Toni Morrison, in Playing in the Dark, observes the pervasive silence that surrounds race in nineteenth-century canonical literature. Observing the ways in which the “Africanist” African-American presence pervades this literature, Morrison has called for an investigation of the ways in which whiteness operates in American canonical literature. This thesis takes up that challenge. In the first section, from Chapters One through Three, I explore how whiteness operates through the representation of the African-American figure in the works of three eminent nineteenth-century American writers, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Walt Whitman, and Mark Twain. The texts studied in this regard are: Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Leaves of Grass, and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. This section is not concerned with whether these texts constitute racist literature but with the ways in which the study of race, particularly whiteness, reveals the contradictions and insecurities that attend (white American) identity. As such, Morrison’s own fiction, written in response to white historical representations of African-Americans also deserves attention. The second section of this thesis focuses on Morrison’s attempt to produce an authentically “black” literature. Here I look at two of Morrison’s least studied but arguably most contentious novels particularly because of what they reveal of Morrison’s complex position on race. In Chapter Four I focus on Tar Baby and argue that this novel reveals Morrison’s somewhat essentialist position on blackness and racial, cultural, and gendered identity, particularly as this pertains to responsibilities she places on the black woman as culture-bearer. In Chapter Five I argue that Paradise, while taking a particularly challenging position on blackness, reveals Morrison’s evolving position on race, particularly her concern with the destructive nature of internalized racism. This thesis concludes that while racial identities have very real material consequences, whiteness and blackness are ideological and social constructs which, because of their constructedness, are fallible and perpetually under revision.

Le principal but de cette thèse a été d'analyser les représentations de genre et d’enseignant introduites par les dessins animés “Billy et Mandy, Aventuriers de L'audelà" (The Grym Adventures of Billy & Mandy) et "Les Razmoket" (Rugrats), en mettant accent particulièrment sur leur rapport avec l’humour. La perspective adoptée est celle des Études Culturelles post-structuralistes avec des contributions venant d'autres domaines d'études telles que la Communication et la Psychanalyse Lacanienne. Pour y arriver, on a sélectionné, transcrit et analysé des épisodes de ces dessins animés exhibés entre 1991 et 2010 par les chaînes de télévision CartooNetwork et Nickelodeon. Les réflexions développées cherchent à observer dans le récit des dessins animés les représentations du/des personnages, en particulier celles des enfants, en les reliant aux concepts de genre, pouvoir, transgression, école et d'autres. En abordant ces questions, on a vérifié que l'utilisation de l'humour est un recours textuel puissant, un artifice employé par les dessins animés dans la fabrication de stéréotypes qui produisent le sujet-enfant. En ce qui concerne les questions de genre, le mouvement fondamental de ce travail a été de donner de la visibilité aux relations de pouvoir qui s’y forment, certains par le biais de la transgression, d'autres par la voie de l'affaiblissement. En ce qui concerne les représentations de l'école et des enseignants, il a été possible de vérifier certaines ruptures avec la figure “sacré” de l’enseignant (affectueuse, dévouée et maternelle). Cependant, les représentations d'école et d'éducation ne diffèrent pas du modèle traditionnel de l'école moderne, qui englobe le classement, l'organisation du temps et des espaces, en établissant des contenus et des évaluations fondées sur des concepts. Dans d'autres espaces éducatifs analysés dans les épisodes en question, il existe clairement des relations de pouvoir, de gouvernance et de contrôle. En résumé, on a avons observé que dans les discours des dessins étudiés destinés aux enfants, on peut observer les stéréotypes qui agissent dans la production de subjectivités féminines et masculines en tant que des pédagogies culturelles. / Esta tese tem como principal objetivo analisar as representações de gênero e de professor/a trazidas pelos desenhos animados ”As Terríveis Aventuras de Billy & Mandy” (The Grym Adventures of Billy & Mandy) e “Os Anjinhos” (Rugrats), considerando, em especial, a sua conexão com o humor. A perspectiva adotada foi a