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Walker, Gavin. "Re-writing human consciousness in the plays of Edward Bond." Thesis, The University of Sydney, 1988. https://hdl.handle.net/2123/26274.
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There is evidence to suggest that Bond criticism has begun to abandon certain preoccupations which have held it in a stalemate. Such commentary, however, is tentative and incomplete. Indeed, uncertainty about Bond dates back to the beginning of Bond’s career when, in the mid sixties, commentators endeavoured to establish a critical discourse which secured Bond’s importance as a British dramatist. But while no one, either then or now, denies Bond’s fame, criticism hesitates between a defence of Bond's political intentions and an actual account of his plays as dramatic structures which may, or may not, embody the avowed ideas of the dramatist.
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TORTI, ALCAYAGA AGATHE Boireau Nicole. "FIN ET MOYENS DANS L'OEUVRE D'EDWARD BOND /." [S.l.] : [s.n.], 1997. ftp://ftp.scd.univ-metz.fr/pub/Theses/1997/Torti_Alcayaga.Agathe.LMZ9703.pdf.
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Pendlebury, Kathleen Sarah. "Reading nonsense a journey through the writing of Edward Lear." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002249.
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In this thesis I have addressed some of the problems that have arisen in critical approaches to the nonsense works of Edward Lear from the late nineteenth century. I have entitled it “Reading Nonsense” because my central concern is with how best to apprehend the paradoxes inherent in literary nonsense, which inevitably raises interpretative questions. Because nonsense is a “basic type of communication” whose essence is “unresolved tension between [the] presence and absence of meaning” (Tigges, Anatomy 51), we are called upon either to “make sense of” that which claims to offer up no meaning or to surrender ourselves to meaninglessness. Broadly, critical approaches to nonsense fall into two classes: those that maintain that nonsense is not, in fact, “not sense”, but rather a kind of symbolic language that can be reconciled into meaning; and those which uphold the nonsensicality of nonsense, maintaining that certain ambiguities and paradoxes cannot be accounted for, and it is inappropriate to try to do so. In addition, Lear’s texts are situated in various traditions of writing for children and adults and in the distinctive setting of the Victorian era; and these cultural and literary influences play an important role in the interpretation and misinterpretation of nonsense. My first chapter comprises a mise en scène of the genre of literary nonsense; while in Chapter 2 I turn to the cultural backdrop of Lear’s nonsense in particular, and examine one of the claims frequently made in nonsense criticism: that Lear’s literary nonsense is distinctively “Victorian”. Chapter 3, “How to Read a Learian Limerick”, rests on the exegesis of nonsense that appears in Chapter 1, for here I propose a technique for reading Lear’s limericks that preserves both their “sensical” and nonsensical elements in contrast to critical analyses that attempt to reconcile the nonsense into a code. In Chapter 4 I examine Lear’s songs from the critical perspectives of nonsense and of romanticism. Finally, in conclusion, I consider the role and significance of humour in nonsense, and gesture towards further possible explorations, including in the appendix my essay on the nonsense poetry of South African writer Philip de Vos.
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Shah, Uttamlal T. "The solo songs of Edward MacDowell : an examination of style and literary influence." Virtual Press, 1987. http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/515624.
