The author of this dissertation addresses the motif of magic figuring in Spanish medieval short prose. The researched works of art are the following titles: Calila y Dimna, Sendebar, El Conde Lucanor, Libro del Caballero Zifar and Libro de los Gatos. Out of the aforementioned anthologies the author further analyses specific selected short stories which contain the motif of magic. The introduction describes medieval history and literary genres and more closely analyses the interpretation of magic on the basis of both period and current literary works and publications. Author presupposes medieval didactic literature for the most part describes real world which the reader is acquainted with. The motifs of magic are divided into five sections:Devil, Afterlife, Magical Realm, Fake Magic and Medical Superstitions. Each chapter addresses one particular topic, analyzing it in the context of the researched stories but also in the context of medieval culture as a whole. The end of each chapter offers a comprehensive summary. In contrast with publications dealing with the topic of magic in the Spanish literature, the dissertation focuses more closely on the element of magic used as trickery as this view of magic is widely represented in the literature. The conclusion discusses the issue of faith in a life of a...

Alors qu’Anatole France (1844–1924) est considéré comme écrivain sceptique et ironique, un de ses contes intitulé « Le Jongleur de Notre-Dame » échappe à une telle définition. Le ton pieux et sincère de ce conte, fondé sur une légende du Moyen Âge, semble aller à l’encontre du scepticisme, de l’anticléricalisme, et du classicisme déclarés de l’auteur. Au lieu de tenir pour exceptionnels ce type de textes qui mettent en scène une forme de « pureté » dans un sens religieux, tenter de les intégrer dans l’œuvre d’A. France permettra de découvrir une nouvelle facette de l’écrivain, et d’appréhender son idée et son œuvre dans une complexité et une profondeur qui sont cachées sous une apparence simple. Dans un premier temps, on mettra en relation les thèmes médiévaux chez A. France et la mode du médiévisme au XIXe siècle, tant dans le domaine scientifique que dans le courant littéraire, afin d’éclairer l’influence de son époque sur son image médiévale, et la signification de cette image. Dans un deuxième temps, on traitera de la pratique de la réécriture. Par une comparaison, d’une part, entre les textes d’A. France et leurs hypotextes, et d’autre part, entre la réécriture francienne et la réécriture chez les écrivains contemporains, on précisera les caractéristiques et les procédés de la réécriture de notre écrivain. En outre, on montrera que la mise en cadre, ainsi que la réécriture, s’impose dans ses textes, soulignant ainsi la modestie de l’auteur, et la diminution de l’autorité auctoriale. Toutes ces analyses révèleront l’importance de la « simplicité » qui apparaît à plusieurs niveaux dans les textes franciens, et qui peut donner accès à une « pureté » harmonieuse. / While Anatole France (1844–1924) is considered a skeptical, ironic writer, one of his short stories, entitled “Le Jongleur de Notre-Dame” can not easily be reduced to such a reading. Instead, it is a pious and sincere story based on a legend from the Middle Ages – a perspective contradictory to his skepticism, anticlericalism, and classicism. Rather than counting as exceptional cases texts like this that portray “purity” in a religious sense, an attempt to integrate them into the overall view of the works of A. France will enable us to discover a new side to the writer and apprehend his ideas and his works in a complexity and depth that are hidden under simple surface appearances. As a first step, we connect the medieval themes of A. France with the medievalist movement of the 19th century, seen in both historical study and literature, in order to clarify the influence of his times on his image of the Middle Ages, and the meaning of that image. As a second step, we consider the practice of rewriting. By comparing the texts of A. France with their sources, and comparing rewriting of those sources by A. France with rewriting of similar sources by his contemporaries, we identify A. France’s method of rewriting and the characteristics of the product. In addition, we find that the use of “frame story” narration is as necessary as rewriting in the texts of A. France, serving to accentuate the modesty of the author and as a result affecting a decrease in authorial authority. All these analyses reveal the importance of the “simplicity” that appears at several levels in the texts of A. France, and which can give access to the harmonious “purity”.

“LINDA LAND” is a short story about a man who created an amusement park based on Hell, and his teenage son, who has developed a crush on the preacher’s daughter. Though there are many real-life muses that inspired the story—like Simon Rodia, the artist behind the Watts Towers—the four main literary sources are William Shakespeare’s play, “Romeo and Juliet,” Karen Russell’s novel, “Swamplandia!,” Sylvia Plath’s poem, “Mirror,” and Charlie Kaufman’s screenplay, “Adaptation.”

