In the short period between 1931 and 1934 a flurry of gay-themed novels was published which were blatantly marketed as novels exploring the "twilight world" of homosexual men. In the subsequent seventy-odd years these titles have received very little attention, being entirely forgotten or sometimes erroneously grouped with postwar gay pulp fiction. Furthermore, almost without exception, the 1930s novels portray a concept of homosexuality which does not quite fit into the postwar view of sexual orientation or gay isolation. Section I explores how titles like A Scarlet Pansy, Strange Brother, and Twilight Men, all show a view of homosexuality that was immersed in gender norms and class differences much more than psychology or the modern concept of sexual orientation. In many cases, masculine or feminine behavior denotes status more than does the actual gender of one's sexual partner. Words like "homosexual" and "heterosexual" had a "highly clinical" sound to most 1930s ears (to quote a character in Better Angel). That is not to say, however, the readership of these novels were unfamiliar with "the love that dare not speak its name". In fact, it seems many novels took for granted their readers' knowledge of urban, working-class "fairy culture" and were seeking either to shock or, conversely, elicit sympathy by depicting non-flamboyant protagonists as well as stock pansies. In contrast to postwar treatments, the novels of the 1930s never depict gay men as existing in confused isolation. Section II explores how the novels oflen treat the gay shadow world as an elite, artistic club-albeit one filled with sinful excesses and potential dangers. Finally, after 1935 the tone of gay-themed novels changed abruptly, as the public's "pansy craze" abated. Older notions of"gender inversion" and ''Nature's intermediates" faded and homosexuality became more associated with psychological affliction with societal implications / History / M.A.

This study is an examination of the rhetorical concept of the dialectic as it is realized in selected works of North American dystopian literature. The dialectic is one of the main factors in curtailing enlightenment rationalism which, taken to an extreme, would deny man freedom while claiming to bestow freedom upon him. The focus of this dissertation is on an analysis of twentieth-century dystopias and the dialectic of Fyodor Dostoevsky's Grand Inquisitor parable which is a precursor to dystopian literature. The Grand Inquisitor parable of The Brothers Karamazov is a blueprint for dystopian states delineated in anti-utopian fiction. Also, Dostoevsky's parable constitutes a powerful dialectical struggle between polar opposites which are presented in the following twentieth-century dystopias: Zamiatin's Me, Bradbury's Farenheit 451, Vonnegut's Player Piano, and Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. The dialectic in the dystopian genre presents a give and take between the opposites of faith and doubt, liberty and slavery, and it often presents the individual of the anti-utopian state with a choice. When presented with the dialectic, then, the individual is presented with the capacity to make a real choice; therefore, he is presented with a hope for salvation in the totalitarian dystopias of modern twentieth-century literature.

The dissertation traces the trope of the incomplete character in four twentieth-century cosmopolitan novels that reflect European colonialism in a global context. I argue that, by creating characters sharply aware of the insufficiency of the Self and thus constantly seeking the constitutive participation of the Other, the four authors E. M. Forster, Samuel Beckett, J. M. Coetzee, and Congwen Shen all dramatize the incomplete character as an agent of postcolonial resistance to Western humanism that, tending to enforce the divide between the Self and the Other, provided the epistemological basis for the emergence of European colonialism. For example, Fielding's good-willed aspiration to forge cross-cultural friendship in A Passage to India; Murphy's dogged search for recognition of his Irish identity in Murphy; Susan's unfailing compassion to restore Friday's lost speech in Foe; and Changshun Teng, the Chinese orange-grower's warm-hearted generosity toward his customers in Long River--all these textual occasions dramatize the incomplete character's anxiety over the Other's rejection that will impair the fullness of his or her being, rendering it solitary and empty. I relate this anxiety to the theory of "posthumanism" advanced by such thinkers as Marx, Bakhtin, Sartre, and Lacan; in their texts the humanist view of the individual as an autonomous constitution has undergone a transformation marked by the emphasis on locating selfhood not in the insular and static Self but in the mutable middle space connecting the Self and the Other.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 206-210) / v, 210 leaves ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, School of Humanities, Discipline of English, 2004

