Most contemporary literary theories are either explicitly or implicitly atheistic. This thesis describes a literary theory whose principles are derived from or consistent with Christian theology. It argues against modern objections to such a theory that this is a rationally and ethically legitimate mode of contemporary literary theory. The first half of the thesis constitutes an analysis of deconstruction, of Marxism and of psychoanalysis. These are three of the most influential discourses in modern literary theory, each of which constitutes a significant argument against the existence of God, as this has traditionally been understood in Christian theology. In a chapter devoted to each theory, I examine its relation to Christian theology, and argue that it does not constitute a conclusive argument against the truth-content of such theology. I go on to assess which of its principles can be used in modem Christian literary theory, and which cannot. The second half of the thesis constitutes an analysis of a Christian tradition of thought that pertains to literary theory. In the fourth chapter, I examine the concepts of language and of art expressed or implied in the Bible, St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, and assess which of these concepts could be used in Christian literary theory today. In the fifth chapter, I examine certain twentieth-century Christian philosophers and literary critics, and assess how their thought could be used in contemporary Christian literary theory. In the final chapter, I synthesize the conclusions to these arguments into the outline of a literary theory that both derives from Christian theology and takes account of the objections to such theology posed by contemporary literary theory.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:26:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2012-08-31Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:13:43Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 held_hm_me_assis_parcial.pdf: 39017 bytes, checksum: ff5b80c13f3ddfea42f14d43dfc39c80 (MD5) Bitstreams deleted on 2015-06-25T13:00:49Z: held_hm_me_assis_parcial.pdf,. Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2015-06-25T13:03:14Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000706576_20163108.pdf: 38758 bytes, checksum: f46fddb2fd9f930f336fb37b304dbec5 (MD5) Bitstreams deleted on 2017-01-02T15:03:36Z: 000706576_20163108.pdf,. Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2017-01-02T15:05:03Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000706576.pdf: 571028 bytes, checksum: 30f8af76a5c8ae0ed9e55a1c9e3ee379 (MD5) / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) / O presente trabalho dissertativo tem como objetivo apresentar o Oriente criado por Malba Tahan ao longo de sua carreira literária e intelectual. Partindo da análise de parte de sua extensa bibliografia o texto parte da premissa que o conjunto de sua criação foi elemento facilitador da aceitação da cultura árabe/oriental em terras brasileiras. Criado por Júlio César de Mello e Souza o pseudônimo Malba Tahan, diferente de outros autores nacionais que inseriram ou trataram da cultura arábica em suas obras, não apenas buscou a inserção de personagens orientais na realidade nacional, mas, apresentou e fez o leitor aproximar-se daquela realidade. A alteridade construída pelo pseudônimo baseou-se na criação de cenários mágicos, longínquos e com aspectos religiosos e sociais que diferenciavam-se da realidade vivida pelo leitor, mas que eram misturados com características conhecidas pelos mesmos. Esta mistura de realidades fez com que sua obra fosse consumida nas mais variadas faixas etárias e em diferentes suportes, como páginas de jornais e livros a partir da segunda década do século passado até os dias atuais / The presented dissertational work has the aim to introduce the East created by Malba Tahan throughout his literary and intelectual carreer. Based on the analysis of part of its intensive bibliography. The text assumes that the set of its creation was a facilitator element of acceptance of the Arab culture/Eastern of Brazil soil. Created by Julio Cesar de Mello the pseudonym Malba Tahan, different from other authors who have inserted or treated the Arabic culture in their works, not only searched for the inclusion of oriental characters on the national reality, but presented and made the reader closer to that reality. The alterity built by the pseudonym was based on the creation of magical scenery, distant religious and social aspects that differed from the reality experienced by the reader, but were mixed with known characteristics by the same. This mix of realities caused his work to be consumed in various age groups and in different media as newspapers and books from the second decade of the last century to present days

