Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Social problems in literature'

The Renaissance fascination with paradox reflected an increasing awareness that the face of things was not necessarily the truth of them; paradox and contradiction could lie beneath the apparent validation of social attitudes and deeply held values.

This thesis considers ways in which African women writers are exploring the subject of violence against women. Any attempt to apply feminist criticism to novels by African women must be rooted in a satisfactorily African feminism. Therefore, the history of black feminist thought is outlined showing how African feminisms have been articulated in dialogue with western feminists, black feminisms (developed by women in the African-American diaspora), and through recognition of indigenous ideologies which allowed African women to protest against oppression. Links will be established between the texts, despite their differences, which suggest that, collectively, these novels support the notion that gender violence affects the lives of a majority of African women (from all backgrounds) to a greater or lesser extent. This is because it is supported by the social structures developed and sustained in cultures underpinned by patriarchal ideologies. A range of strategies for managing violence arise from a cross-textual reading of the novels. These will be analysed in terms of their efficacy and rootedness in African feminisms’ principles. The more effective strategies being adopted are found in works by Ama Ata Aidoo and Lindsey Collen and these focus particularly on changing the meanings of motherhood and marriage.

This thesis considers the early twentieth-century writings of four modernist writers – Joseph Conrad, Ford Madox Ford, D. H. Lawrence, and Wyndham Lewis – in relation to the problem of utopianism. The introductory chapter provides an overview of current scholarly debates concerning the nature and structure of utopian thinking, and establishes the broad context in which the above writers are considered in the argument that follows. The thesis works with an inclusive definition of utopianism that views it as an expression of the urge to better society, as opposed to an urge to realize social perfection. After a wide-ranging summary of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century utopian discourses, a summary that attends to the pre-First World War criticism of T. E. Hulme and Ezra Pound, the thesis turns to individual, ‘case study’ chapters that focus on the above-mentioned quartet of writers. Each chapter looks at a key issue: Conrad in relation to political anarchism; Ford in relation to urban design; Lawrence in relation to utopian philosophies of labour; and Lewis in relation to the linkages between the historical avant-garde and the betterment of society. The main claims running throughout the thesis are that in the period under consideration the links between modernism and utopianism are: complex; multi-sided and author-specific; politically multifarious; and insufficiently acknowledged by contemporary critics.

This thesis explores what remains an under-studied aspect of Samuel Johnson’s profile as a person and writer – his attitude to social improvement. Confronting past and current critical opinion and adhering closely to Johnson’s various writings, the thesis aims to establish the reasons for the failure to identify Johnson’s relationship to social concerns during his lifetime. The study also considers the influence of particular moral philosophies on Johnson’s approach to social improvement, such as those of Hugo Grotius, Richard Cumberland, Francis Bacon and John Locke. A range of sources include Johnson’s essays in the Rambler, Idler and Adventurer, his various reviews in the Literary Magazine and the Gentleman’s Magazine, his Diary of his travels in the Midlands and the Tour of the Highlands with Boswell, as well as various texts he wrote for others who were also concerned with social improvement. When Johnson protests against the institutions of his day he seeks to alleviate a tangible evil, such as the wretchedness of prostitutes, the agonies of imprisoned debtors and the destitution suffered by their families and the terrors of those condemned to death, often for some trivial offence. The profiles of Robert Dossie, Robert Chambers, William Chambers and John Gwynne together with those of Saunders Welch and William Dodd are discussed in the context of their interests in agriculture, architecture and the law, respectively. Placing those eighteenth-century figures at the centre of historical enquiry furnishes a richer dimension to the analysis of Johnson’s mode of thinking which allows us to respond to his works in a multi-faceted way. The interpretive framework of the thesis is cross-disciplinary and applies ii perspectives from social and cultural history, legal history, architectural history and, of course, English literature. This allows Johnson’s writings to be read against the peculiarities of their historical milieu and reveal Johnson in a new light – as an advocate of social improvement for human betterment.

This thesis is a study of the representation of drinking in modernist literature. It takes as its core texts novels by James Joyce, Ernest Hemingway and Jean Rhys. It argues that drinking came to acquire a specific set of social, cultural and political meanings in western modernity, and that an understanding of this process is crucial to understanding the semantic complexity which drink and drinking come to acquire in modernist literature. This study combines a close reading of literary texts with a historical overview of changing social attitudes to alcohol legislative reforms, popular representations and aesthetic theory. I not only argue that drink becomes a richly polysemic figure in literary modernism, but also that representations of drink and drinking can be theorised using a number of thematically specific critical techniques. Having outlined the development of the 'drink problem' in the nineteenth century. and, the manifold ideological ramifications of temperance thought, I develop the concept of 'synthetic transcendence' by way of identifying a specifically modernist response to the ideological problematization of both drinking and intoxication. The notion of 'synthetic transcendence' - which is also a radical philosophical response to the experience of secularisation - produces an 'aesthetics of intoxication' through which I read the key texts of this study. The specific narrative function of drink is considered in each of the close readings. At the same time, close analysis of the literature is used to embark upon a broader study of the cultural status of drink in the societies depicted. This thesis addresses a theoretical and analytical gap in prior criticism in that it addresses the broad social and ideological contexts out of which modernist representations of drinking emerged, establishes the intrinsic role of intoxication in a number of modernist texts, and provides critical tools with which these representations can be theorised.

"What can the England of 1940 have in common with the England of 1840? But then, what have you in common with the child of five whose photograph your mother keeps on the mantelpiece? Nothing, except that you happen to be the same person". This comes from George Orwell's wartime pamphlet The Lion and the Unicorn in which, according to Tosco Fyvel, he sought "to identify himself with England in its finest hour". Orwell offered a more prosaic justification – "I don't share the average English intellectual's hatred of his own country" – in one of his regular "London Letters" to the American Partisan Review and from these three sources a complex constellation of questions emerges. The issue at stake is Orwell's relationship with his country and it involves ideas of identity, history, ownership, love, hatred, community and, crucially, his position as spokesperson. Drawing and expanding upon work on Orwell and Englishness, focusing on Orwell's often overlooked originality as a novelist and challenging Raymond Williams' influential account in Orwell and Culture and Society, "Re-Conditioning England" seeks to negotiate a path through this complex of questions. This path, as the title and opening quotation imply, is guided by the past and by Orwell's engagement with the mid-nineteenth century mode of social realism. It is informed by Williams' conception of the novel as a "knowable community" and Benedict Anderson's of the nation as an "imagined community". A chronological and contextual study, the thesis pays attention, throughout, to both when and where Orwell wrote. It places his work within contemporary debates over the status of Charles Dickens, poetry, language and the nation to the end of arguing: in his engagement with contemporary social-problems, Orwell first consciously updates and then self-consciously critiques the nineteenth-century genre of condition-of-England writing.