dos Estudos Culturais pós–estruturalistas, contando com aportes de outros campos de estudo como o da comunicação e psicanálise lacaniana. Para a consecução do objetivo, foram selecionados, transcritos e analisados episódios dos referidos DAs exibidos entre 1991 e 2010 pelos canais por assinatura CartooNetwork e Nickelodeon. As reflexões desenvolvidas buscaram olhar, na narrativa dos desenhos animados, as representações dos/as personagens, especialmente as/os infantis, articulando-as aos conceitos de gênero, poder, transgressão, escola, entre outros. Na abordagem dessas questões, foi enfatizado o uso do humor como recurso textual potente, artifício do qual se valem os desenhos animados na fabricação de estereótipos que produzem o sujeito infantil. Em relação a questões de gênero, o movimento fundamental desse trabalho foi dar visibilidade às relações de poder que ali estão sendo constituídas, algumas, pela via da transgressão, outras pela via da fragilização. Em relação às representações de escola e docência foi possível verificar algumas rupturas com a figura “consagrada” de professora (afetiva, dedicada e maternal). Entretanto, as representações de escola e de ensino não diferem do modelo tradicional da escola moderna, englobando seriação, organização de tempos e espaços, priorizando conteúdos e avaliações por conceitos. Nos outros espaços educativos analisados nos episódios recortados, há claras relações de poder, governamento e controle. Em síntese, observou-se que, nos discursos dos referidos desenhos, direcionados para o público infantil, é possível visualizar estereótipos que agem na produção de subjetividades femininas e masculinas, as quais atuam enquanto pedagogias culturais. / This thesis aims at analysing gender and male and female teacher representations by animated television series “The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy” and “Rugrats”, especially considering their association with humour. We have used the poststructuralist Cultural Studies perspective with the help from other study fields such as communication and Lacanian psychoanalysis. For this objective we have selected, transcribed and analysed episodes of the films presented between 1991 and 2010 in channels CartooNetwork and Nickelodeon. Reflections have sought to examine representations of characters, especially children’s, linking them to concepts of gender, power, transgression, school, and others linked to them. When treating these questions, we have stressed on the use of humour as a potential textual tool, a device animated television series use to create stereotypes producing the infant-subject. Concerning gender, the key movement of this work was towards visibility for power relations shaped there, some by transgression, some by frailty. Concerning school and teacher representations, we have found some ruptures with the ‘established’ female teacher figure (affectionate, devoted and motherly). However, school and education representations are not different from the traditional model of the modern school, including serialisation, time and space organisation, stressing on content and grade evaluation. In other educational spaces we have analysed in particular episodes, there are clear relations of power, government and control. In sum, we have observed that, in discourses in the particular child-directed animated series, it is possible to view stereotypes producing male and female subjectivities, which act as cultural pedagogies.

Le principal but de cette thèse a été d'analyser les représentations de genre et d’enseignant introduites par les dessins animés “Billy et Mandy, Aventuriers de L'audelà" (The Grym Adventures of Billy & Mandy) et "Les Razmoket" (Rugrats), en mettant accent particulièrment sur leur rapport avec l’humour. La perspective adoptée est celle des Études Culturelles post-structuralistes avec des contributions venant d'autres domaines d'études telles que la Communication et la Psychanalyse Lacanienne. Pour y arriver, on a sélectionné, transcrit et analysé des épisodes de ces dessins animés exhibés entre 1991 et 2010 par les chaînes de télévision CartooNetwork et Nickelodeon. Les réflexions développées cherchent à observer dans le récit des dessins animés les représentations du/des personnages, en particulier celles des enfants, en les reliant aux concepts de genre, pouvoir, transgression, école et d'autres. En abordant ces questions, on a vérifié que l'utilisation de l'humour est un recours textuel puissant, un artifice employé par les dessins animés dans la fabrication de stéréotypes qui produisent le sujet-enfant. En ce qui concerne les questions de genre, le mouvement fondamental de ce travail a été de donner de la visibilité aux relations de pouvoir