How do we understand our encounter with ambivalent or visceral aesthetic feelings—textual environments, moods, and atmospheres—if they do not solely belong to the representation of individual or collective emotions? This dissertation proposes a concept of “the feeling of form” to approach these aesthetic feelings as formal dynamics, such as restless orientations and rhythmic intensities. How can literary forms have feelings, and where—or is it necessary—to locate the textual body and the subject of these feelings? The goal of my dissertation is not to show what specific neurological procedures are involved in the emotive-cognitive entanglement between the text and the reader, but to understand “form” as a verb—forming, shaping, mediating, transmitting—whose dynamics and actions manifest the narrative form’s visceral aesthetic feelings, and to examine how such feelings bear significant cultural and political currency. Reading formal dynamics as aesthetic feelings also invites us to adjust our usual gaze at “form” away from categories coined by various formalisms, such as “genre,” “structure,” “focalization,” or “style.” In doing so, we are able to reimagine these categories as part of the dynamics of formal reorientations, rhythms, and syntactic intensities, and to open ourselves up to the impersonal agency and criticality of literary forms. Based on these convictions, my dissertation argues that reading for the feeling of form allows us to experience how literary forms transmit and regenerate volatile experiences of history in ways that complicate, supplement, or subvert the explicit representation of historical events and temporality in a literary text. In this dissertation, I focus on the relationship between the feeling of form and the experience of various histories in Ford Madox Ford’s Parade’s End (1924–1928), Lewis Grassic Gibbon’s A Scots Quair (1932–1934), Lawrence Durrell’s The Alexandria Quartet (1957–60), and Kazuo Ishiguro’s single-volume novel The Unconsoled (1995). Chapter One traces how nauseous form in Parade’s End allows us to experience wartime and postwar anxiety through Christopher Tietjens’s self-revolting and incoherent consciousness. Chapter Two examines how the deterioration of rhythm in A Scot’s Quair transmits a historical experience of gradual suffocation intricately linked with Scotland’s political and ecological disasters. In a brief Coda, I conclude my project by looking at how The Alexandria Quartet and The Unconsoled manifest weakened and depleted feelings of form, and how these feelings prompt us to rethink the relationship of the feeling of form to European heteronormative ideology and the ethics of community formation. The Unconsoled (1995), in particular, serves as a twofold limit case of the feeling of form: first, as a limit case of the futile feeling of form, and second, as a limit case of the distinction between the novel form and the novel series form. This twofold limit case speaks to its own historical experience of futility at the end of history, and responds to the aesthetic and ideological legacies of early twentieth-century experimental novel series. / Graduate / 2021-05-12

O objetivo deste trabalho é destacar a habilidade com a qual Aluísio Azevedo acompanhou algumas das transformações tecnológicas ocorridas na penúltima década do século XIX. Esta pesquisa analisa o movimento criativo de Casa de Pensão, a partir de textos que compõem o corpus: a primeira edição no formato de romance-seriado, publicada no periódico Folha Nova (1883) e da primeira edição em livro, publicada por Faro & Lino Editores (1884). As transformações ocorridas no processo criativo foram estudadas por intermédio da metodologia para a análise do padrão narrativo do romance-seriado, sistematizada por Ribeiro (1996; 2000). De modo complementar à apreciação dos aspectos intertextuais, consideramos a influência do contexto do processo criação, de onde emergem vozes relacionadas à Questão Capistrano (1876) e ao hibridismo discursivo imanente à estrutura narrativa do romance Casa de Pensão. / The main aim of this paper is to highlight the ability with which Aluísio Azevedo led some of technological transformations that occurred in the last nineteenth century decade. This research analyses the Casa de Pensão creative movement based on texts that compose the corpus: the first edition in novel-series format published in the journal named Folha Nova (1883), and about the first edition in book format published by Faro & Lino Editors (1884). The transformations occurred in the creative process were studied through the methodology to analyze the novel-series narrative pattern organized by Ribeiro (1996; 2000). In order to complement the assessment of intertextual aspects, it was considered the influence about the context of the process creation where the voices that were linked to Questão Capistrano (1876) came out and about the discursive hybridism immanent to the narrative structure of Casa de Pensão novel.

