Languages, Literatures, & Cultures Theses and Dissertations

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WILHELM WEITLING: HIS DOCTRINES AND AGITATION IN SWITZERLAND
(1950) Flavin, Harold; Cunz, Dieter; Languages, Literatures, & Cultures; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)
A Comparison of Irony in W.M. Thackeray and Thomas Mann (Until 1918)
(1950) Mohr, William; Foreign Study; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, MD)
In our comparison of the irony found in Mann and Thackeray we will first discuss irony in its more concrete aspects, ironic content and then ironic form. Further, and particularly in connection with Mann, we will speak about the nature and position of the artist. This topic is actually another aspect of ironic content, but it is such an important problem in Mann's early works that it deserves special consideration. And finally, we will return to Mann's metaphysical irony.
DER HAUPTMANN VON KOEPENICK Wirklichkeit und Dichtung am Beispiel des Schauspiels von Carl Zuckmayer
(1954) Werner, Sibylle B.; Zucker, Adolph E.; Languages, Literatures, & Cultures; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)
Die deutsche Dramatik des 20. Jahrhunderts uebt gegenueber Gegenwartsstoffen sichtlich eine starke Zurueckhaltung aus. Zu den Urnachen, die hier ununtersucht bleiben koennen, gehoert gewiss die, dass die Dramatiker hier jene historische Distanz vermissen, die es ihnen ermoeglicht, eine Begebenheit aus dem Tagesgeschehen und aus dem nuechtemen Bereich der Wirklichkeit in einen zeitlosen Raum zu ruecken. Carl Zuckmayers Der Haupmann Koepenick ist zweifellos eines der bedeutendsten und dichterisch geschlossensten Schauspiele, das ein Ereignis unserer Zeit, naemlich des 20. Jahrhunderts, dramatisch gestaltet hat. Der Dichter gehoert der bisher letzten grossen deutschen Schriftstellergeneration an, die - im ausgehenden vorigen Jahrhundert geboren -- ein ihr Dasein bestinunendes Grunderlebnis im Trommelfeuer des Ersten Weltkrieges empfing. Er und Berthold Brecht, der sich ganz der marxistischen Ideologie verschrieben hat, sind heute die fuehrenden deutschen Dramatiker. Zuckmayer, der im Dritten Reich Deutschland verliess und vor mehr als einem Jahrzehnt amerikanischer Staatsbuerger wurde, wurde nach dem Kriege auf den deutschen Buehnen haeufiger aufgefuehrt, als irgend ein anderer lebender deutscher Autor. Wenn auch sein im Zweiten Weltkrieg spielendes Stueck Des Teufels General das deutsche Publikum der Nachkriegszeit staerlrnr erschuetterte, als seine uebrigen Dramen, so erscheint Der Hauptmann von Koepenick, den er ein deutsches Maerchen nennt, als am klarsten durchkomponiert und in der Verdichtung von Wirklichkeit und Fiktion kuenstlerisch am besten geglueckt. Die ausserordentliche Buehnenwirksamkeit dieses Werkes verhilft ihm auch nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg zu staendigen Neuinszenierungen, die die unverminderte Frische dieses Schauspiels beweisen. So erscheint es nicht ohne Reiz, das alte Problem Wirklichkeit und Dichtung an diesem Stueck zu untersuchen. In den ersten grossen Abschnitt der Arbeit wird versucht werden, aus dem uns zur Verfuegung stehenden Material -- Zeitungen, die Erzaehlung Wilhelm Schaefers und die Selbstbiographie -- den Lebensweg des Schusters Wilhelm Voigt einschliesslich seiner Tat, die ihn beruehmt machte, und des Prozesses der durch die Presse gingen, darzustellen. Der zweite Abschnitt dient der Analyse von Zuclanayers Schauspiel. Hier werden wir weniger eine genaue und detaillierte Wiedergabe des Inhaltes bringen, als vielmehr an Hand der Handlung des Stueckes versuchen Dramaturgie und inneren Gehalt zu erklaeren. Weiter umfasst das Kapitel einige theatergeschichtliche Anmerkungen, die sich besonders mit der Wirkung und dem Erfolg des Stueckes und seines Helden beiseiner Urauffuehrung im Jahre 1931 beschaeftigen. Im dritten und letzten Hauptkapitel versucht die Verfasserin schliesslich Wirklichkeit und Dichtung des Stoffes auf einen gemeinsamen Nenner zu bringe. Besonderer Betonung liegt hier auf der Person Wilhelm Voigts, wie sie uns aus den historischen Quellen uebermittelt wurde, und wie Zuckmayer diese Gestalt umformte. Nach einer zusammenfassenden Schlussbetrachtung folgt dem Quellenverzeichnis ein kurzer Anhang, mit biographischen Notizen ueber den Autor Carl Zuckmayer, einer Quellenkritik sowie der Szenenfolge des Schauspiels und einer Reproduktion des Titelbildes der Selbstbiographie Voigts.
