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An act of violence, be it personal or institution is an event that would distress most witnesses. Yet the representation of violent acts in fictional forms as literature, drama and film often aestheticises that violence, with the result that it is possible to experience it without such distress. However, despite various conjectures being offered, no single and universal theory is possible. An aesthetic response to a representation of violence is influenced to a large extent by the degree of aestheticisation produced by the author and/or director. In addition, the aestheticisation of violence is dependent upon, and an inevitable consequence of, the representation of the violent. This dissertation is an endeavour to explore the issues that the paradox makes evident, to critique various hypotheses that have been offered as a solution, and to speculate upon a more comprehensive theory ofthe representation and aestheticisation of violence / English Studies / M.A. (English)

Thesis (MA (Afrikaans and Dutch))—University of Stellenbosch, 2005. / The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between eroticism, violence and death as it occurs in Jeanne Goosen's short story collection, ' n Gelyke kans. The research is based upon the hypothesis that these stories express in a particular manner the transgressive role of eroticism in breaking through social conventions and barriers. As a possible framework for discussion reference is made in the first place to George Bataille's theories on the subversive nature of eroticism, Julia Kristeva's semiotic and pre-Oedipal theories, and Mikhail Bakhtin's notion of the carnivalesque. Subsequently a reading strategy was designed by means of an in-depth analysis of ten stories from the collection in accordance with general formalistic principles. The conclusion is reached that Goosen with non-judgmental sympathy exposes man's inborn, continuous search for the illusion of perfect happiness. This state of bliss is sometimes achieved by the violent "incorporation" of the beloved/desired “other", and the final outcome is a concomitant and inevitable decline into an unwholesome, destructive, and fatal erotic power play.

<p>This study concerns the complete oeuvre by the British author Helen Zahavi: Dirty Weekend (1991), True Romance (1994), and Donna and the Fatman (1998). Her novels are here read as a trilogy dealing with the dialectics of gender and violence in 20th century discourse, drawing on theories of how the construction of subjects is produced by power, of the relation between power and sexuality.</p><p>The heroines of Zahavi’s novels try their best to move about in a world where their freedom of movement is limited to their female identity. In Dirty Weekend the protagonist tries to shoot her way out, claiming revenge on every man that is forcing himself upon her. She gains some freedom of movement by refusing subordination, but does not really change the order of power. The protagonist in True Romance instead finds salvation in love of the master. She learns to love the man who keeps her as a sex slave in his apartment, and when confronted with the choice between the freedom by violent action and submission by passive acceptance, she chooses the latter. The protagonist in Donna and the Fatman manage to refuse both superiority and submission. She has a debt to settle with the gangster boss Henry, but in the end blows both herself and her opponent to pieces. I argue that by doing this, Donna breaks out of the order of language. </p><p>The order of power presented in Zahavi’s novels is a tyranneous dichotomy which cathegorize individuals as either victims or perpertrators. This construction is seemingly a natural order which we have to accept, but the actions of Zahavi’s last protagonist eventually proves it to be nothing but a mask, a lie. This lie is, in the words of one of Zahavi’s characters, a tenacious lie, and the only way to break out of the construction of power is to break out of the construction of the order of power. Thus the blowing up of both victim and perpertrator may enable a new world to be born.</p>

This thesis examines the first two novels of Frank Herbert's Dune series, Dune and Dune Messiah, in order to consider these two novels from the framework of postcolonial theory and analyze how religious violence becomes a source of subjugation, military power, and colonialism within the works. The three chapters of this thesis chart the creation of a colonial project through epistemic violence, physical power, and cultural control enabled by religion. This thesis argues that, in the Dune novels, religious violence functions as a colonial project that closely resembles the goals of real-world colonial enterprises, and the failure to manage this colonial project by those who initiated it shows that the effects of colonial projects based on religious violence are dangerous and uncontrollable. / by Kenton Taylor Howard. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2012. / Includes bibliography. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / System requirements: Adobe Reader.

This study concerns the complete oeuvre by the British author Helen Zahavi: Dirty Weekend (1991), True Romance (1994), and Donna and the Fatman (1998). Her novels are here read as a trilogy dealing with the dialectics of gender and violence in 20th century discourse, drawing on theories of how the construction of subjects is produced by power, of the relation between power and sexuality. The heroines of Zahavi’s novels try their best to move about in a world where their freedom of movement is limited to their female identity. In Dirty Weekend the protagonist tries to shoot her way out, claiming revenge on every man that is forcing himself upon her. She gains some freedom of movement by refusing subordination, but does not really change the order of power. The protagonist in True Romance instead finds salvation in love of the master. She learns to love the man who keeps her as a sex slave in his apartment, and when confronted with the choice between the freedom by violent action and submission by passive acceptance, she chooses the latter. The protagonist in Donna and the Fatman manage to refuse both superiority and submission. She has a debt to settle with the gangster boss Henry, but in the end blows both herself and her opponent to pieces. I argue that by doing this, Donna breaks out of the order of language. The order of power presented in Zahavi’s novels is a tyranneous dichotomy which cathegorize individuals as either victims or perpertrators. This construction is seemingly a natural order which we have to accept, but the actions of Zahavi’s last protagonist eventually proves it to be nothing but a mask, a lie. This lie is, in the words of one of Zahavi’s characters, a tenacious lie, and the only way to break out of the construction of power is to break out of the construction of the order of power. Thus the blowing up of both victim and perpertrator may enable a new world to be born.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of English Language and Literature, August 2001. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

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In James Joyce’s Ulysses, I believe that Stephen Dedalus enacts a heteroglossic discourse in episode 15, “Circe,” that critiques both English imperialism and the nationalist bourgeois of Ireland. Moreover, Stephen engages not only in an aesthetic and political rebellion through the style of his discourse, but he also engages in the only anticolonial violence in Ulysses against the British soldier Private Carr. Thus, I believe that Stephen separates himself from the ideology of the colonizer and from the bourgeois nationalists through aesthetic, political, and violent means. I will conduct my examination of Stephen as a revolutionary colonial intellectual in three parts using the work of three respective theorists: Mikhail Bakhtin, Frantz Fanon, and Benedict Anderson. Ultimately, I intend to show that Stephen can be read as a gateway through which Joyce represents a new heterogeneous, anticolonial, and antinational community in Ireland. / Department of English