John Fowles¡¦s The Magus, as a metafiction, is designed to criticize the fictional writing in the context of inter-reflexive narrative. More than displaying his innovative writing style, Fowles extends the possibility of fictional writing with the application of spiral structure, allegorical rhetoric and the abundant mythological elements in this book. This thesis sets out to analyze the mirror-text and discuss how such a text reflects the symbolical meaning carried by the mythological symbols within the narrative, which, taken together, reinforce the significance of the hero¡¦s adventurous journey¡Xthe journey as a process of the development of the hero¡¦s personality. To elaborate the narrative strategy of this novel, in the first chapter, I shall discuss the function of the mirror-text and its relation with the primary text. Applying Mieke Bal¡¦s narratological theory to enhance my understanding of the mirror-text, I would bring forth the cumulative effect of the mirror-text. The arrangement of the mirror-text aims to decompose the text by projecting the deficiencies in the primary text. In Chapter Two, I shall, on the one hand, decompose the text by using Vladimir Propp¡¦s method of morphology. On the other hand, after introducing Joseph Campbell¡¦s analysis of mythology, I would discuss the mode and significance of the heroic journey in detail and explore how the motif of mythology structures the narrative of The Magus. After examining the novel both structurally and semantically, in the final part, I would put emphasis on the psychological condition of the hero. Jungian psychological study, which encompasses mythic symbols, would be adapted for illuminating the development of the hero¡¦s personality. The personal development is taken as an analogy in the novel. From the growth of an I-narrator, Fowles takes the novel as not only an aesthetic discourse with which he scrutinizes the reality he perceives but also a mirror upon which the author and the readers are allowed to project their ¡§lack¡¨ onto the ¡§maternal textual body.¡¨ Like the symbolic rebirth of a hero, the author and the text are reborn from the readers¡¦ interpretations.

Adolescents feel confusion all the time on the way to become mature adults. In ancient time, children were guided to go through adulthood ceremony to ease safely the unsettled and risky mind at the adolescent stage. It is a pity that Internet Café and on-line games nowadays becomes a battlefield for young people to fight with their confusion and conflicts in mind hoping for gaining inside happiness and calm. However, on-line games are not products designed to help adolescent inner growth but commercials, which aim to profit. Internet Café, though, is not an ideal place to develop one¡¦s identity, offers a possibility of exciting exploring journey. Nevertheless, in a cement jungle, limited space drives children to go into a virtual fascinating playground to discover ¡§Who am I?¡¨ Campbell stated the theme of ancient myth to present contemporary phenomenon. The myth claims that children are born to be heroes. Heroes search for inner growth, self-identity and conquer challenges in fate of their own. No one can escape from the risky life journey (transformation from adolescent to adult), even though we do not expect it, it comes to us eventually. It is an innate thirst to success in perilous life voyage. This research adapted qualitative in-depth interviews with forty-four young people in eleven Internet Cafés in Kaohsiung City and Kaohsiung County, exploring twelve individual cases in profound reflection of their lives, which the whole observation and interviews have been lasted eight months long (September, 2005-April, 2006) and still, some of them kept intensive contact with me. Most heroes in the cases stepped into Dark Forest-Internet Cafés since grade 3 or 4 and had undergone 4 to 5-year attempt and gradual transformation in mind in addition to the helping hand from Goddess of Happiness (significant others), heroes will come back to real world along with the grace (self-awareness) of the trial in Dark Forest. They will live freely and happily and become masters of two worlds, the Forest and outside world. Heroes who do not break through the spell of Dark Forest would still wait for the guidance of Goddess of Happiness or worse, they would be trapped in jails and dangers and lost contacts with outside world. The research discovers that the main cause of attaching to on-line games comes from school; the secondary cause comes from family. On one hand, the harvest of young people in on-line games contains positive compensation on missing adulthood ceremony passing smoothly rebellious and confusing stage of life journey. On the other hand, the negative influence would be suffering from bad health attributing to staying up all night; bad school performance, unsatisfactory interaction with teachers and parents and much more, some of the young people can not even finish junior high schooling.

