The stage dramatisation of fiction is a common and increasingly popular practice. Normally, a dramatist will take a novelist's work and adapt it, but there are cases dating back to at least the sixteenth century where novelists themselves have attempted to dramatise their own fiction. In the context of British theatre, it was not until the 1911 Copyright Act that novelists had copyright over the dramatisation of their original work. For this reason, novelists were obliged to adapt their own fiction to protect it against unauthorised dramatisation. Several authors, however, adapted their novels for more than reasons of copyright. The glamour of the West End and the potential for financial reward lured the novelists into adaptation. In the numerous adaptations of Henry James the language of the fictional narrator invades his scripts, in the form of stage directions or forced into the mouths of the characters. James is fascinated by the technical aspect of drama and he did make a substantial effort to rewrite Daisy Miller to make it suitable for the dramatic genre, but this includes a disappointing use of stage clichés as part of the mechanics of stagecraft (such as melodramatic techniques and the "happy ending"). Thomas Hardy was enthusiastic about the stage in his youth and had some innovative ideas for the stage but never fully realised his concepts. The adaptation of Tess of the D'Urbervilles has some evocative imagery but is more like a medley of dramatic highlights separated by major ellipses than the panoramic and inexorable vision of the novel. In the adaptation of The Secret Agent, Conrad sustains a loyalty to the novel which mars the play with too many characters and an excess of exposition. Conrad's decision to be chronological in the adaptation strips the story of its sophistication and creates an uncompromising, even shocking, play. This could be seen as a merit as are Conrad's expressionistic touches and his treatment of heroism and insanity. Indeed, the play is a compulsive experience and claims that it is ahead of its time are perhaps justified.

The aim of this thesis is to examine how the virtual image of Brazil and its literature is constructed in the Anglo-American world. To this end, a survey of Brazilian literary works in English translation was carried out. Having gathered this data, it became possible to establish correlations between the historical moments when such translations were made, when their number increased, and the events occurring at those times in the international panorama, as well as to look into the role of sponsors, publishers and translators in the selection and production of such translations. The data also allowed a profile of Brazilian literary works in English translation to be drawn. It became possible to suggest that such works fall into four main categories: `authorial works', 'topical works', `ambassadorial works' and `consumer-oriented works'. In order to look more closely into how the translation process has helped to shape the virtual image of Brazilian literary works in the Anglo-American world, an analysis of a sample of translations of such works was made. Included in this sample were the translations of works by Machado de Asis, by Indianist and Regionalist wirters, culminating in an examination of translations of GuimarAes Rosa's works. Having looked at these aspects of the translation process, what remained to be done was to investigate to what extent Brazilian literary works in English translation are read by the English- speaking public. To this end, a survey of availability and library readership was undertaken. Finally, a reading experiment was carried out in which native speakers of English were asked to read the short story 'A terceira margem do rio', by GuimarAes Rosa. The conclusion attempts to pull all these threads together and to indicate directions for further research.

The focus of this dissertation entitled 'Difference, Identification & Desire: Contemporary Lesbian Genre Fiction' is the representation of lesbian identity in four contemporary popular lesbian genres: autobiographical fiction, speculative fiction, romance fiction and crime fiction. The aim of the dissertation is three-fold. Firstly, it seeks to acknowledge and celebrate the large variety of representations of lesbianism produced by lesbian writers working with popular forms of the novel during the past twenty five years. Secondly, it explores the ways in which lesbian writers have reworked popular genres in order to highlight lesbian and feminist concerns and to depict aspects of lesbian existence. It analyzes the effects of introducing discourses of lesbianism into the plots of popular genres, showing how the latter have been subverted or adapted by lesbian use. Thirdly, the thesis seeks to specify the ways in which the generic forms themselves, according to their own codes and conventions, shape and mediate the representation of lesbian identity in the text. In addition to this focus, the dissertation traces a number of themes and concerns across and within the four genres under discussion. These include the relationship in the texts between the sign 'lesbian' and the discourse of feminism, and the oscillation between the representation of lesbian sexual identity in terms of woman-identification and difference-between women. The aim throughout the analysis of contemporary lesbian genre fiction is to identify both that which is specific to lesbian representation and that which is characteristic of the particular genre under discussion. The dissertation represents a contribution to three areas of literary study: Genre Studies and Feminist Studies in general, and to Lesbian Studies in particular.

