In this study I apply social constructionism as propounded by Vivian Burr (1998) to show that although J. K. Rowling uses stereotypes in the Harry Potter series as a reflection of how gender is constructed across a wide range of societal institutions in contemporary Britain, she created complex characters who on an individual level subvert social constructs and thereby offers her readers alternatives to culturally defined concepts of gender. I explore the all-pervasive social phenomenon of gender and examine how it is constructed in present-day Britain and reflected in the series (bearing in mind that the first book was published in 1997 and the last one in 2007). My analysis of female and male characters in the books, and their interpersonal relationships, shows that Rowling's often tricky portrayal of femininities and masculinities gives us an honest view of teenagers’ lives and contemporary gender relations in an ever-changing, complex world. / English Studies / M. A. (English)

Les premiers écrits destinés aux enfants et aux adolescents apparaissent en Europe au XVIIIe siècle et se développent tout au long du XIXe siècle. C'est au XIXe siècle que le terme littérature de jeunesse voit le jour. La littérature destinée aux enfants et adolescents est donc relativement récente. Cette littérature, à travers les œuvres qui la composent, a souvent pour but principal d’éduquer les enfants et les adolescents et porte en elle des messages de divers types : savoir encyclopédique, conseils existentiels et prescriptions morales. Ces messages sont intentionnellement véhiculés par des œuvres que l’on peut donc qualifier de didactiques. Mais ce didactisme propre au genre de la littérature de jeunesse évolue au cours des siècles. En se focalisant sur la littérature de jeunesse basque et en établissant un corpus d’œuvres significatives d’une évolution, nous avons analysé au cours de ce travail de thèse la manière dont les différents messages et les différentes morales étaient transmis aux enfants et aux adolescents lecteurs au cours des siècles. Cette transmission se fait tantôt par le biais du recours à un didactisme explicite, tantôt ou simultanément par l’emploi d’un didactisme plus implicite. Après avoir procédé à l’analyse de chacune des œuvres du corpus, nous les avons comparées et avons proposé une ébauche d’histoire de l’évolution du didactisme de la littérature de jeunesse basque du début XIXe siècle au début du XXIe siècle. Pour finir, nous avons proposé une grille d’analyse œuvres de jeunesse à destination des enseignants et des professeurs qui souhaiteraient travailler sur les messages des œuvres avec leurs élèves. / The first writings devoted to children and adolescents emerged in Europe in the 18th century and continued to develop throughout the whole of the 19th century. It was in the 19th century that the term “children’s literature” (or “juvenile literature”) came into being. Literature written for children and adolescents is therefore relatively recent. The main aim of this type of literature is largely to educate children and adolescents by means of the works of which it is composed and by carrying messages of varying types: encyclopedic knowledge, existential advice as well as moral prescriptions. These messages are deliberately transmitted through works which one can therefore qualify as being didactic. This characteristic indoctrination of children’s literature (juvenile literature) has evolved over the centuries. Having focalized our research on Basque children’s (juvenile) literature and having compiled a corpus of works pertaining to this evolution we have analysed, in this thesis, the ways in which the various morals and different messages were handed down to juvenile readers throughout the ages. This transmission has taken place sometimes by means of explicit didactism and sometimes, or even simultaneously, by the use of implied didactism. Having proceeded to analyse and compare each opuscule of the corpus we thus propose a historic outline concerning the evolution of didactism in Basque children’s (juvenile) literature as from the 19th century to the beginning of the 21st century. To conclude we have proposed an analytical table of children’s (juvenile) literature destined to aid teachers and professors who may wish to study the messages contained in the works of their pupils.

