Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Gaiman, Neil. American gods'

A presente dissertação consiste em um estudo do romance Deuses americanos de Neil Gaiman levando em consideração suas conexões a outros textos bem como inserções de diversos textos provenientes de outros trabalhos na prosa do romance. A proposta de leitura do texto de Gaiman segundo este trabalho utiliza os conceitos de intertextualidade e arquétipos de forma a analisar a relação entre a trama de Deuses americanos às várias utilizações de textos cuja escrita “original” não é atribuída ao autor do livro inseridos (ou referenciados) na prosa do romance. Embora o objeto de estudo seja comumente visto como um livro difícil de ser categorizado dentre de um certo gênero, a proposta desta dissertação é demonstrar que o movimento e o fluxo contínuo de discursos (textos) e estilos na prosa do romance remonta a uma visão de um estrangeiro sobre os Estados Unidos e como o país foi criado: ou seja, que ele é não somente um ponto geográfico de confluência de muitos povos, mas também de muitas crenças e culturas que, de um modo ou outro, trouxeram os seus deuses consigo. A análise do uso de intertextos, intratextos e arquétipos no romance está estruturada em três capítulos centrais: o primeiro contextualiza os mitos que aparecem no romance e discute a questão de gênero literário do livro, além do conceito de América no texto de Gaiman. O segundo capítulo examina o uso de mitos por Gaiman em relação a outros trabalhos, tanto os manuscritos antigos de crenças pagãs quanto instâncias mais modernas de mito e alegoria, além de estudar as conexões entre Deuses americanos e outros textos escritos por Gaiman de acordo com o conceito de intratextualidade proposto por Affonso de Sant’Anna. Por fim, o terceiro capítulo se concentra no uso pontual de intertextos no romance, organizando-os entre alusões literárias, referências à cultura pop, além de estudar o conflito entre a era digital e o antigo reinado da fé religiosa, sem deixar de investigar o uso de arquétipos e apropriação na prosa do romance. O trabalho, assim, tem como objetivo verificar a alegação de que a qualidade intertextual do romance é essencial tendo em vista sua trama e cenário, bem como a afirmação de que ele redefine o conceito da América do final dos anos 90 como um espaço multicultural, dinâmico e mítico.<br>This thesis consists of a study of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods in the light of its connections to other texts as well as the punctual insertions of various texts from other works in the novel’s prose. The proposed reading of Gaiman’s text employs the concepts of intertextuality and archetypes in order to further analyze the relation of the plot of American Gods to the various uses of texts - that were not originally written by the book’s author – which are inserted (or alluded to) in the novel’s prose. Although the object of study is generally seen as a book that is hard to brand within a certain genre, this thesis’ approach to the novel demonstrates that movement and the continuous flow of speeches (texts) and styles in the novel’s prose comprises an outsider’s view of America and how the country came into existence – that is, that it is the geographical conflux not only of many peoples, but also of many beliefs and cultures, which in some way or other brought their gods with them. This examination of the use of intertexts, intratexts and archetypes in the novel is structured in three main chapters: The first chapter contextualizes the myths that appear in the novel and discusses the issues of genre and the concept of America in Gaiman’s text. The second chapter analyzes Gaiman’s use of myths in relation to other works – the original manuscripts of ancient beliefs as well as modern instances of myth and allegory – along with the connections between American Gods and Gaiman’s other works according to Affonso de Sant’Anna’s concept of intratextuality. Finally, the third chapter focuses on the punctual uses of intertexts in the novel, breaking them down into literary allusions, references to pop culture and the conflict between the digital era and the age of religious faith, and the use of archetypes and appropriation in the novel’s prose. At the end of the work, I aim to assert my belief that the intertextual nature of the novel is essential to its plot and setting, and re-defines the concept of late-90’s/early 2000’s America as a multicultural, dynamic mythical space.

This thesis provides a critical analysis of the use of folklore and mythology that exists in Neil Gaiman's award-winning novel, American Gods. I focus on the ways in which American Gods is situated within an intertextual corpus of mythological and mythopoeic writing. In particular, this study analyses Gaiman’s writing by drawing upon Mircea Eliade’s ideas about mythology and Northrop Frye’s archetypal criticism to discuss the emergence of secular myth through fantasy fiction.

