The Victorians obsessed over the supernatural and this fascination with the otherworldly emerges in the literature of the day. With this thesis, I look at two nineteenth century novels that exhibit supernatural phenomena: Charlotte Brontë's Villette (1853) and Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights (1847). Both novels, I propose, utilize this aspect of the gothic tradition to enhance their characters' psychological realism. With Villette, I examine the supernatural as a fabricated experience. First, I study the protagonist's psyche and show how her emotional state directly contributes to the appearance of fantastic material. Specifically, I examine Lucy Snowe's childhood experiences in Bretton and then look at her continuing emotional isolation at the boarding school in Villette. I then illustrate how Lucy compensates for this loneliness by transforming the identities of her acquaintances and by often embellishing her own experiences. Following this, I examine her response to an external phenomenon, the ghostly nun. I argue that as Lucy discovers emotional fulfillment via her relationship with Paul Emanuel, she grows increasingly skeptical of the nun. This skepticism climaxes in a scene of violence, after which Lucy successfully denies the existence of the otherworldly. With Wuthering Heights, I examine the supernatural as a genuine phenomenon. To begin, I analyze two significant scenes which frame the main narrative: Lockwood's dream and Heathcliff's death. Both events, I subsequently demonstrate, are instances of supernatural interaction with the real world. Finally, I examine the spiritual and occult beliefs of the lovers, Catherine and Heathcliff. I then show how their ideology influences their decisions and, ultimately, brings about their reunion in the afterlife.

A study of Gothic influences and eidetic imagery evident in eight Blake color plates to demonstrate that, when interpreted together with key Blake poems, unity of body and soul can be accomplished by means of the visionary imagination.

A conventional army is required to meet many needs and face many threats. However, when conventional warfare methods do not make the cut, Special Operations and Special Forces become a necessity. However, there exists few theories that sufficiently explain how Special Forces units around the world accomplishes these Special Operations. One of the few researches who has developed a theory regarding Special Operations is William H. McRaven with his theory of relative superiority.  McRaven´s theory proposes that there are six principles which determine the success of a Special Forces unit´s ability to plan, prepare and execute a Special Operation. The aim of the study is to understand McRaven´s theory´s explanatory power in explaining the results of Operation Neptune Spear and Operation Gothic Serpent. This study concludes that Operation Neptune spear attained almost all of the required principles. However, Operation Gothic serpent lacked half of the required principles. In order to create a favourable relation, one must create synergy between the principles in order to achieve relative superiority. The study concludes by illustrating that McRaven´s theory´s explanatory power increased.

Orientador: Aparecido Donizete Rossi / Banca: Karin Volobuef / Banca: Fernanda Aquino Sylvestre / Resumo: O presente trabalho tem o objetivo de promover relações teórico-críticas entre o conceito de palimpsesto cunhado por Gérard Genette, a definição de Texto desenvolvida por Roland Barthes e o gótico. Por meio da análise das releituras da história de Branca de Neve, "Snow, Glass, Apples", de Neil Gaiman, e "Branca dos Mortos e os Sete Zumbis", de Fábio Yabu, buscamos dar um novo olhar ao processo de revisitação de contos de fadas: pelo viés do gótico. Assim como o palimpsesto mostra sombras dos textos anteriores, a releitura possui sombras das obras que revisitam. Essas sombras são profundas, indo além das personagens, cenários e enredo que nos são familiares. A leitura analítica de uma releitura percebe as sombras das lacunas deixadas pelos contos de fadas. Entendemos que assim como uma releitura possui sombras de textos anteriores, algo unheimlich (FREUD, 2010) na temática ou estilo, o processo revisionista pode ser estruturalmente unheimlich. A leitura do processo revisionista como algo unheimlich, estruturalmente gótico, permite uma reflexão sobre as sombras que levaram os autores a reinterpretarem o conto da Branca de Neve da maneira que fizeram, além de ajudar a estabelecer as similaridades entre o conto de fadas e o gótico. Essas relações entre gêneros permitem discutir o teor gótico amplamente presente nas releituras de contos de fadas estudadas, possibilitando o entrelaçamento dos dois universos. Com base em teorias de Fred Botting, Sigmund Freud, Roland Barthes, Gerárd... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: This research aims to promote theoretical-critical relations among the concept of palimpsest coined by Gérard Genette, the definition of Text developed by Roland Barthes, and the Gothic. By analyzing Neil Gaiman's "Snow, Glass, Apples", and "Branca dos Mortos e os Sete Zumbis" by Fábio Yabu, which are retellings of "Snow White", it is intent to give a new perspective to the process of retelling fairy tales: through the notion of gothic. Just as it is possible to discern shadows of previous texts in a palimpsest, the retellings carry shadows of the works it revisits. These shadows are deep, and go beyond familiar characters, scenarios and plot. The analytical reading of a retelling notices the shadows inside the fissures left by the fairy tales. It is believed that just as a retelling contains shadows of earlier texts that causes an unheimlich (FREUD, 2010) sensation in terms of theme or style, the retelling process structure can be unheimlich. Considering the retelling process as something unheimlich, or structurally Gothic, allows researchers to better understand the shadows that led the authors to retell Snow White tale in the way they did. In addition, it helps to establish the similarities between fairy tale and gothic. The relation between these genres promotes a wider discussion about the use of Gothic content in the fairy-tale retellings studied in this work, promoting the interweaving of both universes. Based on theories of Fred Botting, Sigmund Freud, Roland Barthes,... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Mestre

