published_or_final_version / Chinese / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

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Bakgrund: Övervikt blir allt vanligare vilket även resulterat i ett ökat antal Gastric Bypass (GBP) operationer. Dessa individer påverkades inte bara fysiskt negativt, det var även en påfrestning för välbefinnandet. För vissa individer sågs GBP som deras sista möjlighet till ett hälsosamt liv Syfte: Syftet med studien är att belysa vad patienter upplever ökar hälsan i sin vardag efter en Gastric Bypass. Metod: Fem självbiografier analyserades med hjälp av en kvalitativ analys beskriven av Dahlborg-Lyckhage. Resultat: Analysen visade på vikten av ett adekvat stöd för en känsla av ökat välbefinnande. Det fanns tre typer av stöd: närstående, stödgrupper och religion. Operationen ses som en möjlighet att börja om med ett nytt ”jag” och en ny hälsosammare livsstil. Dessvärre försvann inte alltid matbegäret. För att tillfredställa begäret vände sig vissa till alkohol och droger. För att undvika detta beteende behövde patienten realistiska mål för att säkerställa en hälsosam återhämtning. Diskussion: För att försäkra sig om patientens välbefinnande var ett adekvat stöd viktigt. Sjuksköterskan bör informera patienten om stödgrupper samt beteenden som kunde orsaka beroende. Slutsats: Resultatet gav en bra grund för förståelse av vad GBP patienter var i behov av efter operationen för att uppnå en god känsla av hälsa. / Background: Obesity has been rapidly increasing and so has the number of Gastric Bypass (GBP) surgeries. Not only was the individuals’ physical health affected negatively, the perceived health took its toll as well. For some individuals GBP was a last resort to a healthy life. Aim: The aim of this study is to illustrate what patients perceive increase health in their daily life after Gastric Bypass. Method: Five autobiographies were analyzed using a qualitative analysis described by Dahlborg-Lyckhage. Result:  The analysis showed the importance of support after GBP. It consisted of three different types: acquaintances, support groups and religion. The surgery was considered a new beginning, with a new “you” and a new healthier lifestyle. Unfortunately the food urges didn’t always disappear. To satisfy the urges some turned to alcohol and drugs. To avoid this kind of behavior patients needed realistic goals to ensure a healthy recovery. Discussion: To ensure the patient well-being it was important to ensure the patient has proper support. The nurse should inform the patient about support groups as well as the risks of addiction. Conclusion: The result illustrated what GBP patients need in order to obtain health after surgery.

This project investigates the English-language life writing of diasporic Iranian Jewish women. It examines how these women have differentially imagined their diasporic lives and travels, and how they have in turn been imagined and accepted or rejected by their audiences. In the first chapter, I use “home” as a lens for understanding three distinct life writing texts, showing how the authors write about what it means to have a home and to be at home in contrasting and even contradictory ways. I show how, despite potential hegemonic readings that perpetuate unequal relationships and a normative definition of the ideal home, the texts are open to multiple contestatory readings that create spaces for new formulations and understandings. In the second chapter, I look more closely at the intersections between trauma stories and the life writing of Iranian Jewish women, and I argue that readers use life writing texts about trauma to support an egocentric reconstruction of American democracy and dominance. I also show how a critical frame for understanding trauma can yield interpretations that highlight, rather than ignore, relationships of power and privilege. In the final chapter of the thesis, I present a case study of two online reading groups, and I show that communal reading environments, though they participate in dominant discourses, are also spaces where resistance and subversion can develop. / Thesis (Master, Gender Studies) -- Queen's University, 2011-09-08 22:54:33.728

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This dissertation studies understandings, definitions and uses of truth in autobiography, looking specifically at Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Confessions and Dave Eggers' A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. In order for a text to be considered an autobiography some concept of truthfulness is necessary; however, truth is not always objective and verifiable. Concepts of absolute truth, factual truth, personal truth and essential truth impede a simple understanding of the notion of truth. Furthermore, different circumstances and contexts may affect our understanding and application of concepts of truth. In his autobiography Rousseau claims he will tell the truth as best he can while Eggers states that part of his work is exaggerated or fabricated. Nevertheless, both are classified as autobiographical accounts, thus implicitly claiming that they are representing truths. As some concept of truth is necessary in order for a text to be considered autobiographical, readers' expectations of autobiography will include an expectation of how concepts of truth will be deployed. While readers may accept inadvertent inaccuracies due to faulty memory, deliberate misinformation will not be accepted. Readers expect that the information and events chronicled in the autobiography will be those that best depict the person of the autobiographer. In my dissertation I will look at how Rousseau and Eggers deploy the truth of themselves and their experiences and how this deployment of truth seeks to direct the readers' response to the texts. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

