Zugl.: Berlin, Freie Universiẗat, Diss., 1995.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2006. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains iv, 228 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 219-228).

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This study discusses works by Martin Amis and Don DeLillo in the context of several key scientific and technological transformations that occur in the aftermath of the Second World War. I begin by revisiting one of the most-discussed aspects of DeLillo's work: the currents conspiracy and paranoia that recur in his novels and, he claims, pervade the wider culture. By demonstrating how paranoid narratives strive to accommodate contemporary technologies, I create a context in which the paranoia addressed in works such as Libra and Underworld becomes intelligible as a response to the specific technological character of surveilance and control in the post-War period. The sciences of information and cybernetics also cohere in the years folowing the War, and the second chapter explores the creative tension between metaphors of entropy and information in Amis's fiction as wel as DeLillo's. The third chapter focuses on television as a constitutive element of postmodernity, and traces how DeLillo and Amis adopt narrative strategies that enable them to represent subjects who have grown accustomed to living within an environment mediated, to an unprecedented degree, by visual imagery supplied by or formatted for television. Another product of postmodern technology, commercial air travel reconfigures relationships to place and to time for inhabitants of industrialized countries. Both the liberating and limiting consequences of living in the latter half of the century of flight are addressed in the fourth chapter. The final chapter offers an assessment of the role contemporary media and technology play in establishing the characteristics associated with postmodernity, and concludes with a brief discussion of the role the internet might play within the context of the specific technologies discussed in the body of the thesis.

Thesis (M.A.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Department of English, General Literature and Rhetoric, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:29:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2006-05-23Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T21:00:15Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 ribeiro_ra_me_sjrp.pdf: 445246 bytes, checksum: 62f8cef13de473ce4ad941026749cfc4 (MD5) / A partir de teorias sobre o pós-moderno e sobre as relações entre Literatura e História, realiza-se a análise da obra Running Dog (1978), do autor norte-americano Don DeLillo, a fim de verificar quais elementos históricos, culturais, sociais e políticos estão presentes na narrativa. Aborda-se também como esses aspectos são estruturados de maneira estética, ou seja, qual é o projeto ficcional do autor. O romance traz uma busca por um filme supostamente pornográfico que teria Hitler como uma de suas personagens. Na verdade, quando o filme é encontrado, vemos o líder nazista frágil, debilitado, imitando Charlie Chaplin em O Grande Ditador (1940), revelando, assim, uma outra imagem do Führer. O trabalho apresenta uma discussão sobre a postura crítica do autor frente à História oficial, bem como à cultura contemporânea. / This thesis presents an analysis of the novel Running Dog (1978), by Don DeLillo, based on theories that focus on postmodern issues, Literature and History, in order to verify which historical, social and political elements are aproached in the book. It is discussed how these aspects are aesthetically structured, that is, what the author's fictional project is. The narrative shows the search for an alleged pornographic film that would have Hitler as one of its characters. In fact, when the film is found, we see a debilitated, fragile Nazi leader, imitating Charles Chaplin in The Great Dictator (1940). Thus, the author discloses another image of the Führer. This study also addresses DeLillo's criticism towards official History and contemporary culture.

