In their shared goal of communicating left-wing principles to children through music, Marc Blitzstein's Worker's Kids of the World (1935), Aaron Copland's The Second Hurricane (1937), and Alex North's The Hither and Thither of Danny Dither (1941) exhibit a fundamental unity of purpose that binds them both to each other and to the extensive leftist pedagogical efforts of their time. By observing the parallel relationship among these three children's works and contemporary youth organizations, summer camps, and children's literature, their cultural objectives and stylistic idiosyncrasies emerge as expressions of a continuously evolving educational tradition. Whereas Worker's Kids comes out of the revolutionary Communist aesthetics of the Composers' Collective and the militant activism of The Young Pioneers, The Second Hurricane and Danny Dither reflect the increasingly accommodating educational efforts of the American Popular Front.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / In his novels Slaughterhouse-five and The Sirens of Titan, Kurt Vonnegut explores issues of cultural identity in technologically-advanced societies post-World War II. With the rise of globalization and rapid technological advancements that occurred postwar, humans worldwide were mitigating the effects of information overload and instability in cultural identity. The influx of cultural influences that accompany a global society draws attention to the fluidity and inevitability of cultural change. A heightened awareness of cultural influences—past and present—creates anxiety for the generation living postwar and before the dawn of the Information Age. This generation suffers from “cultural schizophrenia”: a fracturing of the psyche characterized by anxiety over unstable cultural identities and agency. With the characters of Billy Pilgrim and Winston Niles Rumfoord, Vonnegut explores the different reactions to and consequences of cultural schizophrenia. His unique writing style is an effective hybrid of science fiction conventions and the complexities of human culture and society. Ultimately, Vonnegut explores the dangers of detachment and the complicated nature of agency with novels that are both innovative and accessible.

This study traces the current status of Spanish ethics as seen through the optics of historical memory. Starting from the Spanish Civil War in 1936, the thesis relates contemporary themes to their proposed origin throughout three additional distinctive eras of the 20th and 21st century in Spain: 1982-1996 (Socialist Spain), 1997-2010 (Post-modern Spain), and 2011-present (current Spain). Spanish narratives ranging from Los Abel by Matute, La magnitud de la tragedia by Monzó, "Fidelidad" of Ha dejado de llover by Barba and Las fosas de Franco by Silva are contextualized through their ethical architecture, in accordance with their socio-political context, and relationship to past historical traumas. This work proposes that the themes of anticlericalism, the pursuit of social equality, anti bureaucracy, and political distrust are trends culminating from Kohlberg's third level of morality. The thesis aims to be an exposition and legitimization of different ethical schemas that might otherwise be polarized as wrong and inferior by others.

Text in Afrikaans / In hierdie verhandeling word die tekste van onderskeidelik Mireille Cottenje (Dagboek van Carla - 1968), Daisy Ver Boven (Mayana - I974 ), Henriette Claessens (Afscheid van Rumangabo - 1983) en Lieve Joris (Terug naar Kongo - 1987) bespreek as verteenwoordigend van die koloniale literatuur deur die vroulike outeur. Die doel is om vas te stel hoe daar deur die vroue outeur in die Vlaamse letterkunde aan die Afrika-ervaring gestalte gegee is. Eerstens word 'n oorsig van die begrip koloniale literatuur gegee en daama word literer-histories op die Vlaamse Afrika-literatuur vanaf die prekoloniale- tot die postkoloniale era gefokus. Nadat 'n analise van die tekste gedoen is om die individuele perspektiewe te evalueer, blyk dit dat die vroue outeurs in 'n groot mate gemeenskaplike visies in hul siening van die koloniale era openbaar. 'n Beeld van die koloniale Kongo soos dit in die ervaringswereld van die vroue outeurs bly voortleefhet, kan so verkry word / In this thesis, the texts of Mireille Cottenje (Dagboek van Carla - 1968), Daisy Ver Boven (Mayana - 1974), Henriette Claessens (Afscheid van Rumangabo - 1983) and Lieve Joris (Terug naar Kongo - 1987) were respectively studied as representative of the colonial literature written by female authors. The aim is to establish how stature is given in the literature to the Africa experience by the female author. In the first instance the concept colonial literature is discussed followed by a historical review of the Flemish African literature from the pre-colonial to the postcolonial era. After an analysis has been completed to evaluate the individual perspectives of the different authors, it appears that the female authors reveal shared perspectives in their views on the colonial era. Through knowledge of the work of these authors, an image of the colonial Congo can be found, as it lives on in the world of the female literator / Afrikaans & Theory of Literature / M.A. (Afrikaans)