O objetivo deste trabalho é destacar a habilidade com a qual Aluísio Azevedo acompanhou algumas das transformações tecnológicas ocorridas na penúltima década do século XIX. Esta pesquisa analisa o movimento criativo de Casa de Pensão, a partir de textos que compõem o corpus: a primeira edição no formato de romance-seriado, publicada no periódico Folha Nova (1883) e da primeira edição em livro, publicada por Faro & Lino Editores (1884). As transformações ocorridas no processo criativo foram estudadas por intermédio da metodologia para a análise do padrão narrativo do romance-seriado, sistematizada por Ribeiro (1996; 2000). De modo complementar à apreciação dos aspectos intertextuais, consideramos a influência do contexto do processo criação, de onde emergem vozes relacionadas à Questão Capistrano (1876) e ao hibridismo discursivo imanente à estrutura narrativa do romance Casa de Pensão. / The main aim of this paper is to highlight the ability with which Aluísio Azevedo led some of technological transformations that occurred in the last nineteenth century decade. This research analyses the Casa de Pensão creative movement based on texts that compose the corpus: the first edition in novel-series format published in the journal named Folha Nova (1883), and about the first edition in book format published by Faro & Lino Editors (1884). The transformations occurred in the creative process were studied through the methodology to analyze the novel-series narrative pattern organized by Ribeiro (1996; 2000). In order to complement the assessment of intertextual aspects, it was considered the influence about the context of the process creation where the voices that were linked to Questão Capistrano (1876) came out and about the discursive hybridism immanent to the narrative structure of Casa de Pensão novel.

Vilhelm Moberg (1898–1973) var en av sin tids mest inflytelserika svenska författare. De fyra romanerna i hans episka utvandrarserie hör de till de mest lästa svenska romanerna genom tiderna. Trots att forskningsfältet om Moberg är stort har hans verk hitintills inte analyserats utifrån ett queerperspektiv. Syftet med denna magisteruppsats är att göra en queer läsning av Mobergs utvandrarserie, med fokus på relationen mellan Robert och Arvid. Dessa unga drängars relation har sällan givits utrymme inom Mobergforskningen och när den omnämnts har den lästs som kamratskap. Min hypotes är att det, trots indikationerna på ett homofobt förhållningssätt hos Moberg vid tiden för utvandrarseriens tillkomst, är möjligt att läsa fram en romantisk kärlekshistoria mellan männen. I uppsatsen lyfts frågeställningen om huruvida textens djur, djuriskhet och djursymbolik öppnar upp för att läsa fram de unga männens kärlekshistoria. Tidelagstemat som i utvandrarserien är förbundet med Arvid kan förstås som en omskrivning för homosexualitet, vilket ihop med queerbetonad djursymbolik som i texten omgärdar Robert, framhäver deras icke-utskrivna begär och kärlek. Analysen synliggör den dikotomi mellan manlighet och omanlighet som i romanerna gestaltas genom Robert och hans storebror Karl Oskar. Storebrodern tillskrivs stark karaktär, individualism och arbetsstyrka, egenskaper som historiskt sett kategoriserats som manliga. Robert skrivs fram som arbetsskygg, lögnaktig och med ett infantilt drömmande om guld och rikedom, egenskaper som kategoriseras som omanliga. Analysen påvisar att i likhet med tidelagstemat kan också omanligheten läsas som en omskrivning för homosexualitet. Frågan om huruvida Mobergs föreställning om homosexualitet som ett ”olycksöde” har haft konsekvenser för gestaltningen av Robert och Arvid, genomsyrar analysen. Avsikten med detta har inte varit att smutskasta Moberg utan att lyfta det motsägelsefulla med hans homofoba hållning då det i denna uppsats fastställs att han författat en vacker kärlekshistoria om två unga män. / Vilhelm Moberg (1898–1973) was one of the most influential Swedish writers of his time. His epic The Emigrants with its four parts are among the most read Swedish novels of all time. The field of research about Moberg is large; despite this none of his works have been analyzed from a queer angle until now. The purpose of this master’s thesis (one year) is to do a queer reading of Moberg’s The Emigrants, focusing on the relationship between Robert and Arvid. The bond between these young farmhands has rarely been given attention within the research about Vilhelm Moberg; when it is mentioned in previous research, it’s perceived as camaraderie. My hypothesis is that, despite indications of a homophobic attitude in Moberg, it is possible