qui s’y forment, certains par le biais de la transgression, d'autres par la voie de l'affaiblissement. En ce qui concerne les représentations de l'école et des enseignants, il a été possible de vérifier certaines ruptures avec la figure “sacré” de l’enseignant (affectueuse, dévouée et maternelle). Cependant, les représentations d'école et d'éducation ne diffèrent pas du modèle traditionnel de l'école moderne, qui englobe le classement, l'organisation du temps et des espaces, en établissant des contenus et des évaluations fondées sur des concepts. Dans d'autres espaces éducatifs analysés dans les épisodes en question, il existe clairement des relations de pouvoir, de gouvernance et de contrôle. En résumé, on a avons observé que dans les discours des dessins étudiés destinés aux enfants, on peut observer les stéréotypes qui agissent dans la production de subjectivités féminines et masculines en tant que des pédagogies culturelles. / Esta tese tem como principal objetivo analisar as representações de gênero e de professor/a trazidas pelos desenhos animados ”As Terríveis Aventuras de Billy & Mandy” (The Grym Adventures of Billy & Mandy) e “Os Anjinhos” (Rugrats), considerando, em especial, a sua conexão com o humor. A perspectiva adotada foi a dos Estudos Culturais pós–estruturalistas, contando com aportes de outros campos de estudo como o da comunicação e psicanálise lacaniana. Para a consecução do objetivo, foram selecionados, transcritos e analisados episódios dos referidos DAs exibidos entre 1991 e 2010 pelos canais por assinatura CartooNetwork e Nickelodeon. As reflexões desenvolvidas buscaram olhar, na narrativa dos desenhos animados, as representações dos/as personagens, especialmente as/os infantis, articulando-as aos conceitos de gênero, poder, transgressão, escola, entre outros. Na abordagem dessas questões, foi enfatizado o uso do humor como recurso textual potente, artifício do qual se valem os desenhos animados na fabricação de estereótipos que produzem o sujeito infantil. Em relação a questões de gênero, o movimento fundamental desse trabalho foi dar visibilidade às relações de poder que ali estão sendo constituídas, algumas, pela via da transgressão, outras pela via da fragilização. Em relação às representações de escola e docência foi possível verificar algumas rupturas com a figura “consagrada” de professora (afetiva, dedicada e maternal). Entretanto, as representações de escola e de ensino não diferem do modelo tradicional da escola moderna, englobando seriação, organização de tempos e espaços, priorizando conteúdos e avaliações por conceitos. Nos outros espaços educativos analisados nos episódios recortados, há claras relações de poder, governamento e controle. Em síntese, observou-se que, nos discursos dos referidos desenhos, direcionados para o público infantil, é possível visualizar estereótipos que agem na produção de subjetividades femininas e masculinas, as quais atuam enquanto pedagogias culturais. / This thesis aims at analysing gender and male and female teacher representations by animated television series “The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy” and “Rugrats”, especially considering their association with humour. We have used the poststructuralist Cultural Studies perspective with the help from other study fields such as communication and Lacanian psychoanalysis. For this objective we have selected, transcribed and analysed episodes of the films presented between 1991 and 2010 in channels CartooNetwork and Nickelodeon. Reflections have sought to examine representations of characters, especially children’s, linking them to concepts of gender, power, transgression, school, and others linked to them. When treating these questions, we have stressed on the use of humour as a potential textual tool, a device animated television series use to create stereotypes producing the infant-subject. Concerning gender, the key movement of this work was towards visibility for power relations shaped there, some by transgression, some by frailty. Concerning school and teacher representations, we have found some ruptures with the ‘established’ female teacher figure (affectionate, devoted and motherly). However, school and education representations are not different from the traditional model of the modern school, including serialisation, time and space organisation, stressing on content and grade evaluation. In other educational spaces we have analysed in particular episodes, there are clear relations of power, government and control. In sum, we have observed that, in discourses in the particular child-directed animated series, it is possible to view stereotypes producing male and female subjectivities, which act as cultural pedagogies.

