A produção artística contemporânea aborda com frequência a situação do sujeito urbano imerso em uma objetividade não acolhedora e não totalmente compreensível, em um contexto social tomado por uma quantidade de informação impossível de ser processada em sua totalidade. Partindo de uma consideração sobre as representações desta premissa tanto na linguagem literária quanto na musical, a presente dissertação tem por objetivo averiguar como se dá a construção da figura do sujeito contemporâneo nas obras do escritor estadunidense Philip Roth e da banda britânica Radiohead. Para tanto, foram selecionados como corpus de investigação o romance Everyman (2006), de Roth, e o disco OK Computer (1997), de Radiohead, por serem representativos da totalidade da obra de seus autores e também pela força criativa de suas idiossincrasias. O trabalho considera em que medida os meios de comunicação de massa vêm influenciando, nas últimas décadas, os modos de produção de arte e os conceitos estéticos que os embasam, e analisa de que maneira chegam a definir aspectos do comportamento do indivíduo dos dias atuais, a ponto de moldar suas relações interpessoais. As características interdisciplinares da pesquisa são abordadas através da teoria da transtextualidade proposta por Gérard Genette; as discussões sobre a sociedade contemporânea têm seu lastro teórico em ideias propostas por Gilles Lipovetsky e Zygmunt Bauman. O recorte temporal da discussão sobre cultura de massa inicia a partir do ingresso de aparelhos como o rádio e a televisão nas casas das pessoas por todo o mundo e avança até os dias atuais, enfatizando o papel do computador doméstico na aceleração do ritmo das mudanças, das relações e dos valores. Tudo isso tem reflexos no gosto e nas representações artísticas que vêm sendo produzidas, os quais são investigados neste trabalho, que se estrutura em três partes. A primeira apresenta um histórico das inovações mediais e das suas relações com a arte em geral. A segunda parte apresenta as obras de Philip Roth e do Radiohead e as liga a esse contexto. Por fim, depois de dissecadas as composições dos artistas estudados, elas são incorporadas à discussão sobre a sociedade contemporânea. Em cada seção, sempre que se necessário, outras obras dos autores e outras contribuições teóricas serão utilizadas como reforço das argumentações e exemplificações apresentadas. Ao término do trabalho, espero contribuir para a discussão sobre as questões aqui abordadas, bem como para o incentivo às aproximações acadêmicas entre a música popular e a literatura. / Contemporary artistic production frequently approaches the situation of the urban subject immersed in a non-welcoming and not totally apprehensible objective social context which is filled by a quantity of information impossible to be processed as a whole. Starting from some considerations about the representations of this premise both in literary and musical language, the present thesis aims to investigate the construction of the contemporary subject in the works of the American writer Philip Roth and of the British band Radiohead. As the corpus for this investigation the novel Everyman (2006), by Roth, and the record OK Computer (1997), by Radiohead, were selected, for being representative of the whole oeuvre of their authors, and also of the creative force of their idiosyncrasies. The work considers in which means the mass communication media have been influencing, in the last decades, the ways of art production and the aesthetic concepts which base them, and analyses in which way they come to define aspects of the behavior of individuals these days, reaching the point of shaping interpersonal relations. The interdisciplinary characteristics of the research are approached via the theory of transtextuality proposed by Gérard Genette. The discussions about contemporary society have their theoretical framework in ideas proposed by Gilles Lipovetsky, and Zygmunt Bauman. The temporal cutout of the discussion about mass culture starts from the ingress of devices such as the radio and television in people‘s homes around the world and moves up to present day, emphasizing the role of the home computer in the acceleration of the pace of changes, relations, and values. All these things have their reflex in taste and in the artistic representations which have been produced, and are investigated in this work, which is structured in three parts. The first presents a historical approach to media innovations and their relations with art in general. The second part presents the works of Philip Roth and Radiohead, and connects them to this context. In the final part, after the analysis of the compositions by the studied artists, these works are embodied into the discussion about the contemporary society. In each session, whenever it is necessary, other works by the authors and other theoretical contributions will be used as reinforcement of argumentations and presented exemplifications. Having the work finished, I hope to contribute for the discussion about the issues here approached, as well as to promote academic approximations between popular music and literature.

