In my study on Barbara Pym's novels, the focus is first on the two basic ironies in love-marriage relations: irony of dilemma in which marriage is seen as the end of romantic love; and irony of situation in which excellent but plain-looking women are deprived of the chance to express their basic need for love. Chapter I of this study introduces the major themes and ironies in Pym's novels and the nature and functions of her irony. The following six chapters examine the two major ironies in six of Pym's twelve novels: Some Tame Gazelle, Excellent Women, Jane and Prudence, Less Than Angels, A Glass of Blessings, and A Few Green Leaves. While discussing the uniqueness of each of Pym's heroines, I also explore how Pym underwent changes in her views of love and marriage and how she attempted to keep a balance between her romanticism and her sense of irony. Pym's other six novels are discussed in Chapter VIII, the concluding chapter.

Orientador: Maria de Lourdes Ortiz Gandini Baldan / Banca: Sheila Pelegri de Sá / Banca: Neiva Ferreira Pinto / Resumo: Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, um dos grandes expoentes da literatura brasileira, apresenta uma vasta obra que contempla todos os gêneros literários. Neste trabalho, pretendemos estudar rigorosamente dois contos: "O alienista" - presente na coletânea Papéis Avulsos, 1882-; e "Evolução" - Relíquias da Casa velha, 1906 , ambos pertencentes à fase mais madura do escritor. O embasamento teórico para a realização das análises literárias circulará entre as noções de textualização, ironia, tema e figura, advindas da semiótica de inspiração greimasiana e das teorias do discurso. O nosso objetivo, com a análise dos dois contos, é demonstrar que o efeito de real é promovido por meio de uma programação textual que envolve o entrelaçamento entre as três unidades narrativas básicas - narração, descrição e diálogo - além da construção da ironia e da atualização de determinados temas e figuras / Abstract: Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis, one of the greatest representatives of the Brazilian Literature, presents a vast collection that embraces every literary genre. On this thesis, we intend to study two tales strictly: "O alienista" - present in the collection Papéis Avulsos, 1882 -; and "Evolução" - Relíquias da Casa Velha, 1906, both from a more mature phase of the writer. The theory used for the execution of the literary analises is going to be based on the notions of textualization, irony, theme and figure, from the greimasian semiotic and the speech theories. Our purpose, by analizing the two tales, is to demonstrate that the effect of real is promoted by a textual programming which involves the mix among the three basic narrative units - narration, description and dialog - in addition to the construction of irony and the updating of certain themes and figures / Mestre

Magister Artium - MA / This thesis analyzed Zakes Mda's The Heart of redness in the tradition of South African pastoral and counter-pastoral. It proposed that the novel is a hybrid of both African and European tradition and perspectives. It adduced Northrop Frye's theory of myth and archetypes in literature as a basis for study. It also analysed the novel in its use of irony. / South Africa

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This thesis considers four novels written by Douglas Coupland: Generation X (1991), Shampoo Planet (1992), Microserfs (1995), and Girlfriend in a Coma (1998), and demonstrates how each of these novels provides a discursive space in which Coupland examines the members of Generation X: those born between 1965 and 1980. Frederic Jameson's theories about postmodernism, which he equates with the concept of late capitalism, offer a theoretical lens through which this demographic can be interpreted because Coupland's characters struggle to find meaning and sincerity in a realm where advertising and consumerism are omnipresent and nearly all aspects of life are commodified. The ultimate consequence of the alienation and apathy that result from such rampant materialism is the emergence of an idiom that privileges irony. For Coupland, the prevalence of this irony is the most problematic aspect of postmodern society. Consequently, in portraying how the members of Generation X cope with late capitalism and its concomitant irony, Coupland's first four novels function as a trajectory that demonstrate how he and his characters grapple with and eventually repudiate it.

Thesis (doctoral)--Université Paris XIII, 1995-1996. / Cover title. Includes bibliographical references (p. 315-327).

Thesis (doctoral)--Université Paris XIII, 1995-1996. / Cover title. Includes bibliographical references (p. 315-327).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Universität Hamburg, 1970. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis--Université de Paris. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 310-315).

Thesis (M.Phil.) - University of Queensland, 2006. / Includes bibliography.