Young Ada. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 134-139). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / 摘要 --- p.iii / Acknowledgments --- p.v / Introduction / "Crisis Unveiled: ""All that is Positive Melts Away""" --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter I --- "Crisis in Interpersonal and Intrapsychic Realms: and ""England, My England""" --- p.17 / Chapter Chapter II --- Crisis in Interpersonal and Intrapsychic Realms: Desire and its Perversions in Death in Venice and The Magic Mountain --- p.37 / Chapter Chapter III --- "Crisis at the Societal Level: in Women in Love and ""England, My England""" --- p.64 / Chapter Chapter IV --- Crisis at the Societal Level: From the Corrosions of Meaning in Life to the Dislocations of Societal Order in Death in Venice and The Magic Mountain --- p.94 / Coda / Crisis (Un)ended: The Great War and its Aftermath --- p.122 / Notes --- p.129 / Works Cited --- p.134

Wong Nga-lai. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-112). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Acknowledgements --- p.i / Abstract --- p.ii-v / Introduction / Homosexuality: a sin versus a choice --- p.1 -5 / Chapter Chapter One --- Wilde and his sacrifices --- p.6 -38 / Chapter Chapter Two --- Forster and his private novel --- p.39 -70 / Chapter Chapter Three --- Rechy and his new order --- p.71-104 / Conclusion / Still a long way to go --- p.105 -107 / Selected Bibliography --- p.108-112

And the Word Was Made Flesh: Anthropomorphism in the poetry of WH Auden examines the reasons for the neglect of Auden’s prolific deployment of anthropomorphism by examining the poetry’s critical reception with a view to understanding what larger purpose, what ‘strategy of discourse’ (Ricoeur 2003, The Rule of Metaphor: 5-9), Auden may have had in mind when he revived a trope traditionally regarded as retrograde. Anxious not to be mistaken for a Modern, yet unable to find a social rhetoric to suit his purposes, Auden elected upon a new style of poetry which questioned the very foundations of language by placing anthropomorphism, the ascription of agency and sentience to voiceless entities, at its centre. The study explores anthropomorphism from historical and theoretical perspectives in an attempt to explain the reasons for its demise, at least, within the academy. This study emphasises the importance Auden placed on the everyday activity of reading, the principal focus for the poet’s ‘cultural theory’ (Boly 1991 and 2004: 138). Auden, 'eager to create a tradition of its own' (Emig 2000: 1), abjuring propaganda, hoped to educate the reader to resist the different ideologies which were vying for ascendency during the 1930s. This study will demonstrate that anthropomorphism, with its capacity to suggest alternative words to ‘re-describe reality’ (Ricoeur 2003: 5), played a pivotal role in Auden’s project for cultural renewal. This study demonstrates that the lasting benefit of Auden’s use of anthropomorphism is to have recognised with prescience what critics now recognise as a 'revolutionary and potently counter-cultural tactic of cultural appropriation' (Paxson 1994: 173), a trope that 'engenders within its semiotic structure a hidden critique of Western culture' (Paxson: 50). Evidence from recent linguistic theory is marshalled in support of the trope’s rehabilitation. This study examines a selection of Auden’s four hundred published poems, and it also offers a provisional taxonomy to initiate the complex process of classifying instances of personification and its co-ordinate tropes in poetry. / English Studies / M.A. (English)

