This study is a content analysis of ten chick lit books, a genre of women’s fiction. Books were analyzed for five postfeminist characteristics as defined by Susan Faludi’s backlash theory, outlined in Backlash: The Undeclared War Against Women and in further research on popular culture’s notions of womanhood: 1) negative reaction to second wave feminism, 2) focus on the individual instead of a collective sisterhood, 3) desire for more traditional femininity through domesticity, consumerism, romance, and motherhood, 4) female identity crisis causing fears of a man shortage, a loudly ticking biological clock, and career burnout, and 5) feelings of anxiety over ability to make the correct future decisions. Analysis has found that chick lit does generally reinforce the notions of postfeminism/backlash, however the characters displayed anxiety over how to incorporate feminine paths into their lives and generally disregard motherhood.

Depuis la Révolution française où émerge le féminisme moderne, plus de deux siècles se sont écoulés, et la condition féminine a profondément changé à l’échelle mondiale. On distingue trois générations de femmes : universaliste, différentialiste et postmoderniste, qui se superposent. Le présent travail vise à étudier les deux premières générations de femmes en France et en Chine dans la période contemporaine, ainsi que les représentations littéraires du féminisme dans les deux cultures. Cette thèse est à la fois une étude des parallèles littéraires et une étude des influences. En confrontant les littératures et les théories féministes françaises et chinoises, nous tenterons d’examiner si elles soulèvent les mêmes questions, quels sont les apports de chaque génération, ainsi que les difficultés qu’elles ont rencontrées, et quels sont les invariants de chacune des deux générations féminines qui ont œuvré quasiment dans un même temps, mais dans deux espaces différents, voire séparés. De surcroît, une étude des influences permet de prendre la mesure de la réception des littératures et des théories féministes françaises en Chine. / Since the French Revolution, which foreshadows modern feminism, more than two centuries have passed, women’s status has changed profoundly on a world scale. We distinguish three generations of women: universalist, differentialist and postmodernist. The present work aims to study the first two generations of women in France and China in contemporary times, as well as the literary representations of feminism in both cultures. This thesis studies the literary parallels and the influences. By confronting French and Chinese feminist literatures and theories, we will try to examine if they raise the same questions: what are the contributions and the difficulties of each generation, and what are the invariants of each of the two female generations which took place almost at the same time, but in two different spaces. In addition, a study of influences reveals the reception of French feminist literatures and theories in China.

En Afrique subsaharienne, le nationalisme « imagine » une identité nationale homogène enracinée dans la mythologie de la spécificité africaine qui représente la femme comme un symbole des racines culturelles (le trope de la « Mère Afrique »). Ce travail analyse comment la romancière subsaharienne (la femme objet culturel muet, extra-historique et apolitique) s’approprie le discours nationaliste africain (réimaginer la nation) pour définir une autre identité pour la femme. L’étude sonde l’hypothèse d’un sujet marginal qui se révèle dans des « lieux frontaliers » selon sa ressemblance et son altérité par rapport aux sujets dominants. Elle analyse la nationalité politique (citoyenneté), la nationalité culturelle (africanité), ainsi que leur enchevêtrement dans la nationalité féminine. And They Didn’t Die et Nehanda évoquent les mouvements de libération en l’Afrique du Sud et au Zimbabwe pour recontextualiser l’appartenance culturelle de la femme « pot de culture » entre la tradition de la modernité. Matins de couvre-feu et L’Ex-père de la nation révèlent la désillusion après les indépendances du Sénégal et la Côte d’Ivoire pour déstabiliser la dichotomie des espaces public et privé – un État centré sur l’homme (le « Père-de-la-nation ») et une sphère domestique féminine. Destination Biafra traite le nationalisme ethnique au Nigéria pour aborder la problématique de la nationalité au carrefour des nationalités politique et culturelle : Un Etat (espace géopolitique) définie par des frontières modernes et une Nation (« communauté imaginée ») supranationale définie par une culture précoloniale. / Nationalism in sub-Saharan Africa « imagines » a homogenous national identity embedded in the mythology of African uniqueness, which represents the woman symbol of cultural roots (the “Mother Africa “trope). This study analyses how the sub-Saharan female novelist (the woman as a mute, extra-historical and apolitical object of culture) appropriates African nationalism (re-imagines the nation) to define a new identity for African womanhood. The study tests the hypothesis that a marginal subject reveals itself in “border location” according to its similarity or difference to dominant subjects. It analyses political nationality (citizenship), cultural nationality (Africanness), and their interaction within the representation of female national identity. And They Didn’t Die and Nehanda evoke liberation movements in South Africa and Zimbabwe to recontextualise women’s cultural affiliation (the woman “pot of culture)” between tradition and modernity. Matins de couvre-feu and L’Ex-père de la nation depict the post-independence disillusionment of Senegal and the Ivory Coast to subvert the dichotomy of public and private spheres which construct a male centred State (the “Father of the Nation”) and the woman-centred “domestic” sphere. Finally, Destination Biafra highlights ethnic nationalism in Nigeria to illustrate the problematic of the intertwining of cultural and political nationalities resulting from the paradoxical construction of the African nation-state: A State (a geo-political space) defined by modern borders and a supranational nation (“imagined community”) delimited by the symbolic borders of a pre-colonial culture.