A produção artística contemporânea aborda com frequência a situação do sujeito urbano imerso em uma objetividade não acolhedora e não totalmente compreensível, em um contexto social tomado por uma quantidade de informação impossível de ser processada em sua totalidade. Partindo de uma consideração sobre as representações desta premissa tanto na linguagem literária quanto na musical, a presente dissertação tem por objetivo averiguar como se dá a construção da figura do sujeito contemporâneo nas obras do escritor estadunidense Philip Roth e da banda britânica Radiohead. Para tanto, foram selecionados como corpus de investigação o romance Everyman (2006), de Roth, e o disco OK Computer (1997), de Radiohead, por serem representativos da totalidade da obra de seus autores e também pela força criativa de suas idiossincrasias. O trabalho considera em que medida os meios de comunicação de massa vêm influenciando, nas últimas décadas, os modos de produção de arte e os conceitos estéticos que os embasam, e analisa de que maneira chegam a definir aspectos do comportamento do indivíduo dos dias atuais, a ponto de moldar suas relações interpessoais. As características interdisciplinares da pesquisa são abordadas através da teoria da transtextualidade proposta por Gérard Genette; as discussões sobre a sociedade contemporânea têm seu lastro teórico em ideias propostas por Gilles Lipovetsky e Zygmunt Bauman. O recorte temporal da discussão sobre cultura de massa inicia a partir do ingresso de aparelhos como o rádio e a televisão nas casas das pessoas por todo o mundo e avança até os dias atuais, enfatizando o papel do computador doméstico na aceleração do ritmo das mudanças, das relações e dos valores. Tudo isso tem reflexos no gosto e nas representações artísticas que vêm sendo produzidas, os quais são investigados neste trabalho, que se estrutura em três partes. A primeira apresenta um histórico das inovações mediais e das suas relações com a arte em geral. A segunda parte apresenta as obras de Philip Roth e do Radiohead e as liga a esse contexto. Por fim, depois de dissecadas as composições dos artistas estudados, elas são incorporadas à discussão sobre a sociedade contemporânea. Em cada seção, sempre que se necessário, outras obras dos autores e outras contribuições teóricas serão utilizadas como reforço das argumentações e exemplificações apresentadas. Ao término do trabalho, espero contribuir para a discussão sobre as questões aqui abordadas, bem como para o incentivo às aproximações acadêmicas entre a música popular e a literatura. / Contemporary artistic production frequently approaches the situation of the urban subject immersed in a non-welcoming and not totally apprehensible objective social context which is filled by a quantity of information impossible to be processed as a whole. Starting from some considerations about the representations of this premise both in literary and musical language, the present thesis aims to investigate the construction of the contemporary subject in the works of the American writer Philip Roth and of the British band Radiohead. As the corpus for this investigation the novel Everyman (2006), by Roth, and the record OK Computer (1997), by Radiohead, were selected, for being representative of the whole oeuvre of their authors, and also of the creative force of their idiosyncrasies. The work considers in which means the mass communication media have been influencing, in the last decades, the ways of art production and the aesthetic concepts which base them, and analyses in which way they come to define aspects of the behavior of individuals these days, reaching the point of shaping interpersonal relations. The interdisciplinary characteristics of the research are approached via the theory of transtextuality proposed by Gérard Genette. The discussions about contemporary society have their theoretical framework in ideas proposed by Gilles Lipovetsky, and Zygmunt Bauman. The temporal cutout of the discussion about mass culture starts from the ingress of devices such as the radio and television in people‘s homes around the world and moves up to present day, emphasizing the role of the home computer in the acceleration of the pace of changes, relations, and values. All these things have their reflex in taste and in the artistic representations which have been produced, and are investigated in this work, which is structured in three parts. The first presents a historical approach to media innovations and their relations with art in general. The second part presents the works of Philip Roth and Radiohead, and connects them to this context. In the final part, after the analysis of the compositions by the studied artists, these works are embodied into the discussion about the contemporary society. In each session, whenever it is necessary, other works by the authors and other theoretical contributions will be used as reinforcement of argumentations and presented exemplifications. Having the work finished, I hope to contribute for the discussion about the issues here approached, as well as to promote academic approximations between popular music and literature.