This theses will pay attention to a commented translation of selected short stories of contemporary Croatian author Julijana Matanović from her storybook Zašto sam vam lagala. The first part of the theses will be focused on a introducing of the author and her literary production including her place in the context of Croatian literature. The second, essential, part will contain the translation of the selected short stories into Czech language. In the third part will be sketched the translating process, there will be also described the applied translation methods. Here will be also concretely analysed some translatological problems. In the language side, the work will be reviewed with the Czech language possibilities. There would be also the comparison with the already existing German translation of the storybook.

Depuis les années 1970, c'est-à-dire en quatre décennies, la littérature contemporaine en occitan a investi de nouveaux espaces de création. Ce renouveau s'exprime notamment dans les nouvelles, auxquelles la publication en recueils a donné une autre dimension. La première partie s'attache à l'étude méthodique de ces textes en prose. Son objet est de circonscrire les contours d'un genre protéiforme, de mettre en relief des particularités formelles et thématiques, et de dégager des axes et des évolutions, en liaison avec les courants qui animent la littérature internationale. L'analyse révèle une tension entre ces deux pôles que constituent le fantastique et le réalisme, en relation avec la situation particulière de la langue. En outre, le choix linguistique invite à s'interroger sur la notion d'identité qui émerge ou qui est sous-jacente dans ces écrits en langue d'oc. Pour les auteurs, la langue occitane est essentielle, et synonyme d'ouverture et de modernité. Ils assument le paradoxe qui consiste à choisir une langue minorisée pour écrire des textes ambitieux et novateurs. La seconde partie est consacrée à la présentation détaillée des recueils de nouvelles qui constituent le matériau de base de ce travail, avec un aperçu sur chaque nouvelle. Cet état permet de mettre en évidence concrètement la richesse et la diversité de la nouvelle et de ses thématiques, et de révéler des textes de qualité injustement oubliés. On trouvera également pour chaque auteur une bibliographie indicative permettant de replacer les textes dans le contexte de l'oeuvre.Le corpus comprend plus d'une soixantaine d'écrivains en occitan, et concerne tous les dialectes de l'aire linguistique occitane. / The revival of contemporay Occitan literature had its beginning in the 1970s, when the publication of collections of short stories in paperback versions gave it a new momentum. The first part of the thesis seeks to delineate a multi-faceted genre and to outline its recurring themes as well as formal characteristics. This analysis reveals how the particular situation of the Occitan language contributes to creating a paradoxical relationship between realism and the fantastic. The choice of the Occitan language as a literary medium also raises the question of cultural identity which permeates these stories. The use of a minority language to write ambitious and innovative texts might seem paradoxical, but it is a deliberate choice by these authors who view Occitan as a language conveying values such as tolerance or modernity. The second part is devoted to the detailed presentation of the short stories on which the thesis is based. The brief overview of each of these stories, some of them lesser known, reveals the richness and diversity of the themes addressed. An indicative bibliography is also provided for each author. The corpus includes the works of more than sixty writers and constitutes a comprehensive survey of the dialects in use in the Occitan-speaking region.

L'attrait exercé par le Décaméron sur quelques grandes figures de l'humanisme (telles qu'Antonio Loschi, Leonardo Bruni, Enea Silvio Piccolomini, Leon Battista Alberti, ou Bartolomeo Facio) et quelques représentants de second plan (par exemple Filippo Beroaldo, Benedetto Colucci, ou encore Francesco Tedaldi) a donné naissance au XVè siècle à un véritable corpus de récits originaux et de traductions latines de nouvelles isolées de Boccace, qui témoigne d'une fertilisation réciproque des cultures vernaculaire et humaniste. Dans le contexte du XVè siècle, marqué en ce qui concerne la littérature en langue vulgaire par l'ancrage de la nouvelle dans sa tradition populaire, le corpus humaniste se distingue par la volonté des auteurs d'élever le genre. Sur le plan stylistique, la prose latine, riche de réminiscences antiques, est appelée à rehausser l'écriture, tandis que sur le plan des contenus et des finalités, l'accentuation de la dimension historique et éducative des nouvelles doit ennoblir le genre. / During the 15th century, the attraction of the Decameron on both some of the most prominent figures of humanism (Antonio Loschi, Leonardo Bruni, Enea Silvio Piccolomini, Leon Battista Alberti, or Bartolomeo Facio) and some lesser authors (such as Filippo Beroaldo, Benedetto Colucci, and Francesco Tedaldi) gave rise to a whole corpus of original stories and Latin translations of isolated short stories by Boccace, which testifies of the cross-fertilization at work between vernacular and humanist cultures. In the context of the 15th century, more particularly of 15h century literature written in the vernacular, which was marked by the propensity of short stories to be rooted in popular tradition, the humanist corpus is characterized by the willingness of its authors to bring the genre to a higher level. As regards the style, Latin prose, which is highly reminiscent of antiquity, is called on to elevate the writing, while from the point of view of the content and the goals to be reached, putting the stress on the historical and educational dimension of short stories is to ennoble the genre.