O presente trabalho tem como objetivo estudar a obra de Angela Lago, escritora e ilustradora de livros infantis, partindo da seleção de títulos que têm em comum a temática do assombro e da morte, a saber: De Morte! (1992), Charadas Macabras (1994), Sete Histórias para Sacudir o Esqueleto (2002) e Minhas Assombrações (2009). Considerada um dos grandes nomes da Literatura Infantil e Juvenil contemporânea, Angela Lago há mais de três décadas tem oferecido aos seus leitores títulos instigantes, muitos dos quais já foram objeto de pesquisa no âmbito acadêmico. Da análise de algumas dissertações de mestrado e teses de doutorado, verificamos a possibilidade de investigação de sua obra sob diferentes perspectivas teóricas. Entre os vieses possíveis, nossa abordagem considerou os conceitos teóricos desenvolvidos por Mikhail Bakhtin, já apontados em alguns trabalhos, e o estudo da oralidade e da cultura escrita, propostos por Walter Ong e Eric Havelock. Reverberam nas obras os conceitos de plurilinguismo, dialogismo e a estética do grotesco, discutidos por Bakhtin, e características da oralidade, do advento da escrita e da impressão, apresentados especialmente por Ong. Realizando o entrecruzamento das teorias, procuramos demonstrar como a artista propõe o processar da interação autor/leitor de forma gradativa no corpus selecionado, passando do riso ao assombramento, do convite ao ato de contar à inserção do leitor como personagem da história. Partindo do estudo comparativo dos livros selecionados, observamos semelhanças entre os projetos estéticos, o que nos fez agrupá-los em duas categorias: obras nas quais a autora se posiciona ao lado de seu leitor, convocando-o a transmitir as histórias; obras em que a autora e leitor tornam-se personagens, com novas formas de participação. / The purpose of the present study is to analyse the work of Angela Lago, book writer and children\'s books illustrator, based on a selection of books that have haunting and death as common themes, namely: De Morte! (1992), Charadas Macabras (1994), Sete Histórias para Sacudir o Esqueleto (2002) and Minhas Assombrações (2009). Considered one of the biggest names in contemporary juvenile and children\'s literature, Angela Lago has provided readers, for over three decades, with exciting books, many of which have been the object of research in the academic field. While analysing some master\'s and doctorate\'s dissertations, we realized the possibility of investigating her work under different theoretical perspectives. Among the possible biases, our approach contemplated the theoretical concepts developed by Mikhail Bakhtin, already cited in other works, and the study of the oral tradition and written culture, proposed by Walter Ong and Eric Havelock. The concepts of multilingualism, dialogism and the aesthetic of the grotesque, discussed by Bakhtin, as well as characteristics of the oral tradition, the advent of writing and the press, presented especially by Ong, reverberate through her works. By interchanging these theories, we attempted to demonstrate how the artist proposes the gradual processing of the reader/author interaction in the selected corpus, going from laughter to haunting, from the invitation of the act of storytelling to introducing the reader as a character in the story. Starting with the comparative study of the selected books, we observed similarities among the aesthetic projects, which led us to group them into two categories: works in which the author gets together with the reader, inviting him/her to convey the stories; works in which the author and the reader become characters themselves, allowing new ways of participation.