兩岸的女性小說在八０年代呈現出若干相似性，而這裡頭除了主題性傾向之外，主要包括了作品形式；換言之，別於同代的男作家對於後現代、後設小說（台灣）或先鋒尋根小說（中國大陸）的著迷，兩岸的女作家在此時段中基本上都守住了寫實手法，而並沒有像其男性同仁那麼大量的投入實驗性寫作。同時，這一點（兩岸女作家對於寫實手法的偏愛），加上就作品內容而言，與日後的女性文學比較起來，八０年代的女性小說的確表現出較為狹窄的格局，如上兩個因素恐怕逐漸造成此時段的女性文學最近極少成為學者的研究對象。 因此，為了突破既有的研究成果且開闢一些新的研究面向，本論文則除了主題性之外主要從寫實主義觀點切入，將小說形式結構與內容主題相結合進行探析；同時，也注意當時女作家所表現出來的自主性及自覺性，將之視為八○年代兩岸女性文學過去較未受到矚目的重要表現。此外，就「寫實主義」這個觀念而言，本文參考了這一二十年來中、西方學者對於寫實主義的再發現、再詮釋的成果，將寫實主義定義為一種不間斷的「過程」、一個需要不斷加以潤飾修正的文學形式，並且透過這個較為彈性的觀念，選取兩岸代表性的女作家各五位，藉由她們的作品，對兩岸女性文學在八０年代所經歷的從「現實」到「寫實」的過程進行了分析且比較。 首先，如果就台灣女性文學而言，從「現實」到「寫實」描述的是女作家與所處的社會之間的互動，即女作家對於轉型時期女性社會「現實」的高度關懷促使她們在不放棄各自藝術理想之同時有意地選擇「寫實」文學，成為作者與讀者之間主要溝通管道及作家參與、影響社會的工具（甚且社會性愈發強烈的作家／文本，其寫實成分也跟著提高而藝術性相對減少），那麼就對岸的女性文學來講，從「現實」到「寫實」所描寫的則是當時大陸女作家，包括整個新時期文學，從「現實主義」（即社會主義寫實主義）到一般觀念之下的「寫實主義」的轉變過程（把「寫實主義」當作刻意的抉擇要到「新寫實」才出現）──無可諱言，相對於具備了穩固且良好文學個性化與獨特化基礎的台灣（女性）文學，背負了長大幾十年「文學／家為政治服務」的歷史及文化債務之中國新時期（女性）文學，則不得不先經歷一個從「革命／現實主義」到作為創作論而允許作者發揮自己各自的藝術及創作理想的「寫實主義」之演變過程，我們才在論文中被稱為代表了「個人化」寫作路線的王安憶、池莉及方方的小說那裡看到像八○年代台灣女作家類似，大陸的女作家也開始按照自己所設想的創作目的及創作／審美原則（而不是集體化理想衝動所使然）來選取最為恰當的書寫模式及創作技巧。 本論文透過比較視野及文本語境化，分別探討了台、中兩岸女性文學在八○年代所經歷的從「現實」到「寫實」的特定過程，以期勾勒當時女作家的自覺性面向及兩岸女性文學的風貌，並且在彼此對照之下，重新評估八○年代女性寫實小說的價值及其意義。 / During the 1980s, women’s literature from both sides of the Taiwan Strait manifested certain number of similarities, that, apart from the subject matter, include also similarities in structure and form. In other words, in opposition to male writers’ enthusiasm for postmodern fiction and metafiction (Taiwan) or avantguarde and root-seeking literature (Mainland China), both Taiwanese and Chinese women writers favoured realist fiction throughout the whole decade. However, it is my belief, that it is precisely their preference for realist modes of writing (widely criticized since the heyday of poststructuralism) together with the allegedly rather limited scope as far as the subject matter of the 1980s women’s novels is concerned, that gradually caused its inevitable “downfall” – while previously hailed as the “Renaissance period of women’s fiction” in both Taiwan and Mainland China, the 1980s women’s literature from these two regions has in recent years become a topic shunned by both scholars and postgraduate students alike. In order to challenge the existing studies and open up new vistas for future research, this thesis adopts realism as an important point of departure, combining subject matter analysis together with the formal and structural analysis of the texts while also paying close attention to the strong self-consciousness of most of the women authors that should, in view of this author, be reexamined as one of the previously overlooked aspects of the 1980s women’s fiction in both Taiwan and Mainland China. Moreover, following the renewed interest in realist literature within academia during the last ten to twenty years, this thesis adopts a rather “flexible” definition of realism as a continuous “process”, or, in other words, a literary form in a state of flux, that is in a constant need of polishing and amendment. This concept is then applied to a textual analysis of ten representative women authors from both sides of the Taiwan Strait (namely Li Ang, Xiao Sa, Liao Huiying, Su Weizhen, Yuan Qiongqiong; and Shen Rong, Zhang Jie, Wang Anyi, Chi Li, Fang Fang) in a further attempt to describe and evaluate the process from “reality/socialist realism” to “realism” that characterizes Taiwanese and Chinese women’s literature during this particular period.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:26:52Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2011-06-20Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T18:30:48Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 boso_eas_me_assis_parcial.pdf: 263682 bytes, checksum: 6a8644009a3ac77a07f5a86c9c60cd4c (MD5) Bitstreams deleted on 2015-08-28T16:08:56Z: boso_eas_me_assis_parcial.pdf,. Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2015-08-28T16:09:59Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000650426.pdf: 1066815 bytes, checksum: 1f85a50e2b4d8e621c94d737a8a5f84e (MD5) / O objetivo deste trabalho é demarcar o espaço da escritora Nélida Piñon na literatura de autoria feminina, refletindo sobre as vias de acesso que se abriram quando ela retomou uma das personagens mais conhecidas e míticas da história da Literatura Universal, Scherezade, no romance Vozes do deserto (2004). Este estudo permitiu que se realizasse uma reflexão mais acurada sobre a construção desta personagem a partir da perspectiva da critica feminista (SHOWALTER, 1994) e que se revelasse a condição feminina em um sistema hegemônico, coercivo e patriarcal que legitima as situações de poder, submissão, opressão e violência em relação às mulheres. Sendo assim, este trabalho é um convite para que se conheça a contribuição de Nélida Piñon à luz da evolução contemporânea e da emancipação consciente das mulheres que ousaram transgredir os limites do tempo e espaço em prol de sua visibilidade, independência, liberdade e reconhecimento como sujeito da história. Esses aspectos permitem contemplar as três fases: feminina, feminista e mulher, da literatura de autoria feminina estabelecidas por Elaine Showalter. Apesar de esta obra de Nélida Piñon ser ainda pouco estudada pela crítica brasileira, ela é importante também para os estudos da ginocrítica devido ao discurso crítico especializado sobre os textos produzidos por mulheres. Esta dissertação pretende valorizar o ser mulher que protagoniza não somente a história, mas a ascensão do seu próprio destino no mundo. Em conclusão, a escritora é nome de relevo para o universo literário brasileiro, sendo uma profunda conhecedora da história das mulheres e, portanto, atenta e comprometida com o atual cenário sócio-político cultural brasileiro / The genesis of this work is to demarcate the area of the writer Nélida Piñon in the female authorship literature reflecting about the access roads that were opened when the author retook one of the most well-known and mythical character of the Universal Literature – Scherezade – in the novel Voices of the Desert (2004). So, this study allowed to realize a more accurate reflection about this character’s construction from the perspective of feminist criticism (SHOWALTER, 1994) bringing out the feminine condition in a hegemonic system, coercity and patriarchal that legitimizes the power situations, submission, oppression and violence against women. Therefore, this work is an invitation to know Nélida Piñon’s contribution in contemporary evolution and women’s emancipation awareness who dared to transgress the boundaries of time and space to promote their visibility, independence, freedom and recognition as a subject of the history. These aspects allow to gaze on the three phases: feminine, feminist and female of the Women’s literature established by Elaine Showalter. Although this novel has been little researched by Brazilian criticism yet, it is also important to the gynocritical studies because the gynocriticism speech is a critical and specialized speech about texts written by women. So, this dissertation intends to enhance (value) the female who stars not only the history but makes possible the rise of her own destiny in the world. To conclude, the writer is outstanding name for the Brazilian Literary Universe and she demonstrates a deep knowledge about women’s history and, therefore, attentive and compromised with the current social political and cultural Brazilian scenery

This thesis is a study of how the American author Edith Wharton (1862-1937) in a number of novels and short stories written between 1876 and 1937 depicts cultural encounters between Americans and Europeans, mostly Frenchmen. Chiefly concerned with Fast and Loose, “The Last Asset”, Madame de Treymes, “Les Metteurs en Scène”, The Custom of the Country and The Age of Innocence, each of which articulates ideas relevant to the theme investigated, the thesis also contains a supplementary discussion of The Reef, The Glimpses of the Moon, The Mother’s Recompense and The Buccaneers. Borrowing terms and theoretical perspectives from Pierre Bourdieu and postcolonial literary criticism, particularly Homi Bhabha’s theories about inbetweenness, mimicry and otherness, the study contends through detailed analyses of single works that Wharton’s descriptions of Franco-American encounters are dynamic processes