Submitted by HEBE TOCCI MARIN null (hebe.marin@gmail.com) on 2016-07-15T15:27:03Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação de mestrado - Hebe Marin.pdf: 1054901 bytes, checksum: 5558d9e101da5b60fb322957ee0bd909 (MD5)<br>Approved for entry into archive by Ana Paula Grisoto (grisotoana@reitoria.unesp.br) on 2016-07-15T17:10:56Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 marin_ht_me_arafcl.pdf: 1054901 bytes, checksum: 5558d9e101da5b60fb322957ee0bd909 (MD5)<br>Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-15T17:10:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 marin_ht_me_arafcl.pdf: 1054901 bytes, checksum: 5558d9e101da5b60fb322957ee0bd909 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-05-31<br>Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)<br>Abordar a ciência e as mudanças científico-tecnológicas na literatura é uma prática que acompanha a humanidade e sua evolução desde o princípio. Dessa prática surge a Ficção Científica (FC), um dos muitos ramos da rica literatura gótica. Na nossa sociedade, que faz uso constante e cada vez maior da tecnologia e seus gadgets, porém, muitas das mudanças imaginadas pelos autores de FC, sendo elas fantásticas ou verossímeis, já foram alcançadas e, desta maneira, o gênero foi compelido a buscar novos temas e abordagens. À beira de uma revolução na FC, o autor inglês Neil Gaiman cria em sua obra Deuses Americanos (2001) um novo tipo de ciência: uma ciência sacralizada, “deusificada”. No romance, deuses de culturas e religiões antigas devem conviver com e sobreviver a novos deuses emergentes – os deuses da mídia, dos carros e dos computadores, entre outros. As duas gerações de deuses disputam a fé da humanidade, o que os alimenta, e nesse processo, muitos desses deuses evoluem, involuem ou até mesmo morrem. A FC criada por Neil Gaiman retorna ao mito para explicar o desconhecido e torna-se então uma espécie de FC “reversa”. Este trabalho propõe um debate sobre essa nova face da FC, com base nas teorias de Fred Botting, Mircea Elíade, Robert Adams e Sigmund Freud, entre outros.<br>Approaching science and technoscientific changes in literature has been done by humanity since the beginning and has evolved alongside with history. From this practice derives Science Fiction (SF), one of the many branches of gothic literature. In our society, which makes constant and increasing use of technology and gadgets, however, many changes imagined by SF authors, either fantastic or verisimilar, have already been reached and so the literary genre was compelled to search for new themes and approaches. On the brink of a revolution in SF, British author Neil Gaiman creates in his masterpiece, American Gods (2001), a new type of science: a sacralized and “godfied” science. In the novel, gods from different cultures and ancient religions must live with and survive to new emergent gods – gods of the media, of cars and computers, among others. Both generations of gods fight over what feeds them – the faith of mankind – and during this process, many of these gods evolve, devolve or even perish. The SF created by Neil Gaiman returns to the myth as an explanation to the unknown and becomes then a kind of “reverse” SF. This work proposes a debate on this new face of SF, based on the theories of Fred Botting, Mircea Elíade, Robert Adams and Sigmund Freud, among others.

In 2001, Neil Gaiman published American Gods, a novel of American life and mythology. As a British author living in the United States, Gaiman has a powerful vantage point from which to critique American culture, landscape, and ideology. Rich with re-invented deities, legends, mythic creatures, and folk heroes cast in a decidedly American mold, American Gods examines the American character, evaluating the myths and beliefs of the culture from the vantage point of an outsider. By examining the character's allegiance to particular cultural legacies (Wednesday as the American con artist, Shadow as the cowboy), I intend to assess this outsider's understanding of what it means to be an American.

Neil Gaiman’s use of a hyper-masculine American culture in American Gods sheds light upon the multiple issues surrounding a misogynistic society in which women are treated as sexual objects and punished for their independence as sexual beings. Gaiman’s efforts at highlighting these issues are discreet and hidden under layers of patriarchal expectations, but through the use of his protagonist, Shadow, Gaiman is able to provide an alternative to the society he represents. While he successfully illustrates this more “ideal” society, his endeavors fall short and are almost imperceptible throughout his novel. Gaiman’s work in American Gods, while lacking in its overall presence, brings attention to the issues within a hyper-masculine society and it is through this unique, feminist approach that Gaiman is able to present his strong argument for change.