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Edward MacDowell is widely recognized as America's first great native-born composer. His music has come to be characterized as being extremely lyrical and harmonically inventive. Solo songs constitute an overlooked area of MacDowell's output and no serious study has been undertaken of them to date. The goal of this dissertation is to obtain a more complete portrait of MacDowell through a detailed examination of his songs.Previously unstudied manuscripts and sketches from the MacDowell Collection of the Library of Congress provide important insights into his songwriting process. The choice of text proved to be such an important determinant in MacDowell's settings that the author has chosen to divide the songs into three stylistic groupings based primarily on MacDowell's selection of texts rather than on chronology.In MacDowell's first-period songs, he concentrated on setting German texts while living in Germany from 1880 to 1888. Poetry by Heine, Goethe, and Klopstock plays an important role in these songs, which are stylistically similar to the nineteenth-century Lied. Chromatic harmonies, frequent modulations, and active piano accompaniments characterize these songs.MacDowell's second-period songs, written between 1886 and 1890, use English texts and differ markedly from the earlier Lieder. While many of their texts (and consequently, best songs of this group show the development of MacDowell's characteristic harmonic language and lyricism.The second-period songs serve as a transition into MacDowell's final songwriting period (c. 1893-1901), during which he wrote his most successful works. The third-period songs are delineated by the use of original poetry and represent a synthesis of the first two periods. The chromaticism and active piano parts of the lieder are combined with the new lyricism of the second-period songs.Songwriting spans MacDowell's entire career and is evidence of the seriousness with which he viewed the medium. A thorough study of the songs, both published and unpublished, reveals a steady line of development throughout MacDowell's career, with many musical advances predicated by the text. This development, which closely mirrors similar advances in the piano music, is an important factor in MacDowell's entire creative output.
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Jones, Nelson Alissa D. "Job in dialogue with Edward Said : contrapuntal hermeneutics, pedagogical development, and a new approach to Biblical interpretation." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/790.
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Biblical interpretation in the contemporary context of globalisation faces a variety of challenges. This thesis addresses the challenges presented to the discipline by the incorporation of poststructuralism, postcolonialism, and liberation theologies, particularly the problem of interpretive ghettoisation and the ethics of contemporary biblical interpretation. It proposes one possible answer to the question of how the field of biblical hermeneutics can move beyond the segregation passively encouraged by subjectivity and self-determination toward the integration of academic and vernacular hermeneutics in the interests of justice for the dominated and the reconstitution of the dominant. This thesis first presents the interpretive theories of Edward W. Said, addresses the major criticisms of his work, and proceeds to discuss the adaptation of his concept of contrapuntal reading to the interpretation of biblical texts. Second, it presents a survey of current work in the field which attempts to overcome the gap between academic and vernacular hermeneutics and critiques these approaches in light of Said’s concepts. Third, it presents the book of Job as an appropriate context in which to explore the possibilities of contrapuntal hermeneutics. This section analyses various academic and vernacular interpretations of the book of Job and places these interpretations in contrapuntal dialogue over the course of three chapters. The first of these chapters explores the possibilities for dialogue between those interpretations that view suffering as a key theme in the book and those that do not; the second chapter explores interpretations of the book of Job and the issue of suffering in various Euro-North American psychological contexts and in various African contexts of HIV/AIDS; and the third chapter juxtaposes academic and vernacular interpretations of the book of Job in various Asian contexts. Finally, the study closes with an argument for pedagogical reform based upon the ethical and interpretive insights of contrapuntal hermeneutics.
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Selby, Don. "Bridging the gap? : a critical reading of Bhabha, Said and Spivak's postcolonial positions." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1998. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape11/PQDD_0001/MQ43947.pdf.
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Hughes, Jeremy Francis. "An examination of the sonnets of E.E. Cummings." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1992. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1002287.
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This dissertation examines E. E. Cummings's writings in the sonnet genre and in those genres to which the sonnet is related in various ways. Its fundamental point is that, despite the surface impression of poetic iconoclasm for which Cummings has a popular reputation, in choosing to write sonnets he engages in a traditional literary practice. He does this because his purpose is always to be an artist, as defined by the Aesthetic movement which influenced him. In order to argue his embracing of a traditional artistic role, the theory of genres espoused by Alastair Fowler in his book, Kinds of Literature, is used. Chapter 1 of the thesis comprises general introductory material, both to the range of Aesthetic ideas to which Cummings subscribed, and to Fowler's theory of genres. Several key generic kinds are also described. The second chapter makes use of two of these generic models, the sonnet sequence and the silva, as a way of examining Cummings's deployment of the sonnet within the larger context of his poetry collections. It is a survey of the structure of the anthologies he compiled from Tulips & Chimneys (1922) to 95 Poems (1958). The third chapter explores the three sonnet modes which Cummings first identifies and names when compiling the manuscript of Tulips & Chimneys, and continues to use in his collections up to and including is 5 (1926). Chapter 4 shows how certain themes and concerns from these early sonnets are altered and synthesised as Cummings matures from an aesthete to a Romantic poet. Sonnets from his later books are taken to be representative of three central kinds in all of his work after is 5. Chapters 3 and 4 proceed by means of relatively close readings of individual sonnets. This practice fulfils a double role: it penetrates the apparent obscurity of the more difficult poems, and it attempts to preserve the integrity of individual poems which exemplify different generic tendencies in Cummings's work. One of Cummings's reasons for writing sonnets is that the form favours the achievement of what Wordsworth calls "a feeling of intense unity". In undertaking close readings of a few sonnets I have attempted to preserve that feeling.
