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This dissertation interrogates and explores the formation of literary modernity in Japan in the 1880s–1910s, a process fundamentally underpinned by translation and often attributed to the novelist and Russian–Japanese translator Futabatei Shimei (c. 1862/1864–1909), who has been acclaimed as one of the progenitors of modern Japanese literary language, modern Japanese literature, and modern literary translation in Japan. Drawing extensively on Russian texts, I revise the view of the literary modernization process by situating Futabatei’s translation practice in its historical context and reconstructing the reception and reading of his translations, showing what was at stake in both Russian and Japanese. I select two converging approaches to this end. First, I analyze the process of forming through translation and its evaluation the foundational concepts that define the contours of modern Japanese literature: the question of what is considered artistic, creative, Western, Japanese, foreign, local, real, and modern. Second, I examine how language reform, in particular the standardization of the Japanese language, led to the formation of a new literary language that continues to frame the way we interface with language in the present. While these two aspects—the evaluative concepts of modern Japanese literature and the language norms that underlie the modern Japanese language today—tend to be perceived linearly and teleologically and are often reduced to the development of the nationalization of Japan and its language, my analysis reveals that these two processes, fundamentally forged through translation practice, entailed extensive experimentations with language varieties in the midst of the changing linguistic sensibilities and evolving discursive imaginaries of the West, Russia, and Japan. The work of Futabatei, who engaged with the formative process of not only modern Japanese literature but of modern Russian literature, serves as a unique prism through which to view the formative process of modern literature, modern literary language, and modern literary translation—all of which emerged out of linguistic competition, experimentation, and hybridity. Chapter 1 examines the emergence of the concepts of artistic-literary creation and production in Japanese translations from the mid-1880s to the early 1890s. Drawing on the formation of modern Russian literature, I analyze Futabatei’s translation of texts written by Russian critics in the 1820s–1840s, the time of the formation of the concept of modern literature in Russian discourse. In doing so, I show how Futabatei’s translation practice transforms concepts of artistic production through translation. The chapter also introduces the issues of translatability and the linguistic specificity of aesthetic concepts. The transformations introduced into Russian texts by Futabatei posed fundamental questions about the concept of artistic creation and production itself, which foreshadowed long-lasting debates on artistic production in subsequent years. Chapter 2 focuses on the translations of Ivan Turgenev’s works, written around the 1850s, and examines how conceptualizations of Westernness and Western literature evolved in the period following the Sino–Japanese War (1894–1895). Impassioned calls for the standardization of literary language and the translation of Western literature into Japanese to create a “national literature” (kokumin bungaku) as well as the revision of the unequal treaties between Japan and major powers—including Russia, which was generally perceived as Western—led to the reconsideration and reimagining of what constitutes Westernness in literary translation. I show that the generalized sense of Westernness in literature at this time was intertwined with the competition among various writing styles and increased interest in the Edo or Tōkyō language, which was itself undergoing reconceptualization. I also argue that dialogue in novels represents a unique and important locus within which ideas about Westernized socialization and language standardization encountered each other generatively. Chapter 3 considers Futabatei’s translations at the turn of the twentieth century—some with source texts that I have newly uncovered—which have hitherto been largely understudied. My analysis focuses on translations of texts originally written by lesser-known writers in the 1890s, such as “Parent’s Heart” (originally written by Fritz Marti) and “Commune of Four” (originally written by Ignaty Potapenko). The differentiation between the concepts of “standard language” (hyōjungo) and “dialects” (hōgen), alongside the burgeoning attention paid to the representation of local languages in literature, led to a number of literary experiments that incorporated local elements and in the process constructed a new literary language as Futabatei did with countryside and regionally associated language. By analyzing the shifting evaluations of his translations in this period, I illustrate how the standardization process and the introduction of the local intervened in the shifting perspective of how foreignness should be conveyed in translation, with particular emphasis on how the awareness of the construction of literary language varieties is foregrounded, problematized, and obscured at different times with the emergence and development of the concept of dialect. Chapter 4 turns to texts from the post-Russo–Japanese War (1904–1905) period, specifically those pieces of literature related to war and madness—two major themes through which the relationship between “Western” literature, its translation, and the real came into question. By analyzing Futabatei’s translations of such stories, I argue that the establishment of views of language varieties in this period led to different ideas about the representation of Japanization in translation. I then illustrate the changing positionality of Russia and Japan in this period and the way that the representation of madness in literary texts complicated the sense of reality therein. I also explore how the emergence and prevalence of the concept of the “modern” was linked with the use of language varieties in translations. The integration of the overarching concept of the modern into literature and the existence of language varieties associated with specific social strata and localities tend to be considered unrelated or even mutually exclusive phenomena. However, I demonstrate that the concept of the modern was instead integrated into Japanese literary discourse by means of such language varieties. Ultimately, by reconstructing Futabatei’s translation practice and its reception and placing them back into their fluid historical contexts, my analysis reveals the fluctuations in collective linguistic sensibilities and the engravement into Japanese literary discourse of foundational conceptions, such as the artistic and the creative, the Western, the foreign and the modern, thus providing a new history of the formation of modern Japanese literature.

