This dissertation identifies and investigates the characteristics of the early 21st-century social, economic, and political situation as intrinsically connected and grouped under the concept of corporatism. Starting from Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari’s schizoanalysis of capitalism, this thesis argues that corporatism or corporate capitalism is immanent: an interconnected, networked, rhizomatic system that has been successful at overtaking biopower – life in all its forms, human and otherwise – and managing it, or even making it its business. Methodologically, this dissertation aims to move beyond negative into creative critique, whose role is the uncovering of imagined or real alternatives to the problems of corporatism. Consequently, this dissertation is divided into four chapters that attempt to bring this methodology to life. Chapter 1 presents the theoretical basis of corporatism, modeled on the theories of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari. Chapter 2 begins to exemplify corporatism by investigating three corporate examples. This chapter sheds light on the real-life functioning of three corporations, Hudson’s Bay Company, Walmart, and Unilever, while also connecting them to the theoretical genealogy of human social systems described by Deleuze and Guattari. Chapter 3 turns to literature as both a diagnostician of the contemporary corporatism, as well as an imaginative solution-provider. While not instrumentalizing literature, this chapter rather looks to three novels for both descriptions of the corporatist social machine and prescriptions on how to attempt to change it. The novels featured in this chapter are aligned with the creative critique methodology: from the negative and even reactionary critique of William Gibson’s Pattern Recognition, through the problems with the contemporary episteme illustrated by Margaret Atwood’s dystopic Oryx and Crake, to the alternative outlined by Scarlett Thomas in PopCo. Chapter 4 investigates real-life experiments in order to assess their viability in altering the present conditions of life. To this end, the last chapter couples theoretical Deleuze-Guattarian alternatives with two locavore books: Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver, with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver, and The 100-Mile Diet by Alisa Smith and J.B. MacKinnon. / English

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Using postmodern, feminist and queer notions of utopia/dystopia and narrative theory, this thesis contains an analysis of The Handmaid’s Tale (novel 1985; film 1990; TV series S01 2017) based on theoretical and methodological understandings of utopia/dystopia and narrative as deeply connected with notions of temporality and relationality, and of violence and resistance as the modes of expression of utopia and dystopia in the source texts. The analysis is carried out in an explorative manner (Czarniawska 2004) and utilises the notion of “disidentification” (Butler 1993; Muñoz 1999) and the concepts of “diffraction” (Haraway 1992, 1997; Barad 2007, 2010), and “entanglement” (Barad 2007). The conclusion becomes that utopia and dystopia in The Handmaid’s Tale are, to a great extent, imagined within the same system of understanding, but that utopian hope can be found in the relationality and temporality of resistance, and that the radically different utopian place is the queer horizon.