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Lagan, Charles J. ""Rest and unrest": some rural and romantic themes in the poetry of Edward Thomas." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1985. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1004770.
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From Preface: The scope and focus of this thesis has been determined by the fact that I have tried to present a thematic, though not exhaustive, account of the poetry of Edward Thomas. (I have analysed a representative selection of the poems.) Much has been written on his life and poetry in this past decade to coincide with the centenary of his birth which was celebrated in 1978. Edna Longley, William Cooke and more recently, Andrew Motion have thrown much light on his poetry and I am indebted to them. I acknowledge especially the work of Edna Longley; her Edward Thomas: Poems and Last Poems, though it does not include all the poems, has proved to be an invaluable source because of the many extracts from Thomas's prose incorporated into her notes on his poems. Her book is also rich in suggestive insights into Thomas's poetry. Unfortunately not all of Thomas's works are available in South Africa. On a brief visit overseas I tried without success to obtain the more important books not available here. I have had to make use of anthologies of Thomas's prose where a particular text was not available, for example, In Pursuit of Spring and The South Country. I thank Ms Yolisa Soul who through the Inter Library Loan services of the University of Fort Hare managed to obtain for me a substantial number of Thomas's prose works.
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Peterson, Raileen L. "E.E. Cummings' poetics : the necessary anything." Virtual Press, 1991. http://liblink.bsu.edu/uhtbin/catkey/762989.
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E. E. Cummings' reputation as America's pre-eminent avant-garde poet obscures his significant use of schemes and tropes in his traditional and free verse poems. Because of his influence as a sonneteer and lyricist, his poetics constitute an important facet of our modern definition of poetry. However, he did not formulate a coherent statement of his aesthetic theories. Therefore, inductive research is necessary to define "the necessary anything"--those elements which Cummings' practice indicates are essentially poetic.Cummings' traditional poems include his "Epithalamion," ballade-derivations, and a large body of sonnets. All of his sonnets are fourteen lines long; and most maintain line lengths of approximately ten syllables; follow rhyme schemes based on five, six, or seven rhymes; and adhere to traditional rhetorical patterns of development. Deviations from the prescribed scheme include experimental rhymes and rhyme schemes, metrical and rhetorical variations, and a wide variety of subjects and themes. Freedom to deviate from prescribed forms renders the choice to use traditional schemes and tropes significant. Cummings elects to use meter, rhyme, allusion, allegory, personification, metaphor, simile, irony, paradox, onomatopoeia, and economy in his sonnets and free verse.Besides esoteric typography and innovative syntax, half-rhyme and rhetorically significant rhyme and metrical patterns are his trademarks. Additionally, this study demonstrates that Cummings' typography is generally organic and that his aesthetic theories are grounded in the modern romantic movement. While innovation is primary in Cummings' poetics, traditional schemes and tropes are highly significant in the composition and artistic achievement of his poetry. In Cummings' poetry, "the necessary anything" is a product of his formal education in classical and contemporary literatures and his eccentric invention.Department of English
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Butler, Ian. ""All vistas close in the unseen" : a study of the transcendent in the fiction of E. M. Forster." Thesis, Rhodes University, 1987. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1001826.
