Over the past two millennia, dominant Western narratives of the Persian Wars have established a problematic East-West binary in which Greece is represented as a defender of democracy whose improbable victory over the Persians laid the foundation for the development of Western civilization and the Persians are represented as a power hungry, totalitarian “Other” determined to subjugate all whom they encounter. Frank Miller’s graphic novel, 300, and its subsequent film adaptations, 300, and 300: Rise of an Empire (collectively referred to as the 300 franchise) have reinforced and contributed new problematic elements to the dominant Persian War narratives with contemporary visual representations of key historical figures, locations, and events as they pertain to the conflict. In this thesis I conduct a visual rhetorical analysis of the 300 franchise to identify and explain its problematic visual representational tactics for both the Greeks and Persians. Next, I conduct a visual rhetorical analysis of a non-Western Persian Wars counter-narrative, Ramin Abhari’s Xerxes Speaks. Throughout my analysis of Xerxes Speaks I identify instances in which the counter-narrative addresses 300’s problematic representations of the East as “Other.” I conclude by discussing the importance of critiquing visual representations in order to continue to disrupt dominant Western Persian War narratives and subsequently try to establish a currently marginalized Persian perspective on the Persian Wars.

Mary Manjikian and other critics argue that post-911 apocalyptic Literature is anarchic, breaking away from the state through its destruction. This thesis challenges this claim, looking at the state through the abstract form presented by Deleuze and Guattari in A Thousand Plateaus to argue that while the state in its physical manifestation is indeed removed within the post-apocalyptic narrative, an internal desire for governance and a return to status-quo remains. Chapter 1 examines Cormac McCarthy’s novel The Road in relation to this theory, particularly within the interactions between the father and son, showing that through the father, an argument can be made for the characters’ wish to return to a time where a physical state existed. Chapter 2 examines the relevance of the zombie narrative in relation to other “post-911 apocalyptic Literature” to examine both where these texts and media fit in relation to the state and contemporary culture – particularly in relation to politics. Through AMC’s “The Walking Dead”, the zombie narrative not only exhibits similar tendencies for a yearning of state power, but also expands the definition of a post-apocalyptic narrative, as when the state returns, not only is the narrative altered to one of dystopian fiction, the “other” becomes more ambiguous, as the zombies begin to pose little threat, leading to political tension amongst survivors. Chapter 3 and 4 examine the return to popularity of Lovecraft-esque fiction alongside the cultural infectiousness of the zombie. Beginning with Lovecraft’s “The Call of Cthulhu” and moving to China Miéville’s novel Perdido Street Station, the thesis will conclude with an examination of eldritch horror as an alternative to the post-apocalyptic in terms of rethinking the relationship of the state in contemporary culture, and arguing that the political “other” is now viewed as monstrous and difficult to define in a manner which zombies are unable to fully represent.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:32:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2005Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:03:26Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 guimaraes_lc_dr_assis.pdf: 833311 bytes, checksum: 4d7622827843bbea4bf2bc6349e90034 (MD5) / O universo da criação literária de Moacyr Scliar (1937 - ) funda-se na recriação paródica do insólito filtrado pela visão irônica do escritor, que emprega o recurso da mise-en-abyme para estruturar sua poética. Para comprovar essa afirmação, selecionamos três novelas: Mês de cães danados: uma aventura nos tempos de Brizola (1977), A mulher que escreveu a Bíblia (1999) e Os leopardos de Kafka (2000). Nas obras citadas, enfatizamos a ironia como princípio da carnavalização na relação paródica entre a ficção e a história do Brasil, a Bíblia e a Revolução Russa, respectivamente. A intensidade da ironia scliariana é característica de uma espécie de parábola contemporânea, que combina a fantasia com a tragicômica realidade. Quanto ao aspecto estrutural das novelas, trata-se da especularidade narrativa, configurada pela mise-en-abyme, como postula Dällenbach (1977), uma vez que tal processo constitui um dos sustentáculos de apropriação do insólito pela ironia da paródia. / Moacyr Scliar's literature is based on the parody of the unusual filtered by the ironic author's view that uses the mise-en-abyme technique to organize his art of writing poems. In order to support this statement, three novels were analysed: Mês de cães danados: uma aventura nos tempos de Brizola (1977), A mulher que escreveu a Bíblia (1999) and Os leopardos de Kafka (2000). In these works, irony was concerned as principle of caranivalization in the relation between fiction and Brazilian history, the Bible and the Russian Revolution respectively. The intensity of the author's irony is the characteristic of a kind of contemporary parable that matches fantasy with the tragicomic reality. The organization of the novels is focused on the narrative refletion, formed by mise-en-abyme, as Dällenbach (1977) postulates, since such process is considered one of the supports of the unusual appropriateness by the irony of parody.