Social and Political Thought In The Early Narrative Of Rómula Gallegos
(1961) Allen, R.F.; de Nemes, Graciela Palau; Languages, Literatures, & Cultures; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)
This dissertation is a study of the essays and short stories written by Rómulo Gallegos in the early years of the twentieth century. It traces his social and political ideas which were set forth in his essays and transferred into the early narrative work of the author. The essays and short stories, presented chronologically according to their date of publication, represent his successive works. Gallegos' ideas derive from the corruption of his native Venezuela ruled by anarchy and dictatorship. Born in Caracas in 1884 under the dictatorial regime of Cipriano Castro, Gallegos first attracted a reading public in 1906 with his collection of essays published originally in the literary journal La Alborada. The essays, from the obscure files of this long dead periodical, constitute the symposium entitled Una posición en la vida, 1954. Showing the influence of nineteenth century European and Latin-American positivism, these essays set forth his fundamental social and political beliefs and reforms . Another dictator, Juan Vicente Gómez, put an end to this literary activity by closing the review. Gallegos then made his debut as a short story writer, publishing more than thirty stories in the literary periodicals entitled El Cojo Ilustrado, La Revista, Actualidades, and La Novela Semanal. In these stories, the patriotic preoccupations of the essays come to life. Eventually Gallegos became a novelist, establishing himself as a major writer of Spanish-American fiction. He is noted for his intention to effect reform and for his interest in the traditions and the national soul of the Venezuelan people. This dissertation shows the trends started in the essays, applied to the short stories, and developed to a larger scope in the novel.
The 1974 Bilingual Education Amendments: Revolution, Reaction or Reform
(1976) Schneider, Susan Gilbert; Baird, Janet R.; Languages, Literatures, & Cultures; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)
Purpose: The study examined in detail the legislative history of the 1974 Bilingual Education Act, Section 105 of the Education Amendments of 1974, Public Law 93-380. The study examined the roles of Representatives, Senators, lobbyists, judicial decisions, minority groups and Administration officials in developing the 1974 Bilingual Education Act.
Wolfgang Borchert: A Representative of "Trümmerliteratur"?
(1989) Hohenwarter, Jyl Marie; Frederiksen, Elke G.; Languages, Literatures, & Cultures; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)
This investigation examines whether Wolfgang Borchert's short stories are representative of "Trümmerliteratur". By "Trümmerliteratur" I am referring to that short period in 20th century German Literature which was manifested by the causes and effects of World War II (1945-1947). Borchert's biographical data, the events leading to the emergence of "Trümmerliteratur" and a definition for and discussion of this literary phenomenon, and an analysis of four of Borchert's "Kurzgeschichten", ''Die Hundeblume", "Vier Soldaten", "Der Kaffee ist undefinierbar", and "Er hatte auch viel Ärger mit den Kriegen", are presented. Investigation includes as well an extensive bibliography.
El Estilo Es Una De Las Formas De La Edad (Una Biografia De Martin Adan)
(1992) Gargurevich, Eduardo; Mora, Jorge Aguilar; Spanish and Portuguese; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)
This study deals with the life and major works of the contemporary Peruvian writer Martin Adan, the literary name of Rafael de la Fuente Benavides (Lima, 1908-1985). The methodological approach used in this dissertation combines socio-criticism, stylistic analysis, textual explications and biographical narrations in an attempt to constantly relate life and writing, under the assumption that life, in both its personal and social dimension, can be illuminated by a study of the writings. In order to provide a satisfactory explanation for Martin Adan's statement that entitles this dissertation (EI estilo es una de las formas de la edad), our text includes an Introduction and eight chapters. In the Introduction we discuss how this study was born and our understanding of Adan's statement as an invitation to consider writing and life an indissoluble unity. This understanding therefore justifies the different methodological approaches that the reader will find employed in the study. In the first chapter we confront the problem of the double identity of Rafael de la Fuente Benavides and Martin Adan. In this first chapter we narrate the origin of both identities, trying to relate the two and discovering that the artistic existence of Martin Adan relies precisely on the continuous searching for such a relation. From the second chapter on, the study begins dealing with Adan's works in a chronological way. Thus, chapter two deals with his first publications, while the final chapter deals with those books that appeared in the final moments of the artist's life. This chronological development has allowed us to observe how Adan's works relate to the different events of his life. At the same time, our extensive research concerning Adan's life, the different versions of his published works, as well as his original manuscripts exemplifies the analytic approach that best fits our main goal: to observe the development of a writing practice and a life. While the different chapters may be considered as offering eight different ways to read Martin Adan, it must not be forgotten that throughout the whole dissertation, what lends unity to this investigation is the relationship between writing and life. Style, in Martin Adan's case, reflects the different approaches he takes to confront his most recurrent obsessions. And this exactly is what Adan is constantly saying: style is one of the forms of age.
