Theses and Dissertations - Department of Modern Languages and Classics

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    The power of PowerPoint in listening at beginning levels of Spanish
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2009) Martinez Valencia, Francia Eliana; Cipria, Alicia; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    This study took place during the Spring and Fall semesters of 2008 at the University of Alabama in two Elementary Spanish classes. Using a combination of the findings reported by Mueller (1979), Bransford and Johnson (1972), Kim (2003), U. K. Chung (1994), and others as a base, this research aimed to extend the findings of previous studies on visually supported listening. It also aimed to compare empirically the effect of visually enriched PowerPoint slides (VEPP) on students' listening outcomes using control and treatment conditions for comparison. This study was also interested in whether gender affected listening outcomes with and without VEPP. This study presented quantitative evidence for the use of VEPP for pre-, during-, and postlistening activities at elementary levels. A mixed ANOVA determined that there were statistically significant differences between scores on listening exercises in the control and treatment conditions. The results suggest that students who were in the treatment condition (with VEPP) performed statistically significantly better. There was no main effect for gender, but an interaction revealed that females were at a disadvantage in comparison to the males in the control condition (non-VEPP); the treatment (VEPP) appeared to help them to catch up with the males in listening comprehension. Finally, qualitative information coming from participant surveys revealed that they preferred and felt less anxious with the use of VEPP for pre-, during-, and postlistening activities.
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    French Cyberlanguage
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2009) Untied Auchettl, Bethany Renée; Picone, Michael D.; Davies, Catherine E.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    The popularity of the Internet as a vehicle for communication has considerably influenced French written language. This has lead to the development of a new kind of written code, French cyberlanguage. Although cyberlanguage is a recent development, it is actually the product of various pre-existent processes. Some of these influences include constraints on time and space, the impact of informal oral language, and the impulse to be creative and playful with language. Thus it is a new phenomenon that creates modern lexicon by using traditional methods. The purpose of this study is to describe the aspects of French cyberlanguage and to analyze the discursive choices made by its users using actual chat transcripts. It explores various aspects of this phenomenon, including the demographic of its users, categorization of cyberlanguage, and the many processes that are utilized in order to create new lexicon and methods of expression. The choices of lexicon and style that are a result of these processes reflects the varied nature of cyberlanguage: because it is coconstructed by its users, cyberlanguage consists of a wide array of variable words and tactics available to Internet users. There is a certain amount of controversy surrounding the use and popularity of cyberlanguage. The arguments for and against its use are given, in addition to a discussion of the future of cyberlanguage. Current research makes it very clear that the phenomenon of French cyberlanguage is not a temporary or passing fad, but is instead an interesting new means of written communication that is actually progressing beyond the isolation of the Internet and into mainstream usage.
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    Experimental methods in phonosemantics: preliminary testing of the antonymic hypothesis as a way of mediating between the arbitrary nature of linguistic representation and aspects of iconism
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2009) Freeman, Geremy Richard; Picone, Michael D.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    The question of whether or not linguistic sounds might convey inherent meaning has never conclusively been resolved. This is an empirical study weighing evidence for and against the existence of phonosemantics, also known as sound symbolism or iconism. Contrary to well established principles such as the arbitrary nature of the sign and the double articulation, the phonosemantic hypothesis proposes that the sounds which compose a given word correlate with aspects of the meaning of that word by virtue of their articulatory features. 116 individuals of 19--73 years of age from both sexes were interviewed to determine their intuitions regarding potential meanings of linguistic sounds. The experiment consisted of three distinct parts. First, participants were asked to define nonsense words with their only cueing being the sound segments of the nonsense word. Second, for a given definition, participants were asked to create an appropriate-sounding nonsense word, uninfluenced by any real words. Finally, for a given image, participants were asked to create an appropriate-sounding nonsense word, uninfluenced by any real words. Participants' responses from the first part were analyzed for semantic patterns, while responses from the second and third parts were analyzed for phonic patterns. Data was interpreted according to the antonymic hypothesis, which states that iconism is most readily observable in articulations that can be set in antonymic contrast to other articulations. This includes points of articulation from the extremities of the vocal apparatus such as front, back, high, and low and manners of articulation such as stops and continuants. The data gathered presents little evidence in support of phonosemantics; hence, by default, the opposite case is made in support of arbitrary designative processes. However, it was determined that certain experimental procedures could be altered during future endeavors, perhaps leading to different results. This alteration primarily involves ways to better control extra-stimulus motivation (interference from real words) which was judged as the most crucial variable of the experimental process.