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From introduction: It has become something of a commonplace among critics to remark Forster's relative lack of success in offering an alternative to the world which he satirises with such wit and humour. His comic treatment of the suburban absurdities of the Edwardian Englishman is, on the whole, far more compelling and memorable than the often vague, symbolic gestures by means of which he implies the possibility of something better. With the exception of his last and greatest novel, A Passage to India, his "alternatives" are largely factitious and contrived. Worse, the reader senses a fundamental uncertainty on the part of the author: his characteristic ambivalence in itself an indication of a perceptive and discriminating mind -- all too often suggests lack of conviction rather than an intelligent awareness of the infinitude of human possibilities.
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CARTER, STEVEN MICHAEL. "EPISTEMOLOGICAL MODELS SHARED BY AMERICAN PROJECTIVIST POETRY AND QUANTUM PHYSICS." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1985. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/187927.
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The American Projectivist verse of Jack Spicer, Charles Olson, and Robert Duncan contains within its poetics many epistemological assumptions shared by quantum physics. These assumptions exist in three broad categories: perception, process, and wholeness. In physics, the epistemology of perception has been profoundly altered by the Heisenberg Uncertainty Relation, which creates a symbiotic relationship between the observer and the observed. At least one photon of light is necessary to observe an electron; one photon is sufficient to alter the electron's momentum or position; therefore, a physicist affects an electron's "fate" in the act of observing it. Similarly, in Projectivist poetics, the perceptions of the reader are often enlisted to help "compose" the poem which is offered to him in "pieces," or, as in Robert Duncan's poetry especially, in self-reflexive segments. By "self-reflexive," we further mean that the Projectivist poem often "mirrors itself" as an electron "mirrors itself" as wave or as particle, while it is paradoxically both. A Projectivist poem may pause halfway through and "unravel" itself, i.e., study its own etymology. The reader thus must participate in "putting the poem back together," as the physicist participates in the phenomena he observes. The second epistemological model in physics and poetry stresses becoming, rather than being. Matter at the subatomic level has been defined as energy-in-flux. Similarly, the Projectivist poems of Charles Olson especially often exist as "fields" with no syntactical beginnings or endings. Moreover, the "I" of the Maximus Poems is often seen in a perpetual process of becoming the world of spacetime in the poems, creating a system similar to the being-and-becoming model of particle-and-field in quantum mechanics. Third, wholeness is a premise governing poetry and physics separately and together. Jack Spicer's thematics blend matter and consciousness, as "love and death matter/Matter as wave and particle." Similarly, Robert Duncan's poetics describes a "dancing organization between personal and cosmic identity." In physics, wholeness is seen primarily in an "implicate order" which attempts to overturn the old paradigms of fragmentation and connect matter and consciousness, including language, as interrelated systems of information.
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Dunzweiler, Krista J. "Saving America's gays and lesbians from hell : a fantasy theme criticism of the anti-gay rhetoric of the far-right." Scholarly Commons, 2000. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/536.
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This thesis investigates the worldview of six rhetors of the far-right using the rhetorical method of fantasy theme analysis. The specific rhetors examined in this study are Peter J. Peters, Dan Gayman, Edward Fields, Fred Phelps, Jeny Falwell, and James Dobson. In order to understand the discourse of the six rhetors, five research questions were developed to guide the study: (1) What are the images portrayed of homosexuals and gay rights advocates in the fantasy themes of the rhetors examined in this study? (2) What are the images portrayed of Christians in the fantasy themes of the rhetors examined in this study? (3) How do the fantasy themes differ in extremity among the rhetors of the far-tight with regard to homosexuality and supporters of gay lights? (4) How do the fantasy themes of the rhetors work together to create a rhetolical vision for the far-light regarding homosexuality? (5) How do the collective fantasy themes of the far-right rhetors potentially influence actions against and aggression towards homosexuals? In order to answer these questions, a fantasy theme analysis was conducted on various artifacts of the six rhetors chosen for examination in this thesis. The analysis indicated that the fantasy themes of the rhetors work together to create a rhetorical vision in which a drama is played out. In this drama, homosexuals and supporters of gay rights are depicted as villains and fundamentalist Christians are characterized as heroes. Through the depictions of these characters and their actions the ultimate ideal of America as a country is provided. This ultimate ideal focuses on a setting where homosexuals do not exist and gay rights is not an issue. Through these fantasy themes the rhetors encourage America's patriots and fundamentalist Christians to remove homosexuals from society. In addition, the collective rhetorical vision of the six rhetors provides motives for aggressive actions against homosexuals, including acts of violence.