This thesis comprises two works: a novel ‘Libertine’ and a monograph ‘A writer’s reflection’. ‘Libertine’contemplates the eroticising and brutalising of being, and sex as currency, as need and as sacrament. It is set in a city where war is the norm, nightmare the standard, and ancient deities are called upon to witness the new order of killing technologies. The story is narrated by a woman chosen to be the consort of the General, a despostic war leader who believes that he has been chosen by the goddess Kali. She journeys deep into a horror which exists not only around her, but also within her. ‘Libertine’, by melding the erotic and the Gothic, tells the story of a woman enacting the role cast for her in the complex theatres of war. ‘A writer’s reflection’ discusses the themes of the novel, introducing the notion of existential erotica. The existential experience particular to the expression of the erotic being is discussed, and the dilemma which arises from a self yearning to merge ecstatically with an/other in order to obtain a heightened or differently valued self. This theme is elaborated in ‘Libertine’ with regard to subjectivity and the broader issues of nausea, horror and choice, drawing on the conventions of Gothic literature and apocalyptic visioning. This visioning, as eroticised death worship, is found in a Sadian credo of cruelty, the tantric rituals of Kali devotion, and the annihilating erotic excess propounded by Bataille. The monograph illustrated that ‘Libertine’ is not a re-representation of these elements, but an original contribution to the literature of erotica. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Die Magisterarbeit „Romanischer und gotischer Sakralbau in Frankreich am Beispiel der Abteikirche von Saint-Denis“ beschäftigt sich mit den Gründen für den im 12. Jahrhundert stattfindenden Baustilwandel, wie und warum er sich ausgerechnet zuerst an der kleinen Abteikirche im Pariser Umland vollzog und welche Rolle dem dortigen Abt Suger zukam. Zunächst werden grundlegende Fakten und Beispiele zum mittelalterlichen Sakralbau in Frankreich vermittelt, anschließend die beiden aufeinanderfolgenden Epochen Romanik und Gotik temporal, territorial und vor allem architektonisch eingeordnet und beschrieben. Den Schwerpunkt der Arbeit bildet die kritische Analyse der Abteikirche von Saint-Denis, wobei sowohl architektur-stilistische als auch (kirchen-)politische Aspekte einer eingehenden Betrachtung unterzogen werden. Zum besseren Verständnis ist der Arbeit ein Glossar architektonischer Fachbegriffe beigefügt. / This paper deals with the wherefores of the architectural style transition from the Romanesque age to the Gothic era in the 12th century in Europe, especially in France. The author points out why one can say that the Gothic style starts in the small abbey church Saint Denis, situated in the environs of Paris, and which role is assigned to its abbot Suger. First, sample churches illustrate basic facts about medievial sacred architecture in France. Following this, the paper classifies the Romanesque and Gothic period in a temporal as well as territorial and architectural way. The paper’s focus is on a critical analysis of the abbey church Saint Denis which reviews thoroughly both architectural-stylistic and ecclesio-political aspects at that time. For a better understanding, a glossary of architectural technical terms is attached.

