In my earlier work, ‘First steps towards a rhetorical hermeneutics of literary interpretation’ (2006), I argued that academic reading takes the form of an argument between readers. Four serious weaknesses in that account are its elision of the distinction between reading and discourse on reading, its inattention to non-academic reading, its exclusive focus on ‘interpretation’ as if this constituted the whole of reading or of discourse on reading, and its failure to theorise the object of literary reading, ie. the work of literature. The current work aims to address all of these problems, together with those created by certain other approaches to literary reading, with the overall objective of clearing the ground for more empirical studies. It exemplifies its points with examples drawn primarily from non-academic public discourse on literature (newspapers, magazines, and the internet), though also from other sources (such as reading groups and undergraduate literature seminars). It takes a particular (though not an exclusive) interest in two specific instances of non-academic reception: the widespread reception of Salman Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses as an attack on Islam, and the minority reception of Peter Jackson’s film trilogy The Lord of the Rings as a narrative of homosexual desire. The first chapter of this dissertation critically surveys the fields of reception study and discourse analysis, and in particular the crossover between them. It finds more productive engagement with the textuality of response in media reception study than in literary reception study. It argues that the application of discourse analysis to reception data serves to problematise, rather than to facilitate, reception study, but it also emphasises the problematic nature of discourse analysis itself. Each of the three subsequent chapters considers a different complex of problems. The first is the literary work, and its relation to its producers and its consumers: Chapter 2 takes the form of a discourse upon the notions of ‘speech act’ and ‘authorial intention’ in relation to literature, carries out an analysis of early public responses to The Satanic Verses, and puts in a word for non-readers by way of a conclusion. The second is the private experience of reading, and its paradoxical status as an object of public representation: Chapter 3 analyses representations of private responses to The Lord of The Rings film trilogy, and concludes with the argument that, though these representations cannot be identical with private responses, they are cannot be extricated from them, either. The third is the impossibility of distinguishing rhetoric from cognition in the telling of stories about reading: Chapter 4 argues that, though anecdotal or autobiographical accounts of reading cannot be taken at face value, they can be taken both as attempts to persuade and as attempts to understand; it concludes with an analysis of a magazine article that tells a number of stories about reading The Satanic Verses – amongst other things. Each of these chapters focuses on non-academic reading as represented in written text, but broadens this focus through consideration of examples drawn from spoken discourse on reading (including in the liminal academic space of the undergraduate classroom). The last chapter mulls over the relationship between reading and discourse of reading, and hesitates over whether to wrap or tear this dissertation’s arguments up.

Thesis--University of Helsinki, 1994. / English summary. Includes bibliographical references (p. [165]-172).

