This study challenges the common assumption that Hemingway's early style is indebted to the work of Sherwood Anderson and Gertrude Stein and finds the evidence less than compelling. Unlike previous examinations, this study considers Hemingway's early journalism and correspondence as well as his first published fiction; additionally, it suggests models of influence other than Anderson and Stein, such as Ring Lardner and Stephen Crane. Because the critical tradition most often identifies "repetition" and "colloquialisms" as bases for attributing influence to Anderson and Stein, I discuss those characteristics individually, concluding that Hemingway's debt to Stein's use of repetition and Anderson's use of colloquial style has been overstated. I also assess the individual style of each author and identify the fundamental differences among them. And, finally, I suggest promising avenues which may lead to new associations between Hemingway and the forces which helped to shape his style. / Master of Arts

Salman Rushdie is one of the world’s most pre-eminent writers of contemporary literature. He is best known as a literary author who has written the controversial religious satire in The Satanic Verses, which brought him a prolonged death threat imposed by Islamic authorities. The novel Midnight’s Children won the prestigious Booker of Bookers prize in 1993 and the Best of the Booker award in 2008. Throughout his writing career, however, he has exceeded his role as a novelist and shown his commitment to using his fame and cultural authority to open debates and publicize his opinions on social and religious issues and world politics. This thesis analyses the various aspects of controversies surrounding Rushdie, as an elite transnational author, a literary celebrity, a public intellectual and an outspoken critic on sensitive topics. It comes to examine the social significance of public personas and the nature of complexity embedded in their career. Rushdie’s presence draws the media’s attention, and more often than not, instigates international disputes and contentions. By looking at different aspects of Rushdie’s identity, the thesis addresses controversies raised by his diverse roles and his traversing of spaces in the cultural industry – in academia, the book market, public forums, talk shows, celebrity jamborees and even fashion magazine dinner parties. As an elite postcolonial writer, does his iconic status “compromise” him in the literary field by the generation of exotic cultural stereotypes and the exploitation of his Indian upbringing? What can literary and cultural critics do to work beyond condemning this trend? As a literary celebrity and public intellectual, do his involvements in publicity activities and New York’s celebrity circuit make him abandon the professional integrity and the time-honored “disinterested” position of the writer? How should the reader understand the connections between the media and the author, and the novel and popular culture? In addition, given his deeply skeptical position on religious matters, how does the writer understand the world of Islam, and how does this understanding underpin his antagonistic relationship with the fundamentalists? Addressing these questions, the thesis is by no means an account of a single writer’s life and career, but suggests that the complexity of intellectual life in general is made necessary in a cultural landscape saturated with media hype, publicity maneuvers and commoditization. In such contexts, writers exploring their time must, in different degrees, participate actively in what they write against, and be implicated in these processes. Under the influence of the market, the change in social trends and with their aspired career in mind, it seems that there can be no non-involvement for these individuals. Yet, by taking the case of Rushdie, I also argue that implicit in the novelist’s self-conscious manipulation of his diverse roles and the parodic metafiction in his work are important indications about the image construction of controversial public personas, the cultural meaning of the novelist as a public intellectual, and the implicated career that a writer may have at the turn of the century.