'Grace Under Pressure: Re-reading Giselle' is a close reading of the Romantic ballet Giselle (1841) , focusing on the Birmingham Royal Ballet production of 3 March 1992. The Preface provides a personal introduction, and notes the status of ballet within dance studies and the academy. It also observes that in choosing Giselle as a text one is required to reassess the historical treatment of emotion and beauty within academic feminism. Chapter One gives an historical background to Giselle, a literature review and a methodological overview. Ballet has received relatively little attention from the academy in comparison with other performing arts. Whilst dance scholarship is a growth area in the university, ballet remains neglected. Hence, in order to bring theory across from areas of greater academic activity, this thesis is structured around textual juxtaposition. Thus Chapter Two compares the plot of Giselle with that of the film Blade Runner, and Chapter Three compares the movement of Giselle with that in the book SEX by Madonna. These comparative texts were also first viewed in 1992: whilst Giselle is usually categorized as 'High' art, however, they belong in the popular domain. This thesis demonstrates that the comparative texts differ from their own genres, dystopian fiction and pornography. Consequently, Giselle is shown to be materially different from other Romantic ballets, particularly in its selfreflexive critical framework. Chapter Four concludes the discussion of the 1841 and the 1992 Giselles, and focuses on the repercussions of this study for the academy and the production and reception of ballet. Throughout this thesis runs the assumption, common in dance studies but less overt in English Literature, that academic activity is a personal and political activity, and that a study such as this requires that one engage with the status of academic enquiry both within and without the academy.

My interest in comics began at about ten years of age. Reading difficulties and a dismissal as stupid by one of my primary school teachers left me believing that reading was beyond my capabilities. One morning when walking reluctantly to school I saw a comic lying in the gutter. Attracted by the bright colours I picked it up, I could not read the title 'Dandy' but the picture stories meant for the first time I could follow a narrative. Quickly I realised that the pictorial content gave me clues to the dialogue presented in the 'bubbles'. Reading for me was a possibility and I soon became addicted to a diet of comics. Unfortunately the racist nature of British society was reflected in those comic strips. Brought up in an environment where there were no visible black faces most of my racial education was from the society around me and the comics I read. I did not realise how deeply ingrained the racial conceptions were until I attempted to draw my own comic strip to amuse two small children for whom I had frequent care. Without thinking I automatically reproduced the same kind of stereotypes to be found in the comics I had read. Soon racial inequalities were to become a central concern in my life. I became conscious of the pervasiveness of racism in society and this consciousness increased as I embarked on a mixed race marriage generally disapproved of in the white dominated society of the early 1950s. My experience as a mother of mixed race children led me to join various anti-racist groups and thus become interested in all aspects of racial injustice. A combination of factors encouraged the undertaking of this research amongst them being, a teacher first, of young children and later of adolescents. A further influence came from the literature I read which encouraged me to write articles on the subject for such magazines as Roots and Youth in society. As a consequence of my past experiences and these articles this research project took shape and I make no apology for the fact that feelings and experiences have entered into the research process. The pre-occupying concern of this research is to investigate the degree of equality in presentations of white, black, Asian and Oriental groups in comics and magazines for children. The central aim is to locate any unjustifiable differences in the presentations. Each of the Chapters in this study attempts to deal with a specific area, related to racism and collectively they attempt to supply evidence to support an argument that presentation of black group characters is mostly concerned with negative portrayals. The opening chapter commences with a declaration of aims and objectives and proceeds with a discussion of the nature of racism followed by theoretical approaches and the general methodology available for analysing comic texts. A standard content analysis is adopted in order to extract the necessary figures involved in the distribution of imagery across the ethnic groups presented in the comic literature. Without this preliminary exercise another important objective of the study would be impossible, that is, to interpret the figures in a more refined, qualitative manner in the hope that some of the subtle details of stereotyping will emerge. Chapter Two reviews the historical development of comics and magazines and the influence of this development on racial imagery. Chapter Three concentrates on the construction of appropriate headings under which to place ethnic groups appearing in the comics in order that they might be analysed by the use of checklists which draw on the common usage of stereotypes, present established checklists, and other literature for children. Chapters Four, Five, Six and Seven focus on the analysis of a number of specific aspects commencing with areas where black Asian and Oriental characters are included and excluded. Chapter Five takes issue with the presentation of principal characters, while chapter Six investigates the reality or otherwise of a number of racial myths. Chapter Seven concerns itself with the distribution and nature of verbal and non-verbal contacts between ethnic groups and Chapter Eight consists of a number of case studies using the original visual comic material in an attempt to illustrate the nature of the racism within the comic sample. The final chapter is a review of the findings from the comics and magazines brought together and conclusions drawn from the data to see if there are a significant number of unfair differences in the presentations of white, black, Asian and Oriental groups. After a brief summary of the major findings the final chapter discusses some of the conclusions and tries to interpret these conclusions within a wide theoretical framework.