Text in Afrikaans / Hoewel die retorika bykans 26 eeue oud is, word die relevansie daarvan vir ons eie tyd toenemend besef - as 'n sleutel tot die wyse waarop mense dinkargumenteer en oorreed. Hierdie studie ondersoek retoriese (oorredende) strategiee in Afrikaanse historiese romantekste, binne 'n historiese konteks en teen die agtergrond van eietydse historiografiese insigte. Die aspekte van die kommunikasiesituasie wat saamhang met die retorika, word verbind met die vernuwende denke daaroor binne die hedendaagse literatuurteorie en historiografie. Die konteks van die outeur en roman word telkens bestudeer, gevolg deur 'n retoriese analise. Aristoteles se idees oor die retorika kry hierby voorrang, vanwee sy nadruk op die inventio of vinding, maar die retorika word eerder geassosieer met 'n dinamiese metode as met rigiede kategorisering. Aandag word veral bestee aan retoriese strategies in S.J. du Toit se Di koningin fan Skeba (1898) en Andre P. Brink se Houd-den-bek (1982), maar ook aan resente historiese romans wat hedendaagse historiografiese en retoriese opvattinge en konvensies ontgin en problematiseer. Beide S.J. du Toit, wat kennelik 'n goeie kennis van die antieke retorika gehad het en Andre P. Brink, met sy romanonderwerp wat aansluit by die geregtelike rede, betree die retoriese terrain op sodanige wyse dat hul romans tipiese produkte van hul eie tyd genoem kan word. Beide die geskiedskrywing en die historiese roman is gemedieerde weergawes, gekenmerk deur 'n subjektiewe seleksie (inventio) van gegewens en die kombinasie daarvan binne eie verbale strukture (dispositio). Dit kan in verband gebring word met nie-tegniese oorredingsmiddele, waar die sender sy informasie van buite kry. Hy gebruik dan sogenaamde empiries-verifieerbare feite as retoriese strategie ten einde 'n waarheids- en I of werklikheidsillusie te skep wat bydra tot die roman se oorredingsskrag. Die keuse vir die skryf van 'n historiese roman, impliseer reeds ook 'n keuse vir die bakens van die geskiedskrywing, maar 'n skeppende skrywer is, anders as 'n historikus, eties vry om nie-tegniese bewysmiddele te transformeer tot tegniese bewysmiddele, in aanpassing by 'n nuutgeskepte argumentatio en 'n eie causa. Na aanleiding van die tekste kom die ontvanger op sy beurt tot 'n eie seleksie en skep sy eie kousale en argumentatiewe strukture / While rhetoric has been part of the history of mankind for nearly 26 centuries, it is increasingly regarded as extremely relevant for our time - as a key to the way in which people think, argue and persuade. This study investigates rhetorical (persuasive) strategies in Afrikaans historical novels. The novels and their authors are first situated in their historical contexts and against the background of contemporary historiographical inquiry, and then analyzed by means of rhetorical concepts. Aspects of communication, which coincide with rhetorical categories, are combined with recent developments in the field of literary theory and historiography. Aristotle's views on persuasion and rhetoric are used as point of departure, but rhetoric is regarded as a dynamic method rather than a rigid categorization. Attention is given to rhetorical strategies in the novel Di konlngin fan Skeba [The queen of Sheba] by S.J. du Toit (1898) and Andre P. Brink's Houd-denbek [translated into English by the author as A chain of voices], but also to recent Afrikaans historical novels which exploit contemporary historiographical and rhetorical conventions. In S.J. du Toit's novel (which illustrates his knowledge of ancient rhetoric) as well as Andre P. Brink's (where the topic can be linked to litigation) rhetorical strategies are employed in such a manner that their texts can be regarded as products of their historical contexts. Both historiography and historical novels are mediated representations, characterized by a subjective selection (inventio) of data and its combination in verbal structures (dispositio). This can be related to 'extrinsic' or 'inartificial' proofs, which are not contrived by the author. The author exploits the so-called empirically verifiable facts as rhetorical strategies to create an illusion of truth or verisimilitude, which greatly contributes to the persuasiveness of the novel. The decision to write a historical novel implies a choice to keep to the historical 'facts', but the writer, in contrast to the historiographer, is ethically free to transform the inartificial proofs into artificial proofs, in combination with his own invented argumentatio and causa. Prompted by these texts the reader, in his turn, makes his own selection and creates his own causal and argumentative structures / Afrikaans and Theory of Literature / D. Litt. et Phil. (Afrikaans)

The aim of this research entitled Narrative Strategies in Selected Amharic Novels from 2000 until 2010 was to shed light on the relationship among form, meaning (content) and social milieuin establishing the textual and contextual features of fictional narratives. It mainly contends that it is possible to unravel the textual and contextual qualities of fictional narratives by studying form as a narrative strategy. In this research, form, when understood as a narrative strategy, is not only considered as a textual construct which motivates textual meaning but also regarded as a product of the social milieu from which the text emerges. Having this conception, form as a narrative strategy is investigated in selected Amharic novels published from 2000 until 2010 in view of expounding the artistic and thematic features of contemporary Amharic novels, endeavouring to fill the knowledge gap in Amharic literary scholarship about their literary features. The present research applies narratological approaches that range from classical to post-classical narratology. However, it dominantly uses post-classical conceptions of narratology as guidelines for its discussion. The dissertation comprises six chapters. The first one is an introductory chapter in which the research problems, goals and assumptions are explicated. Chapter two deals with the theoretical framework where the theoretical insight the research utilizes as a guideline is outlined and methodological issues are specified. The following three chapters focus on the analysis. In the third chapter, story is investigated as a narrative strategy in Yeburqa Zemeta (Burka’s Silence) (2000); in the fourth one, focalization is treated as a narrative strategy in Gerač.a Qač.eloč (Grey Bells) (2005), and in the fifth chapter, characterization is studied as a narrative strategy in Dèrtogada (Dertogada) (2010). The dissertation concludes with a chapter in which independent findings in the three analysis chapters are summed up and generalizations on the textual and contextual features of the present day Amharic novels are made. / Afrikaans and Theory of Literature / D. Litt. et Phil. (Theory of Literature)

