Adolescence is an incredibly complex period of life. During this time young people are searching for and wanting to create their own unique identity, however being confronted with a plethora of roles and directions is challenging and confusing. These challenges are reflected in the vast array of young adult literature being presented to young people today. As a result young adult literature has the potential to function as scaffolding to assist teenagers in the struggles of adolescence by serving as an important source of information about the world and the people in it. Teenage novels also give young people the opportunity to try on different identities and vicariously experience consequences of actions while developing their own distinctive personality and character. As this study reveals, the Australian young adult novel has undergone considerable developments, with 1989 serving as a milestone year in which writers and publishers turned in new directions. In general, Australian young adult novels have changed from books set predominately in rural areas, incorporating major themes of child abuse, death, friendship and survival with introverted characters aged between twelve and sixteen in the early 1980s to novels with urban settings, a large increase in books about crime, dating, drugs and mental health and sexually active, extroverted characters aged between fourteen and eighteen in the late 1990s. To chart the progression of these changes and gain an understanding of the messages young adults receive from adolescent novels an evaluative framework was developed. The framework consists of two main sections. The first part applies to the work as a whole, obtaining data about the novel such as plot, style, setting, temporal context, use of humour, issues within the text and ending, while the second part collects information about character demographics including gender, age, occupational status, family type, sexual orientation, relationships with family and authority figures, personality traits and outlook for character. To qualitatively and quantitatively assess the construction of youth in Australian young adult literature a random selection of 20 per cent of Australian young adult books published in each year from 1980 to 2000 were analysed using the evaluative framework, with 186 novels being studied altogether. During the 1990s in particular, Australian young adult literature was heavily criticised for being too bleak, too dark, presenting a picture of life that was all gloom and doom. This research resoundingly dismisses this argument by showing that rather than being a negative influence on the lives of young people, Australian books for young people present a comprehensive portrayal of youth. They probe the entire gamut of teenage experiences, both the good and the bad, providing a wide range of scenarios, roles, relationships and characters for young people to explore. Therefore Australian young adult literature provides an important source of information and support for the psycho-social development of young people during the formative years of adolescence. This research is significant because it gives hard evidence to support the promotion of a representative selection of Australian young adult novels both in the classroom and in home, school and public libraries. By establishing the available range of contemporary Australian young adult literature through this study, young adult readers, teachers and librarians can be confident in the knowledge that appropriate titles are accessible which meet the needs and interests of young people. Consequently, the substantial amount of data gathered from this study will considerably add to the knowledge and understanding ofAustralian young adult novels to date and provide an excellent starting point for further research in the future.

O presente trabalho tem por objetivo estudar pontuais questões estéticas e formais na peça da dramaturga inglesa Sarah Kane: Blasted (1995), de modo a entender a forma e sua respectiva correspondência com o contexto sócio-histórico. Em linhas gerais, o estudo objetiva investigar os procedimentos formais utilizados por Kane e as relações entre tema e forma, partindo do pressuposto de Peter Szondi que compreende a forma como conteúdo precipitado. Nesse sentido, analisaremos de que maneira elementos temáticos, tais como a violência (psicológica, verbal, física), a guerra, o abuso sexual e tabus, tais como, cenas de intercurso hetero e homossexual, canibalismo, entre outros, são amplamente utilizados pela dramaturga e como se engendram estruturalmente no enredo da peça. Para tanto, procuramos fazer uma breve introdução histórico teatral ao contexto político, econômico e social da Inglaterra nos anos noventa, à peça, à dramaturga e à estética teatral do In-yer-face theatre. Em seguida, focamos na apresentação cena-a-cena da peça, dedicada à análise pormenorizada de Blasted e ao levantamento das temáticas relevantes expressas na peça. Finalmente, nos dedicamos às relações formais e escolhas estéticas presentes em Blasted, relacionadas aos eventos histórico-sociais a que a peça remete. / The present work aims to study specific formal-aesthetic issues in the 1995 play Blasted by British playwright Sarah Kane in order to understand the play´s form as related to its socio-historical context. In general terms, this study aims to investigate the formal procedures used by Kane and the plays relations between theme and form, according to Peter Szondi´s assumptions which comprehend that form could be conceived of as precipitated content. In this sense, we will analyze how themes such as psychological, verbal and physical violence, war, sexual abuse and taboo scenes of heterosexual and homosexual intercourse, for example, or cannibalism, among others, are widely used by the playwright and how they are structurally embedded in the plot of the play. The study starts with a brief historical introduction to the political, economic and social context of England in the nineties, followed by an introduction to the play and its theatrical context, to the playwright and to the aesthetic principles of In-yer-face theatre. Then, we focus on the detailed analysis of each scene of the play, stressing its relevant issues. Lastly, we proceed to analyze the formal relations and the aesthetic choices present in Blasted, as related to the social-historical events that the play refers to.