"From Dragonfly to Butterfly": Nation, Identity and Culture in Postrevolutionary Mexico (1920-1940) as Reflected in Nellie Campobello's Dance and Narrative
(1998) de la Calle, Sophie; Cypess, Sandra; Languages, Literatures and Cultures; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md)
This dissertation explores the question of identity in dancer and writer Nellie Campobello (1900-?) in post-revolutionary Mexico. I examine the evolution of her dance, her narrative and her poetry in the light of important cultural and political changes. Because a principal element in this discussion is the formation of a strong national identity, I have decided to study its effects on both her dance and her literary works. Part 1 considers the role of the Nation-State in articulating the postwar-self together with the role of prominent intellectuals such as Jose Vasconcelos; his impact upon a new cultural and Mexican aesthetic in which myth ___ j and symbols such as the National Stadium played a decisive role in imagining the nation. Part 2 explores the dance in the context of the polemical and radical 30s when Nellie Campobello emerged as a representative of the new aesthetics in which the "masculine" as opposed to the "feminine" redefined the national identity. The II stadium dance" and the 11 soldadera" were seen as best expressions for revolution and socialism in the Cardenas era. The focus of part 3 is the cultural and aesthetic shift from the radical and the "masculine" to the conciliatory and the "feminine". With the help of influential fatherly figures such as Martin Luis Guzman, a past member of the Ateneo de la Juventud, Nellie Campobello adapted herself to his classical tradition. From this point on this study focuses on literary texts to discuss her contributions to questions of identity. In part 4 I examine the formation of identity in the context of the rebelious and iconoclastic thirties reflected in Campobello's early poetry. I then study Cartucho and its rejections of myth and its recuperation of the forgotten men and women of the Revolution. Part 5 returns to the ambivalent relationship between Campobello and Guzman, sponsor of Campobello's new image. Her strategic alliance with a prestigious figure of "criollo" culture in the late thirties would help reshape the "coarse" Cartucho into the "refined" and spiritual image of Las manos de mama. Consequently, part 6 examines the effects and the consequences of her metamorphosis from the rebelious and authentic to the ambivalent and more "domestic" image of the feminine redefined by national myths.
Migrating Texts: Cross-Cultural Readings of Costa Rican Plays of 1990-2000
(2003-12-05) Miller, Elaine Marnell; Cypess, Sandra M; Spanish Language and Literature
Using the framework of globalization studies and theories about intercultural theatre, this dissertation examines how Costa Rican New Wave dramatists explore the flow of ideologies and cultural identities. While these playwrights examine movements across borders and establish varying settings and links to history or other theatrical texts, they remain firmly committed to their local roots by contextualizing their plays for Costa Rican readers and audiences. I begin this study by focusing on plays that are set in Costa Rica and develop imagery allusive to national history. Leda Cavallini's Inquilinos del árbol (1999) and Miguel Rojas's Madriguera de ilusiones (1998) and Hogar dulce hogar (2000) denounce invasions by market-oriented forms of globalization that homogenize local cultures. Cavallini and Rojas put into practice in these plays the views expressed in their writings about the theatrical medium in San José urging dramatists and theatrical companies to create plays and repertories relevant to contemporary Costa Rica. I then consider how Víctor Valdelomar, in El ángel de la tormenta (1990), and Linda Berrón, in Olimpia (1998), set their plays in Medieval and Revolutionary France, respectively, accommodating the historical material to the contemporary Costa Rican socio-political context. Although Valdelomar questions U.S. economic and political hegemony, and Berrón criticizes relying solely upon foreign theories or local activism in the women's movement, both plays suggest that globalization can operate politically in Costa Rica through regional or transnational networks. Finally, I analyze Ana Istarú's Hombres en escabeche (2000), a commercial and critical success in Costa Rica and abroad. Inspired by the Italian play Sesso? Grazie, tanto per gradire! (1996) written by Dario Fo, Franca Rame, and Jacopo Fo, Istarú sets her own play in Costa Rica. However, Istarú also incorporates Western archetypes and employs images and metaphors associated with the plays Flores de papel (1968), by Chilean Egon Wolff, and Cocinar hombres (1986), by Mexican Carmen Boullosa, creating a text with multiple levels of meaning for transnational audiences that questions the fixed nature of gender identity and artistic creativity and suggests that neither Marxism nor neoliberalism provides the answer to Costa Rica's future.
The Life and Works of Honduran Poet Edilberto Cardona Bulnes
(2004-04-15) Alvarado, Leonel; Cypess, Sandra M.; Spanish Language and Literature
One of the most important features of Honduran literature is the fact that it lacks an international recognition. Besides, the little that is known about it focuses on those authors who deal mostly with the political turmoil that has defined the region's history. Although valid, this perception ignores the existence of a wide variety of discourses such as those that strive for a literature that does not depend on historical events but on a more personal view upon the role literature is bound to play in society. Such is the case of the works of Honduran poet Edilberto Cardona Bulnes, whose poetry is completely unknown even in his own country. Being the first critical approach to the author, this study is aimed not only to rescue his works from oblivion but also to demonstrate that he is our most innovative and daring poet. His books transcend nationalistic boundaries since they are part of a current linked to French, Spanish, and North American poetry. By focussing on the intrinsic importance of poetic language and detaching himself from the historical events around him, Cardona Bulnes assumed his own isolation and that of his books. This dilemma is an essential feature that defines the foreign writers he dialogues with and, paradoxically, grants him and Honduran literature the international dimension that it lacks.