In this dissertation, I investigate whether the conceptualisation of computerised technological phenomena is influenced by social variables, in particular exposure to the computer. The conceptualisation and behaviour of a group of students majoring in technology-related fields were studied. Through the application of Conceptual Blending Theory, the multi-modal desktop metaphorical blend (DMMB) (as an electronic representation of an actual office desktop) was focused on. The participants were provided with tasks with the aim of determining whether they conceptualise the electronic desktop as a literal ‘thing-in-itself’ or as an e-version of their actual desks. The intent was to examine to what extent social variables, especially exposure, motivate the nature of the conceptualisation. Therefore, it is hypothesised that exposure, regarded as the primary variable in this study, influences conceptualisation of the DMMB to the extent where the it either loses its metaphoric quality in participants, who maintain regular and prolonged exposure to the computer, or retains the metaphoric quality of the DMMB in participants, who are not exposed to the computer on a regular and prolonged basis. Two groups were distinguished based on the extent of the individual participants’ exposure to computer technology, namely a high-exposure group and a low-exposure group. A mixed method approach was used to test and analyse data collected from individual participants, as well as from the high- and low-exposure groups. Methods used to test these hypotheses included questionnaires, word association (a conceptual task), controlled observation (a behavioural task), and interviews. The resulting data were analysed by means of a thematic interview analysis and non-parametric statistical tests. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / M.A. (Linguistics)

Através deste trabalho de pesquisa, pretende-se apresentar uma análise sobre a representação do desenvolvimento tecnológico na dramaturgia de Bertolt Brecht na peça teatral “A Vida de Galileu Galilei”. Na primeira parte, apresenta-se o panorama histórico do século XX, tema que serve como base ao assunto tratado. Na segunda parte do trabalho, apresentam-se as referências que articulam a tecnologia como tema político, no âmbito do período analisado. Por último, a análise refletirá sobre a relação social da tecnologia com a sociedade no decorrer do século XX, investigando a hipótese de que a tecnologia faz parte da ideologia social hegemônica mas pode ser usada também pela militância cultural e democrática. A peça analisada retrata o início da Ciência moderna, e evidencia como desde o seu início a ciência nunca foi imparcial frente aos conflitos ideológicos e sociais. Portanto, analisar a peça e colocá-la no contexto da história contemporânea permite entender a relação da tecnologia com a linguagem e com a estética no escopo de cada período. / In this research work we intend to present an analysis on the representation of technological development in the dramaturgy of Bertolt Brecht. In the first part of this work the 20th century will be presented as the historic base for this study. The second part will reflect on the social relation between technology and society throughout the 20th century, an era in which technological rationality cursed the paths of History. At last, the analysis will be made taking for model the play “Life of Galileo”. The play takes as a scenario the initial phase of the Modern Age, making it clear that Science has never been neutral to ideological and social conflicts. Therefore, making an analysis of this play and putting it in comparison with the events of Contemporary History allows us to understand the relation between technology, language and aesthetics in the scope of each historic period that is analyzed in this work.

