Guy de Maupassant's short stories "Une Aventure Parisienne" and "Le Signe" tell the tales of two female protagonists caught by curiosity. In "Une Aventure Parisienne," a notary's wife (the petite provinciale) leaves her home and ventures to Paris in search of an affair with a celebrity. After finding one and sleeping with him, the petite provinciale becomes disillusioned with her fantasy: she returns home deflated from the realization that her celebrity snores and drools just as her husband does. The high-society protagonist in "Le Signe," Madame de Grangerie, is also disenchanted with her interest in imitating the gesture of a prostitute she notices across the street. When faced with a male client she frantically gives in to what she has offered. Needing to reaffirm her identity as an "honnête femme," she solicits advice from her friend on what to do if the client returns. While both protagonists do not face legal punishment for their affairs, they do confront personal consequences. The petite provinciale's dreams about celebrities burst and Madame de Grangerie's reputation appears at risk. Maupassant not only comments on feminine curiosity and adultery, but also on the internal effects such actions could potentially have on women of his time. In this thesis I argue that even though both protagonists act on their curiosities and flirt with private/public boundaries, the petite provinciale and Madame de Grangerie are ultimately presented through masculinized lenses. I also show how discursive nineteenth-century traditions of a limited view of female sexuality are reconstructed in Maupassant's tales. / Master of Arts

Often overlooked, yet still a significant and visible social code, jewelry and its symbolic power are barely analyzed in literary criticism. In this thesis, by tracing jewelry's various functions and representations throughout the 19th century, one discovers its ability to also blur and reinforce boundaries that so typifies the tensions and redefinitions happening throughout this era. With the rise of the bourgeoisie and industrial production, jewelry became more available to the masses than it ever had before. Its transformation occurred alongside the newfound desire for women to be seen, perhaps as a direct result of patriarchal society's attempt to relegate them to the private sphere where they were to carry out their domestic duties. For women, the beginning of the century marked itself as an "[époque] stricte, corsetée, guindée et protégée," the fin-de-siècle was an era that promoted the sensual liberation for women whose existence had been relegated to the private sphere to perform only domestic duties (Coupeau 85). Thus, by tracing jewelry's representation in the 19th century, I unveil how women broke through social restrictions by transforming their literal chains of submission and esclavage into pieces of adornment that brandished their desire to be seen, to be liberated, to be desired. / Master of Arts / Jewelry and its symbolic power are barely analyzed in literary criticism. In this thesis, by tracing jewelry's various functions and representations throughout the 19th-century, one discovers its ability to also blur and reinforce boundaries that so typifies the tensions and redefinitions happening throughout this era. With the rise of the bourgeoisie and industrial production, jewelry became more available to the masses than it ever had before. For women, the beginning of the century marked itself as a period of restrictions and protection while the fin-de-siècle promoted the sensual liberation for women whose existence had been relegated to the home to carry out their domestic duties (Coupeau 85). Thus, by tracing jewelry's representation in the 19th century, I unveil how women broke through social restrictions by transforming their literal chains of submission and esclavage into pieces of adornment that brandished their desire to be seen, to be liberated, to be desired.

This thesis discusses Adelardo Lopez De Ayala's position in the drama of the nineteenth century. Topics covered include: Literary movements in Spain in the nineteenth century, Lopez De Ayala's treatment of plot, the moral element in Lopez De Ayala's plays and character delineation in Lopez De Ayala's plays.

Sir John Tenniel worked for the Victorian magazine Punch for over fifty years, from 1850 to 1901, and served as head cartoonist for the latter thirty-seven years of his tenure at the magazine. Tenniel's cartoons effectively became the heart of Punch's visual lineup, and the sentiments expressed by these cartoons both reflected and influenced the opinions of the magazine']s vast middle class readership. However, they did not generally reflect the opinions of the cartoonist himself: Tenniel had little to no say in decisions regarding the content or stance of his cartoons. The artist ostensibly had no problem with this arrangement, once telling a historian, "As for political opinions, I have none… [I] profess only those of my paper." This project argues that the artist did indeed inject a degree of personal opinion into his work, albeit in hidden and unconscious ways. Instead of using the medium of cartoons as an overt vehicle for his opinion, Tenniel's values and views come out in his use of iconography and his choice of models for his drawings. As a conservative Victorian man operating in the rapidly changing world of the latter nineteenth century, Tenniel used his drawings as a way to tap into the England of his youth and possibly reclaim the art world he originally studied to join as a young man. His iconography frequently looked back to medieval England, framing current events within these themes until the end of his career. Furthermore, Tenniel doggedly refused to update his mental drawing models for certain forms of technology, even when his depictions became obviously anachronistic. This thesis examines these tendencies through the threefold lenses of Material Culture Studies, Social Constructivism, and Nostalgia Studies in an attempt to link Tenniel's treatment of medieval iconography and depiction of modern technology with the nostalgic past. / Master of Arts

