It is the purpose of this thesis to examine some of the literature of the Western world as it uses one color-related element: white, and to suggest whether or not this use of white is significant in that literature.

The aim of this study is to examine how four different upper secondary school teachers of Swedish relate to the global perspective and today’s multiculturalism when they do their teaching, and to examine how teachers reason and reflect concerning the use in Swedish teaching of literature written from a non-western perspective. To achieve the aim I have used a qualitative method, interviewing four Swedish teachers from two upper secondary schools. The study shows that the teachers have different attitudes to the global perspective and different perceptions of the use of non-western literature in school. They can see the value of including non-western literature in their teaching, but they rarely do so, due to factors such as lack of time, lack of knowledge, the design of the textbooks, or the use of a school canon.

The purpose of this thesis is to understand the origins of the enduring differences between the Eastern and Western interpretations of free will and determinism. In my piece, I work to determine the roots of these differences and to what degree these differences have been challenged and disrupted in the 20th century. In this pursuit, I analyze the different philosophies of free will in the East and West and then apply these philosophies to the literature of both regions. For the eastern scholarship, I am using Yukio Mishima's The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea and Motojirō Kajii's "Lemon." For the Western works, I am analyzing Kurt Vonnegut's The Sirens of Titan and Ursula K. Le Guin's "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas." After thoroughly analyzing the pieces, I discuss the possible dialogues between the East and the West to help fully realize the legitimacy of the claim that the two regions continue to harbor distinct interpretations of free will and determinism.

This project explores how literary authors used religious discourses in the sociointellectual climates of late nineteenth-century Catholic cultures. It takes its premise from a tacit paradox of Western European modernization: unlike other Western European nations, nations such as France and Spain modernized without adopting Protestantism or doctrines of anti-Catholicism or anticlericalism--and, thus, without a strict break into national secular discourses. Addressing how various religious discourses were used in modernizing France and Spain (respectively, from 1848 and from 1868 to the early twentieth century), I take a cultural-historical approach to representative religiously themed novels and short fiction of the periods. I contend that non-institutionalized traditional Catholic culture (a culture's “religious imaginary” or “Catholic imaginary”) offered authors a plural and, thus, strategic source for making cultural critiques. These critiques would have resonated widely with contemporaneous readerships, and often without overt confrontations (as anticlericalism has historically done). I point to the presence of such critiques specifically in canonical authors’ religious works--works often considered to be aberrational or “too Catholic” to be valued as modern vis-à-vis the landmarks of Western literature. Taking as my key example a novel by the “father of the modern Spanish novel,” Benito Pérez Galdós’s Misericordia or Compassion (1897), I unfold progressive readings of this text based on discourses borrowing historical, thematic, and stylistic elements from the archives of a Catholic imaginary. Thereafter, I broaden my argument by considering how comparable, but distinct, discourses inform social-critical readings of Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables or The Underclass (1862), Gustave Flaubert’s “Un Coeur simple” or “A Simple Heart” (1877), and Emilia Pardo Bazán’s “Un destripador de antaño” or “The Heart Lover” (1900). Overall, the project challenges a critical status quo that has chosen to identify canonical literature in reference to a secular aesthetic program, without allowing for the possibility that cultural-religious discourses might also carry weight for cultures that were modernizing. Additionally, it re-characterizes the modernizing intellectual, seen typically as spiritually cynical or atheist, as one acknowledging the populist force of the religious imaginary freed from church limits. / text

As women began to establish themselves in the United States workforce in the first half of the twentieth century, one especial group of career women, women writers, began to use the space of their self-authored life writing narratives to inscribe their own understanding of themselves. Roundly criticized for not adhering to conventional autobiographical standards, these women writers used purposeful political strategies of resistance to craft self-authored life writing works that varied widely from the genre of autobiography. Rather than employ the usual ways critiquing autobiographical texts, I explore a deeper understanding of what these prescient women sought to do. Through revision of the terminology of the field and in consideration of a wide variety of critics and approaches, I argue that these women intentionally employed resistance in their writings. In Dust Tracks on A Road (1942), Zora Neale Hurston successfully established her own sense of herself as a black woman, who could also comment on political issues. Her fellow Southerner, Eudora Welty in One Writer’s Beginnings (1984), used orality to deliberately showcase her view of her own life. Another Southern writer, Lillian Smith in Killers of the Dream, employed an overtly social science approach to tell the life narrative of all white Christian Southerners, and described how she felt the problems of racism should be overcome. Anzia Yezierska, a Russian émigré to the United States, used an Old World European understanding of storytelling to refashion an understanding of herself as a writer and at the same time critiqued the United States in her work, Red Ribbon on a White Horse (1950). Mary Austin, a Western woman writer, saw Earth Horizon as an opportunity to reclaim the fragmentation of a woman’s life as a positive, rather than a negative space.

Annie Proulx’s three Wyoming short story collections, Close Range, Bad Dirt, and Fine Just the Way It Is, tell regional stories that push against the myths surrounding the American West. Elements of Naturalism in her work reverse the paradigm of man’s dominance over the frontier. The cyclical nature of time in her stories shows the unfulfilling nature of nostalgia. She uses folk storytelling techniques to take an insider’s perspective and to utilize the subversive nature of dark humor.