This study discusses works by Martin Amis and Don DeLillo in the context of several key scientific and technological transformations that occur in the aftermath of the Second World War. I begin by revisiting one of the most-discussed aspects of DeLillo's work: the currents conspiracy and paranoia that recur in his novels and, he claims, pervade the wider culture. By demonstrating how paranoid narratives strive to accommodate contemporary technologies, I create a context in which the paranoia addressed in works such as Libra and Underworld becomes intelligible as a response to the specific technological character of surveilance and control in the post-War period. The sciences of information and cybernetics also cohere in the years folowing the War, and the second chapter explores the creative tension between metaphors of entropy and information in Amis's fiction as wel as DeLillo's. The third chapter focuses on television as a constitutive element of postmodernity, and traces how DeLillo and Amis adopt narrative strategies that enable them to represent subjects who have grown accustomed to living within an environment mediated, to an unprecedented degree, by visual imagery supplied by or formatted for television. Another product of postmodern technology, commercial air travel reconfigures relationships to place and to time for inhabitants of industrialized countries. Both the liberating and limiting consequences of living in the latter half of the century of flight are addressed in the fourth chapter. The final chapter offers an assessment of the role contemporary media and technology play in establishing the characteristics associated with postmodernity, and concludes with a brief discussion of the role the internet might play within the context of the specific technologies discussed in the body of the thesis. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

Made available in DSpace on 2017-03-14T14:10:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2012-02-17. Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2017-03-14T14:42:42Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000685750.pdf: 67781 bytes, checksum: 3c54d1cb16730767c0361aa0d3ec3549 (MD5) Bitstreams deleted on 2017-07-28T12:36:26Z: 000685750_20161231.pdf,. Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2017-07-28T12:37:14Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000685750.pdf: 55765135 bytes, checksum: 4bf6c4444b278ebc053c3f7c0ff2844b (MD5) Bitstreams deleted on 2017-08-07T14:09:17Z: 000685750.pdf,. Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2017-08-07T14:10:21Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000685750.pdf: 55765135 bytes, checksum: 4bf6c4444b278ebc053c3f7c0ff2844b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:29:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2012-02-17Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T20:39:38Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 mariano_mco_me_sjrp_parcial.pdf: 61686 bytes, checksum: 85be7b5b66db2f567cf2e052286f85d3 (MD5) Bitstreams deleted on 2015-02-09T14:35:41Z: mariano_mco_me_sjrp_parcial.pdf,Bitstream added on 2015-02-09T14:36:21Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000685750_20161231.pdf: 1506390 bytes, checksum: 5a7c60850c69475431d99fde8a4b98d6 (MD5) Bitstreams deleted on 2015-02-09T17:15:04Z: 000685750_20161231.pdf,Bitstream added on 2015-02-09T17:15:41Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000685750_20161231.pdf: 1506390 bytes, checksum: 5a7c60850c69475431d99fde8a4b98d6 (MD5) / Item merged in doublecheck by Luiz Galeffi (luizgaleffi@gmail.com) on 2017-07-26T12:49:03Z Item was identical to item(s): 149682, 98273 at handle(s): http://hdl.handle.net/11449/149233, http://hdl.handle.net/11449/99137 / Os atentados de 11 de setembro originaram diversas manifestações artísticas buscando não apenas explicações para a tragédia, mas também tentando repensar os acontecimentos. Neste sentido, esta pesquisa apresenta uma investigação a respeito da maneira como um romance e um documentário se apropriaram desse episódio para reavaliá-lo. Com os ataques, os Estados Unidos experimentaram uma forte sensação de vulnerabilidade, desencadeando reações do governo americano, que formulou com bastante rapidez uma nova doutrina de segurança nacional, baseada no combate ao terrorismo. Esta dissertação analisa as estratégias narrativas utilizadas pelo autor americano Don DeLillo no romance Falling Man (2007), e pelo cineasta Michael Moore, no documentário Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), e como eles abordam fatores históricos, socioeconômicos e políticos que desencadearam a tragédia, a fim de reexaminá-la. Textos teóricos e críticos sobre a relação entre Literatura e História, ficção Pós-Moderna, aspectos do documentário e questões sobre terrorismo fundamentam as discussões apresentadas no trabalho. Este estudo objetiva ampliar os questionamentos acerca dos fatos que levaram à catástrofe e suas consequências, examinando personagens e grupos ligados ao 11 de setembro, revelando múltiplas verdades, condicionadas social, ideológica e historicamente / September 11 has originated a wide range of artistic manifestations which have not only searched for plausible explanations for the tragedy, but also tried to review the events. In this sense, this thesis aims at showing how a novel and a documentary