The aim of this thesis is to discuss ontological experiences of the writer and reader of literature. It argues that literary creation entails an experience of a state of being where the distance of ??my?? being/speaking and (an)other??s disappears: hence the total union of a being with (an)other. It suggests that this state of being created in the course of literary creation is also significant for everyday life. It analyses the texts of three theorists who addressed this issue: Sartre, Barthes, and Bachelard. Whilst Sartre speaks nothing about a state of being of the creative writer in relation to inspirational otherness, he suggests the change of the writer into a free being, in relation to the reader. Sartre holds that the reader, while becoming a free being, and revealing another (the writer)??s freedom, transforms what s/he is not into his or her own in reading-creation. This implies that in reading-creation, the distance of a being and another disappears. Barthes asserts that in writing the death of the ??author-person?? as an original creator is needed; this means that, for him, writers write finding no distance between themselves and language, which is what speaks itself. Although readers create as ??subject??, Barthes holds, they may find no distance between their being and the text, losing their subjectivity. Bachelard suggests that the poetic dreamer (as both the writer and reader of poetry) experiences a state of being in which neither subjectivity nor object is sensed. In this state, he holds, the speaking of (an)other becomes the speaking of the poetic dreamer. This poetic dreaming state which involves the complete harmony between a dreaming being and other being(s) is termed by Bachelard childhood. He suggests that childhood is permanent and subsistent as an archetypal state of mind and bears witness to the childhood of humankind. As the Bachelardian sense of childhood denotes an ultimate harmonia involving the liberation from the ??prison of self??, it carries significant implications for everyday life.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Tufts University, 2001. / Submitted to the Dept. of English. Adviser: John M. Fyler. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 186-196). Access restricted to members of the Tufts University community. Also available via the World Wide Web;

Dissertation (Ph.D.)--The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, 2008. / Directed by Scott Romine; submitted to the Dept. of English. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed Jul. 31, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 175-178).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1998. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 159-163). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1998. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 159-163). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (MA)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2010. / Typescript. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Robert Bennett. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 63).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005. / Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center; full text release delayed at author's request until 2010 Jun 10.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 2000. / Title from title page screen, viewed July 31, 2006. Dissertation Committee: Charles B. Harris (chair), William W. Morgan, Douglas D. Hesse. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 206-212) and abstract. Also available in print.

Thesis (Th. M.)--Regent College, Vancouver, BC, 2002. / Abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 120-125).

Orientador: João Luís Cardoso Tápias Ceccantini / Banca: Carlos Erivany Fantinati / Banca: Maria Zaira Turchi / Resumo: O letramento em leitura é a base para o desenvolvimento das pessoas como indivíduos, pelo seu papel chave na aquisição autônoma de conhecimentos e, como cidadãos, pois viabiliza sua participação na moderna sociedade do conhecimento e da informação. Considerado um pré-requisito para o desenvolvimento das nações, ele foi avaliado no exame Pisa 2000, organizado pela OCDE, num esforço internacional que envolveu 32 países, entre eles o Brasil e a Alemanha, focos de estudo deste trabalho. A baixa classificação da Alemanha nesse exame provocou intenso debate sobre o tema, resultando na publicação de estudos de renomados pesquisadores. No Brasil, não houve a mesma reação, no entanto, encontramos entre pesquisadores brasileiros, diversos estudos sobre o ensino da linguagem, leitura e literatura, que destacam a importância da leitura na escola e remontam a época anterior ao exame Pisa 2000. Deste modo, este trabalho teve por objetivo abordar algumas idéias de autores brasileiros e alemães sobre esse tema, numa perspectiva histórica e contemporânea, além de traduzir alguns artigos pertinentes publicados na revista pedagógica alemã Praxis Deutsch (anexos). A revisão bibliográfica concentrou-se no exame de textos de Nelly Coelho, Lígia Chiappini, Maria da Glória Bordini, Vera Teixeira Aguiar, Magda B. Soares e Rildo Cosson, que propõem o uso da literatura como um instrumento para motivação da leitura. Também foram apreciados artigos de Bettina Hurrelmann, Kasper Spinner e Gerald Haas, publicados na revista Praxis Deutsch. Para uma melhor compreensão dos resultados de Pisa 2000, que foram sucintamente apresentados, alguns aspectos da prova foram abordados. / Abstract: Reading literacy is the basis for human development as individuals, due to its key role in the independent acquisition of knowledge (continuous learning) and as citizens, since it enables their participation in the modern society of knowledge and information. Considered to be a precondition for the nation development, it was evaluated in the PISA 2000 assessment, organized by OECD, in an international effort that involved 32 countries, among them Brazil and Germany, both focus of this work. Germany's low ranking in this exam roused a huge debate on this theme, resulting in the publication of studies of renowned experts. The reaction was not the same in Brazil, nevertheless several studies on teaching language, reading and literature that highlight the importance of scholar reading are found among Brazilian researchers. These studies are previous to the Pisa 2000 assessment. Therefore, the aim of this work is to discuss some of the Brazilian and German authors' ideas concerning this subject, in a historical and contemporaneous perspective as well as to translate papers of significance that were published in the German pedagogical journal Praxis Deutsch. The bibliographic review consists of analyses of Brazilian texts that consider literature as an instrument to motivate reading from several authors (Nelly Coelho, Lígia Chiappini, Maria da Glória Bordini, Vera Teixeira Aguiar, Magda B. Soares and Rildo Cosson). Papers from Bettina Hurrelmann, Kasper Spinner and Gerald Haas published in Praxis Deutsch were also studied. For a better understanding of the Pisa 2000 results, which were briefly discussed, some aspects of the exam were contemplated. As a result we were able to outline factors that affect literacy, as for instance family, school and social level, and to indicate the importance of literature education for self development and for the literacy motivation, promoting, this way, the reading socialization. / Mestre