This thesis examines the phenomenon of Sir Walter Scott's extraordinary Victorian popularity. Focussing on criticism of his Waverley Novels between 1832 - the year of his death - and the end of the century, the thesis plots the development and terms of Scott's eminence. An introductory chapter sets out principal areas of study, being followed by a section leading up to 1832. Then follow analyses of critical work on Scott by, respectively, Harriet Martineau, Thomas Carlyle, Walter Bagehot, John Ruskin, Leslie Stephen, Richard Hutton and Julia Wedgwood. The thesis concludes with an epilogic section covering critics of the late nineteenth century, including Frederic Harrison and Andrew Lang. In each instance the context of each critic's wider work figures prominently. The thesis contends that large elements of Scott's achievement received relatively little attention in Victorian criticism. These are Scotti,s Enlightenment interests in speculative history and detailed, almost sociological, methods of composition, as well as the 'experimental' character of his work. By contrast, much was made in criticism of what may be summarised as his 'health' and 'beneficial effects'. It is claimed that the construction of such consensual critical notions about the merits of Scott's very popular work had a great deal to do with the buttressing and underpinning of some Victorian attitudes. While these varied with critics' own preoccupations - and Scott's 'malleability' is remarkable - Scott's role was so significant in Victorian culture that his employment, within what was still a relatively eclectic and formally undisciplined critical practice, constituted significant ideological manoeuvring. Specifically, Scott's remit in Victorian criticism was most usually to represent and validate some kind of opposition to the present. This both excluded much of his achievement, and also narrowed the terms of his appraisal so as to permit a revealing coalescence of literary with social, political and even racial arguments. This thesis traces the increasing definition of such a pattern within Victorian criticism of the Waverley Novels.

Este trabalho de pesquisa tem por objetivo estudar a singularidade da obra Aventuras de Diófanes, de Theresa Margarida da Silva e Orta, escritora portuguesa de meados do século XVIII. O fato de Theresa Margarida não pertencer aos cânones da literatura portuguesa nem da feminina constitui uma problemática que se buscou explicar neste trabalho. Criadora de um protorromance inspirado em obras clássicas como Odisséia (de Homero) e Télémaque (de Fénelon), Theresa Margarida é vista, nesta tese, como um retratista feminino dos cenários políticos, religiosos, sociais e culturais da época, em um ambiente dominantemente masculino. Como das mulheres letradas só era esperada e permitida a produção poética, a postura da autora portuguesa tem a conotação de transgressora, à luz dos conceitos de Foucault. O Iluminismo, a clandestinidade, os estrangeirados, o imaginário português, todas estas idéias entrelaçadas constituem redes de significantes e de memória que denunciam uma produção pioneira. O olhar pesquisador não se restringiu à poesia portuguesa, buscando também respostas em autoras como a mexicana Sóror Juana Inês de La Cruz, como modelo de cavilação e rebeldia. Por outro lado, há ainda a possibilidade de a obra estar, veladamente, apresentando um teatro familiar, semelhante à própria vida da autora. Sob este aspecto, alguns pontos da Psicanálise foram auxiliares na análise da criação da principal personagem feminina. Com este estudo esperouse contribuir criticamente para uma nova dimensão de conhecimento da Literatura Portuguesa, à luz da História e do sistema literário, na confluência do texto, do discurso e da ideologia / The present work aims to study and research the uniqueness of the novel Aventuras de Diófanes, written by Theresa Margarida da Silva e Orta, Portuguese author and writer from the early 18th Century. The fact that Theresa Margarida was not part of the canons of neither Portuguese nor feminine literature is the main point of this investigation. Inspired by Homers Odyssey and Fénelons Télémaque, Theresa Margarida, who created the protorromance, is faced by this work as a female portraitist of the political, religious, social, and cultural scenarios of her time, within a dominantly male environment. The Portuguese writer can be considered a transgressor of that time, through the thoughts of Foucault, once from the educated women was expected nothing but poetry production. The enlightment, the secrecy, the estrangeirados, the Portuguese subconscious, were all ideas that created a net of meanings and memories leading to a breakthrough literary production. This research is not restricted to the Portuguese poetry, but also tries to find answers within the work of female writers such as the Mexican Sóror Juana Inês de La Cruz, as a rolemodel of being rebel and not mainstream. On the other hand, there is a chance of this work introducing a familybased play, similar to the analyzed authors life. The Psychoanalysis helped us with the task of examining the creation of the main female character. This work intends to critically contribute for a new perspective of studying and understanding Portuguese Literature, within the fields of History and the literary system, and the intersection of text, speech, and ideology.

Este trabalho de pesquisa tem por objetivo estudar a singularidade da obra Aventuras de Diófanes, de Theresa Margarida da Silva e Orta, escritora portuguesa de meados do século XVIII. O fato de Theresa Margarida não pertencer aos cânones da literatura portuguesa nem da feminina constitui uma problemática que se buscou explicar neste trabalho. Criadora de um protorromance inspirado em obras clássicas como Odisséia (de Homero) e Télémaque (de Fénelon), Theresa Margarida é vista, nesta tese, como um retratista feminino dos cenários políticos, religiosos, sociais e culturais da época, em um ambiente dominantemente masculino. Como das mulheres letradas só era esperada e permitida a produção poética, a postura da autora portuguesa tem a conotação de transgressora, à luz dos conceitos de Foucault. O Iluminismo, a clandestinidade, os estrangeirados, o imaginário português, todas estas idéias entrelaçadas constituem redes de significantes e de memória que denunciam uma produção pioneira. O olhar pesquisador não se restringiu à poesia portuguesa, buscando também respostas em autoras como a mexicana Sóror Juana Inês de La Cruz, como modelo de cavilação e rebeldia. Por outro lado, há ainda a possibilidade de a obra estar, veladamente, apresentando um teatro familiar, semelhante à própria vida da autora. Sob este aspecto, alguns pontos da Psicanálise foram auxiliares na análise da criação da principal personagem feminina. Com este estudo esperouse contribuir criticamente para uma nova dimensão de conhecimento da Literatura Portuguesa, à luz da História e do sistema literário, na confluência do texto, do discurso e da ideologia / The present work aims to study and research the uniqueness of the novel Aventuras de Diófanes, written by Theresa Margarida da Silva e Orta, Portuguese author and writer from the early 18th Century. The fact that Theresa Margarida was not part of the canons of neither Portuguese nor feminine literature is the main point of this investigation. Inspired by Homers Odyssey and Fénelons Télémaque, Theresa Margarida, who created the protorromance, is faced by this work as a female portraitist of the political, religious, social, and cultural scenarios of her time, within a dominantly male environment. The Portuguese writer can be considered a transgressor of that time, through the thoughts of Foucault, once from the educated women was expected nothing but poetry production. The enlightment, the secrecy, the estrangeirados, the Portuguese subconscious, were all ideas that created a net of meanings and memories leading to a breakthrough literary production. This research is not restricted to the Portuguese poetry, but also tries to find answers within the work of female writers such as the Mexican Sóror Juana Inês de La Cruz, as a rolemodel of being rebel and not mainstream. On the other hand, there is a chance of this work introducing a familybased play, similar to the analyzed authors life. The Psychoanalysis helped us with the task of examining the creation of the main female character. This work intends to critically contribute for a new perspective of studying and understanding Portuguese Literature, within the fields of History and the literary system, and the intersection of text, speech, and ideology.