone-Moisés (Altas Literaturas); Ezra Pound (ABC da Literatura); T.S. Eliot (Tradição e Talento Individual); Ítalo Calvino (Por que Ler os clássicos) e Octavio Paz (Os Filhos do Barro). Em um primeiro momento, descreveremos a poética de leitura borgiana e haroldiana. Depois, executaremos uma comparação entre ambas poéticas a partir da leitura que ambos os autores fazem do escritor Dante Alighieri e de sua obra A Divina Comédia, com o intuito de ilustrar, em linhas gerais... / Abstract: En este trabajo de investigación, el objetivo es analizar y comparar aspectos de los proyectos literarios de Jorge Luis Borges y Haroldo de Campos, dando énfasis al modo por el cual los dos escritores se relacionan con la tradición literaria para construir en sus obras una relectura del canon a partir de un movimiento que Borges enunció en el conocido texto "Kafka y sus precursores" y Haroldo de Campos denominó Poética Sincrónica. Así, el trabajo destacará, centralmente, el desarrollo del proyecto literario de ambos en relación a su paideuma, buscando apuntar cómo cada uno percibe la importancia de la tradición estableciendo relaciones entre el aspecto local de las culturas en las cuales están insertos y lo universal. Para realizar este estudio, utilizaremos, como base, algunos caminos teóricos, colocándolos en diálogo: en primer lugar, un estudio de cuño histórico-crítico para contextualizar las obras del escritor argentino y brasilero, apuntando, a partir de ese estudio histórico, las relaciones entre literatura, cultura y sociedad que sus obras dejan vislumbrar. En seguida, será hecho un estudio de algunos textos críticos de los autores, para que podamos esclarecer de qué modo perciben la relación con la tradición. Para eso será necesario contar con el soporte de referencias de la teoría de la literatura, principalmente aquellos dirigidos para la comprensión de la relación del escritor moderno y contemporáneo con la tradición, tales como Harold Bloom (La angustia de la influencia); Leyla Perrone-Moisés (Altas Literaturas); Ezra Pound (ABC de la Literatura) y Octavio Paz (Los hijos del limo). En un primer momento, describiremos la poética de lectura borgeana y haroldiana. Después, ejecutaremos una comparación entre ambas poéticas a partir de la lectura que ambos autores hacen del escritor Dante Alighieri y su obra La Divina Comedia, con el interés de ilustrar, en líneas generales, la discusión... / Mestre

This dissertation is an interdisciplinary and comparative study of German and Italian memory culture after 1945. It examines how the interaction between memorials, litera-ture, historiography, and popular culture shapes a society's memory and identity. I focus on two marginalized aspects of the memory of the Holocaust: the Nazi "euthanasia" program directed against the mentally ill and disabled, and the Fascist persecution of Slovenes, Croats, and Jews in and around Trieste. I couple my analysis of memorials to these atrocities with an examination of the literary and artistic representations of the traumatic events in question. My work thus expands the definition of site of memory to encompass not only the specific geographical location of a historical event but also the assemblage of cultural artefacts and discourses that accumulate around it over time. A "site" therefore denotes a physical and a cultural space that is continuously re-defined and rewritten. The two memorials I analyze, Grafeneck and the Risiera di San Sabba, bookend the Holocaust, revealing a trajectory from the systematic elimination of socially undesirable people, such as the mentally ill and disabled, to the full-scale racial purification of the "final solution." The lack of survivor testimony about these sites has been a major factor in their continued marginalization within the discourse on Holocaust memory, which is why it is all the more important to consider the way these events figure in other genres and other media, such as novels, short stories, poems, biographies, TV-dramas, and theatre plays. This approach allows me to shed new light on canonical works such as Günter Grass's The Tin Drum or the TV-Series Holocaust and to bring into focus works that have so far not received the critical attention they deserve. Through my analysis I show how certain authors participate in a process of vicarious witnessing, lending their voice to those who were not able or permitted to speak for themselves. By bringing these underrepresented sites and memories into focus, I not only argue for a more inclusive memory culture but also reveal how the politics of commemoration continue to lead to the exclusion of persecuted minorities. Thus, my dissertation participates in the broader project within Holocaust studies of opening the discourse to de-particularized, transnational perspectives and other victim groups.

