In my Bachelor’s project I have attempted to explore and develop my relationship with the amorphous concept that is ”style”. As an illustrator I am sometimes torn between the idea of having a single recognizable style or to be experimental and to use aesthetics as a tool rather than a signifier of a personal brand.  The project takes the form of an anthology of weird fiction stories, where each of the eight stories are illustrated in different ways and with different materials. I have choses weird fiction as a subject not only because of personal interest but also because of the specific qualities of the genre. Weird fiction deals in uncertainties and mood, with a huge emphasis on how things are told, not what is told. In this project I have attempted to transfer some of these qualities to my illustration practice. Letting the contents of the image take the backseat to how it is drawn. Both as a method for producing the anthology but also to develop as an illustrator overall.

It is psychologists, psychiatrists, neuroscientists, and philosophers who most often attempt the formal study of consciousness: it is writers who observe the impossibility of any such study. In the spirit of Joseph O'Neill, Muriel Spark, and J.K. Rowling, with reference to cross-disciplinary thinkers like Donella Meadows, Douglas Hofstadter, and Rudy Rucker, Tree of Knowledge concerns itself with the mystery of mystery and the knowledge of knowledge. This collection of short stories bespeaks the human observer's paradoxical situation in all its the diverse implications, including moral confusion, tragedy, and violence, but also comedy, beauty, and the possibility of transcendence.

This diploma thesis examines a phenomenon of the contemporary Finnish fantastic literature that seems to conquer the Finnish book market, also crossing the boarders and coming to the Czechia as well - Finnish Weird, or suomikumma. The aim of this work is to determine the reception of the Finnish Weird within the audience of the Czech readers. The theoretical part focuses on the fantastic literature and the position of Finnish Weird in it. The reader-response theory and the term horizon of expectations coined by Hans Robert Jauss provide the interpretation of how readers perceive the fantastic literature and what they expect from it. Works of the Finnish Weird fiction translated in Czech and responses of Czech readers are presented in the main part of the thesis. The research material is based on comments and reviews of the Czech readers published predominantly on the internet and on the internet book databases. Key words: contemporary Finnish literature, reader-response theory, horizon of expectation, genre, science fiction, fantasy, horor, speculative fiction, Weird, New Weird, Finnish Weird

TITLE: THE SUNKEN COUNTRY & OTHER STORIESMAJOR PROFESSOR: Dr. Rebekah Frumkin The Sunken Country & Other Stories collects five works that place personal tales of alienation, repression, isolation, obsession, and romance and broader themes of dramatic shifts in the workings of culture and environment under a microscope and vivisect them with tools gathered from the New Weird tradition

Section of a novel.

O objetivo desta dissertação é a interpretação do romance Perdido Street Station (2000), de China Miéville, sob a perspectiva da teoria literária e da crítica materialista. Considerada inovadora por retratar contradições sociais, políticas e econômicas da realidade pela via do fantástico e, ao mesmo tempo, mesclar convenções e temas derivados de Ficção Científica, Fantasia e Horror, a obra tornou-se a referência principal para o surgimento de um novo subgênero literário, o New Weird. Com o intuito de aprofundar essa definição e compreender os mecanismos e estruturas formais presentes no romance, abordamos em detalhe as discussões de autores e críticos a respeito do New Weird. A partir desse levantamento, foi possível identificar as estratégias de articulação entre os gêneros da literatura fantástica presentes no romance e verificar que ele também apresenta proximidade em relação às estruturas do Romance de Formação Bildungsroman e do romance de Distopia Crítica. Argumentamos que é principalmente por meio dos recursos desses dois gêneros que se desenvolve no romance o conteúdo de crítica social e reflexão acerca da realidade material, discutindo temas como alienação, fragmentação e mecanização do indivíduo sob a vigência do modo de produção capitalista; fetichismo da mercadoria e consumismo; políticas de identidade raciais e étnicas; assim como cultura e hibridismo na pós-modernidade. Concluímos que o romance efetivamente inova na maneira com que articula os gêneros e propicia a reflexão a respeito da realidade contemporânea, utilizando as diversas categorias de estranhamento propiciadas pela literatura fantástica. / The purpose of the present dissertation is to make a reading of China Miévilles novel Perdido Street Station (2000), from the perspective of literary theory and materialist criticism. Considered a pioneer in the way it uses the fantastic to portray the social, political and economic contradictions of reality and at the same time mixing conventions and themes derived from Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror, the novel turned out to be the main reference for the emergence of a new literary subgenre, the New Weird. In order to make a profound study of this definition and understand the formal devices and structures present in the novel, we approached in detail the discussions of authors and critics regarding the New Weird. Based on that it was possible to identify the strategies for the articulation of the genres of fantastic literature present in the novel and to verify that it has close affiliation with the structure of the Formation Novel - Bildungsroman - and also to the Critical Dystopia novel. We argued that it is mainly based on the resources provided by these two genres that the novel develops the content of social criticism and meditation on material reality, discussing subjects such as alienation, fragmentation and mechanization of the individual under the scope of the capitalist mode of production; commodity fetishism and consumerism; racial and ethnic identity politics; as well as culture and hybridism in postmodernity. We concluded that the novel effectively innovates both in the way it articulates the genres and how it enables meditations on contemporary reality, making use of the different categories of estrangement provided by the fantastic literature.