Ce travail propose de revoir l'histoire du roman-photo, de mettre en lumière la nature profondément narrative du médium photographique, et de (re)considérer la place de la littérature dans ce dernier. Le roman-photo semble être un espace privilégié pour faire cohabiter photographie et littérature. Pourtant, par-delà son qualificatif, qui semble induire une nécessaire relation à la littérature, le roman-photo est surtout un objet narratif. Il est une romance, une forme romanesque, mais le considérer comme un objet littéraire, ou paralittéraire, constitue généralement un écueil à son analyse.Il existe cependant une autre forme de roman-photo, qui n'obéit pas aux règles du genre, et qui relève de problématiques proprement littéraires. Si des auteurs comme Plissart et Peeters revendiquent bien ce qualificatif à propos de Fugues, Droit de regards ou Le Mauvais oeil, leurs ouvrages ne sont toutefois pas tant des romans-photos que des objets photoromanesques. Ils se situent au croisement de plusieurs pratiques.Ce travail a donc consisté à mettre en lumière la nature profonde de ces productions, et a conduit, pour cela,à convoquer d'autres références, et à construire une autre filiation. Il s'agit notamment de reconsidérer les rapports de la littérature et de la photographie (littérature illustrée/photolittérature/cinéroman), en mettant plus spécifiquement en évidence, les influences de la littérature sur le processus photographique. / This work proposes to review the history of photonovel, to highlight the deep narrative nature of the photographie medium, and to (re) consider the part of literature in the latter.Photonovel seems to be a privileged space to make cohabited photography and litera/ure. Yet beyond its epithet, which seems to induce a necessary relationship to literature, photonovel is primarily a narrative object. It is a novelistic form, but regarded it as a literary or para-literary object, takes usually the analysis to fail.However, there is another form of photo-novel, which does not obey the rules of the genre, and which is actual literary issues. lf authors Plissart and Peeters claim this qualifier for Fugues, Droit de regards or Le Mauvais oeil, their works are however not so much the photonovels than photonovelistic objects. They are located at the crossing of several practices. This work, therefore, consisted of highlighting the profound nature of these productions, and has led, for this, to propose other references, and to build another parentage. These include reconsider the relations between literature and photography (illustrated literature/photo-literature/cine-novel), highlighting more specifically, the influences of literature on the photographic process.