Le principal but de cette thèse a été d'analyser les représentations de genre et d’enseignant introduites par les dessins animés “Billy et Mandy, Aventuriers de L'audelà" (The Grym Adventures of Billy & Mandy) et "Les Razmoket" (Rugrats), en mettant accent particulièrment sur leur rapport avec l’humour. La perspective adoptée est celle des Études Culturelles post-structuralistes avec des contributions venant d'autres domaines d'études telles que la Communication et la Psychanalyse Lacanienne. Pour y arriver, on a sélectionné, transcrit et analysé des épisodes de ces dessins animés exhibés entre 1991 et 2010 par les chaînes de télévision CartooNetwork et Nickelodeon. Les réflexions développées cherchent à observer dans le récit des dessins animés les représentations du/des personnages, en particulier celles des enfants, en les reliant aux concepts de genre, pouvoir, transgression, école et d'autres. En abordant ces questions, on a vérifié que l'utilisation de l'humour est un recours textuel puissant, un artifice employé par les dessins animés dans la fabrication de stéréotypes qui produisent le sujet-enfant. En ce qui concerne les questions de genre, le mouvement fondamental de ce travail a été de donner de la visibilité aux relations de pouvoir qui s’y forment, certains par le biais de la transgression, d'autres par la voie de l'affaiblissement. En ce qui concerne les représentations de l'école et des enseignants, il a été possible de vérifier certaines ruptures avec la figure “sacré” de l’enseignant (affectueuse, dévouée et maternelle). Cependant, les représentations d'école et d'éducation ne diffèrent pas du modèle traditionnel de l'école moderne, qui englobe le classement, l'organisation du temps et des espaces, en établissant des contenus et des évaluations fondées sur des concepts. Dans d'autres espaces éducatifs analysés dans les épisodes en question, il existe clairement des relations de pouvoir, de gouvernance et de contrôle. En résumé, on a avons observé que dans les discours des dessins étudiés destinés aux enfants, on peut observer les stéréotypes qui agissent dans la production de subjectivités féminines et masculines en tant que des pédagogies culturelles. / Esta tese tem como principal objetivo analisar as representações de gênero e de professor/a trazidas pelos desenhos animados ”As Terríveis Aventuras de Billy & Mandy” (The Grym Adventures of Billy & Mandy) e “Os Anjinhos” (Rugrats), considerando, em especial, a sua conexão com o humor. A perspectiva adotada foi a dos Estudos Culturais pós–estruturalistas, contando com aportes de outros campos de estudo como o da comunicação e psicanálise lacaniana. Para a consecução do objetivo, foram selecionados, transcritos e analisados episódios dos referidos DAs exibidos entre 1991 e 2010 pelos canais por assinatura CartooNetwork e Nickelodeon. As reflexões desenvolvidas buscaram olhar, na narrativa dos desenhos animados, as representações dos/as personagens, especialmente as/os infantis, articulando-as aos conceitos de gênero, poder, transgressão, escola, entre outros. Na abordagem dessas questões, foi enfatizado o uso do humor como recurso textual potente, artifício do qual se valem os desenhos animados na fabricação de estereótipos que produzem o sujeito infantil. Em relação a questões de gênero, o movimento fundamental desse trabalho foi dar visibilidade às relações de poder que ali estão sendo constituídas, algumas, pela via da transgressão, outras pela via da fragilização. Em relação às representações de escola e docência foi possível verificar algumas rupturas com a figura “consagrada” de professora (afetiva, dedicada e maternal). Entretanto, as representações de escola e de ensino não diferem do modelo tradicional da escola moderna, englobando seriação, organização de tempos e espaços, priorizando conteúdos e avaliações por conceitos. Nos outros espaços educativos analisados nos episódios recortados, há claras relações de poder, governamento e controle. Em síntese, observou-se que, nos discursos dos referidos desenhos, direcionados para o público infantil, é possível visualizar estereótipos que agem na produção de subjetividades femininas e masculinas, as quais atuam enquanto pedagogias culturais. / This thesis aims at analysing gender and male and female teacher representations by animated television series “The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy” and “Rugrats”, especially considering their association with humour. We have used the poststructuralist Cultural Studies perspective with the help from other study fields such as communication and Lacanian psychoanalysis. For this objective we have selected, transcribed and analysed episodes of the films presented between 1991 and 2010 in channels CartooNetwork and Nickelodeon. Reflections have sought to examine representations of characters, especially children’s, linking them to concepts of gender, power, transgression, school, and others linked to them. When treating these questions, we have stressed on the use of humour as a potential textual tool, a device animated television series use to create stereotypes producing the infant-subject. Concerning gender, the key movement of this work was towards visibility for power relations shaped there, some by transgression, some by frailty. Concerning school and teacher representations, we have found some ruptures with the ‘established’ female teacher figure (affectionate, devoted and motherly). However, school and education representations are not different from the traditional model of the modern school, including serialisation, time and space organisation, stressing on content and grade evaluation. In other educational spaces we have analysed in particular episodes, there are clear relations of power, government and control. In sum, we have observed that, in discourses in the particular child-directed animated series, it is possible to view stereotypes producing male and female subjectivities, which act as cultural pedagogies.