This thesis is a comparative study of popularisation of feminism in Britain and Turkey in the 1990s. It focuses on selected British and Turkish women's magazines and examines the ways in which they engage with feminist concerns. The methodology is derived from feminist critical theory and cultural studies in order to address the dynamic interchange between feminist politics and mainstream or consumer women's interests and to examine the relationship between the concepts of feminism and femininity in contemporary women's magazines. The significance of the research lies in the identification of ways in which these texts incorporate and appropriate feminist discourses to the extent that the notion of femininity has increasingly come to be associated with feminist thought. The argument presented in this study is that the relationship between the producers of cultural texts and feminism, and producers and readers need to be taken into consideration to investigate how gendered subjectivities are reproduced in any given culture or crossculturally, by whom they are reproduced, in whose interests they work, and how they are constructed. This approach to popular culture will provide tools to articulate the political and cultural identities of women. The thesis is divided into three chapters. In the first, I discuss the evolution of feminist movements in the different historical and cultural contexts of Britain and Turkey by focusing on current feminist debates. The second chapter examines the women's magazine as a diverse form of popular culture with regard to its market and content. Contemporary women's magazine markets in these two countries and the ways in which these markets have been changed and expanded in conjunction with the development of feminist movements over the last two decades are discussed. This chapter also discusses the role of editors in defining a contemporary understanding of femininity for mass consumption and the editorial control of the magazine form as a commodity. The final chapter examines the dominant themes through which these texts have engaged with feminist issues. By comparing and contrasting the Turkish and British women's magazines I have found that specific conditions and politics engender a variety of diverse forms for the popularisation of feminism. Feminist themes and issues embedded in popular and commercial discourses are complex and various. However, I have found that the Turkish women's magazines primarily provide an outlet for women's voices and share a common goal with feminist politics of promoting female empowerment in the context of 1990s' Turkey. On the other hand, feminism is predominantly recognized as a cultural value by the British women's magazines in which feminism is often redefined through commodities and fetishized into a symbol of things. Their approach is defined as postfeminist which means the incorporation, revision and depoliticisation of feminist politics.

This study considers the work of three women poets writing in English during the period 1970-2000. I argue that the poets, Eavan Boland, Michele Roberts and Jackie Kay are all `hybrid' voices, positioned and positioning themselves on the borders between different cultures and traditions. Locating the poets within a specific social, cultural and intellectual context the study considers the different ways in which the poets negotiate these mixed heritages and how gender interacts with their cultural location to affect the poetic identities they inhabit. My study of Eavan Boland locates her as a post-colonial poet writing out of a very specific historical relationship with Britain. I argue that the effects of this relationship are explored in two ways; the political and psychic legacy of the British colonisation of Ireland but also the ways in which women in Ireland have been colonised by a nationalist poetic tradition. I show how Boland interrogates these different colonisations and drawing on the work of Homi Bhabha I argue that Boland finds her own hybrid space in the Dublin suburbs from where she explores the frictions between a number of conflicting positions. My study of Michele Roberts explores the effects of her dual French and English heritage on her writing. I argue that Roberts' desire to embrace both aspects of her identity manifests itself as a desire to reconcile what western dualistic thinking has split and separated. I consider how Roberts advocates a writing and reading practise which asks us to embrace the stranger within ourselves and so begin to heal the split within individuals and nations. My chapter on Kay explores how she negotiates the cultural specificity of her location as a Scottish writer who identifies as black and how her poetry complicates questions of cultural authority and theories of cultural hybridity. I argue that Kay through a focus on `performance' as both theme and aesthetic subverts simple fixed notions of identity. I conclude that all three poets problematise any simple notion of home and belonging as a fixed and immutable space. Rather they inhabit borderlands, unsettled spaces, where there is a constant interaction and reformulation of identity.

The theme of this thesis is women and violence explored in eleven plays by British contemporary women playwrights in the 1980s and 1990s. In order to explore these plays, I have made investigations into a basic knowledge of violence against women in the Introduction. Violence against women is also called sexual violence or gender-related violence. The knowledge I have gained includes how sexual violence is defined; why sexual violence occurs; what kinds of sexual violence there are; how people perceive sexual violence. My definition is that any act which limits the autonomy of women constitutes sexual violence. Based on a variety of definitions by feminist scholars, there are many forms of sexual violence in women's history around the world. As a result, I have found out the continuity, diversity, and universality of women's pain. The nature of sexual violence has been mistaken by many people from the perspective of prevailing myths about women's sexuality. Because of them, many women and female children become double victims. Having understood the true nature of sexual violence, I have selected eleven plays which explore women and violence: The Love of the Nightingale (1988) by Timberlake Wertenbaker; Crux (1991) by April de Angelis; The Taking of Liberty (1992) by Cheryl Robson; Augustine (Big Hysteria) (1991) by Anna Furse; The Gut Girls (1988) by Sarah Daniels; Ficky Stingers (1986) by Eve Lewis; Beside Herself (1990) by Sarah Daniels; Thatcher's Women (1987) by Kay Adshead; Money to Live (1984) by Jacqueline Rudet; Low Level Panic (1988) by Clare McIntyre; Masterpieces (1984) by Sarah Daniels. The thesis is divided into two parts depending on whether the plays are set in the past or present in order to identify the continuity of sexual violence. They depict the exercise of men's power through sexual violence. In the plays women experience violence committed by men and then they are silenced. However, the women demonstrate their fighting spirit and regain their voice or find ways to express themselves. Women's hope for change is expressed through theatre.