Inspirados nos retratos de colonizadores e colonizados apresentados por Albert Memmi e Franz Fanon, escolhemos algumas narrativas angolanas para perceber de que modo são retratados literariamente os membros de uma minoria: os brancos, colonizadores ou colonos e, num momento posterior, cidadãos da república independente. É, portanto, um estudo de personagens literários, sua construção, constituição, e inclui as sugestões interpretativas que, a partir deles, pudemos fazer. Nós, os do Makulusu (1975), de José Luandino Vieira (1935-) é nosso corpus principal. Percorremo-lo do núcleo central de personagens aos mais fugidios e efêmeros. Constituem um corpus secundário os romances As lágrimas e o vento (1975), de Manuel dos Santos Lima (1935-), em que estudamos os personagens brancos e a visão que os colonizados têm deles; de Pepetela (1941-), A geração da utopia (1992), foco na personagem Sara Pereira, seus anos de exílio e seu retorno à terra natal; de Manuel Rui (1941-), Rioseco (1997), o personagem sô Pinto, português que continuou em Angola após a debandada dos brancos em 1975 e vive no Mussulo. Todas estas obras dialogam com momentos historicamente determinados, numa linha do tempo que vai de meados da década de 1930 até meados da década de 1980, da sociedade colonial à crise colonial e ao país independente. Procuramos pensar estas obras em diálogo não apenas com as outras literaturas de língua portuguesa, com as quais têm relação óbvia, também com outras obras da literatura ocidental, da qual elas, devemos enfatizar sempre isso, também fazem parte. / The portraits of colonizers and colonists that were presented by Albert Memmi and Franz Fanon inspired me selecting some Angolan narratives in order to perceive the way the members of a minority are literarily portrayed: the white minority, of either colonizers or settlers, and afterwards of citizens of the independent republic. This is a study of literary characters, their construction and constitution, and it includes the interpretations I was able to suggest from them. The novel Nós, os do Makulusu (1975), by José Luandino Vieira (1935-), is the main source of this research. I examined its characters thoroughly, from those of its central nucleus to the most fleeting and ephemeral ones. The following novels served as a second source for the research. As lágrimas e o vento, Tears and the wind (1975), by Manuel dos Santos Lima (1935-), in which I studied the white characters and how black and mestizo characters see them. A geração da utopia, The generation of utopia (1992), by Pepetela (1941-), in which I focused on the character Sara Pereira, her years of exile and her return to native land. Rioseco, Dry river (1997), by Manuel Rui (1941-), in which we studied the character sô Pinto (Mr. Pinto), a Portuguese that lives in Mussulos island (Luanda) and remained in Angola after the scampering of the Whites in 1975. All those works dialogue with specific moments of history, in a chronology from the mid 1930s to the mid 1980s, from the colonial society to the colonial crisis and the independent country. We tried to posit a dialogue of those works not only with other literatures in Portuguese language, but also with other works of the Western literature, of which, it must be always emphasized, they are also a part.

引用文獻分析法可觀察學科研究特性與歷程、未來發展趨勢、學科與跨學科關係，並建構知識地圖，但較少被應用在人文學領域的研究。而文學作品包含著豐富意涵，具有多種探討面向，正可藉引用文獻分析法來觀察其被引用的情形，而發現其多元內涵。本研究透過引用文獻分析法，以1950至2008年間台灣高度翻譯的西方外國文學作品為對象，觀察其在國外被引用的次數，以及年代、語言、主題分佈情形，以了解文學作品在台灣被翻譯次數與在國外被引用次數之差異與相關性、在不同年代、語言、主題領域中的不同影響性，以及被研究與引用的分佈情形。 研究結果如下：1.西方外國文學作品被引用次數概況：(1)整體而言，文學作品被翻譯次數與被引用次數相關程度為低度正相關；(2)西班牙文學分區之作品與莎士比亞的作品在台灣被翻譯次數與在國外被引用次數皆成高度正相關；(3)被引用次數前三名的文學分區為英國、古代西洋、法國文學；(4)被引用次數前三名的文學作品為《伊里亞德》、《奧德賽》、《神曲》。2.被引用之年代分佈情形：(1) 各文學分區最高被引年代多集中在1990年代；(2) 各年代區段皆以英國文學分區被引次數最高；(3) 1970、1980與1990三個年代區段皆以《伊里亞德》被引次數最高。3.被引用之語言分佈情形：(1) 各文學分區皆被引用在英語文章中最多；(2) 各語言文章中所高度引用的文學分區與文學作品多與該地區所使用之語言相符。4.被引用之主題分佈情形：(1) 各文學分區除了古代西洋文學，皆被引用在文學主題領域文章中最多；(2) 各主題文章所高度引用之文學作品多屬古代西洋、英國、義大利、法國與德國文學作品。 本研究結果可應用於圖書資訊界在規劃館藏發展、進行參考服務及舉辦閱讀推廣活動時之參考。外文學門研究者可藉由不同文學分區之文學作品被引用的多寡與分佈情形，觀察各文學分區與文學作品被研究的狀況與範圍，進一步探討學術研究與發展史、觀察文學作品在不同語言國家與主題領域的影響力，並發現跨科際整合研究的契機，探掘文學作品更多元深沉的內涵。 / Citation Analysis reveals research characteristics, research development, scholarly communication, and helps to construct knowledge map. However, little research devoted to the cited situation of humanity discipline. This study aims to investigate how literary works were cited. Through Citation Index, the Western literary works highly translated in Taiwan during 1950 and 2008 were examined in terms of their cited times and cited distribution in foreign papers. The findings are as follows. Correlational analysis of translated times of Western literary works in Taiwan and cited times of which in foreign research was lowly positive. Nevertheless, the translated times of Spanish literature in Taiwan and cited times of which in foreign research were highly positive correlated, and also the case in Shakespeare’s works. English literature was the most highly cited literary division in five year period, and Iliad was the most highly cited work in 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. In all literary divisions, more than half of the citing papers were in English. On the whole, the language of citing papers corresponded to the language of their highly citing literary division and works. Except for Classical literature, all literary divisions were highly cited by papers of literature subject area. In different subject areas, most highly cited works belonged to Classical literature, English literature, Italian literature, French literature, and German literature. The results of the study may assist in Collection Development, Reference, and reading promotion. On the other hand, foreign literature researchers can further observe research progress, review literary theory, and proceed interdisciplinary research to explore the abundant and diverse connotation of literary works.