America has adopted as its own the Eden myth, which has provided the mythology of the American dream. This New Garden of America, consequently, has been a masculine garden because of its dependence on the myth of the Fall. Implied in the American dream is the idea of a garden without Eve, or at least without Eve's sin, traditionally associated with sexuality. Our canonical literature has reflected these attitudes of devaluing feminine power or making it a negative force: The Scarlet Letter, Moby-Dick, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Great Gatsby, and The Sound and the Fury. To recreate the Garden myth, Americans have had to reimagine Eve as the idealized virgin, earth mother and life-giver, or as Adam's loyal helpmeet, the silent figurehead. But Eve resists her new roles: Hester Prynne embellishes her scarlet letter and does not leave Boston; the feminine forces in Moby-Dick defeat the monomaniacal masculinity of Ahab; Miss Watson, the Widow Douglas, and Aunt Sally's threat of civilization chase Huck off to the territory despite the beckoning of the feminine river; Daisy retreats unscathed into her "white palace" after Gatsby's death; and Caddy tours Europe on the arm of a Nazi officer long after Quentin's suicide, Benjy's betrayal, and Jason's condemnation. Each of these male writers--Hawthorne, Melville, Twain, Fitzgerald, and Faulkner--deals with the American dream differently; however, in each case the dream fails because Eve will not go away, refusing to be the Other, the scapegoat, or the muse to man's dreams. These works all deal in some way with the notion of the masculine American dream of perfection in the Garden at the expense of a fully realized feminine presence. This failure of the American dream accounts for the decidedly tragic tone of these culturally significant American novels.

This dissertation examines how the trait of intelligence is portrayed in novels of twentieth-century Britain, and how this portrayal grapples with the quantitative revolution in the conception of intelligence, brought on by the invention of IQ testing in the 1900s. I trace the construction of characters’ intelligence across different genres, starting with Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories, through the modernist Bildungsromane of Henry James, James Joyce, and Virginia Woolf, to Iris Murdoch’s realism, and finally to Lee Child’s late twentieth- century serial thrillers featuring Jack Reacher. I posit that the IQ model of intelligence as abstracted, quantified, and statistically measurable is profoundly at odds with the novelistic investment in the unique individual subject. This project traces the narratological strategies of characterization through which intelligence—or cleverness, or smartness, or brightness—are conveyed to the reader. Novels, generally speaking, do not provide the IQ scores of their characters; and though we might occasionally encounter an explicit narratorial characterization of some fictional being or other as “remarkably clever,” most often we must rely on perceptions of behavior, speech, and thought in order to assess characters’ intelligence, much as we do in real life. As the psychometric paradigm gained prominence in the psychological circles in the United States, England, and Europe, and as more people were exposed—and subjected—to intelligence testing, its values and assumptions gained more cultural traction. Attributes like mathematical facility, logical and systemic thinking, or a large vocabulary, are likely to yield a high score on an IQ test, as well as a favorable judgment in an informal, casual assessment, such as that of a date or a new acquaintance at a party. This dissertation, therefore, explores how this permeation of the psychometric paradigm into general culture affect the novelistic construction of smartness. Ultimately, I argue that against the IQ model, the novels I am reading construct a conception of intelligence as a coherent set of cognitive abilities, remarkably consistent across genres, which overlaps, yet reconfigures, the priorities and epistemological frameworks of psychometrics. This model centers on the notion of observation, i.e., a mix of sensory susceptibility to impressions and the cognitive skill of taking notice of the world and of other people. It is both anchored to the body by connoting a sensory experience, and divorced from it in conveying a more purely cognitive process, one of directing attention and processing information, thus renegotiating psychometric assumptions regarding embodiment and sensory experience—as well as the relationship between the individual’s intelligence, the world, and the minds of others.