Samoa - 'Perle' der deutschen Kolonien? 'Bilder' des exotischen Anderen in Geschichte(n) des 20. Jahrhunderts
(2004-04-21) DiPaola, Kathrin; Frederiksen, Elke; Germanic Language and Literature
ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation:SAMOA PERLE' DER DEUTSCHEN KOLONIEN? BILDER' DES EXOTISCHEN ANDEREN IN GESCHICHTE(N) DES 20. JAHRHUNDERTS Kathrin DiPaola, Doctor of Philosophy, 2004 Dissertation directed by: Professor Elke Frederiksen Department of Germanic Studies Comparable to a 'lost paradise' with its pleasant climate and peaceful inhabitants as well as its considerable profits from the export of copra, Western Samoa was considered the 'pearl' of the German colonial empire, which offered an ideal platform for portraying Germany as a 'model child' among the colonizing nations. Drawing on well-established 18th century stereotypes of the South Pacific as a place of archaic beauty, social equality, and uninhibited sexuality, German authors at the end of the 19th and early 20th century still used familiar images of the 'exotic other' to define and justify a new political, imperialistic, and ideological 'German self' within the colonial context. The selected travel narratives and novels Otto Ehlers' Samoa- Perle der Südsee (1900), Erich Scheurmann's Paitea und Ilse (1919), Emil Reche's Kifanga, Frieda Zieschank's Ein verlorenes Paradies (both 1924), and Herbert Nachbar's Der Weg nach Samoa (1976) are representative of a broader body of work that promotes the notion of a predetermined understanding of the 'self' and the 'other' as a form of national and individual identification in 20th century colonial literature. In order to reveal the most common stereotypes that propagated the image of a 'German South Pacific', postcolonial theories provide the appropriate analytical tools to describe and deconstruct existing dependencies between colonizing 'self' and colonized 'other' by asking the following key questions: Is the encounter between 'self' and 'other' characterized by specific patterns? How do these patterns pre-determine the 'other'? How does the portrayal of the 'other' define the 'self'? My analysis focuses on three major categories that are instrumental in the process of 'appropriating the other': 1) literary space vs. 'real' geography, 2) literary space and pre-existing images of the 'other', and 3) literary space and the exotic-erotic. A thorough investigation of the themes mentioned above, preceded by a general overview of constructed properties of the image of the 'South Seas', leads me to the conclusion that Samoa was indeed the proclaimed 'pearl' of the German colonial empire because it could easily be adjusted to changing political and cultural settings of 20th century German realities.
Spaces of Passion: The Love Letters of Jean Giono to Blanche Meyer
(2004-05-06) Le Page, Patricia Allard; Brami, Joseph; French Language and Literature
ABSTRACT Title of dissertation: SPACE OF PASSION: THE LOVE LETTERS OF JEAN GIONO TO BLANCHE MEYER Patricia A. Le Page, Doctor of Philosophy, 2004 Dissertation directed by: Professor Joseph Brami Department of French and Italian This dissertation offers a first analysis of a collection containing more than one thousand letters that Jean Giono wrote to Blanche Meyer over a thirty year period from 1939-1969. The correspondence, which was first opened to the public in January 2000, is housed at Yale University's Beinecke Library. It has never been mentioned by Giono's biographer or critics in spite of the light it sheds on his creative process. The liaison revealed by the letters leads to a discovery of the extraordinary role that Blanche played in Giono's creative life. She was the only person to be so profoundly involved in his writing as the idealized image with whom he shared his internal dialogue. As the beloved "other" who inspired Giono's lover's discourse, she allowed him to express and examine his ideas and thus to clarify his thinking and move forward with his work. What strikes the reader upon reading the letters in conjunction with Giono's novels, is the extent to which Giono's life and his fiction were inspired by the myth of courtly love and how deeply his life and work were intertwined. Identifying and explicating the myth is significant because it provides an essential key to a renewed understanding and appreciation of Giono as a writer, a reinterpretation of the conception of love and sexuality he expresses in his novels, and a resolution of several important contradictions in his life and work. All of this leads to a reassessment of the legend invented by the writer himself and disseminated by his critics, that Giono was a self-taught provincial writer whose work was outside the intellectual mainstream. The letters reveal that Giono was a complex man of letters whose life was informed by the reading of literature and centered around writing and reflection. Moreover, the correspondence read as a meta-discourse along with his novels, provides a unique portrait of the artist engaged in the experience of passionate love which was for him the penultimate human experience and the apotheosis of the myth.
Despiadada(s) Ciudad(es): El imaginario salvadoreño más allá de la guerra civil, el testimonio y la inmigración
(2004-06-08) Villalta, Nilda C.; Harrison, Regina; Spanish Language and Literature; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: DESPIADADA(S) CIUDAD(ES): EL IMAGINARIO SALVADOREÑO MÁS ALLÁ DE LA GUERRA CIVIL, EL TESTIMONIO Y LA INMIGRACIÓN Nilda C. Villalta, Doctor of Philosophy, 2004 Dissertation directed by:Professor Regina Harrison Department of Spanish and Portuguese School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures This dissertation examines the transformation of the Salvadorean imaginary during the post-war period (1992 to the present), in El Salvador's "despiadadas ciudades" (ruthless cities) through the works of four authors who belong to the generation of the "splendid hells." Carmen González Huguet expresses feminine self-determination, violence, and changes common to Salvadorean society through the phenomenon of migration; Otoniel Guevara addresses the life of the common man in the violent and cruel city; Jacinta Escudos explores forbidden topics; and Quique Avilés narrates the life of the Salvadorean/Central American immigrant resident in Washington, D.C. In addition to close readings of the works of these four authors, this dissertation documents the parallel emergence of a body of Central American literary criticism. Several theoretical frameworks inform the study of González Huguet, Guevara, Escudos and Avilés. Critical studies of the literature and culture of post-war Central America, and of Central American exile/migration in the United States are central theoretical concepts, as well as the emergence and positioning adopted by engaged Central American critics. In addition a review of testimonial literature and the role of the subaltern situate the writers of El Salvador in an international theoretical corpus. The study of post-war literature and a characterization of its aestheticthe aesthetic of violenceare present in the textual analysis of these four writers, following a chronological/thematic approach, beginning with the war/migration years and the aftermath that follows. Interviews with the four authors enhance a description of the cultural and creative environment in which these four Salvadorean-focused authors write, as well as revealing authorial perspective on contemporary trends in cultural production. Post-war Salvadorean literature emerges from the effort of these writers who are intent upon fictionalizing the new reality of their lives. This generation of writers and their literature narrates, in a new paradigm, the experience of war, violence and reconstruction from an aesthetic of violence that is born of individual, everyday experience, which allow them to talk profoundly about their society.
