My visual art practice explores the point at which a sense of bodily humour and revulsion may intersect in the world of the monstrous-feminine: the female grotesque, presented as my own obese (and post-obese) body. This exegesis is a written elucidation of my visual art practice as research. As an artist I create performative photographic images featuring taboo or otherwise 'inappropriate' subject matter, situations, materials and behaviours including bodily fluids, offal, internal organs and my own post-obese body. Through these modes of working, I establish and investigate the subjectivity of flesh: Why are we repulsed by the female grotesque? How can this flesh be used to subvert readings of the female body? My research is informed by those understandings of the female body, sexuality and difference described in the work of feminist theorists including Julia Kristeva, Helene Cixous, Ruth Salvaggio and Elizabeth Grosz. I explore the work of influential artists such as Eleanor Antin, Carolee Schneeman, Cindy Sherman and Sarah Lucas. In this context, I present my own visual art practice as a point from which the monstrous-feminine can be given voice as sentient, intelligent flesh.

My mini-dissertation gives the autobiography of Talent Nyathi, who was born in rural Zimbabwe in 1961. Talent was unwillingly conscripted into the Zimbabwean Liberation Struggle. On her return to Zimbabwe, she has worked tirelessly for the education of her compatriots. Talent's story casts light on subject-formation in conditions of difficulty, suffering and victimization. Doubly oppressed by her race and gender, Talent has nevertheless shown a remarkable capacity for self-empowerment and the empowerment of others. Her story needs to be heard because it will inspire other women and other S/subjects and because it is a corrective to both the notions of a heroic Struggle and the `victim' stereotype of Africa. Together with Talent's autobiography, my mini-dissertation offers extensive notes that situate her life story in the context of contemporary postcolonial, literary and gender theory and further draws out the significance of her individual `history-from-below'. / English Studies / M.A.

