Supervisor: prof Jüri Talvet.
Opponents:
dr Angel Garcia Galiano, Madridi Complutense ülikooli õppejõud
dr. Jukka Havu,Tampere ülikooli profesor
Summary:
The doctoral thesis studies the motif of the writing process in Catalan short stories and seeks to determine the general picture, which the studied texts give of the writing process as a creation of fictional worlds. Until today, this area of study has been little researched. At the same time, the motif can be considered a widely spread literary phenomenon that crosses the boundaries of one literary system and genre. The current thesis looks at 58 texts that were published between 1985 and 2009 by 22 authors from three different Catalan areas (Catalonia, Valencia, and the Balearic Islands). The study is qualitative and part of comparative literature (thematology). At the same time it originates from a multidisciplinary perspective, and takes as its basis the cognitive writing model, which is used in writing didactics and which divides the writing process into three often overlaying subprocesses: planning, textualizing, and reviewing; and adapts it to the study of motif. The texts reveal a relatively diverse general picture of the writing process. Nine typical characteristics emerge in the study. Five of them - (1) the purposefulness, (2) (artistic) freedom, (3) subjectivity, (4) reflectivity and (5) dynamism of writing as an activity - are revealed through every subprocess of writing. Emphasising the named characteristics draws the ideal reader's attention to the artificiality of any text. Also, the short stories demonstrate an attitude compliant with the typical literary and sociocultural treatment of writing that portrays it as an activity that (6) requires quiet, is lonely and (7) causes suffering (an activity associated with the need to concentrate, the temporary nature of the states of inspired consciousness, given rules and the duty to write). The depiction of writing as (8) a moral responsibility (mission, espionage, crime) draws one's attention to the ethical boundaries of creative freedom, the interpersonal function of writing and (9) openness (different possibilities for interpreting a piece of literature). Therefore, in addition to emphasising the artificiality of fictional worlds, texts depicting the writing process try to determine the place of the written word in society and reflect the influences of the reception theory.