O presente trabalho teve como objetivo discutir questões sobre memória e intertextualidade, a partir dos diferentes textos constituintes da obra Vulgo Grace da autora canadense Margaret Atwood. A autora recupera a trajetória verídica de Grace Marks, uma criada condenada à prisão perpétua por ser cúmplice no assassinato do patrão e da governanta da casa em que trabalhava. Grace apresenta sinais de amnésia sobre os fatos ocorridos nos assassinatos e, nessa situação, um comitê que acredita na sua inocência convida o jovem médico americano Simon Jordan para descobrir a verdadeira causa dessa aparente amnésia. Dentro desse contexto, foi observada a presença significativa da memória e da intertextualidade como itens essenciais na obra. O método utilizado na análise foi o enfoque de três partes: a narração em primeira pessoa de Grace, a narração em terceira pessoa sobre Simon e os paratextos. A análise se deu por meio do cotejo entre os diferentes tipos de texto, tendo como base os conceitos de intertextualidade de Júlia Kristeva e Tiphaine Samoyault e memória de Márcio Seligmann-Silva, Michael Pollak e Alba Olmi Outros conceitos como o significado dos sonhos de Sigmund Freud e a metaficção historiográfica de Linda Hutcheon também se fazem presentes na análise. Esse estudo comparativo resultou na descoberta de diferentes relações entre os textos sendo que conceitos além das questões de memória e intertextualidade foram descobertos. A memória te grande significado na construção das relações humanas e na relação do ser com o passado. O presente trabalho mostra-se relevante em relação aos estudos de memória pelo fato de discutir e apresentar outros meios e outras ligações entre os intertextos como também se insere nos estudos da autora Margaret Atwood no Brasil. / The present thesis intended to discuss some issues related to memory and intertextuality, taking as a starting point the different texts from Alias Grace (Vulgo Grace), written by the Canadian writer Margaret Atwood. The book retrieves the true story of Grace Marks, a maid sentenced to life imprisonment for being an accomplice to the murder of her employer and the housekeeper in the house where she used to work. Grace presented symptoms of amnesia, forgetting the facts that occurred in the murders. In that situation, a small committee who believe in Grace’s innocence hires the young American doctor Simon Jordan to discover the true reason for this apparent amnesia. In this context, a significant presence of memory and intertextuality as essential items of story could be observed. The method applied here was the focus on three parts: the first-person narration by Grace, the thirdperson narration about Simon and the paratexts. The analysis was made through the comparison between the different types of texts, based on intertextuality concepts stated by Júlia Kristeva and Tiphaine Samoyault and memory concepts presented by Márcio Seligmann-Silva, Michael Pollak, and Alba Olmi. Other concepts, such as the meanings of dreams, developed by Sigmund Freud, and the historiographic metafiction, elaborated by Linda Hutcheon, are also included in this analysis.

O presente trabalho teve como objetivo discutir questões sobre memória e intertextualidade, a partir dos diferentes textos constituintes da obra Vulgo Grace da autora canadense Margaret Atwood. A autora recupera a trajetória verídica de Grace Marks, uma criada condenada à prisão perpétua por ser cúmplice no assassinato do patrão e da governanta da casa em que trabalhava. Grace apresenta sinais de amnésia sobre os fatos ocorridos nos assassinatos e, nessa situação, um comitê que acredita na sua inocência convida o jovem médico americano Simon Jordan para descobrir a verdadeira causa dessa aparente amnésia. Dentro desse contexto, foi observada a presença significativa da memória e da intertextualidade como itens essenciais na obra. O método utilizado na análise foi o enfoque de três partes: a narração em primeira pessoa de Grace, a narração em terceira pessoa sobre Simon e os paratextos. A análise se deu por meio do cotejo entre os diferentes tipos de texto, tendo como base os conceitos de intertextualidade de Júlia Kristeva e Tiphaine Samoyault e memória de Márcio Seligmann-Silva, Michael Pollak e Alba Olmi Outros conceitos como o significado dos sonhos de Sigmund Freud e a metaficção historiográfica de Linda Hutcheon também se fazem presentes na análise. Esse estudo comparativo resultou na descoberta de diferentes relações entre os textos sendo que conceitos além das questões de memória e intertextualidade foram descobertos. A memória te grande significado na construção das relações humanas e na relação do ser com o passado. O presente trabalho mostra-se relevante em relação aos estudos de memória pelo fato de discutir e apresentar outros meios e outras ligações entre os intertextos como também se insere nos estudos da autora Margaret Atwood no Brasil. / The present thesis intended to discuss some issues related to memory and intertextuality, taking as a starting point the different texts from Alias Grace (Vulgo Grace), written by the Canadian writer Margaret Atwood. The book retrieves the true story of Grace Marks, a maid sentenced to life imprisonment for being an accomplice to the murder of her employer and the housekeeper in the house where she used to work. Grace presented symptoms of amnesia, forgetting the facts that occurred in the murders. In that situation, a small committee who believe in Grace’s innocence hires the young American doctor Simon Jordan to discover the true reason for this apparent amnesia. In this context, a significant presence of memory and intertextuality as essential items of story could be observed. The method applied here was the focus on three parts: the first-person narration by Grace, the thirdperson narration about Simon and the paratexts. The analysis was made through the comparison between the different types of texts, based on intertextuality concepts stated by Júlia Kristeva and Tiphaine Samoyault and memory concepts presented by Márcio Seligmann-Silva, Michael Pollak, and Alba Olmi. Other concepts, such as the meanings of dreams, developed by Sigmund Freud, and the historiographic metafiction, elaborated by Linda Hutcheon, are also included in this analysis.