Alfonsina Storni: Analisis y contextualizacion del estilo impresionista en sus cronicas
(2004-07-28) Mendez, Claudia Edith; Messinger Cypess, Sandra; Spanish Language and Literature; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Alfonsina Storni (1892-1938) was a seminal Argentinean author who had a deep influence both on her readers and other writers. Best-know for her poetic works, she also wrote poetry, theater, and works in prose. The purpose of this dissertation is to discuss her prose works, heretofore classified as articles, notes or essays, under the literary genre of chronicles, and analyze Storni's style in these works, which is best described as literary impressionism. The corpus studied in comprised of 35 brief chronicles published in the magazine La Nota and some 30 more published in the Argentine newspaper La Nación from 1919-1937. These two groups form the majority of Storni's chronicles. I also consider some chronicles which appeared in magazines such as Fray Mocho, Atlántida and Hebe. I addition I discuss two of her lectures, "Desovillando la raíz porteña" and "Entre un par de maletas a medio abrir y las manecillas de un reloj". Some of the important themes or these works are women in the labor market, the place of women in modern society, and literary creation. The first chapter is dedicated to the definition of "chronicle" and "literary impressionism." The second chapter surveys the critical literature on Storni in order to determine why her prose works have not previously been studied, and the third, fourth, and fifth analyze her chronicles and present an account or the historical circumstances in which they were produced. All of her chronicles, some 80 in total, are written in an impressionist style and maintain a coherence of form and consistency in the themes they address. Careful analysis of these chronicles leads to the conclusion that Storni's chronicles are an integral part of her literary opus, and that Storni was one or the most important literary creators in the history of Argentina, an original feminist and a painter of the modern life.
The Spanish Shahrazad and her Entourage: The Powers of Storytelling Women in Libro de los engaños de las mujeres
(2004-11-24) Hancock, Zennia Désirée; Benito-Vessels, Carmen; Spanish Language and Literature; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: THE SPANISH SHAHRAZAD AND HER ENTOURAGE: THE POWERS OF STORYTELLING WOMEN IN LIBRO DE LOS ENGANOS DE LAS MUJERES Zennia Desiree Hancock, Doctor of Philosophy, 2004 Dissertation Directed By: Associate Professor Carmen Benito-Vessels Department of Spanish and Portuguese The anonymous Libro de los engaños e asayamientos de las mugeres (LEM) is a collection of exempla consisting of a frame tale and twenty-three interpolated tales. It forms part of the Seven Sages/Sindibad cycle, shares source material with the Arabic Alf layla wa layla (A Thousand and One Nights), and was ordered translated from Arabic into Romance by Prince Fadrique of Castile in 1253. In the text, females may be seen as presented according to the traditional archetypes of Eve and the Virgin Mary; however, the ambivalence of the work allows that it be interpreted as both misogynous and not, which complicates the straightforward designation of its female characters as "good" and bad." Given this, the topos of Eva/Ave as it applies to this text is re-evaluated. The reassessment is effected by exploring the theme of ambivalence and by considering the female characters as hybrids of both western and eastern tradition. The primary female character of the text, dubbed the "Spanish Shahrazad," along with other storytelling women in the interpolated tales, are proven to transcend binary paradigms through their intellect, which cannot be said to be inherently either good or evil, and which is expressed through speech acts and performances. Chapter I reviews the historical background of Alfonsine Spain and the social conditions of medieval women, and discusses the portrayal of females in literature, while Chapter II focuses on the history of the exempla, LEM, and critical approaches to the text, and then identifies Bakhtin's theory of the carnivalesque and Judith Butler's speech act theory of injurious language as appropriate methodologies, explaining how both are nuanced by feminist perspectives. A close reading of the text demonstrates how it may be interpreted as a misogynous work. Chapter III applies the theoretical tools in order to problematise the misogynous reading of the text and to demonstrate the agency of its female speaker-performers; the analysis centres on the Spanish Shahrazad, who represents a female subjectivity that transcends binary depictions of women and represents a holistic ideal of existence that is reflected in the calculated, harmonized use of both her intellect and corporeality.
