Wang Zengqi, an important representative of modern Chinese literature, is best known as an author of pastoral, nostalgic fiction, written in the early 1980s, and as Shen Congwen's student. His short stories ‚Ordination' (Shoujie 受戒) (1980) and "A Tale of Big Nur" (Danao jishi 大淖记事) (1981) are considered masterpieces, and stand as major steps in rebirth of New Era Chinese literature. The present paper introduces thematic and motivic analysis of Wang Zengqi's key short stories. Attention is also payed to the literary qualities and genre characteristics of his representative short stories and the development of author's literary style. Finally, the present paper discusses to what extent Wang Zengqi's work is influenced by his teacher, Shen Congwen. Keywords Wang Zengqi, Ordination (Shoujie 受戒), A Tale of Big Nur (Danao jishi 大淖记事), Shen Congwen, pastoral fiction

This master's thesis aims to compare Horacio Quiroga's short story with a general theory of the short story and to juxtapose it with Quiroga's own Ten Rules for the Perfect Storyteller. The first theoretical part looks at the short story from the point of view of literary history with a special focus on the differences between a short story and a novel. It goes on to give a short overview of the literary development in Latin America, outlining specific features of the given area and their influence on Horacio Quiroga's works. A separate chapter covers the Hispanic - American fantasy short story, its general principles and some examples of Horacio Quiroga's works. In the next chapter the paper refers to Quiroga's essays concerning theories of the short story, particularly Ten Rules for the Perfect Storyteller, aiming to introduce the theoretical concept of Quiroga's art of storytelling. Ten Rules for the Perfect Storyteller provides the paper with the background to interpret a number of selected Quiroga's short stories as well as to compare the theories of the short story between Horacio Quiroga and Edgar Allan Poe. Having briefly outlined the context of Quiroga's complete work, the paper identifies the main recurring themes and touches upon Quiroga's character in his short stories set in the...

The diploma thesis 'Personal prose with an authorial commentary' is composed of two parts. The first part is the authorial prose is titled Rusty love. It is a psychological short story that describes a partnership between the main character - a noname woman, and her partner - Filip. Filip likes drinking alcohol and frequently he drinks too much so that he is not able to walk home on his own. Therefore his girlfriend is like his rescuer who helps him with walking and sometimes she even has to haul him. Such bad conditions of Filip make her mad and very badly influence their relationship. Unfortunately it is not the only problem in their partnership. The main character leaves every week to work in the city of Jihlava and thus they can only see each other at weekends. Moreover, she likes to be self-sustaining and independent, which is somehow in contrasts with his concept of living together, to get married and have kids. Finally, the main character decides to live as a single and their story ends up with their separation. The second part of this paper reflects circumstances of the work's origin. The characters, the plot construction, possible ending versions and the meaning of the short story are described here. This part also focuses on the author's experience of writing itself and this first...