to make visible a romantic love story between these men. In this thesis, a question regarding whether animals, animality or animal symbolism in the text makes the young men’s love story increasingly visible, is raised. The theme of bestiality in The Emigrants coincides with Arvid, and can be seen as a synonym for homosexuality. In combination with queer animal symbolism surrounding Robert, the men’s hidden desire and love is enhanced. The analysis highlights a dichotomy between masculinity and unmanliness that is portrayed through the relationship between Robert and his older brother Karl Oskar. The latter is being ascribed traditionally masculine traits, such as resilient character, individualism and physical ability for labor, whereas Robert is associated with unmanly attributes such as laziness, untrustworthiness, and an infantile longing for gold and riches. The analysis shows that Robert’s unmanliness, just as the bestiality theme, is a synonym for homosexuality. The question as to whether Moberg’s impression that homosexuality is an “unfortunate fate” has had consequences for to the portrayal of Robert and Arvid, permeates this analysis. The purpose has not been to smear Moberg but to highlight the paradox of his homophobic stance, since this thesis conclusively determines that he has written a beautiful love story involving two young men.

La présente étude analyse les représentations de la ville dans la série policière d’Ian Rankin dont l’inspecteur John Rebus est le protagoniste. La polarité étant l’un des principes organisateurs de l’écriture rankinienne, notre analyse s’articule autour de plusieurs couples de notions antinomiques. Nous remettons d’abord en cause la légitimité de l’antinomie qui oppose la littérature à la « littérature de masse », dans laquelle est souvent classé le roman policier. Cela nous conduit à redéfinir le roman policier, et mettre en perspective la série dans le contexte du monde littéraire et artistique écossais contemporain. Puis nous étudions l’articulation entre topographie réelle et lieu imaginaire dans l’Edimbourg de Rankin. Toute une géographie urbaine se dessine dans les romans ; l’arpentage incessant de l’espace par le protagoniste fournit l’occasion de références très spécifiques à la topographie et à la toponymie, et la sérialité tisse peu à peu un dense réseau de points nodaux ainsi qu’une multiplicité de trajets potentiels que nous avons représentés par des cartes fournies en annexe. Mais dans d’autres cas, l’espace se fait générique, se réfère plus à des conventions cinématographiques qu’à la carte de la ville. Nous envisageons enfin la ville d’Edimbourg comme un personnage ambivalent dans la lignée des personnages du roman gothique. La filiation gothique est perceptible dans l’esthétique de la ville, et la surface de la carte est compartimentée suivant un ensemble d’axes polarisants. Toutefois, cette carte se déploie elle-même par-dessus un double souterrain et non cartographiable d’Edimbourg, à la fois mémoire et inconscient de la ville. / The aim of the present study is to analyse the representations of the city to be found in Ian Rankin’s crime fiction series of which Inspector Rebus is the protagonist. Polarization being one of the structuring principles of the author’s writing, our work focuses on several pairs of antagonist notions in turn.The first one is the opposition between “high” and “low” (or “popular”) literature, the latter category being often associated with crime fiction. New categorizations of contemporary Scottish crime fiction are thus put to the test so as to assess its role and place within the landscape of Scottish literary and artistic life.Next the way Rankin’s novels map Edinburgh as a topography both real and imaginary is explored. As John Rebus endlessly paces the streets of the city, a literary geography gradually emerges and takes shape from one novel to the next, thus determining a network of focal points and potential trajectories which are depicted in the maps to be found in the annexes. This does not preclude the use of a more urban-generic type of space, which seems to have been modelled on representations of the city deriving from movies.In time, Rebus’ Edinburgh can be seen as a character in its own right, one fraught with ambiguities stemming from the Gothic novel tradition. This Gothic filiation is visible in the aesthetic of the city, while the polarity between surface representations and subterranean depths, full of twists and turns, calls into question the very possibility of mapping the city as it gradually discloses its past and unconscious memories.