In this thesis, I examine depictions of black female characters crafted by black authors writing in the late 19th century, and I consider how they use these depictions as attempts to challenge white supremacist rhetoric and imagery. In particular, I examine how Frances E.W. Harper and Sutton E. Griggs represent black women through their female characters in their respective novels, Iola Leroy and Imperium in Imperio. I situate these novels within the historical moments, Reconstruction and Redemption, with which Harper and Griggs both document and contend. In these two texts, Harper and Griggs trace, through their characters’ struggles, the hopes and gains of Reconstruction, and the frustration and despair of Redemption. In attending so closely to their own political contexts, Harper and Griggs, non-traditional novelists who were more well known for other forms of writing and for their oratorical skills, selected the novel as a political tool to theorize uplift. Throughout this thesis I examine how and why their constructions of black womanhood in Iola Leroy and Imperium in Imperio frequently idealize their female characters, and I focus on both authors’ efforts to reclaim the image of black women, salvaging it from the destructive imagery of plantation literature and introducing a proud and positive model of black feminine virtue, strength, and influence.

Over the last century, Americans have come to understand literature as a powerful tool for shaping individuals and society. Indeed, this perception of literature animates how Americans have and continue to debate what books to include—or exclude—in secondary school curricula. Texts dealing with issues of race, gender, and sexuality have proven especially controversial. This dissertation examines the claims people make about how reading literature can change readers and society through moral lessons. It offers case studies focused on three books that have been celebrated, banned, and taught in terms of their potential to inform readers’ moral and empathetic development: Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), Mark Twain’s Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), and Toni Morrison’s Beloved (1987). This dissertation shows how assumptions about literature’s ability to inform a readers’ moral and empathetic development can be better understood in relation to the tradition of sentimental literature—a genre and rhetorical mode of storytelling aimed to promote moral and social reform by evoking certain feelings in readers. The case studies illustrate instances when the didactic rhetorical models of sentimental literature appear as a mode of reading and interpretation, which I refer to as sentimental hermeneutics. Building on studies of religion, literature, and secularism, this dissertation analyzes the religious dimensions that emerge in the ostensibly secular interpretive methods and ‘universal’ moral frameworks used to teach and interpret these texts. Contemporary sentimental hermeneutics are indebted to an historical synthesis between Christian devotional reading practices and sentimental fiction in the 19th century. The novels examined are at various levels of conformity and dissonance with the rhetorical modes and religious foundations of this sentimental tradition. My study shows how the unacknowledged religious lineage of interpretive and moral frameworks commonly used to teach these books enacts certain religious, social, and ontological exclusions. Each case study outlines limits of sentimental hermeneutics and the analysis of Beloved offers an alternative framework for readerly empathy. By restoring to view the often-hidden religious histories of these reading strategies, this project pushes readers to parochialize the universalizing claims of these ostensibly secular moral messages: it calls for a form of reading that moves past the exclusions of sentimental hermeneutics.

Cette thèse analyse la manière dont les métaphores et les comparaisons de Harper Lee ont été traduites dans les trois versions françaises de To Kill a Mockingbird, un des romans les plus célèbres de la littérature américaine. Comme point de départ, nous examinons les théories existantes sur la traductologie et les figures de style, ce qui nous aide à comprendre la fonction de la métaphore et de la comparaison au sein d’un texte littéraire. Par la suite, nous étudions les métaphores et comparaisons qui n’ont pas pu être traduites aisément, souvent à cause de leur charge culturel. Paradoxalement, les connotations et les références culturelles jouent un rôle important dans l’œuvre de Lee, et elles sont indispensables pour la reconstruction de son univers à l’étranger. Afin de traduire l’intraduisible, le traducteur doit recourir à des stratégies complexes et variées, parfois faisant preuve d’une grande créativité. Un chapitre entier est donc consacré aux traductions inventives où le traducteur se transforme en écrivain. En effet, on se pose des questions sur le rôle du traducteur : doit-il rester passif ou est-il libre de façonner le texte cible comme il le souhaite ? Le dernier chapitre se focalise sur les similitudes entre le français et l’anglais, grâce auxquelles un passage fluide d’une langue à l’autre est souvent possible. Dans chaque version, nous observons des tendances méthodologiques et stylistiques, qui varient selon l’époque et/ou les préférences de chaque traducteur. Étant donné que la traduction parfaite n’existe pas, nous concluons que chaque nouvelle version contribue à sa manière à l’expérience du lecteur dans la langue cible. / This thesis analyses the way in which Harper Lee’s metaphors and similes have been translated in the three French versions of To Kill a Mockingbird, one of the most famous novels in American literature. As a starting point, we examine the existing theories regarding Translation Studies and stylistic devices, which helps us to understand the purpose of metaphors and similes within a literary text. We then study those metaphors and similes that could not be translated with ease, mainly owing to their cultural significance. Paradoxically, cultural connotations and references play a significant role in Lee’s work, and they are indispensable in reconstructing her universe abroad. In order to translate the untranslatable, the translator has to resort to complex and diverse strategies, sometimes demonstrating a high level of creativity. An entire chapter is therefore devoted to inventive translations where the translator becomes a writer in his or her own right. Indeed we ask ourselves several questions about the role of a translator : should he remain passive or is he free to shape the target text as he desires? The final chapter focuses on the similarities between French and English, thanks to which a swift passage between the two languages is often possible. In each version, we notice methodological and stylistic trends that vary according to the publication date and/or the preferences of each translator. Given that there is no such thing as a perfect translation, we come to the conclusion that every new version contributes in its own way to the reader’s experience in the target language.

