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This thesis is an empirical examination of the articulation of comic offence and the practices of comic censure as conducted in media discourse. Making complaints about comic discourse is a risky endeavour. The joker can retort that it was `just a joke' or can charge the complainer with lacking a sense of humour and libels can fail and be very costly. The main focus is on the discursive strategies and practices used when claiming that comedy has caused offence. This is an under-researched area in humour studies. The ambivalence involved in negotiations between ethical and comic discourse is a central tenet of the thesis. Two main avenuesf or expressing comic offence are used in the thesis: letters of complaint written to the editor of comic discourse and charges of offensive comedy made through the law of defamation. The thesis adopts an eclectic approach to data collection and analysis. The research draws on different data sources: letters pages and readers' letters printed in the satirical magazine Private Eye, newspaper articles reporting on libel cases brought against Private Eye and interviews with editors, journalists, cartoonists and libel lawyers working for Private Eye. Content analytic techniques are used when analysing the readers' letters to provide a clear overview of the general pattern of complaint involved and the common consequences of such complaint. Composition analysis is used to assess how the editor of Private Eye constructs the letters page. Here I explore the strategies employed by the editor when defendingc criticisms that offence has been causeda nd assessh ow the editor discursively treats the offended reader. To examine in closer detail the characteristic ways in which reader's structure their expression of grievance, I then employ more qualitative modes of analysis: linguistic discourse analysis and symbolic cultural analysis. Attention then shifts to the second main avenue for expressing comic offence: the law of defamation. I conduct a quantitative content analysis of Private Eye's libel litigation history to provide an overview of the types of individual who utilise the law of defamation and the bases on which reputations are damaged. Textual analysis is used to assessh ow newspapersre port libel casesb rought against Private Eye in order to explore the press' role in the debate of comic offence and comic censure. In my conclusion I discuss what the thesis suggests about the ethical considerations of humour and comedy and I highlight the importance of the thesis for humour studies. The thesis finishes with some recommendations for future research.

The Pilgrim's Progress is accepted in the canon of children's literature due to its early adoption by child readers and because of its outstanding qualities. This thesis explores some possible reasons for the work's popularity and longevity. A New Historicist approach suggests the relevance of Bunyan's pilgrim hero and his narrative to each of the three centuries since the work's first publication. It focuses particularly on the interaction between society, child and text, considering the societal and psychic dimensions. History and Developmental Theory, including that of Faith Development, are drawn on as particular resources. A propositional model provides visual explanation for the interactionary role of the components and suggests a scientific basis for the relevance factors. A broad sample of copies of The Pilgrim's Progress, published from 1678 until 1994, is surveyed in order to test the hypothesis that the hero is a changing one, affected by society's changing norms and ethos. Bunyan's influence on writers for children over the three centuries is also considered, leading to recognition of The Pilgrim's Progress as a prototype for children's literature.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-02-26T14:51:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 MayraReginaPereiraDau.pdf: 656542 bytes, checksum: f37d2d333080d750e37f94e9035987ed (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-05-28 / This paper reports results from a survey entitled "Readers bestsellers: what determines their choices?'' And a research that had the body of work personal stories of some readers to perform the following activities: three high school students, an academic Pedagogy and another pharmacy, a math teacher, a waitress and a housewife. Despite the different activities, all have an interest in common: a fondness for reading and bestsellers books "self-help''. It is common to hear speeches about the growing disaffection of the people around reading. However, the sales figures of books, especially those intended for young people has increased dramatically. It is clear, from the works listed as top sellers lists published in some weekly magazines, the current reading practices turn to works that are considered part of "literature'' mass. In contrast, in schools, the resistance readings of the works forming part of the canonical tradition has also increased. The main objective was to investigate the reading practices of the respondents, with the larger purpose of understanding the reasons that lead to preference for such books, getting to know the identity of people through their stories about their own lives. For this purpose, as a working method qualitative research with semi-structured interviews, recorded and transcribed and analysis of this corpus. Importantly, this research did not seek to make value judgments or discuss about the aesthetic quality of the works cited, however, the focus here was aimed at those who practice these readings, or the player itself and not the work itself. Marcia Abreu, Leyla Perrone-Moisés, Stuart Hall, Luiz Costa Lima and Hugo Achugar are among theorists that supported this discussion. The analysis showed that a major reason for these readers prefer the works of "literature