Abstract not available.

The following thesis will focus on the close relation between allegory and interpretation. Because interpretation proceeds from, the viewpoint that the literary work is essentailly a statement about some aspect of experience, it attempts to reduce the literary work to an argumentative statement. This thesis will argue that interpretation is, therefore, a mode of allegorization. Following from the argument that interpretation is allegorization, this thesis will point to factors suggesting that the interpretive allegorical approach is antithetical to literary expression. Interpretation generally fails to recognize the distinction between philosophical discourse and literary expression, or between, the logic of discourse and the logic of narrative. Further, allegorization has a restrictive effect on literary expression, in that an interpretive framework limits the possibilities of the suggestive ramifications of the literary tale. The restrictive effect of allegorization can he related to sociological and cultural factors -- factors that often determine the direction of literary response. The Renaissances furnishes an example of allegorical criticism that interprets in order to see literary works in terms of the presiding cultural-philosophical system. Further, the example of the Renaissance suggests that we might look for a parallel in the conduct of modern criticism. Allegorization in moderm criticism can be seen in interpretations derived from Freudian, Marxist, or Christian Humanist viewpoints. This thesis will argue that such interpretive criticism begins from outside the literary work, for it sees the literary work in terms of the vocabulary of the critic's system. Examples of approaches to Moby Dick will be advanced as evidence of interpretation that results in allegorization. A further example of the way allegory guides the response of the reader can be seen in The Pilgrim’ s Progress. Chapters I and III will argue that we can distinguish between the tale and the allegory, and suggest that the presence of the allegorical guide can be traced to extra-literary motivations. Further, when we attempt to reconcile the tale and the allegory, we see more clearly the irrelevance of the allegorical framework. Satiric allegory, however, presents a unique problem in that allegory in satire is generally not obtrusive.. Chapter IV will point to factors, such as the satirist’ s viewpoint, that prohibit the allegory from becoming a restrictive framework, as is seem in satiric allegories such as Animal Farm and Brave New World. In opposition to the interpretive-allegorical approach this thesis will argue that the open response is more in keeping with the demands of the literary work. The freer and more contemplative attitude of the open response dispenses with the search for the hidden meanings of literary expression. Critics such as Kazin, Lawrence, Sontag, and Rahv point to the attitudes and practise of the anti-allegorical approach. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

This thesis is a thematic study of the work of the early Twentieth Century Chinese writer Xu Dishan (Luo Huasheng) (1894-1941). The title, "Mending the Web," is at once a reference to a specific story by Xu and an indication of the importance he placed on spiritual values in a changing world. His work represents a modest search for a solution to the dislocation of his society - his own attempt to mend the broken web of modern China. In his work Xu promoted personal solutions and individual salvation rather than the whole scale transformation of society. He stressed the importance of working for change within a given framework - he was a reformer, not a revolutionary, a moderator searching for a synthesis based on universal values rooted in both the Chinese and Western traditions. The values upheld in his fiction are uncompromising - one must follow one' s conscience, accept duty and responsibility calmly, show charity and forgiveness and, above all be true to oneself. Xu1s stress on personal and spiritual solutions marks him out from the majority of his iconoclastic contemporaries who advocated wholesale social change. In Chapter One, I try to provide an historical and ideological context for Xu, a comparative background from which to examine him in relation to his contemporary writers and the times in which he lived. The value Xu placed on a unifying framework, or a sense of order to replace chaos, is made apparent in Chapter Two, where I discuss his quest for values and the romance and mythopoeic modes which inform much of his work. In particular I look at the quest themes which influence the structure and message of his stories, concentrating primarily on an analysis of "Yuguan" and "A Daughter's Heart" based on an extrapolation of the "monomyths" of Joseph Campbell and Northrop Frye. I examine the influence of Christianity on Xu's work, his emphasis on a strongly moral vision and his search for an affirmation of life and the individual's potentiality for goodness. In Chapter Three I analyse Xu's attitude to life and fate in relation to his use of the coincidence motif which acts in his stories as a catalyst and test for action. The coincidence makes the world small, and thus provides a testing ground for characters' actions. A vital element in this is the concept of baoying or requital, whereby an individual is responsible for his or her actions and is judged accordingly. Xu believed an individual has a responsibility to make the best of an unknown fate, but still to work within given limits to have an influence for the good. A strong moral grammar informs Xu's work, providing a framework for judging the acts of his characters. In Chapter Four I look at Xu's use of female protagonists to embody his philosophy of life. Women like Yuguan and Chuntao represent Xu's ideals in their most specific form, embodying that sense of affirmation and hope so central to Xu' s work and offering models of human potentiality, an optomistic vision of life as it could be. In the conclusion I touch on the role of morality in Xu's fiction. His work is deeply moral in orientation and offers an interesting contrast to that of his contemporaries equally engaged in writing fiction for a purpose. Xu's concern for spiritual values was almost unique among writers of that period. His fiction is primarily a fiction of ideas and his themes and messages dominate. He was searching for a solution to the dislocation of his society, as were his contemporaries, but he did not suggest a radical social transformation but rather to work within the existing framework. He looked for personal solutions, believing in the innate capacity of the human being to change for the better. He advocated change, but stressed that it must first come individually, through the development of self-knowledge, on a modest scale, before the world can be transformed. His solution was modest yet profound, and filled with hope. / Arts, Faculty of / Asian Studies, Department of / Graduate