No description available.

The purpose of my dissertation is to conduct an intertextual study of two fantasy texts — Alice in Wonderland by Victorian author Lewis Carroll, and Stardust by postmodern fantasy author Neil Gaiman — and their filmic re-visionings by Tim Burton and Matthew Vaughn respectively. In scrutinising these texts, drawing on insights from feminist, children’s literature and intertextual theorists, the actions of ‘growing up’ and ‘falling down’ are shown to be indicative of a paradoxical becoming of the text’s central female protagonists, Alice and Yvaine. The social mechanisms of the Victorian age that educate the girl-child into becoming accepting of their domestic roles ultimately alienate her from her true state of being. While she may garner some sense of importance within the imaginary realms of fantasy narratives, as these female protagonists demonstrate, she is reduced to the position of submissive in reality – in ‘growing up’, she must assume a ‘fallen down’ state in relation to the male. / English Studies / M.A. (English)

This thesis is divided into two main parts. The first, comprising the three initial chapters, looks, in chapter one, at the specifically German origins of the Bildungsroman, its distinctive features, and the difficulties surrounding its transplantation into the literary contexts of other countries. Particular attention is paid to the ethical dimension of the genre, i.e. to the relation between the individual self and the exterior world, and how it affects individual formation. The focus then shifts to American literature, and the term 'narrative of initiation' is recommended as a credible alternative to 'Bildungsroman'. Allowing for similarities between them, it is none the less strongly suggested that the Bildungsroman of German origin and the American narrative of initiation should be seen as being intrinsically different, principally because of the different cultural backgrounds that shaped them. Several features of the theme of initiation are postulated as decisive factors in the discrepancies between the initiatory narrative and the Bildungsroman. Analysis of six texts - three of each literary tradition - follows, to provide support for the theoretical discussion of the terms introduced in chapter one. Three Bildungsromane are considered in the second chapter, namely Goethe's Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre, Stifter's Der Nachsommer and Keller's Der grune Heinrich, and three narratives of initiation in chapter three: Twain's The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Crane's The Red Badge of Courage and Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio. Their relevance to the tradition of German and American fiction as a whole and as precursors of Mann's Der Zauberberg and Hemingway's The Nick Adams Stories is considered. A direct comparison between Mann's and Hemingway's texts constitutes the second part of this thesis, wholly contained in chapter four. In addition to a comprehensive critical reading of both narratives, the contemporaneity of Der Zauberberg and The Nick Adams Stories is taken into account, and consequently special consideration is given to the texts' close relation with the cultural and historical realities of the early twentieth century, particularly the impact of the First World War. With the assistance of Jung's theories, an increased awareness of death and of the dark side of the psyche - though dealt with differently in both texts - is put forward as a significant factor in the deviation of Der Zauberberg and The Nick Adams Stories from the traditions of the Bildungsroman and of the narrative of initiation. This departure leads to a re-appraisal of the relation between the protagonists and their society, and to a new ethical attitude that presupposes different, more modem conceptions of what Bildung and initiation represent in the context of the early twentieth century. How and why they changed and if they survived as literary notions are questions this thesis attempts to answer.

The purpose of my dissertation is to conduct an intertextual study of two fantasy texts — Alice in Wonderland by Victorian author Lewis Carroll, and Stardust by postmodern fantasy author Neil Gaiman — and their filmic re-visionings by Tim Burton and Matthew Vaughn respectively. In scrutinising these texts, drawing on insights from feminist, children’s literature and intertextual theorists, the actions of ‘growing up’ and ‘falling down’ are shown to be indicative of a paradoxical becoming of the text’s central female protagonists, Alice and Yvaine. The social mechanisms of the Victorian age that educate the girl-child into becoming accepting of their domestic roles ultimately alienate her from her true state of being. While she may garner some sense of importance within the imaginary realms of fantasy narratives, as these female protagonists demonstrate, she is reduced to the position of submissive in reality – in ‘growing up’, she must assume a ‘fallen down’ state in relation to the male. / English Studies / M.A. (English)