Bobbie Ann Mason uses her fiction to portray the problems in American society. She devotes most of her time to average persons who are suffering from the rapid changes that society is going through. These characters at times seem lost and helpless, but ultimately they do not give up hope for a brighter future. Through social problems such as divorce, lack of communication, loss of identity and place, obsession with the past, submersion in rock music and TV, loss of ritual, proliferation of objects, lack of education, and the need to face mortality, these characters still seem to have hope and strength. There are serious problems to deal with, but there is also a future that can possibly bring better times if the problems can be solved successfully. But Mason's world is not completely pessimistic and not all of her characters are miserable. Many of them take advantage of the changes in society, and improve their lives. Also, there are still positive values left. They are not as obvious, but they are still there if a person takes the time to look. Not everything has changed for the worse. For example, Mason seems to suggest later marriages. Early marriages lead to discontentment and more than an abundance of problems, and most of Mason's characters who married younp. are very dissatisfied with their lives. Mason also stresses the fact that most people have the freedom of choice since people no longer have to behave in a certain manner, and society is more accepting than it once was. Mason also points out the peace and contentment that can be found with the land. She says as well that simplicity many times is preferable to the "technological advances" that have driven people to large cities where everyone seems the same, and she Insists that there are still small towns and contented people who inhabit them. Other positive qualities are the fact that we have the opportunity to receive an education, and we still have humor. We can look at the mistakes we have made and find humor in them as well as learn from them. Mason also seems to retain the hope that changes will keep occurring, that people still care enough to fight for a better, less problem-filled life. In subtle ways, Mason's fiction is optimistic.

This study focuses on the issue of internalised racism depicted in contemporary African American children’s and young adult literature, utilising Critical Race Theory (CRT) as its key theoretical framework. The study addresses three main thesis questions: (i) What effects does internalised racism have on the marginalised characters, and what are its manifestations? (ii) What narrative strategies have been utilised by the authors to help the characters regain and reclaim their sense of self? (iii) What is the contribution of CRT to children’s and young adult literature? Through critical analyses of the following texts-Tanita S Davis’s (2009) Mare’s War, Jacqueline Woodson’s (2007) Feathers and her 1994’s I Hadn’t Meanto Tell You This, Sharon G Flake’s (2005) Who Am I Without Him and her 1998’s The Skin I’m In, and Sapphire’s (1996) Push—the study examines the effects of internalised racism and offers the young characters the way forward. From a CRT standpoint, it is argued that the study shifts the boundary of literary landscape and enriches both race and literary scholarships by offering new messages, viewpoints and positions, and, crucially, developing a new critical discourse regarding the issue of internalised racism, particularly in critical literary research representing children’s and young adult literature. It defamiliarises the very issue that otherwise has become normalised in American racial discourse, and reaffirms the relevance of ‘race, racism, and racialisation’ in the American landscape. It also argues that literary texts included in this study are a consequential chapter of African American history, or “a new collective history”, which can be used to heal both the individual and the collective, balance the stories, and alter the dominant discourse. The study also analyses the concept of paradigmatic optimism typically found in children’s and young adult literature, and argues that this generic feature is not a flaw but is rather a different trait.

This thesis adopts an interdisciplinary approach to consider how so-called ‘problem families’ were conceptualised by the welfare state in post war Britain through an examination of fiction and non-fiction texts. The 1945-75 period has been recognised as the era of the ‘classic welfare state’, during which successive governments made interventions in the British economy to maintain full employment. Preventing wide-scale unemployment was key to classic welfare state ideology, which relied the assumption that workers would make contributions which were equal in value to the benefits they received. Problem families were perceived as either unable or unwilling to participate in this reciprocal relationship due to their failure to achieve or aspire to ‘normal’ levels of productivity and financial independence. In order to gain insight into the manner in which these families were conceptualised by the welfare state, this thesis focuses upon three key areas: psychiatry, housing and family planning. It also draws upon theoretical perspectives offered by Michel Foucault and Zygmunt Bauman to consider how the conceptualisations from each of these served the purposes of state governance and the enforcement of social norms through biopolitical means. Investigating the manner in which the term ‘problem family’ was deployed in the post-war period provides insight into how the welfare state legitimised its attempts to change behaviours closely associated with the poorest members of British society. By shaping policy to encourage the reform of problem family behaviour through biopolitical means, the post-war welfare state played an important governance role by ensuring that as many people as possible existed in a reciprocal relationship with the state.

Thesis (M.A.)--Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, 2006.
Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2833. Typescript. Abstract precedes thesis as 1 leaf (iii). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 461-474).

The aim of this research were to investigate by means of both the literature review and empirical research, the nature of externalising and internalising of AIDS orphan learners, to investigate the ideas of Ubuntu, Bathe, Vumunhu communitarianism in the context of AIDS orphans suffering as a result of the death of their parents, to investigate the nature what kind of the death of their parents, physical and social problems, to determine which social systems are available in communities to render psychological, physical and social support to AIDS orphan learners, to determine the nature and extent of the educator's knowledge about psychological, physical and social difficulties that AIDS orphan learners experience; and to develop a program with Ubuntu, Bathe and Vumunhu communitarian ideas for supporting AIDS orphan learners in various communities. Findings from the empirical research revealed among others, that orphans in most cases are not aware of the parents' status before they pass away, orphans after they had heard their parents' status, tend to get affected psychologically, socially and emotionally. Orphans are usually not coping with the circumstances they find themselves in, orphans tend to have fear of disclosing causes of death of their relatives, orphans of HIV/AIDS are normally stigmatised and discriminated against by their relatives and members of the community. Orphans usually blame themselves or are blamed by their relatives and community members for being affected and infected with HIV/AIDS. Orphans normally do not have support from their communities, orphans in most cases do not cope financially and materially and they need financial and materialistic support. Most of the orphans do not receive grants from Social Development because they do not have the necessary documentation. Most of the orphans, teachers are usually aware of their situations at homes as well as their parents. Caregivers in most cases are aware of what causes the death of their relatives, caregivers usually know the status of their relatives before they pass away. Caregivers usually do not tell their family members that they are staying with HIV/AIDS orphans, caregivers are normally devoid of family support as well as community and caregivers tend to struggle to survive with financial support. Educators in most cases know the orphans in their classes. Educators usually are aware of the orphan's social problems and orphans usually have a lot of problems that educators do not get help for, because educators have a lot of work to do. Social workers usually have challenges when working with HIV/AIDS orphaned learners. The recommend future research is that it should consist of a larger sample, including participants form different provinces in South Africa. This will help to provide more exact information about the nature and extent of lived experiences of HIV/AIDS orphan learners. There is a need to investigate ways in which educators can be trained by the Department of Education to support learners in the inclusive classroom setting.
Thesis (Ph.D. (Education Management))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2010.

