Javier Marías has explained many times that working as a translator of literary works from English into Spanish helped shape him as a writer. This study explores those claims by analysing two things: firstly, his translations themselves; and secondly, seeing how those translations have left discernible traces in his own fiction.

Jorge Semprún’s work is the fruit of an incarceration in the concentration camp of Buchenwald as a resistance fighter and his expulsion from the Partido Comunista Español in 1964. Due to these biographical circumstances, many critical literary studies to date limit the discussion of his works to the autobiographical and the realm of Holocaust studies. Together with the texts that do not fit adequately into this categories, his self-identification as a Spanish exile has up to now been neglected. The present thesis aims to provide a more global view of his oeuvre by extending the literary analyses to texts that have deserved little critical attention. In order to achieve this, it investigates the role played by memory and self-representation in a variety of works by Semprún. Aspects connected to memory such as exile and nostalgia, the Holocaust, the interplay between memory and writing, politics and collective memory, postmemory and identity are examined by means of a detailed analysis of the selected works and are discussed thematically. Differences in genre are discarded for the discussion and interconnections between the various narratives are highlighted. With the help of memory and trauma theories, we come to the conclusion that memory is the overarching principle of Semprún’s writing and that he invests it with an aesthetic and ethical value which is interpreted as the justification for his devotion to writing.

The genre of the "picaresque" (romances of roguery), which were popular in sixteenth-century Spain, contain the literary type of the "picaro" or rogue, which can appear at times as a "student." The current work presents the historical context of the Spanish university and of the student's life as well as the representation of the "student" in several picaresque novels, namely, Mateo Aleman's El Guzman de Alfarache, Vicente Espinel's Marcos de Obregâon, Jerâonimo de Alcalâa y Yâanez's El donoso hablador, and Francisco de Quevedo's El Buscâon, in order to contrast the social reality of the student and its literary representation. The literary character of the "student" does not depart only from its reality. Its characteristics are based on the student stories from the oral medieval tradition, a residual cultural elements, as described by Maxime Chevalier, as well as the emerging picaresque narratives. / by Javier Fernândez del Pâramo. / Abstract in Engllsh. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2008. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2008. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

The thesis is a description and analysis of the oral style devices on four collections undertaken by G.Beutler, G. de Granda, F. Dougherty and G. Hersalek in Colombia. Themes and their transmitters are analysed. Oral features such as formulas, the uses of repetition and parallelism as well as variability are explored in individual chapters which are illustrated with Colombian texts. The thesis consists of an introduction to the theme of the Oral Spanish Balladry and its collections; a summarized description of the primary sources; an annotated transcription of our compilation of texts in the department of Boyaca and five chapters of analysis and description of oral style mechanisms. Charts showing the themes collected in Colombia and the number, gender and age of its repositories are included. Maps indicate the departments in Colombia where those themes were found. Graphs have the purpose to show a clearer perspective on the distribution of the Spanish Balladry in Colombia, thus, offering a guide for new researchers. This analysis shows that the Colombian transmitters have made use both of the oral style devices inherited from Spain as well as their own initiative that has produced innovations at different levels in this tradition. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1997.

xii, 206 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / This project examines reader reception of U.S. Latino-authored narratives that engage in varying degrees of textual code switching and bicultural belonging. The analysis builds on the argument that these narratives, as part of a larger body of minor literatures, play a role in revolutionizing traditional Anglo-American discourses of knowledge by marginalizing the monolingual and monocultural reader historically positioned as the prototype of cultural literacy in the United States. This project further proposes that marginalization is achieved by a textual appropriation and structural weakening of the dominant language and culture via the creation of a narrative space that privileges code switching to articulate bicultural identities. U.S. Latino texts that alternate between English and Spanish mirror the misunderstandings and failures of intelligibility in the multicultural situations they depict, thereby requiring the monolingual and monocultural reader to experience this unintelligibility first-hand. In order to tackle broader questions about how these literary texts and their reception reflect what is at stake politically, nationally, and culturally for Latinos in the United States today, this interdisciplinary project draws upon a diversity of perspectives originating from linguistics, literary analysis, sociology, and history to identify how literary texts mirror bicultural identity for Latinos. As a part of this analysis, the project examines the history of Spanish language use in the United States, Latino immigration history, the standard language ideology privileging English monolingualism, the persistence of bilingualism, oral and written code switching, the publishing industry, and analyses of reader responses to bilingual texts based on survey data. In situating these histories within discussions about the bilingual, bicultural nature and reception of the U.S. Latino narrative, this project shows how the linguistic makeup and the subsequent receptivity of these texts minor the bicultural identity and changing social positioning of the Latino population in the United States. / Committee in charge: Robert Davis, Chairperson, Romance Languages; Analisa Taylor, Member, Romance Languages; Monique Balbuena, Member, Honors College; Holly Cashman, Member, Not from U of O; David Vazquez, Outside Member, English