Homelands in Exile: Three Contemporary Latin American Jewish Women Writers Create a Literary Homeland
(2004-12-14) Weingarten, Laura Suzanne; Sosnowski, Saul; Spanish Language and Literature; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Margo Glantz, Nora Glickman, and Ruth Behar are three contemporary Latin American Jewish women writers who have succeeded in creating a literary homeland in the absence of a satisfactory geographic one. They defy the norms of traditional literary genres by combining autobiography, theater, narrative, and collective history in order to create an imaginary realm where their cultural, religious and ethnic diversity may flourish. This study demonstrates how these three writers have redefined Diaspora/diaspora, escaped a seemingly inescapable cultural and geographic exile, and established unique identities through the act of writing.
Proust and the Discourse on Habit
(2004-12-20) Loeserman, Amy Ross; Verdaguer, Pierre; French Language and Literature; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
A la recherche du temps perdu by Marcel Proust is replete with a discourse by the principal character, the narrator Marcel, on the subject of habit ("habitude" in French). This discourse meticulously explores the ubiquitous but concealed role that habit plays with respect to the most significant aspects of life, such as emotions, cognitive processes, and aesthetic experiences, and it explicitly relates not only to the novel's characters, but to humanity in general. The critical commentary on the novel has largely ignored this subject. This dissertation provides the only comprehensive collection and analysis of the Proustian commentary on habit in A la recherche du temps perdu. It is not by chance that habit was deeply explored in Proust's novel or that it has been largely overlooked by the critical commentary. Historically, philosophers have paid substantial attention to habit. Habit was a focus of controversial philosophical/psychological theories in 19th century France regarding memory and consciousness, spirit and matter. Proust's commentary was directly related to the prominent philosophical issues of his time. This dissertation discusses the broad meanings of habit, first as developed by Aristotle and St. Thomas; then by French essayists, through Montaigne, Pascal, and the philosophes; and finally culminating in the great 19th century works on habit by Maine de Biran and Félix Ravaisson. It also reviews substantial contributions on habit made by other French writers and philosophers, notably Stendhal and Alfred Fouillée. Proust's reflections on habit may thus be appreciated in context. This dissertation then analyzes the contributions which Proust's novel made to contemporary theories on habit and argues that they were substantial. It also argues that presentations of the major themes in the novel should include, prominently, habit. For example, on the philosophical plane, Proust's theories relating to involuntary memory and time are inextricably interwoven with his theories on habit. Finally, this dissertation considers why habit fell out of the philosophical/psychological discourse after about 1930, and the extent to which Proust's novel may inform the philosophical/psychological/biological discourse in the 21st century, which is reflecting a renewed interest in habit. A la recherche du temps perdu by Marcel Proust is replete with a discourse by the principal character, the narrator Marcel, on the subject of habit ("habitude" in French). This discourse meticulously explores the ubiquitous but concealed role that habit plays with respect to the most significant aspects of life, such as emotions, cognitive processes, and aesthetic experiences, and it explicitly relates not only to the novel's characters, but to humanity in general. The critical commentary on the novel has largely ignored this subject. This dissertation provides the only comprehensive collection and analysis of the Proustian commentary on habit in A la recherche du temps perdu. It is not by chance that habit was deeply explored in Proust's novel or that it has been largely overlooked by the critical commentary. Historically, philosophers have paid substantial attention to habit. Habit was a focus of controversial philosophical/psychological theories in 19th century France regarding memory and consciousness, spirit and matter. Proust's commentary was directly related to the prominent philosophical issues of his time. This dissertation discusses the broad meanings of habit, first as developed by Aristotle and St. Thomas; then by French essayists, through Montaigne, Pascal, and the philosophes; and finally culminating in the great 19th century works on habit by Maine de Biran and Félix Ravaisson. It also reviews substantial contributions on habit made by other French writers and philosophers, notably Stendhal and Alfred Fouillée. Proust's reflections on habit may thus be appreciated in context. This dissertation then analyzes the contributions which Proust's novel made to contemporary theories on habit and argues that they were substantial. It also argues that presentations of the major themes in the novel should include, prominently, habit. For example, on the philosophical plane, Proust's theories relating to involuntary memory and time are inextricably interwoven with his theories on habit. Finally, this dissertation considers why habit fell out of the philosophical/psychological discourse after about 1930, and the extent to which Proust's novel may inform the philosophical/psychological/biological discourse in the 21st century, which is reflecting a renewed interest in habit. A la recherche du temps perdu by Marcel Proust is replete with a discourse by the principal character, the narrator Marcel, on the subject of habit ("habitude" in French). This discourse meticulously explores the ubiquitous but concealed role that habit plays with respect to the most significant aspects of life, such as emotions, cognitive processes, and aesthetic experiences, and it explicitly relates not only to the novel's characters, but to humanity in general. The critical commentary on the novel has largely ignored this subject. This dissertation provides the only comprehensive collection and analysis of the Proustian