This dissertation considers discourses bearing on the social dynamics of immigration and postcolonial diversity in contemporary France in light of their interconnections with issues of sexuality and assimilation. Synthesizing and building on recent work by anthropologists, sociologists and cultural theorists it explores the current debate over French identity--a debate that has to a considerable extent revolved around the impact of recent postwar immigration to France and the "integration" of immigrants on the cultural level, and of which a recent symptom has been the Sarkozy government's launch of a public national debate about "l'identité nationale" (national identity). Overall, my project focuses on the intermingling of the cultural and the political in cultural representations of immigrants and their descendants. Specifically, I consider the highly charged terrain of the representation of sexuality. In the discourse on laïcité (secularism) and integration, gender norms and tolerance of homosexuality have emerged as key components and are now often employed to highlight immigrants' "un-French" attitudes. I argue that, as French and immigrant identities have been called into question, sexuality has constituted a favored prism through which to establish the existence of difference. Through the study of cultural representations of immigration, I will explain how the potential of immigrants and their descendants to assimilate is often judged according to the "fitness" of their attitudes about sexuality. I will further argue that the successful assimilation of immigrants often follows a "required" phase of sexualization, in which the sexuality of the immigrant becomes his or her main marker, the primary factor through which the immigrant is intelligible, beyond other possibly relevant criteria.

With the discovery of the earliest known manuscript version of Et les chiens se taisaient, we learn that Césaire had started thinking about the theater earlier than had been assumed, and most important, that he had originally envisioned this work as a historical drama based on the Haitian Revolution. “Migrant Textuality” explores the several versions and fragments of the play—from the manuscript to its last authorial instantiation in OEuvres Complètes in 1976—in order to shed light on the author’s troubled relationship with the history the play refers to and the historical circumstances of its production, and to outline a topology of the many migrations of text and documents in this monumental work. The first chapter reconstructs the genesis of the manuscript by careful analysis of the textual and material evidence. The second chapter grounds the first generic shift evinced by the work, from manuscript to the first published version in the poetry collection Les Armes miraculeuses, in the context of authorial responses to shifting editorial environments in the American hemisphere. The third chapter, “Legology,” departs from the particularity of the text to theorize textual blocks in general. The fourth chapter advocates for a form of reading that oscillates between macro- and microscopic approaches, using the topologies created in the previous chapter as proof-of-concept. The critical/digital work of the dissertation lays the foundation for a future digital edition of Césaire’s powerful poetic study of the radical anti-colonial rebel.

This dissertation investigates the use of sentimentalist tropes in the work of Viktor Shklovsky, Nikolai Karamzin, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau in order to draw conclusions regarding the overlaps between eighteenth- and twentieth-century aesthetic imperatives. Specifically, it looks at love's literary forms--epistolary, triolet, conte--as models and spaces for autobiography, and compares love and self-expression as two literary phenomena that, for these three authors, demand the undoing of cultural mores as the means for their artistic portrayal. For the bulk of my analysis, I take the three authors' "Julie" texts--Rousseau's Julie, or The New Héloïse, Karamzin's "Julia," and Shklovsky's Zoo, or Letters Not About Love, a Third Eloise--in which love and self-expression meet to enact what I callSentimentalism made strange. Using estrangement (ostranenie), the literary device identified by Shklovsky, as an organizing principle, I investigate the cultural shift towards an underlying crude, elemental, and ultimately `savage' aesthetic that is treated in the work of the three authors I examine, and which sanctions a shift towards de-acculturation, de-institutionalization, and disarticulation that is seen in both sentimental and formalist fiction and criticism. While Rousseau factors into my analysis as the model sentimentalist, as the basis for Karamzin's and Shklovsky's own forays into Sentimentalism, in his effort to capture an authentic literary self he also estranges Sentimentalism's canonical forms, revealing, along with Karamzin, proto-formalist tendencies.