This MFA thesis, More Stories About Disappointment and TV, is a collection of short stories. I see them as being interconnected, if only in the loosest possible sense. I have certain ideas and themes that recur throughout my work, which I hope gives the stories a sense of cohesion without making the collection feel too monochromatic. The stories vary in narrative approach and point of view. My stories are character-driven literary fiction, to put it broadly, though they often incorporate characteristics of genre fiction. Some of them are more realistic than others, but they almost always have elements of the weird, the fabulist, and/or the absurd.

Reflecting the real beau monde of Restoration London, the treatment of women in the comedy of manners was the best and most unusual characteristic of this dramatic type. With the first gay reaction against the past, the independent ladies demanded complete equality with men; intellectually, they gained that equality. To the gay belles, no less than to the beaux, wit was the passport to society. The truewit had everything; the witwould was social refuse, marked for that worst of all punishment--ridicule.

Orientador: Renata Soares Junqueira / Banca: Márcio Ricardo Coelho Muniz / Banca: Sylvia Helena Telarolli de Almeida Leite / Resumo: Esta dissertação analisa o enredo, a estrutura e a comicidade nas peças Auto da Barca do Inferno de Gil Vicente e Guerras do Alecrim e Manjerona de Antônio José da Silva, dando enfoque à comicidade criada a partir das situações cômicas e da caracterização das personagens. O trabalho visa, sobretudo, analisar a presença e o perfil das personagens Joane, o Parvo da peça de Gil Vicente, e Semicúpio, o gracioso da peça de Antônio José da Silva. Para isso, esta dissertação faz: a análise por meio da aplicação do modelo actancial, da relação entre estas personagens com as demais em cada peça e suas relevantes importâncias para o desenvolvimento da ação; a análise da construção do cômico a partir de situações e de recursos linguísticos produzidos pelo Parvo e por Semicúpio; e a abordagem sobre a caracterização cômica destas personagens e a aproximação com outros caracteres cômicos de perfil semelhante, revelando as diferenças e semelhanças entre a personagem vicentina e silviana. Por meio do referencial teórico sobre comicidade e caracterização de personagens cômicas, a dissertação demonstra a proximidade da personagem Parvo com o caráter cômico do ingênuo, tal como o bobo e o louco medievais, e a proximidade da personagem Semicúpio com o caráter cômico do esperto, semelhante ao servo da Comédia Nova romana, do qual provieram outros criados, inclusive o gracioso espanhol definido por Lope de Vega / Abstract: This paper analyses the plot, structure and the humor on the theater plays Auto da Barca do Inferno of Gil Vicente and Guerras do Alecrim e Manjerona of Antônio José da Silva, focusing the humor created from the comic situations and from the characterization of the personages. This paper intends to analyse the presence and the profile of the characters Joane, the Parvo from Gil Vicente's play, and Semicúpio, the gracioso from Antônio José da Silva. Its analysis is made through the actantial model of application, the relationship between these characters, their respective fellows and their relevant importance to the development of the plots action; its analysis is also made through the construction of the comical elements used in its linguistic resources produced by the Parvo and by Semicúpio; through the comical characterization approach of these characters and the approximation with some other comical elements, revealing the differences and the similarities between Vicente's and Silva's characters. Based on the comical frame of reference and characterization of the comical personages, the paper demonstrates the proximity of the Parvo with a comical and ingenuous character to the middle age crazy people and the jester; also to the personage Semicúpio which has a clever comical character, similar to the Roman New Comedy serf that is the one who the others serfs emanated from, including the Spanish gracioso defined by Lope de Vega / Mestre

Le tragique semble être au coeur de la littérature contemporaine. En effet, la mort de la tragédie classique ne signifie pas la disparition du tragique. Au contraire, celui-ci survit et prend de nouvelles formes. C'est précisément cette "nouvelle forme" que nous analysons dans notre thèse intitulée "L'oeuvre de Marguerite Duras ou l'expression d'un tragique moderne". L'oeuvre durassienne participe de ce que Jean-Marie Domenach nomme "le retour du tragique". Notre étude porte sur la vision tragique de Duras. Elle examine aussi l'évolution du tragique durassien en le comparant souvent au tragique antique. Nous essayons, également, les rapports complexes qui existent, chez Duras, entre le tragique et le comique. Nous tentons, en outre, de voir comment Duras réussit à dépasser ce tragique moderne en développant une esthétique du détachement / The tragic seems to be at the heart of contemporary literature. Indeed, the death of the tragedy does not mean taht the tragic has disappeared. On the contrary, the latter has survived and has taken on new forms. It is pricesely this "new form" that we analyze in our thesis entitled "The work of Marguerite Duras or the expression of a modern tragic". Duras' work is part of what Jean-Marie Domenach names "the return of the tragic". Our thesis studies Duras' vision of the tragic. It also examines the evolution of this tragic as we compare it with the tragic of the Antiquity. We also try to study the complex link between the tragic and the comic in Duras' work. We attempt to inderstand how Duras succeeds in surpassing the modern tragic as she develops an aesthetic of detachment

