Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 439-451).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 256-269).

Thesis (doctoral)--Københavns universitet. / Summary in English.

Zugl.: Hannover, Univ., Diss., 2005

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, May, 2007. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

While existing criticism of Emma Tennant's work emphasizes its feminist agenda, less attention has been paid to her rewriting of different narratives and discourses. Tennant's career has centered on challenging literary values as well as generic categories, realist conventions, and gender stereotypes. Contrary to implications that rewriting is "re-vision," an "act of survival" that corrects or subverts earlier texts, this thesis argues that Tennant's characteristic resistance to categories also extends to the work of rewriting and revision. Her texts suggest that the act of "writing back" is not as straightforward as it may seem, but deeply ambiguous and ambivalent. Developing theories of the "signature" that return the writer-as-agent to the otherwise anonymous field of intertextuality, this thesis traces Tennant's figurations of writing, metafictional devices, and intertextual allusions to show how these relate to themes in the fiction. Examining groupings of the texts from different critical perspectives, each chapter shows how Tennant's rewritings destabilize notions of originality, identity, and agency, and represent political discourses and social progress in an ambivalent way. While this thesis offers very specific insights into Tennant's work, the close readings also encompass broader themes, such as feminism and postmodernism, the gothic, myths of home and exile, and the ventriloquistic techniques of pastiche and biofiction. The arguments centered on her work contribute to the larger discourse on rewriting in two ways. First, in problematizing assumptions that rewriting inherently strives toward progress or correction, this thesis argues that rewriting can dramatize the ambiguity and ambivalence that haunt acts of resistance. Second, in advancing challenges to the idea that intertextuality functions anonymously, it argues that rewriting can return agency to the text by offering representations of authorship that engage with literary and cultural history.

The huge popularity of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter novels and Philip Pullman’s challenging trilogy His Dark Materials flagged up a widening audience and increasing status for children’s literature in the West. As Sandra Beckett (2009) notes, children’s fiction is now being embraced with enthusiasm by adult readers, writers, critics and publishers. From this increased profile there has emerged the distinct publishing category of ‘crossover’ fiction. In contrast to earlier children’s novels with broad audience appeal, contemporary crossover works are noted for their contextually radical resistance to conventions and bold innovations in content, style and form. Whilst this has given rise to greater critical interest, however, the focus in general has been on adult authored fiction, rather than the now growing body of work being produced and promoted by children and adolescents themselves. In effect, adult critics and reviewers either exclude or take for granted young authors’ fictions as being formulaic and/or lightweight. The purpose of this study has been to investigate the implications of this stance. Drawing on Mikhail Bakhtin’s (1965) theory of carnival and its associated concepts, I have conducted a comparative analysis of published fiction by adult and teenage authors whose works have been identified as subversive and/or marketed as crossover texts. A Bakhtinian perspective on style, structure and themes in each confirms, or otherwise, their radical status before consideration is given to the implications of any differences in approach. Given John Stephens’ (1999) observation that boundaries between children’s and adults’ fiction are more fundamentally blurred in the fantasy and sub-fantasy modes, the influence of genre has been investigated too. My findings indicate that radical texts with broad audience appeal can, in fact, arise through a variety of narrative forms and writing styles and regardless of authorial age. At the same time, characteristic differences in ‘perspectives’ are shown to mark off adolescent from adult authors’ works. I conclude that the young writers’ near-perspectives can produce hybrid fictions which might be understood as breaking new ground. The fresh insights this study contributes, then, demonstrate that any comprehensive account of the vibrant and ever-shifting contemporary literary scene must encompass broader and altogether more considered critical review of young adults’ input than has been offered to-date.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Western Sydney, 2008. / A thesis submitted to the University of Western Sydney, College of Arts, Writing and Society Research Group in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

In der vorliegenden Dissertation wird die literarische Wechselbeziehung zwischen den deutschsprachigen Schriftstellern Max Frisch (1911-1991) und Uwe Johnson (1934-1984) untersucht. Zu diesem Zweck werden nicht nur die literarischen Texte besprochen, sondern auch ihre Produktion und Rezeption, und zwar anhand von veröffentlichtem und unveröffentlichtem Material. Durch die Untersuchung der verschiedenen Lektoratsarbeiten Johnsons an Frischs Werken, des Projekts "Stich-Worte" und der intertextuellen Bezüge zwischen dem Werk von Frisch und dem von Johnson wird ein literarischer Austausch zwischen den beiden Schriftstellern rekonstruiert, bei dem die Frage nach der Identität und deren literarischer Darstellung sowie die Problematik von Biographie und Autobiographie im Zentrum stehen. Es wird gezeigt, dass die beiden Schriftsteller einander bei diesem Austausch erheblich beeinflusst haben. ---------------------------------- L´objet de la présente thèse de doctorat est l´interaction littéraire qui sest développée entre les écrivains de langue allemande Max Frisch (1911-1991) et Uwe Johnson (1934-1984). Afin de mieux circonscrire le dialogue qu´ils ont mené tout au long de leur relation et l´influence qu´ils ont exercée l´un sur l´autre, l´analyse des textes littéraires proprement dits a été combinée à l´étude de leur production et de leur réception sur la base de documents publiés et de documents darchives. De l´étude des travaux de relecture réalisés par Johnson sur quatre manuscrits de Frisch, des "Stich-Worte" et des liens intertextuels tissés entre l´uvre de Frisch et celle de Johnson, il ressort que le dialogue entre ces écrivains a pour thème central la question de l´identité et de sa représentation littéraire, la problématique de la biographie et de l´autobiographie et que, par le biais de ce dialogue, ces deux auteurs se sont influencés de façon considérable. ---------------------------------- The subject of this thesis is the literary interaction between the German-speaking writers Max Frisch (1911-1991) and Uwe Johnson (1934-1984). In order to better circumscribe their lifelong dialogue and mutual influence, not only the literary texts were analysed, but also their production and reception, which was done on the basis of published and unpublished material. The analysis of Johnsons comprehensive editing on four manuscripts by Frisch, of the "Stich-Worte" and of the intertextual links between the works of Frisch and Johnson, reveals that the dialogue between these two writers centers on the issue of identity and its literary representation, as well as the problems posed by biography and autobiography; Ultimately, it appears that through this dialogue Frisch and Johnson influenced each other to a considerable extent.