commentary on habit in A la recherche du temps perdu. It is not by chance that habit was deeply explored in Proust's novel or that it has been largely overlooked by the critical commentary. Historically, philosophers have paid substantial attention to habit. Habit was a focus of controversial philosophical/psychological theories in 19th century France regarding memory and consciousness, spirit and matter. Proust's commentary was directly related to the prominent philosophical issues of his time. This dissertation discusses the broad meanings of habit, first as developed by Aristotle and St. Thomas; then by French essayists, through Montaigne, Pascal, and the philosophes; and finally culminating in the great 19th century works on habit by Maine de Biran and Félix Ravaisson. It also reviews substantial contributions on habit made by other French writers and philosophers, notably Stendhal and Alfred Fouillée. Proust's reflections on habit may thus be appreciated in context. This dissertation then analyzes the contributions which Proust's novel made to contemporary theories on habit and argues that they were substantial. It also argues that presentations of the major themes in the novel should include, prominently, habit. For example, on the philosophical plane, Proust's theories relating to involuntary memory and time are inextricably interwoven with his theories on habit. Finally, this dissertation considers why habit fell out of the philosophical/psychological discourse after about 1930, and the extent to which Proust's novel may inform the philosophical/psychological/biological discourse in the 21st century, which is reflecting a renewed interest in habit. A la recherche du temps perdu by Marcel Proust is replete with a discourse by the principal character, the narrator Marcel, on the subject of habit ("habitude" in French). This discourse meticulously explores the ubiquitous but concealed role that habit plays with respect to the most significant aspects of life, such as emotions, cognitive processes, and aesthetic experiences, and it explicitly relates not only to the novel's characters, but to humanity in general. The critical commentary on the novel has largely ignored this subject. This dissertation provides the only comprehensive collection and analysis of the Proustian commentary on habit in A la recherche du temps perdu. It is not by chance that habit was deeply explored in Proust's novel or that it has been largely overlooked by the critical commentary. Historically, philosophers have paid substantial attention to habit. Habit was a focus of controversial philosophical/psychological theories in 19th century France regarding memory and consciousness, spirit and matter. Proust's commentary was directly related to the prominent philosophical issues of his time. This dissertation discusses the broad meanings of habit, first as developed by Aristotle and St. Thomas; then by French essayists, through Montaigne, Pascal, and the philosophes; and finally culminating in the great 19th century works on habit by Maine de Biran and Félix Ravaisson. It also reviews substantial contributions on habit made by other French writers and philosophers, notably Stendhal and Alfred Fouillée. Proust's reflections on habit may thus be appreciated in context. This dissertation then analyzes the contributions which Proust's novel made to contemporary theories on habit and argues that they were substantial. It also argues that presentations of the major themes in the novel should include, prominently, habit. For example, on the philosophical plane, Proust's theories relating to involuntary memory and time are inextricably interwoven with his theories on habit. Finally, this dissertation considers why habit fell out of the philosophical/psychological discourse after about 1930, and the extent to which Proust's novel may inform the philosophical/psychological/biological discourse in the 21st century, which is reflecting a renewed interest in habit. A la recherche du temps perdu by Marcel Proust is replete with a discourse by the principal character, the narrator Marcel, on the subject of habit ("habitude" in French). This discourse meticulously explores the ubiquitous but concealed role that habit plays with respect to the most significant aspects of life, such as emotions, cognitive processes, and aesthetic experiences, and it explicitly relates not only to the novel's characters, but to humanity in general. The critical commentary on the novel has largely ignored this subject. This dissertation provides the only comprehensive collection and analysis of the Proustian commentary on habit in A la recherche du temps perdu. It is not by chance that habit was deeply explored in Proust's novel or that it has been largely overlooked by the critical commentary. Historically, philosophers have paid substantial attention to habit. Habit was a focus of controversial philosophical/psychological theories in 19th century France regarding memory and consciousness, spirit and matter. Proust's commentary was directly related to the prominent philosophical issues of his time. This dissertation discusses the broad meanings of habit, first as developed by Aristotle and St. Thomas; then by French essayists, through Montaigne, Pascal, and the philosophes; and finally culminating in the great 19th century works on habit by Maine de Biran and Félix Ravaisson. It also reviews substantial contributions on habit made by other French writers and philosophers, notably Stendhal and Alfred Fouillée. Proust's reflections on habit may thus be appreciated in context. This dissertation then analyzes the contributions which Proust's novel made to contemporary theories on habit and argues that they were substantial. It also argues that presentations of the major themes in the novel should include, prominently, habit. For example, on the philosophical plane, Proust's theories relating to involuntary memory and time are inextricably interwoven with his theories on habit. Finally, this dissertation considers why habit fell out of the philosophical/psychological discourse after about 1930, and the extent to which Proust's novel may inform the philosophical/psychological/biological discourse in the 21st century, which is reflecting a renewed interest in habit.
