When youth novels were first written, Afrikaans speaking adolescents spent their time reading the original and absorbing youth novels then available. These suited their psychological and environmental development and they could identify with the language and style used in these novels. The contents were a representation of a world which they knew and in which they could feel secure. Although authors often dealt with issues relevant to the adolescent world, the plot reflected a secure and nurturing world where the readers and their life experiences were taken into account. In recent years the adolescent world has changed dramatically from a secure environment to a more exposed one, posing the question whether contemporary Afrikaans youth novels have retained the same traits mentioned earlier and answer to the same norms. The value of literature should never be underestimated; it can develop the imaginative skills and moral values of adolescent readers. Also, it has become clear that adolescents have a great need for reading material that deals with relevant issues. The main focus of this study is characterization and development of identity in selected youth novels by Barrie Hough, viz. My kat word herfs, Vlerkdans and Skilpoppe as revealed in textual analysis and empirical research. The literature study focuses on developmental psychology and the reading expectations of the adolescent, character development according to some narrative theories, e.g. reader response criticism and intertextuality theories. The main objective of this study is to analyze, interpret and evaluate the above three youth novels in order to establish whether or not the contemporary adolescent can identify with these specific stories. It has been found that the adolescent reader in the early years of the twenty first century is able to identify with the contemporary youth novels such as those by Barrie Hough. Although young readers do not want to steer clear of contentious themes and issues in youth novels, it seems that they still prefer evergreen classical topics and themes. This suggests that the modern adolescent is still positive about life and aspires to attain goodness and moral strength. / Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans and Dutch))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006

Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans and Dutch))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006.

When youth novels were first written, Afrikaans speaking adolescents spent their time reading the original and absorbing youth novels then available. These suited their psychological and environmental development and they could identify with the language and style used in these novels. The contents were a representation of a world which they knew and in which they could feel secure. Although authors often dealt with issues relevant to the adolescent world, the plot reflected a secure and nurturing world where the readers and their life experiences were taken into account. In recent years the adolescent world has changed dramatically from a secure environment to a more exposed one, posing the question whether contemporary Afrikaans youth novels have retained the same traits mentioned earlier and answer to the same norms. The value of literature should never be underestimated; it can develop the imaginative skills and moral values of adolescent readers. Also, it has become clear that adolescents have a great need for reading material that deals with relevant issues. The main focus of this study is characterization and development of identity in selected youth novels by Barrie Hough, viz. My kat word herfs, Vlerkdans and Skilpoppe as revealed in textual analysis and empirical research. The literature study focuses on developmental psychology and the reading expectations of the adolescent, character development according to some narrative theories, e.g. reader response criticism and intertextuality theories. The main objective of this study is to analyze, interpret and evaluate the above three youth novels in order to establish whether or not the contemporary adolescent can identify with these specific stories. It has been found that the adolescent reader in the early years of the twenty first century is able to identify with the contemporary youth novels such as those by Barrie Hough. Although young readers do not want to steer clear of contentious themes and issues in youth novels, it seems that they still prefer evergreen classical topics and themes. This suggests that the modern adolescent is still positive about life and aspires to attain goodness and moral strength. / Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans and Dutch))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006

Diploma thesis "I become speech." Death and Return of the Author in the Perspective of Philosophy of Identity focuses on the question of inclusion of the author into the interpretation of literary text and aims to highlight the fruitfulness of such inclusion as well as some of its dangers. The thesis is divided into three parts. In the first part the author of the thesis presents a polemic account of some antiauthorial approaches, especially the "death of the author" as appearing in the texts of R. Barthes, M. Foucault and Jacques Derrida, along with a short mention of antiintentionalism of W. K Wimsatt and M. C. Beardsley and a theory of the model author by U. Eco. The common feature of the aforementioned antiauthorial theories is a reductive idea of the author and his relation to text - the problematic aspects of authorial interpretation, which their texts wish to make evident, is then only a consequence of the problematic underlying notion of the author-subject. The second part of the thesis intends to present an alternative theoretical understanding of the "real author" using the philosophy of identity od J. Butler and P. Bourdieu. These authors are proposing a theory of a person who is not understood as a "real thing" that would be available for a complete delimitation, description and...