Esta tese pretende entender a literatura violenta de Rubem Fonseca a partir da comparação entre personagens assassinos e personagens artistas das coletâneas de contos Lúcia McCartney (1967), Feliz ano novo (1975) e O cobrador (1979). Na estrutura das narrativas são destacados os elementos \"urgência\", \"solidão\" e \"silêncio\" como marcas de uma inextensão generalizada que baliza as ações dos personagens e promove uma sensação de aprisionamento no tempo presente. O universo ficcional é confrontado com o contexto histórico definido por um regime político autoritário e um processo acelerado de modernização industrial. Destaca-se nos livros analisados a busca por um narrador que possa lidar com as transições rápidas que caracterizam a atividade dos personagens, e com um tempo extenso necessário à narrativa e à reflexão sobre a violência. / This thesis aims to understand the violent writings by Rubem Fonseca, based on the comparison between the assassins and the artists as characters on the short stories presents in the books Lúcia McCartney (1967), Feliz ano novo (1975) and O cobrador (1979). From the structure of the narratives, the elements \"urgency\", \"lonelyness\" and \"silence\" are highlighted as signs of a generalized lack of extension that shapes the actions of the characters and promotes the sense of incarceration in the present. The fictional universe is confronted with an historical context defined by an authoritarian political regime and an accelerated process of industrial modernization. It is noteworthy in the analyzed books the search for a narrator that deals with the quick transitions that define the activity of the characters, and with an extense time, needed by the narrative and for the reflection on violence.

Este trabalho procura estudar as noções de pós-modernidade e pós-modernismo no livro de contos O dia em que o Pato Donald comeu pela primeira vez a Margarida (2006), do escritor angolano João Melo, sob o viés do materialismo histórico. Parte das relações entre fetiche da mercadoria e literatura para estabelecer uma ferramenta de análise que permita ver que o estético não é um campo isolado do conhecimento. Entende que para definir se há ou não uma época pós-moderna é necessário estudar as condições materiais de produção contemporâneas, fá-lo seguindo o que Harvey chamou de acumulação flexível, e vê o pós-modernismo como tratamento estético dessa matéria histórica. Analisa a organização do livro relacionando-a à atual lógica da mercadoria, e compara-a com a organização por tema do livro Filhos da Pátria (2001). Estuda o arranjo das vozes dos contos Tio, mi dá só cem e O feto e a estrutura de Ngola Kiluanje; a lógica do fetiche em O dia em que o Pato Donald comeu pela primeira vez a Margarida, o arranjo das vozes em O Canivete agora é branco e o campo de refugiados como espaço paralelo de construção de Angola em \"Angola é toda terra onde planto minha lavra\". / This work aims to study the notions of Postmodernity and postmodernism in Angolan writer João Melo\'s short-story book O dia em que o Pato Donald comeu pela primeira vez a Margarida (2006) from a historical materialist perspective. The work begins analyzing the relations between commodity fetishism and literature to establish an analysis framework that allows understanding aesthetics as not segregated from other knowledge fields. The work assumes that, to define whether or not there is a Postmodern Age, it is essential to examine the material conditions of contemporary production. This is done by following what Harvey has called flexible accumulation, and ultimately understanding postmodernism as the aesthetics approach to this historical material. The work analyzes the book structure by correlating it to current commodity logics, and compares such structure to the thematic organization provided in the book Filhos da Pátria (2001). It also studies the narrators voices arrangement in the short stories Tio, mi dá só cem and O feto, and the structure of Ngola Kiluanje; the commodity fetishism in O dia em que o Pato Donald comeu pela primeira vez a Margarida, the narrators voices arrangement in O Canivete agora é branco, and the refugee camp as a parallel space of Angola\'s construction in Angola é toda terra onde planto minha lavra.