Dans cette thèse est analysé le deuxième et dernier livre Beribilez (En voiture) de Jean Etchepare (1877-1935). Le but de la recherche est d’établir l'idéologie de l'auteur à l’âge adulte et l’image qu’il donne tout au long de ce récit de voyage, fait en voiture à travers le Pays Basque. On a utilisé deux méthodologies principalement : la sémiotique (Philippe Hamon) et l´imagologie (Daniel-Henri Pageaux). On a relu les critiques portant sur l´œuvre de cet auteur pour les comparer avec nos intuitions. Nous avons sondé la formation intellectuelle de Jean Etchepare, et nous avons vu qu'au Pays Basque du Nord, il était confronté à la pensée traditionnelle, dominante à cette époque. Durant la confrontation entre l'État et l'Église autour de la laïcisation, Etchepare a choisi une voie indépendante inspirée souvent par la philosophie allemande. Dans le domaine de la pensée esthétique, la vision du paysage basque est plutôt économiciste, l'appréciation des terres rurales se combine avec un mysticisme poétique. Au sein des beaux-arts, il critique l'enthousiasme théâtral du luxe religieux baroque qu'il voit dans le Sanctuaire de Loyola; dans l´aspect du savoir-vivre il s'éloigne modérément de l'ascétisme confessionnel traditionnel, donnant dans le texte une place inhabituelle jusqu’alors, aux petits plaisirs des sens (gastronomie, danse…). Dans le domaine de l'éthique, il critique la croissance urbaine de Saint-Sébastien : il proclame la spiritualité laïque contre le matérialisme et la dégénérescence de la haute bourgeoisie. Il prophétisa la Seconde Guerre mondiale qui s´approchait, parce qu'il voyait les êtres humains sans respect mutuel. En tant que positiviste, il critique aussi toute croyance irrationnelle. Enfin, il indique qu'à l'âge adulte il s'est aligné sur la philosophie grecque de la mesure. A propos du Pays Basque, il entend promouvoir la solidarité entre les deux versants basques des Pyrénées, en réinterprétant les avatars de l'Histoire de manière diplomatique. L'attitude envers le Sud-est de filia (Pageaux). En conclusion, on peut dire que l'écrivain dans ce livre a modélisé soigneusement l´expression de sa pensée, car il ne voulait pas que l´ouvrage soit rejeté, comme ce fut le cas avec le premier (Glanes, 1910). / The second book ((original Basque title) Beribilez; (engl.) By car) by Jean Etxepare (1877-1935) is analysed in this doctoral thesis. The aim of this research is to define the author’s ideology/ in his intellectual maturity and his image of the Basque Country, along the journey made by car through the Southern Provinces. Semiotic Methodology (Philippe Hamon) and Imagology (Daniel-Henri Pageaux) have been used as a study method. We have looked at the academic training of Jean Etxepare, and we have seen that in the Northern Basque Country he was confronted with the hegemonic traditional catholic way of thinking. During the years of dissent between the State and the Church, Etxepare chose the free-thinking path, inspired by German philosophy. In the area of aesthetics, his view of the Basque landscape is mostly economicist. His perspective of the appreciation of rural lands combines with a poetic mysticism. He considers the display of Baroque religious luxury that he sees in the Sanctuary of Loyola, spiritually deficient; we can see that, on the one hand, we are dealing with an intellectual author of petit bourgeois standing and sound artistic judgement... On the other hand, even if he proves to be a knowledgeable person, he is very capable of enjoying the small pleasures of life as gastronomy, wines, dances and eroticism in a harmonious and measured way. He moves moderately away from traditional confessional asceticism, giving in his book to the pleasures of the body an unusual and enlightening place unknown to the catholic dominant literature. In the field of ethics, he criticizes the urban growth of San Sebastian: he proclaims secular spirituality against the materialism and degeneration of the high bourgeoisie. He prophesied that there would be the Second World War, because he saw the human beings lacking mutual respect. As a positivist, he criticizes any irrational belief. Finally, he indicates that in adulthood he has been aligned with the Greek philosophy of measure, in spite of his non-conformist youth. About the Basque Country, he intends to promote solidarity between the two sides of the frontier, reinterpreting the history passages in a diplomatic way. His attitude towards the South is of a philia one (Pageaux). As a conclusion, we can say that the writer measured the expression of his dissident way of thinking, because he did not want his second book to be rejected as had been the case with the first one (Buruxkak, 1910).

This doctoral thesis is concerned with autobiographical forms, their general characteristics as well as with three examples of Czech works of art that prove how difficult it is to make that general characteristics and show various kinds of autobiographical narrative. It aims to show the often heterogeneous character of the so- called autobiographical genres, and present some approaches in their study. In the opening chapter, we define the term autobiography or autobiographical form in regard to literary history and theory, and special attention to Czech research in this field. We concentrate on the genre specifics of autobiographical forms, the opposition of "literary" and "authentic" diary, the term "autobiographical pact" coined by Philippe Lejeune and several patterns of autobiographical memory introduced by James Olney. The key aspect of our study is the nature of autobiographical form derived from the subject's style and illocutionary acts, i. e. stylization as defined by John Searle followed by Jean Starobinski or Paul de Man. Out of the wide spectrum of issues connected with autobiography we focus on the description of the subject's narrative structure, mainly on its language, style, frequent motifs, its memory and relationship to other characters in its text. The complexity of the very...