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Benoit, James. "Working through the ambiguities of focalization with the films of Edward Yang." Thesis, McGill University, 2005. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=98539.
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This thesis is an evaluation of the extent to which theories of focalization are useful for the analysis of point of view in film. In it, I apply the small number of focalization models advanced within film studies to an analysis of the works of an internationally acclaimed Taiwanese director, Edward Yang. I reveal that Yang's films serve well to demonstrate how the conventional typologies of external and internal focalization are convenient labels that mask the considerable degree of ambiguity that is reflected by processes of focalization and narration in many films. Furthermore, I illustrate how an application of the alternative theory of auto-focalization to film analysis can generally free us from the limitations of these typologies, by drawing our attention to the iconic implications of film imagery. Finally, I determine that both models of focalization are largely useful for highlighting the degree to which the functions of character-focalizers and narrators can be indistinguishable, particularly in self-reflexive films.
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Suzuki-Martinez, Sharon S. 1963. "Tribal Selves: Subversive Identity in Asian American and Native American Literature." Diss., The University of Arizona, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/565575.
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Ferrandis, Ferrer Pau. "El proyecto crítico de Edward Said. Formulaciones, presiones y revisiones." Doctoral thesis, Universitat de Barcelona, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10803/671049.
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En sus reflexiones sobre la crítica literaria, Said contempla dos principios fundamentales. El primero de estos principios afirma que la experiencia que un individuo puede tener de la sociedad en la que vive es muy limitada; el segundo, que deriva del primero, recomienda al crítico literario comenzar su trajo a partir de los límites de su propia experiencia, teniendo presente, además, cuál es su posición en la sociedad. El proyecto crítico que Said desarrolla a lo largo de su carrera obedece estos dos principios, pero la forma desigual en que los pone en práctica ocasiona una serie de tensiones que recorren toda su obra. Se propone un estudio de estas tensiones que, tomando como punto de partida metodológico dichos principios y teniendo en cuenta su relación con el legado de Vico, Auerbach, Gramsci y Williams, explore el desarrollo del proyecto crítico de Said a lo largo de toda su obra y permita comprender la posición desde la cual lo formula, la cambiante voluntad que motiva dicho proyecto y su capacidad de impacto cultural.In his reflections on literary criticism, Said contemplates two fundamental principles. The first of these principles states that the experience that an individual can have from the society in which he lives is very limited; the second, which derives from the first, recommends that the literary critic begin his work from the limits of his own experience, bearing in mind, also, what his position in society is. The critical project that Said develops throughout his career obeys these two principles, but the uneven way in which he puts them into practice causes a series of tensions that run throughout his work. A study of these tensions is proposed that, taking these principles as a methodological starting point and taking into account their relationship with the legacy of Vico, Auerbach, Gramsci and Williams, explore the development of Said's critical project throughout his work and allow us to understand the position from which he formulates it, the changing will that motivates that project and its capacity for cultural impact.
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Heterick, Garry R. (Garry Raymond) 1965. "Dethroning Jupiter : E.M. Forster's revision of John Ruskin." Monash University, English Dept, 1998. http://arrow.monash.edu.au/hdl/1959.1/8604.
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Perez, Roy. "Off the hyphen : race consciousness in Du Bois and U.S. Latina/o cultural theory." Honors in the Major Thesis, University of Central Florida, 2003. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETH/id/414.
