"Consolatoria super obitu inclyti principis Hispaniarum Iohannis" de Alfonso Ortiz: introducción, edición crítica, traducción y comentario

The present work submitted as a PhD thesis has the aim of studying from a philological point of view, the Latin text Consolatoria super obitu inclyti principis Hispaniarum Iohannis, written by the Castilian canon Alfonso Ortiz, who lived in the late 15th century in the time of the Catholic Monarchs (Isabel and Fernando), on the death of Prince John, first and only son of the sovereigns. The core of this work is the critical edition (the first complete edition ever made) on the comparison of two extant manuscripts (S and St), the second having the Spanish self-translation of the first. On the basis of this critical text we study the literary references as well as its structure and the literary genre to which it may be ascribed and, besides, we point out some features of the language used therein (Latin), the scope and characteristics of the self-translation and other style and rhetorical topics (e.g. the use of rhythmic clausulae at the end of sentences). Several appendices are added to complete and improve the text-study From that study it may be concluded that although the work follows a long time proven tradition based on medieval religious Ideas, the author, nonetheless, continuously shows within the text that he is willing to adapt that tradition into the new tunes of early Renaissance, not only by means of language and style features, but also through matter nuances that made it clear that life/death concepts were gradually shifting from the medieval times to the ideas of the new epoch. As the value of human life was rising, it needed a more attentive, profound and meticulous consolation through both conceptual and rhetorical arguments...

Literatura y pensamiento en Francia. Un ejemplo : el panfleto

First of all, with this dissertation we have set as principal goal to define and to characterize the pamphlet in a French-speaking context. To do this, we will try to delimit this type of text and to demonstrate that in many occasions this term is used for classifying documents whose principal characteristic is the polemic. In the approach to this dissertation, we have mainly found two problems: on the one hand to define what a pamphlet is and to demarcate it from other similar texts both from the point of view of the content as well as the form; and on the other hand, to try to discern if the pamphlet can be included under the title of Literature and if it constitutes a literary genre for itself. To do so, we will structure our investigation in several chapters gathered in two clearly delimited parts. At the end of each of them, we will draw some brief conclusions. The first part will be focused on the study of theoretical notions. We will approach this reflection from different perspectives: etymological, comparative, literary and generic. To do this, we will approach the theories of those schools or of those authors who are more convenient to our purpose, so both our matter of study and the areas where we want to study it, raise many problems of interpretation and classification. Our aim is not to do a study on the Literature concepts or on the Literary Genre, so we will simplify those theories that are related to its main characteristics...

Private (Brown) Eyes: Ethnicity, Genre and Gender in Crime Fiction in the Gloria Damasco novels and the Chicanos Comic Series

The representation of women in crime fiction has traditionally been a complicated one. Consistently forced into secondary characters (assistants, girlfriends, or damsels in distress) the most active role a female character could aspire to was that of the femme fatale, a pit of perdition, an unwelcome distraction for a man looking for truth and justice. This traditional approach to the genre has been challenged in the last decades by women acting as detectives, trusted with solving their cases in a hostile male world. Similarly, the traditional white male protagonist has been contested by fictions where ethnic minorities are not just consigned to the criminal world, but where detectives are members of ethnic groups, and can use their knowledge of the community to solve the case. This essay focuses on the crossroads of ethnic and women’s detective fiction, specifically the Gloria Damasco series by Chicana writer Lucha Corpi and the graphic novel Chicanos (Trillo and Risso, 1996). Both protagonists (Gloria Damasco, a Chicana clairvoyant detective, and “poor, ugly, and a detective” Alejandrina Yolanda Jalisco) must face both the dangers of investigating criminal cases and discrimination in their professional surroundings due to their gender and ethnicity. By contrasting these texts, the essay elucidates the importance of specific cultural products, their connection to (and defiance of) canonical forms of the genre, and their rejection of generic and gender expectations.

Propuesta de un análisis metafórico-poético en una novela de ciencia ficción: 2001, una odisea del espacio

The aim of this doctoral thesis is to analyse both the text (production) and the set of cognition processes which facilitate the understanding of a masterpiece of Science Fiction: 2001, A Space Odyssey from a new perspective. Unlike other literary theories, texts in cognitive poetics (i.e. Structuralism, Generative Linguistics, Literary Criticism) are projected on the readerś minds by means of cognitive procedures. Cognitive poetics uses tools of cognitive science in order to understand literature (and in this particular case, Science Fiction). This has lead to a great change in our understanding of texts, literary and otherwise. This literary analysis was carried out on the Science Fiction genre based on the assumptions of cognitive poetics. Due to the peculiar kind of subjects touched upon by this genre, it has been theorised that the type of metaphor used for both its creation and style are rather different from other genres. Science Fiction coincides with other genres of writing in that it contains its own specific ways of providing language with a meaning while making it so innovative that many literary theories point out that it is written differently or that it is necessary to possess single reading codes in order to be fully understood. The methodology used for this thesis required a metaphorical basic and poetic conceptual analysis according to the poetical metaphor theory developed by Lakoff and Turner (1989). The aim of this metaphorical study is to analyse the basic and conceptual structure of 2001, A Space Odyssey by A. C. Clarke. The parameters of literary conceptualization of Science Fiction established by Peter Stockwell in his Poetics of Science Fiction (2000) were also applied in order to analyse this novel. The ICMs (Idealised Cognitive Models) were then examined to determine the presence of isomorphism related to the production level...