through which the parties involved are made aware of their own and “the other’s” distinguishing qualities and, in some significant cases, reach a heightened state of consciousness resembling Bhabha’s inbetweenness. Wharton’s cultural encounters often involve people with different levels of education and different economic and social positions, which justifies the use of Bourdieu’s method of analyzing the relationship between educational and social status in terms of different kinds of capital. While in her early works Wharton merely intimates the contours of the cultural encounter, in mature works such as Madame de Treymes and The Age of Innocence she views it as a highly complex process the many stages of which are intimated through the use of subtle narratological techniques. Throughout her work Wharton makes intricate use of imagery and keywords, some of them testifying to her interest in anthropology, to suggest the manifold dimensions of the cultural encounter, which is seen as both tempting and repelling. Her accounts of the Franco-American encounter are complexly related to the different phases of the American political and social situation described in her novels. The American experience of the meeting of the ‘old society’ and the ‘new’ is rendered even more complex by being seen as the background against which Europeans and Americans negotiate transactions of symbolic and economic capital. In most of her works these lead to tragic or tragic-comic misunderstandings; only in her last, unfinished novel does she describe a full-fledged Euro-American identity, a successful fusion of American and European experiences. / Den här avhandlingen är en studie i hur den amerikanska författarinnan Edith Wharton (1862-1937) i ett antal romaner och noveller skrivna mellan 1876 and 1937 skildrar kulturella möten mellan amerikaner och européer, främst fransmän. Avhandlingen behandlar huvudsakligen verken Fast and Loose, “The Last Asset”, Madame de Treymes, ”Les Metteurs en Scène”, The Custom of the Country and The Age of Innocence, som alla uttrycker idéer om kulturmöten; den innehåller även en kompletterande diskussion av verken The Reef, The Glimpses of the Moon, The Mother’s Recompense and The Buccaneers. Med termer och perspektiv hämtade från Pierre Bourdieu och postkolonial litteraturforskning, främst Homi Bhabhas teorier om in-betweenness (”mellanskap”), mimicry och otherness hävdar studien genom detaljerade analyser av enskilda verk hur Whartons beskrivningar av fransmäns och amerikaners möten är dynamiska processer där i bästa fall båda parter blir medvetna om sin egen och ”den andres” särart, och i vissa fall även når ett intensifierat medvetande som påminner om Bhabhas in-betweenness. Whartons kulturmöten sker oftast mellan personer med olika bildning samt ekonomisk och social position, vilket gör att Bourdieus perspektiv för analys av relationen mellan utbildning och social status som styrd av olika sorters kapital kommer till användning. I sina tidiga berättelser antyder Wharton konturerna av det kulturella mötet, i mogna verk som Madame de Treymes and The Age of Innocence gestaltar hon det som en mycket komplex process vars många skeden antyds via hennes användning av subtil berättarteknik. Alltigenom sina verk tillämpar Wharton ett komplext bildspråk och nyckelord, varav vissa vittnar om hennes intresse för antropologi, som antyder kulturmötets många dimensioner, framställt som samtidigt lockande och frånstötande/avskräckande. Hennes redogörelser av det fransk-amerikanska mötet är komplext relaterat till de olika faser av den amerikanska politiska och sociala situation som beskrivs i hennes berättelser. Den amerikanska erfarenheten av mötet mellan den ”gamla sociala grupperingen” och den ”nya” skildras som mer komplext genom att ses som den bakgrund mot vilken européerna och amerikanerna förhandlar transaktioner av symboliskt och ekonomiskt kapital. I merparten av hennes verk leder dessa transaktioner till tragiska eller tragikomiska missförstånd; bara i hennes sista, ofullbordade roman beskriver hon en fullt utvecklad euroamerikansk identitet, en lyckad sammansmältning av amerikanska och europeiska erfarenheter.