The purpose of this thesis is to problematize the relationship between suicide and the author. On the basis of a deconstructive approach, it will study the effect of the self-inflicted death of the writer, namely the emergence of a dual figure, the "suicide-author". To deconstruct the suicide-author, this thesis will combine theoretical issues with examples taken from authors who killed themselves, including texts written by the suicides and by their survivors. Such texts will be referred to as "memorial texts" and will constitute a key element in the deconstruction of the figure of the author, namely his/her "posthumous persona". The thesis is divided into two parts. Part I, comprising the first three chapters, will propose an anti-teleological theorizing of suicide, followed by a study of the role of memorial texts in the deconstruction of the figure of the suicide author and a problematizing of Roland Barthes's concept of the "death of the author" in the context of the multiplicity of deaths of the suicide-author. In Chapter Two, the study of memorial texts will be developed in conjunction with analysis of selected examples, such as Yukio Mishima, Mario de Sa-Carneiro, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Sergei Esenin, Raymond Roussel, Walter Benjamin, Anne Sexton, and Virginia Woolf. Also divided into three chapters, Part II is dedicated to an extended analysis of the thesis' case study, namely Sylvia Plath. Rather than focusing on Plath's suicide as an individual unique case, the second part aims at extending and complementing the discussion of the issues previously proposed. Of particular interest is the magnifying of such issues offered by the mythical aura of the Plath case. Chapter Four deals with the "voice of the other", the deconstruction of Plath's image by the living, including both those who had known her in person and the so called "anonymous witnesses" to her suicide, namely critics, journalists, et al. Chapter Five focuses on the "voice of the deceased", as emanating from Plath's writings. Finally, Chapter Six analyses the Plath-Hughes dialogue, with attention to Hughes's particular role in the deconstruction of her posthumous persona.

This thesis participates in the current scholarly reassessment of Scottish Romanticism. Working across conventional Enlightenment and Romantic paradigms, it argues for a ‘long eighteenth century’ view of this writing with salient roots in the Union of 1707. Framed by the rapid economic and social change experienced by Scotland over much of this period, it proposes that Scottish Romanticism is best understood as a modal series of material that engages in various ways with ideas of ‘improvement’, the Enlightenment’s ubiquitous doctrine of progress. This engagement is significantly translated through a negotiation of alternative national identity structures available to Scots at the time: Britishness and forms of Scottishness. As these formations become implicated in a pervasive ‘dialectics of improvement’, Scottish writing develops a series of innovative aesthetic strategies that probe the complex political function of literature. Coordinated around a hegemonic Britishness that is laying claim to the priorities of improvement, forms of Scottishness are repeatedly pushed into alternative roles, including the model of the ‘romantic nation’. Chapters address many of the key Scottish writers of the period as well as some of their less well-known contemporaries, using local case studies as a means to connect and focus the study’s broader concerns. In Chapter One a sequence of fundamentals pertaining to the analysis of Scottish culture is addressed, exploring issues of nation, identity, class and institutional context, alongside the complementary evolution of aesthetic ideologies and cultural nationalisms. Chapter Two turns to Robert Burns as a prime mediator between cultural formations, his sophisticated poetry and self-presentations positioned as crucial to the developing relationship between Scottishness and improvement, while he innovatively heralds future, aesthetic constructions of nationhood. Moving into the early nineteenth century, Chapter Three traces the full emergence of ‘aesthetic nationalism’, primarily in the novels of Walter Scott. Always a contested process, such tension is magnified via the work of James Hogg, before the effects of a pervasive irony in this literary formation are examined. In Chapter Four the improvement problematic in long-eighteenth-century Scotland is further developed, John Galt’s fiction offering extensive reflections, with an ancillary focus on Elizabeth Hamilton shedding light on some key ideological dilemmas and the important role of gender within this trajectory. Finally, a thematic coda uses a reading of Thomas Carlyle to reflect on these aesthetic components of a profound experience of modernisation, their subsequent mediation and continuing relevance.