This thesis focuses on the use of metaphor in characterizing the alleged enemies of Christianity and Americanism during the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. A summary of influential political, social, and religious events during the time period examined and biographical profiles precede a metaphoric analysis of the rhetoric of three far-right spokeswomen. The anti-Catholic rhetoric of Alma White, Bishop of the Pillar of Fire Church, the anti-Communist rhetoric of Elizabeth Dilling, suburban crusader of the Mothers' movement, and the anti-Semitic rhetoric of Marilyn Allen, Anglo-Israelite reactionary, provide the data for analysis. The metaphoric analysis reveals that Catholics, Communists, and Jews are portrayed as "Supreme Evil" and "Supreme Threat" in the metaphors of the three women. By labeling Catholics, Communists, and Jews as evil the rhetors attribute negative value judgements which have the potential to trigger strong emotional reactions in auditors. By claiming that Catholics, Communists, and Jews threaten religious and political freedom in America, the rhetors encourage suppression of, and violence against, members of these groups. Additionally, four common attitudes and values which underlie the metaphors are delineated and their salience to Fundamentalists, reactionaries, and members of the far right is illustrated. Finally, change in the metaphors over the thirty-year time span is reexamined. The findings support more similarities than differences in specific allegations of evil and threat, and in the emotional tone of the metaphors.

This thesis is the first extensive study devoted to the generic originality of Iurii Tynianov’s representation of Pushkin in his two historical novels, Pushkin (1935-1943) and the abandoned The Gannibals (1932). Chapter 1 contextualises Tynianov’s contribution to the current debates on the novel’s demise, ‘large’ form and the worthy protagonist. The conditions giving rise to contemporary interest in the genres of biography and the historical novel are delineated and the critical issues surrounding these are examined; Tynianov’s concern to secularise the rigid monolith of an all but sanctified ‘state-sponsored Pushkin’ and the difficulties of the task are also reviewed. Chapter 2 shifts the examination of Pushkin as a historical novel to its study within the generic framework of the Bildungs, Erziehungs and Künstlerromane with their particular problematics which allowed Tynianov to grapple with a cluster of moral, philosophical and educational issues, and to explore the formative influences on the protagonist’s identity as a poet. Chapter 3 explores the concept of history underlying Tynianov’s interpretation of the characters and events and the historiographical practices he employed in his analyses of the factors that shaped Pushkin’s own historical thinking. Chapter 4 investigates Tynianov’s scepticism about Abram Gannibal’s and A. Pushkin’s mythopoeia which reveals itself in Tynianov’s subversively ironical and playful use of myth in both novels. The Conclusion assesses Tynianov’s contribution to the 20th century fictional Pushkiniana and reflects on his innovative transgeneric historical novel which broke the normative restrictions of the genre, elevated it to the level of ‘serious’ literature and made it conducive to stylistic experimentation.