Cette recherche concerne le rapport à la lecture et à l’écriture d’une communauté de jeunes issus de l’immigration. L’hypothèse est que l’expression littéraire incarne un tiers espace d’expression culturelle, entre la famille et la société pour des jeunes dont la vie familiale est d’avantage traversée par l’Histoire et les questions mondiales le plus contemporaines. Au fil des représentations découlant d’un recueil de nouvelles qui a été créé ad hoc pour cette thèse, Exister à bout de plume. Nouvelles migrantes, est démontrée la façon dont l’écriture fictionnelle ou autobiographique symbolise une prise de parole importante permettant aux individus qui l’emploient d’avoir une meilleure conscience de soi. À travers une première partie dédiée à la recherche de terrain et l’autre se fondant sur l’analyse des entretiens et des nouvelles du recueil, ressort l’importance d’une visibilité pour les questionnements, problématiques, ressentis, espoirs et revendications des jeunes issus de l’immigration dans une époque où le modèle assimilationniste montre plus que jamais la saveur amère de ses fruits et les fractures sociétaires qu’il n’a pas pu empêcher de laisser se creuser. En mettant en avant des thèmes comme : la quête identitaire, les obstacles et l’ambition caractérisant leurs premiers pas dans la société, la recherche de légitimité et l’envie de raconter, directement ou pas, le parcours de leurs parents – ces jeunes écrivains amateurs se réapproprient activement leur bagage culturel et leur apparence. Ils s’engagent dans l’écriture pour que ça ne soit plus seulement l’apanage des voix littéraires dominantes. Pour qu’on prenne connaissance de leurs propres regards sur eux-mêmes, enfin sortis de la condition limitée d’objet d’étude sociologique ou anthropologique pour se faire sujets via l’écriture. / This research focuses on young people of immigrant background with the aim of investigating the distinctive manner in which this community relates to literature as a means of expression. The hypothesis we explore is that these young people, whose life tends to be especially permeated by history and contemporary global issues, may find in literature a third space of cultural expression, alongside family and society. As the various images arising from a collection of short stories created especially for this dissertation - Exister à bout de plume. Nouvelles migrantes – succeed one another, it emerges that fictional and autobiographical writing enables those who resort to it as a means of expression to find their own voice and gain deeper self-awareness. The first part of the dissertation is dedicated to field research, while the second part provides analyses of the short stories and the interviews of the authors. The analyses reveal how important it is to make visible the problems, struggles, feelings, hopes and claims of young people of immigrant background, especially in times in which the bitter fruits of the assimilationist model and the social fractures this model was unable to prevent become more and more apparent. The young amateur writers reclaim their cultural background and their appearance emphasising themes such as the search for personal identity, the obstacles and ambitions characterising their first steps into society, the search for legitimacy and the desire to narrate, more or less explicitly, the personal trajectories of their parents. The engagement of this community with the literary means appears to be motivated by the desire to reclaim themes that tend to be considered exclusive purview of dominant literary voices. The literary means seems to allow the authors to escape the role of mere object of sociological and anthropological investigation and become Subjects narrating themselves from their own point of view. / L’oggetto di questa ricerca è il rapporto alla lettura e alla scrittura di una comunità di giovani di seconda generazione d’origine immigrata. L’ipotesi formulata vede nella manifestazione letteraria la concretizzazione di un terzo spazio d’espressione culturale e di autorappresentazione, tra famiglia e società, che si giustifica attraverso le questioni storiche nonché contemporanee che questi giovani si trovano ad affrontare nel loro percorso di crescita ed evoluzione personale. Analizzando le rappresentazioni risultanti da una raccolta di racconti creata ad hoc per questa tesi, Esistere in punta di penna. Racconti migranti, si spiega il modo in cui la scrittura di finzione o autobiografica riesce a simbolizzare una presa di parola importante che permette agli individui che l’utilizzano d’avere una migliore coscienza di sé. Attraverso una prima parte dedicata alla ricerca sul campo e l’altra basata sull’analisi delle interviste e dei racconti della raccolta, emerge l’importanza di rendere visibili domande, problematiche, sentimenti, speranze e rivendicazioni dei giovani d’origine immigrata in un’epoca, la nostra, in cui il modello assimilazionista mostra più che mai il sapore amaro dei suoi frutti e la sua impotenza di fronte alle sempre più laceranti fratture sociali. Mettendo in primo piano temi come : l’indagine identitaria, gli ostacoli e le ambizioni che caratterizzano i loro primi passi nella società, la ricerca di legittimità e la voglia di raccontare, direttamente o meno, il percorso dei loro genitori, questi giovani scrittori alle prime armi, si riappropriano attivamente del loro bagaglio culturale e della loro apparenza fisica. Si impegnano nella scrittura affinché questa non sia più sola prerogativa di voci letterarie dominanti, permettendoci quindi di conoscere lo sguardo che hanno su se stessi e il mondo che li circonda, persone liberate infine dalla condizione limitata d’oggetto di studio sociologico o antropologico per esistere diversamente come soggetti « in punta di penna ».