reevaluate this episode. The attacks made the United States experience a strong sense of vulnerability, triggering reactions from the American government, who quickly established a new national security strategy, associated with the war on terror. This thesis analyzes the narrative strategies employed by the American author Don DeLillo in his novel Falling Man (2007) and by the filmmaker Michael Moore in the documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004), as well as the way they approach socioeconomic and political factors that caused the tragedy in order to reevaluate it. The debate of the topics is based on texts concerning the relationship between literature and history, postmodern fiction, documentary aspects and issues on terrorism. This study contributes to enrich the discussion related to the events that led to the catastrophe and its aftermath, examining characters and groups linked to the September 11 terrorist attacks, revealing multiple truths subjected to social, ideological and historical conditions

Ce mémoire de maîtrise démontre la continuité du mythe de la frontière dans la littérature américaine produite après la Seconde Guerre mondiale et il identifie le concept d'hyperréalité de Jean Baudrillard en tant que nouvelle frontière américaine. L’hyperréalité désigne un monde produit par la simulation et le simulacre que la population perçoit comme étant réel. J’analyserai les poèmes « Howl » (1955), « A Supermarket in California » (1955) et « America » (1956) d'Allen Ginsberg ainsi que les romans Mao II de Don DeLillo (1991) et Survivor (1999) de Chuck Palahniuk afin d’expliquer de quelles manières chacune de ces œuvres dénonce le climat socio-culturel qui produit l’hyperréalité et comment, du même coup, celles-ci récupèrent des éléments du mythe de la frontière. L’organisation chronologique des chapitres me permet d’établir que l’hyperréalité a joué le rôle de nouvelle frontière dans la psyché américaine à partir des années 50 jusqu’à la fin des années 90. L’opposition dialectique entre un Ancien Monde corrompu et un Nouveau Monde utopique, un élément fondamental du mythe de la frontière, est au cœur de chacune des œuvres étudiées. De plus, dans chacune d'elles, le ou la protagoniste parvient à redéfinir le sens de sa réalité en traversant la frontière entre l’Ancien et le Nouveau Monde ce qui évoque la fonction d’autodétermination attachée à la frontière. L’argumentaire de ce mémoire repose sur la notion que l'hyperréalité correspond à l’Ancien Monde et que celle-ci voile l’existence possible d’un Nouveau Monde. Dans les œuvres de Ginsberg, DeLillo et Palahniuk que j’ai choisi d’analyser, la société américaine est assujettie à une hyperréalité qui est omniprésente. Dans cet Ancien Monde, la population s’identifie et se définie par rapport à des images et des produits à la fois fabriqués et célébrés par les médias et la culture de masse. Les protagonistes de ces auteurs s’opposent tous à l’idéologie conformiste et déshumanisante de la société de consommation. Je définis ce rejet comme une réactualisation du mythe de la frontière puisqu’il symbolise le passage entre un Vieux Monde hyperréel et un Nouveau Monde. Dans ce nouveau paradigme, les protagonistes de Ginsberg, DeLillo et Palahniuk sont en mesure d’affirmer leur individualité. / This thesis demonstrates the persistence of frontier mythology in post-WWII American literature and identifies Jean Baudrillard’s concept of hyperreality as the new American frontier. Hyperreality designates a world fabricated through simulation and simulacra that people have accepted as real. Through close-reading analyses of Allen Ginsberg’s poems “Howl” (1955), “A Supermarket in California” (1955), and “America” (1956) as well as Don DeLillo’s Mao II (1991) and Chuck Palahniuk`s Survivor (1999), I explain how the critiques of the socio-cultural climate that produces hyperreality present in each of these works recuperate elements of frontier mythology. My chapter organization allows me to establish the persistence of hyperreality as the new frontier in American consciousness from the 1950s to the late 1990s. The dialectical opposition between a corrupt Old World and a utopian New World, which is fundamental to frontier mythology, is central in each the studied works. Also, in each of them, crossing the frontier between the Old and the New World allows the protagonist to re-define the meaning of his/her reality according to his/her vision, which is evocative of the empowering function the frontier. This thesis is founded upon the idea that hyperreality corresponds to the Old World and, as such, that it veils the existence of a possible New World. The American society depicted in Ginsberg’s, DeLillo’s, and Palahniuk’s chosen works is one where hyperreality is omnipresent; in this Old World, individuals identify with images and products both fabricated and celebrated by media and consumer cultures. These authors’ protagonists all oppose the conformist and dehumanizing ideology such cultures endorse. This thesis conceptualizes their rejection as a re-actualization of frontier mythology that symbolizes their passage from the hyperreal Old World to the New World. In this new paradigm, the protagonists can then re-define themselves and their realities based on their own self-determined visions and ideals rather than on those disseminated in media and consumer cultures.