Esta tese é uma Análise Dialógica do Discurso (ADD), de perspectiva bakhtiniana, a cerca dos discursos sobre o trabalho, na obra Memórias Póstumas de Brás Cubas, de Machado de Assis, publicada em 1881. A investigação constitui-se como parte integrante do projeto de pesquisa “A formalização discursiva do universo do trabalho e da tecnologia em textos literários” e das discussões do grupo de pesquisa “Discurso sobre Tecnologia, Trabalho e Identidades Nacionais”, inserido na Linha de pesquisa Tecnologia e Trabalho, do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Tecnologia e Sociedade, da Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná, de viés interdisciplinar. Inicialmente apresentamos alguns discursos sobre o trabalho como atividade assalariada ou não, desde o século XIX: as vozes marxianas, de Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels e Paul Lafargue, seguidos de György Lukács, Herbert Marcuse, André Gorz, Richard Sennett, Christophe Dejours, Zigmund Baumann, Ricardo Antunes e Danièle Linhart, autores contemporâneos. A análise dialógica seguiu a linha teórica de Bakhtin e o Círculo: dialogicidade, alteridade, o signo ideológico, a intersubjetividade, o plurilinguismo, o gênero romanesco e a enunciação. Traçamos um perfil das relações de trabalho no Brasil oitocentista, dialogando sobre a História com autores como Boris Fausto, Sidney Chalhoub, Maria Sylvia C. França, Gilberto Freyre, Sergio B. de Holanda entre outros. Quanto ao horizonte social e cultural do autor fluminense, sua biografia e sua fortuna crítica, dialogaram críticos como Antonio Candido, Roberto Schwarz, entre outros. Objetivou-se trazer para análise, a partir da ideologia do cotidiano formalizada no romance, os diálogos, as contradições e os embates que ocorrem entre os discursos, como também perceber a positividade, a danação ou a negação do trabalho a partir da linguagem, na forma arquitetônica irônica do autor e nos elementos composicionais pertinentes ao romance, como as construções híbridas, a alternância de estilos e tons, a resposta antecipada, o riso reduzido e a sátira menipeia. A perspectiva metodológica da ADD conduziu a um corpus composto por três dimensões discursivas, que compõem a enunciação machadiana sobre o trabalho: o discurso do favor representado pela personagem Dona Plácida; o discurso da escravidão representado pela personagem Prudêncio e o discurso do trabalho imaterial ou do não-trabalho, representado pelas personagens Brás Cubas e Quincas Borba. Chegou-se às seguintes conclusões: a linguagem machadiana discursa veementemente sobre o trabalho no século XIX. Sua enunciação transita entre positivá-lo ou negativá-lo, reforçando a distinção entre trabalho material e trabalho imaterial. As atividades imateriais são vistas como positivas pela elite, porque, além de redundarem em não-trabalho, representam prestígio e ascensão. O escravo exercia a maior parte do trabalho e o agregado cumpria um papel de mediador, já que não pertencia a ninguém, mas precisava encontrar formas de sustentar-se. No discurso machadiano, o trabalho não é ontológico; ele é forma de sobrevivência, inclusive de um discurso, que mantém uma ordem social. / This thesis is a Dialogical Discourse Analysis (DDA), from Bakhtin’s perspective, about the discourses on work, in Machado de Assis’ work Posthumous Memories of Brás Cubas, published in 1881. The investigation was an integral part of the research project “The discursive formalization of the universe of work and technology in literary texts” and the discussions of the research group “Discourse on Technology, Work and National Identities”, inserted in the research line Technology and Work, of the Post-Graduate Program in Technology and Society, at the Federal University of Technology - Paraná, of an interdisciplinary bias. Initially we presented some discourses about work as an employed activity or not, since the nineteenth century: Marx’s voices, by Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels and Paul Lafargue, followed by György Lukács, Herbert Marcuse, André Gorz, Richard Sennett, Christophe Dejours, Zigmund Baumann, Ricardo Antunes and Danièle Linhart, contemporary authors. The dialogical analysis followed the theoretical line of Bakhtin and the Circle: dialogicity, alterity, ideological sign, intersubjetivity, plurilingualism, romanesque genre and enunciation. We drew a profile of labor relationships in nineteenth-century Brazil, discussing history with authors such as Boris Fausto, Sidney Chalhoub, Maria Sylvia C. França, Gilberto Freyre, Sergio B. de Holanda, among others. As for the social and cultural horizon of the author from Rio de Janeiro, his biography and his critical fortune, there were dialogues among critics such as Antonio Candido, Roberto Schwarz, among others. The objective was to bring for analysis, from the ideology of everyday life formalized in the novel, the dialogues, the contradictions and the clashes that occur among the discourses, as well as to perceive the positivity, the damnation or the denial of the work from the language, in the author’s ironic architectural form and in the compositional elements pertinent to the novel, such as hybrid constructions, alternating styles and tones, the early response, reduced laughter and the menipeaen satire. The methodological perspective of DDA led to a corpus composed by three discursive dimensions, is composed of Machado de Assis´s enunciation on work: the discourse of ‘favor’ represented by the character Dona Plácida; the discourse of ‘slavery’ represented by the character Prudêncio and the discourse of ‘immaterial work’ or ‘non-work’, represented by the characters Brás Cubas and Quincas Borba. The following conclusions were reached: Machado’s language vehemently discourses on work in the nineteenth century. Its enunciation transits between positivizing it or denying it, reinforcing the distinction between material work and immaterial work. The immaterial activities are seen as positive by the elite, because, besides being redundant in non-work, they represent prestige and ascension. The slave practiced most of the work and the aggregate played the role of mediator, since it belonged to no one, but he needed to find ways to support himself. In Machado’s discourse, work is not ontological; it is a form of survival, including a discourse, which maintains a social order.