A presente pesquisa propôs a análise de todos os vinte contos que compõem a obra Marcovaldo ou As estações na cidade (2015 [1963]), de Italo Calvino. O foco das análises voltou-se para o protagonista, Marcovaldo, um trabalhador pobre e em permanente estado de desconforto com as mudanças ocorridas no contexto social pós-guerra, especialmente na Itália, no período de seu milagre econômico, que foi impulsionado pelo fim de medidas protecionistas na economia (GINSBORG, 2003). Ao tentar romper com esse cenário, buscando a beleza genuína da natureza, Marcovaldo vê-se experienciando situações que sempre o levam ao descontentamento, intrinsecamente ligado a um novo tipo de relação humana e social, construída a partir não somente da consolidação das sociedades capitalistas modernas, como igualmente da imposição de um padrão único de comportamento à sociedade — a mutação antropológica, como proposto por Pier Paolo Pasolini (1978, 1997). A pesquisa debruçou-se sobre o olhar Ecocrítico (GARRARD, 2006), despertado pela obra em questão, que sugere, a partir da Literatura (e da incorporação de outras áreas como a Sociologia, a Biologia, a Antropologia), o estudo da natureza, suas relações com a mulher e o homem e o refinamento da percepção acerca de questões ecológicas frágeis, captadas com mais afinco a partir da década de 1960 (PIGA; MANSANO, 2015), apesar de as mudanças de perspectiva sobre a sensibilidade em relação à natureza estarem em constante modificação principalmente desde o Iluminismo (THOMAS, 2010 [1983]). A esta pesquisa foram igualmente incorporados pressupostos da Ecosofia (GUATTARI, 2006 [1989]), que sugere um ressignificar de procedimentos e discursos hegemônicos advindos do sistema sócio-político-econômico capitalista. Para tanto, fez-se necessário, conjuntamente, compreender problemáticas concernentes à conjuntura ambiental do século XX e seu impacto sobre as classes menos favorecidas economicamente (BOFF, 1995), assim como assimilar os desdobramentos referentes ao ecologismo dos pobres (via econômica baseada na justiça social), preconizado por Joan Martínez Alier (2014 [2007]), tendo em vista a classe social à qual Marcovaldo pertence. Alicerçada nos princípios descritos, a esta pesquisa coube, portanto, analisar as interações de Marcovaldo e sua família com a natureza e suas possibilidades, suas modificações e incorporação a um efervescente mercado consumidor, com vistas a refletir sobre a crise ecológica (das três ecologias, conforme Guattari) e assinalar hipóteses de superação para a mesma, por meio da apologia de um convívio menos predatório do ser humano relativamente aos outros seres que ao seu lado coabitam na Terra. / The present research proposed the analysis of all twenty short stories that compose the book Marcovaldo or the seasons in the city (2015 [1963]), by Italo Calvino. The analyses focused on the protagonist, Marcovaldo, an impoverished proletarian that finds himself in a continuous state of discomfort with the changes that occurred in the post-war social context, especially in Italy during the period of the economic miracle, which was driven by the end of protectionist measures in the economy (GINSBORG, 2003). In trying to break away from this scenario, seeking the genuine beauty of nature, Marcovaldo ends up experiencing situations that always lead him to a discontent that is inextricably linked to a new kind of human and social relationship, built not only on the consolidation of modern capitalist societies, but also on the imposition of a single standard of behavior on society – an anthropological mutation, as proposed by Pier Paolo Pasolini (1978, 1997). The research focused on the Ecocritical approach (GARRARD, 2006), awakened by the object, which suggests the study (incorporating references from areas such as Sociology, Biology and Anthropology to Literary Theory) of nature, its relationship with women and men, and the refining of perceptions about delicate ecological issues, captured more intensively since the 1960s (PIGA, MANSANO, 2015), although the changes in perspective on sensitivity to nature are constantly shifting, mainly since the Enlightenment (THOMAS, 2010 [1983]). This research also integrated the assumptions of Ecosophy (GUATTARI, 2006 [1989]), which suggests a re-signifying of hegemonic procedures and discourses derived from the capitalist socio-political-economic system. In order to do so, it was necessary, jointly, to understand issues related to the environmental context of the twentieth century and its impact on economically disadvantaged classes (BOFF, 1995), as well as to assimilate the consequences related to the environmentalism of the poor, advocated by Joan Martínez Alier (2014 [2007]), in view of the social class to which Marcovaldo belongs. Based on the principles described, this research therefore had to analyze the interactions of Marcovaldo and his family with nature and its possibilities, its modifications and assimilation into an effervescent consumer market, aiming to reflect on the ecological crisis (of the three ecologies, according to Guattari) and point out hypotheses of overcoming it, by means of the apology of a less predatory human conviviality in relation to the other beings that, with them, live on planet Earth.