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Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2002. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The research question of this thesis was: What is the nature of the social boundaries that define women as a group, how has this been depicted throughout the ages and, more specifically, in the work of South African artists, Vladimir Tretchikoff and Irma Stern, and what comment does my own work seem to make on these boundaries? The study used an analytical approach to pursue these questions, while the works of art were analysed according to the levels of interpretation suggested by Panofsky and Dietrich, The aim of this research was also to analyse my own body of work more theoretically within the context of postmodern feminist thought to determine how it resonates with earlier assumptions regarding women. For this purpose a comparison was made between, on the one hand, what Tretchikoff and Stern's respective depictions of women reveal about traditional conventions that hold women captive and, on the other, how my own work seems to question the boundaries that society imposes on women. Both Tretchikoff and Stern were successful enough to raise public consciousness on issues that concerned female subjugation. Seemingly for very different reasons, however, they remained apathetic to the quest for women's liberation. The study shows that Tretchikoff's work reflects a blatant disregard of the identities and social realities of his models, and romanticises their constraints instead. Stern, on the other hand, could not have been unaware of the societal limitations imposed on women. Yet she chose to remain aloof. While she seemed to be able to move masculine requirements and the demands of society to the background to depict women as natural and almost free of stereotype in some of her works, she cannot be seen to have made a major contribution to the liberation of women. In contrast, I have found many similarities throughout the study between feminist thought of the Second Wave and the thought processes mirrored in my art. In addition to the expected outcome, the study has shown that it is possible to trace developments in feminist thought in art. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die navorsingsvraag behels die volgende: Wat is die aard van die maatskaplike grense wat vroue in 'n ondergeskikte posisie in die gemeenskap gehou het, en hoe is dit naspeurbaar in kuns, en meer spesifiek in die werk van twee Suid-Afrikaanse kunstenaars, Vladimir Tretchikoff en Irma Stem. Laastens, hoe lewer my eie werk kommentaar op hierdie vorm van onderdrukking. Die studie volg 'n analitiese benadering in die ontleding van die geselekteerde kunswerke, soos voorgestel deur Panofsky en Dietriech. Die doel van die studie was om binne die konteks van 'n postmodernistiese feministiese raamwerk 'n meer teoretiese ontleding van my eie werk te maak om vas te stel hoe dit ooreenkom met vroeer aannames oor die vrou. Vir hierdie doel is daar 'n vergelyking getref tussen, aan die een kant, die kommentaar wat Tretchikoff en Stem se werk oor die onderdrukking van vroue maak en, aan die ander kant, hoe my eie werk hierdie konvensies blootle. Beide Tretchikoff en Stern was in die posisie om die publiek bewus te maak van die ondergeskiktheid van vroue binne hulle gemeenskap. Ten spyte hiervan, toon die studie dat beide apaties gestaan het teenoor die lot van vroue, hoewel om verskillende redes. Terwyl Tretchikoff se werk die toonbeeld van 'n blatante miskenning van die verskillende indentiteite en maatskaplike realiteite van sy modelle is, en eerder kies om hulle toestande te romantiseer, kon Stern, as 'n vrou, nie onbewus gewees het van die lot van die vroue van haar tyd nie. Ten spyte hiervan, het sy apaties teenoor die ondergeskiktheid van vroue gestaan. Terwyl dit wil voorkom as of sy die patriargale eise van die gemeenskap op die agtergrond kon skuif om haar vroue as natuurlik en bykans vry van stereotipes uit te beeld, kan sy nie gesien word as iemand wat daadwerklik tot vroue se strewe na gelykheid bygedra het nie. In teenstelling hiermee, het die studie deurgaans 'n ooreenkoms aangetoon tussen die feministiese denke van die "Tweede Golf' en die denkprosesse wat in my eie kuns weerspieel word. 'n Bykomende bevinding van die studie is dat die ontwikkeling van feministiese denke in die kuns nagespeur kan word.

Dissertation (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Dr. A.L. Geyer's appointment in June 1950 as the Union's new High Commissioner to London was largely due to the political objectives of the then government. He was confronted by a number of related challenges, i.e. the furthering of the existing multifaceted South-African-British relations, the promotion of the apartheid policy and convincing the Union's critics as to the merits of the above policy. Geyer, a loyal Afrikaner and staunch republican, experienced soon after arrival that the policy of apartheid and the Union Government's insistence on the transfer of the High Commission territories were placing the existing diplomatic relations under considerable strain. To Geyer's frustration the Union Government failed to realise that the application of the apartheid policy 'was affecting South Africa's foreign relations detrimentally. The effect of the Union's domestic policies was therefore prohibiting any possibility of the transfer of the British-controlled neighbouring territories. Geyer was thus faced with maintaining a delicate balance between white-centred aspirations in South Africa, championing South Africa's interests