Native american women in sherman Alexie's short stories: stereotypical representations

Dissertação apresentada para cumprimento dos requisitos necessários à obtenção do grau de Mestre em Línguas, Literaturas e Culturas

Perspectives of Identity in Julio Cortázar’s Rayuela

My aim was to produce a dissertation, based on Rayuela, which focuses on Cortázar’s questioning of identity. With this objective in mind, I have studied some of the salient elements in the novel that relate to this topic and the subsequent, interrelated, areas of study that arose in doing so. The cities of Paris and Buenos Aires are placed in contrast within the novel and reflect a dichotomy that reflects Oliveira’s condition as a “foreigner,” (more specifically as a South American in Europe). This duality is further reflected in Cortázar’s use of gender, and the development of the notions of active and passive, and an investigation into the traditional modes of thought, symbols, and stereotypes, and an open-ended questioning of their validity. These topics are framed by a notion of Judeo-Christian History that is in many ways flawed and, as such, contrasts with a more intuitive (or “oriental”) perception of reality, which is centred in figures such as la Maga. I found many explicit references to Zen philosophy, and related oriental references, that led me to believe that this area was worthy of further investigation. Rayuela is considered a classic novel within the canon of Spanish language literature. It’s famous “tabla,” like the rules for a game between the writer and the receptor that produce alternative readings, has led to many discussions regarding the novel’s structure and form, and also created a certain amount of polemic with the use of concepts such as the “lector hembra.” Many consider Cortázar a greater short story writer than a novelist, but nevertheless this novel had a profound effect on young readers upon its publication, much to Cortázar’s surprise, and continues to attract readers, dealing as it does with issues that continue to be relevant to many people.

Attractiveness of European masters under Bologna constraints: The South American case

This paper studies strategies to attract students from outside Europe to European preexperience masters. We characterize the value added by such masters through interviews with key players at the universities and multinational recruiting corporations. We considered a strategy for segmenting international students in the US and extended it to the European market. We have analyzed data from international applications to Nova SBE as a proxy for applications in European institutions. Based on that analysis we conclude with recommendations to attract suitable candidates from outside Europe. In particular we also provided three different solutions to attract students from the southern hemisphere: we conclude that European institutions should (a) increase the spring semester intake, (b) provide bridging courses for some students, or (c) could place some accepted candidates in internships before starting classes.

Arshile Gorky: An Armenian in New York

Born in Armenia, the oldest Christian country in the world but nevertheless one of the youngest reinstated republics (1991) after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Arshile Gorky flew to the United States in 1920, where he chose to reinvent himself in the struggle to become an artist. This reinvention meant the creation of a persona with, or behind, which Gorky kept alive the artistic flame inside himself. Gorky became one of the most learned voices lecturing on contemporary European modernist artists and movements of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in the United States (New York) without ever visiting Europe. Moreover, he was able to survive the traumatic events he underwent during the Armenian Genocide (1915-1919) to adapt to his new country and identity, to live through the years of the Depression and, eventually, to become the protagonistof a major artistic breakthrough. This paper proposes an insight into the experience of life and frame of work of this Armenian-American artist, whose simultaneously rich, traumatic, dislocated and reenacted life and work established one of the most fertile links between his middle‑eastern origins, his dreamed of Europe and the particular transit of his American artistic creation.