Text in English and Xhosa.
Translation of title: Socio-political themes in the poetry of Shasha.
Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2001.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study of socio-political issues examines Shasha's poetry. Chapter One is the introduction of this study and states the central aim of the study, the scope of the study, as well as the thematic approach followed in the entire study. Chapter Two is divided into five subheadings: • The poetry that is not politically aligned; • Pre-independence poetry; • The poetry about the warriors who fell in the struggle; • Post-independence poetry; and • Reconciliatory poetry. In the poetry that is not politically aligned, the author sometimes writes a poem, which, although not politically aligned, would have a theme dealing with politics. In the pre-independence poetry, the author emphasizes the situation that agonizes the blacks in their own indigenous land. He also stresses how the oppressors have succeeded in their work of oppression: the strategy of dividing and ruling them, and make them kill one another. In the poetry about the freedom fighters, the author portrays the gruesome ways in which they were slaughtered, examples of which are: - Steve Biko; Bathandwa Ndondo; Samora Machel and Chris Hani. Shasha praises these fallen heroes and maintains that their blood has sprinkled the arrival of the liberation. Even though they are dead the author sees them as if they are still alive because of their outstanding contribution in the struggle. In the post-independence poetry, the author highlights the disappointment of the blacks, as the situation is not what they expected, because of the unfulfilled promises by the black government in power. The author expresses disappointment because of unmeasurable corruption in the present government: nepotism is practiced, irrespective of qualifications. In the reconciliatory poetry, the author reconciles the different nations that are hostile to each other: the blacks and whites. He mentions different kinds of actions to be reconciled because he says that these actions happened were because of the apartheid regime. In Chapter Three, the author shows his knowledge about health issues, he does not only warn about different kinds of diseases, he also mentions the causes, effects and symptoms in the victims. It is evident from this chapter that the author is a qualified medical practitioner, as he shows confidence and knowledge in the issues he is writing about. In Chapter Four, the author observes problems that influence the social status of the people. The social issues he writes about stresses the fact that some of these diseases are not caused by physical aspects but also by by social problems. In Chapter Five, the author challenges people to return to the older times of customs and traditions. Studying Shasha's cultural poetry leaves the reader
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek sosio-politieke vraagstukke in die poësie van Shasha. Hoofstuk 1 is die inleiding tot die studie waarin die sentrale doelstelling en omvang van die studie uiteengesit word, asook die tematiese benadering wat in die studie gevolg word. Hoofstuk 2 word in vyf subafdelings ingedeel: • Poësie wat nie polities gerig is nie; • Voor-onafhanklikheids poësie; • Poësie oor vegters wat in die vryheidstryd gesterf het; • Na-onafhanklikheidspoësie; en • Versoeningspoësie. In die poësie wat nie polities gerig is nie, skryf die outeur nietemin soms 'n gedig wat handeloor 'n politieke tema. In die voor-afhanklikheids poësie, beklemtoon die digter die situasie wat pyn veroorsaak vir swartmense in hulle eie land. Hy wys daarop hoe die voormalige onderdrukkers daarin geslaag het om swartmense te onderdruk deur die strategie om hulle te verdeel en te regeer, wat daartoe gelei het dat hulle mekaar doodmaak. In die poësie oor die vryheidsvegters, die digter beeld die grusame wyses uit waarop hulle vermoor is, voorbeelde daarvan is Steve Biko, Bathandwa Ndanda, Samora Machel, en Chris Hani. Shasha prys hierdie gevalle helde en voer aan dat hulle bloed die aankoms van bevryding besprinkel het. Desnieteenstaande dat hulle gesterf het, sien die digter hulle asof hulle steeds leef op grond van hulle uitstaande bydrae tot die bevrydingstryd. In die na-onafhanklikheids poësie, behandel die digter die teleurstelling van swartmense, aangesien omstandighede nie is soos wat hulle verwag het nie as gevolg van onvervulde beloftes van die swart regering. Die digter spreek teleurstelling uit oor die groot mate van korrupsie in die regering van die dag. In die versoeningspoësie poog die digter om die verskillende bevolkingsgroepe wat vyandiggesind is teenoor mekaar, versoen: swartmense en witmense. Die digter noem verskillende tipes aksies wat versoen moet word, wat plaasgevind het weens apartheid. In Hoofstuk 3 toon die digter sy kennis van gesondheidsake. Hy waarsku nie slegs teen verskillende tipes siektes nie, maar verwys ook na die oorsake, effekte en simptome in die slagoffer. Dit is duidelik dat die digter 'n gekwalifiseerde mediese praktisyn is, aangesien hy vertroue het en kennis wys oor die vraagstukke waar hy dig. In Hoofstuk 4 word gedigte behandel waarin die digter skryf oor sosiale status van mense. Die sosiale vraagstukke wat in die gedigte behandel word, word veroorsaak deur fisiologiese, sowel as sosiale probleme. In Hoofstuk 5 word gedigte behandel wat die tema het dat mense moet terugkeer na tradisionele gebruike. Die studie van Sasha se poësie laat geen twyfel dat hy tradisionele waardes aanhang nie.

In “The Contest of Marriage: Domestic Authority in Victorian Literature”, I argue that depictions of engaged and newlywed couples in the Victorian novel consistently dismantle the concept of marriage, depicting the process of two individuals attempting to become one couple as a tenuous and even dangerous project to be undertaken during the nineteenth century. By looking at works where the decision to marry comes at the beginning of the novel rather than the conclusion, I examine the ways in which different novelists document and anatomize the consistent failures in the theoretical underpinnings of domesticity and conjugality. Given that gender, separate spheres and even the family unit have been increasingly viewed as unstable divisions and demarcations by prominent voices within nineteenth-century criticism, I argue that certain novelists were consistently engaged in exposing these insufficiencies in not only the establishment of marriage as a concept, but in the home space itself as a hypothetical location of domestic stability and success. This project will contribute to scholarship in the field not only by tracing the similar patterns and structures of seemingly disparate novels, but also by suggesting that the domestic instability discussed in groundbreaking accounts of Victorian gender ideology is not merely a feature of historical and personal accounts of the era, but is in fact a tension running through much of the period’s most popular and widely read literature as well. In recent years, Victorian critics have collectively worked to demonstrate that separate spheres ideology is no longer a sufficient interpretive tool to employ in our attempts to excavate the nineteenth century's construction of marriage and conjugality. Just as John Tosh has argued for the husband's place within the home and Mary Poovey and Elizabeth Langland have argued for the woman's place beyond it, so too does my work demonstrate that more complex systems of gender and power relationships were functioning within even a "typical" Victorian home. Studies of domesticity have typically focused on either those citizens who embraced its precepts or the rebels who rejected them. In my work, I turn instead to characters whose earnest attempts to embody and enjoy domestic perfection are continually thwarted, proving that many writers consistently locate the trouble with domesticity not in the flaws of specific married couples, but in the implicitly universal claims domesticity makes on all married couples. I argue that in many novels of the period, even marriage enthusiasts are often transformed into its bitterest critics, due to its demands for performance and self-erasure of both spouses. Furthermore, even the seemingly neutral space of the idyllic Victorian home is often shown to be destructive to domesticity's goals, rather than lending structural support to the matrimonial endeavor. I conclude that these authors are suggesting that even marriage's harshest critics can never manage to be as persuasive about the relationship's pitfalls, hazards, and breakdowns as the actual experience of getting married inevitably proves to be.