Kazimierz Dabrowski’s psychological theory of positive disintegration is a lesser known theory of personality development that offers an alternative critical perspective of literature. It provides a framework for the characterization of postmodern protagonists who move beyond heroic indoctrination to construct their own self-organized, autonomous identities. Ezra Pound’s The Cantos captures the speaker-poet’s extensive process of inner conflict, providing a unique opportunity to track the progress of the hero’s transformation into a personality, or a man. American Gods is a more fully realized portrayal of a character who undergoes the complete paradigmatic collapse of positive disintegration and deliberate self-derived self-revision in a more distilled linear fashion. Importantly, using a Dabrowskian lens to re-examine contemporary literature that has evolved to portray how the experience of psychopathology leads to metaphorical death—which may have any combination of negative or positive outcomes—has not only socio-cultural significance but important personal implications as well.

L'elaborato consiste in una proposta di traduzione di un racconto tratto da "Norse Mythology" di Neil Gaiman e in una breve analisi dell’origine e della storia traduttiva dei due testi medievali alla base dell’opera di Gaiman, l’Edda di Snorri e l’Edda poetica, da cui deriva gran parte della nostra conoscenza della mitologia norrena.

At just under thirty years the serious academic study of American comic books is relatively young. Over the course of three decades most historians familiar with the medium have recognized that American comics, since becoming a mass-cultural product in 1939, have matured beyond their humble beginnings as a monthly publication for children. However, historians are not yet in agreement as to when the medium became mature. This thesis proposes that the medium’s maturity was cemented between 1985 and 2000, a much later point in time than existing texts postulate. The project involves the analysis of how an American mass medium, in this case the comic book, matured in the last two decades of the twentieth century. The goal is to show the interconnected relationships and factors that facilitated the maturation of the American sequential art, specifically a focus on a group of British writers working at DC Comics and Vertigo, an alternative imprint under the financial control of DC. The project consulted the major works of British comic scriptwriters, Alan Moore, Jamie Delano, Grant Morrison, Peter Milligan, Neil Gaiman, Warren Ellis, and Garth Ennis. These works include Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Shade: the Changing Man, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Animal Man, Sandman, Transmetropolitan, Preacher and several other important works. Following a chronological organization, the work tracks major changes taking place in the American comic book industry in the commercial, corporate, and creative sectors to show the processes through which the medium matured in this time period. This is accomplished by combining textual analysis of the comics with industry specific records and a focus on major cultural shifts in US society and culture

M.A.<br>This dissertation considers how shifts in the representation of mythological figures, images and tales are reflective of shifts in social ideology. The texts with which this study is concerned have been chosen because of the ways in which they deal with mythological themes and images and their transference from one historical and ideological context to another. This transference is effected principally through the device of what Viktor Shklovsky called “defamiliarisation”. In Neil Gaiman‟s American Gods, the fictional America of the novel is the framing context in which Gaiman considers the nature of mythology as it begins to shift from the ancient to the new. American Gods reveals how the natures of gods and the narrative patterns through which their exploits are told to men are altered as social idioms change. The battle between the gods of ancient mythologies and those of the new world is illustrative of a society undergoing ideological and religious change, especially in the conception of the godhead. Although disparate in time, style and culture, the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf also engages with a mythological shift, from pagan to Christian mythological idiomatic thought. Beowulf, the great pagan warrior, and the creatures by which he finds himself confronted intermingle in complex ways to demonstrate the shift, not only in myth, but in the perception of its archetypal figures and their roles. In particular, it is the human element of mythology that is emphasised through the process of defamiliarisation. To illustrate how a text‟s mythology can be adapted in order to be relevant to a temporally and ideologically distant society, this study will also examine the adaptation of the poem Beowulf into two filmic narratives. Beowulf 2007 and Beowulf and Grendel, are both concerned with the process of myth creation and dissemination and display an awareness of their own statuses as constructed narratives. In so doing, they draw attention to the constructed nature of mythology and its ideology. The films defamiliarise Beowulf and through the translation and adaptation of the poem are able to reinvent and thus revive the poetic material.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of New Orleans, 2005.<br>Title from electronic submission form. "A thesis ... in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in the Department of English"--Thesis t.p. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