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This item is only available in print in the UCF Libraries. If this is your Honors Thesis, you can help us make it available online for use by researchers around the world by following the instructions on the distribution consent form at http://library.ucf.edu/Systems/DigitalInitiatives/DigitalCollections/InternetDistributionConsentAgreementForm.pdf You may also contact the project coordinator, Kerri Bottorff, at kerri.bottorff@ucf.edu for more information.Bachelors
Arts and Sciences
English Literature
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Tsai, Tsung-Han. "Hearing Forster : E.M. Forster and the politics of music." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/4424.
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This thesis explores E. M. Forster's interest in the politics of music, illustrating the importance of music to Forster's conceptions of personal relationships and imperialism, national character and literary influence, pacifism and heroism, class and amateurism. Discussing Forster's novels, short stories, essays, lectures, letters, diaries, and broadcast talks, the thesis looks into the political nuances in Forster's numerous allusions and references to musical composition, performance, and consumption. In so doing, the thesis challenges previous formalistic studies of Forster's representations of music by highlighting his attention to the contentious relations between music and political contingencies. The first chapter examines A Passage to India, considering Forster's depictions of music in relation to the novel's concern with friendship and imperialism. It explores the ways in which music functions politically in Forster's most ‘rhythmical' novel. The second chapter focuses on Forster's description of the performance of Lucia di Lammermoor in Where Angels Fear to Tread. Reading this highly crafted scene as Forster's attempt to ‘modernize' fictional narrative, it discusses Forster's negotiation of national character and literary heritage. The third chapter assesses Forster's Wagnerism, scrutinizing the conjunction between Forster's rumination on heroism and his criticism of Siegfried. The chapter pays particular attention to Forster's uncharacteristic silence on Wagner during and after the Second World War. The fourth chapter investigates Forster's celebration of musical amateurism. By analysing his characterization of musical amateurs and professionals in ‘The Machine Stops', Arctic Summer, and Maurice, the chapter discusses the gender and class politics of Forster's championing of freedom and idiosyncrasy.
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Lawrence, Faith. "'True receivers': Rilke and the contemporary poetics of listening (Part 1) ; Poems: Small weather (Part 2)." Thesis, University of St Andrews, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/10023/7418.
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Part 1: ‘True Receivers': Rilke and the Contemporary Poetics of Listening In this part of this thesis I argue that a contemporary ‘poetics of listening' has emerged in the UK, and explore the writing of three of our most significant poets - John Burnside, Kathleen Jamie and Don Paterson - to find out why they have become interested in the idea of the poet as a ‘listener'. I suggest that the appeal of this listening stance accounts for their engagement with the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, who thought of himself as a listening ‘receiver'; it is proposed that Rilke's notion of ‘receivership' and the way his poems relate to the earthly (or the ‘non-human') also account for the general ‘intensification' of interest in his work. An exploration of the shifting status of listening provides context for this study, and I pay particular attention to the way innovations in audio and communications technology influenced Rilke's late sequences the Duino Elegies and The Sonnets to Orpheus. A connection is made between Rilke's ‘listening poetics' and the ‘listening' stance of Ted Hughes and Edward Thomas; this establishes a ‘listening lineage' for the contemporary poets considered in the thesis. I also suggest that there are intriguing similarities between the ideas of listening that are emerging in contemporary poetics and Hélène Cixous' concept of ‘écriture féminine'. Exploring these similarities helps us to understand the implications of the stance of the poet-listener, which is a counter to the idea that as a writer you must ‘find your voice'. Finally, it is proposed that ‘a poetics of listening' would benefit from an enriched taxonomy. Part 2 of the thesis is a collection of my poems entitled ‘Small Weather'.
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Saule, N. "Images in some of the literary works of SEK Mqhayi." Thesis, 1996. http://hdl.handle.net/10500/17668.
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This thesis attempts to examine some of Mqhayi' s literary works to establish their
merit in terms of the images that are realised. In the main this necessitates the
evaluation of the literary and linguistic qualities of his contributions which include
essays and lectures, poetry and the translation of UAdonisi waseNtlango.