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    Moderne pikareske Romane?: Ein Vergleich zwischen Günter Grass' Die Blechtrommel und Saul Bellow's The adventures of Augie March
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2010) Loesch, Simon; Martin, Elaine; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    In this thesis, I compare Günter Grass' Die Blechtrommel (The Tin Drum) to Saul Bellow's The Adventures of Augie March, with particular attention to the picaresque features of both works. Initially, the concept of picaresque is defined, especially in its differentiation from the bildungsroman, its historical development, and contemporary usage. The picaresque differs from the bildungsroman in that its ending is not a confirmation of the rules of society, but rather shows a renunciation of them. In addition society is depicted more negatively than in a bildungsroman. Concerning the history of the picaresque it should be noted that even if the form developed in 16th century Spain, it soon spread and was adapted to other countries' literary traditions, thus it should not be seen as a purely Spanish form of literature. Since it was adapted in numerous other countries, the picaresque tradition is remarkably diverse. Therefore, to be able to compare two modern novels with different national backgrounds and a variety of different influences, I use the theory of modes created by Robert Scholes, that allows the identification of picaresque units in a narration, even if the narration is not completely written as a picaresque, and Claudio Guillén's theory that enables the categorization of works according to the proximity they have to the picaresque formula. Various themes and motives of a picaresque novel are then explored in greater length. In analysing and comparing the novels I found the following: while Die Blechtrommel can be called a picaresque novel in a broader sense, The Adventures of Augie March cannot: it contains a large section dominated by the picaresque myth, but the ending is closer to the bildungsroman. Despite the differences, the comparison of both works is useful, because they cover the same time period from the different perspectives of the respective nations. The novels mirror the situations in Germany and the US including the differences between the countries after WW II. The Germans had to struggle with guilt and could not see the future as positively as the Americans.
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    Searching for the writing subject in La vida de la Monja Alférez: autobiografía atribuida a Doña Catalina de Erauso
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2010) Williamson, Amy Cahill; Janiga-Perkins, Constance; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    The writing subject in the La Vida de la Monja Alférez: Autobiografía atribuida a Doña Catalina de Erauso is a difficult subject to determine because of the apocryphal nature of the text, the impact of multiple authors on the subsequent copies of the work, and the gender changes of the protagonist. There have been many critical approaches implemented to study this text, among them sociological, historical, feminist and formalist. All of these have added invaluable information to the understanding of the text, but few have focused on all of the Erauso entities manifested in the Vida. Further investigation is warranted into the writing subject phenomenon in Early Modern Spain to evaluate the messages that the collective writing subject is imparting. Applying Paul Smith's concept of the writing subject as a psychological collective entity that presents messages to the reader (xxx), the work can be evaluated for the various messages presented by the collective writing subject using the narrator and protagonist. Additionally, an evaluation of the historical Erauso and the history of the text will aid in understanding the various points of entry for other authors, editors, publicists and copyists. Investigating the fields of Early Modern Autobiography, Soldier's Autobiography as well as the the various literary genres which are present in the text will clarify particular scenes that contribute to the development of the protagonist. All of these areas of investigation will allow the messages that the collective writing subject brings to the text to be analyzed. The writing subject of Erauso's life story can also be compared to the writing subjects of female soldier's life stories to establish similarities between the two. Conclusions can be drawn about the nature of the collective writing subject, the importance of gender identity and the messages that the writing subject delivers through a study of the text and an application of the criticism.
