My research will attempt to determine how award academies choose their nominations through the analysis of select musical aesthetics. As a trained musician (pianist) and avid gamer, I will bring my two passions together, contributing to the field of ludomusicology (the study of video game music). My research consists of an overview of video game scores spanning a decade (2004 – 2013) with a select sample of three soundtracks per year (a total of thirty soundtracks). The samples will be taken from the BAFTA- (British Academy of Film and Television Arts), VGX- (formerly known as Spike), and D.I.C.E. awards (Design, Innovate, Communicate, Entertain). Through engaging a music theory macro analysis, I will discuss melodic themes used in each soundtrack, the setting of the score (instrumental or electronic), and whether the soundtrack samples contain the epic musical idiom. At the end of my dissertation my research reveals what kind of music these award academy panels favour. If the award academies are a reflection of popular taste, my research indicates what the audiences like to hear in video game music. / Dissertation (MMus)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Music / MMus / Unrestricted

<p>This dissertation aims to address the lack of transcultural and historical perspective in the study of the Chinese term <em>shishi</em> and its role in the contemporary literature among the current scholarship. To begin with, the study traces the origin and genealogical development of <em>shishi</em> as a literary concept. It concludes that although it was initially invented as a translation for the Western term “epic,” the connotation of <em>shishi </em>was then greatly expanded and modified by Chinese intellectuals and should be understood as a unique aesthetic paradigm for evaluating literary works and inspiring writers, especially in terms of the criticism and the creation of historical fiction.</p> <p>Guided by the craving for building a unified identity for the newborn nation with literary works inspired by communist ideology, the revolutionary historical novel from the “Seventeen-Year Era” (1949-1966) becomes the embodiment of the classic ideas of <em>shishi</em>: heroism and optimistic belief in social progress. With the revolutionary era coming to an end, the orthodox historical narrative was challenged by writers and critics who began to implement new and alternative methods of representing and reconstructing past events and memories, which leads to the renovation and diversification of <em>shishi</em>. With a combination of textual analysis and historical interpretation, this study shall examine the works of six writers with varied and distinctive features from the 1980s to the present and demonstrate their contribution to the continued relevance and vitality of <em>shishi</em> in Chinese literature. The final lesson is, instead of sustaining a static and definitive view of <em>shishi</em>, we should recognize and embrace its dynamic and plural natures, and its ability to adapt and innovate.</p>

Chaucer scholars have long recognized the generic complexity of Troilus and Criseyde, but they have tended to read it primarily as a tragedy or romance or as a text whose genre is sui generis. The following essay attempts to read Troilus and Criseyde as an epic and to articulate how such a generic lens would reorient readings of the text. To do so, fresh definition is given to the term “epic,” and insights from genre theory are drawn upon. Ultimately, Troilus and Criseyde is an epic poem because it invests within the composite hero of two lovers the fact that societal stability depends in part on romantic involvement.