The present study was designed to assess the relationship between language disorders, maternal attachment, behavior problems, and parental stress. The mothers of the following four groups of children were studied: (a) language delayed children without behavior problems, (b) language delayed children with behavior problems, (c) non-language delayed children without behavior problems, and (d) non-language delayed children with behavior problems. Mothers completed three measures: (a) The Maternal Perceptions of Child Attachment, (b) The Maternal Gratification Scale, and (c) The Parenting Stress Index. Contrary to expectations, mothers of language delayed children reported more attachment to their children than did mothers of non-language delayed children. The presence of behavior problems did not seem to affect the mothers' perceived attachment but was associated with greater maternal stress. The results suggested that the child's needs associated with having a disability may actually enhance attachment while behavior problems not the disability itself contributed to maternal stress.

This thesis examines responses to the idea of a specific female moral agency in depictions of women’s philanthropic work by late nineteenthcentury female novelists. Focusing on depictions of romantic and sexual female experience in the late nineteenth-century campaign against poverty, I explore the role of gender and sexuality in the making of the female moral self in novels by Mrs. Humphry Ward, Iota, Margaret Harkness, Jane Hume Clapperton, Gertrude Dix. I demonstrate the manner in which altruism was linked to romantic love and sexual desire, and show how this idea surfaced in the love-plot in novels by late nineteenth-century women. I argue that the novel was regarded as a valuable instrument to further the process of social reform, owing to its perceived unique ability to arouse the reader’s sympathies; therefore, these novelists used the novel as a tool for constructing the altruistic self. Reading the novels alongside contemporary non-fiction discourse, I undertake an analysis of different romance plots and show how they relate to the debates of the social reform movement of the late nineteenth century. Finally, I suggest that by using the novel, and especially the romance plot, which was regarded as a feminine form of expression, these novelists are defending the idea of a feminine ethic, and a feminine conception of morality that was defined by emotion, feeling, and sympathy, as opposed to the more masculine scientific and sociological ideas behind the late nineteenth century social reform movement.

Adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse are increasing and there is a gap in the This study examines the literature on adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse and the effects on their mental health. The findings show that adults survivors of childhood sexual abuse have a higher rate of depression, anxiety, suicide, and substance abuse when compared to non-abused adults. Gathering the most recent information, this study analyzes interventions that can improve the mental health of adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse. Concurrently, this study discusses how cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is the most effective intervention when compared to group therapy. Results show that the trauma focused component of CBT as well as homework and exercises given show a decrease in maladaptive behavior after the intervention concludes. Findings have implications for future research, including combining both interventions to provide a holistic intervention.

This study seeks to explore how social constructions of femininity during the Romantic Period were challenged in literature by proto-feminists in such a way as to form a revised feminine ideal of which both radical and conservative women could approve. It is an exploration of both nurturing (the figurative breast) and punitive maternal power (the figurative cane) as portrayed in Mary Wollstonecraft’s novellas, Mary and Maria, Amelia Opie’s Adeline Mowbray, and Charlotte Smith’s Celestina. As these three authors’ social circles overlapped, they shared many of the same convictions, facilitating the analysis of the style and method of expressing these ideals. It is indisputable that women of the period were allotted some authority over their own children. However, the avenues of self-empowerment open to childless women have hitherto been overlooked. According to novels of the time, did women have any power over their own destinies? Did they have any socially acceptable power over men? This study’s aim is to discover if maternal authority was posed as an empowering tool for all women by tracing how it is being defined by Wollstonecraft in Thoughts on the Education of Daughters through an evolution from the overtly didactic style of works written for teachers and children (such as her Original Stories from Real Life) to the slightly more covert style of her two novellas, Mary and Maria. The similarity between the treatments of these two very different readers is carried forward through the examination of the other two authors (Opie’s Tales of the Pemberton Family and Adeline Mowbray; and Smith’s Rural Walks and Celestina). This study has found that all three authors commend the wielding of maternal power to their readers. The maternal voice of these authors and the portrayal of more traditional maternal roles in their didactic works for children and teachers draw parallels between this persuasive style and the style of the works written for adults seeking entertainment (rather than enlightenment). The authors’ treatment of these two categories of readers traces the use of maternal power as a tool for influencing the perception of the social status quo and indeed suggests a reification of maternal authority in order to empower the contemporary reader. Through copious examples in all of the texts, maternal power (even punitive power) is shown to be innocuous enough to challenge social constructions of femininity within the confines of prescribed socially acceptable behaviour detailed by the novelists themselves. These novelists therefore offer the reader an alternative interpretation of maternity by liberating the act of mothering from the biological state, in order to examine social maternity and its implications for proto-feminism.

Background: Childhood Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) has been identified as a crucial public concern, causing interrup-tion in children’s cognitive development, sometimes resulting in permanent impairment or even death. Hence documen-tation in health and school records regarding their functioning or environmental restrictions post injury, seems vital for the facilitation of communication between a child’s systematic and ongoing environment. Especially since children’s health has been described as a holistic construct comprised of psycho, social and physical well-being. Requiring continual inter-disciplinary and collaborative efforts over their course of development. Aim: To explore literature related to cognitive functioning and recommended support for children who have experienced a TBI, and how professional’s document their associated problems within medical and school records regarding activities in or outside the classroom. Method: A sys-tematic review, strictly comprised of empirical studies. Selected due to its sequential structural design for attainment of literature relevant to the research topic of choice and quality assessment procedures which enable reduction of threats to bias findings. Results: A total of 9 articles were yielded after quality assessment and depicted that. Reduced processing speeds in cognitive ability domains can be regarded as the default or baseline outcomes after a childhood TBI. Predictors within these different domains impacted their adequate academic, social function and varied depending on age at injury (2-4yrs or 4-8yrs), Injury severity (mild, moderate/severe), family function and time points. Early and severe TBI showed significant residual impairments across all time points, whilst the mild to moderate groups showed low to average func-tioning, as with the typical sample groups after two-year time points. Executive, attention skills impairment and post injury support within home and school settings. Showed to have the highest impact on both behaviours in, outside the classroom and academic performance. Documentation: Mainly biological and admission details were documented in the medical records. Within school records, all except one most recent study used either parental, teacher reports or direct measures to assess functioning of TBI affected children within school. Hereby a need for documentation of environmental factors within medical records, high quality transition of their TBI information within their school settings and continual docu-mentation of their progress or supports in school is required.