A produção artística contemporânea aborda com frequência a situação do sujeito urbano imerso em uma objetividade não acolhedora e não totalmente compreensível, em um contexto social tomado por uma quantidade de informação impossível de ser processada em sua totalidade. Partindo de uma consideração sobre as representações desta premissa tanto na linguagem literária quanto na musical, a presente dissertação tem por objetivo averiguar como se dá a construção da figura do sujeito contemporâneo nas obras do escritor estadunidense Philip Roth e da banda britânica Radiohead. Para tanto, foram selecionados como corpus de investigação o romance Everyman (2006), de Roth, e o disco OK Computer (1997), de Radiohead, por serem representativos da totalidade da obra de seus autores e também pela força criativa de suas idiossincrasias. O trabalho considera em que medida os meios de comunicação de massa vêm influenciando, nas últimas décadas, os modos de produção de arte e os conceitos estéticos que os embasam, e analisa de que maneira chegam a definir aspectos do comportamento do indivíduo dos dias atuais, a ponto de moldar suas relações interpessoais. As características interdisciplinares da pesquisa são abordadas através da teoria da transtextualidade proposta por Gérard Genette; as discussões sobre a sociedade contemporânea têm seu lastro teórico em ideias propostas por Gilles Lipovetsky e Zygmunt Bauman. O recorte temporal da discussão sobre cultura de massa inicia a partir do ingresso de aparelhos como o rádio e a televisão nas casas das pessoas por todo o mundo e avança até os dias atuais, enfatizando o papel do computador doméstico na aceleração do ritmo das mudanças, das relações e dos valores. Tudo isso tem reflexos no gosto e nas representações artísticas que vêm sendo produzidas, os quais são investigados neste trabalho, que se estrutura em três partes. A primeira apresenta um histórico das inovações mediais e das suas relações com a arte em geral. A segunda parte apresenta as obras de Philip Roth e do Radiohead e as liga a esse contexto. Por fim, depois de dissecadas as composições dos artistas estudados, elas são incorporadas à discussão sobre a sociedade contemporânea. Em cada seção, sempre que se necessário, outras obras dos autores e outras contribuições teóricas serão utilizadas como reforço das argumentações e exemplificações apresentadas. Ao término do trabalho, espero contribuir para a discussão sobre as questões aqui abordadas, bem como para o incentivo às aproximações acadêmicas entre a música popular e a literatura. / Contemporary artistic production frequently approaches the situation of the urban subject immersed in a non-welcoming and not totally apprehensible objective social context which is filled by a quantity of information impossible to be processed as a whole. Starting from some considerations about the representations of this premise both in literary and musical language, the present thesis aims to investigate the construction of the contemporary subject in the works of the American writer Philip Roth and of the British band Radiohead. As the corpus for this investigation the novel Everyman (2006), by Roth, and the record OK Computer (1997), by Radiohead, were selected, for being representative of the whole oeuvre of their authors, and also of the creative force of their idiosyncrasies. The work considers in which means the mass communication media have been influencing, in the last decades, the ways of art production and the aesthetic concepts which base them, and analyses in which way they come to define aspects of the behavior of individuals these days, reaching the point of shaping interpersonal relations. The interdisciplinary characteristics of the research are approached via the theory of transtextuality proposed by Gérard Genette. The discussions about contemporary society have their theoretical framework in ideas proposed by Gilles Lipovetsky, and Zygmunt Bauman. The temporal cutout of the discussion about mass culture starts from the ingress of devices such as the radio and television in people‘s homes around the world and moves up to present day, emphasizing the role of the home computer in the acceleration of the pace of changes, relations, and values. All these things have their reflex in taste and in the artistic representations which have been produced, and are investigated in this work, which is structured in three parts. The first presents a historical approach to media innovations and their relations with art in general. The second part presents the works of Philip Roth and Radiohead, and connects them to this context. In the final part, after the analysis of the compositions by the studied artists, these works are embodied into the discussion about the contemporary society. In each session, whenever it is necessary, other works by the authors and other theoretical contributions will be used as reinforcement of argumentations and presented exemplifications. Having the work finished, I hope to contribute for the discussion about the issues here approached, as well as to promote academic approximations between popular music and literature.