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<p>Pages 22 and 156 have no text in the original hard copy other than the title at the top and the page number.</p> / <p>This dissertation undertakes an analysis of the two concluding books of the Sanskrit <em>Mahābhārata</em> or "Great Epic of India." Although the <em>Mahābhārata</em> is traditionally understood as a <em>smrti</em> or "remembered" work in contradistinction to the Vedic corpus of "heard" (<em>śruti</em>) scripture, I argue in this thesis that we can best understand the content and configuration of the<em> Māhābhārata</em>'s two final books by reading them against a background of Vedic ritual and myth. Adopting this hermeneutical approach, I treat the two key narrative issues which we find developed at the <em>Mahābhārata'</em>s conclusion: the manner in which the poem's principal characters die (chapters two and three of the thesis), and the account of their afterlife fates (chapter four of the thesis). In chapter two I argue that a Vedic ritual called the<em> yātsattra</em> helped to shape the substance and sequence of the narrative account of the epic heroes' deaths. In chapter three I pursue this issue further, arguing that, as elsewhere in the<em> Mahābhārata,</em> the <em>yātsuttra</em> in Books 17 and 18 is tied to the later ritual institution of circumambulatory pilgrimage or <em>tīrthayātrā</em>, a rite also figuring in the account of the characters' deaths. In treating the second narrative issue in chapter four, I examine the backdrop of Vedic myth which underlies the narrative of the entire <em>Mahābhārata</em>, and which is restated at the conclusion of the poem. As in chapters two and three, I argue that in order to understand the <em>Muhābhāratu</em>'s final scenes, we must appreciate the extent to which the poem has been fashioned against the paradigm of the Veda and its ritual and mythic world.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This thesis adopts a mixed-method approach of quantitative and qualitative analysis to discuss the role of women, especially female speakers and addressees, in Valerius Flaccus’ Argonautica. In addition to the traditional individual mortal and divine speech roles, discourse categories such as the influence of the Muses, the presentation of female personifications, female collectives, frame and inserted speakers, and goddesses in disguise are also taken into consideration. The study shows that, despite the shared subject matter and greatly overlapping ensemble of speakers, Valerius makes significant changes in nearly all categories of female speech representation. Valerius entirely omits some of Apollonius’ female speech acts, reduces speeches from oratio recta to mere speech summaries, replaces Greek goddesses with similar, but not equivalent Roman speakers, assigns new speech roles to previously silent female characters, adds important new episodes with female speakers that do not occur in Apollonius’ epic, changes the speech contexts, the conversational behaviour and the overall characterization of speakers – in isolated individual instances as well as in more complex character portrayals. Valerius even modifies or transfers entire discourse patterns such as conversational deceit in speech and silence, or divine disguise, from one speaker group to another, usually of the opposite sex. Valerius transforms the Apollonian arrangement of a male-dominated, 'epic' first half following the invocation of Apollo and a second female, 'elegiac' half with many female speech acts and epiphanies, after a revision of the narrator’s relationship with the Muses, into a more traditional portrayal of the Muses and a much more balanced occurrence and continued influence of female speakers. The different female voices of the Argonautica, especially Juno, can continuously be heard in the Flavian epic and provide the reader with an alternative perspective on the events. Even the less prominent female speakers are part of a well-balanced and refined structural arrangement and show influences of several pre-texts, which they sometimes self-consciously address and use to their advantage. There can be no doubt that, like Apollonius, Valerius does not merely use female speech acts to characterise the male protagonists, but follows a clear structuring principle. Whereas Apollonius in accordance with his revised invocation of the Muses concentrates the female speech acts in the second half of his epic, especially the final book, Valerius links episodes and individual characterizations through same-sex and opposite-sex speaker doublets and triplets that can be ascribed to and explained by Jupiter’s declaration of the Fata. From Juno’s unofficial opening monologue to Medea’s emotional closing argument, the female voice accompanies and guides the reader through the epic. The female perspective is not the dominant view, but rather one of many perspectives (divine, mortal, female, male, old, young, servant, ruler, et al.) that complement the primary viewpoint of the poet and the male, mortal protagonists and offer an alternative interpretation.