Mémoire réalisé grâce à l'appui du Conseil de recherche en sciences humaines. / Ce mémoire porte sur les interrelations entre les dynamiques spatiale, mémorielle et identitaire dans Le premier jardin d’Anne Hébert et Surfacing de Margaret Atwood. Ainsi, on cherche à savoir comment les concepts d’espace et de lieu permettent de mieux comprendre les dynamiques mémorielles et identitaires en jeu dans les récits de retour. En s’appuyant sur une expérience commune, celle du retour au pays natal, nous étudierons comment les difficultés qu’éprouvent les personnages à se remémorer, à se situer, à habiter ou tout simplement à être sont liées à leur relation conflictuelle à l’espace. Même si elles sont tentées par l’oubli, le retour aux lieux de l’enfance impose aux protagonistes une mémoire sensorielle. Le retour montre également comment les êtres sont liés au lieu, voire façonnés par lui, et comment ils peuvent cependant agir en retour sur lui. Le désir d’exister à travers une identité cohérente en est aussi un d’habiter et d’appartenir à l’espace. Finalement, nous verrons comment il est possible de repenser l’espace du retour à partir de la notion de non-lieu d’Alexis Nouss. / This work examines the interrelations between space, memory and identity in Le premier jardin by Anne Hébert and Surfacing by Margaret Atwood. We seek to know how the concepts of space and place can provide a better understanding of the memory and identity dynamics involved in return narratives. Based on a common experience, that of returning to homeland, we will study how the characters’ difficulties in recalling, situating, living or simply being are linked to their conflictual relationship to space. Even if they are tempted by oblivion, the return to the places of childhood imposes on the protagonists a sensuous memory. The return also shows how beings are linked to place, even shaped by it, and how they can however act on it. The desire to exist through a coherent identity is also one of dwelling and belonging to space. Finally, we will see how Alexis Nouss’ concept of non-place of makes it possible to rethink the space of return.

This thesis is concerned with the world of The Handmaid's Tale (1985) and The Testaments (2019), works of Margaret Atwood. The dystopian theocratic totalitarian regime featured in these novels invites a socio-historical and anthropological analysis and interpretation from the perspective of the subjugated female characters. The theoretical part, introduced by an overview of Atwood's work, provides the reader with crucial information regarding the historical parallels which inspired the narrative, as well as a delimitation of relevant anthropological concepts, such as liminality or status reversal. Subsequently, using both the knowledge gathered in the theoretical and in Atwood's works, the rise of the fundamentalist cult of the Sons of Jacob and their project, the Republic of Gilead, is explained, and their ideology is uncovered in the first section of the practical part. Second part of the interpretation focuses on the position of women within the system that subjugates and oppresses them. The analysis is performed by the means of comparing and contrasting the ideal models of the positions of women as designed by the architects of the system with the actual application on the example of selected characters. The ultimate aims of this thesis are to prove the innate sexism and misogyny of the...

This thesis investigates three contemporary Canadian texts— Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being, Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, and Rita Wong’s forage—that treat information as an object that can be wasted and recuperated. Using information theory and a new sub-field of critical waste theory called “Discard Studies,” I explore how the authors studied in this thesis place these two lines of thought alongside one another to examine how the concept of recycling information challenges the material, cultural, and ideological structures that distance humans from their waste. Specifically, I read the event of recycling as an interruptive act that triggers a reassessment of the (im)material connections that tether humans to their waste, vast (inter)national networks of exchange, and environmental crises related to our garbage.