Épicure, Aristote, Pascal, Nietzsche, Le Dalaï Lama,- et beaucoup d’autres -, ont interprété la notion de bonheur, chacun à sa façon, ce qui explique l’existence d’une multitude de définitions. Pour les uns, le bonheur résulte de la satisfaction des désirs physiques, pour d’autres, de l’harmonie entre l’homme et le monde. Des penseurs modernes accusent le progrès technique de nuire au bonheur humain. Que signifie alors le terme « bonheur » ? Et comment peut-on être heureux ? Julien Green, écrivain du XXe siècle, n’a pas donné de réponse directe à ces interrogations. Ses romans ne semblent raconter que le mal de vivre : solitude, ennui existentiel, passion dévastatrice, clivage du moi, tout conspire à colorer ses textes de noir. La perte de l’identité aggrave le désarroi. Ni les rêves ni les souvenirs de l’enfance ne soulagent les malheureux qui évoluent dans cette grande prison qu’est le monde. Le bonheur est l’objet d’une quête qui commence par la recherche de la pureté incarnée par l’enfance, symbole du paradis perdu dans lequel il est impossible de retourner. Bien qu’elle soit effrayante, la mort semble encore une issue au malheur. Mourir croyant prépare le bonheur dans un autre monde. La quête du bonheur se déplace vers un plan spirituel. Green suggère que la foi est une source certaine du bonheur. L’écriture procure aussi du bonheur. Ecrire permet de dire l’indicible et de soulager le Moi démantelé. La quête du bonheur révèle que ce bonheur est possible, et qu’il peut triompher de l’Angoisse de l’existence. / Epicurus, Aristotle, Pascal, Nietzsche, Dalaï Lama, and many others, have interpreted the notion of happiness, each one in his own way, which explains the existence of a multitude of definitions. For some, happiness is the result of satisfying physical desires, for others, it’s the result of harmony between man and the world. Modern thinkers accuse technical progress of harming human happiness. In this context, what does the term “happiness” then mean? And how can we be happy? Julien Green, a twentieth century novelist, hasn’t given a direct answer to these queries. His novels only deal with suffering. Solitude, existential spleen, devastating passion, splitting of the ego, everything conspires to color all his novels in black. Loss of identity exacerbates the confusion. Neither dreams for dreamers nor memories of childhood relieve the unfortunate who operate in this world which is like a great prison. Happiness is the object of a quest which begins with the search of purity embodied in children who are the symbol of a lost paradise in which it is impossible to return. Although death is scary, it seems to be a way out of grief. Dying as a believer insures happiness in another world. The quest of happiness becomes spiritual. Green suggests that faith can certainly bring happiness. Writing not only brings happiness, but also allows the characters to say the unsayable and relieve the dismantled ego. The quest of happiness shows that happiness is possible, and that it can overcome the anxiety of existence.

"Retro" is a novel which attempts to depict the psychological reality of the spiritually isolated individual characterized in traditional gothic novels, in this case the alienated individual in the contemporary American South. The novel follows the doctrine set down by Roland Barthes, Frank Kermode, and other postmodern critics, which holds that, as Kermode puts it, "all closure is in bad faith." Therefore, rather than offering resolution to the problems and events presented in the text, the novel attempts instead to illustrate the psychological effects its main character experiences when confronted with a world that offers only irresolution and uncertainty. The novel's strategy is to depart from conventional, realistic modes of narration and to adopt instead certain characteristics of satire, surrealism, and the type of grotesque often associated with the gothic novel.

Patterns of masculine and feminine portrayals can be found everywhere, yet one place sociologists tend not to look is in novels. Young adult novels have generated 27 million dollars in e-books alone in 2011, with paranormal romances and dystopian genres making up the majority of the sales (Scott, 2013). Understanding these novels is sociologically important because they are reaching wider audiences with their adaptation into Hollywood blockbusters. While the novels demonstrate stronger characteristics given to women, the messages about the ideal male in the novel often reflects one who is putting the female in danger. A content analysis of ten popular paranormal young adult novels demonstrates patterns of the construction of gender. Drawing on Radway’s (1984) analysis of romance novels and Connell’s, (2005) and hook’s (2004) theories of masculinities, this paper explores the messages in paranormal fiction geared to a mainly young adult female reading audience. My preliminary findings demonstrate thus far that these books reflect unhealthy ideas about relationships, violence, the body, and sexuality. The novels portray masculine bodies as hard, dangerous, and seductive. They also share a storyline consisting of the fear of getting killed by someone they are in love with.

A study of aspects of reform in certain novels of Charles Dickens.

This thesis considers the novels of Gregorio Lopez Y Fuentes.

This thesis covers a biography and principal influence of Valle-Inclan, the Sonata novels, Carlist war novels, the Comedias Barbaras, and Flor de Santidad and Tirano Baderas.