Text in Afrikaans / Die objek van studie in hierdie proefskrif is ietwat ongewoon. Die studie is outobiografies en is gegrond op die aanname dat daar tussen die psigoterapeut, sy geskiedenis, die wetenskap (etnografie en tweede-orde kubernetika) en die klient(e) 'n unieke patroonverband bestaan. Die psigoterapeut in die platteland het weens afstand of finansies nie altyd die voorreg om supervisie van 'n eksterne supervisor te ontvang nie. In so 'n situasie kan selfsupervisie, deurdat dit 'n proses van selfontdekking is, 'n belangrike rol in die psigoterapeut se selfontwikkeling speel. Selfsupervisie plaas die klem op die psigoterapeut as persoon en as terapeut; oor wie hy is, waar hy vandaan kom en waarheen hy binne die psigoterapeutiese proses op pad is. Vir enige psigoterapeut is dit belangrik om na 'n hoer vlak van psigoterapie te streef. Hierdie strewe impliseer 'n proses van selfondersoek, delwing, selfevaluasie en disseksie. Hierdie proses is aan die hand van dagboekinskrywings gedoen, waar die psigoterapeut sy daaglikse ervarings en gebeurtenisse vanuit die verlede interpreteer het. Dit plaas die psigoterapeut as hoofspeler, met sy familiegeskiedenis en huidige interpersoonlike opset as inherente deel van sy mondering, op die voorgrond. In hierdie proses word die psigoterapeut sentraal geplaas met die klem op eie verantwoordelikheid met betrekking tot die proses van selfsupervisie. Die probleme wat deur hierdie persoonlik gekleurde, wetenskaplike studie aangespreek word, is probleme wat die psigoterapeut deur middel van sy selfsupervisie ge1dentifiseer het. So 'n selfondersoek lei tot 'n diepere selfkennis wat die psigoterapeut tot voordeel van homself, sy gesinsisteem en klientsisteem kan gebruik. Hierdie studie is 'n poging om 'n nuwe wyse van navorsing te identifiseer. Dit is omvattend en lei tot persoonlike vervulling asook diepere selfkennis en is 'n man waardeur ander psigoterapeute ook hulself en hul werelde kan ontdek. Dit is 'n stadige en pynlike proses. Hoofstukke 1 tot 4 is die teoretiese, wetenskaplike beredenering van die studie en hoofstukke 5 tot 12 is 'n uitbeelding van die geskiedenis van die psigoterapeut. Hoofstuk 13 plaas selfsupervisie as selfevalueringsmetode binne die psigoterapeutiese beroep. / The object of this study somewhat unusual. The study is an autobiography based on the assumption that there exists an unique patterned connection between the psychotherapist, his history, science (ethnography and second-order cybernetics), and his clients. Due to distance or financial problems, a rural psychotherapist cannot experience the privilege of supervision with an external supervisor. In such a situation selfsupervision could play an important role in the self-development, because it includes a search of self that will lead to more effectiveness in psychotherapy. Self-supervision focuses on the psychotherapist as a person and therapist, who he is, where he comes from, and in what direction he, as a psychotherapist, is developing within the psychotherapeutic process. It is important to any psychotherapist to strive towards a higher level of psychotherapy. This implies a process of selfinvestigation, dissection and self-evaluation. This process was conducted by means of diary entries in which the psychotherapist interpreted his daily experiences and events in terms of his past. This places the psychotherapist, with his family history and current interpersonal situation, as intrinsic parts of himself, in the foreground. In this process the psychotherapist takes centre stage with emphasis on his responsibility concerning the process of self-supervision. The problems addressed by this personally coloured, scientific study, are problems that the psychotherapist identified through the process of self-supervision and introspection. Such introspection leads to a deeper personal knowledge which the psychotherapist can use to his own benefit but also to the benefit of his family and client system. This study is an attempt to identify a new way of research. It is comprehensive and leads to personal fulfilment and deeper self-knowledge and is also a method by which other psychotherapists could discover themselves and their worlds. It is a slow and painful process. Chapters 1 to 4 comprise of the theoretical rationale of the study and chapters 5 to 12 depict the history of the psychotherapist. Chapter 13 situates self-supervision as a method of self-evaluation in the profession of psychotherapy. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil.