Esta dissertação, As formas dramáticas do cômico e do trágico em La Celestina, analisa quatro personagens da obra Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea ou La Celestina atribuida a Fernando de Rojas. A análise apresenta, a partir de leituras críticas e teóricas, elementos de comicidade e de tragicidade na trajetória das personagens Calisto, Centurio, Celestina e Melibea. O texto é composto de introdução, três capítulos e as considerações finais. Na Introdução, apresentamos um breve histórico das principais críticas instituídas à obra, principalmente, no que diz respeito ao seu gênero literário. No primeiro capítulo, procuramos apontar algumas das diversas formas de comicidade que propiciam o riso no comportamento das personagens Calisto e Centurio; no segundo, apresentamos os elementos pertencentes às teorias do trágico, em seu sentido clássico e moderno, que estão presentes ou se relacionam às ações de Melibea; no terceiro e último capítulo, do mesmo modo, indicamos os possíveis elementos trágicos no comportamento de Celestina. E por fim, as Considerações finais, nas quais, após análise, entendemos que as personagens masculinas, Calisto e Centurio, desempenham uma função cômica na obra, ao passo que as duas femininas, Celestina e Melibea, são responsáveis por grande parte dos aspectos trágicos da referida obra. / This dissertation examines four characters of the work Tragicomedia de Calisto y Melibea or La Celestina attributed to Fernando de Rojas. The analysis shows, from critical and theoretical readings, elements of comicality and tragic in the path of the characters Calisto, Centurio, Celestina and Melibea. The text consists of an introduction, three chapters and final considerations. In the Introduction, a brief history of the main comments attributed to the work is presented, primarily related to its literary genre. In the first chapter, we point out some of the various forms of humor which provide laughter in the behavior of the characters Calisto and Centurio; in the second chapter, we present the elements belonging to the theories of tragedy in its classical and modern sense, which are present or are related to the actions of Melibea; similarly, in the third and final chapter, we indicated the possible tragic elements in the behavior of Celestina. And finally, the closing comments, in which, after the analysis, we believe the male characters, Calisto and Centurio, play a comic role in the piece, while the two women, Celestina and Melibea, are responsible for most of the tragic aspects of the work.

My dissertation argues that comics’ unique formal properties are particularly suited toward exploring and representing the complex nature of identity. Just as the comics form is broadly defined by a peculiar tension between word and image, so identity can be conceived as a constant negotiation between abstract (“unrepresentable”) concepts that define identity and an individual’s attempts to represent that identity. Due to its formal negotiation of word and image, the comics form is thus uniquely suited to address the problems of identity and its representation. I begin this project by examining the relationship between word and image in comics. Some comics scholars have argued verbal and visual signification are hybridized, while others go so far as to claim the distinction between word and image is unsustainable. Still others reject these claims, arguing comics’ hybridity necessitates a strict separation of word from image. I argue that words and images in comics function on a spectrum in which the line between word and image must be able to be hybridized and distinct at the same time. This definition of the word/image relationship can describe the most straightforward, illustrative comics as well as the most experimental comics texts; it also provides the methodological framework for my project. In this dissertation, I examine the representation of gendered identity in Gilbert Hernandez's Love and Rockets stories and Junot Díaz's novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, arguing both authors’ injunction that the reader look at the mothers in their works is evidence of their demand that we understand the women as whole, ambivalent subjects. I explore the way the Gene Yang and Sonny Liew’s graphic novel The Shadow Hero addresses the repressive and racist history of superhero comics. In doing so, Yang and Liew’s text reveals the ways superhero texts constantly negotiate the genre’s conservative instinct to protect the status quo and its revolutionary vision for a better world. Finally, I contend Greg Rucka and J. H. Williams III's Batwoman: Elegy reveals at least one intrinsically progressive theme in superhero genre: its performative and inherently queer conception of identity.