O objetivo desta dissertação é a interpretação do romance Perdido Street Station (2000), de China Miéville, sob a perspectiva da teoria literária e da crítica materialista. Considerada inovadora por retratar contradições sociais, políticas e econômicas da realidade pela via do fantástico e, ao mesmo tempo, mesclar convenções e temas derivados de Ficção Científica, Fantasia e Horror, a obra tornou-se a referência principal para o surgimento de um novo subgênero literário, o New Weird. Com o intuito de aprofundar essa definição e compreender os mecanismos e estruturas formais presentes no romance, abordamos em detalhe as discussões de autores e críticos a respeito do New Weird. A partir desse levantamento, foi possível identificar as estratégias de articulação entre os gêneros da literatura fantástica presentes no romance e verificar que ele também apresenta proximidade em relação às estruturas do Romance de Formação Bildungsroman e do romance de Distopia Crítica. Argumentamos que é principalmente por meio dos recursos desses dois gêneros que se desenvolve no romance o conteúdo de crítica social e reflexão acerca da realidade material, discutindo temas como alienação, fragmentação e mecanização do indivíduo sob a vigência do modo de produção capitalista; fetichismo da mercadoria e consumismo; políticas de identidade raciais e étnicas; assim como cultura e hibridismo na pós-modernidade. Concluímos que o romance efetivamente inova na maneira com que articula os gêneros e propicia a reflexão a respeito da realidade contemporânea, utilizando as diversas categorias de estranhamento propiciadas pela literatura fantástica. / The purpose of the present dissertation is to make a reading of China Miévilles novel Perdido Street Station (2000), from the perspective of literary theory and materialist criticism. Considered a pioneer in the way it uses the fantastic to portray the social, political and economic contradictions of reality and at the same time mixing conventions and themes derived from Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror, the novel turned out to be the main reference for the emergence of a new literary subgenre, the New Weird. In order to make a profound study of this definition and understand the formal devices and structures present in the novel, we approached in detail the discussions of authors and critics regarding the New Weird. Based on that it was possible to identify the strategies for the articulation of the genres of fantastic literature present in the novel and to verify that it has close affiliation with the structure of the Formation Novel - Bildungsroman - and also to the Critical Dystopia novel. We argued that it is mainly based on the resources provided by these two genres that the novel develops the content of social criticism and meditation on material reality, discussing subjects such as alienation, fragmentation and mechanization of the individual under the scope of the capitalist mode of production; commodity fetishism and consumerism; racial and ethnic identity politics; as well as culture and hybridism in postmodernity. We concluded that the novel effectively innovates both in the way it articulates the genres and how it enables meditations on contemporary reality, making use of the different categories of estrangement provided by the fantastic literature.

No description available.

Skrivprojektet Tillfälligheter består av sju texter som på olika sätt binds ihop av tematiken i ordet tillfälligheter. Jag har haft intentionen att utforska hur jag i mitt skrivande kan närma mig genren science fiction. Genren är bred och ger stora möjligheter till variation och användning av fantasin utan begränsningar. Eftersom man gärna skriver det man själv gillar att läsa är det mjuk sf, alternativa världar, tidsresor och dystopier samt så kallad New Weird jag främst har fokuserat på. Science fiction försöker ofta besvara frågan "What if?" och jag har anammat den utgångspunkten i mitt arbete med projektet och utgått från att det är just tillfälligheter som har fått styra händelserna i de sju berättelserna. De sju texternas genreanpassning och stil kan kortfattat beskrivas som följer: Equinox – tidsresor; uppbyggd som en vetenskaplig uppsats och med ett retrospektivt berättande utifrån ett förstapersonsperspektiv Kalejdoskop – New Weird; hur namnens betydelser får personifiera karaktärerna 22:43 – en alternativ värld; skriven endast med dialog utan sägeverb Brunnen – dystopisk saga med stark verklighetsförankring och några stänk av skräck CCTV – teknologi, AI; om ett inanimat objekts upplevelse och tolkning av mänskligt beteende Tom Taylor – dystopi, mjuk sf (psykologi, ekologi) och samhällskritik; retrospektivt blandat med rak kronologi och cirkelrörelse Eschatos – en dystopisk omvänd travesti på Första Moseboks skapelseberättelse skriven som en dikt

A presente dissertação pretende realizar um levantamento das principais teorias relacionadas com a literatura fantástica produzidas durante os séculos XIX e XX, buscando suas características, diferenças e concordâncias. Para tanto, inicia com uma leitura das tentativas de definição desta literatura através do estudo de H. P. Lovecraft e Peter Penzoldt. Parte, então, para uma leitura de três teorias mais consistentes sobre o fantástico, quais sejam: o fantástico tradicional, de Todorov, o fantástico contemporâneo, de Sartre e o estranhamento, de Freud. A partir da leitura destas teorias, realizamos a ilustração das mesmas através de três contos também produzidos durante os séculos XIX e XX: “Berenice" e “A ilha da fada", de E. A. Poe, e “A cidade", de Murilo Rubião. Por fim, sintetizamos e realizamos algumas considerações sobre o fantástico. / The present research intends to carry out a survey of the main theories related to weird literature that were produced during the 19th and 20th centuries by searching its characteristics, differences and concurrences. Therefore, it initiates with a reading of the attempts of definition of that literature through the study of H. P. Lovecraft and Peter Penzoldt. Afterwards, we start with a reading of three more consistent theories on the weird one, which is, the Todorov´s traditional weird, the Sartre´s contemporary weird and the Freud´s “Umheinlich" (weird, strange). From the reading of those theories we illustrated them by using three tales which were also produced during the 19th and 20th centuries by E. A. Poe - “Berenice" and “Island of the fairy" - and by Murilo Rubião - “A cidade". Finally, we synthesized and made some comments on the weird literature.