This dissertation explores the intimate relationship between irony and romantic subjectivity, by drawing on feminist psychoanalytical theory, via an examination of the shiftings of irony, and humor, in the works of the Swedish romanticist P. D. A. Atterbom (1790–1855). It looks at the critical role played by irony in the formation of Romantic subjectivity, and explores irony’s potential to undermine dualistically gendered notions of subject-object relations. For Atterbom, irony is an aesthetic concept closely related to drama, informed not only by German Romantic-ironic theorists such as Friedrich Schlegel and Jean Paul, but also by the works of Shakespeare, Ludwig Tieck, and E. T. A. Hoffmann. The thesis follows the shiftings of Romantic irony in Atterbom’s major literary texts: the cycle of poems Blommorna [The Flowers] (1811), where the Ovidian transformations are used metafictively to play with the relation between poet, poem, and reader; and the literary satire Rimmarbandet [The Rhyme Band] (1810), which, inspired by Tieck’s Der Gestiefelte Kater (1797), uses the metafictive theatre-in-the-theatre motif, as well as carnivalesque and grotesque motifs to expose contrived theatricality and homosocial misogyny in the prevailing culture. The dynamic between the satirist’s subject and the attacked object is a polarized power struggle, where revolt is followed by submission. In this respect, Romantic satire is here conservative. In the fairy tale play Lycksalighetens ö [Island of Felicity] (1824–27), tragedy’s irony is a dialectic between the ideal and the real that strives to create both inner and outer renewal. The play reaches out metafictively to the reader and turns her/him into the poet of a new version of the fairy tale. The reading/writing process inscribed in the work thus becomes a form of renewal and liberation from grief, and old, patriarchal gender roles. Finally, the humorous, unfinished idyll Fågel Blå [Blue Bird] (1814, 1818, 1858) is a work in many pieces, a fragment, a sketch and a non finito that together stages a restorative creative process, where the reader is asked to take part in joining together the scattered parts of Blue Bird itself. To conclude, irony is a feature of Romanticism, which makes the Romantic, literary subject relational and dialogical, open to its Other, and herein lies a form of ethics and an escape from a conventional, patriarchal notion of the self. I discuss this with Julia Kristeva’s theories on how subjectivity changes when it becomes poetic and Jessica Benjamin’s Winnicott-influenced theory of how play can offer a way out from patriarchy’s strict gender roles. The shiftings of irony in Atterbom’s work show a development from the satirical subject, where an aggressive form of self-assertion conceals a lack of individuality – via tragedy’s painstaking efforts to integrate repressed aspects of the self – to the idyll’s more harmonious subject, who has the capacity to laugh at him/herself and see both the grotesque in the holy, and the holy in the grotesque.

Within the field of cinema studies, the question of visual representation is a fundamental pillar. An immense volume of theoretical work has been written on the subject, with various academic approaches such as feministic, postcolonial and gay/lesbian. Yet there is a large social group that seems to have been overlooked within the representational discourse: the elderly. This group of people appears to be a blind spot on the multicultural retina, too often neglected within the area of cultural studies. But as the baby boomer generation, who has always redefined the different stages of life (youth, adulthood, middle age), is entering old age, things are slowly changing. Utilizing a post-structural framework, this essay investigates the visual representation of elderly within the cinematic landscape of the western world. Since the subject is somewhat uncharted territory, a broad interdisciplinary approach is necessary where modern social gerontology meets the field of cinema studies. In a cultural context, social grouping based on age implies a distinct position versus the normative, compare to other types of minorities. Changes of sex, skin colour or sexual preference are uncommon, whereas changing age is the fate of every human being. The elderly as the “the Other” is thus every man’s future destiny. This rather unique position carries an immanent paradox since the only way to avoid the periphery in question is death. As a philosophical counterpoint to this rather dystopian outlook, Gilles Deleuze’s theory of becoming is brought into the discussion. The theoretical part of the essay ends with the ontology of age, a historical review of the field of gerontology and the concept of ageism. After a descriptive section, where contemporary examples of film and other media with old age as a main theme are identified, the analytical part of the essay ensues. With the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu as a theoretical frame of reference, a close reading of the films Avalon (Axel Petersén, 2011), About Schmidt (Alexander Payne, 2002) and RED (Robert Schwentke, 2010) are performed, emphasising aging identity and imposed age-normative behaviour. The semiotics of the aged body is discussed through Jacques Lacans mirror stage and Julia Kristevas abject theory, exemplified by the works of Donigan Cumming. The final part of the essay concerns the great eternal questions within film philosophy: life, death, time and memory, which for the elderly are not merely philosophical concerns but rather notable existential realities. Using Deleuze as a philosophical toolbox, these grand topics are illuminated with examples from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (David Fincher, 2008), Amour (Michael Haneke, 2012) and Ingmar Bergmans classical works, such as Smultronstället (1957), Saraband (2003) and Gycklarnas afton (1953).