by Shirley Long / English and Greek / Typescript / M.A. Florida State College for Women 1908

Cedora Futch / Typescript / M.A. Florida State College for Women 1913 / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 13)

Utopia as a construct within an ideology offers minority groups a feasible space from which to negotiate an identity within a dominant discourse. Continuing human atrocities have led to a âspiral of oppressionâ, in which oppression continues, never resolving itself and never diminishing, but rather moving away from the utopian space within the centre. As the dominant discourse is threatened by the minority, minority groups are placed spatially, within this spiral of oppression into a marginal position called the âuniversal minorityâ, from which they have to negotiate with the dominant discourse, the âuniversal majorityâ, however unsuccessfully. Science fiction and utopian writing offer spaces in which minority groups can break through the âspiral of oppressionâ and negotiate directly with the dominant discourse. Trends in these two genres reveal which group is visioned as the âuniversal minorityâ, and the plight of the minority is highlighted in the alternative reality of these genres. Race (focussing on Hispanic discourse) and Sexuality (focussing on viable spaces for alternative sexuality) are two areas which are explored in this thesis as visions of the universal minority. Moreover, to understand the spiral of oppression, the Holocaust is reflected upon from a minority perspective, and literary responses as well as issues of post-holocaust compensation are addressed, reflecting the nature of the universal majority and universal minority. Finally, Utopia is often considered an unrealistic construct which cannot be attained by any legitimate agency other than an oligarchist regime or a strict governing body, which could lead to tyranny. Agency therefore is problematic; however, it will be argued that, even if full Utopia is not reached, the spiral of oppression can be broken and a utopian bridge of opportunity created through an idea of Brechtâs called Verfremdungseffekt (prompting self-awareness), using the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission as an example of a vehicle for this agency. The agency then becomes the awareness, which leads to the direct negotiation with the dominant discourse.

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in the Department of African Languages in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Zululand, South Africa, 2001. / Lolu cwaningo lucubungula ukuvezwa kwesiko kanye nomlando endabeni elotshwe ngu- Msimang C.T. esihloko sayo sithi "Buzani KuMkabayi". Esahlukweni sokuqala kwethulwa intshisekelo yalolu cwaningo. Kuvela ukuthi izindaba yizona ezingumgogodla wesizwe, yizona eziyisilulu noma inqolobane equkethe amagugu esizwe. Yiwo lawa magugu ayohlala njalo edingwa yizizukulwane ngezizukulwane zikaPhunga noMageba. Kuso lesi sahluko kuvezwa inhloso yalolu cwaningo. Kuhlaluka ukuthi lolu cwaningo luhlose ukuhlola izinhlobo ezimbili zesiko, amasiko amnandi emukelekayo emphakathini kanye nalawo abuhlungu angemukeleki kahle emphakathini. Amasiko ahlolwayo atonyulwa endabeni ecutshungulwayo. Isahluko sesibili siqondene ngqo nokuvezwa komlando endabeni ecutshungulwayo, kwazise ukuthi le ndaba iqukethe imilando enhlobonhlobo. Isakhiwo jikelele sendaba kusukela esihlokweni sendaba, isingeniso, indikimba kugcine esiphethweni sendaba konke kusethulela imilando enhlobonhlobo. Yiyo kanye lemilando ebaluleke kakhulu nokumele ukuthi isizukulwane sonke sikaMalandela siyazi siyiqondisise. Isahluko sesithathu sihlola amasu kanye namangwevu asetshenziswa nguMsimang ekuvezeni isiko endabeni ecutshungulwayo. Kuvela ukuthi kukhona amasiko angemukeleki kahle emphakathini ngenxa yokuthi aholela abantu abathize ukuya kwelamathongo. Akhona namnandi amasiko emukelekayo emphakathini. Zonke lezi zinhlobo zamasiko ziyacutshungulwa ngeso elijulile kulesi sahluko. Kubhekwa nemiphumela yokungawagcini amasiko, kuhlaziywa ukuthi izelelesi eziwabukela phansi amasiko athize zigcina zehlelwa yimuphi umshophi. Isahluko sesine sicubungula ikhono likaMsimang lokuthandanisa isiko nomlando. Kuvela ukuthi ezigamekweni eziningi ezenzeka endabeni ehlaziywayo, isiko nomlando kwenziwe kwaba ngamathe nolimi. Lapha ucwaningo lutomula isigameko ngasinye ukuze lukopolote isiko eliqukethwe luphinde lukopolote umlando oqukethwe kuleso naleso sigameko. Konke lokhu kwesekelwa ngokuthi kwenekwe izizathu eziqavile ezenza kubonakale ukuthi kuthandaniswe izinto ezimbili. Isahluko sesihlanu sihlaziya ucwaningo lonke jikelele. Ekuhlaziyweni kocwaningo kugcikisiswa izikhala ebezisele zivulekile. Inhloso yalokhu ukuthandanisa umqulu wocwaningo. Kuso lesi sahluko kwethulwa izincomo ucwaningo oluzitholayo maqondana namangwevu asetshenzisiwe endabeni ecutshungulwayo. Emva kwezincomo kuyaphethwa.