Thesis (MA (English))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis explores the themes of representation and identity in four post-9/11 novels: Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Frédéric Beigbeder’s Windows on the World and Don DeLillo’s Falling Man. The novels of Hosseini and Hamid represent the experience of two Muslim protagonists from Afghanistan and Pakistan who immigrate to the US. The protagonists offer two contrasting understandings of fundamentalism, using this lens to understand the terrorist figure and American society respectively. The construction of power for both the American society and the terrorist is argued to be located in images which are linked to masculinity: money, sport, militancy, sex and religious devotion. The personal experiences of these protagonists reflect the political circumstances which they encounter, and both characters identify with national identities in ways which relate to their readings of representations of identity and news media. Beigbeder and DeLillo’s novels are discussed using the theme of trauma. The novels portray the experiences of American characters who are confronted with 9/11 and suffer from disorientation and loss. The negotiation of this loss takes place in relation to entanglements with the terrorist figure, who penetrates the physical and psychological spaces of these characters. Images of masculinity are evoked in order to signify this loss of power, where the destabilising of the paternal role is linked to the pervasive sense of vulnerability which the characters experience after the attacks. Memorials and rituals become ways of dealing with disorientation. The two novels unsettle the distinction between terrorist and terrorised in order to negotiate a new American identity after 9/11. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis ondersoek temas van representasie en identiteit in vier post-9/11 romans, naamlik Khaled Hosseini se The Kite Runner, Mohsin Hamid se The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Frédéric Beigbeder se Windows on the World en Don DeLillo se Falling Man. Hosseini en Hamid se romans verbeeld die ervarings van twee Muslim-protagoniste, onderskeidelik afkomstig van Afghanistan en Pakistan wat na die VSA immigreer. Hierdie protagoniste verbeeld twee uiteenlopende beskouïngs van fundamentalisme wat gevolglik aangewend word om die terroris-figuur en die Amerikaanse gemeenskap te verstaan. Die konstruksie van mag vir die Amerikaanse gemeenskap en die terroris-figuur word getoon, is geleë in beelde wat verband hou met manlikheid, naamlik geld, sport, militarisme, seks en toegewydheid. Die persoonlike ervarings van hierdie protagoniste weerspieël die politieke omstandighede waarmee hulle kennis maak. Beide hierdie karakters vereenselwig hulself met nasionale identiteite op grond van hul begrip van representasie van identiteit en die media. Beigbeder en DeLillo se romans word volgens die tema van trauma vergelyk. Hierdie romans beeld die ervarings van Amerikaanse karakters wat met 9/11 gekonfronteer word en met disoriëntasie en verlies worstel, uit. Die oorweging van hierdie verlies vind plaas in verhouding tot ontmoetings met die terroris-figuur wat die fisiese en psigiese ruimtes van hierdie karakters binnedring. Voorstellings van manlikheid word opgeroep om die verlies van mag ten toon te stel. Hierdie verlies van mag word gekenmerk deur die destabilisering van die vaderlike rol tesame met die diepgaande sin van weerloosheid wat die karakters na die aanval ervaar. Gedenktekens en rituele word vervolgens instellings om met die disoriëntasie om te gaan. Uiteindelik problematiseer die twee romans die onderskeid tussen terroris en geterroriseerde om sodoende ’n nuwe Amerikaanse identiteit ná 9/11 tot stand te bring.