Autobiographies and documentaries usually aim to elicit a discussion about social issues by shocking and horrifying readers and viewers, often through graphic imagery. This study's ambition is to examine how literary documentary borrows from the gothic tradition to depict real societal issues. My aim is to show how the gothic style transcends the borders of the genre and that literary documentary about self-harm tends to work through the same thematic and narrative structures as the literary gothic. With a focus on contemporary depictions of self-harm and mental illness in young women and girls in Sweden, this analysis explore how the function of sexuality, gender and self-harm in gothic horror can be applied on these texts. At the same time this study explores how selfharming women tend to use gothic imagery to portray the horrors of their own reality that is saturated with extreme and negative emotions. For comparison, two famous depictions of girls going through puberty from the literary horror genre; Carrie and The Exorcist, are examined to further anchor the connection between femininity, blood and puberty in the gothic theoretical field.

This thesis aims to analyze Dorothy Cross’s sculptural, installation, and video works in relation to Ireland’s Post-Conflict struggle with its cultural and global identity. Throughout the course of history, Ireland’s identity has always been in question, sparking new interest over the last thirty years in producing an Irish identity discerned by “hybridity, multiplicity, and mobility.”[1] Declan McGonagle states that the traditional Irish constructs of gender and sexuality were primarily challenged by Dorothy Cross during this period of rapid sociopolitical change.[2] Cross consistently deconstructs pre-Christian Mother Ireland and patriarchal Catholic Ireland in her early sculptural works, and ultimately transitions towards communicating a collective identity rooted in loss and desire. [3] The constructions of gendered, cultural, and collective identity are dismantled across multiple media throughout Cross’s oeuvre, which can be analyzed through a synthesis of poststructuralist, postmodern, and French feminist theory. In evaluating Dorothy Cross’s destabilization of identity, I will expand the literature on contemporary Irish art during the nation’s turbulent time of globalization, which has been underemphasized in the study of contemporary European art. [1] Robin Lydenberg, “Contemporary Irish Art on the Move: At Home and Abroad with Dorothy Cross,” Éire-Ireland: a Journal of Irish Studies 39, no. 3/4 (2004): 145. [2] Declan McGonagle, Fintan O’Toole, and Kim Levin, Irish Art Now: From the Poetic to the Political (London: Merrell Publishers Ltd., 1999): 19. [3] Enrique Juncosa and Sean Kissane, eds, Dorothy Cross (Milan: Edizioni Charta, 2005), 16.

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Unter dem Begriff des Poststrukturalismus wird eine disparate, auf den Axiomen des Strukturalismus aufbauende und diese zugleich überwindende Strömung verstanden, die sowohl innerhalb der Sozial- und Kulturwissenschaften als auch in interdisziplinär organisierten Feldern wie den Gender Studies von großer Tragweite ist. Geteilt wird die Auffassung, dass kulturelle Phänomene allgemein sprachlich strukturiert sind. Seine Tendenz, unter die Oberfläche vermeintlich stabiler, monolithischer Strukturen zu schauen, qualifiziert den Poststrukturalismus für eine Anwendung auf genderwissenschaftliche Kategorien wie Weiblichkeit und Männlichkeit, deren Bedeutung nicht aus sich selbst erwächst, sondern die als Signifikate innerhalb eines (phallokratischen) Systems zu denken sind.