overseas and his own evolving perspective that the application of the apartheid policy was not going to be acceptable to the outside world. Geyer was also well aware that the Cold War would contribute substantially to the constitutional liberation of the former British colonies in Africa, which in turn would affect the composition of the Commonwealth and South Africa's future membership. He therefore took Union politicians to task for actions that were geared to satisfy short-term party-political expectations, without taking into account both the national and international ramifications of such actions. Geyer did not differ fundamentally with the principles and objectives of apartheid; however, he was no stereotyped Afrikaner who simply supported apartheid without any questioning. In his public appearances he emphasised the historical, cultural and sociopolitical motivation for apartheid, the practical embodiment of the policy and the rights and role of the whites in South Africa. He portrayed apartheid as a political model that envisages equal, but separate development for all races that would ensure the peaceful co- existence of a multi-racial community. Geyer continuously emphasised that only visible and positive results emanating from the application of apartheid, would guarantee acceptance of the policy and also secure the future of the white population in South Africa. Geyer was therefore very critical of the government's inability to give meaningful content to the policy of apartheid. Geyer's biggest personal disappointment was the inability of his mentor and friend, Dr. D.F. Malan, to rise above the role of the party politician in becoming a competent Minister of Foreign Affairs and as Prime Minister, a statesman of international stature. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Politieke oogmerke het daartoe gelei dat die Unieregering vir dr. A.L. Geyer in Junie 1950 na Londen gestuur het as die Unie se nuwe Hoë Kommissaris. Hy is deur verwante uitdagings gekonfronteer, naamlik om die veelvlakkige Suid-Afrikaans-Britse betrekkinge uit te bou, om die apartheidsbeleid te bevorder en om die kritici van die Unieregering te oortuig dat daar geregverdigde meriete in die beleid is. Geyer, 'n lojale en republikeinsgesinde Afrikaner, het na sy aankoms ervaar dat die Unieregering se apartheidsbeleid en die volgehoue aandrang om die oordrag van die Hoë Kommissariaatgebiede, toenemende diplomatieke spanning tussen die lande veroorsaak het. Tot Geyer se frustrasie kon die Unieregering nie insien dat die toepassing van die apartheidsbeleid direkte invloed uitoefen op Suid-Afrika se buitelande betrekkinge nie, wat weer die oordrag van die Brits-beheerde gebiede onmoontlik gemaak het. Geyer moes gevolglik 'n delikate balans handhaaf tussen die blanksentriese verwagtinge in die Unie, die bevordering van Suid-Afrika se belange in die buiteland en sy groterwordende perspektief dat die toepassing van die apartheid nie vir die buitewêreld aanvaarbaar is nie. Geyer was ook terdeë daarvan bewus dat die Koue Oorlog, die grondwetlike ontvoogding van Brittanje se Afrika-kolonies sou verhaas, wat weer beduidende implikasies vir die samestelling van die Statebond en die Unie se voortgesette lidmaatskap ingehou het. Hy het Unie-politici dus gewaarsku teen optredes wat daarop toegespits was om korttermyn partypolitieke verwagtinge te bevredig, sonder om die nasionale en ook internasionale implikasies van die uitsprake te verreken. Geyer het geen fundamentele verskille met die beginsels en oogmerke van apartheid gehad nie, maar terselfdertyd was hy ook nie 'n stereotipe Afrikaner en naprater van apartheid nie. In sy optredes het hy deurentyd die historiese, kulturele en sosio-politieke beweegredes vir apartheid, die beliggaming van die beleid en die blanke se aanspraak op en rol in Suid-Afrika beklemtoon. Apartheid is voorgehou as 'n politieke model wat ten doel het om deur middel van gelykwaardige, maar afsonderlike ontwikkeling die ruimte te skep vir die vreedsame voortbestaan van 'n veelrassige gemeenskap. Geyer het groot erns daarvan gemaak om te beklemtoon dat die aanvaarding van die apartheidsbeleid en die blanke se voortbestaan in Suid-Afrika nou verbind word aan die positiewe en sigbare gevolge van die toepassing van apartheid. Geyer het dit dan ook nodig gevind om kritiek uit te spreek oor die regering se klaarblyklike onvermoë om daadwerklike inhoud aan positiewe apartheid te gee. Die grootste persoonlike teleurstelling wat Geyer egter beleef het, was sy ontnugtering dat sy mentor en vriend, dr. D.F. Malan, nie sy rol as partypolitikus kon ontgroei en ontwikkel in 'n bekwame minister van Buitelandse Sake en 'n Eerste Minister wat 'n staatsman van internasionale statuur is nie.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation sets out from the assumption that there is a phenomenon one can call literature of impasse. By this is meant that there is a body of literature that can be defined as a literature of impasse because of the specific time of writing or of its setting. The definition used in this exploration is based upon the historical, social, political and psychological forces that shape literature of impasse. Broadly speaking the term refers to works of literature of which the authors are considered to be fully aware that what they were describing, analysing and exploring was the impasse which the Western individual had to navigate in order to arrive at any coherent sense of self. The authors in this study – Joseph Roth (1894-1939), Giorgio Bassani (1916-2000) and Henri Fauconnier (1879-1973) – can be regarded as three such authors, and