Salman Rushdie is one of the world’s most pre-eminent writers of contemporary literature. He is best known as a literary author who has written the controversial religious satire in The Satanic Verses, which brought him a prolonged death threat imposed by Islamic authorities. The novel Midnight’s Children won the prestigious Booker of Bookers prize in 1993 and the Best of the Booker award in 2008. Throughout his writing career, however, he has exceeded his role as a novelist and shown his commitment to using his fame and cultural authority to open debates and publicize his opinions on social and religious issues and world politics. This thesis analyses the various aspects of controversies surrounding Rushdie, as an elite transnational author, a literary celebrity, a public intellectual and an outspoken critic on sensitive topics. It comes to examine the social significance of public personas and the nature of complexity embedded in their career. Rushdie’s presence draws the media’s attention, and more often than not, instigates international disputes and contentions. By looking at different aspects of Rushdie’s identity, the thesis addresses controversies raised by his diverse roles and his traversing of spaces in the cultural industry – in academia, the book market, public forums, talk shows, celebrity jamborees and even fashion magazine dinner parties. As an elite postcolonial writer, does his iconic status “compromise” him in the literary field by the generation of exotic cultural stereotypes and the exploitation of his Indian upbringing? What can literary and cultural critics do to work beyond condemning this trend? As a literary celebrity and public intellectual, do his involvements in publicity activities and New York’s celebrity circuit make him abandon the professional integrity and the time-honored “disinterested” position of the writer? How should the reader understand the connections between the media and the author, and the novel and popular culture? In addition, given his deeply skeptical position on religious matters, how does the writer understand the world of Islam, and how does this understanding underpin his antagonistic relationship with the fundamentalists? Addressing these questions, the thesis is by no means an account of a single writer’s life and career, but suggests that the complexity of intellectual life in general is made necessary in a cultural landscape saturated with media hype, publicity maneuvers and commoditization. In such contexts, writers exploring their time must, in different degrees, participate actively in what they write against, and be implicated in these processes. Under the influence of the market, the change in social trends and with their aspired career in mind, it seems that there can be no non-involvement for these individuals. Yet, by taking the case of Rushdie, I also argue that implicit in the novelist’s self-conscious manipulation of his diverse roles and the parodic metafiction in his work are important indications about the image construction of controversial public personas, the cultural meaning of the novelist as a public intellectual, and the implicated career that a writer may have at the turn of the century.

Salman Rushdie is one of the world’s most pre-eminent writers of contemporary literature. He is best known as a literary author who has written the controversial religious satire in The Satanic Verses, which brought him a prolonged death threat imposed by Islamic authorities. The novel Midnight’s Children won the prestigious Booker of Bookers prize in 1993 and the Best of the Booker award in 2008. Throughout his writing career, however, he has exceeded his role as a novelist and shown his commitment to using his fame and cultural authority to open debates and publicize his opinions on social and religious issues and world politics. This thesis analyses the various aspects of controversies surrounding Rushdie, as an elite transnational author, a literary celebrity, a public intellectual and an outspoken critic on sensitive topics. It comes to examine the social significance of public personas and the nature of complexity embedded in their career. Rushdie’s presence draws the media’s attention, and more often than not, instigates international disputes and contentions. By looking at different aspects of Rushdie’s identity, the thesis addresses controversies raised by his diverse roles and his traversing of spaces in the cultural industry – in academia, the book market, public forums, talk shows, celebrity jamborees and even fashion magazine dinner parties. As an elite postcolonial writer, does his iconic status “compromise” him in the literary field by the generation of exotic cultural stereotypes and the exploitation of his Indian upbringing? What can literary and cultural critics do to work beyond condemning this trend? As a literary celebrity and public intellectual, do his involvements in publicity activities and New York’s celebrity circuit make him abandon the professional integrity and the time-honored “disinterested” position of the writer? How should the reader understand the connections between the media and the author, and the novel and popular culture? In addition, given his deeply skeptical position on religious matters, how does the writer understand the world of Islam, and how does this understanding underpin his antagonistic relationship with the fundamentalists? Addressing these questions, the thesis is by no means an account of a single writer’s life and career, but suggests that the complexity of intellectual life in general is made necessary in a cultural landscape saturated with media hype, publicity maneuvers and commoditization. In such contexts, writers exploring their time must, in different degrees, participate actively in what they write against, and be implicated in these processes. Under the influence of the market, the change in social trends and with their aspired career in mind, it seems that there can be no non-involvement for these individuals. Yet, by taking the case of Rushdie, I also argue that implicit in the novelist’s self-conscious manipulation of his diverse roles and the parodic metafiction in his work are important indications about the image construction of controversial public personas, the cultural meaning of the novelist as a public intellectual, and the implicated career that a writer may have at the turn of the century.