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The epic of Gilgamesh is the oldest recorded story known to humanity. It has a long and complex textual history. The final version of the epic, generally known as the standard version, was produced about 1200 B.C. in the Babylonian dialect of Akkadian by a priest and scribe named Sin-leqi-unninni. The cuneiform tablets upon which the epic was recorded, were rediscovered during the nineteenth century when European archaeologists started digging in the ancient cities of the Middle East, especially Nineveh. Since then the story has been translated into many languages; several English translations have been published. Some of these translations of the epic maintain epic poetic form, others are in prose, and there are a number of versions for children. At the moment no complete version exists in Afrikaans. This thesis presents a translation of parts from Geraldine McCaughrean's English children's version, which was published in 2002. McCaughrean adapts the structure of the standard version, clearly a strategy to make her text exciting for modern readers. The theoretical insights of André Lefevere and Lawrence Venuti form the paradigm for the translation process. Lefevere sees translation as one of a number of rewriting techniques. The detail of such a rewriting is determined by the poetics of the target culture, the patronage which enables such a translation to exist, and the ideological framework within which the rewriting develops. Venuti distinguishes between two translational approaches: a domesticating translation adapts the translation to the target culture and creates the impression with readers that they are reading an original text; foreignising translation makes the readers aware that they are reading a text from another culture. The opportunities and limitations of children's literature and translation for children are explored. Specific attention is given to taboo topics, as a number of these appears in the Gilgamesh Epic. The writers of the children's versions have solved these problems in different ingenious ways. Annotations shed light on the translational challenges and the decisions of the translator. Finally the whole project is evaluated and suggestions for further research are made. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die Gilgamesj-epos is die mensdom se oudste opgetekende verhaal. Dit het ‘n lang en komplekse ontstaansgeskiedenis. Die finale variant van die epos, wat algemeen bekend staan as die standaardweergawe, is ongeveer 1200 v.C. in Babiloniese Akkadies geskryf deur ‘n skriba-priester genaamd Sin-leqi-unninni. Die spykerskriftablette waarop dit opgeteken is, is gedurende die negentiende eeu herontdek tydens argeologiese opgrawings van die verwoeste antieke stede in die Midde-Ooste, veral Nineve. Sedertdien is die verhaal in verskeie tale vertaal; daar bestaan etlike vertalings in Engels. Hierdie vertalings van die epos word soms aangebied as epiese gedig, in ander gevalle in prosavorm, en daar bestaan ook ‘n paar verskillende weergawes vir kinders. Daar bestaan tans egter geen volledige weergawe in Afrikaans nie. Hierdie tesis bied ‘n vertaling van dele uit een van die Engelse kinderweergawes, dié van Geraldine McCaughrean, wat in 2002 verskyn het. McCaughrean pas die struktuur van die standaardweergawe aan, ‘n duidelike strategie om haar teks vir hedendaagse lesers opwindend te maak. Die teoretiese insigte van André Lefevere en Lawrence Venuti vorm die raamwerk vir die vertaalproses. Lefevere beskou vertaling as een van ‘n hele aantal tegnieke van herskrywing. Die besonderhede van so ‘n herskrywing word bepaal deur die poetika van die doelkultuur, die patronaat wat die herskrywing moontlik maak, en die ideologiese raamwerk waarbinne die herskrywing ontstaan. Venuti onderskei tussen twee vertaalbenaderings: ‘n domestikerende vertaling pas die vertaalde teks sterk aan by die doelkultuur sodat lesers van die vertaling onder die indruk gebring word dat hulle ‘n oorspronklike teks lees; en vervreemdende vertaling, waarin die lesers bewus is dat hulle ‘n teks uit ‘n ander kultuur lees. Die moontlikhede en beperkinge van kinderliteratuur en vertalings vir kinderlesers word ondersoek. Spesifieke aandag word geskenk aan taboe-onderwerpe, waarvan ‘n hele paar in die Gilgamesj-epos voorkom, en hoe die skeppers van die kinderweergawes hierdie probleme opgelos het. Annotasies belig die vertaaluitdagings en die vertaler se keuses. Ten slotte word die projek as geheel geëvalueer en voorstelle vir verdere navorsing verskaf.

