Abstract not available. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Marion Zimmer Bradley's novel The Mists of Avalon is different from the usual episodic versions of the Arthurian legend in that it has the structural unity that the label "novel" implies. The narrative is set in fifth-century Britain, a time of religious conflict between Christianity and the native religions of Britain, especially the Mother Goddess cult. Bradley pulls elements from the Arthurian legend and fits them into this context of religious struggle for influence. She draws interesting family relationships which are closely tied to Avalon, the center of Goddess worship. The author also places the major events during Arthur's reign into the religious setting. The Grail's appearance at Camelot and the subsequent events led to the end of the religious struggle, for Christianity emerged victorious.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-22T17:26:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 TESE - Renata Kabke Pinheiro.pdf: 2007896 bytes, checksum: 0018c49d84325239a29e07ac3f7f52de (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-07-01 / This work comprises a linguistic-discursive analysis of the characters Viviane and Morgaine in the novel The Mists of Avalon (1983) by Marion Zimmer Bradley (1930-1999). The main objective addresses the investigation of the presence of myths about the power, the role and the depiction of women in the discourse related to those characters within the book. The theoretical support is based on the Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) model of Norman Fairclough (2001), the Systemic-Functional Grammar of Michael Halliday (1994) and Matthiessen & Halliday (1997), on the relationship among literature, discourse and gender (CRANNY-FRANCIS, 1990; FUNCK, 1998; et al) and on the concept of myth of Roland Barthes (1980). Divided into three chapters, after the theorethical part where we also make some considerations about gender we present the author, the book and the characters. Next, we describe the methodology used for the analysis and discuss the data with reference to: a) the depiction of women; b) the power of women, as belonging/granted to or taken from them; c) the role of women, with emphasis on the gender dichotomy and on the roles traditionally and hegemonically considered male or female . The study draws some conclusions about the permanence of myths related to the power, the role and the depiction of women found in the linguistic materiality of the text, despite the frequent classification of The Mists of Avalon as a feminist work. Furthermore, we propose that a new literary dichotomy that of "Bitch / Victim" instead of the well-known "Witch / Angel" is established in the work, perpetuating negative images of women at the same time that, due to the centering around female characters and the relative empowerment of women, a tension between discourses of patriarchal and feminist basis does not allow the text to be labeled as aligned exclusively with either of them / Este trabalho constitui uma análise linguístico-discursiva das personagens Viviane e Morgana do romance As brumas de Avalon (1983) de Marion Zimmer Bradley (1930-1999). O objetivo principal remete à investigação dos mitos relativos ao poder, ao papel e às representações da mulher que se fazem presentes no discurso relacionado às personagens dentro da obra. A fundamentação teórica busca sustentação na Análise Crítica do Discurso (ACD) de Norman Fairclough (2001), na Gramática Sistêmico-funcional de Halliday (1994) e Matthiessen e Halliday (1997), na relação literatura, discurso e gênero (CRANNY-FRANCIS, 1990; FUNCK, 1998; et al) e no conceito de mito de Roland Barthes (1980). Dividido em três capítulos, após a parte teórica onde também fazemos algumas considerações a respeito de gênero apresentamos a autora, a obra e as personagens. A seguir, descrevemos a metodologia utilizada na análise e discutimos os dados encontrados relativos a: a) a representação feminina; b) o poder da mulher, como pertencente/concedido a ela ou usurpado dela; c) o papel da mulher, com ênfase na dicotomia de gêneros e nos papéis tradicional e hegemonicamente ligados a eles. O estudo chega a conclusões quanto à perpetuação de mitos em relação ao poder, ao papel e às representações da mulher encontrada na materialidade linguística do texto de Marion Zimmer Bradley, apesar da frequente classificação de As brumas de Avalon como uma obra feminista. Além disso, propomos que uma nova dicotomia literária a da Megera/Vítima em lugar da já conhecida Bruxa/Anjo é estabelecida na obra, perpetuando imagens negativas da mulher ao mesmo tempo em que, com a centralidade nas personagens femininas e a concessão de um certo poder à mulher, um movimento de tensão entre discursos de bases patriarcal e feminista não permita que o texto possa ser classificado como afiliado exclusivamente a qualquer um deles