Salman Rushdie is one of the world’s most pre-eminent writers of contemporary literature. He is best known as a literary author who has written the controversial religious satire in The Satanic Verses, which brought him a prolonged death threat imposed by Islamic authorities. The novel Midnight’s Children won the prestigious Booker of Bookers prize in 1993 and the Best of the Booker award in 2008. Throughout his writing career, however, he has exceeded his role as a novelist and shown his commitment to using his fame and cultural authority to open debates and publicize his opinions on social and religious issues and world politics. This thesis analyses the various aspects of controversies surrounding Rushdie, as an elite transnational author, a literary celebrity, a public intellectual and an outspoken critic on sensitive topics. It comes to examine the social significance of public personas and the nature of complexity embedded in their career. Rushdie’s presence draws the media’s attention, and more often than not, instigates international disputes and contentions. By looking at different aspects of Rushdie’s identity, the thesis addresses controversies raised by his diverse roles and his traversing of spaces in the cultural industry – in academia, the book market, public forums, talk shows, celebrity jamborees and even fashion magazine dinner parties. As an elite postcolonial writer, does his iconic status “compromise” him in the literary field by the generation of exotic cultural stereotypes and the exploitation of his Indian upbringing? What can literary and cultural critics do to work beyond condemning this trend? As a literary celebrity and public intellectual, do his involvements in publicity activities and New York’s celebrity circuit make him abandon the professional integrity and the time-honored “disinterested” position of the writer? How should the reader understand the connections between the media and the author, and the novel and popular culture? In addition, given his deeply skeptical position on religious matters, how does the writer understand the world of Islam, and how does this understanding underpin his antagonistic relationship with the fundamentalists? Addressing these questions, the thesis is by no means an account of a single writer’s life and career, but suggests that the complexity of intellectual life in general is made necessary in a cultural landscape saturated with media hype, publicity maneuvers and commoditization. In such contexts, writers exploring their time must, in different degrees, participate actively in what they write against, and be implicated in these processes. Under the influence of the market, the change in social trends and with their aspired career in mind, it seems that there can be no non-involvement for these individuals. Yet, by taking the case of Rushdie, I also argue that implicit in the novelist’s self-conscious manipulation of his diverse roles and the parodic metafiction in his work are important indications about the image construction of controversial public personas, the cultural meaning of the novelist as a public intellectual, and the implicated career that a writer may have at the turn of the century.

This thesis presents the first full account of the life and achievements of Bradford-born W. Riley (1866-1961), once internationally known as a popular and prolific Yorkshire author. Before becoming a famous writer, he was Managing Director of the successful Bradford Optical Lantern Company, Riley Brothers and was also, for 75 years, a Methodist local preacher and an important layman within northern Methodism. He wrote 39 books, published many stories and articles, and was a busy lecturer. Riley located most of his 30 novels in the Yorkshire Dales and has left a legacy of vivid portraits of people and places in the dales that he knew and loved. This biography of Riley draws upon material never seen hitherto, expanding upon the author's diffident autobiography. The complete bibliography of his extensive writings includes much new and long-lost material. In presenting Riley to a new generation, this account places him in context with his contemporaries. Riley proclaimed his Christianity sympathetically and attractively to his receptive public in much of his output. This thesis includes an insight into the spiritual life, outlook and thinking of a popular and much-respected committed and active Methodist local preacher. Riley's life story is the account of a remarkably successful, self-motivated Victorian. He was a household name in his time, both in Yorkshire and internationally. The research for this thesis has uncovered important material relating to Riley, which will be held in the W. Riley Archive, at the Special Collections Section of the University of Bradford J.P. Priestley Library.