mass , is language, which presents itself as more current, more simple, making the story more dynamic and better enjoyment. / É comum ouvir falas a respeito do desinteresse cada vez maior das pessoas em torno da leitura. Entretanto, os números de vendas de livros, principalmente aqueles destinados ao público jovem, têm aumentado vertiginosamente. Percebe-se, a partir das obras constantes como as mais vendidas em listas semanais publicadas em algumas revistas, que as práticas de leitura atuais se voltam para obras que fazem parte da considerada literatura de massa . Em contrapartida, nas escolas, a resistência às leituras das obras canônicas também tem aumentado. Diante disso, foi realizada a atual pesquisa, intitulada Leitoras de best-sellers: o que determina suas escolhas? , que tem como corpus de trabalho histórias pessoais de algumas leitoras que exercem as seguintes atividades: duas estudantes do ensino médio, uma acadêmica de Pedagogia e outra de Farmácia, uma professora de Matemática, uma Copeira e uma dona de casa. Apesar das atividades diferentes, todas apresentam um interesse em comum: a predileção pela leitura de best-sellers e livros de autoajuda . O objetivo principal foi investigar as práticas de leitura das entrevistadas, com o propósito maior de compreender os motivos que levam à preferência por tais livros, buscando conhecer a identidade dessas pessoas por meio dos relatos de suas vidas. Para tanto, utilizou-se como metodologia de trabalho, a pesquisa qualitativa com entrevistas semi-estruturadas, filmadas, transcritas e a análise desse corpus. Importante ressaltar que essa pesquisa não procurou realizar juízos de valor ou discutir em torno da qualidade estética das obras citadas, pelo contrário, o foco aqui foi voltado para quem pratica essas leituras, ou seja, o próprio leitor e não a obra em si. Márcia Abreu, Leyla Perrone-Moisés, Stuart Hall e Hugo Achugar estão entre os teóricos que embasaram essa discussão. A análise demonstrou que um dos principais motivos para esses leitores preferirem as obras da literatura de massa é a linguagem, que se apresenta como mais atual, mais simples, tornando a narrativa mais dinâmica e com melhor fruição. Os resultados desta dissertação contribuem para dar luz às práticas de leitura atuais, que já não podem mais ser desprezadas. Apesar das diversas críticas lançadas aos livros da literatura de massa , estes têm se destacado entre os preferidos dos leitores atuais. Essa pesquisa favorece a uma revisão de posturas e de olhares diante desses livros e dos atuais leitores.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-26T13:44:28Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 texto completo.pdf: 1586735 bytes, checksum: 3c83d67530c7c4c968cd15592a33785a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-11-09 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / With regards to the contemporary literature, it is clear the occurrence of a continuous dialog between mass culture and the processes of industrialization derived from the last half of the XX century. Because of the relationship between literature and commercial activities that regard the culture industry, mass literature has its value questioned. Questions related to selling, narrating and language are the most debated hot topics when it comes to this type of literature, which ends up being regarded as a "subliterature" or a literature which is less worth-reading. Therefore, having the relationship between art and the cultural industry in mind, the present study aims at realizing an approach that encompasses all social, historical and cultural aspects related to the literary production aimed to the mass, through a subject-reader approach. Also, we will differ the nomenclatures attributed to these literature books- best seller, mega seller, mega best seller, and mass literature- as well as identify the possibilities of approaching and legitimizing the aforementioned categories. Thus, our aim here is to reflect and to question the assumptions about what literature is and the influence of the cultural industry in the arts, through a theoretical background that interacts with the theories of literature, and the social, cultural and historical studies.This way, this study will offer a theoretical opening in terms of contemporary literature and its influences in the mass culture, leading to other research about this topic in the future. / Verifica-se na literatura contemporânea a ocorrência de um constante diálogo com a cultura de massa e os processos de industrialização advindos da última metade do século XX. Na tessitura proposta entre literatura e os processos mercantis que envolvem a indústria cultural, é questionado o próprio valor da obra literária voltada para e pela massa. Questões recorrentes como vendagem, narrativa e linguagem são os pressupostos mais debatidos acerca dessas obras, que acabam por adquirirum caráter de subliteraturaou literatura de menor valor. Logo, pensando na relação entre arte e indústria cultural, o presente estudo visa realizar uma abordagem que abranja aspectos sociais, históricos e culturais acerca da produção literária veiculada às massas, perfazendo, principalmente, o caminho do sujeito-leitor. Por essa perspectiva, diferenciaremos nomenclaturas atribuídas às essas obras best-seller, mega-seller, mega best-seller e literatura de massa como também identificaremospossibilidades de abordagem e legitimação das mesmas. Portanto, temos como objetivos centrais deste estudo, refletir e questionar as postulações sobre o que é literatura e a inserção da indústria cultural nas artes, através de um arcabouço que interage entre teorias da literatura e estudos sociais, culturais e históricos. Pretende-se, assim, viabilizar uma abertura teórica acerca da literatura contemporânea e suas intersecções com a cultura de massa, possibilitando a realização de outras pesquisas futuras sobre a temática.