A dissertação propõe uma análise comparativa entre os discursos de formação nacional e a antropofagia. Os exemplos privilegiados de análise são respectivamente: a obra de An-tonio Candido A formação da literatura brasileira (1959) e a tese de Oswald de Andrade A crise da filosofia messiânica.(1950). A pesquisa enfatiza os anos posteriores a 1950, os quais correspondem ao período em que Oswald de Andrade retoma o conceito de antro-pofagia, cunhado primeiramente no Manifesto Antropófago (1928) como vanguarda mo-dernista. Este período coincide também com a consolidação da instituição universitária no país. Busca-se, portanto, entender a relação entre aqueles dois discursos dentro da uni-versidade, tendo como contexto a vida universitária em São Paulo nos anos 1950 até me-ados dos anos 1970.
This dissertation proposes a comparative analysis between national formation speeches and anthropophagy. The privileged examples of analysis are respectively: Antonio Can-dido\'s book \"A formação da literatura brasileira\" (1959) and Oswald de Andrade\'s thesis \"A crise da filosofia messiânica\" (1950). This research emphasizes the following years after the 1950\'s, corresponding to the period in which Oswald de Andrade revalues the concept of anthropophagy, first mentioned in \"Manifesto Antropófago\" (1928) as a mo-dernist vanguard. This period also coincides with the consolidation of universitary insti-tutions in the country. Therefore, there is a search to understand the relation between those two speeches within the university, inside the context of the universitary life in São Paulo from the 1950\'s to mid-1970\'s.

This thesis is a study of ordinary adult readers and their reading preferences in the USSR in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. Chapter One provides background information on Soviet policies towards reading and on the changes in Soviet society which have influenced reading habits over the last 30 years. This is followed by a description of the reader surveys used for the research and a discussion of some methodological problems. Chapter Two is concerned with all aspects of political control over reading, as it affects the writer, the publishing process, the book trade, libraries and ultimately the reader. Chapters Three and Four consider problems of the supply of reading matter through the retail trade and through mass (public) libraries. Chapter Five is an analysis of how various sociodemographic factors affect reading, and of the effect of television on reading. Chapter Six considers the relative importance of books, newspapers and journals, and the balance between fiction and non-fiction in readers' preferences. Chapter Seven is concerned with the reading of non-fiction, whether in books, journals or newspapers, and Chapter Eight provides an analysis of readers' preferences in novels, poetry and plays. The thesis concludes that the many, often contradictory, stereotypes of reading in the USSR all have some foundation in reality.

This study explores how education and the medieval intellectual and pedagogical discipline of 'grammatical' developed in Iceland during the medieval period, defined roughly from the official conversion to Christianity c.1000 to the Reformation c.1550, The first chapter deals with social, institutional, and financial aspects of teaching and learning in medieval Iceland, surveying key figures and places, but also arguing that more attention shoulder be paid to the costs of learning and the effect of that on poor students. The second chapter addresses Latin education, discussing the importance of Latinity in medieval Iceland and the types of education that would involve Latin. It also addresses the idea of bilingual education and suggests ways in which extant venacular writings can provide evidence for how Latin was taught and learned using the vernacular, using the model of Old English bilingual education. Finally, the third chapter addresses vernacular topics of learning, focusing on the development of a venacular \(grammatical\) which is focused on the interpretation and normalization of Old Norse texts, rather than the understanding and use of Latin. Discussing these three components of educational history together is fundamental to understanding the intellectual and pedagogical dynamics behind the extant medieval Icelandic textual corpus.

This Creative Writing PhD consists of a novel, The Encyclopaedia of Istanbul, and accompanying critical essays, Ottoman Crossroads: Coffeehouses, Politics, Theatres and Storytelling. The Encyclopaedia of Istanbul is historical in nature, and magically real in temperament. It is an account of fin de siècle Constantinopolis, and contains forgotten fairy tales, remnants of an ancient manuscript culture, Armenian playwrights, Turkish feminists, Greek fortune-tellers and Sephardim cantors. It tells the tale of six intersecting lives in 1876, a time known as “the year of the three Sultans” in Ottoman history. This period was filled with tensions between traditionalism and Westernization, but also new political possibilities forwarded by the Young Ottomans. While the characters in The Encyclopaedia of Istanbul are fictitious, they are inspired by historical events and figures. The second element of my PhD, Ottoman Crossroads, is made up of four individual essays that focus on selected themes from the novel. They scrutinize, in order of presentation, the history of coffeehouse culture, the secretive society of the Young Ottomans and their political thought, the formation of Armenian-Turkish theatre, and the rediscovery of Ottoman fairy tales. Whilst the novel and essays are coherent independently, they also link to each other in ways that are sometimes direct, and at other times subtle.

This thesis offers a critical analysis of the implications of ideological mediations in the translation of English-Kurdish geopolitical texts. It makes an original contribution by enabling a deeper comprehension of the role of re-contextualisation of socio-political texts in situations of constant contemporary conflict in the Middle East. It does so by exploring the reproduction of stance and voice in the translations of a geopolitical commentarial genre commissioned by newspapers. The study provides an account of how patterns of translation choices are conveyed in newspaper commentary articles on the geopolitical issues originally published in English and then how these patterns are re-conveyed in full translations of these articles for four quality Kurdish-language newspapers with different editorial policies: Sbeiy, Kurdistan-i-New, Xendan, and Rudaw. The case study explores the Kurdish translation of English journalistic articles covering general political developments in Middle East and Kurdistan in particular over a significant four-year period of 2011-2014. It is employed as an example of the rewriting activity that has been effective in achieving significant geopolitical results in favour of the media agencies that are considered politically aligned outlets. The study questions the extent to which ideologies involved in leading translation practice and inquires what the Kurdish case-study apprises us about wider practice. The methodology is a hybrid of corpus- and critical narrative-analytical methods that operate within the discipline of descriptive translation studies. The study deployed tripartite models to analyse and depict the interplay between ideology and a translator’s behaviour within media contexts. It adapts Toury’s three-phase descriptive methodology and Chesterman’s concept of norms as complementary models in order to describe the type of norms operating within the context of Kurdish media translation. It also developed critical narrative analysis for further investigating and for describing the normative effects of socio- political factors on the behaviour of the translator within the same realm. The outcomes of the data analysis have revealed that media translation choices are driven by ideology. The socio-political ideology plays a significant role, both historically and currently in the occurrence of stylistic shifts. On the level of meaning, however, the majority of shifts occur due to the current political power dynamics in Kurdistan. The results have also shown that media translation in Iraqi Kurdistan is not neutral and it is largely affected by the policy of the parties to which the media news agencies are aligned. This study encompasses six chapters, a conclusion and appendices.