Orientador: Brunno Vinicius Gonçalves Vieira / Banca: Robson Tadeu Cesila / Banca: João Batista Toledo Prado / Resumo: Buscando contribuir com a pesquisa de traduções lusófonas dos clássicos greco-romanos e com a recepção desses textos em nossas letras, o presente trabalho procurou inventariar, estudar e divulgar a obra tradutória de Marcial realizada por José Feliciano de Castilho, português que viveu no Rio de Janeiro de 1847 até sua morte em 1879. A análise das traduções do luso-brasileiro dá indícios sobre a maneira como o século XIX leu e propagou a obra do poeta de Bílbilis, considerando sua importância como epigramatista e como difusor de uma temática licenciosa e, por vezes, obscena. Propõe-se nesta dissertação um percurso teórico partindo de um panorama da recepção de Marcial no século XIX e na contemporaneidade, a fim de evidenciar as diferentes visões desses períodos. Em seguida o leitor encontrará um estudo de como se deram a leitura e tradução de Marcial por Castilho José, novamente, contrastando-as com a recepção atual desse poeta. Por fim, apresenta-se uma antologia em formato bilíngue dos epigramas contidos na Grinalda da Arte de Amar (1862) com notas e comentários das especificidades de suas traduções / Abstract: Aiming at contributing to the research of Greek-Roman classical translations into Portuguese and the acceptance of these texts in our literature, this study tries to register, as well as study and spread the work of Martial's translations produced by José Feliciano de Castilho, a Portuguese who lived in Rio de Janeiro from 1847 until his death in 1879. The analysis of the translations of this Portuguese-Brazilian poet gives some clues about how the nineteenth century read and spread the poetry of Bilbilis author, taking into account his influence as both epigrammatist and a person who spread his dissolute and sometimes, obscene poetic matters. Intending to present the different views of the nineteenth century and to the present time on Martial's poetry, we propose a theoretical path on this work in order to show the different approaches of these periods of time. Then the reader will find a study of how to have a reading and translation of Martial by José Castilho, once again, contrasting them with the current receive this poet. Finally, it features an anthology of epigrams in bilingual format contained in Grinalda da Arte de Amar (1862) with notes and comments on the specifics of his translations / Mestre

Os Estados Unidos da América e o Brasil são países que durante séculos fizeram uso intenso da mão-de-obra escrava, trazida de diferentes regiões da África. Após a Abolição da Escravidão os dois países adotaram políticas diferentes de relações raciais, com conseqüências devastadoras para os ex-escravos e seus descendentes. Alice Walker e Conceição Evaristo, autoras afro-americana e afro-brasileira, respectivamente, apresentam em seus romances uma análise das relações étnicas em seus países, apontando a origem dos problemas da população negra e propondo soluções para os mesmos. Através de uma análise comparativa dos dois romances The third life of Grange Copeland e Ponciá Vicêncio - sob a ótica da crítica literária marxista, este trabalho propõe-se a apresentar os pontos em comum e os pontos divergentes entre as duas sociedades. Norteada pela relação entre literatura, história e sociedade, a análise das duas obras vem demonstrar que, embora aparentemente antagônicos, os dois países são extremamente racistas, dominados por relações de opressão derivadas de um sistema econômico regido pelo consumo e pelo lucro, e de uma cultura que não aceita a diferença no caso dos Estados Unidos, declaradamente, e no caso do Brasil, mascarada pela imagem de paraíso racial. Como conseqüência, verifica-se que a cultura opressora dos dois países é tão arraigada que ambas as autoras não conseguem vislumbrar uma solução plausível para o problema, que consiga fugir dos conceitos sócio-políticos solidamente erigidos através dos séculos. / The United States of America and Brazil made use of African slave labour for centuries. After the end of the slavery system both countries adopted different racial policies, with devastating consequences both to ex-slaves and their descendents. Alice Walker and Conceição Evaristo, afro-American and afro-Brazilian writers, respectively, present in their novels an analysis of the ethnical relations in their countries, pointing out the origin of the Black community problems and proposing a way to solve them. Through the comparative analysis of both novels - The third life of Grange Copeland and Ponciá Vicêncio - under the Marxist literary criticism approach, this study aims at presenting both the common and the different aspects of the two societies. Centred on the relationship among literature, history and society, the analysis of both works demonstrates that, although apparently unlike, the two countries are extremely racist, permeated by oppressive relations derived from an economical system guided by consumerism and profit, and by a culture which does not accept difference openly in The United States of America, and, in Brazil, disguised under the image of racial paradise. As a consequence, it becomes clear that the oppressive culture of both countries is so deeply rooted that neither writer is able to find a plausible solution to the problem, one that could escape from the socio-political concepts solidly built through centuries.