O presente trabalho tem por objetivo estudar pontuais questões estéticas e formais na peça da dramaturga inglesa Sarah Kane: Blasted (1995), de modo a entender a forma e sua respectiva correspondência com o contexto sócio-histórico. Em linhas gerais, o estudo objetiva investigar os procedimentos formais utilizados por Kane e as relações entre tema e forma, partindo do pressuposto de Peter Szondi que compreende a forma como conteúdo precipitado. Nesse sentido, analisaremos de que maneira elementos temáticos, tais como a violência (psicológica, verbal, física), a guerra, o abuso sexual e tabus, tais como, cenas de intercurso hetero e homossexual, canibalismo, entre outros, são amplamente utilizados pela dramaturga e como se engendram estruturalmente no enredo da peça. Para tanto, procuramos fazer uma breve introdução histórico teatral ao contexto político, econômico e social da Inglaterra nos anos noventa, à peça, à dramaturga e à estética teatral do In-yer-face theatre. Em seguida, focamos na apresentação cena-a-cena da peça, dedicada à análise pormenorizada de Blasted e ao levantamento das temáticas relevantes expressas na peça. Finalmente, nos dedicamos às relações formais e escolhas estéticas presentes em Blasted, relacionadas aos eventos histórico-sociais a que a peça remete. / The present work aims to study specific formal-aesthetic issues in the 1995 play Blasted by British playwright Sarah Kane in order to understand the play´s form as related to its socio-historical context. In general terms, this study aims to investigate the formal procedures used by Kane and the plays relations between theme and form, according to Peter Szondi´s assumptions which comprehend that form could be conceived of as precipitated content. In this sense, we will analyze how themes such as psychological, verbal and physical violence, war, sexual abuse and taboo scenes of heterosexual and homosexual intercourse, for example, or cannibalism, among others, are widely used by the playwright and how they are structurally embedded in the plot of the play. The study starts with a brief historical introduction to the political, economic and social context of England in the nineties, followed by an introduction to the play and its theatrical context, to the playwright and to the aesthetic principles of In-yer-face theatre. Then, we focus on the detailed analysis of each scene of the play, stressing its relevant issues. Lastly, we proceed to analyze the formal relations and the aesthetic choices present in Blasted, as related to the social-historical events that the play refers to.