This thesis has examined the associational lives of the educated African elite described in the Lagos newspapers between 1880 and 1920, focusing especially on articles about memorial associations, industrial and agricultural associations, and associations relating to the ceremonies ofthe British Empire. There are two purposes underlying this research. The first is to re-examine early colonial Lagos, which has been described as a divided society. The second is to re-evaluate the roles of the early Lagos press. Based on extensive examination of the Lagos newspapers, this thesis argues that the descriptions of associational activities in Lagos newspapers were part of a conscious project of the press tore-construct Lagos society by encouraging "unity" for an "African"/"Nigerian" way of progress. In addition to the Black Atlantic influences on the development of the idea of an African way of progress, it demonstrates the impact of Japan in the intellectual history of Nigeria. This thesis seeks to contribute to an understanding of the social life of the educated African elite and of press activity in early colonial Lagos within historical context that reveals new aspects of Lagos society between 1880 and 1920.

The present work addresses the notions of poverty and poverty relief in Buddhist social and economic ethics, comparing them to current approaches to conceptualizing poverty used in the development community. Given the Buddhist preoccupation with ceasing suffering and removing its causes, and the key Buddhist principle of Right Livelihood that is found in the Ennobling Eightfold Path to enlightenment taught by the Buddha, economic ethics appear to be central to the Buddhist path and a concern for the suffering caused by extreme poverty therefore ought to be a key point of concern in Buddhist ethics. Buddhist ethics has developed into a field of study all its own over the last few decades, addressing issues in applied ethics from bioethics to human rights and environmental concerns, but little has been written by virtually any standard on the important topic of poverty relief. The present work makes a step toward filling that gap by examining relevant passages in the Pāli Canon as well as popular and influential Mahāyāna sūtras to demonstrate that a concern for deprivation or non-voluntary impoverishment is evident in key Buddhist doctrines and teachings from the earliest recorded history of the Buddhist tradition. The thesis further discusses the duties to relieve poverty outlined in Buddhist social ethics as well as the development of Buddhist economics and its critique of dominant mainstream economics. It also offers a comparison of Buddhist conceptions of poverty with contemporary notions of poverty, such as the capabilities approach to poverty developed by Amartya Sen and currently in use by the UNDP. In both of these cases poverty is portrayed in a comprehensive and multi-dimmensional manner which views income as only one aspect of poverty. Additionally, this dissertation examines the contemporary Socially Engaged Buddhist movement and identifies historical and contemporary examples of Buddhist poverty relief efforts.

Syftet med denna studie har varit att granska den forskning som fanns beskriven i vetenskapliga artiklar omkring de problem som uppstår och de upplevelser som kvinnan får vid insättning av spiral. I en litteraturstudie valdes sju artiklar ut och deras vetenskaplighet studerades. Alla sju artiklarna var baserade på kvantitativa studier. Resultatet visade att smärta tillsammans med spiralinsättning var mycket vanligt. Den kategori av kvinnor som upplevde mest smärta var de kvinnor som inte hade fött barn på det naturliga sättet. Svimning och bradycardi förekom också vid spiralinsättningar men detta var inte lika vanligt. Att ge smärtlindring med ibuprofen visade sig inte ge någon effekt vid spiralinsättning. Vid insättningen av en spiral var indikationerna bättre om insättaren hade satt in många spiraler tidigare, då hade spiralinsättningen större chans att lyckas än om insättaren hade satt in få spiraler.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the research described in scientific literature about the problems that arise and the experiences the women get when inserting an IUD. In a literature review seven scientific articles were chosen and their scientific value was evaluated. All seven articles were based on quantitative studies. The results showed that pain connected with IUD insertion was very common. The category of women experiencing most pain was the women who had not given birth the natural way. Fainting and bradycardia were also occurring when inserting an IUD but not so frequent. To give analgesia with ibuprofen showed no effect when inserting an IUD. When inserting an IUD the indications were better for the patient if the inserter had put in many IUD earlier, then the input of the IUD had a better chance to succeed.

This study is aimed to read Shakespeare's problem comedies, Troilus and Cressida and Measure for Measure into the historical and cultural context of dynamically-changing English Renaissance society at the turn of the sixteenth century. In the historical context of emerging capitalism, growing economic crisis, reformed theology, changing social hierarchy, and increasing sexual control, this study investigates the nature of complicated moral problems that the plays consistently present. The primary argument is that the serious and dark picture of human dilemma is attributed not to Shakespeare's private imagination, but to social, political, economic, and religious crises in early modern England.

Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro de Comunicação e Expressão. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Literatura
Made available in DSpace on 2012-10-22T10:33:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0
As rosas de Clarice Lispector: travessia e transfiguração - investiga o espaço entre a personagem e seu Outro, na obra da autora. O Outro em questão é a rosa, que surge como individualidade nos textos estudados. Nesse espaço marcado pelo movimento, ergue-se uma abordagem dos problemas sociais, um olhar para o mundo, na obra de Lispector. Defende-se que esse pensamento voltado para o mundo pode ser observado ao longo de toda a sua trajetória literária longa travessia -, até a publicação de A hora da estrela, seu último romance, com temática nitidamente social. O encontro com a flor é sempre marcante para os personagens, levando-os, às vezes, à transformação do ser em rosa. Entre eles e a flor, a autora edifica a realidade. Clarice Lispector s roses: passage and transformation - analyzes the space between the personage and the Other, in the work of the author. The Other is the rose, that grows up as a personality in these texts. In this moving space, appears an approaching of the society problems, a look to the world, in Lispector s work. This look exists during all Lispector s literary trajectory long passage -, till the publication of The Hour of the Star, Lispector s last romance, with social thesis. The encounter with the flower is always important to the personage, sometimes leading him till the transformation in the rose. Between the personage and the rose, the author edifies the reality.