The aim of this thesis is to analyse the use of Gothic elements in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle&rsquo / s Sherlock Holmes stories. It begins with an overview of Gothic and detective fiction, pointing out the Gothic novels published in the late Victorian period, and referring to the Gothic influence on Poe, Dickens, and Collins who are important writers in the development of detective fiction. In this way, it is revealed that the presence of Gothic elements in the Sherlock Holmes stories is part of the writing fashion of the era. The thesis then analyses the Holmes stories which present significant Gothic elements in terms of terror, horror and the supernatural. In addition, it examines the whole Holmes canon in an endeavour to find out the Sherlock Holmes character&rsquo / s similarity to the Byronic hero who often appears in Gothic fiction. As a result, this study shows that Gothic elements contribute to the Sherlock Holmes stories in two ways. Firstly, they add to the depiction of minor characters, the setting, and the atmosphere of these stories. Secondly, they manifest themselves in the portrayal of the character of Holmes himself. Thus, the use of Gothic elements enables Doyle to create suspenseful and surprising stories with a strikingly memorable detective figure.

Inaug.-Diss.--Bonn. / Lebenslauf. "Bibliographie: " p. vi-viii.

The mythos of the hero has existed within the stories of humanity for as long as we can remember. Within the last hundred years film has become one of the dominant storytelling media of our culture and numerous films, especially war films, about heroes and their inspirational actions have been made. This study focuses on war films and the hero soldiers and their actions portrayed in those films. It uses a narrative analysis of five war films to accomplish this. The findings suggest that the hero soldier has become more human and fallible over time and that heroes are a constantly changing entity. These changes do not reach down to the fundamental levels of hero makeup. At the core and archetypal level the hero remains the same. However, the hero soldier has become more flawed over time descending from invincible demi-god to a fallible human. This change is due to the merger between the hero and non-hero characters, and the incorporation of their traits into one another.

This report examines heroism in Apollonius’ Argonautica and argues that a different heroic model predominates in each of the first three books. Unlike Homer’s epics where Achilles with his superhuman might and Odysseus with his unparalleled cunning serve as the unifying forces for their respective poems, there is no single guiding influence in the Argonautica. Rather, each book establishes its own heroic type, distinct from the others. In Book 1, Heracles is the central figure, demonstrating his heroic worth through feats of strength and martial excellence. In Book 2, Polydeuces, the helmsmen, and—what I have called—the “Odyssean” Heracles use their mētis to guide and safeguard the expedition. And in Book 3, Jason takes center stage, a human character with human limitations tasked with an epic, impossible mission. This movement from Book 1 (Heracles and biē) to Book 2 (Polydeuces/helmsmen and mētis) to Book 3 (Jason and human realism) reflects the epic tradition: the Iliad (Achilles and biē) to the Odyssey (Odysseus and mētis) to the Argonautica (Apollonius’ epic and the Hellenistic age). Thus, the Argonautica is an epic about epic and its evolving classification of what it entails to be a hero. The final stage in this grand metaphor comes in Book 3 which mirrors the literary environment in Apollonius’ own day and age, a time invested in realism where epic had been deemed obsolete. Jason, as the representative of that Hellenistic world, is unable to successively use Iliadic or Odyssean heroics because he is as human and ordinary as Apollonius’ audience. Jason, like his readers, cannot connect to the archaic past. Medea, however, changes this when she saves Jason’s life by effectively rewriting him to become a superhuman, epic hero. She is a metaphor for Apollonius himself, a poet who wrote an epic in an unepic world. The final message of Book 3, therefore, is an affirmation not of the death of epic but its survival in the Hellenistic age. / text