Die phytotoxisch wirkende Trichloressigsäure (TCA) wurde bis in die 1980er Jahre in Form von Natriumtrichloracetat (TCAA- Na) als Herbizid in der Land- und Forstwirtschaft eingesetzt. Mittlerweile ist die Verwendung von TCA als Herbizid aufgrund unerwünschter Nebenwirkungen auf Nutzpflanzen in den meisten europäischen Ländern und vielen weiteren Staaten der Erde untersagt. Tetrachlorethen (PER) gehört zur Stoffgruppe der leichtflüchtigen Chlorkohlenwasserstoffe (LCKW) und findet weltweit hauptsächlich als Entfettungs- und Reinigungsmittel in der metallverarbeitenden sowie chemischen Industrie Anwendung. Darüber hinaus kommen Altlasten, wie z.B. die im Landkreis Bitterfeld (Sachsen- Anhalt) gelegene Deponie Grube Antonie als anthropogene Flächenquelle von PER- Emissionen in Betracht. Die Grube Antonie verfügt über ein sehr großes Inventar sowohl an LCKW als auch an TCA und ist u.a. von Pioniergehölzen, wie der Birke (Betula pendula ROTH), besiedelt. PER wird unter bestimmten physikochemischen Bedingungen in der Atmosphäre zu TCA abgebaut. Darüber hinaus ist mittlerweile bekannt, daß PER nach stomatärer bzw. cuticulärer Resorption in der Blatt- bzw. Nadelmatrix von Pflanzen in Anwesenheit von reaktiven Sauerstoffspezies (ROS) u.a. zu phytotoxischer TCA metabolisiert werden kann. Aufgrund dieser biogenen TCA- Bildung wird PER auch in Verbindung mit neuartigen Waldschäden gebracht. Sowohl regionale als auch weltweit durchgeführte Untersuchungen zeigten, daß besonders Nadelgehölze, wie die Kiefer (Pinus sylvestris L.) z.T. hohe TCA- Gehalte in den Nadeln akkumulieren. Während in den letzten Jahren der Kenntnisstand hinsichtlich der natürlichen und anthropogenen TCA- Quellen immer mehr zunahm, ist über die schädigende Wirkung von TCA sowie ihrer Präcursoren (wie z.B. PER) auf Wild- und Forstpflanzen bisher nur wenig bekannt. Das Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit bestand darin, anhand von ökotoxikologischen Untersuchungen sowie pflanzenphysiologischen (Chl a - Fluoreszenz), dendrologischen und biochemischen Meßmethoden zu prüfen, ob von Tetrachlorethen (PER) und dessen Metabolit Trichloressigsäure (TCA) ein phytototoxisches Risiko, insbesondere für die Baumarten Kiefer (Pinus sylvestris L.) und Birke (Betula pendula ROTH), ausgeht. Zur Erfüllung der Zielstellung wurden Monitoringuntersuchungen an PER/TCA- belasteten Birken, Untersuchungen zur Aufnahme, Akkumulation und Wirkung von über den Boden/Wurzel- Pfad appliziertem TCAA bei Kiefer sowie mehrjährige Untersuchungen zur PER- Applikation über den Luftpfad in Expositionskammern, zur Bildung und Akkumulation von TCA und zu PER/TCA- induzierten Wirkungen an Birken und Kiefern durchgeführt.