<p>The purpose of this dissertation is to chart the development of an ambivalent female identity in the Gothic genre, as exemplified by Ann Radcliffe&rsquo / s late eighteenth century fictions. The thesis examines the social and literary context of the emergence of the Gothic in English literature and argues that it is intimately tied up with changes in social, political and gender relations in the period.</p>

Throughout his career, Stephen King has created child protagonists and adults with a childlike acceptance of the world who represent “good.” These children and adults are able to observe and fight evil, especially supernatural evil, on a level that close-minded adults are unable to because of their imagination. At the same, King also has a history of adhering to traditional representations of sex in his work, presenting heteronormative relationships as good and transgressive sexualities as evil. Often, these child protagonists are faced with sexuality as a threatening, evil force. In The Shining, Danny Torrance undergoes a forced sexual awakening that aids him in defeating the Overlook Hotel; in ’Salem’s Lot, Mark Petrie is represented as a virginal hero who helps Ben Mears in defeating vampires, yet suffers as a result; in It, King aligns seven children’s journey to defeat evil with their literal sexual awakenings, but at the cost of his female characters. These novels represent a disconnect between what appear to be King’s purpose in sexual representation and what their message to the reader actually are, which is indicative of the underlying problems of his traditional, black-and-white attitude toward sexuality in his fiction.

Yann Apperry’s third novel, Diabolus in musica, is a pastiche of diabolic and gothic tropes that tells of a musical genius who composes a ballade that kills. Resurrections, doppelgangers and triads are reoccurring themes. Although the narrator kills his doppelganger on the first page, the name of this double, Lazarus, haunts the narrative with the threat of resurrection. Similarly, the threefold tritone, the “diabolus in musica,” is not only echoed in the numerical structure of Apperry’s novel but also in the familial triad: the father’s presence is dark and demoniac, provoking the cruel music that the son in turn forces onto the exterior world; the mother is a ghostly distillation of the Eternal Feminine. In terms of comparative readings, Diabolus can be read alongside Suskind’s Perfume as the Bildungsroman of an outsider raised without love who turns astounding genius to homicidal ends. It shares narrative and structural similarities with Mann’s Doctor Faustus: each tells of a prodigy who composes music and a faithful sidekick who composes narrative; each arranges his novel according to number. Nabokov’s influence on Apperry’s work is also significant; many parallels are to be found with his third novel, The Defense. Approaches to translation diverge according to their foundational conceptions of language: do we create language or does language create us? To conclude the former is to adopt an approach that focuses on the meanings of source texts while to conclude the latter is to focus more on their formal properties. Caught between these differing conceptions, the translator must choose between domestication and foreignization; I favour the latter for literary translation. I define the literary through a reading of the aesthetic in Dauenhauer and Kristeva, and then I review the arguments that Benjamin, Derrida, Berman and Venuti make in favour of word-based translation. From this I conclude that translation can, in refusing to hide its foreign origins, lead readers into the unknown territory of a strange language, author and text, where they become strangers, and where their language and culture become foreign. With this partial translation of Diabolus, I seek to provoke such an encounter with foreignness.

Yann Apperrys third novel, Diabolus in musica, is a pastiche of diabolic and gothic tropes that tells of a musical genius who composes a ballade that kills. Resurrections, doppelgangers and triads are reoccurring themes. Although the narrator kills his doppelganger on the first page, the name of this double, Lazarus, haunts the narrative with the threat of resurrection. Similarly, the threefold tritone, the diabolus in musica, is not only echoed in the numerical structure of Apperrys novel but also in the familial triad: the fathers presence is dark and demoniac, provoking the cruel music that the son in turn forces onto the exterior world; the mother is a ghostly distillation of the Eternal Feminine. In terms of comparative readings, Diabolus can be read alongside Suskinds Perfume as the Bildungsroman of an outsider raised without love who turns astounding genius to homicidal ends. It shares narrative and structural similarities with Manns Doctor Faustus: each tells of a prodigy who composes music and a faithful sidekick who composes narrative; each arranges his novel according to number. Nabokovs influence on Apperrys work is also significant; many parallels are to be found with his third novel, The Defense. Approaches to translation diverge according to their foundational conceptions of language: do we create language or does language create us? To conclude the former is to adopt an approach that focuses on the meanings of source texts while to conclude the latter is to focus more on their formal properties. Caught between these differing conceptions, the translator must choose between domestication and foreignization; I favour the latter for literary translation. I define the literary through a reading of the aesthetic in Dauenhauer and Kristeva, and then I review the arguments that Benjamin, Derrida, Berman and Venuti make in favour of word-based translation. From this I conclude that translation can, in refusing to hide its foreign origins, lead readers into the unknown territory of a strange language, author and text, where they become strangers, and where their language and culture become foreign. With this partial translation of Diabolus, I seek to provoke such an encounter with foreignness.