The family trilogy, Curse of the Starving Class, Buried Child and True West, presents Sam Shepard's strong bond with his culture and his people, illustrates an intense connection with the land, and reveals a deep longing for the traditions of the past, through the dramatisation of the betrayal of the American Dream. Although obviously part of the American tradition of family drama, Shepard never completely conforms, subverting the genre by debunking the traditional family in order to make a statement about the present disintegration of the bonds of family life and modern American society. In the trilogy Shepard decries the loss of the old codes connecting with his despair at the debasement of the ideals of the past and the demise of the American Dream. Finally, the plays insist on the importance a new set of tenets to supplant the sterile ethics of modern America / M.A. (English)

Summaries in Afrikaans and English / In hierdie navorsingsverslag word die representasie van die reg en die verskynsel van die verhoor as romangegewe in enkele tekste van André P. Brink ondersoek. Die studie vind plaas binne die interdissiplinêre konteks van die reg en die letterkunde. Die studie: (i) fokus op die rol wat die reg in die literêre teks vervul; (ii) ondersoek uitbeeldings van die verhoor soos wat dit in Brink se romankuns aangetref word; en (iii) ondersoek die fiksionalisering van historiese en dokumentêre regsbronne met spesifieke verwysing na sekere eksemplariese Brink-­‐romans. / In this research report, representations of the law and of the trial, as embedded in certain novels by André P. Brink, are explored. The study is structured within the interdisciplinary field of law and literature. This study: (i) focuses on the role of law within the literary text; (ii) explores the legal delineation of a trial in novels by Brink; and (iii) explores the fictionalisation of historic and documentary judicatory resources with specific reference to exemplary texts by Brink. / Afrikaans & Theory of Literature / M.A. (Afrikaans)

Text in Afrikaans / In hierdie studie word die verbandhoudende teoretiese begrippe van trans-liggaamlikheid, kriptosoölogie en dieresiele ondersoek met verwysing na drie magies-realistiese Afrikaanse romans, naamlik Kikoejoe (Etienne van Heerden, 1996), Die olifantjagters (Piet van Rooyen, 1997) en Dwaalpoort (Alexander Strachan, 2010). Die gewaande dualisme tussen kultuur en natuur word in die tekste bevraagteken en vrye interaksie tussen biologiese, klimatologiese, ekonomiese en politieke magte vind plaas in die onderskeie romanruimtes. Die toenemende druk op die omgewing word uitgebeeld en in hierdie opsig sluit die romans aan by ʼn eietydse tendens in die (Afrikaanse) letterkunde waar die klem op ekologiese kwessies val. Hierdie drie kontemporêre romans reflekteer voorts die komplekse interaksie tussen menslike en niemenslike diere en kan beskou word as dierenarratiewe (met ’n mitiese onderbou) waar tradisionele beskouings oor diere in die samelewing deurentyd ondermyn word. / In this research report, related theoretical concepts such as transcorporeality, cryptozoology and animal souls will be explored with reference to the magic-realistic Afrikaans novels Kikoejoe (Etienne van Heerden, 1996), Die olifantjagters (Piet van Rooyen, 1997) and Dwaalpoort (Alexander Strachan, 2010). The perceived dualism of nature versus culture is undermined in the respective novels and the environment is exposed as a space where the interaction between biological, climatological, economical and political forces takes place freely. The novels portray the increasing demands on the environment and in this respect these texts become representative of a current trend in (Afrikaans) literature to reflect ecological issues. The three contemporary novels further reflect the complex interaction between human and nonhuman animals and can be described as animal narratives (underpinned by myths) where traditional perspectives on animals in society are constantly subverted. / Afrikaans and Theory of Literature / M.A. (Afrikaans)