Equatorial Guinea is the only former Spanish colony in Africa south of the Sahara. Consequently, the Spanish-language literature produced by its authors has been resistant to classification in both the fields of Hispanic and African literary studies. This thesis examines a selection of contemporary narratives written between 1994 and 2007 by the following authors: José Fernando Siale Djangany, Maximiliano Nkogo Esono, Juan Tomás Ávila Laurel and Joaquín Mbomio Bacheng. My main objective in this dissertation is to identify, explain and relate the ways in which post-independence authors express identity in their respective texts. In order to accomplish this task, this thesis posits situational interactions as the key sites for identity expression. Developed from the tenets of symbolic interactionism, the syncretic theoretical model of identity views it as telescopic. It is expected that, through the examination of the chosen texts, a contribution can be made to the understanding of the way in which each author expresses identity and can therefore feed into the larger discussion of identity in Equatorial Guinean narrative.

Cardinal Richelieu is traditionally accredited with defeating the power of the grands, the upper echelon of the French nobility, as part of his supposedly successful project for monarchical absolutism. Modern historians have recast Richelieu as a nobleman of his time, who advanced himself within the social and political hierarchies through marriage alliances and patronage. He therefore worked hard to forge alliances with the grands rather than trying to destroy them. Yet his ministry was riven by persistent noble conspiracies and rebellions, which have gone largely without systematic investigation. This study examines the nature and causes of that unrest during Richelieu’s final six years, offering a radical re-assessment of the opposition and the politics of the period. Noble conspiracy was not just a by-product of government by a first minister, but reflected the factional nature of Richelieu’s approach. Factional rivalry was exacerbated by the emergence, after 1638, of a struggle for the anticipated regency. After this, Richelieu took a more hostile approach to his adversaries, forcing them to adopt strong countermeasures in order to preserve their positions. Richelieu’s opponents were surprisingly successful in asserting their independence. As well as enjoying widespread domestic support, they allied with the Habsburg powers to engineer military rebellion, posing a major threat to the Cardinal and undermining the war effort against Spain. The Spanish set their stall out for a long-term war, expecting that Richelieu’s opponents would eventually gain power and negotiate peace on more flexible terms. The ability of the grands to re-assert themselves was still a dominant characteristic of French politics. Richelieu’s legacy, on his death in 1642, was a highly volatile political situation in which success was still a long way off for France. These findings suggest the catalytic impact of Habsburg power on France’s internal divisions, which should consequently be seen as integral to the forging of the ancien régime.

Not available / text

Literary criticism has attacked more than once the romantic historical novel condemning it because it was presenting both at a time historical events and historical fiction, what was, according to some critics, encroaching upon the verisimilitude of the historical facts introduced in this kind of novel as well as diminishing the quality of the fictional story while hindering the process of creativity of the writers. Of course, the historical Spanish novel has also suffered from these pessimistic judgements, but it has been accused too of being in no way original for it was taken mainly as an imitation of Scott's works. We do not share this opinion, however, and think on the contrary that Spain has produced great historical fictions which are original from the standpoint of their plots and their characters. / In the first part of this thesis we will show how the Spanish hero of the historical, romantic novel is far from the model of hero typically depicted by Scott. The main objective of this study will be to define the entity or the masculine Spanish protagonist of the genre in question. For this purpose, we will compare three protagonists, Usdrobal, Macias and Jimeno, from three chosen Spanish novels, between each other and with other secondary characters, especially with their antagonists. The physical and moral aspects will be particularly underlined as we examine, for example, Lavater's science and, at the same, time, the actions, reactions and attitudes of these protagonists. As a result, we will be able to establish their profile and personality. Parallels will also be made, whenever useful, with other significant Spanish and European characters. In this analysis it will be made clear that these romantic beings who suffer terribly throughout their lives are vulnerable and original in opposition to both the traditional and the Scottian heroes.

No description available.