Ce projet examine comment la politique et l’amitié sont actualisées dans la fiction spéculative du XXIe siècle à travers différents médias. Cette thèse aborde la manière dont ces relations interpersonnelles affectent la sphère sociale et le statu quo des mondes fictifs à l’étude. Pour orienter la discussion, j’utilise le concept d’autonomie relationnelle qui reconnaît l’interdépendance des individus autonomes et de la communauté en général et l’éthique du care qui environne la moralité comme étant relationnelle et contextualisée. L’utilisation conjointe de ces deux cadres me permet de discuter de la façon dont les amitiés sont propices à la participation politique. Le premier chapitre présente une discussion globale de The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) de Margaret Atwood et notamment de son influence au sein du genre de la fiction spéculative féministe. Ensuite, dans une première section, je me concentre sur les notions d’autonomie par rapport à l’adaptation graphique du roman d’Atwood par Renée Nault (2019), que je compare avec la bande dessinée Bitch Planet de Kelly Sue DeConnick et Valentine de Landro (2013-2017). Dans une seconde section, je me concentre sur l’éthique du care en tant que processus pouvant favoriser des amitiés empreintes d’implications politiques en analysant l’adaptation télévisée de The Handmaid’s Tale, produite par Hulu, et la série Orphan Black, produite par BBC America. La fiction spéculative permet d’expérimenter librement avec différentes idées politiques et de comprendre comment la société pourrait réagir dans des scénarios extrêmes. Ces expériences de pensée reflètent nos propres luttes et lacunes politiques et pourraient ultimement indiquer de meilleures façons de résoudre les problèmes actuels. / This project examines how politics and friendship are actualized in speculative fiction across different media in the twenty-first century. This thesis discusses how these interpersonal relationships affect the social sphere and the status quo of the fictional worlds in question. To guide the discussion, I use the concept of relational autonomy, which recognizes the interconnectedness of both autonomous individuals and the community at large, and ethics of care, which understands morality as relational and contextualized. I use these two frameworks in tandem to discuss how friendships are conducive to political participation. The first chapter presents an overarching discussion of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale (1985) in its legacy to the feminist speculative fiction genre. Following, in the first section, I focus on notions of autonomy in relation to Renée Nault's graphic novel adaptation of Atwood’s novel (2019) and contrast it with Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine de Landro’s comic Bitch Planet (2013-2017). In the second section, I focus on the ethics of care as a process that can foster friendships with political implications by analyzing Hulu's TV adaptation of The Handmaid's Tale and BBC America's Orphan Black. SF offers the freedom to test different political ideas and to understand how society might react in extreme scenarios. These thought experiments reflect our own political struggles and shortcomings; ultimately, they might point at better ways to solve current problems.

This thesis considers the understudied issue of genetic engineering as it has been deployed in the literature of the late 20th century. With reference to the concept of the enlightened gender hybridity of Cyborg theory and an eye to ecocritical implications, I read four texts: Joan Slonczewski's 1986 science fiction novel A Door Into Ocean, Octavia Butler's science fiction trilogy Lilith's Brood – originally released between 1987 and 1989 as Xenogenesis – Simon Mawer's 1997 literary novel Mendel's Dwarf, and the first two books in Margaret Atwood's speculative fiction MaddAddam series: 2003's Oryx and Crake and 2009's The Year Of the Flood. I argue that the inclusion of genetic engineering has changed as the technology moves from science fiction to science fact, moving from the fantastic to the mundane. Throughout its recent literary history, genetic engineering has played a role in complicating questions of sexuality, paternity, and the division between nature and culture. It has also come to represent a nexus of potential cultural change, one which stands to fulfill the dramatic hybridity Haraway rhapsodized in her "Cyborg Manifesto" while also containing the potential to disrupt the ecocritical conversation by destroying what we used to understand as nature. Despite their four different takes on the issue, each of the texts I read offers a complex vision of utopian hopes and apocalyptic fears. They agree that, for better or for worse, genetic engineering is forever changing both our world and ourselves.