The 2015 publication of Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman (2015) raised questions and concerns when it was read in the context of the author’s first novel, To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), a text with strong, direct statements related to civil rights and social injustice. This thesis examines textual similarities and differences between Watchman and Mockingbird, suggesting the likely influence of editor Thèrése “Tay” von Hohoff in Mockingbird’s published version. Additionally, the thesis examines Hohoff’s 1959 biography, A Ministry to Man: The Life of John Lovejoy Elliott, as a plausible inspiration for Lee’s Mockingbird hero, Atticus Finch. Containing corroboration from available correspondence, biographical information, interviews, and historical records, this thesis documents Hohoff’s editorial influence on Lee as the two worked together to create a lasting contribution to American literary history and culture.

Submitted by Jailda Nascimento (jmnascimento@pucsp.br) on 2016-10-06T19:26:44Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Carolina Fabian Sato Gavino.pdf: 2128218 bytes, checksum: fea0514765e3b26492d48228bd0afbe4 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-06T19:26:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Carolina Fabian Sato Gavino.pdf: 2128218 bytes, checksum: fea0514765e3b26492d48228bd0afbe4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-08-11 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This research assigns the perception of Harper‟s Bazaar magazine in Brazil as a bold and dialectic image of our time. The main objective of the dissertation is to track how fashion is represented on the magazine made itself as merchandise and phantasmagoria fetish since its foundation until today. In order to validate it, we use support in the Walter Benjamin‟s studies inserted in The Arcades Project and Selected Writings. According to the historical context of the time period preceding the North American magazine debut in 1867, birth of industrial capitalism and rise of bourgeoisie class in the heart of society. In that way expanding the beginning of Haute Couture and media in the fashion industry in Europe and United States. Adorno‟s and Horkheimer‟s study about the concept of Iluminism was summoned in this section of our work for elucidation of how the 19th century upper class men thinks. The second chapter of this investigation trusts Benjamin‟s writings in The Arcades Project. Susan Buck-Morrs (2002) and Willi Bolle (2000) analysis that set up a significant part of the state of art about The Arcade Project, were consulted to develop conclusions about fashion and Bazaar‟s magazine as dream imagery. In the third chapter, it is possible to add up the existence of fashion editorial and photography support as a historical object in Brazil. For theoretical guidance, we employ Trivinho (2012) analysis about Glocal and Benjamin‟s rehearsal about aura The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. This is research importance is due to the fact that the brazilian Harper‟s Bazaar was short-lived, launched only in 2011, even so it is one of the most dated American fashion magazine. Furthermore, we highlight the absence of a review of this type of media in the field of communication and semiotics / A presente pesquisa destinou-se a percepção da revista Harper‟s Bazaar no Brasil como imagem onírica e dialética de nosso tempo. O objetivo central da dissertação foi observar como a moda apresentada na revista se fez como fetiche da mercadoria e fantasmagoria desde a sua fundação até hoje. Para tanto, nos apoiamos sobre os estudos de Walter Benjamin contidos no Trabalho das Passagens e suas Obras Escolhidas. Levantamos para tal o contexto histórico do período que antecedeu o lançamento da revista de origem norte-americana em 1867, o nascimento do capitalismo industrial e a ascensão da classe burguesa no seio da sociedade. Deste modo, destrinchamos o início da moda de Alta Costura e da imprensa de moda na Europa e Estados Unidos. O estudo de Adorno e Horkheimer (1996) sobre o conceito de Iluminismo foi convocado neste trecho de nosso trabalho para a elucidação sobre o modo de pensar do homem burguês do século XIX. O segundo capítulo da pesquisa fez préstimo aos escritos de Benjamin em seu Trabalho das Passagens. As análises de Susan Buck-Morrs (2002) e Willi Bolle (2000), que configuram parte importante do estado da arte sobre o Trabalho das Passagens, foram consultadas para tecer nossas conclusões acerca da moda e da revista Bazaar como imagem onírica. No terceiro capítulo, verificamos a possível presença aurática em torno da publicação editorial de moda no Brasil como objeto histórico e como suporte da fotografia de moda. Tomamos como base teórica as observações de Trivinho (2012) sobre o Glocal e os ensaios de Benjamin sobre a aura A Obra de Arte na Era da Reprodutibilidade Técnica e Pequena História da Fotografia. A relevância dessa pesquisa se deve à brevidade da revista Harper‟s Bazaar brasileira, lançada somente em 2011, e por se tratar de uma das mais antigas revistas de moda da América. Além disso, destacamos a ausência de uma análise do veículo em questão no campo da Comunicação e da Semiótica

The thesis writing here is an effort by the artist to identify his motives in creating, and his aims for the audience, and to communicate this to the reader in a clear and truthful manner. Section 1 focuses on introducing the ground of the artists’ thinking, discussing his ideas of the body and culture identity, and how they motivate his work. Section 2 goes into greater detail about the manner his thought process evolved through the course of a number of works. In Section 3, there is an ever sharper focus in the works towards the isolated and inscrutable individual. The theme that runs throughout is that, although it’s difficult if not impossible to fully communicate with another, the effort is worthwhile.

Thesis (M.H.A.)--University of Michigan, 1964.

Thesis (M.H.A.)--University of Michigan, 1962.

Thesis (M.H.A.)--University of Michigan, 1962. / eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record.

Thesis (M.H.A.)--University of Michigan, 1964.