Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2004. / Supervisors: Lily Litvak and Virginia Higginbotham. Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Also available from UMI.

Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral)--Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [271]-286).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (D.A.)--Illinois State University, 1999. / Title from title page screen, viewed July 26, 2006. Dissertation Committee: M. Paul Holsinger (chair), Lawrence W. McBride, John B. Freed, Steven E. Kagle. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 225-239) and abstract. Also available in print.

Originally presented as the author's thesis (doctoral)--Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [271]-286).

No description available.

No description available.

This thesis is a comparative literary study which is conducted by placing the reception of Russian literature in Spain during the period 1918-36 within the context of the interplay of literature and the social and political situations in which it is written. It first places the boom in the publication of Russian literature in the late 1920s and 1930s within the context of the history of the reception of Russian literature in Spain, providing a comprehensive survey of that history. Next, it describes the impact of the Russian Revolution and the formative years of the Soviet Socialist state on the political situation in pre-Civil War Spain, including the ideological links between the political situations of both countries. In pre-Civil War Spain, the revolutionary atmosphere changed the mood, subject matter and style of literature, and certain writers, recognizing their civic duty, began to produce literature that had a socially critical and didactic role. During that period, given the political context and the development of politically committed literature, Spanish intellectuals and artists of a Marxist persuasion derived incentive from their Russian counterparts. Russian literature has traditionally been the forum for social criticism, and has had a profoundly revolutionary dimension. Pre-revolutionary writers such as Dostoevsky and Andreev have been perceived by outsiders as revolutionary writers, and, in that capacity, have enjoyed great popularity abroad, including Spain. In the Soviet era, Mayakovsky was often considered to be the "Poet of the Revolution", and Gorky was the chief spokesman in the promotion of socialist ideals in literature in the twenty years following the Revolution. In Spanish pre-Civil War fiction, both the social novel and poetry were instrumental in conveying overtly Marxist messages. The thesis concludes with a comprehensive study about certain Spanish writers and their works, in the domains of poetry and the novel, specifically seeking evidence of the impact of the literature and ideology which was emanating from Russia in the first third of the twentieth century.

xii, 185 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / This dissertation examines the intersection between aesthetics and politics in the French Caribbean novel. The major argument of this work is that French Caribbean novels pursue a political agenda. I contend that in this literature, unlike in that of any other part of the contemporary world, theoretical considerations take precedence over aesthetic concerns in writers' works. I call this an "aesthetics of rupture." Considering works by authors such as Aimé Césaire, Léon-Gontran Damas, Maryse Condé, Edouard Glissant, Patrick Chamoiseau, Daniel Maximin and Gisèle Pineau, I argue that only by looking beyond aesthetic innovations in these authors' texts, can we fully ascertain the significance of this politically committed literature. The first chapter discusses the relevance of the theoretical approach and the contribution this work brings to the field. The second chapter examines how West Indian writers use theoretical approaches to regain control over the metadiscourses applied to their works. The third chapter looks at Caribbean aesthetics as the product of writers' collective effort and of the dialogic nature of their texts. The fourth chapter analyses the question of the hero in the Caribbean novel and the fifth chapter discusses the crossing of politics and ethics in Caribbean writing. The last chapter addresses the post-Césaire era and the future of literary production in the French Caribbean. I contend that, preoccupied about the power of their writing to effect any real world change, Caribbean writers seem haunted by Fanon's call to engage in political action. The issue of ethics thus arises as a result of a dilemma born from the conflict between the subject's political agenda and his/her human values. The ethical question in this literature concerns the crossing of an ethical subjectivity with a political agenda. The first response to this quandary is a redefinition of the notion of the hero that departs from Western "vertical" heroism and promotes a "horizontal" heroism. In addition, through their novels, Caribbean writers distance themselves from a universal humanism to advocate for an "ethics of action" which locates its legitimacy in the urgency of political agency for their people. / Committee in charge: Karen McPherson, Chairperson, Romance Languages; Massimo Lollini, Member, Romance Languages; Andre Djiffack, Member, Romance Languages; Steven Shankman, Outside Member, English

This thesis offers the first detailed study of publishing culture in the medieval eastern Islamic world by examining how two influential anthologists active in Central Asia mediated between authors and their audiences. It analyses the contents of al-Tha'ālibī's (d. 429/1037-8) Yatīmat al-dahr, a biographical anthology of Arabic poetry and prose concerned with the literature of the 4th/10th and the early 5th/11th centuries, comparing them with the material found in 'Awfī's (d. 640/1242 or before) Lubāb al-albāb, a biographical anthology of Persian poetry focused on verse produced between the late 3rd/9th and the early 7th/13th centuries. Yatīmat al-dahr and Lubāb al-albāb are approached as ventures which aimed to render the high culture of Arabic and Persian literature accessible to readers by presenting hitherto unpublished texts in a pedagogical fashion. The thesis contributes to a current wave of research that is concerned with the history of the book in the Islamic world, but it moves the focus of such scholarship onto literary texts and their manipulation. Its principal findings can be summarised as follows: Firstly, it revises the prevalent idea that literary culture was entirely dependent on patronage, by demonstrating how market demand influenced the kinds of writing produced in the different regions of the Arabic- and Persian-speaking worlds. Patronage emerges as a force that was intertwined with the book trade, which had already begun to define conceptions of authorship. Secondly, it shows that anthologies are more than collections of exemplary texts, by uncovering how al-Tha'ālibī and 'Awfī pursue the study of society, literary history and literary theory. The anthologists did not simply reproduce extracts, but edited them in accordance with their broader intellectual projects. Lastly, it reconstructs the cosmopolitan literary culture which existed in Khurasan and Transoxiana between the 4th/10th and 7th/13th centuries, showing that many authors worked in bilingual Arabic-Persian environments, moved between Arabic and Persian spheres, and read books in both languages. The thesis is accompanied by an index of circa eight thousand poems catalogued by genre, and by an appendix which lists the material that the anthologists drew from their sources.