渥坦貝克的劇作《解剖新義》聚焦於法國殖民北非時期，伊莎貝拉(Isabelle Eberhardt)的旅行經驗。伊莎貝拉女扮男裝以歐洲冒險家身份旅行，設法爭取個人自由，致力於破除父權社會加諸於女性身上的性別刻板印象。本劇涵蓋了空間位移、遊牧旅行以及與他者相遇的概念。大多數的批評家對於此劇的討論，多著眼於角色如何跨越性別、地理疆界，而鮮少碰觸旅行議題本身。本論文試圖細讀《解剖新義》，進而探討其中的旅行議題，以及旅行伴隨而來的外來者問題。 本論文的第一章涵蓋《解剖新義》的相關評論，以及論文的主題。第二章說明旅行必要的條件，進而帶出本論文關切的旅行要素。第三章引用茱莉亞·克莉斯蒂娃 (Julia Kristeva)對外來者的見解，點出外來者的問題。本劇呈現旅行者與當地居民彼此間心理的矛盾衝突；同時，也提供不同例子說明個人如何能夠緩和自我與他者間的不合。第四章將以雅克·德希達(Jacques Derrida)的「待客之道」(hospitality)理論延續討論個人將如何面對與他者相遇的問題。第五章為本論文的總結，提供新 的解讀《解剖新義》方法。即便「待客之道」的概念在《解剖新義》中的某些場合被曲解誤用，卻也隱含「待客之道」在不同論述中，可能以不同概念呈現。 / Timberlake Wertenbaker’s New Anatomies (1981) is a play that centers on Isabelle Eberhardt’s traveling experience during French colonialism in North Africa. Isabelle, who endeavors to break the gender stereotype that is imposed on women in the patriarchal society, manages to strive for her own freedom by setting out for a journey as a European cross-dressed adventurer. The play deals with the ideas of displacement, nomadic traveling, and the encounter with the other. Critics’ responses to the play often focus on how the characters cross the gender and spatial boundaries; however, few of them seem to touch upon the issue on traveling itself. I intend to grapple with the issue on traveling by having a close reading on New Anatomies, and to deal with the accompanying foreigner question in a voyage. Chapter One of the thesis contains the literature reviews of New Anatomies, and carries out the concern of the thesis. Chapter Two presents the essential element in traveling and further maps out my concern about traveling. Chapter Three brings out the foreigner question by elucidating Julia Kristeva’s notion on strangers. The play reveals the psychological conflicts between a traveler and the locals; meanwhile, it also presents diverse examples on how one is able to reduce the estrangement between one and the other. To proceed with the discussion on how one shall react in response to the encounter with the other, I employ Jacques Derrida’s concept of hospitality in Chapter Four. Chapter Five is the conclusion of the thesis that points out how the thesis can be treated as a new way of study on New Anatomies. Though the meanings of hospitality are in some occasions being deformed in New Anatomies, they imply that there are different concepts of hospitality that is authorized in different discourses including traveling.

This dissertation attempts to investigate the intertextual modus operandi in the oeuvre of H.J. Pieterse, with specific focus on his volumes, Alruin (1989) and Die burg van hertog Bloubaard (2000). The overarching purpose of the investigation is to prove that the author not only uses intertextuality in the sense that one text (literary text) refers to another text (literary and non–literary), or that one text influences another. Pieterse engages in conversation with other texts and re–writes these texts by repositioning them in another context and by adding additional metaphoric meaning to them. The author allows these texts to exchange conversation, to mutually influence one another, and this has as a result that, in his poems, his poetry and his oeuvre, metaphoric lines come into being, which lend a layered meaning to these texts and enrich the possibilities of their interpretation. Thus, a play on multiple meaning develops, which moves between texts: written texts, literary texts, non–literary texts, the author, the reader and the context(s). The conclusion to which this dissertation comes, is that the above mentioned manifestations of meanings, which exist and come into existence within the physically confines of the text, expand this text to a less confined existence in terms of meaning, more unlimited and unbound than what is necessarily allowed by the physically confined nature of the written text. The question thus arises of how the physically limited text take possession of and draws into the texts what lies beyond its physical confines to produce meaning, and how this tension around the limits of the literary text is functionally used. Consequentially, the question that follows is how this happens in the oeuvre of H.J. Pieterse and how the author uses his poetic technique to go beyond the confines of the written text. / Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans and Dutch))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

This dissertation attempts to investigate the intertextual modus operandi in the oeuvre of H.J. Pieterse, with specific focus on his volumes, Alruin (1989) and Die burg van hertog Bloubaard (2000). The overarching purpose of the investigation is to prove that the author not only uses intertextuality in the sense that one text (literary text) refers to another text (literary and non–literary), or that one text influences another. Pieterse engages in conversation with other texts and re–writes these texts by repositioning them in another context and by adding additional metaphoric meaning to them. The author allows these texts to exchange conversation, to mutually influence one another, and this has as a result that, in his poems, his poetry and his oeuvre, metaphoric lines come into being, which lend a layered meaning to these texts and enrich the possibilities of their interpretation. Thus, a play on multiple meaning develops, which moves between texts: written texts, literary texts, non–literary texts, the author, the reader and the context(s). The conclusion to which this dissertation comes, is that the above mentioned manifestations of meanings, which exist and come into existence within the physically confines of the text, expand this text to a less confined existence in terms of meaning, more unlimited and unbound than what is necessarily allowed by the physically confined nature of the written text. The question thus arises of how the physically limited text take possession of and draws into the texts what lies beyond its physical confines to produce meaning, and how this tension around the limits of the literary text is functionally used. Consequentially, the question that follows is how this happens in the oeuvre of H.J. Pieterse and how the author uses his poetic technique to go beyond the confines of the written text. / Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans and Dutch))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.