In the nineteenth century, amidst the rise of anti-Catholicism in the Western world, narratives served as a persuasive medium to influence the reading public. Anti-clerical sentiment was conveyed in various forms of text, often depicting the Catholic convent as a place of sinister confinement. This thesis offers an alternative representation of the French nineteenth-century convent. Considering the prevailing social, economic, and political environment in France, along with the conception of social space, I argue that the convent represents a place of sanctuary and opportunity for some women and girls. Further, in view of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, I examine the representation of the convent as a place for rebirth. Likewise, in analyzing George Sand's autobiography Histoire de ma vie, I explore the representation of the convent as a haven for reviving creativity. Thus, by close reading and critical examination of these literary representations, I contend that the nineteenth-century convent can provide a place of refuge. / Master of Arts / Following the French Revolution of 1789, two opposing ideologies gathered momentum in France: monasticism and anti-clericalism. Beginning in 1815, enlistment of nuns in religious congregations doubled every fifteen years until the end of the century. During this period, anti-clericalism remained a potent political and social force. As with any institution of power, narratives served as a persuasive medium to influence the reading public. Anti-clerical sentiment was conveyed in various forms of text, often depicting the Catholic convent as a place of sinister confinement. These diverse depictions of the convent as a nefarious enclosure seem to contradict the growth and appeal of female religious orders during the epoch. This thesis offers an alternative representation of the French nineteenth-century convent. Partially owing to prevailing social, economic, and political structures that limited women's opportunities, convents attracted women from middle- or upper-class families who desired to serve in the public domains of healthcare and education. Considering this environment in France, along with the conception of social space, I argue that the convent represents a place of sanctuary and opportunity for some women and girls. Further, in view of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, I examine the representation of the convent as a place for rebirth. Likewise, in analyzing George Sand's autobiography Histoire de ma vie, I explore the representation of the convent as a haven for reviving creativity. Thus, by close reading and critical examination of these literary representations, I contend that the nineteenth-century convent can provide a place of refuge.

No description available.

This dissertation deploys queer theory and temporality to investigate the ways in which American authors were writing about identity at the turn of the twentieth century. I provide a more expansive use of queer theory, and argue that queerness moves beyond sexual and gender identity to have intersectional implications. This is articulated in the phrase "queer textual libido" which connects queer theory with affect and temporal theories. Queerness reveals itself on both narrative and rhetorical levels, and can be used productively to show the complex navigation between individual and national identity formation.

Nesta dissertação, apresenta-se um estudo descritivo das construções concessivas, consideradas como complexos subordinativos, em jornais brasileiros do século XIX. Os dados foram colhidos em materiais editados para os estudos do Projeto Para História do Português Brasileiro (PHPB), mais precisamente em cartas de leitores e de redatores de jornais oitocentistas do Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Paraná, Pernambuco, Bahia e Minas Gerais. Num primeiro momento, foram analisados o grau de formalidade e o gênero dos textos em questão. Em seguida, numa perspectiva funcionalista, buscou-se descrever, analisar e explicar o comportamento das construções concessivas, levando-se em conta: o tipo de conector concessivo utilizado, o valor das construções contrastivas, a correlação modo-temporal, a posição das orações no complexo concessivo, a possibilidade de inversão na ordem das orações, os domínios de leitura, o jogo da polaridade, os tipos de predicação nas duas orações do complexo concessivo. Elementos extra-lingüísticos como o tipo de autor das cartas e o período do século em que foram elaboradas também foram levados em consideração para composição da análise. Desse modo, a descrição do uso das construções concessivas no século XIX tem o propósito de contribuir para os estudos sobre a história do Português Brasileiro. / This dissertation introduces a descriptive study of the concessive constructions, which is considered subornative complexes, in brazilian periodicals of the nineteenth century. The data had been collected in edited materials for studies of Brazilian Portuguese history project (BPHP), more necessarily in readers and periodical editors letters of the nineteenth century, from Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Paraná, Pernambuco, Bahia and Minas Gerais. At a first moment, the formality degree and the literal sort had been analyzed. After that, in a functionary perspective, it was tried to describe, analyze and explain the concessive constructions behavior, detaching: the type of the concessive conector used, the value of the contrastive constructions, the correlation manner-time, the position of the conjuncts in the concessive complex, the possibility of changes in the order of the conjuncts, the reading domain, the polarity game, the kind of predicative in both conjunctives of the concessive complex. Extra-linguistics elements, like the kind of the letters author and the period of the century where they had been written, had been also taken in consideration for the compositions of the analysis. In this way, the description of the concessive constructions use, in century nineteen, has the intention to contribute for the studies about the Brazilian Portuguese history.