This thesis examines the experience of loss in Anne Landsman’s novels The Devil’s Chimney (1997) and The Rowing Lesson (2008), and Rachel Zadok’s Gem Squash Tokoloshe (2005). Positing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) as an impetus for emerging literary traditions within contemporary South African fiction, the argument begins by evaluating the reasons for the TRC’s widespread impact, and considers the role that the individual author may play within a culture which is undergoing dramatic socio-political upheavals. Through theoretical explication, close reading, and textual comparison, the argument initiates a dialogue between psychoanalysis and literary analysis, differentiating between two primary modes of experiencing loss, namely traumatic and nostalgic memory. Out of these sets of concerns, the thesis seeks to understand the inextricability of body, memory and landscape, and interrogates the deployment of these tropes within the contexts of traumatic and nostalgic loss, examining each author’s nuanced invocation. A central tenet of the argument is a consideration, moreover, of how the dialogic imagination has shaped storytelling, and whether or not narrative may provide therapeutic affect for either author or reader. The study concludes with an interpretation of the changing shape of literary expression within South Africa.

The aim of this thesis is to arrive at a characterisation of twentieth century poetry and science by means of a detailed study of the work of four poets who engaged extensively with science and whose writing lives spanned the greater part of the period. The study of science in the work of the four chosen poets, Hugh MacDiarmid (1892 – 1978), Judith Wright (1915 – 2000), Edwin Morgan (1920 – 2010), and Miroslav Holub (1923 – 1998), is preceded by a literature survey and an initial theoretical chapter. This initial part of the thesis outlines the interdisciplinary history of the academic subject of poetry and science, addressing, amongst other things, the challenges presented by the episodes known as the ‘two cultures' and the ‘science wars'. Seeking to offer a perspective on poetry and science more aligned to scientific materialism than is typical in the interdiscipline, a systemic challenge to Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962) is put forward in the first chapter. Additionally, the founding work of poetry and science, I. A. Richards's Science and Poetry (1926), is assessed both in the context in which it was written, and from a contemporary viewpoint; and, as one way to understand science in poetry, a theory of the creative misreading of science is developed, loosely based on Harold Bloom's The Anxiety of Influence (1973). The detailed study of science in poetry commences in Chapter II with Hugh MacDiarmid's late work in English, dating from his period on the Shetland Island of Whalsay (1933 – 1941). The thesis in this chapter is that this work can be seen as a radical integration of poetry and science; this concept is considered in a variety of ways including through a computational model, originally suggested by Robert Crawford. The Australian poet Judith Wright, the subject of Chapter III, is less well known to poetry and science, but a detailed engagement with physics can be identified, including her use of four-dimensional imagery, which has considerable support from background evidence. Biology in her poetry is also studied in the light of recent work by John Holmes. In Chapter IV, science in the poetry of Edwin Morgan is discussed in terms of its origin and development, from the perspective of the mythologised science in his science fiction poetry, and from the ‘hard' technological perspective of his computer poems. Morgan's work is cast in relief by readings which are against the grain of some but not all of his published comments. The thesis rounds on its theme of materialism with the fifth and final chapter which studies the work of Miroslav Holub, a poet and practising scientist in communist-era Prague. Holub's work, it is argued, represents a rare and important literary expression of scientific materialism. The focus on materialism in the thesis is not mechanistic, nor exclusive of the domain of the imagination; instead it frames the contrast between the original science and the transformed poetic version. The thesis is drawn together in a short conclusion.