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    Verbal synonymy: an investigation of native speakers' and German learners' usage
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2010) Susur, Ebru; Lightfoot, Douglas; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    Fourteen intermediate non-native Germans studying at a university in the southern United States were asked to participate in a partially questionnaire-based study on verbal synonymy and language acquisition. As comparative target language data, the German search engine COSMAS II was also used for a corpus-analysis of the internal semantic structure of a set of the following German near-synonymous verbs: erlauben, ermöglichen, gestatten, and genehmigen. All render meanings associated with `allow', `permit'. In the questionnaire, the participants were asked to make lexical choices by filling in gaps with an appropriate verb. The results confirm that non-native speakers have certain difficulties differentiating between the nuances of the near-synonymous meanings of the four verbs. The patterns that emerge might suggest that teachers may wish to emphasize the nuanced meanings of certain lexical items and stress the importance of contextualized input to facilitate instructed vocabulary acquisition. Furthermore, the corpus-based approach serves the function of analyzing the degree of similarity in an overlapping semantic continuum. This work also challenges the `synonymy' of the integral relations of the verbs at a lexical, constructional, functional, and formal level. In addition, the descriptive analysis of the four near-synonyms may serve as a guideline for L2 German learners who wish to acquire these verbs in context
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    The usage and integration of English loanwords in German
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2010) Seidel, Uwe; Lightfoot, Douglas; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    The purpose of the present study was to determine the usage and integration of English loanwords in Der Spiegel magazine from the year 1990 until 2010. This thesis builds upon a study published in 1990 by Wenliang Yang on the same magazine. Based on Yang's observations, I reexamined the quantitative as well as the qualitative development of lexical borrowings found in nine issues of Der Spiegel from the years 1990, 2000, and 2010, respectively. The elicited data was first classified by year of occurrence, word class affiliation, and thematic category, and then compared with Yang's results. Furthermore, I analyzed the degree of assimilation of the English loanwords into the German orthographic and grammatical system by comparing the findings from the magazine with their respective entries in the latest edition of various German dictionaries. This approach goes beyond Yang's study, in which the integration of English loanwords in German with respect to grammatical and orthographical features is only treated marginally. The study corroborated trends about which Yang could only make vague assumptions. The numerical usage of English loanwords in Der Spiegel increased considerably over the time of the investigation period. This intensification in the use of such borrowings could be seen in every thematic category of the newsmagazine. In addition to this, semantic shifts occurred with some of the English words that set them further apart from their original meaning in English. Another finding of this study is the ongoing integration of English word material into the grammatical system of the German language. Interestingly, the grammatical integration seems not to parallel integration of English words into the spelling system of German.
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    Elementos definitorios de la posvanguardia y el posmodernismo en México y Guatemala: transculturación, intertextualidad e indentidad en la ficción corta de seis autores
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2011) McCrary, Virginia Ledesma; Worden, William; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    This dissertation entitled: Elementos definitorios de la posvanguardia y el posmodernismo en México y Guatemala: Transculturación, intertextualidad e identidad en la ficción corta de seis autores, investigates six collections of short stories written by six authors from México and Guatemala. These writers are classified within the present century as postvanguard and postmodern writers with distinctive elements of intertextual connections that exist among the authors and their writings. The authors and their works are: Juan Rulfo's El llano en llamas (1953); Augusto Monterroso's Obras completas y otros cuentos (1959); Elena Garro's La semana de colores (1964); José Agustín Ramírez's Inventando que sueño: Drama en cuatro actos (1968); Dante Liano's Jornadas y otros cuentos (1978); and Ana María Rodas' Mariana en la tigrera (1996). This dissertation studies writers from two nations that share a common border, a language, and the same religion; these are all elements that make possible cultural and literary interchanges between the countries. The investigation offers a comprehensive and thorough analysis of the short stories in light of their intertextuality, transculturation, and hybridity. These are the main themes to be analyzed in this study which highlights marginal, transgressive, and peripheral elements of the societies depicted while also focusing on the feminine body in a world ruled by patriarchy. In addition, this dissertation demonstrates how the authors subvert the trends of dominance in societies that have been ruled since ancient times by the male gender. It should be noted that while some of the authors' short stories, particularly those by Rulfo and Monterroso, have been the object of various literary analyses, many of the texts examined in this dissertation have not been studied extensively. Consequently, this dissertation will help fill the critical gap that exists by offering a needed examination of the importance of these authors and their short stories as significant literary works in Latin America.