Esta tese apresenta a continuação de um estudo da obra de Edgar Allan Poe iniciado no Mestrado, que focou no primeiro conto de detetive de Poe, The Murders in the Rue Morgue. Na presente etapa, o objetivo foi investigar de que maneira a obra de Poe figura uma experiência sócio-histórica específica, estudando desta vez seus outros dois contos de detetive, The Mystery of Marie Rogêt e The Purloined Letter. Ao ampliar o foco da pesquisa para compreender melhor o lugar desses contos na obra do escritor, o estudo levou à conclusão de que os três contos de detetive de Poe, publicados entre 1841 e 1844, desempenham um papel central na figuração da sua experiência histórica, representando um momento importante de síntese de suas reflexões. Por isso, esta tese organiza-se de modo a dar esta posição de destaque aos seus contos de detetive, mas apresenta, no primeiro e no quarto capítulos, comentários acerca de uma seleção de outras de suas obras, literárias ou não, que representam momentos importantes do percurso de suas reflexões e de sua tomada de posição diante das contradições próprias de seu momento histórico. As principais dessas contradições dizem respeito ao funcionamento do mercado editorial dos Estados Unidos no século XIX, e incluem a produção de literatura popular e de jornalismo sensacionalista, a relação com o público leitor e as relações de produção predominantes no mencionado mercado. Poe desenvolve um posicionamento crítico cada vez mais consequente diante desse contexto, desenhando diagnósticos a respeito da situação do escritor e da literatura diante da mercadorização da atividade artística e definindo posturas propositivas, especialmente por meio de seu reaproveitamento criativo dos materiais disponíveis, assim apontando para possibilidades expressivas mais desafiadoras e relevantes do que as que ele via se multiplicando na época. Além disso, são importantes outras atitudes de Poe que demonstraram sua insatisfação com as relações de produção da época, tais como a escrita de diversos artigos sobre o tema e, da maior relevância, sua tentativa (embora fracassada) de lançar uma revista literária controlada por artistas. Tudo isso faz da obra de Edgar Allan Poe uma grande contribuição para a literatura. / This dissertation presents the continuation of a study of Edgar Allan Poes work started in the Masters research whose object was the first detective story written by Poe, published in 1841, The Murders in the Rue Morgue. In the present study, the objective is to investigate how Poes work represents a social-historical experience, focusing this time on his two other detective stories, The Mystery of Marie Rogêt and The Purloined Letter. When enlarging the scope of the research in order to better understand the role of these stories in the writers work, the study led to the conclusion that his three detective stories, published between 1841 and 1844, in fact play a central role in the figuration of his historical experience, representing an important moment of synthesis in his reflections. For this reason, this dissertation is organized so as to put forth his detective stories, while also presenting, in the first and forth chapters, comments regarding a selection of other works, literary or not, representing important moments of the development of his reflections and his positioning before the contradictions of his historical moment. The most relevant of these contradictions concern the operation of the editorial market of the United States in the 19th century, and include the production of sensational popular literature, the sensational journalism, the relation with the reading public and the relations of production predominating in the market. The writer develops an increasingly consequent critical positioning before such context, designing diagnoses about the writers and literatures situations in a moment of commodification of the artistic activity and defining an active attitude, thus indicating expressive possibilities which were more challenging and relevant than the ones he saw multiplying in his times. Besides, there are other attitudes in which Poe demonstrated his dissatisfaction with the relations of production, suc as his articles about the theme and, very relevant, his attempt (although he failed) of starting a literary magazine controlled by artists. This makes Edgar Allan Poes work a huge contribution for literature.

[pt] Trata-se de uma análise das narrativas curtas do escritor argentino Julio Cortázar (1914-1984), como alternativas à criação literária diante de determinados impasses colocados pelo mundo moderno. Pressupondo a dificuldade de delimitação da experiência em inícios e fins - ou seja, da representação dos propósitos finais das ações humanas -, num primeiro momento os contos de Cortázar surgem como totalidades cerradas que proporcionam o alcance de uma meta no território do jogo. O que se dá em um gesto contundente e preciso: um nocaute, uma estocada, um assassinato. Tais configurações, porém, são incapazes de satisfazer plenamente o desejo de unidade que alimentam; e assim são enfocados, numa segunda etapa, relatos que reconhecem a impossibilidade de cessação da vontade, manifestando uma cisão interna do discurso, mas ainda assim seguem em busca da criação de formas como espaço do diálogo e tentativa de um contato. Inscritos sobre as superfícies móveis do mundo moderno, estes contos trabalhariam cuidadosamente a matéria informe da linguagem para que, em gestos sutis, às vezes hesitantes - um olhar, um toque, um traço - manifeste-se a procura de um encontro e uma fugaz iminência de sentido. / [en] The objective of this work is to analyse the short stories by the Argentine writer Julio Cortázar (1914-1984), as alternatives to literary creation in front of certains impasses placed by the modern world. Pressuposing the dificulty in delimitating experience in begginings and ends - that is, the representation of human action`s final purposes -, in a first moment Cortázar`s narratives appear as enclosured totalitys which provide the reach of a goal, in the territory of play, with a contusing, precise gesture: a knock-out, a thrust, a murder. These configurations, however, are incapable to satisfact the desire of unity they nourish; and so, in a second moment, the dissertation focuses stories which recognize the impossibility of ceasing desire, and then keep the the search of form as a dialogical space and attempt of contact. Inscribed on modernity`s unstable surfaces, these short stories work carefully the matter of language, so as to, in subtile, sometimes hesitating gestures - a look, a touch, a trace - they manifest the will of a gathering and an imminence of sense.