This thesis draws on Freud to understand the innate human need to create boundaries and argues that ambivalence is an inescapable dilemma in their creation. It argues that a re-reading of Freud’s major thesis in Totem and Taboo via an engagement with the Dionysos myth and cult scholarship allows for a new understanding of dominant forms of hegemonic psychic and social formations that attempt to keep in place a false opposition of polis and phusis, self and Other, resulting in the perpetuation of oppressive structures and processes. The primary methodological claim of the thesis is that prior psychoanalytic engagements with cultus scholarship have suffered from being either insufficiently thorough or diffused in attempts to be comparative. A more holistic and detailed approach allows us to ground a psychoanalytic interpretation in the realities of said culture, allowing us to critique Freud’s misreading of Dionysos regarding the Primal Father and the psychic transmission of the Primal Crime. This thesis posits that Dionysos needs to acknowledged as a projection of the Primal Father fantasy linked to a basic ambivalence about the necessity of boundaries in psychosocial life. Using research from the classics and psychoanalysis alongside Queer and post-colonial theory, as well as extensive fieldwork and primary source analysis, this thesis provides a grounded materialist critique of psychoanalysis’ complicity in reproducing a false dichotomy between polis and phusis, a dichotomy that furthers the projection onto marginalised groups whose othering is linked to a fear and desire of a return to phusis and denial of its constant presence in the psyche and polis. This re-reading of Dionysos challenges the defensive structures, which are organised around ideas of subjectification that posit that phusis must be severed from polis/ego and projected onto Dionysos and all groups that threaten the precariousness of these boundaries.

This dissertation asserts a strong connection between democratic culture and the novel form in the period 1832--1867. As England debated constitutional reform and the extension of the franchise, novelists Charles Dickens, Elizabeth Gaskell, and George Eliot endeavoured to define human communities on democratic terms. Drawing on work of contemporary political philosopher John Rawls to develop a methodology that considers constitutions and novelistic representations as analogous contexts for reasoning about shared political values and citizenship, this study provides readings of Bleak House, North and South, and Felix Holt that emphasize each novel's contribution to the period's ongoing deliberations about pluralism, justice, and the meaning of membership in democratic life. When read alongside Bentham's work on legislative reform, Bleak House offers a parallel model of social interaction that weighs the values of diversity of thought, security from coercion, and the nature of harmful actions. Felix Holt and North and South are novelistic contributions to defining and contesting the attributes of the new liberal citizen. Through their central characters, as well as in their respective novelistic practices, Eliot and Gaskell highlight the difficulty of uniting autonomous individuals with collective social groups, and this was as much a problem for literary practice in the period as it was for constitutional reform.

