published_or_final_version / abstract / Comparative Literature / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / Chinese / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / Chinese Language and Literature / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / Chinese / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / abstract / English Studies / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / Chinese Language and Literature / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / Chinese Language and Literature / Master / Master of Arts

published_or_final_version / Comparative Literature / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The Historia de la Nueva Mexico, by Gaspar Perez de Villagra, has been one of the less studied epic poems in Hispanic American literary criticism. The purpose of this study is to show the text's literary characteristics and justify its inclusion within the tradition of Ariosto's romanzi, which was earlier followed by La Araucana, paradigm of the epic discourse in Hispanic America. The analysis borrows from a structuralist-narratologic methodology developed in the works of Gerard Genette, Felix Martinez Bonatti, Cedomil Goic and Julia Kristeva. The study begins with the analysis of the different definitions of 'epic genre' from Aristotle and Horatio to the twentieth century and the theories of Genette about architextuality. Once establishing the definitions, the study proceeds to differentiate between the two generic variants: the romance and the epic. The purpose here is to show that the principles of textual disposition applied by epic authors of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in Hispanic America belong to the romance, and this gives the discourse a very distinct structural physiognomy. A comparative analysis of some of the best known epic poems in Hispanic America show their structural singularity, as well as their inclusion within Ariosto's tradition. The texts analyzed are: Arauco domado, Peregrino indiano, Puren indomito, Argentina y Conquista del Rio de la Plata, La Christiada, and Bernardo. In Chapter Four the study centers on the transtextual relationships established between La Araucana and Villagra's poem, which determine the individuality of the Historia de la Nueva Mexico and its inclusion within the Hispanic American literary canon. The poem's uniqueness is based on its peculiar narrative structure, the hypertextual relationship it maintains with the Ercillan paradigm, as well as the juxtaposition of codes that determine an intertextual space. This space is the aesthetic image of ideological tensions in the narrator's perspective. It is the tensions which place both the narrator and the text within the ideological and artistic parameters of the Baroque period.

The aim of this thesis is to examine the two portrayals of Manasseh which appear in the books of Kings and Chronicles, considering manifold critical issues including diachronic questions, structure, narrative, literary features, and theological problems. Part One consists of a detailed examination of the Manasseh text in Kings in which I investigate the diachronic issue surrounding the text. In a literary investigation the structure of the Manasseh account is re-examined.  Structurally, the focus of discourse is located in the announcement of Manasseh’s rejection of the call to repentance by Yahweh.  This thesis contends that, distinct from many scholars who see diachronic seams in the Manasseh text in Kings, we cannot find any convincing diachronic levels in the Manasseh account.  Rather, in spite of this terseness in dealing with source materials, Dtr used his own distinctive coherent literary scheme in the whole work on Samuel-Kings. To understand the character of Manasseh, I question Sweeney’s view which sees him a foil to Josiah.  At the micro level of the literary features I examine how the small semantic units of the text are integrated with each other and accomplish their textual purposes. Part two accesses the other face of Manasseh in Chronicles, where he is portrayed as a typical model of a repentant monarchy.  For an examination of the diachronic issues, I question Auld’s view that a common source existed which was used by the Chronicler and the author of Kings.  Within a literary discussion, the structure of the Manasseh narrative is discussed.  With regard to the character, I apply Kalimi’s ‘character creation’ examples to Chronicles, investigating whether his principles can be verified in the Manasseh account. Part Three focuses on the reasons why Kings and Chronicles should be read together, comparing how different meanings are delivered in each different context.