No description available.

Zeit/Geschichte: Amerikanische Alternate Histories nach 9/11 untersucht die Entwicklung kontrafaktischer Geschichtstexte, sogenannter alternate histories, vor dem Hintergrund des öffentlichen Diskurses in den USA nach dem 11. September 2001. Dabei konzentriert sich die Studie auf die formalen und generischen Eigenschaften neuerer „Mainstream-alternate histories“ seit den Terroranschlägen. Obwohl keiner der drei untersuchten Texte – Philip Roths The Plot Against America, Michael Chabons The Yiddish Policemen's Union sowie Quentin Tarantinos Inglourious Basterds – von den 9/11-Anschlägen handelt, geben doch alle drei Einblicke in die Beziehungen zwischen dem 9/11-Diskurs und jüngeren Entwicklungen im literarischen bzw. kulturellen Feld. Dabei erweist sich alternate history als ein Genre, das mit seiner thematischen, strukturellen und medialen Variabilität ermöglicht, 9/11-spezifische Veränderungen darzustellen und gleichzeitig den 9/11-Diskurs selbst zu beeinflussen. Die vorliegende Studie zeigt auf, wie sich die untersuchten Texte aktiv in den 9/11-Diskurs einschreiben, um nicht nur zeitgenössische Erfahrungen, Entwicklungen und Empfindungen, sondern auch Fragen nach Geschichte und Vergangenheitsdarstellungen zu beantworten.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 123-127) / This dissertation examines how three dystopian texts, namely Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, Jasper Fforde’s Shades of Grey and Veronica Roth’s Divergent trilogy, exhibit social conformity as a disciplinary mechanism of the ‘carceral’ – a notion introduced by poststructuralist thinker Michel Foucault. Employing poststructuralist discourse and deconstructive theory as a theoretical framework, the study investigates how each novel establishes its world as a successful carceral city that incorporates most, if not all, the elements of the incarceration system that Foucault highlights in Discipline and Punish. It establishes that the societies of the texts present potentially nightmarish future societies in which social and political “improvements” result in a seemingly better world, yet some essential part of human existence has been sacrificed. This study of these fictional worlds reflects on the carceral nature of modern society and highlights the problematic nature of the social and political practices to which individuals are expected to conform. Finally, in line with Foucault, it postulates that individuals need not be enclosed behind prison walls to be imprisoned; the very nature of our social systems imposes the restrictive power that incarcerates societies / English Studies / M.A. (English Studies)

This thesis provides a theory of exceptional sex through close readings of contemporary novels by male British and American writers. I take as my overriding methodological approach Giorgio Agamben’s theory of the state of exception, which is a juridico-political state in which the law has been suspended and the difference between rule and transgression is indistinguishable. Within this state, the spatiotemporal markers inside and outside also become indeterminable, making it impossible to tell whether one is inside or outside time and space. Using this framework, I work through narratives of sexual interaction – On Chesil Beach, Gertrude and Claudius, Sabbath’s Theater, and The Act of Love – to conceptualise categories of sexual exceptionality. My study is not a survey, and the texts have been chosen as they focus on different sexual behaviours, thereby opening up a variety of sexual exceptionalities. I concentrate on male writers and narratives of heterosexual sex as most work on sex, time and space is comprised of feminist readings of literature by women and queer work on gay, lesbian or trans writers and narratives. However, in the Coda I expand my argument by turning to Emma Donoghue’s Room, which, as the protagonist has been trapped for the first five years of his life, provides a tabula rasa’s perspective of exceptionality. Through my analysis of exceptionality, I provide spatiotemporal readings of the hymen, incest, adultery, sexual listening and the arranged affair. I also conceptualise textual exceptionalities – the incestuous prequel, auricular reading and the positionality of the narrator, the reader and literary characters. Exceptional sex challenges the assumption in recent queer theory that to be out of time is ‘queer’ and to be in time is ‘straight’. Furthermore, exceptionality complicates the concepts of perversion and transgression as the norm and its transgression become indistinct in the state of exception. In contrast, exceptionality offers a new, more determinate way to analyse narratives of sex.