1) INTRODUCCIÓN: El presente estudio está dedicado a la traducción del género satírico y, en particular, de la ironía, como una técnica expresiva (o un recurso retórico) en obras de este tipo. Para el análisis traductológico hemos elegido los relatos satíricos de Mijaíl Zoschenko y Mijaíl Bulgákov, ambientados en la Rusia soviética, posrelovucionaria. Se trata de una época concreta, un público determinado, y un discurso muy especial, sobre todo por factores históricos, políticos y socio-culturales. Ya tuve ocasión de abordar la obra de Mijaíl Bulgákov en el trabajo de la suficiencia investigadora (DEA), leído el 30 de octubre de 2007 y titulado “Traducción e intertextualidad. ‘Voces ajenas’ en la novela de M. Bulgákov El maestro y Margarita y su interpretación en la traducción al castellano de Amaya Lacasa”. En él planteaba la intertextualidad entendida como relación del discurso literario con todo tipo de discursos precendentes (literarios o no). Aquí se contempla como uno de los métodos para lograr el efecto irónico en la obra, entre otras finalidades. El trabajo en cuestión plantea un enfoque multilateral de la ironía. Nuestro propósito es averiguar qué medios, además de la intertextualidad, participan en la construcción del significado irónico en los relatos de Zoschenko y Bulgákov, y cómo es posible trasladar aquel significado a otro idioma y a otra cultura sin excesivas pérdidas en la operación traductiva. El estudio se basa en la teoría pragmática de los actos de habla. La ironía se concibe aquí como un tipo de acto de habla indirecto, del mismo modo que la ficción literaria: las dos se caracterizan por el así dicho “desdoblamiento” de la voz del hablante (el autor - narrador ficticio y el locutor real - locutor irónico). Nos proponemos estudiar la ficción y, en particular, las obras con subtexto irónico, desde la teoría de los actos de habla de John Austin (1976), donde cada enunciación se compone de la locución propiamente dicha, la fuerza ilocutiva y el efecto perlocutivo. Asimismo, partimos de las ideas de Paul Grice (1989) acerca de las implicaturas conversacionales, como también de las de Marie-Louise Pratt (1977) sobre la aplicabilidad de la teoría de comunicación al estudio de la ficción literaria. La traducción es también un acto de habla, es decir, una actividad que tiene su intención (fuerza ilocutiva) y cuenta con sus medios para alcanzar el efecto perlocutivo deseado. 2) ESTRUCTURA DEL PROYECTO. Se anuncia la perspectiva pragmática como una manera de abordar el significado irónico en la ficción literaria y en su transmisión en otro idioma. 1). La primera parte del estudio se dedica a la formación de la pragmática como disciplina, sus orígenes, sus métodos teóricos y, sobre todo, sus instrumentos para descubrir y interpretar la información implícita (las implicaturas conversacionales de P. Grice). El significado pragmático entendido como el significado del hablante (“speaker meaning”) o el significado en el contexto (“context meaning”), en términos de Jenny Thomas (1995), viene a sustituir la noción de un significado semántico, estático y unívoco. El desarrollo de la pragmática en la segunda mitad del siglo XX ha contribuido al acercamiento entre distintas ciencias humanas y a la evolución de la lingüística, en primer lugar. La función del lenguaje pasa a ser la de comunicar, y por consiguiente, es preciso definir las reglas de dicha comunicación como un tipo de actividad humana. En nuestro trabajo exponemos la teoría de las máximas conversacionales y el principio cooperativo de P. Grice, así como el principio de relevancia de D. Sperber y D. Wilson (1994). El protagonista en los estudios pragmáticos se denomina homo loquens, y se inscribe siempre en un contexto o una situación comunicativa dada. Por su parte, el acto de habla se concibe como una acción que realiza el ser humano con un propósito dado; dicho de otro modo, es intencional. La intención es la fuerza que mueve cualquier discurso, incluso el discurso ficcional. Después de definir el por qué de un acto de habla, el siguiente paso consistirá en explicar el cómo: es decir, el modo como el hablante logra la eficacia comunicativa. Y no es siempre (o, mejor dicho, casi nunca) de manera directa y transparente. Demostraremos que el locutor muy a menudo viola las máximas de Grice, y que su discurso se vuelve oblicuo e incoherente. Todo tipo de información implícita (o implicatura, en términos de Grice) – las alusiones, ironías, sugerencias, etc. – tienen su razón de ser en el discurso, y, especialmente, en la ficción literaria. 2) La segunda parte aborda la naturaleza específica de la ficción literaria como un tipo de texto peculiar (partiendo de la clasificación de textos para la traducción propuesta por K. Reiss). Muchas veces es definida como un simulacro o un acto de habla indirecto (por ejemplo en las teorías literarias contemporáneas, como la de Marie-Louise Pratt). El propósito en esta parte es estudiar cuál es su fuerza ilocutiva y su efecto perlocutivo. Analizaremos la ficción tanto desde el punto de vista del emisor del mensaje (el autor), como desde el punto de vista del destinatario (el lector). Por lo tanto se estudiarán en este apartado tanto la retórica de la ficción como las técnicas interpretativas del lector. En cuanto al lector, señalaremos tres funciones distintas en la comunicación literaria: la del destinatario implícito proyectado por el autor de la obra, la del interpretante que activa la información implícita contenida en el texto y la del receptor final que evalúa la obra como producto estético y social. Es el autor quién decide si su texto es de ficción, pero sólo al lector le pertenece el derecho de juzgar si es literatura o no. El juicio realizado por el lector, reflejado en los estudios de recepción literaria, forma parte del efecto perlocutivo que tiene la obra, como cualquier enunciado. Asimismo, se mostrará la naturaleza polifónica de la ficción, que la hace similar al mecanismo de citación. Por otra parte, se mostrarán las raíces de similitud entre la ficción, la ironía y la traducción, pues todas ellas constituyen una especie de cita, o “fingimiento lúdico compartido”, en la expresión de Jean-Marie Schaeffer (2002). 3). La siguiente parte se dedica a la traducción literaria como una forma de comunicación intercultural: sus rasgos distintivos respecto de la comunicación oral e intracultural, y las soluciones teóricas para la traducción de implicaturas. Se toman en consideración las aportaciones de la pragmática contrastiva a la labor de traductores, y los procesos de “foreignization” y “domestication” en la traducción literaria (Venuti, 1995). Uno de los propósitos más importantes de esta parte es la definición del subtexto como una estructura subyacente de la obra, así como los métodos para su revelación e interpretación en la traducción a otro idioma. Se mostrará la relación intrínseca que tiene con el concepto de implicatura y sus indicios en el texto literario. Acto seguido, analizaremos varias teorías contemporáneas sobre la traducción que nos parecen útiles en un estudio sobre la “ironía en el transfer intercultural”. Nos referimos a las aportaciones de Leo Hickey (1998) sobre tres distintas técnicas interpretativas según el tipo de texto, la propuesta de Albrecht Neubert (1992) sobre la equivalencia comunicativa en traducción, la de Erst August Gutt (GUTT, en HICKEY, 1998) que consiste en aplicar el principio de relevancia a la traducción y la perspectiva teórica de la Translationslinguistik (O. Kade, G. Jäger, A. Neubert, etc.) que entiende como una unidad básica de traducción la “imagen mental” o la “imagen cognitiva” del texto. 4). El siguiente apartado consiste en el estudio de la recepción. Es la parte diacrónica o histórica del proyecto. La idea es ofrecer un contexto histórico en el cual se inscribe las traducciones al castellano de M. Zoschenko (2005) y M. Bulgákov (2006). Analizaremos la formación de imagen de “lo ruso” en España (y su transformación con el tiempo), así como la historia de las traducciones de la literatura rusa y soviética en los siglos XIX y XX. Partiendo de una introducción teórica a la Estética de la recepción de Jauss, esta parte desarrolla tres subapartados: 1. Acerca de las primeras traducciones de autores rusos del siglo XIX en España; 2. Acerca de la recepción de Gógol y Chéjov, los maestros del humor y la sátira en la literatura rusa; 3. Acerca de las traducciones de la literatura soviética y la sátira de los años 20-30, en España. 5). La quinta parte se dedica al género del relato satírico (y folletón) en las primeras décadas de la URSS y al mecanismo de la ironía. En ella se plantea un análisis teórico de la ironía como un acto de habla indirecto y su recepción (o interpretación). Asimismo, demostraremos la relevancia del factor “género literario” en la traducción literaria, igual que la importancia del factor “tipo de texto” en la traducción en general. Atendiendo a las tres funciones del lector señaladas en la segunda parte, aquí nos proponemos ilustrar la primera función – la del destinatario implícito, presente en la obra desde su momento de creación. 6). En la sexta y última parte de nuestro estudio abordaremos las otras dos funciones del lector. En primer lugar, consideramos que en la traducción entendida como comunicación intercultural el traductor interviene ante todo como lector en primera instancia y, por tanto, representa el “interpretante responsable” del texto, socialmente autorizado. El resultado de su operación es el texto traducido (en nuestro caso, son las recopilaciones de relatos satíricos Matrimonio por interés y otros relatos de M. Zoschenko y Relatos de Moscú de M. Bulgákov). A continuación procederemos al análisis traductológico de los textos, atendiendo a las soluciones prácticas en lo que respecta a la traducción del humor y la ironía. En cuanto a la tercera función del lector, que consiste en la evaluación de la obra, se refiere a la recepción de los textos por el lector español. El juicio público aquí se ve representado por los artículos en la prensa, o por la evaluación por parte de las editoriales (las sinopsis, las portadas, las introducciones y prefacios), entre otros aspectos que analizaremos convenientemente.
The aim of this study is the analysis of the translation of irony in fiction, particularly in the satirical stories by Mikhail Zoshchenko and Mikhail Bulgakov in their Spanish version. We will follow a pragmatic approach, focusing on its developments in the second half of the 20th century. That will allow us to see the text as a communication act, a dialogic discourse inserted in a relevant extra linguistic context. We will focus on the "nonexpressed", that is the ironical subtext as an implicit meaning, not deductible from the linguistic means, in which the major importance is given to the communicative factors, such as the situation, the speaker's intention, the cooperative principle (following Paul Grice) and all kind of presuppositions that might (or might not) be shared by the communicants. On the basis of the idea that there are different text types for translation, the literary fiction will be analyzed as a text type with its own individual characteristics. In that sense, the satirical story of the Soviet period constitutes a specific genre that implies thus a specific strategy of translation. As it is well known, in the humoristic text the effect prevails. Therefore, whether the text transferred into another culture (and sometimes into another historical period) will or will not be able to cause the same effect in the target culture, will depend entirely on the translator.

This paper discusses the medical treatment of intersex infants: children born with ambiguous genitalia, chromosomes, or hormones. The central thesis is that unnecessary surgery, defined as surgery that is not necessary to preserve the life or physical health of the infant, is unethical when performed on infants and should be postponed until the patient is able to participate in, and contribute to, the decision. Three lines of argument are presented: One based on the lack of clinical evidence supporting unnecessary surgery; one based on how unnecessary surgery limits the child’s future choices; and one based on how problematic notions of gender have resulted in problems in practice. Together and separately, the three arguments lead to the conclusion that performing unnecessary surgery on intersex infants is unethical, and wherever possible surgery should be delayed until the patient can participate in the decision.