Es'kia Mphahlele's concept of African humanism was a seminal influence on Black Consciouness thought and provided the philosophical basis for a landmark body of South African criticism and aesthetics wilh roots in Africa. African humanism as a black ethos, combined with rich metaphoric speech, symbols, values and myths resurrected from the deep African past, afforded the author a powerful cultural weapon with which to criticize centuries of colonialism, racism, and state apartheid, related western industrial forces of economic exploitation and alienation. Moreover, the counterweights of African humanism and alienation in the dialogue of two selves -- one that is Western-educated and colonized and the other African -- contribute key elements of realism, vitality, humour, insight, cultural identity, and characterization to Mphahlele's most effective protest writing which, in turn, has helped to shape a black nationalist vision which has surprising relevance to South Africa in the 1990s. / English Studies / M.A. (English)

St. John 12:24, used by Dostoyevskij as an epigraph to his last and highly acclaimed novel BpaTbJI KapaMa30BbI (The Brothers Karamazov), served as an inspiration for Andre Gide. The title of the latter's contentious autobiography Si le grain ne meurt (If it die ... ), is part of the same biblical verse. The significance of Dostoyevskij's epigraph and Gide's title are critically examined with regard to ideologies expressed in their literary works. Analogies and contrasts are scrutinised: considerable similarities but more discrepancies are discerned. Intense crises in Dostoyevskij's life led to an upward movement, reflected in his oeuvre, reaching out toward Christ's message as revealed by St. John 12:24. On the other hand, Gide started his career imbued with the above message, but gradually he deviated from it and died an atheist. His fascination with Dostoyevskij prompted him to write a profound biography on the great Russian, containing a perceptive article on The Brothers Karamazov when this novel was still practically unknown in the West. Dostoyevskij's pre-eminence as ideological author, psychologist, philosopher and artist is highlighted while Gide is disclosed as the moralistic immoralist of his time. The thesis suggested here is that Dostoyevskij's ideology of self-abnegation in order to be regenerated into eternal life challenged Gide to reject this concept. Therein lies his paradoxical "adaptation". The purpose is to uncover the religious perceptions in Dostoyevskij's four major novels, to establish that his fictional characters, though never used as mouthpieces for the author, represent his universal philosophy and transmit the author's quest for truth to the reader, and finally to examine Gide's reaction to Dostoyevskij's influence / Classics and Modern European Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (Russian)

This presented paper is a parallel reading of two works which both connect a philosophical perception of time and memory with an actual narration. The first is one of the earliest spiritual autobiographies of late antiquity - Confessions - and the second is a modern novel - In Search of Lost Time. A distinctive (originally Neoplatonic) understanding of eternity as simultaneity opens a line of questioning which both Confessions and In Search of Lost Time have in common: What is the relation between time and eternity (extra-temporality in Proust's case) and is it possible at all for a time being to have a relation to something what is eternal? In both works, the mediating role between time succession and timeless simultaneity is played by narration and memory. Part I of the paper (Chapter 1) deals with Augustine's understanding of time which can be found not only in Book XI of Confessions but also throughout the whole work including its narrative passages; it also partly takes into consideration Book VI of De musica. It tries to answer a more general question, i.e. whether Augustine in his autobiography concentrates only on subjective time or whether he is interested in time as such (in contrast to eternity). The answer is intended to be found through the analysis of questions the author of...