Inspirados nos retratos de colonizadores e colonizados apresentados por Albert Memmi e Franz Fanon, escolhemos algumas narrativas angolanas para perceber de que modo são retratados literariamente os membros de uma minoria: os brancos, colonizadores ou colonos e, num momento posterior, cidadãos da república independente. É, portanto, um estudo de personagens literários, sua construção, constituição, e inclui as sugestões interpretativas que, a partir deles, pudemos fazer. Nós, os do Makulusu (1975), de José Luandino Vieira (1935-) é nosso corpus principal. Percorremo-lo do núcleo central de personagens aos mais fugidios e efêmeros. Constituem um corpus secundário os romances As lágrimas e o vento (1975), de Manuel dos Santos Lima (1935-), em que estudamos os personagens brancos e a visão que os colonizados têm deles; de Pepetela (1941-), A geração da utopia (1992), foco na personagem Sara Pereira, seus anos de exílio e seu retorno à terra natal; de Manuel Rui (1941-), Rioseco (1997), o personagem sô Pinto, português que continuou em Angola após a debandada dos brancos em 1975 e vive no Mussulo. Todas estas obras dialogam com momentos historicamente determinados, numa linha do tempo que vai de meados da década de 1930 até meados da década de 1980, da sociedade colonial à crise colonial e ao país independente. Procuramos pensar estas obras em diálogo não apenas com as outras literaturas de língua portuguesa, com as quais têm relação óbvia, também com outras obras da literatura ocidental, da qual elas, devemos enfatizar sempre isso, também fazem parte. / The portraits of colonizers and colonists that were presented by Albert Memmi and Franz Fanon inspired me selecting some Angolan narratives in order to perceive the way the members of a minority are literarily portrayed: the white minority, of either colonizers or settlers, and afterwards of citizens of the independent republic. This is a study of literary characters, their construction and constitution, and it includes the interpretations I was able to suggest from them. The novel Nós, os do Makulusu (1975), by José Luandino Vieira (1935-), is the main source of this research. I examined its characters thoroughly, from those of its central nucleus to the most fleeting and ephemeral ones. The following novels served as a second source for the research. As lágrimas e o vento, Tears and the wind (1975), by Manuel dos Santos Lima (1935-), in which I studied the white characters and how black and mestizo characters see them. A geração da utopia, The generation of utopia (1992), by Pepetela (1941-), in which I focused on the character Sara Pereira, her years of exile and her return to native land. Rioseco, Dry river (1997), by Manuel Rui (1941-), in which we studied the character sô Pinto (Mr. Pinto), a Portuguese that lives in Mussulos island (Luanda) and remained in Angola after the scampering of the Whites in 1975. All those works dialogue with specific moments of history, in a chronology from the mid 1930s to the mid 1980s, from the colonial society to the colonial crisis and the independent country. We tried to posit a dialogue of those works not only with other literatures in Portuguese language, but also with other works of the Western literature, of which, it must be always emphasized, they are also a part.

This study analyses two non-western novels used in the subject of Swedish in upper secondary school: Fatou Diomes The Belly of the Atlantic and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichies Half a Yellow Sun. Looking at how the books female main character relate to Stuart Halls theory of cultural identity, I come to the conclusion that they somewhat differently relate to an essential ”authentic” self. Salie talks explicit about a generic African soul that she possesses. Olanna never talks about anything ”authentic”, but her narrative and contrary subject positions can be read as a way of demasking her European ”white” self in favour of a truer Igbo self. I also come to the conclusion that both novels use themes of alienation related to gender structures and positioned westernness and that this kind of reading could contribute to interesting classroom discussions about a dynamic interpretation on culture and identity.