Using selected stories by two North African women writers, Alifa Rifaat of Egypt and Assia Djebar of Algeria, this study, entitled ‘Islamic culture and the question of women’s human rights in North Africa: a study of short stories by Assia Djebar and Alifa Rifaat’, analyzes the creative representation of contemporary Muslim society and its treatment of women. The continued marginalization of women in Muslim societies has led to the rise of feminist movements in North Africa and the Middle East. Muslim women, like their Christian counterparts, have made a most remarkable appearance on the African literary scene by producing literature that interrogates a system in which women are denied the rights to life, equality and freedom, which are the inalienable rights of all Islamic adherents. Thus, North African women’s writing reveals a disparity between Islamic culture, which is based on the Qur’an and upholds equal rights for all believers, and Muslim culture, which denies women access to full rights. The writings of Alifa Rifaat and Assia Djebar espouse the need for a transformation of Muslim culture such that the practices of Muslims effectively harmonize with the teachings of the Qur’an. The stories selected for analysis illustrate that while Rifaat uses the conservatist approach or womanist thrust in her criticism of Muslim culture, Djebar adopts a more radical approach that is ultimately feminist. Nevertheless, both writers address similar issues affecting women in Muslim societies, such as forced or arranged marriages and the suppression of female sexuality. The first chapter situates the argument within gender discourse and the human rights framework, providing a critical appraisal of women in Islam from pre-Islamic times to modern days. To contextualize the literary scene, the second chapter positions Muslim women’s writing within the broad corpus of African feminisms, using the works of Nawal el-Saadawi, Mariama Bâ and Zaynab Alkali to chart the many challenges facing Muslim women today. Chapters Three and Four focus on the selected literature of the chosen writers, Alifa Rifaat and Assia Djebar, respectively, showing how each writer uses her art as an instrument to combat social injustices against women. The concluding chapter establishes the points of convergence and divergence between Rifaat and Djebar and, ultimately, draws attention to the dire need for all Muslims to respect the human rights of women. This study, therefore, blends literary interpretation with sociological findings to assess the extent of the failure of Muslims to endorse the principle of equality for all humans irrespective of race, class, or gender. Essentially, it seeks to raise consciousness on women’s rights in Islam. / Dissertation (MA (Pan African Literatures))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / English / MA / unrestricted

Psychotherapists in full-time, long-term private practice face a variety of occupational demands. They usually maintain private practices for long periods of their lives often under difficult circumstances and emotional pressures and have come to sustain their practices. From literature it is revealed that various demands, as well as benefits and successes are part and parcel of working in private practice full-time. These various factors can have an impact on the well-being of psychotherapists. Apart from the literature review, the personal experience of the researcher, a psychotherapist in full-time private practice, also contributed to ideas and hypotheses about the study. From a position of exploration and further enquiry, the researcher was interested to explore the experiences of psychotherapists in full-time private practice from a fortigenic perspective. A second objective was to determine if this study could contribute to the development of the theoretical assumptions of positive psychology. The research is grounded in the theoretical perspective of positive psychology and fortigenesis. Both these fields are relatively new in psychology and seem to still be forging a niche within the discipline. This perspective was deliberately chosen due to the applicability to the exploration of strengths and vigour, with regards to the maintenance of the professional context of the psychotherapist. The qualitative research process is presented in a narrative approach by means of narrative synthesis and synergy. The findings of the research conversations are presented in the form of a literary short story. Suggestions are made about the fortigenic qualities of psychotherapists essential for maintaining their work in full-time private practice. It’s applicability and usefulness is discussed. Furthermore, suggestions are made with regards to the field of positive psychology and the way forward for this sub-discipline. Ideas relating to narrative research and qualitative research are also discussed. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Psychology / unrestricted