This thesis deals with the problems of genre and narrative techniques in two novels by the Swedish author Hjalmar Bergman, 1883-1931. Although regarded as one of the foremost novelists in Swedish literature, with novels such as Markurells i Wadköping, 1919, and Farmor och vår Herre, 1921, Bergman's narrative techniques have not previously been systematically analyzed. Instead critics have focussed either on the biographical and philosophical aspects of his work, or on the meaning of his specific use of symbols and metaphorical language. Hjalmar Bergman wrote more than twenty novels, a large number of plays, short stories, fairy tales and screenplays. His most innovative period was in the 1910s, which is also the period focussed on here. The study begins with the reception of the seven novels written from 1912 to 1918. These novels were considerably different from what the critics at the time were wont to expect. Consequently they had trouble understanding not only the purpose of the narrative techniques in the novels, but also in determining their specific genre and subject matter. The aim of this thesis is to demonstrate that by analyzing Hjalmar Bergman's narrative techniques, we can learn more about the genre of the novel, about its status in the Swedish literary institution of the 1910s, and about Hjalmar Bergman's contribution to its development in Sweden. For this purpose the methods of the Russian theorist of the novel, Mikhail Bakhtin, have proved to be useful. In the succeeding chapters two novels, Loewenhistorier, 1913 (Loewen Stories) and En döds memoarer, 1918 (The Memoirs of a Dead Man), are analyzed for a deeper understanding of Hjalmar Bergman's specific use of novelistic subgenres such as the adventure story, the picaresque, the Bildungsroman, the confession, the memoir etc. Hjalmar Bergmanhas been considered a 'pre-modernist' in Swedish prose fiction. If this is the case, it is not primarily because hetried to invent new ways of writing novels, but rather that he made use of seemingly well-defined genres, combining them in new and often surprising ways. He thereby investigates not only a subject matter or a protagonist, but also the relevance, with regard to the stories hesets out to tell, of the genre-bound plots and perspectives. The result is novels that are simultaneously highly structured and 'law-abiding', in accordance with their genre patterns, and characterized by a certain open-ended 'brokenness'. Nothing ever turns out as the reader might expect, judging from the genres used in the novels. / digitalisering@umu

Categories titled simple plots, loose plots, no plots, and parallel plots are used within this thesis to organize and contrast sixteen novels by Spanish author Pio Baroja.

My dissertation explores two critical points in understanding John Updike's recent career. First, I examine him from a perspective outside the heavily-studied Rabbit tetralogy. Focusing on Updike's novel Terrorist, I attempt to counter the misperception that he offers little beyond the chronicling of middle-class, suburban America. Instead, this work digs for a deeper understanding of Updike. Next, I consider Updike's role as an artist, professional writer, and celebrity to draw out a sense of the writer's life in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Using him as a case study enables the analysis to include his changing role as a literary writer who also had major bestsellers, as well as his standing as a celebrity and public intellectual. Rather than dismiss these cultural influences, I explore how they intersect with audiences, readers, and critics. Piecing together his commentary regarding fame and celebrity creates a model of the public Updike for scholars to examine. The central task of this dissertation is a close examination of Terrorist, including the themes Updike addressed and literary techniques he employed to advance those ideas. From this textual analysis, Updike's vision of America and the world in the twenty first century emerges. By reassessing Updike's evolution as a writer, both in subject matter and literary technique, one realizes how his work reflects an increasing preoccupation with global issues, from American imperialism to terrorism. This study broadens the general conceptualization critics and scholars hold regarding Updike's work by exploring the themes and literary devices he used to portray the broader world. Focusing on Updike the writer and Terrorist, his final standalone novel, this dissertation helps Updike scholars and critics address a central point that may well define his historical reputation: Is there an Updike beyond the Rabbit novels and is there an Updike beyond suburban nostalgia? I argue that Terrorist reveals a great American writer at his full powers as the world around him undergoes a watershed moment.

Student Number : 0413402D - MA research report - Faculty of Humanities / This research report focuses on how Kekelwa Nyaywa, a Zambian novelist has represented Zambian women within a span ranging from the colonial up to the independence period. Within the first chapter, a brief history of the Zambian nation is highlighted and a theoretical framework established. Chapter two engages with Nyaywa’s use of romance to make a commentary on the idea of nationalism. By so doing she redefines the concept of romance which has invariably been associated with ‘frivolity’. The third chapter revolves around Chipembi boarding school which the author uses to feminize key issues in the Zambian society. The pivot of the chapter is that this space is a metaphor for women’s liberation in Zambia. HIV/AIDS fueled by a ‘macho syndrome’ emerges in the fourth chapter as the single biggest threat to Zambian women’s lives. Finally, the conclusion investigates the trends of feminism that the author foregrounds in the book.