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    La novela policiaca femenina hispánica: hacia un canon de tendencia posmodernista
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2011) Florez, Monica; Corbalán, Ana; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    This dissertation, entitled La novela policiaca femenina hispánica: hacia un canon de tendencia posmodernista, examines 11 detective novels from Hispanic women writers of the present century in order to establish the emergence of a new literary canon. The works under study are Ritos de muerte (1996), Serpientes en el paraíso (2002), Un barco cargado de arroz (2004), Nido vacío (2007), and El silencio de los claustros (2009) by Spanish writer Alicia Giménez Bartlett; No me llames cariño (2004) by Spanish writer Isabel Franc; La mujer que sabía demasiado (2006) by Colombian writer Silvia Galvis; Son de Almendra (2006) by Cuban writer Mayra Montero; La muerte me da (2007) by Mexican writer Cristina Rivera Garza; Elena sabe (2007) by Argentinean writer Claudia Piñeiro; and Atajo al paraíso (2008) by Spanish writer Teresa Solana. These specific novels and authors were chosen because they provide a varied and contemporary transnational perspective on how Spanish-speaking women approach and appropriate the detective genre in the postmodern context. Therefore, this investigation offers an in-depth and critical analysis of these detective texts in light of their postmodern elements: the use of metafiction, intertextuality, satire and black humor, strong narrative experimentation, metaphysical and anti-detective elements, bodily and gender transgressions, and feminine representations of masculinity so as to demonstrate how they subvert the formulas and parameters of classical detective fiction. Considering how much the production and criticism of Hispanic crime literature has grown in the last two decades, there is a considerable lack of research in terms of the feminine contribution to the genre. This study then helps to fill this critical gap by offering a timely and needed perspective on the importance of women's writings within the field of Spanish and Latin American literary studies.
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    In regard to the individual: a Rousseauian approach to the nature of man in select French and Francophone films and in film adaptations of the French and Francophone novel and play
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2011) Miceli, Robin Suzanne; Edmunds, Bruce; Burch, Steve; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    The influence Jean-Jacques Rousseau's philosophy has on French and Francophone literary and cinematic works mostly likely occurs on a superficial level to most students. This manuscript attempts to unveil the profundity of his philosophical influence. Further research was necessary to validate the true impact of Rousseauian philosophy on various French and Francophone film adaptations of both novel and play. This research attempts to further define his philosophy. All research indicates a profound Rousseauian influence which specifies the importance of an individual, fundamental, natural state of man versus an artificial, civil and socially structured state. The following manuscript is an expository of specific film adaptations of both novel and play which support the findings of a highly influential Rousseauian philosophy defined as a juxtaposition of both these natural and artificial states. The findings indicate a Rousseauian promotion of equilibrium between these two states in each film expository. Along with this indicated equilibrium of the two states is an emphasis on the importance of the fundamental, individual nature of man. The consequences of the rejection of this nature and the movement away from it after man's creation are also indicated. The consequences of imbalance between the two state s are indicated and expounded upon by tragic plots and sub-plots in which either the individual, fundamental nature of man or the Civil State of being have become too predominant. The research contained within this manuscript focuses on the need and promotion of an equilibrium as well as on the consequences of imbalance in connection with Rousseau and his profound legacy. Time and more research will continue to prove the findings in this manuscript and enforce the importance of further study on Jean-Jacques Rousseau along with his apparent philosophical promotion of an equilibrium containing both natural and artificial states of being.