This thesis is focused on a study of translation strategies in Guillaume Oyono Mbia's plays. By using the sociological, formalistic and semiotic approaches to literary criticism to inform the analysis of the source texts and by applying descriptive models outlined within the framework of descriptive translation studies (DTS) to compare the source and target texts, the study establishes the fact that in his target texts Oyono Mbia, self-translating author, has produced a realistic and convincing portrait of his native Bulu culture and society depicted in his source texts by adopting the same default preservation and foreignizing strategy employed in his source texts. Oyono Mbia's works, his translation strategies and translational behaviour are situated in the context of the prevailing trend and attitude (from the sixties to date) of African writers writing in European languages and it is posited that this category of writers are in effect creative translators and that the strategies they use in their original compositions are the same as those outlined by translation scholars or effectively used by practitioners. These strategies enable the writer and the translator of this category of African literature to preserve the "Africanness" which is the essence and main distinguishing feature of that literature. Contrary to some scholars (cf. Bandia 1993:58) who regard the translation phenomenon evident in the creative writings of African writers writing in European languages as a process which is covert, semantic and secondary, the present study of Oyono Mbia's translation strategies clearly reveals the process as overt, communicative and primary. Taking Oyono Mbia's strategies as a case in point, this study postulates that since for the most part, the African writer writing in a European language has captured the African content and form in his original creative translation, what the translator simply needs to do is to carry over such content and form to the other European language. / Linguistics / D.Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)

Austin's Speech Act Theory is a valuable tool for the analysis of a literary text. In interaction, the intentionand purpose-success of linguistic communication can be gauged by establishing whether participants have met felicity conditions and have respected maxims. When the Co-operative Principle is ignored, special effects are achieved and receivers can only make sense of utterances through implicature and inferences based on background knowledge and mutual contextual beliefs. In the drama, Buzani kubawo, characters interact on four levels of time in space and place. They reveal themselves and convey theme through their speech and actions. Conflict is entrenched by lines of force drawn between opposing characters and between sub-worlds contrasted. Cohesion, determined by plot structure, and form, expressed on the endophoric and exophoric levels, give meaning to the drama. The micro-analysis of the wedding scene illustrates how communication can misfire should the playwright allow it! / African Languages / M.A. (African languages)

This thesis is focused on a study of translation strategies in Guillaume Oyono Mbia's plays. By using the sociological, formalistic and semiotic approaches to literary criticism to inform the analysis of the source texts and by applying descriptive models outlined within the framework of descriptive translation studies (DTS) to compare the source and target texts, the study establishes the fact that in his target texts Oyono Mbia, self-translating author, has produced a realistic and convincing portrait of his native Bulu culture and society depicted in his source texts by adopting the same default preservation and foreignizing strategy employed in his source texts. Oyono Mbia's works, his translation strategies and translational behaviour are situated in the context of the prevailing trend and attitude (from the sixties to date) of African writers writing in European languages and it is posited that this category of writers are in effect creative translators and that the strategies they use in their original compositions are the same as those outlined by translation scholars or effectively used by practitioners. These strategies enable the writer and the translator of this category of African literature to preserve the "Africanness" which is the essence and main distinguishing feature of that literature. Contrary to some scholars (cf. Bandia 1993:58) who regard the translation phenomenon evident in the creative writings of African writers writing in European languages as a process which is covert, semantic and secondary, the present study of Oyono Mbia's translation strategies clearly reveals the process as overt, communicative and primary. Taking Oyono Mbia's strategies as a case in point, this study postulates that since for the most part, the African writer writing in a European language has captured the African content and form in his original creative translation, what the translator simply needs to do is to carry over such content and form to the other European language. / Linguistics and Modern Languages / D.Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)