By conducting a text analysis this study analyzes possible similarities in the portrayal of story characters between historical Norse myths and contemporary film productions. The chosen historical texts are two stories from Norse mythology which render a myth about Thor and a giant named Hrunge as well as the myth Trymskvädet. The selected movies are two of the comic company Marvel’s productions about super heroes – Thor and The Avengers. Different categories that this study compares are how the characters are defined by their possessions or artefacts, the actions and the choices which the characters make, and also how their relations, roles and origins are being portrayed. As the result of study shows, there are some similarities between the historical texts and the movies with regard to how the stories portray the characters.      According to cognitive theories, a story becomes more memorable if there is a balance between what readers intuitively expect and does not expect from the story while it unfolds in texts or multimedia productions. The reason for these similarities between textual and visual material created in different times may not only be that historical texts serve as the inspirational base for contemporary productions, but also relates to how myths have some unforgettable characters by striking a balance between intuitiveness and counter-intuitiveness features, and that the movies use character portrayals with a similar balance between the features.

Тема моей работы магистра Герой и среда в раннем творчестве Л. Н. Толстого. В раннем творчестве Л. Н. Толстой особенное внимание уделяет раскрытию человека в необычных условиях жизни. В связи с этим, особое з��ачение приобретает аспект взаимоотношения человека со средой. В нашей работе магистра взято пять произведений раннего творчества Л. Н. Толстого, в них различные герои, различная среда, различные развязки влияния ��реды на характеры, судьбы героев. В рассказе «Записки маркёра» изображена гибель героя в порочной среде, в повести «Утро помещика» видим неудавшиеся попытки героя изменить среду, в рассказе «Люцерн» герой сталкивается со средой людей высокой цивилизации, в повести «Семейное счастье» героиня, покинув деревенскую среду, пытается найти счастье в светской среде, но разочаровывается в ней и с мужем возвращается обратно в деревню, в повести «Казаки» попытки героя найти счастье в экзотической среде всё же заканчиваются неудачей. В перечисленных произведениях раннего Толстого, герои не находят того, чего искали, чего надеялись, они терпят неудачу, это обусловлено как субъективными свойствами их самих, так и влиянием среды. / Darbo įžangoje trumpai apibūdinama tai, kaip ankstyvoji Tolstojaus kūryba buvo vertinama jo metų literatūros kritikų ir vėlesnių tyrinėtojų darbuose. Tema „Herojus ir aplinka ankstyvojoje L. Tolstojaus kūryboje“ nebuvo išsamiai nagrinėta darbuose apie rašytoją. Todėl mūsų tikslas – išnagrinėti ją remiantis penkiais rašytojo kūriniais, kurie priskiriami ankstyvajam kūrybos periodui. Pagrindinė darbo dalis susideda iš penkių skyrių: I. Skyrius. Herojaus žuvimas ydingoje aplinkoje ( „Markerio užrašai“ ); II. Skyrius. Herojaus pastangos pakeisti aplinką ( „Dvarininko rytas“ ); III. Skyrius. Herojus aukštos civilizacijos žmonių aplinkoje ( „Liucernas“ ); IV. Skyrius. Patrauklios aplinkos pavojus ( „Šeimyninė laimė“); V. Skyrius. Herojaus pastangos atrasti laimę egzotiškoje aplinkoje ( „Kazokai“ ). Pirmame kūrinyje „Markerio užrašuose“ pagrindinis herojus Nechliudovas, jaunas, turtingas žemvaldys neturėjo jokio užsiėmimo, gyvenimo tikslo, todėl atvykęs į Peterburgą pasidavė degradavusios aplinkos įtakai, kuri jį galiausiai ir įstūmė į pražūtį. Lošėjo aistra užvaldė herojų, jis neteko visko, ką turėjo. Jaunuolis pražudė ne tik save. Dėl Nechliudovo kaltės sunkioje padėtyje atsidūrė ir jo valstiečiai. Pamatęs savo kaip žmogaus visišką smukimą ir negalėdamas išbristi iš purvo, herojus nusižudė. Apsakyme „Dvarininko rytas“... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / An introduction is a short description telling about the critics evaluation of the works of Leo Tolstoy. The theme The hero and the medium in the early works of Leo Tolstoy hasn’t received a detailed investigation yet. Consequently, our aim is to analyze the theme on five early writer’s works basis. My work’s background consists of five chapters: I. Chapter. The death of the hero in the faulty medium. («Записки маркёра»); II. Chapter. The attempts of the hero to change the medium. («Утро помещика»); III. Chapter. The hero surrounded by the people of advanced civilization. («Люцерн»); IV. Chapter. The danger of the attractive medium. («Семейное счастье»); V. Chapter. The attempts of the hero to find happiness in the exotic medium. («Казаки»). The main hero of the first work is young and rich landlord. He hadn’t any occupation, any aim of life. Due to this reason, the hero had been influenced by the faulty medium, which caused his death after the arrival in Saint-Peterburg. The hero was enslaved by the gambler’s passion, he lost everything he had. Such hero’s actions were harmful not only to himself but also to his peasants. Admitting any possibility to change his life and hopeless about the future he committed suicide. The main hero of the second work gives up his studies and goes to the countryside in order to help peasants. He isn’t able to fulfill his dreams. People disbelieved in good hero’s intentions. Even young landlord didn’t know... [to full text]