No final da década de 1960 e início da seguinte, dentro do contexto que se convencionou chamar de cinema experimental ou de vanguarda norte-americano, um número sem precendetes de cineastas dedicou-se à elaboração de filmes-diário ou autobiografias filmadas. Esse movimento é acompanhado, no caso de alguns dos realizadores, por um interesse por outras formas (literárias ou pictóricas) de autorre- presentação e escrita de vida e por um esforço reflexivo sobre as possibilidades, usos e potências dessas formas no cinema. Partindo do entendimento que a autobiografia transforma-se em um campo de interesses para cineastas, críticos e público apenas a partir deste momento, esta tese pretende abordar como ela é formulada e inventada por cineastas como uma forma possível para o cinema. A partir da análise de textos e filmes de três cineastas centrais para essa elaboração, notadamente Stan Brakhage, Jonas Mekas e Hollis Frampton, demonstramos o papel do gênero na transformação de um panorama artístico e criativo. De um lado, como se verá, a autobiografia afirma-se e inventa-se como uma tentativa de dialogar e responder a uma história artística que incluí o próprio cineasta, de outro, ela propõe-se como um lugar de singularização e transformação dessa história. / On the threshold of the seventies, the autobiographical genre emerged as one of the main tendencies of the north-american avant-garde film. This event was followed by a growing interest in other forms of self representation and life narratives in painting and literature and by an intellectual effort to reflect on the uses, qualities, possibilities and predecessors of the new form in film. Understanding that autobiography becomes a field of interest for filmmakers, critics and public alike only at this moment in time, this dissertation intends to broach how autobiography is fashioned by filmmakers into a form viable for cinema. Relying on a vast documentation of writings by Jonas Mekas, Stan Brakhage and Hollis Frampton, three filmmakers whom we consider to be central to the understanding of the genre as such, and on close readings of their autobiographical films we demonstrate the role played by the genre in the transformation of a creative and artistic environment. As will be seen, the emergence of the genre responds to a historical and aesthetic transformation in experimental films and offers itself as a peronal narrative for this changing history.

Le Soulier de satin, tour à tour perçu comme oeuvre Dada, drame baroque ou pièce àclef, est une oeuvre dont l’étude de la création et la réception permet de mieuxappréhender les liens de Paul Claudel avec son temps. Dans cette pièce, Claudeleffectue la somme de l’héritage artistique de remise en cause de la société positiviste desa jeunesse et livre le récit de sa vocation poétique, enracinée dans la penséebaudelairienne et mallarméenne sur la modernité. La prégnance du paradigme picturalpour livrer son manifeste esthétique et l’utilisation de l’image sous toutes ses formespour entrer en dialogue avec le sens du texte vérifient la concordance d’intérêts entreClaudel et les artistes de sa génération. L’originalité du dramaturge réside dans sonrecours à l’image pour faire de son oeuvre un ex-voto qui retrace l’itinéraire de saconversion, l’inspiration thomiste le conduisant à privilégier l’image dans l’économiedu salut à l’oeuvre dans la pièce. L’oeuvre révèle enfin son affinité avec l’art modernepar son utilisation de procédés et de formes propres à l’art moderne, comme le collageet le montage, ou redécouverts par la modernité, comme l’empreinte ou la planéité,procédés et formes que Claudel emploie de manière polysémique et dialectique. Eninscrivant la question de sa vocation poétique, de sa conversion et de la réception de sonoeuvre par ses contemporains au coeur de la pièce, avec Le Soulier de satin, Claudeldonne une oeuvre qui s’inscrit pleinement dans le programme de la modernité tout enrévélant son originalité propre. / The Satin Slipper has been received alternately as a Dada work, a Baroque drama or a‘pièce à clé’, and studying both its first production and its reception allows one to graspbetter Claudel’s relationships with his days. In this work, Claudel adds up together theartistic legacy of his questioning the positivist society of his youth and gives thenarrative of his poetic vocation, which is rooted in the Baudelairean and Mallarméanthoughts on modernity. Claudel delivers his aesthetic manifesto through the primacy ofthe pictural paradigm and makes the reader establish a dialogue with the meaning of thetext, and all this makes him meet the concerns of the artists of his generation. Theplaywright’s originality lies in his resorting to the image to make his work into an exvoto that traces the itinerary of his conversion, as the Thomistic inspiration drives himto favour the image, in God’s plan at work in the play. Ultimately, the work discloses itscloseness to modern art through the use of devices and forms that are proper to modernart, such as collages and montages, or that were rediscovered by modernity, like theimprint or the planeness, that Claudel uses in a polysemous and dialectical way. As heincludes the questions of his poetic vocation, his conversion and the reception of hiswork by his contemporaries in the heart of the play, Claudel thrusts The Satin Slipperdeeply into the programme of modernity, original though it may be revealed.