Dissertação(mestrado) - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Letras, Instituto de Letras e Artes, 2010. / Submitted by Cristiane Silva (cristiane_gomides@hotmail.com) on 2012-10-20T10:50:47Z No. of bitstreams: 1 sarapinho.pdf: 776948 bytes, checksum: eadb2d192bf011f9be6bfa5a2755bd0b (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Bruna Vieira(bruninha_vieira@ibest.com.br) on 2012-11-05T13:57:17Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 sarapinho.pdf: 776948 bytes, checksum: eadb2d192bf011f9be6bfa5a2755bd0b (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2012-11-05T13:57:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 sarapinho.pdf: 776948 bytes, checksum: eadb2d192bf011f9be6bfa5a2755bd0b (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Fault Lines (2007) de Nancy Huston apresenta um novo caminho para os estudos no campo do entrecruzamento entre a história e a ficção. As duas formas narrativas intercambiam seus modos de lidar com o tempo, mas a infância ainda não fazia parte dessas correspondências. Nas narrativas de quatro crianças de seis anos da mesma família, porém, em épocas e lugares diferenciados, adentramos a história maior sob uma perspectiva infantil. De 2004 a 1945, o tempo presente se torna passado e as linhas de falha de cada personagem se tornam evidentes. Sol, Randall, Sadie e Kristina redimensionam a história dos adultos e revelam, através da ficção, uma nova forma de olhar o tempo pretérito. / Fault Lines (2007) by Nancy Huston introduces a new path for studies in the field of the exchanges between history and fiction. The two narrative-forms trade with each other their perspectives of time, but childhood was not part of this deal. Through the narratives of four six year-old children from the same family, however, at different times and places, we visit major history under a child’s eyes. From 2004 to 1945, the present time walks to the past and the fault lines of each character become evident. Sol, Randall, Sadie and Kristina present a different version for the historical events and show through fiction a new way of looking at the past time.

This thesis explores the transmission and reception of Benjamin of Tudela’s Book of Travels, a twelfth-century Hebrew travel narrative. Scholarship of the Book of Travels is fragmentary, descriptive and largely focused on what the narrative can tell scholars about the twelfth-century Jewish and non-Jewish worlds. This study presents a methodological shift away from an intra-textual examination of the text by seeking to answer how the text has been transmitted, how successive copiers and printers have changed the text, and how readers interpreted and used the text between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries. It begins with an outline of the extant manuscripts through a codicological examination and textual comparison. Based on a close reading of the manuscripts, it illustrates how the Book of Travels has survived in four separate textual witnesses. This study, however, highlights the centrality of the Jerusalem manuscript, which carried the transmission of the Book of Travels from manuscript into print. Whilst scholars have argued that the text has been edited and redacted, this thesis offers a more nuanced argument for scribal intervention as copyists, and later printers, altered the text through error and deliberate omissions and additions. Consequently, there is no single transmission of the Book of Travels. Although the core of the text remained unchanged, readers would have encountered different texts through the lens of copyists and printers. The second half of the thesis addresses the medieval and early modern reception of the Book of Travels. It argues that the narrative was used in a variety of contexts, from polemics, to biblical geography and history by medieval Jewish scholars. The early modern reception, discussed more broadly, indicates that the printed Hebrew editions of 1543 and 1556 were read by an Sephardic audience for the purposes of connecting to their Iberian heritage, with an additional layer of interpretation which linked the text to the hope for redemption and the coming of the Messiah. As the text becomes introduced to Christian readers in both Hebrew and Latin, the Book of Travels was initially understood and used in a similar manner. The 1583 Hebrew edition and first Latin translation of 1575 also applied the text to history and biblical geography. This study thus illuminates the continuity in the way in which the Book of Travels was understood – as an eye-witness and authoritative source which found contemporary resonance with later readers. The second Latin translation of 1633 represents an evolution in the way in which the Book of Travels was interpreted, as the text was now engaged polemically to attack the Jews. This study also investigates the censorship of the Book of Travels. It analyses not just the text which has been excised through self-censorship, and the prohibition and expurgations proscribed by both the Italian and Spanish Inquisitions, but also how this impacted the transmission and reception of the narrative. It is shown that whilst Inquisitorial censorship was seemingly systematic, it was unevenly applied and did not impact on the Book of Travels’ transmission. This thesis is ultimately a pioneering study of the afterlives of a Hebrew travel narrative which enjoyed a rich manuscript and printed tradition. In attracting both Jewish and Christian readers alike, the Book of Travels endured and continued to find relevance amongst audiences. As a result of its versatility the Book of Travels achieved a prominent position within the Jewish and Christian worlds crossing cultural and religious divides between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries.