碩士<br>國立臺北教育大學<br>語文與創作學系碩士班<br>97<br>The setting of Neil Gaiman’s fantasy novel American Gods is based on Americans’ immigrant background; thus the image of America in the text is described as a nation which is inhabited by various deities from their believers’ homelands. Because of deities could only live on people’s belief, the story presents the battle and conflict between the immigrant old gods and the new ones of technology, and the latter symbolizes the spirit of technology. Gaiman’s mythopoeic writing is not just a representation of the collective spirit in human nature, but more apparently the writer’s expression of personal viewpoint towards American culture through the common pattern of collective experiences. The thesis aims at analyzing the mythological elements in the text, trying to figure out how deities reflect people’s consciousness of belief and contemporary human spirit, thus the deities in the text can be regarded as symbols of human belief. Chapter Two focuses on the discussion of mythology, including the myths of the Norse and of other countries, and the life-death-rebirth cycle the protagonist experienced. I would also discuss the mythological and historical concept background, so as to figure out the interpretation on America’s own unique myth and history. Chapter Three is dealing with the images and essence of deities in the novel, including how they arose from human belief and the different aspects of the old and new deities. Since the deities in the text can be regarded as the personification of how and what people believe, the relationships between human beings and deities also represent the diversity of belief. Chapter Four is dealing with the concepts of belief and the worldviews based on belief, thus reflecting the values of ultimate concern within people’s eternal desire for meaning of life. The war of gods represents the clash of traditional belief and contemporary one in America, and their fatal tragedy of being dead or disappearing because of the ignorance and oblivion of human consciousness. However, no matter how people create and abandon their different types of gods, the gods are still great metaphors of human belief. The gods are the living symbols for people to reflect upon the essence of human being and the universe we dwell in, and let us be able to catch a glimpse of transcendent mystery of human life.

碩士<br>華梵大學<br>外國語文學系碩士班<br>101<br>Gods brought to America by immigrants from all over the world and other native American gods, are all facing the same fate of losing their power in a commercialized world, where the media competes against these old-world deities for believers. In light of Baudrillard's theory of consumerism, the paper reviews and analyzes the system of the "producing-consuming" cycle in which gods have become objects and signs that are offered to be consumed by human beings, yet ironically the protagonist who refuses to be manipulated is symbolically named "Shadow"--signifying the dilemma or the lack of free choice in a consumer society. In Chapter One, I will introduce the main concerns of this thesis briefly, and then summarize the plot of American Gods in relation to Gaiman's representation of the consumer society in the novel. In Chapter Two, I want to bring the focus to our protagonist Shadow, and the purposes and the influences of the journey will be discussed. In Chapter Three, I will conclude the thesis by an interpretation of Shadow’s refusal to play god as a Baudrillardian "total indecision" in a society of excessive consumption.

The Revisionist comics of the 1980s to present represent an effort to literally revise the existing conventions of mainstream comics. The most prominent and common device employed by the Revisionists was self-reflexivity; thus, they created metacomics. The Revisionists make a spectacle of critically interrogating the conventions of mainstream comics, but do so using those same conventions: formal, generic, stylistic, etc. At their most practical level, Revisionist metacomics denaturalise the dominant genres of the American mainstream and therefore also denaturalise the ideological underpinnings of those genres. At their most abstract level, they destabilise the concepts of "fiction," "reality," "realism," and "fantasy," and even collapse them into each other. Chapter 1 explains my methodological approach to metacomics: formal (sequence and hybridity), self-reflexive (metafiction, metapictures, metacomics), and finally denaturalising (articulation and myth). Chapter 2 analyses two metacomic cycles in the mainstream (the Crisis and Squadron Supreme cycles) and surveys the self-reflexive elements of Underground comix (specifically with regard to gender and feminist concerns). Chapter 3 presents three motifs in Revisionist comics by which they denaturalise the superhero: the dictator-hero, postmodern historiography, and fantasy genres. Finally, Chapter 4 analyses three major Revisionist comic-book seriesTransmetropolitan, Promethea, and Sandmanall of which comment on contemporary culture and the nature of representation using the dominant genres of American comics (science fiction, superhero, and fantasy, respectively).<br>English