Tränen überschreiten die Grenzen des Körpers von innen nach außen und werden damit zu einem sichtbaren Anzeichen eines seelischen Extremzustands. In der Arbeit wird untersucht, ob die Träne, die Körpergrenzen gefährdet oder sogar auflöst, in der modernen und gegenwärtigen Kunst Metapher und Trägerin innerästhetischer Transgression werden kann. Dies bedeutet zugleich, dass eine Umwertung der Träne, von der Perle der Reinheit zu einem bedrohlichen Fluidum, stattgefunden hat. Die Träne als eine bedrohliche Grenzüberschreiterin ist ein Motiv, das in früheren Kunstepochen so nicht anzutreffen ist. Damit verweist sie zugleich exemplarisch auf die Auflösungsstrategien, welche die Kunst des 20. und 21. Jahrhunderts bestimmen. Fotoarbeiten von Man Ray, Madame Yevonde und Sam Taylor-Wood, Zeichnungen von Pablo Picasso und Hans Bellmer, Performances von Marina Abramović und Gina Pane, Video-arbeiten von Bill Viola und Bas Jan Ader, Installationen von Daniele Buetti und eine Buchserie von Dieter Roth, denen allen das Motiv der Träne gemeinsam ist, werden in einem Close Rea-ding auf Auflösungstendenzen hin untersucht. Besonderes Augenmerk gilt medienspezifischen Strukturen und Analogien. / Tears overstep the bounds of the human body from within – to become evidence of a crit-ical state of mind. The present study examines whether the tear, which endangers or even dispels the boundaries of the body, could be seen as a metaphor and even as an indication of aesthetic transgression in modern and contemporary art. This would mean that the tear as motif has also undergone a paradigm change, from the pearl of purity to a threatening fluid. The aspect of the tear as a transgressor of boundaries is not to be found in earlier periods of art. Accordingly, it also references the process of disintegration, which strongly determines 20th and 21st century art. Photographs by Man Ray, Madame Yevonde and Sam Taylor-Wood, drawings by Pablo Picasso and Hans Bellmer, performances of Marina Abramovic and Gina Pane, video works by Bill Viola and Bas Jan Ader, installations by Daniele Buetti and a series of books by Dieter Roth – which all deal with the tear complex – will be examined in close reading. Their connection with disintegrative tendencies will be scrutinised, and special attention given to media-specific structures and analogies.