Since the time humans have developed speech, storytelling has been a crucial part of society. Its values lie in the ability to communicate potential dangers about the world to generating laughter and tears as a form of entertainment. A central theme in stories that continues to reoccur over the course of history is the story of the hero. Carl Jung theorizes that the hero is an archetype in the collective unconscious, which explains humans’ innate inclinations towards heroes. Throughout history, the forms of storytelling have evolved due to technological and intellectual advancements. In modern times, film has risen as the leading modality for storytelling. The central theme of heroes continues to reoccur in this modality and is testified by the dominance of action hero movies in the box office. The purpose of this paper is to develop a model that details how to craft a compelling action hero movie based on empirical psychological research. The paper defines a compelling action hero movie as a movie with an action hero protagonist that maximizes narrative transportation, persuasion and enjoyment. By dissecting the construction of the film into its plot, character/diction, theme, melody and spectacle, the paper develops the PCTMS-NTPE Model that maximizes narrative transportation, persuasion and enjoyment in each aforementioned components. The beneficiaries of this paper are filmmakers and individuals who want to understand the inner psychological mechanics of a compelling action hero movie.

This thesis examines three genre high fantasy texts published between 1954 and 2001: J. R. R. Tolkien’s 'The Lord of the Rings', Ursula K. Le Guin’s 'Earthsea' cycle and Patricia A. McKillip’s 'The Riddle-Master’s Game'. The emphasis is on examining how the three texts use a common set of structures to articulate a developing argument about forms of human engagement with the physical world in the face of environmental crisis. Using theories of literary ecology and narrative paradigm, I examine the common structure shared by the three high fantasies and the weight of ethical implications it carries. The texts position the transcendent impulse of the mode of tragedy, and the behaviour it generates, as the source of crisis, and posit as a solution to the problem the integrative ethic characteristic of the comedic mode. They argue that a transition between these two ethics is necessary for the continued survival of the Secondary World. This thesis examines each text’s use of narrative paradigm to articulate methods by which this ethical transition may be achieved. An argumentative trend is documented across the three fantasies through the representation of situation, problem and solution. In each text, as the Secondary World becomes more completely a closed physical system, the source of the solution to the problem caused by the transcendent presence and the achievement of ethical transition are both relocated within the control of human actors. The three fantasies express a gradual movement toward the acceptance of not only human responsibility for, but the necessity for action to remedy, the damaged state of the world. I argue that the texts’ dominant concern is with the human relationship with and to context. Indeed, I argue that the three fantasies reflect the developing understanding of the human role in not only precipitating, but responding to, environmental crisis, and may function as both a reflection of and an intervention in that crisis. / Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Humanities, 2004