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    Fantastic encounters: identity, belief and the supernatural in works by Paul Féval
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2011) Holley, William Bradley; Mayer-Robin, Carmen; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    Nineteenth-century French fantastic tales are rampant with supernatural creatures and events. The manifestation of supernatural phenomena, as a literary device, creates a relationship between the reader and the author that allows the reader to negotiate the fictional world the author has created. The belief that the reader is able to accord to the supernatural, and thus the narrative as a whole can fluctuate depending upon the reader's own perception. By questioning identity, as well as by introducing archetypal images such as the femme fatale, the author is also able to modify the reader's perception by integrating historical figures and events that promote credibility to the overall narrative. Paul Féval, a French nineteenth-century novelist, demonstrates the author's role of establishing the author-reader relationship in many of his fantastic tales and works of popular fiction. This study examines the supernatural figures, most notably vampires, fairies, and ogres, which Féval uses to engage readers and promote belief in the narrative worlds he creates.
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    Narrativa Centroamericana de la Posquerra: Aproximaciones de identidad nacional, raza y genero
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2011) Robinson, Gregory Alexander; Janiga-Perkins, Constance; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    The short story narrative genre has had a tremendous impact on Central America since the beginning of the 20th Century. This study examines the common themes of identity, race, and gender in 6 contemporary authors from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Panama. The writers used the short-story narrative written between 1965 and 1996 to illustrate the construction of national identity through plot, characterization, dialog, scenarios, and narrative strategies. The 23 stories reflect national identity through the eyes of females, war victims, racial minorities, or other disenfranchised social groups. The characters depicted in the stories identify similar traits that contribute to the construction of identity, race, and gender. The historical, political, and social context that influenced the authors precedes the detailed analysis of the stories creating fictional environments that reflect the national identity of the country. Within the theoretical spectrum, postcolonialism, intertextuality, gender, and cultural studies are prominent ideas in this analysis. This dissertation recognizes the importance of the authors studied and argues for the inclusion of their works in the cannon of 20th Century Latin American Literature. The research demonstrates the importance of culture in the works studied and shows how each country is able to develop and create its own national identity despite struggling with an extremely violent civil war in Guatemala and El Salvador.
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    Lessing und Nietzsche als "freie Geister": Nietzsches Urteile über Lessing und die Verwandtschaft von Lessing und Nietzsche in philosophischer Fluktuanz
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2011) Mueller, Reinhard Gerald; Fox, Thomas C.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    Previous research that connected Lessing and Nietzsche confined their engagement, on the one hand, largely to individual aspects of kindredship in thought and writing. On the other hand, Nietzsche's judgments of Lessing have mostly been arranged in rather short compilations of text passages while neglecting many connecting and contextual aspects of interpretations. This investigation aims for two goals. 1. All published text passages in which Nietzsche explicitly deals with Lessing are interpreted in a detailed, connecting, and contextual manner. The Nachlass is only used cautiously and selectively. 2. An attempt is made to connect the kindred elements of Lessing and Nietzsche in a common root of thought: in their tendencies towards philosophical Fluktuanz. Starting from the explicit text passages, a common semiotic and epistemological frame of Lessing's and Nietzsche's thought and writing is drafted, from which the interpretation goes back to the text again. The investigation produces the following results: 1. Nietzsche's judgments of Lessing as an honest critic, a searching classic, a brave dialectician, as the trigger of nihilism in art and as an Anpflanzer of a cosmopolitan European culture refer back to Nietzsche's own perceptions of freier Geist, of agonal thinking, and of the dynamic Fluktuanz of the wills to power. 2. Especially in Lessing's late work, many elements can be shown that indicate his tendency towards philosophical Fluktuanz. Insofar Lessing and Nietzsche questioned distinctions and notions of their times from a perspectivistic approach and in insofar they established new distinctions on their own responsiblility, they could both be regarded as following the ideal of freier Geister. Lessing's and Nietzsche's actuality can be highlighted by their tendency towards philosophies of Fluktuanz. These philosophies can be characterized by their openness and dynamic flexibility, which are essential for orientation within different incommensurable cultures and perspectives in a globalized world.