the aim of this dissertation is to demonstrate in what way they are indeed authors of impasse in the works under discussion and what the devices are that they have employed to convey their vision. Far from being a vision that (myopically) sees no resolution, the authors demonstrate a need to identify the impasse itself and its causes and consequences in a narrative style. As part of the acknowledgement of impasse, the description of the ontological impasse of the protagonists is also explored as is the central discussion of modernity and Modernism and how modernity appears to exacerbate the sense of impasse. The position of the protagonists in these works leads in turn to the exploration of individual attempts to overcome the impasse and, in so doing, the study inevitably has to explore the philosophical attributes reflected in each of the works. The comparative nature of this analysis, straddling three languages and literary traditions, and the complex contexts of “impasse”, necessitates studies in other disciplines. The works of Ernest Gellner (1925-1995) seemed particularly suited to this exploration as an analytical springboard inasmuch as his works examine the anthropological and philosophical aspects which have determined the historical forces and milieux with which the three novelists have to contend in the formulation of their respective visions. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie proefskrif berus op die veronderstelling dat daar ‘n fenomeen bestaan wat letterkunde van impasse oftewel van die dooie punt genoem kan word. Dit beteken dat daar ‘n korpus van letterkundige werke is wat gedefinieer kan word as letterkunde van impasse op grond van die spesifieke tydperk waarin dit tot stand gekom het of die narratiewe agtergrond daarvan. Die definisie wat in hierdie studie gebruik word is gegrond op die geskiedkundige, sosiale, politiese en sielkundige kragte waardeur letterkunde van impasse gevorm word. Die term verwys in die breë na werke wat geskep word deur skrywers wat ten volle daarvan bewus is dat dit wat hulle beskryf, ontleed en verken die dooie punt is waardeur die Westerse individu moet beweeg om enige koherente sin van die self te bereik. Die skrywers in hierdie studie – Joseph Roth (1894-1939), Giorgio Bassani (1916-2000) en Henri Fauconnier (1879-1973) – kan beskou word as drie sodanige skrywers en die doel van hierdie proefskrif is om aan te toon waarom hulle inderdaad skrywers van impasse is in die werke wat bespreek word en op watter maniere hulle hierdie persepsie oordra. Dit handel hoegenaamd nie oor ‘n persepsie wat stiksienig geen uitkoms sien nie en die skrywers toon veral ‘n behoefte om die impasse, sowel as die oorsake en gevolge daarvan, in ‘n narratiewe styl te identifiseer. As deel van die erkenning van impasse, word die beskrywing van die ontologiese impasse van die protagoniste ook ondersoek sowel as die sentrale bespreking van moderniteit en Modernisme en die wyse waarop moderniteit die gevoel van impasse blyk te vererger. Die posisie van die protagoniste in hierdie werke lei weer na die verkenning van individuele pogings om die dooie punt te oorkom en gevolglik moet die studie noodwendig ook die filosofiese standpunte ondersoek wat in die werke gereflekteer word. Die vergelykende aard van hierdie ontleding wat strek oor drie tale en literêre tradisies en die komplekse konteks van “impasse” maak verwysing na ander dissiplines noodsaaklik. Die werke van Ernest Gellner (1925-1995) het besonder geskik voorgekom vir hierdie verkenning as analitiese wegspringplek aangesien sy werk die antropologiese en filosofiese aspekte ondersoek van die geskiedkundige kragte en omgewings waarmee hierdie drie romanskrywers te kampe gehad het in die formulering van hulle onderskeie sienings.

Lee Kar Man Ida. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 101-108). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / 論文提要 --- p.iii / Acknowledgements --- p.v / "Introduction The Victorian Age, the Literary Double and Freedom" --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter I --- Struggle against Restraints: Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde --- p.24 / Chapter Chapter II --- The Ambition to Transgress: Locating Freedom in Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray --- p.52 / Chapter Chapter III --- Jekyll and Dorian: Impossible Mission to Achieve an Unrestrained Freedom against the Social Orthodoxy --- p.77 / Works Cited List --- p.101

The literature of the fin de siáecle challenged established societal norms through its use of avant-garde literary forms and controversial subject matter. This study will examine the use of landscape metaphors in two major works of fin de siáecle literature, Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Olive Schreiner's The Story of an African Farm, in order to reveal how these texts critique and re-vision the social dualities of gender. A wide range of literary theories-including, feminist theory, semiotics, and ecocriticism-are used to interpret these authors' influential narratives. This thesis will also apply Julia Kristeva's theory of the abjects-representing the permeability of the physical and social bodies-to critically examine the literal and metaphorical landscapes of Stevenson's city and Schreiner's farm. Thus, these visionary texts embody an organic and feminist understanding of the self as a permeable social construct that exists free of borders. / by Janine McAdams. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2010. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2010. Mode of access: World Wide Web.