Submitted to the Faculty of Arts in fufilment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of English at the University of Zululand, 1999. / The objective of this study is to affirm the presence of the intentional consciousness / stance in texts which purport to depict reality or real events. Intentionality, in the context of this thesis, is not conceived as a pre-existing thought or idea, which precedes the text, but as something, which inheres in the text and is produced in it. The Cartesian split between consciousness and being which the former conception enacts is here elided and authorial intention is read and produced in the process of writing itself. This distinction is significant because the main argument of this thesis is that authorial intention in texts that purport to depict real events and intervene in a particular socio-historical process for mobilizational purposes, leads to the production of a certain kind of text which deploys specific narrative strategies that consolidate its reading and rendering of events and re-inforce narrative closures. These intentionally motivated closures are embedded in narrative strategies, which are seen as both necessary and imperative for the consolidation and legitimation of the message and to foreclose other readings. Authorially motivated closures are predominant in classic realist texts in which as Roger Webster (1990:70) argues "there is a clear hierarchy of discourses controlled by a privileged central voice or narrator". This narrative voice or, to quote MacCabe, this "authorial and authoritarian 'metalanguage' judges and controls all other discourses in the text". And in classic realist texts in which the author does not seek to mask his presence by using other narrators and overtly seeks to move his audience in a specified direction, these closures become even more evident within the texture of the text. Texts of this nature are seen as means of achieving particular ends rather than as autonomous, independent units existing in a self-referential world of significance. Much of contemporary critical theory has unfortunately tried to efface the author from the text and/ or tried to marginalize the role of the author in the text. This thesis, however, seeks to re-inscribe the agency of the author in his / her intentional stance with regard to the text, more specifically in texts which depict real events and seek to impact upon the real world and the target audience. This thesis shows how this agency is enacted within the world of the text. Very briefly, this agency, I argue, is reproduced in narrative strategies which revolve around the twin poles of authority and legitimation; and these strategies operate at two levels within the text and these are the levels of the real events depicted in the narrative and then the prevailing discursive paradigms of the times. A narrative dialectic is thus erected between these two levels in the texts and this is mediated at every point by the active presence of the authorial engagement. The first chapter, which is largely introductory, serves as the theoretical clearing ground for the thesis. In it, I argue the case for intentionality by reviewing various critical positions in contemporary theory in relation to the author and the interpretation of texts. Thereafter I move on to spell out the ways in which authorial intention is embedded in realist narratives of the kind I have described. In my argument, I draw upon the critical practices and theoretical positions of postcolonial, feminist and Third World writers and critics whose work constitute an alternative tradition in which is inscribed specifically overt socio-political agencies. In the chapters that follow, I adopt the strategy of sketching out the historical and discursive context of the text. Thus chapter two focuses on the historical and discursive context of Luke's Book of Acts while chapter three focuses on the analysis of Acts. In the same manner, chapter four focuses on the historical and discursive context of Sol Plaatje's Native Life in South Africa while chapter five focuses on the analysis of the text (Native Life in South Africa). A brief conclusion sums up the argument of the thesis. / University of Zululand

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