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    La honte et la culpabilité: destins de femmes dans les récits algeriens du xxe et xxie siécle
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2012) Matu, Florina; Zupančič, Metka; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    This dissertation aims to explore a variety of representations of shame and guilt in twentieth and twenty-first century Algerian works written by women. More specifically, I argue that in three recent autofictional works by Assia Djebar (Nulle part dans la maison de mon père), Maïssa Bey (Bleu blanc vert) and Leïla Aslaoui (Coupables), by exposing feelings of shame and guilt, the authors accomplish a surprising task. Despite the negative connotation of these terms and the fact that those who bear them would normally choose to hide them carefully, shame and guilt, as experienced by the female characters in these works, open the door to feminine emancipation. In a patriarchal society in which revealing oneself and one's feelings, especially as a woman, is a shameful act and a serious violation of modesty, the three authors invest their female characters with the authority to speak and to rebel against the norms of what should be an obedient Muslim woman. In addition to a thorough textual analysis developed in the three independent chapters dedicated to the three works of Djebar, Bey and Aslaoui, my dissertation displays a solid interdisciplinary component. It relates to socio-criticism, psychoanalysis, Film Studies, post-colonialism, and feminism. The Algerian society before and after the Independence is portrayed through the eyes of women authors and includes the analysis of shame and guilt, using cultural and psychological criteria specific to Islam. This project will show how these female characters overcome the shame of their bodies and the look of the others upon them, the guilt to be a woman, to lose one's virginity before marriage and, overall, to trespass the forbidden and to violate the norms that establish a model of behavior for the women in the Algerian patriarchalsociety. By exploring the themes of shame and guilt, my research reinforces the new tendency in contemporary Algerian literary works in which authors focus more and more on individual needs and aspirations and do not treat their characters as insignificant members of their community.
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    Lexical borrowings in the Colombian online newspaper El tiempo from 1990 to 2012
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2012) Gómez, Maria Lorena; Picone, Michael D.; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    This study examined the introduction, adaptation, usage, and acceptance of lexical borrowings in the Colombian online newspaper El Tiempo from 1990 to 2012. While building on the foundation of prior research of sociolinguistic orientation on languages in contact, this study also included innovative approaches: the texts analyzed incorporate not only articles by El Tiempo journalists, but also the comments of bloggers linked to the newspaper's site; online interviews were conducted with journalists and bloggers alike in an effort to determine their attitudes and motivations in relation to their vocabulary choices; and pronunciation patterns in relation to borrowed words were analyzed in videos from ET Canal El Tiempo. Contrary to the research questions posited at the outset, differences between the language of professional journalists and the language of the at-large bloggers proved to be minimal. The research found that there was a prescriptive tendency among journalists and bloggers alike to look for linguistic correctness and that their linguistic decisions were highly influenced by the guidelines from the Real Academia de la Lengua (RAE). When tracking and analyzing the different lexical choices and their relative frequencies in the writing of these two groups, no definite pattern surfaced, but only weak tendencies. Moreover, the research concludes that, whether the loanwords were newly introduced or already common, there was a tendency among the two different groups of writers to use the Spanish translation of the loanwords in addition to using the lexical borrowing. Much needed replications of this study involving a larger sampling may reveal, over time, more representative differences between journalists' and bloggers' motivations for their lexical choices.