Submitted by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2017-05-03T11:12:17Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese - Thiago Oliveira Santos - 2017.pdf: 1704337 bytes, checksum: 5239119ebfae88548d735ca15b9a10a0 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2017-05-03T11:58:38Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese - Thiago Oliveira Santos - 2017.pdf: 1704337 bytes, checksum: 5239119ebfae88548d735ca15b9a10a0 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-05-03T11:58:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese - Thiago Oliveira Santos - 2017.pdf: 1704337 bytes, checksum: 5239119ebfae88548d735ca15b9a10a0 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-03-24 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This doctoral dissertation is a comparative study of three main contemporary authors: Thomas Pynchon, Cormac McCarthy and Philip Roth, through the reading of three main novels written by them, respectively, Mason & Dixon; Blood Meridian and American Pastoral in this order here analyzed. The main objective of the research and its writing is an attempt to prove a historiographical connection as well as of themes and of style among these three novels, in their effort to reinterpret the American History in a strongly ironic way. This has been characterized by Harold Bloom (also in a ironical way, it seems) as “the style of our age”, among other reasons because the three writers as well as their three novels are focused on grasping different periods of the United States History and on deconstructing the main basis of American myths, even if through different and individualized narrative styles. The most important of these myths is the one that, since the Colonial Period, and based in the belief that being White, Protestant and of Anglo-Saxon origin would make the new man to be born in the New Continent a New Adam, and his nation, America, a new and exemplar Paradise on Earth. Mason & Dixon, Blood Meridian and American Pastoral show, each one in his own way, how this myth resulted in failure. In order to achieve this we have chosen three main myths as the basis for this research: The Myth of the American Eden (from the European imaginary Colonial Paradise); The Myth of the American Adam (from the concept of the new man, inhabitant of that Paradise; The Myth of the Manifest Destiny (the Messianic idea of a possible Universal Paradise). In order to achieve this, in the first chapter, dealing with Mason & Dixon, we will analyze the context of the Eighteenth Century and the beginning of the American Nation. In the second chapter, dealing with Blood Meridian, we will analyze the context of the Nineteenth Century, when the territorial expansion during the Great March to the West took place. In third and last chapter, dealing with American Pastoral, the context of the Twentieth Century, specifically the period from the end of World War II to the 1990s, that is, from the American Golden Age of prosperity to the economic and social crisis during and after the Vietnam War. Finally, we will try to analyze the logic of the irony shared by the three authors who, in their three novels, historically summarize the failure of the formation of the ideal nation based on its three main myths and its continual recurrence to different types of violence / Esta tese é uma leitura comparativa de três autores contemporâneos de destaque na ficção norte-americana: Thomas Pynchon, Cormac McCarthy e Philip Roth, a partir de três romances escritos por eles: Mason & Dixon; Blood Meridian e American Pastoral, respectivamente, nesta ordem aqui analisados. O objetivo principal da pesquisa e escrita da tese é uma tentativa de comprovar uma relação historiográfica mas também de temas e de estilo entre as três obras citadas, ao se empenharem em reinterpretar a História ame-ricana de modo fortemente irônico, que Harold Bloom (também ironicamente, parece) denominou como um exemplo do que seria the style of our age – o estilo de nossa época –, entre outras razões, por serem tanto os três escritores como seus três romances empe-nhados em abordar diferentes períodos da História dos Estados Unidos e a desconstruir as principais bases dos mitos americanos, mesmo se através de estilos narrativos indivi-duais díspares, principalmente aquele através do qual, desde a colonização e com base na crença de que ser branco, protestante e de origem anglo-saxônica tornaria o novo homem a nascer no novo continente, um novo Adão, e sua pátria, a América, um novo e exemplar Paraíso. Mason & Dixon, Blood Meridian e American Pastoral mostram, cada um a seu modo, como esse mito resultou em fracasso. Para tanto, baseamos nossa pesquisa em três mitos principais: 1. Mito do Éden americano (originado do imaginário europeu sobre o Paraíso colonial); 2. Mito do Adão americano (o conceito do homem novo, habitante do Paraíso); 3. Mito do Manifest Destiny (a ideia messiânica para um Paraíso universal). Para conseguir isso, no primeiro capítulo, abordaremos, em Mason & Dixon, o contexto do século XVIII e formação da nação americana; no segundo capítulo, em Blood Meridian, o contexto do século XIX, durante o qual a expansão do território americano durante a Campanha para o Oeste aconteceu; no terceiro e último capítulo, em American Pastoral, o contexto do século XX, especificamente do fim da Segunda Guerra Mundial até a década de 90, isto é, da era de ouro do desenvolvimento dos EUA até as crises políticas e econômicas durante e depois da Guerra do Vietnã. Por fim, pretendemos analisar a lógica da ironia comum aos três autores que, em seus três livros, historicamente resumem o fracasso da formação da nação ideal fundamentada em seus três mitos principais e por sua contínua recorrência a diferentes tipos de violência.