La Fille de Christophe Colomb (Paris: Gallirnard, 1969) is a novel written by Rejean Ducharme in rhyming verse resembling an epic poem In this thesis, it will be shown that the form of the novel serves to emphasize the contestation of History evident in the novel's content. While this novel is certainly unusual in Ducharme's work it fits into the ambiant literary discourse of Quebec in the 1960's, where the theories of decolonisation influenced writers and critics alike. In particular, History was seen to be imposed on Quebec from the outside; Quebec must necessarily reject this History and begin to make its own. This underlying assumption for the analysis proposed in this thesis will be demonstrated in Chapter One through reflections by Ducharme's contemporaries, existing criticism of La Fille de' Christophe Colomb, and by current theories of postcolonial writing. In Chapter Two, the epic form of the novel will be studied in detail. On the surface, the author appears to respect the "rules" of the genre, but a close reading of the text will show that this respect is only superficial, and that the rules are subverted to create tension between literary norms and Ducharme's writing. It is the narrative structure of the novel, however, that proves to be the most subversive deviation from the norms of the epic poem: although the majority of the novel is narrated in the third person, a substantial fragmentation of the narrative voice occurs which will be demonstrated in Chapter Three. The net impact of this fragmentation is to produce a conflict between the codes of the epic poem and the novel. At the end of the analysis of the relationship between literary form and contestation of History in La Fille de Christophe Colomb, it will be shown that the form, as an element separate from the content, conveys a problematic relationship between this text and History. The novel contributes to the contestation of History as practised in the literature of Quebec in the 1960's by subverting the literary code, thereby linking literary history to History as colonizing factors that are questioned in this novel. / Arts, Faculty of / French, Hispanic, and Italian Studies, Department of / Graduate

This essay examines the interstices between geography and history in English Canadian poetry by analyzing the production of space through poetic imagery. It introduces two terms, "garrison temporality" and "geologic temporality," to demonstrate how poets created divisions in the Canadian landscape temporally, demarcating these divisions according to their understanding of the perceived spaces' historicity. In early Canadian poetry, poets tended to distinguish colonized spaces from uncolonized spaces by designating them as either historical or ahistorical. This was achieved, more specifically, by appropriating civil, or garrison, spaces into a narrative of English expansion which traced its historical lineage back to European antiquity. The space outside the garrison's perimeter was deemed to exist out of time, providing yet another justification for further colonization. Later generations of Canadian poets contested the ahistorical designations created by this narrative, as well as the division they draw between urban and non-urban spaces, by appealing to geologic time. Geologic temporality functions not so much as a viable explanatory model for the narration of history as it does a poetic device for contesting the centrality of Europe and of urban centers in assessing contemporary Canada's place in time. This essay traces the shift in attitudes towards time and space from Charles G.D. Roberts' "Tantramar Revisited" (1886) to Dale Zieroth's "Baptism" (1981). / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

M.A. (French) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

The dissertation is an exploration of the allure and limitations of success in America at the turn of the century (roughly between 1880-1920), and includes both canonical and non-canonical texts, with an emphasis on the non-canonical. The proliferation at the turn of the century of novels which feature a "rags to riches" theme highlights in fresh ways many familiar sociological and historical problems, concerns, and conditions. Looking at issues of race, class, and gender difference, as well as the impact of the industrial revolution, and the emergence of consumer culture, this study explores the reasons behind the desire for financial and social success in America, and exposes the contradictions and limitations at the center of the American ideal of success. The dissertation addresses the cultural and historical anxieties inherent in the success myth, which are especially clear in the stories of successful immigrants, African-Americans, Native Americans, and women.