This study examines the value and relevance of autobiographical texts in the classroom. For the purpose of this study the focus is on Het Achterhuis: dagboekbrieven van Anne Frank. It is a critical study to establish whether autobiographical texts such as Het Achterhuis should have a rightful place in the learning environment alongside novels and other texts in the Afrikaans classroom and to determine how learners can benefit when they are exposed to a variety of texts to develop their minds through analytical thinking and creative writing. Chapter one presents a theoretical perspective on autobiographical texts such as the autobiography, the letter, memoires and the diary. Through autobiographical texts readers gain knowledge about peoples’ lives, experiences, weaknesses and strengths. Human interest arouses curiosity and encourages reading and research. Chapter two offers a literary analysis of Het Achterhuis. The textual analysis focuses on the background of Anne Frank during her period of hiding from persecution in the holocaust as well as on the interpersonal relationships and difficult circumstances the eight people in hiding had to share. With the coming to power of Hitler in 1933 and the subsequent persecution of the Jews, their rights were restricted step by step and the Jewish community was gradually isolated. Deportation started and thousands of Jews went into hiding. In July 1942 Otto Frank, his wife and two daughters together with four other Jews moved into a secret annexe behind Otto Frank’s business premises. The experiences of the above-mentioned eight people in hiding have been described by Anne Frank in a diary which she selected when her and her father Otto went shopping together. She received the diary which was one of her most precious gifts on her thirteenth birthday, shortly before going into hiding. The diary entries of Anne Frank convey a key message of tolerance and perseverance. Chapter three of this study focuses on the physical, emotional and social development of the adolescent. Anne Frank’s diary was written when she was in the age group 13 – 15. High school learners can identify with Anne Frank as a teenager like themselves who also experienced the typical insecurities, resentments and rebelliousness of the adolescent. In addition to the historical value of Anne Frank’s diary as a testimony of the holocaust, she is a role model for the teenager of today. The example of how Anne dealt with her problems helps learners to overcome obstacles and to deal with the realities in life. Finally, chapter four investigates the numerous possibilities of using Het Achterhuis as a text in the classroom to enhance teaching and learning. This chapter is based on actual findings that were made after using Het Achterhuis as a prescribed text in a grade 11 classroom in 2006. An important finding is that learners can benefit by being exposed to a variety of texts about life writing to develop their minds by analytical and critical thinking, creative writing and integration with other school subjects. Through autobiographical texts diverse perspectives can be introduced to enable learners to develop a more balanced view of the world. The code of the diary offers the best opportunity to give expression to one’s own life. Narratives are necessary to form your own identity. Through diary inscriptions you make contact with the inner self and a sense of identity is achieved. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

This thesis is a comparative analysis of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Reveries du promeneur solitaire and Gabrielle Roy's autobiography (La Detresse et l'Enchantement and Le temps qui m'a manque) and establishes that these two works are testamentary autobiographies, that is, autobiographies written with the awareness of approaching death. We first show that both Rousseau and Roy link their ultimate autobiographical desire to the imminence of their own death. We then show that their autobiographical activity is not only motivated by death, but, moreover, that it allows them in a certain sense to live it already, since what this activity allows them to do is, for them, similar to what they long to do in the afterlife. We suggest, finally, that this activity, which allows them to bequeath an ideal picture of themselves that will survive them, gives them a hold on their immortality.

This thesis traces the construction and evolution of the star text of Laurence Olivier as it relates to cinematic Shakespeare production and formulations of nationhood in 1940s and 1950s Britain. Organised around an examination of Olivier’s four Shakespearean film adaptations (including the unmade Macbeth), the project focuses on the ways in which the concept of 'Shakespeare' – signalled throughout by its italicisation – is appropriated through Olivier’s image in relation to the industrial and cultural contexts of the wartime and post-war British film industry. It also examines articulations of Shakespearean selfhood and related reappropriations of the filmic image in Olivier’s life writing, exploring how Olivier engages with his own star persona. In examining the relationship that exists between broader industrial-cultural appropriations of 'Shakespeare' and a sense of a star’s personal connection with the national poet, the thesis explores (in addition to the film texts) extratextual materials such as fan letters, publicity documents, theatre and film ephemera, magazine interviews, newspaper criticism, industrial reports and personal and professional correspondence in order to interrogate the national-cultural function of a star text whose image is aligned to 'Shakespeare'. This thesis seeks to make an original contribution to Shakespeare on screen studies by constituting the fullest study of Laurence Olivier’s cinematic Shakespearean career to date. In introducing and analysing previously unseen archival material (including screenplays and shooting scripts relating to the unmade Macbeth), the thesis informs our understanding of the evolving history of British Shakespeare production and, therefore, of the history of Shakespeare on screen. Rethinking Olivier’s cultural currency as a Shakespearean star in 2012 and in the space of the archive, the thesis also contributes to the theoretical thinking underpinning Shakespearean performance studies and archival studies. Finally, the thesis opens the way for further considerations as to how (and to what effect) the Shakespearean star operates as a national and transnational phenomenon.

It is evident in Antjie Krog's oeuvre that autobiographical aspects and themes play an important role in her work, and that such aspects are in fact characteristic of all her work. In this study the relation between the autobiographical material in 'n Ander Tongval (2003) and in some of her volumes of poetry is researched. It is clear from the theoretical works that were consulted that the relation between the text and "reality" can be extremely complex, because all autobiographical texts always contain both autobiographical and fictional aspects. In the autobiographical text the writer must constantly negotiate between the public and the private; in other words what the writer chooses to remember and reveal, and what is concealed. There are significant similarities between the autobiographical memories in 'n Ander Tongva/ and a number of Antjie Krog's poems from the volumes Dogter van Jefta, Otters in bronslaai, Jerusa/emgangers, Lady Anne, Gedigte 1989 - 1995 and Kleur kom nooit aileen nie. It is evident, however, that the same information is presented very differently in the poetic and narrative texts. Krog uses her memory very selectively and she manipulates her memories in the representation of the poems. A reason for this may be that she regards her poetry as personal, while the autobiographical text was written for a bigger audience. The same argument applies to her use of different voices ("I" as well as other voices) which is used in both texts. / Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans and Dutch))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.