Nesta dissertação, apresenta-se um estudo descritivo das construções concessivas, consideradas como complexos subordinativos, em jornais brasileiros do século XIX. Os dados foram colhidos em materiais editados para os estudos do Projeto Para História do Português Brasileiro (PHPB), mais precisamente em cartas de leitores e de redatores de jornais oitocentistas do Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Paraná, Pernambuco, Bahia e Minas Gerais. Num primeiro momento, foram analisados o grau de formalidade e o gênero dos textos em questão. Em seguida, numa perspectiva funcionalista, buscou-se descrever, analisar e explicar o comportamento das construções concessivas, levando-se em conta: o tipo de conector concessivo utilizado, o valor das construções contrastivas, a correlação modo-temporal, a posição das orações no complexo concessivo, a possibilidade de inversão na ordem das orações, os domínios de leitura, o jogo da polaridade, os tipos de predicação nas duas orações do complexo concessivo. Elementos extra-lingüísticos como o tipo de autor das cartas e o período do século em que foram elaboradas também foram levados em consideração para composição da análise. Desse modo, a descrição do uso das construções concessivas no século XIX tem o propósito de contribuir para os estudos sobre a história do Português Brasileiro. / This dissertation introduces a descriptive study of the concessive constructions, which is considered subornative complexes, in brazilian periodicals of the nineteenth century. The data had been collected in edited materials for studies of Brazilian Portuguese history project (BPHP), more necessarily in readers and periodical editors letters of the nineteenth century, from Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Paraná, Pernambuco, Bahia and Minas Gerais. At a first moment, the formality degree and the literal sort had been analyzed. After that, in a functionary perspective, it was tried to describe, analyze and explain the concessive constructions behavior, detaching: the type of the concessive conector used, the value of the contrastive constructions, the correlation manner-time, the position of the conjuncts in the concessive complex, the possibility of changes in the order of the conjuncts, the reading domain, the polarity game, the kind of predicative in both conjunctives of the concessive complex. Extra-linguistics elements, like the kind of the letters author and the period of the century where they had been written, had been also taken in consideration for the compositions of the analysis. In this way, the description of the concessive constructions use, in century nineteen, has the intention to contribute for the studies about the Brazilian Portuguese history.

This thesis is a transatlantic examination of self-representational strategies in factory women's poetry from circa 1848-1882, highlighting in particular how the medium of the working-class periodical enabled these socially marginal poets to subjectively engage with and reconfigure dominant typologies of class and gender within nineteenth-century poetics. The first chapter explores how working-class women were depicted in middle-class social-reform literature and working-class men's poetry. It argues that factory women were circumscribed into roles of social villainy or victimage in popular bourgeois reform texts by authors such as Elizabeth Barrett Browning and Caroline Norton, and were cast as idealized domestic figures in working-class men's poetry in the mid-nineteenth century. The remaining three chapters examine the poetry of Manchester dye-worker Fanny Forrester, Scottish weaver Ellen Johnston, and Lowell mill-girl Lucy Larcom as case-studies of factory women's poetics in mid-nineteenth century writing. Chapter Two discusses the life and work of Fanny Forrester in Ben Brierley's Journal, and considers how Forrester's invocation of the pastoral genre opens new opportunities for urban, factory women to engage with ideologies of domestic femininity within a destabilized urban cityscape. Chapter Three considers the work of Ellen Johnston, “The Factory Girl” whose numerous poems in The People's Journal and the Penny Post cross genres, dialects, and themes. This chapter claims that Johnston's poetry divides class and gender identity depending on her intended audience—a division exemplified, respectively, by her nationalistic poetry and her sentimental correspondence poetry. Chapter Four explores the work of Lucy Larcom, whose contributions to The Lowell Offering and her novel-poem An Idyl of Work harness the language and philosophy of Evangelical Christianity to validate women's wage-labor as socially and religiously appropriate. Ultimately, this thesis contends that nineteenth-century factory women's poetry from Britain and America embodies the tensions surrounding the “factory girl” identity, and offers unique aesthetic and representational strategies of negotiating women's factory labor.