Mimetischer Zauber: Die englischsprachige Rezeption deutscher Lieder in den USA, 1830-1880
(2005-04-22) Hadamer, Armin Werner; Frederiksen, Elke; Germanic Language and Literature; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
The English-language reception of German songs in the United States was a textual practice that extended across many social contexts in the 19th century. Translation, adaptation and circulation of these songs were a form of rhetorical and quasi mimetic representation that helped various American discourses constitute their worlds and identities (Transcendentalism, reform movements, revivalism, education, popular culture, political parties and the Civil War). Homi Bhabha's concept of the "Third Space" is a valid approach to the reception as these discourses made German songs part of their negotiations of American national identity, class, moral values, gender, and ethnicity, thus creating their own usable as well as ambivalent German point of reference. German and American cultures did not simply coexist in symbiotic relations. Rather, as the reception shows, they constructed their identities and differences through multiple intertextual relations within a shared discursive sphere of song. Cultural transfer was thus as much an inside as an outside phenomenon. The dissertation builds on extensive archival research and a collection of several hundred German songs, each with melody and English text, ranging from the Classics, Romanticism, the Napoleonic Wars, to German, Austrian and Swiss folk songs. The main objective is to move the American reception of German songs from its hidden archival existence into the light of scholarly investigation by applying an interdisciplinary Cultural Studies approach. The dissertation uses Michel Foucault's discourse analysis to refine this approach methodologically, demonstrating with an in-depth archeology the discursive function of the songs within their contexts. Two results of this analysis are crucial. First, it goes significantly beyond the existing scholarship on German-American relations in the 19th century (New England Transcendentalists, immigrant history) as it explores the German within the wider contexts of American popular culture. Second, by doing so it reads these relations against their scholarly and collective narratives, sharing Walter Benjamin's emancipatory vision of history as a site of potentially many readings. In addition, the dissertation contributes to a broader understanding of German literature within the historical, cultural and interdisciplinary contexts of German Studies.
CINEMA ET MYTHES DANS L'ESPACE FRANCOPHONE: LES REPRESENTATIONS DES FIGURES HISTORIQUES DANS LES FILMS D'AFRIQUE NOIRE ET DES ANTILLES.
(2005-05-19) Petnkeu, Zacharie Nzepa; Julien , Eileen; French Language and Literature; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Beginning with a contextual characterization of the concepts of 'tragedy' and 'hero', this dissertation examines the various ways black filmmakers represent historical and political leaders of Francophone sub Saharan Africa and the Caribbean in their narratives. Eight movies are analyzed, including six from Africa -- David Achkar's Allah Tantou (1991), Med Hondo's Sarraounia (1986), Dani Kouyate's Keita. The Heritage of the Griot (1995), Raoul Peck's Lumumba. Death of a Prophet (1992), Cheick Oumar Sissoko's Guimba. The Tyrant (1995), Ousmane Sembene's Emitaï (1971) -- and two from the Caribbean -- Charles Najman's Royal Bonbon (2002) and Isaac Julien's Frantz Fanon: Black Skin White Mask (1996). The study explores the use of cinematic techniques overlaid by cultural codes to suggest on the one hand either a deep sense of anti-heroism on the part of some leaders or the exaltation of others' heroism, and on the other, the attitudes of female heroines in their oppressive environment. In this respect, the analysis draws upon theoretical works of semioticians and structuralists such as Christian Metz, Jurij Lotman, Claude Levi-Strauss and Roland Barthes. It also focuses on film aesthetics as a way of addressing the meaning of tragedy in relation to the contextual components of these movies as well as the ideological positions of the filmmakers considered to be representatives of the voices of the margins. The work of Fanon, Césaire, Memmi, Luce Irigaray, Assia Djebar, Ella Shohat and other post-colonial or feminist theoreticians is used to highlight the analysis. In sum, this study is meant to reflect the awareness of oppressive forces and ideologies at work in contemporary political and social arenas in Africa and its Diaspora. It also brings to light men and women's responsibilities for challenging and standing up to such forces.
LA 'NOUVELLE' LITTERATURE MAROCAINE DE LANGUE FRANÇAISE ET L'ESPACE PUBLIC: LE CAS D'ABDELLATIF LAABI
(2005-05-26) Babana-Hampton, Safoi; Julien, Eileen; French Language and Literature; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
This dissertation examines the strategies adopted by the 'New' Moroccan writers of French expression to creatively engage art in social and cultural debates on identity, decolonization and democracy, thus promoting the emergence of a modern public sphere through literature, against the backdrop of absolutist power and a politically repressed society. The term 'new' is understood as a defining characteristic of a certain trend of Moroccan literary writing that not so much seeks to distinguish itself from what is commonly referred to as 'colonial' writing, but that sees itself in terms of an epistemological attitude, and as an event associated with critical self-questioning and creative engagement with modernity and the colonial/postcolonial situation. The analysis of a selection of texts in our case study of Moroccan writer Abdellatif Laâbi aims at presenting a reading model that posits this literature in its relations with the evolving socio-political and intellectual environments. In order to reveal the limits and inadequacies of past approaches to the corpus of the 'New' Moroccan literature of French expression, the study draws on Habermas's notion of the 'public sphere'. For the purposes of this study, Habermas's concept allows for an interdisciplinary approach that has the advantage of exposing the intricacies of the literature/politics and literature/society relationships in the context of Moroccan society. The study engages the theories of art developed by Bakhtin, Jameson, Bourdieu, Said and others for the ultimate goal of presenting a reading model that privileges the analysis of the texts in question as literary texts seen in their relations with their context, and not as entities that are subordinate to or embedded in the realm of political activity, nor as closed entities leading an independent life of their own. The research questions raised by the thesis are set within larger postcolonial questions and themes such as the meaning of 'decolonization', the relationship between the Self and the Other, determinants of a post-independence (national) identity, the problem of language and the role of the postcolonial intellectual.