Deuses americanos: uma análise do horizonte de expectativa do leitor-prossumidor na literatura e no quadrinho

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the relationship between the literary and graphic novel versions of the work American Gods, analyzing it as a phenomenon of media transposition and cultural resignification. The study is grounded in the hypothesis that, within this intermedial process, the reader assumes an active role as a co-creator of meaning. The methodological approach combines textual analysis and adaptation studies—based on Hutcheon, Genette, and Clüver— with Reception Aesthetics (Jauss and Iser) and Eco’s theory of the Open Work, situated within the context of Lash’s reflexive modernity and convergence culture. The investigation examines how the graphic adaptation operates as an autonomous hypertext and how the reader’s horizon of expectations is reconfigured in the digital age through the figures of the prosumer, produser,

and wreader. These emerge as key categories for understanding contemporary practices of read- ing and production, in which the boundaries between author, reader, and editor become increas- ingly porous. The study thus demonstrates how these hybrid subjects not only consume graphic

narratives but also intervene in their circulation, interpretation, and resignification, contributing to the formation of dynamic and collaborative narrative ecosystems. Such figures constitute key

analytical categories for understanding current reading and production practices, where the lim- its between author, reader, and editor grow progressively blurred. These hybrid subjects, be- yond consuming graphic or multimodal narratives, actively shape their circulation, interpreta- tion, and resignification, thereby fostering dynamic and collaborative narrative ecosystems. The

empirical analysis of reception on specialized websites and YouTube channels revealed a ten- sion between the work’s programmatic openness, exemplified by the narrative mechanism of

the Two-Man Con, and the accelerated stabilization of meanings in digital environments. The results indicate that, although the contemporary reader possesses active agency, the speed and

consumption logics of platforms tend to favor standardized readings and the closure of inter- pretive gaps. It is concluded that the adaptation functions as a device that exposes the conflict

between narrative complexity and the reception conditions imposed by the current media eco- system.