Den Hintergrund der vorliegenden Arbeit bildet die 1990 initiierte Studie European Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition, kurz EPIC, deren Ziel es ist, die Zusammenhänge zwischen Ernährung und chronischen Erkrankungen, dabei insbesondere Krebserkrankungen, zu untersuchen. Um den Einfluß von Ernährungsfaktoren auf diese Krankheiten feststellen zu können, ist es unabdingbar, die Verteilungen auch anderer bereits bekannter oder vermuteter Risikofaktoren in den Studienkohorten zu kennen und bei den Berechnungen zu berücksichtigen. Im Hinblick auf Frauen spielen bei diesen Nicht-Ernährungsfaktoren die reproduktiven Faktoren eine zentrale Rolle. Dieser Arbeit standen die reproduktiven Daten der Frauen aus den beiden deutschen EPIC-Zentren Potsdam (N=16630) und Heidelberg (N=13616) zur Verfügung. Die Aufgabe bestand in der Beschreibung dieser Daten und in einem diesbezüglichen Vergleich der beiden Kohorten. Wie die vorliegenden Ergebnisse zeigen, unterscheiden sie sich zum Teil erheblich von einander: so liegt der Anteil der Nullipara in Potsdam bei 10% und Heidelberg bei 20,3%, das mittlere Alter bei der ersten Geburt in Potsdam bei 23,2 Jahren und in Heidelberg bei 25,6 Jahren. Diese und weitere Unterschiede zeigen sich besonders bei den vorwiegend sozial und gesellschaftlich beeinflußten Faktoren und werden in den altersabhängigen Darstellungen noch deutlicher. Vorwiegend biologisch determinierte Faktoren wie das Alter bei Menarche zeigen dagegen kaum Unterschiede. Auffallend ist, daß sich die Daten zur Einnahme exogener Hormone in beiden Kohorten sehr ähneln, obwohl diese Faktoren zu den vorwiegend sozial und gesellschaftlichen beeinflußten Faktoren gehören. Im Hinblick auf die im Verlauf der EPIC-Studie stattfindenden Analysen der Zusamenhänge zwischen Ernährung und chronischen Erkrankungen, bei denen für die in dieser Arbeit behandelten Faktoren kontrolliert werden muß, legen die vorliegenden Ergebnisse nahe, daß im Einzelfall geprüft werden muß, ob es zulässig ist, die Analysen für mehrere Zentren gemeinsam durchzuführen, oder ob sie für jedes Zentrum einzeln durchgeführt werden müssen. Insbesondere kann die Verwendung der Surrogat-Variablen "Ausbildung" zu Schwierigkeiten führen, da sie, wie in dieser Arbeit deutlich wird, in Potsdam und Heidelberg nicht dasselbe abbildet. / This paper deals with parts of the baseline data of the study European Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) which has been initiated in 1990, and which aims at examining links between nutrition and chronic diseases in general as well as cancer diseases in particular. In order to be able to identifying the influence of nutritional factors on these diseases it is crucial to take into account the distribution of other known or alleged risk factors existing in the study cohorts. As far as women are concerned, reproductive factors play an essential role among such non-nutritional factors. This paper takes into account the reproductive data of the women in the two German EPIC centers Potsdam (n=16,630) and Heidelberg (n=13,616) and aims at describing and comparing these data. The results show some significant differences between the two study cohorts, such as in regard to the share of nulliparity, which is 10 per cent among the Potsdam cohort, but reaches 20.3 per cent in the Heidelberg group, and in regard to the average age of the women at first birth, which is 23.2 in Potsdam and 25.6 in Heidelberg. Such evident differences and more, which all must be regarded as primarily social factors, become even more significant when one describes the respective cohorts on the basis of the women s age. By way of contrast, primarily biologically determined factors such as the age of menarche differ hardly between Heidelberg and Potsdam. It is remarkable that the data on the use of HRT and oral contraceptives are very similar in both cohorts, too, even if this factor belongs to the socially and society-influenced factors. As for the analyses of links between nutrition and chronic diseases, which represent the major aim of EPIC, and which have to be controlled in regard to the reproductive factors mentioned in this paper, the results presented in this paper suggest that it any forthcoming study has to verify if it is possible to analyze several centers collectively, or if every center has to be analyzed individually. In particular the use of the surrogate-variable "education" can lead to difficulties or misunderstandings, as it has different implications in Potsdam and Heidelberg respectively.