This thesis further analyses and interprets Mqhayi 's thoughts and ideas regarding
politics, economy and religion. Mqhayi gives these a universal image which
prevents the critic from viewing him only in an African sense. From this study,
specific subjects such as ubuntu, education, Christianity, culture and nation
building emerge as the cornerstones of his literary intentions. The thesis also
analyses images which are portrayed through skilful use of language and literary
devices to determine their relevance in the present South African situation.
Mqhayi shows tremendous foresight by interpreting a present situation to
determine the future. Some of his predictions which manifest themselves in no
uncertain terms at the present moment arc given attention in this study.
Mqhayi uses his imbongi poetic licence to criticise and resolve without alienating
his people against what he perceives to be wrong in society relating to culture,
modern education, politics, economics and Christianity. In his opinion western
values should not replace traditional Xhosa values, but a situation of compromise
should be created which would result in a reconciliation of traditions. In the
analysis and interpretation of his views it becomes clear that his focus and
emphasis is on similarities which by far oumumber differences as a yardstick for
better understanding.
His translations from English literature and especially from Afrikaans (UAdonisi
waseNtlanga) which he learned through self-tuition show a concerted attempt to
bridge cultural and ideological divisions.
In the final analysis the study of Mqhayi, other than revealing his exceptional
literary ability establishes his supreme belief mirrored in his essays and poetry,
that blacks and whites of this country should seek a radical break vvith the past and
embrace the future as a people.African Languages
D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)
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Montgomery, John Henry. "Bulwer-Lytton's mystic novels : on the margins of the invisible." Thesis, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/10210/6068.
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M.A.Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1803-1873) was a prolific writer in many genres. This dissertation takes the major works of his occult genre and examines them in the backdrop of the scientific and religious paradigms informing the mid-Victorian reading public. In response partly to the increase in materialism, popular Victorian novelists such as Dickens and Thackeray were writing in a realistic style which Bulwer-Lytton found not suited to convey his mystical ideas. Instead, he made use of the metaphysical novel — a sub-genre of the romance novel — well-suited for his purposes but antithetical to critics often not willing to explore new territory. Although always alive to developments in Spiritualism, Bulwer-Lytton's life-long interest lay in the study of the occult and secret societies. The works chosen for this dissertation indicate how the boundaries between science, religion and the occult are permeable. In his works, these three discourses conflate instead of being kept discrete by artificial means. His passion for the mystical aligns Bulwer-Lytton more with the Romantics than the Victorians. Through a close friendship with John Varley (1778-1842), an inner-circle friend of William Blake, Bulwer-Lytton came to learn of aspects of Blake which reflect particularly in A Strange Story. W B Yeates and Rider Haggard, both admirers of Bulwer-Lytton, would incorporate his ideas into their works, and Madame Blavatsky would shamelessly plagiarise him in her Isis Unveiled. Unwittingly, Bulwer-Lytton’s wholly-fictional novel, The coming Race, would serve as “proof” to Hitler that a secret master race actually existed.
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Linscott, James Alfred. "Voices form the margins : an analysis of the cultural politics of E.M. Forster's fiction." Thesis, 2002. http://hdl.handle.net/10413/3398.
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This thesis seeks to offer an explicitly political reading of E.M. Forster's fiction, focusing on three of his novels (A Room with a View, Howards End and Maurice) and two of his short stories ("The Life to Come" and "The Other Boat"). Throughout I have used a combination of close reading techniques and elements of critical theory to show how Forster's fiction is characterised by a prolonged and ongoing analysis of the political notion of the intersection of mainstream and marginal cultures. In this regard, I argue that the majority of Forster's novels and short stories are concerned
with issues surrounding characters who are somehow marginalised from mainstream power structures and who then have to rebel against the cultural centre in their personal quests for political autonomy. It is this cultural issue, I argue, that gives Forster's novels and short stories their thematic unity and continuity. In probing this theme, I hope to move beyond restrictive (and often reductive) liberal humanist styles
of criticism, which tend to downplay the political implications of Forster's fiction by fore grounding only the metaphysical questions posed by his writing.
