Privilegia-se nesta dissertação a leitura e interpretação de Avalovara, romance de Osman Lins, sob a ótica de um tema universal da literatura o amor humano, seguindo-se as pistas deixadas pelo autor em entrevistas e analisando-se, de modo especial, sua configuração poética na narrativa. Tendo em vista o intenso conteúdo sexual do romance, estuda-se as várias dimensões do amor carnal, desde o uso político do corpo até seu aspecto mítico e cosmogônico. Para tanto, primeiro conceitua-se literatura erótica para depois contextualizar-se Avalovara na tradição ocidental no século XX. Em seguida, são apontadas suas fontes, que remontam à Bíblia e à tradição hindu do tantra. Unindo-as, Lins cria um amor concreto e carnal, capaz de levar os amantes a reencontrar a unidade original. Além disso, ao incorporar a geometria simbólica do tantra na estrutura do romance, Lins confere à literatura um poder mágico até então encontrado apenas em textos religiosos e místicos. De modo que esta dissertação, fundamentada também em teorias da narrativa e do romance e numa abordagem comparatista, tem sobretudo uma perspectiva crítica: mostrar a especificidade de Avalovara, dentro da tradição da literatura erótica e o seu papel no contexto da literatura brasileira, nos anos da ditadura militar. / This dissertation focuses on the reading and interpretation of Osman Lins novel Avalovara based on a universal literary theme human love -, following the clues left by the author in interviews and analyzing especially its poetic configuration in the narrative. Taking into consideration the intense sexual component of the novel, it studies the various aspects of carnal love, from the political use of the body to its cosmogony and its mythical aspect. In order to do so, it first defines erotic literature to then position Avalovara in the twentieth century occidental tradition. Afterwards, it indicates its sources, which go back to the Bible and the Hindu tradition of the tantra. In uniting them, Lins creates a carnal and concrete love, capable of taking the lovers back to the original unity. In incorporating the symbolic geometry of tantra in the novels structure, Lins gives literature a magical power until then only seen in religious and mystical texts. Moreover, this dissertation, also based in narrative and novel theories and in a comparative approach, has above all a critical perspective: to show Avalovaras uniqueness in the tradition of erotic literature and its role in Brazilian literature, during the military dictatorship.

Instead of discussing an outstanding literary work by a well-known Swahili writer, this time I would like to present a second- or third-rate book by a renownless author (at least to my knowledge), Gilbert Gicaru Githere.2 Its title is Mwana Maji na Mrembo (The Marine and the beauty). It was published in 1990 by an otherwise unknown publishing house, Merengo Publishers, and printed in Hawaii. I have chosen this book because, in spite of its many flaws, it has some interesting features: The whole novel is written almost as a film script; descriptions of actions and landscapes are film-like, and the characters are seen as if they were on the screen. The problem is that this narrative technique does not work, so I want to analyse what is wrong with it.

Abstact: The overall objective of this thesis is to draw attention to discussion as a teaching technique. Discussion can be used to develop pupils' abilities, which are necessary for social life. The question: "How do teachers understand this technique and then apply it?", is closely linked to this problem. It is worth mentioning that discussion has very bad connotations in the Czech society. It is mainly due to its representation in media, where discussion is usually shown as a fight of arguments with an arrogant attitude, unethical and self-centred word-tiffs. The only goal is to state one's case very fast and to silence the rival. Where else can a different concept of discussion be seen? Where can we encounter discussion that resembles a dialogue? In my oppinion it is at school. I believe that if discussion is used in the right way at school it can help the society. I consider this as a very current issue and its solution very useful. This thesis is based on an assumption that teachers work with this educational technique in an intuitive way and they do not often take advantage of possibilities offered by the discussion that could develop pupils' personal abilities. The main objective of this thesis is to offer a more extensive theoretical background. It means to define the concept of a discussion with...