Despite an eventful twentieth century highlighted by the rise and fall of socialism and various rebellions against late capitalism, revolution remains aloof from the discourse of literary criticism, in part due to the fashionable concepts of postmodernism. The thesis attempts to bring the very catchword of revolution back to the critical considerations of literary studies through reading three writers, Edmond Jabès, Marguerite Duras and Wong Bik-wan (黃碧雲), attempting to bring them under the same rubric despite their cultural and geographical differences. They are chosen precisely because they explicitly compare their literary endeavors to revolutionary action and, to a certain extent, remain politically active in their personal life. Locating revolution in the context of modernity and modernism as we also do for their works, the thesis argue that, contrary to the dominant academic receptions, it is still possible to conceptualize literary works as a revolutionary and democratic practice which transcends the limits of representative discourses, despite the stagnant political situation of postmodernity and late advanced capitalism, bringing individuality, autonomy and dissidence back to the constitutive part of our community life. The introductory chapter provides overviews of some of the concepts which lay out the relationship between revolution and modernity, and background information on the writers and their academic receptions. Chapter 2 focuses on the narrative aspects of their works, analyzing how the usually private and self-contained practice of reading –often using family union as its conclusion –is forced opened by a certain textual arrangement of events which acknowledges readers as capable of being the receiving end of a contradictory aesthetic experience that cannot be synthesized into a coherent individual response, as summaries of the texts discussed are offered. Chapter 3 explains the various ways by which the writers attempt to liberate the individual from representativity of a given community such as the nation or an ethnicity, so that the same individual can participate in social life in a more individualistic and democratic manner, in which process the readers are also implicated. Chapter 4 compares the social mechanisms of totalitarianism –a modern political phenomenon–to religion and shows how the texts attempt to break through the system under which subjectivity is accrued to a transcendental Other. Chapter 5 tries to pinpoint the social positions, notably children and youth culture, through which hopes of social transformation with a view of a future different from now can be raised, a principle which then fall back upon the writer or the intellectual him-or herself. The current thesis aims to rethink the modern political tradition of revolution and democracy through conceiving literary writing and reading as possible sites of dissidence as well as affirmation of human freedom. / published_or_final_version / Comparative Literature / Master / Master of Philosophy

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Santa Cruz, 1996. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [264]-272).

Thesis (M.A.), Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2000. / Bibliography: leaves 111-114.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wyoming, 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on May 6, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 67-68).

M.A. (Politics) / What is democracy? In the second half of the twentieth century the term, which may relate either to a form of government or a form of society, has become much used and, in the writer's opinion, misused. Indeed, Macpherson believes there is "a good deal of muddle about democracy" (Macpherson 1972:1). At the start of the century's last decade this process appears to have accelerated as the term has become ever more topical, encouraged hugely as the process is by the predominance of mass media communication. The writer considers that democracy is not only a topical term but an important concept, for students of politics as well as for the pub Li.c at large. It is a term which surely requires better understanding of its meaning if the concepts and principles to which it relates are to be valued and appreciated appropriately. At the beginning of his enquiries, which result in this dissertation, the writer assumes "democracy" to mean a form of government Which ensures an equal say in its direct control for all citizens of sound mind. Franchise qualifications should provide for a reasonable minimum age but must disregard any other differences, such as sex, race or religion. This dissertation is undertaken in an endeavour to clear away some of the confusion, or "muddle", which exists regarding democracy. The writer anticipates that elucidation will enhance not. only the possibility of wider understanding but also prospects for meeting the need for concerted, tenacious and widespread efforts to obtain meaningful improvement in levels of democratization. The writings of two prominent political theorists, Robert Allen Dahl and Crawford Brough Macpherson, will be examined to ascertain and compare their views on democracy, with the subsidiary objectives of clarifying the meaning of democracy and ascertaining whether real democracy exists in any sizeable political system. It is the writer's hypothesis that although the basic conceptions of democracy found in the writings of Dahl and Macpherson indicate major differences, certain similarities have been perceived: and that these similarities will prove valuable in stabilizing the meaning of democracy, and in establishing to what extent (if any) true, that is direct, democracy exists.