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    Die Darstellung des Luftkriegs bei Hans Erich Nossack, Heinrich Böll, Alexander Kluge und Dieter Forte
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2012) Fink, Fabian; Lazda, Rasma; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    W.G. Sebald claimed that German writers of the post-war time have remained silent when it came to writing about the air-raids over Germany, the bombing of the German cities and the suffering of the people living there. There are several more or less known works adressing the topic Luftkrieg. For this project, Sebald's work is used as a point of departure. Four different German literary works concerning the Luftkrieg will be examined: Hans Erich Nossack's Der Untergang, Heinrich Böll's Der Engel schwieg, Alexander Kluge's Der Luftangriff auf Halberstadt am 8. April 1945 and Dieter Forte's Der Junge mit den blutigen Schuhen. This work aims for two goals: 1. Pointing out how the different texts are approaching the topic Luftkrieg and the linguistic features the authors use to describe the air-raids. The focus is on the depiction of the people living in the German cities. 2. Comparing the results and finding differences and similarities among the four works. The project produces the following results: Every author has his individual way to deal with the topic Luftkrieg what makes a generalization difficult. But although the texts have different authors and originate from different periods of time in or after World War Two, they have several things in common. It can be noticed that the silence Sebald adressed exists indeed, every author has to deal with the trauma the Luftkrieg caused in his very own way. There recurring motives in most of the texts, such as hunger, resignation and the appearance of nature.
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    Espejo de identidades: género, inmigración y violencia en cine dirigido por mujeres españolas y latinoamericanas
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2012) Boris, Marta; Corbalán, Ana; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    My dissertation Espejo de identidades: género, inmigración y violencia de género en directoras latinoamericanas y españolas, examines four 4 Latin American films and two 2 Spanish films, all of which were directed by Hispanic females during the 20th and 21st centuries. These directors intend to establish a new representation of women which that diverges from the traditional historical male depiction of these women. I have chosen to study the works of Gabriela David (Argentina), Sofía Vaccaro (Argentina), María Novaro (Mexico), Marysa Systach (Mexico), Chus Gutiérrez (Spain) and Irene Cardona (Spain) because they provide diverse contemporary perspectives regarding the way in which Spanish-speaking directors approach the topics of immigration and gender in a postmodern context. This dissertation seeks to deconstruct the connection that has linked gender and female-directed cinema, arguing that cultural factors as well as ideology are the true underpinnings for cinema directed by women. The increasing number of female-directed films over the past two 2 decades in these two particular geographical areas has brought about the need for fresh research to establish a new representation of female-directed cinema which that deconstructs the connection linking gender and films directed by women, which is commonly called cine de mujeres. Contrary to what is currently understood as cine de mujeres, this new representation of cinema directed by women is one in which the intention of the female director is not to exclusively portray the fictional stories of women that respond to patriarchal stereotypes. Instead, the director establishes a transgression of those stereotypes, identifying with and giving voice to a marginal and subaltern individual that transcends gender, origin, race, and ethnicity, which in many instances happens to be a woman. Overall, my dissertation offers an in-depth study of female filmic discourse, identity discourse, gender violence, migration studies and film strategies, among others.
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    Naturalistic philosophy in the Spanish Golden Age picaresque novel
    (University of Alabama Libraries, 2012) Milstead, Andy Micah; Worden, William; University of Alabama Tuscaloosa
    My dissertation analyzes three canonical Spanish Golden Age picaresque novels through the lens of naturalistic philosophy. The works selected for my study are the anonymous Lazarillo de Tormes (1554), Guzmán de Alfarache (Part I - 1599, Part II - 1604) by Mateo Alemán and El Buscón (1626) by Francisco de Quevedo. While critics have acknowledged a basic kinship between the picaresque novels and nineteenth century naturalist novels in terms of subject matter and a willingness to portray the sordid lives of society's marginalized, few have examined these works from the perspective of naturalistic philosophy. The purpose of this dissertation is to fill that gap in picaresque criticism by analyzing the specifically naturalistic elements of these works. By examining the role of hereditary and environmental determinism, the motives for sex and marriage, and the role of God and religion in each novel, this study will demonstrate that the narrators of these works paint a surprisingly naturalistic picture of the workings of human society. A secondary purpose of this dissertation is to examine several intriguing points of contact between these Golden Age picaresque novels and the naturalistic novels of nineteenth century Spain.