Nesta dissertação, busca-se analisar os elementos dramatúrgicos constituintes da polêmica peça Shopping and Fucking (1996), do dramaturgo britânico Mark Ravenhill, relacionando suas características de forma e conteúdo e seus decorrentes imbricamentos. O ponto de partida dessa empreitada encontra-se não somente em obras teóricas importantes da crítica de literatura, teatro e cultura de autoria de Peter Szondi, Anatol Rosenfeld, Roberto Schwarz e Fredric Jameson, mas também nas de autores mais estreitamente vinculados às ciências econômicas e à crítica do sistema mundial como Ernst Mandel e Robert Kurz. Podemos, por meio dessa análise, concluir que Ravenhill é capaz de retratar por meio da configuração da peça aspectos simultaneamente relacionados tanto à subjetividade quanto à sociedade contemporâneas ambas em estado de crise permanente. Na primeira parte da dissertação, procura-se introduzir historicamente a peça, o teatro In-yer-face e o período Thatcher. Na segunda parte, destacam-se principalmente os temas presentes abordados em relação à forma. Na terceira, há uma predominância da análise formal e observa-se a presença de elementos épicos que, algumas vezes desvirtuados, desestruturam a forma puramente dramática. Constatação essa que, segundo levantamento bibliográfico realizado, ainda não havia sido defendida por críticos que se debruçaram sobre a obra desse dramaturgo. E, na quarta parte, nas considerações finais, procura-se entender a forma e a sua respectiva correspondência com o contexto sócio-histórico segundo as considerações analíticas levantadas nos capítulos anteriores. / In this dissertation, our goal is to analyze the theatrical elements that constitute the controversial play Shopping and Fucking (1996), by the British playwright Mark Ravenhill, relating its characteristics of form and content and their resulting intersections. The focus lies not only on the important theoretical works of literature, theatre and culture critique by Peter Szondi, Anatol Rosenfeld, Roberto Schwarz and Fredric Jameson, but also on those of authors more closely tied to economics and world system critics such as Ernst Mandel and Robert Kurz. The analysis concludes that Ravenhill simultaneously relates aspects of subjectivity and the contemporary society both in a state of permanent crisis. The first part of the dissertation introduces the play, the In-yer-face theatre and the Thatcher period. The second part emphasizes the themes presented addressed in relation to the form. The third part stresses the predominance of formal analysis, in which epic elements, somewhat garbled, deconstruct the dramatical form. Nevertheless, according to bibliographical research, such an analysis has not been developed, to the present day, by critics familiar with Ravenhill\'s theatrical works. In the concluding chapter an understanding is sought towards the plays form and its correspondences with the socio-historical context following our previous analysis.

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Nesta dissertação, busca-se analisar os elementos dramatúrgicos constituintes da polêmica peça Shopping and Fucking (1996), do dramaturgo britânico Mark Ravenhill, relacionando suas características de forma e conteúdo e seus decorrentes imbricamentos. O ponto de partida dessa empreitada encontra-se não somente em obras teóricas importantes da crítica de literatura, teatro e cultura de autoria de Peter Szondi, Anatol Rosenfeld, Roberto Schwarz e Fredric Jameson, mas também nas de autores mais estreitamente vinculados às ciências econômicas e à crítica do sistema mundial como Ernst Mandel e Robert Kurz. Podemos, por meio dessa análise, concluir que Ravenhill é capaz de retratar por meio da configuração da peça aspectos simultaneamente relacionados tanto à subjetividade quanto à sociedade contemporâneas ambas em estado de crise permanente. Na primeira parte da dissertação, procura-se introduzir historicamente a peça, o teatro In-yer-face e o período Thatcher. Na segunda parte, destacam-se principalmente os temas presentes abordados em relação à forma. Na terceira, há uma predominância da análise formal e observa-se a presença de elementos épicos que, algumas vezes desvirtuados, desestruturam a forma puramente dramática. Constatação essa que, segundo levantamento bibliográfico realizado, ainda não havia sido defendida por críticos que se debruçaram sobre a obra desse dramaturgo. E, na quarta parte, nas considerações finais, procura-se entender a forma e a sua respectiva correspondência com o contexto sócio-histórico segundo as considerações analíticas levantadas nos capítulos anteriores. / In this dissertation, our goal is to analyze the theatrical elements that constitute the controversial play Shopping and Fucking (1996), by the British playwright Mark Ravenhill, relating its characteristics of form and content and their resulting intersections. The focus lies not only on the important theoretical works of literature, theatre and culture critique by Peter Szondi, Anatol Rosenfeld, Roberto Schwarz and Fredric Jameson, but also on those of authors more closely tied to economics and world system critics such as Ernst Mandel and Robert Kurz. The analysis concludes that Ravenhill simultaneously relates aspects of subjectivity and the contemporary society both in a state of permanent crisis. The first part of the dissertation introduces the play, the In-yer-face theatre and the Thatcher period. The second part emphasizes the themes presented addressed in relation to the form. The third part stresses the predominance of formal analysis, in which epic elements, somewhat garbled, deconstruct the dramatical form. Nevertheless, according to bibliographical research, such an analysis has not been developed, to the present day, by critics familiar with Ravenhill\'s theatrical works. In the concluding chapter an understanding is sought towards the plays form and its correspondences with the socio-historical context following our previous analysis.