This dissertation offers the first extended study of the work of the Welsh-French poet Heather Dohollau, whose substantial œuvre in French, published since 1974, has recently received international critical recognition. My thesis centres on the idea of traversée, which originates in Dohollau’s experience of exiles, returns and bilingualism. My chapters elucidate five interconnected themes which all relate to that overarching paradigm. Chapter 1 focuses on Dohollau’s trajectories as reflected in poems on the memory of place, concentrating on South Wales and the island. The quest for place is also a quest for the past, which is handled as an after-image capable of upwelling into the present. Chapter 2 investigates the visual-verbal bilingualism towards which Dohollau’s texts on specific artworks (or ekphrastic texts) seem to strive. Dohollau revitalizes the ekphrastic tradition and challenges its conventional connotations of power struggle (W. J. T. Mitchell) in favour of a poetics of hospitality. Chapter 3 is dedicated to Dohollau’s ethos and practice of slowness. It undertakes a close-reading analysis of her syntactic and sound-related rhythms, connecting them with Derrida’s différance. The idea of poetry as a foreign language is discussed in chapter 4: Dohollau’s adoption of French as her main poetic language in the mid-1960s, her handling of motherhood and daughterhood, and her quest for a poetics of mourning and fidelity are examined in their interrelations. The concluding chapter explores the boundaries between language and the unsaid. Dohollau has been uniquely placed to engage with postwar reassessments of language and its limits (Derrida, Heidegger, Blanchot), poised as she is between languages and media. As her poems show, such limits constitute a poetic resource in their own right. Her carefully cultivated liminal stance has given her important insights into the creative process as a passage into words from an unwritten, yet not utterly inchoate other of the poem.

This research aims to illuminate how and why war challenges the limits of poetic representation, through an analysis of non-combatant poetry of the Second World War. It is motivated by the question: how can one portray, represent, or talk about war? Literature on war poetry tends to concentrate on the combatant poets of the First World War, or their influence, while literature on the Second World War tends to focus on prose as the only expression of literary war experience. With a historicist approach, this thesis advances our understanding of both the Second World War, and our inherited notions of 'war poetry,' by parsing its historiography, and investigating the role critical appraisals have played in marginalising this area of poetic response. This thesis examines four poets as case studies in this field of research-W.H. Auden, Louis MacNeice, Dylan Thomas, and Stevie Smith-and evaluates them on both their individual explorations of poetic tone, faith systems, linguistic innovations, subversive performativity, and their collective trajectory towards a commitment to represent the war in their poetry. The findings from this research illustrate how too many critical appraisals have minimised or misrepresented Second World War poetry, and how the poets responded with a self-reflexivity that bespoke a deeper concern with how war is remembered and represented. The significance of these findings is breaking down the notion of objective fact in poetic representations of war, which are ineluctably subjective texts. These findings also offer insight into the 'failure' of poetry to represent war as a necessary part of war representation and prompt a rethinking of who has the 'right' experience-or simply the right-to talk about war.

Summaries in Afrikaans and English / In hierdie navorsingsverslag word die representasie van die reg en die verskynsel van die verhoor as romangegewe in enkele tekste van André P. Brink ondersoek. Die studie vind plaas binne die interdissiplinêre konteks van die reg en die letterkunde. Die studie: (i) fokus op die rol wat die reg in die literêre teks vervul; (ii) ondersoek uitbeeldings van die verhoor soos wat dit in Brink se romankuns aangetref word; en (iii) ondersoek die fiksionalisering van historiese en dokumentêre regsbronne met spesifieke verwysing na sekere eksemplariese Brink-­‐romans. / In this research report, representations of the law and of the trial, as embedded in certain novels by André P. Brink, are explored. The study is structured within the interdisciplinary field of law and literature. This study: (i) focuses on the role of law within the literary text; (ii) explores the legal delineation of a trial in novels by Brink; and (iii) explores the fictionalisation of historic and documentary judicatory resources with specific reference to exemplary texts by Brink. / Afrikaans and Theory of Literature / M.A. (Afrikaans)