This thesis analyzes dystopian and gender-centered representations manifested in the speculative short stories "freeforall" (1986), by Margaret Atwood and "Congenital Agenesis of Gender Ideation by K.N Sirsi and Sandra Botkin" (1998), by Raphael Carter. Characterized by futuristic temporalities, these narratives raise critical views of identities in relation to the binary models and the stabilizing tendencies regarding gender which are still strongly perceptible in our patriarchal society. I observe the ways in which the literary works (de)construct values and concepts pre-established socially. The study of such (de)construction is carried out by focusing on the intersections between the debates originating from the critical theories on literary genres whose traces are identified in the stories (utopia, dystopia, science fiction) and the knowledge produced in the area of Cultural and Gender Studies. On this interface, emphasis is given to the presence of irony as a major literary strategy, whose functions are approached according to Linda Hutcheon´s propositions, that is used in this work to understand the linguistic communicative interection process in the tales. In Atwood´s short story, I focus on the spaces described in relation to the social dynamics and on the protagonist portrayal so as to argue that such elements engender metaphors for a compulsory heterosexual system whose aim lies on human reproduction by means of the imposition of strict gender norms and the practice of eugenics. Therefore, people are placed in different spaces, predetermined according to their social funcion. The Houses and Freeforall are the spatialities of this comunity. The first one is the place of the chosen, and the last one, unsderstood as deviant heterotopic space, following the theory developed by Foucault, is destined to those deviant from the norm.The word play in the title of the tale and the protagonist's analyses, allow a study with irony. In Carter´s short story, the (de)construction of crystallized gender notions is achieved by means of parodic irony evidenced by the critical incorporation of scientific practices and academic discourses. Finally I argue that, mainly by resorting to the strategy of irony, the fictional representation of gender dystopias in Atwood and Carter question cultural gender configurations which have been conventionalized in/by androcentric society. Thus, these works may be interpreted in light of a feminist critical reading that, based on the Butlerian conception regarding the pressing need to undo gender, seeks to deconstruct normative values and views. / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Esta dissertação analisa as representações literárias distópicas e de gênero construídas nos contos especulativos "Freeforall" (1986), de Margaret Atwood e "congenital Agenesis of Gender Ideation by K.N Sirsi and Sandra Botkin" (1998), de Raphael Carter. De temporalidade futurista, essas narrativas suscitam visões críticas sobre as identidades no que diz respeito aos modelos binários e às tendências estabilizadoras de gênero ainda fortemente perceptíveis em nossa cultura patriarcal. Observo as maneiras pelas quais as obras (des)constroem valores e conceitos pré estabelecidos socialmente. O estudo da representação dessa (des)construção é realizado através do enfoque nos entrecruzamentos entre os debates oriundos das teorias críticas sobre os gêneros literários cujos traços são identificados nas histórias (utopia, distopia, ficção científica) e do conhecimento produzido na área dos Estudos Culturais e de Gênero. Nesta interface, ênfase recai sobre a presença da ironia como estratégia literária importante, abordada em suas funções, conforme proposto por Linda Hutcheon, utilizada, neste trabalho, para entender o processo de interação comunicativa linguística e literária das obras. No conto de Atwood, enfoco os espaços em relação às dinâmicas sociais e a figuração da protagonista para argumentar que esses elementos engendram metáforas de um sistema heterossexual compulsório que visa à reprodução por meio da constituição de rígidas normas de gênero e de práticas de eugenia. Para tanto, os indivíduos são colocados em diferentes espaços, previamente estabelecidos e de acordo com sua função social. As Casas e o Freeforall são as espacialidades desta comunidade. O primeiro é o local dos escolhidos e, o último, entendido como um espaço heterotópico de desvio, conforme teoria desenvolvida por Foucault, é destinado àqueles desviantes em relação à norma. O jogo de palavras presente no título do conto e a análise da protagonista permitem um estudo da ironia. No conto de Carter, a (des)construção das noções cristalizadas de gênero se desenvolve por meio da ironia paródica, evidenciada pela incorporação crítica de práticas científicas e discursos acadêmicos. Finalmente, argumento que as representações ficcionais das distopias de gênero de Atwood e Carter, principalmente por meio da estratégia da ironia, questionam as configurações culturais de gênero convencionadas pela/na sociedade androcêntrica. Assim, as obras podem ser interpretadas sob um viés de leitura crítica feminista que, baseado numa concepção butleriana sobre a necessidade iminente de se desfazer gênero, busca desconstruir valores e visões normativas.

A short story collection containing nine stories and a 20,000-word novella. The stories are speculative fiction and they experiment with form.

<p>Splatterpunk was a short-lived, but explosive horror literary movement birthed in the 1980’s that utilized graphic depictions of violence in its prose. Drawing parallels to other subversive and radical art movements like Dada and Hardcore Punk, this paper examines through a Marxist lens how Splatterpunk, influenced by the destructive nature of 1980’s neoliberalism, reflected the violence, categorized as direct and structural, of its period of creation and used extreme vulgarity as an act of rebellion against traditional horror canon.</p>

The aim of this diploma thesis is the introduction of the poetics in the work of the contemporary Bulgarian writer Dejan Enev (*1960), who is mainly writing short stories. Enev is an almost unknown author in the Czech milieu (only these short stories were published in a Czech translation: Little Bulgarian from Alaska, Българи 2011; Niki- Nikola, Casablanca and How to write haiku, Plav 2014/č.1; Little town Mendocino from the book Which way the wind is blowing. Anthology of short stories from Southeast Europe. Praha: Univerzita Karlova, 2016, s. 38-43). He was awarded several international prizes in foreign countries and his stories were translated into several foreign languages (he achieved a great success e.g. in Austria where Zirkus Bulgarien, Geschichten für eine Zigarettenlänge. Wien: Zsolnay Verlag, 2008; was published in German. His books were also published in the United Kingdom and Norway. In his works Dejan Enev is close to the most famous classical writers of Bulgarian short stories (e.g. to Jordan Jovkov), as well as to writers of this genre in world literature (he endorses himself to the legacy of Isaak Babel or Jerome David Salinger). In the context of Bulgarian literature he is considered as the leading successor of the home storytelling tradition in the field of short fiction...