Esta dissertação estuda comparativamente o grotesco presente no manuscrito Alices Adventures Underground, de Lewis Carroll e no filme Alice (1988) do diretor Jan Svankmajer. Considerando a diferença dos campos narrativos em que atuam, relevou-se a especificidade de cada suporte, identificando como cada artista desenvolveu a estética em seu trabalho. Para focar a análise, selecionamos alguns aspectos: o início das histórias, o personagem do coelho branco, as mudanças de tamanho sofridas por Alice, a união do humor e do horror e o encerramento das narrativas. Observamos como esses elementos, marcantes no manuscrito de Carroll, reverberam na obra do cineasta surrealista, levando à construção de um filme capaz de ampliar, com maestria, os elementos da estética do grotesco, estabelecendo um diálogo criativo com o escritor vitoriano. / This thesis studies, through comparison, the grotesqu e found in the manuscript by Lewis ,jer. In view of the difference between their narrative fields, the specific traits of each medium were taken into consideration, and it was recognized how both the writer and the film director developed aesthetics in their work. To refine the analysis, some aspects were selected: the beginning of the stories, the White Rabbit character, the size changes through which Alice goes, the joining together of hu mor and horror, and the ending of the tales. We remark how these elements, so distinguished in Carrolls manuscript, echo in the work of the surrealist filmmaker, leading him to the creation of a film capable of masterly increasing the elements in the aesthetic of the grotesqu e, establishing a creative dialogue with the writer from the Victorian era.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-07-29T16:29:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tese - LARISSA.pdf: 1161178 bytes, checksum: 7898eaae7a4c3e82fcff5716a0aa7d78 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-10-09 / This study investigates the specificities of contemporary Brazilian youth literature based on the initial hypotheses that such works attempt to establish an educational process for life. The concept of education is based on Bildungsroman (or formation novel), a genre whose paradigm is Goethe s Wilhelm Meister s Apprenticeship. The human-centred formation in this novel goes beyond purely practical teachings and leads the main character towards a maturity process promoted by existential ordeals. Thus, Meister s educational principles are taken into account in order to observe how the educational issue is represented in youth literature. This theoretical research aims to discuss the possible relationship between formation novels and youth literature as well as its characteristics. Works by Sandra Beckett (1997), Daniel Delbrassine (2002, 2006), João Luís Ceccantini (1993, 2000), Geffard-Lartet (2005), and Danielle Thaler (2002) were used as reference. Furthermore, the Vaga-lume Series published by Editora Ática was analysed. The series is a pioneering collection in Brazil as regards publishing novels for young readers. The analysis also included the finalist novels for the Jabuti Prize which were selected by Câmara Brasileira do Livro (CBL) from 2006 to 2008 in the Best Youth Book category. Readers undergoing a formation process feel seduced by specific strategies related to thematic and formal choices used in such novels. The educational issue is important due to the fact that the young character shows greater experience after facing ordeals. Therefore, in order to understand the tendencies in contemporary youth narratives, it is necessary to discuss its features and carry out an intrinsic analysis of works published under the heading of youth literature. / Este trabalho investiga a especificidade das narrativas juvenis brasileiras contemporâneas, apoiandose na hipótese inicial de que há, nas obras voltadas para jovens, uma preocupação de configurar um processo de educação para a vida. A ideia de educação se fundamenta no Bildungsroman (romance de formação), um gênero que tem como paradigma Os anos de aprendizado de Wilhelm Meister, de Goethe. A formação nessa obra está centrada numa educação humana, que foge dos ensinamentos puramente utilitários para levar o protagonista a um processo de amadurecimento causado pelo enfrentamento das provas próprias da existência. Dessa forma, parte-se dos princípios educativos presentes no Meister para observar como se manifesta o tema da educação nas obras juvenis. Para aprofundar a discussão sobre as possíveis relações entre o romance de formação e a literatura juvenil, assim como sobre as especificidades desse campo, foi feita uma pesquisa teórica em obras sobre esse tema, como as de Sandra Beckett (1997), Daniel Delbrassine (2002, 2006), João Luís Ceccantini (1993, 2000), Geffard-Lartet (2005) e Danielle Thaler (2002). Em seguida, empreendeu-se a análise da Série Vaga-Lume da Editora Ática, uma coleção pioneira no Brasil na publicação de narrativas voltadas para o jovem leitor, e também dos romances finalistas do prêmio Jabuti, selecionados pela Câmara Brasileira do Livro (CBL) nos anos de 2006 a 2008, na categoria melhor livro juvenil . As obras analisadas procuram seduzir um leitor em formação, com estratégias particulares ligadas a escolhas temáticas e formais. O tema da educação nessas obras é uma vertente importante, visto que a personagem jovem, ao final das provas enfrentadas, apresenta um acréscimo de experiência. Compreender, enfim, as tendências da narrativa juvenil na contemporaneidade envolve a discussão da especificidade desse campo e a análise intrínseca das obras lançadas no mercado com a denominação de juvenis.

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