by Cheung Hiu Wan. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [135-140]). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Acknowledgement / Abstract / List of figures / Chapter Chapter 1. --- Introduction / Chapter 1.1 --- Scope of Study --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- Literature Review --- p.3 / Chapter 1.3 --- Methodology --- p.13 / Chapter 1.4 --- Structure of the Thesis --- p.17 / Chapter Chapter 2. --- Historical Development of Comics in China / Chapter 2.1 --- Comics History before1949 --- p.24 / Chapter 2 . 2 --- Comics under the Reign of Chinese Communist Party --- p.29 / Chapter 2.3 --- Beijing Cartoon after the Open Door Policy --- p.31 / Chapter 2.4 --- Concluding Remarks --- p.39 / Chapter Chapter 3 . --- Interaction with the Leaders of Beijing Publishing House / Chapter 3.1 --- Leaders´ةExpectation for Beijing Cartoon --- p.41 / Chapter 3.2 --- The Discrepancy between the Senior and Junior Editors --- p.51 / Chapter 3.3 --- Editors' Comments on Interaction with the Leaders of the Beijing Publishing House --- p.54 / Chapter Chapter 4. --- Interaction with the Senior Artists / Chapter 4.1 --- Cartoon Art Festival98 --- p.57 / Chapter 4.2 --- The Invasion of Japanese Comics --- p.59 / Chapter 4.3 --- The Essence of Comics with Chinese Features --- p.63 / Chapter 4.4 --- The Expected Role of the Chinese Government --- p.67 / Chapter 4.5 --- The Editors´ة Comments on Cartoon Art Festival98 --- p.68 / Chapter 4 . --- 6 Concluding Remarks --- p.70 / Chapter Chapter 5. --- Interaction with the Junior Artists / Chapter 5.1 --- Social Status of the Junior Artists --- p.12 / Chapter 5.2 --- Cooperation with Beijing Cartoon --- p.11 / Chapter 5.3 --- Why do they Join the Comics Business --- p.79 / Chapter 5.4 --- Agreement and Terms of Payment --- p.87 / Chapter 5.5 --- Summer Camping: Market Mechanism and Autonomy in Artists' Creation --- p.88 / Chapter 5.6 --- The Editors' Expectation on the Roles of The Artists --- p.96 / Chapter 5.7 --- Artists' Comments on the Educational Aspect of Comics --- p.98 / Chapter 5.8 --- Concluding Remarks --- p.102 / Chapter Chapter 6. --- The Interaction with the Readers and Elders / Chapter 6.1 --- Whom were and Whom are the Comics for? --- p.104 / Chapter 6.2 --- Parents and Teachers: Comics for Education --- p.105 / Chapter 6.3 --- Parents and Teachers: Sex and Violence in Japanese Comics --- p.107 / Chapter 6.4 --- More than Sex and Violence in Japanese Comics --- p.110 / Chapter 6.5 --- Nippon´ؤcentric and Militarism of Japanese Comics --- p.115 / Chapter 6.6 --- Better Academic Performances and More Choices --- p.115 / Chapter 6.7 --- The Popularity of Comics among the Teenagers --- p.118 / Chapter 6.8 --- Feedback from the Comics Readers --- p.121 / Chapter 6.9 --- The Conflicts: More Education or More Entertainment --- p.122 / Chapter 6.10 --- Concluding Remarks --- p.12 5 / Chapter Chapter 7. --- Conclusion --- p.127 / Appendix / References

The purpose of this study is to explore the influence of history and culture on the passage of the comic book to the animated film. Although the comic book has both historical and cultural components, the latter often undergoes a cultural shift in the animation process. Using the Smurfs as a case study, this investigation first reviews existing literature pertaining to the comic book as an art form, the influence of history and culture on Smurf story plots, and the translation of the comic book into a moving picture. This study then utilizes authentic documents and interviews to analyze the perceptions of success and failure in the transformation of the Smurf comic book into animation: concluding that original meaning is often altered in the translation to meet the criteria of cultural relevance for the new audiences.

No description available.

This research study has several objectives. The first is to research graphic novels and comic books, their history and the issues this visual and literary medium has had with censorship, with preconceived notions that the medium is only meant for a juvenile audience, and with the development of rating standards. The second objective is to study current literature that has been written by scholars and librarians on this medium. This exploration of graphic novels and comic books and the scholarship and collection development efforts related to them provides a foundation for considering the issues and challenges which current and future librarians may have to face, in maintaining this literary form in library collections. The third objective is to conduct a focus group and to survey librarians in Tennessee from a range of backgrounds in order to consider a number of questions, including: if these librarians have encountered patrons who challenged having these books included in their institutions’ collections, what age range the surveyed librarians believe this medium is meant to appeal to, and how the librarians would rate content in comic books and graphic novels; such as, violence, language, sexual activity, etc.; including terms used by publishers in their rating standards to describe different levels of content. The results from this study showed there was quite a difference between what librarians feel is appropriate for the levels they were given and the types of content; with there being usually at least a 2 - 3 year age difference between the top two to three options chosen or there being a difference between the participants selecting an age range and selecting either “All Ages” or “None” as appropriate. The literature research and the data obtained from the survey along with the responses received from the focus group indicate that, since the majority of participants stated they “sometimes” experienced selection difficulties and problems with cataloging and shelving these books, picking an appropriate age range for a comic book or graphic novel is very subjective and librarians and publishers are still a long way away from agreeing on the appropriateness of the content.