However, this thesis is also informed by certain deconstructive theoretical
concepts, which I have loosely drawn upon in tracing the development of this theme. In particular, I argue throughout that the oppositional quality of the novels and short stories identified by the liberal humanist critics is only truly evident in the early novels, such as A Room with a View. In the later novels, I argue, it is evident that Forster had significantly re-evaluated his understanding of the relationship between the dominant culture and its dissident, subordinate subcultural strands, and that he had begun to conceive of the interaction between the two in a vastly more fluid and
pluralistic manner than has been acknowledged by earlier critics. In particular, Forster seems to apprehend in the later works the manner in which a subject can be simultaneously both at the centre and the margins of hislher respective cultural system. It is for this reason that I stress that Forster sees the relationship between mainstream and marginal cultures as an intersection rather than an opposition. I also stress throughout this thesis the fact that the mainstream/marginal theme extends beyond issues raised in the novels and short stories and includes the author himself. As a male homosexual living in a sexually repressive society, Forster was
himself a marginalised member of society, and this cultural positioning must therefore be seen to infonn the themes raised in his writings. However, as a middle-class male, Forster was himself also an empowered subject, and his writing thus also reflects his own complicity in the power structures he was seeking to subvert. This is particularly evident when one considers the recurrent misogyny his novels and short stories display. In addition, Forster's particular historical positioning as an early twentieth
century writer means that his novels resonate with several of the non-literary discourses so prominent in the period, such as feminism and sexology. It is when one considers the manner in which the novels actively engage with these non-literary discourses that the considerable political invective of Forster's writing becomes apparent.
In the light of the issues outlined above, I interpret Forster's novels as an
attempt on the author's part to vocalise the feelings, hopes and aspirations of those groups somehow marginalised from the dominant culture.Thesis (M.A.) - University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2002.
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Smith, Stephen. "Restoring the imprisoned community : a study of selected works of H. I. E. and R. R. R. Dhlomo and their role in constructing a sense of African modernity." Thesis, 2004. http://hdl.handle.net/10413/2559.
Full textAbstract:
This is a comparative study of a selection of the works of H.I.E. and R.R.R. Dhlomo in an attempt to specify the ways in which both writers contributed to constructing a sense of African modernity. While the focus will be on the content of the writing, it will include an analysis of the form and style of the literature, as well as the historical and political setting of the work, and of the authors. By employing the theoretical work of Alain Locke, David Attwell and Tim Couzens, I will address the issue of how Herbert and Rolfes Dhlomo negotiate the issue of a Christian modernity, as well as the ambiguous relationship between tradition and modernity. Another matter that I will focus on is that of the differences and similarities of their writing, in terms of aesthetics and their positions vis-a-vis tradition, modernity and the role of the Black subject, among other topics. Some questions that I will address are whether they are both contributing to an African modernity, and in what sense, and whether Rolfes' work complements that of Herbert, and vice versa. This will be done through a close reading of selected works across a
range of mediums, from literary texts such as plays, poems and short stories to the print media. In the Introduction I will outline the key theoretical work and definitions that I will make use of in my research, as well as give brief biographies of the two writers under examination. In Chapter One I will make a close reading of selected works of Herbert Dhlomo, and will attempt to show his changing role in the establishment of a sense of an African modernity.
In Chapter Two the focus of my work will be selected prose fiction of Rolfes Dhlomo. I will examine the major themes of these works, and show how they pertain to a sense of an African modernity. In Chapter Three I will examine Rolfes Dhlomo's "R. Roamer Esq." column from the Bantu World. I have selected in particular the year 1941, and I will show how Rolfes Dhlomo used satire and topical issues to help in the creation of a sense of African modernity. The Conclusion deals with the findings of my research on the role that Herbert and Rolfes Dhlomo played in the creation of an African modernity in South Africa.Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.