Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Sheri S. Tepper, one of the most prolific feminist science fiction writers, uses her novels to address humanity‟s ignorance about, and indifference towards, various social, gender and environmental issues, and in so doing, she attempts to rectify these issues by creating an awareness of them. Her novels generally focus on four main issues: motherhood, both as ideology and experience; the essentialized nature and acceptance of the superiority of masculinity; the influence of religions, traditions and ideologies; and an ever-increasing concern for environmental preservation. These issues are all interlinked in her novels. Though some of her works have received critical attention, most notably The Gate to Women’s Country (1988) and Gibbon’s Decline and Fall (1996), most have received little. I will present a critical analysis of Tepper‟s Grass (1989) – a novel which has received some critical attention – and The Fresco (2000) – a novel which has received very little critical attention. Although these novels deal with the same issues, they do so in different ways: Grass is a much more layered critique of modern society, whereas The Fresco is a rather blatant critique and the passionate voice of its author filters through more prominently than in Grass. I will be examining Tepper‟s portrayal of motherhood, masculinity and the influence of ideologies, religions and traditions in both of these novels. Although there will not be a section devoted to Tepper‟s environmental views, these will be highlighted within the other sections. Tepper ultimately stands for women‟s rights to opt for motherhood as a free choice. She also insists that ideologies, religions and traditions – society‟s oppressive straitjackets – should adapt to modernity, and that the acceptance of masculinity as the dominant gender be destabilized. Rectifying these problems, in Tepper‟s view, would also lead to the preservation of the environment for future generations. In my conclusion I address the most frequent critique directed against Tepper‟s work, namely that her novels are repetitive with regard to thematic content, by suggesting that her work is repetitive because she feels the need to reiterate the same issues in her novels, to indicate that the same societal problems of the past are still prevalent. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Sheri S. Teper, een van die vernaamste feminis-wetenskapfisksie skryfsters, gebruik haar romans om die mensdom se onkunde oor, en onverskilligheid teenoor, verskeie sosiale-, geslags- en omgewingskwessies aan te spreek in „n poging om hierdie kwessies op te los deur mense meer bewus te maak van die kwessies. Haar romans fokus gewoonlik op vier hoof kwessies wat aan mekaar verbind is: moederskap, beide as ideologiese en fisiese ervaring; die genoodsaakte aanvaarding van manlikheid as die dominante geslag; die invloed van gelowe, tradisies, en ideologieë op die samelewing; en „n toenemende besorgheid oor die bewaring van die omgewing. Alhoewel sommige van haar romans kritiese aandag ontvang het, in besonder The Gate to Women’s Country (1988) en Gibbon’s Decline and Fall (1996), het die meeste baie min kritiese aandag ontvang. Ek beoog dus om twee van Tepper se romans, Grass (1989) en The Fresco (2000), krities te ontleed. Alhoewel Grass ietwat meer kritiese aandag ontvang het, het The Fresco byna geen kritiese aandag ontvang nie. Beide die romans spreek dieselfde kwessies aan, maar in verskillende maniere: Grass is a baie meer subtiele kritiek van die moderne samelewing, terwyl The Fresco „n baie meer flagrante kritiek is en die passievolle stem van die outeur is baie meer opmerklik in diè roman. Ek beoog om Tepper se uitbeelding van moederskap, manlikheid en die invloed van ideologieë, gelowe en tradisies in beide hierdie romans ondersoek. Hoewel daar nie „n spesifieke seksie gaan wees wat opgedra is aan die ondersoek van Tepper se omgewingsboodskap nie, sal dit tog uitgelig word in ander seksies. Daar sal gewys word dat Tepper vir die regte van vroue staan om moederskap vrylik te kan kies. Sy beveel ook aan dat dat ideologieë, gelowe en tradisies moet aan pas by die vereistes van moderne samelewing, en dat die aanvaarding van manlikheid as die dominante geslag omgekeer moet word. Deur hierdie probleme reg te maak, in Tepper se opinie, sal dit lei tot die bewaring van die omgewing vir toekomstige generasies. In my gevolgtrekking spreek ek een van die algemeenste kritieke teen Tepper se romans aan, naamlik dat die tematiese inhoud herhalend is. Ek voel dat die werklike probleem is dat Tepper dit nodig ag om dieselfde kwessies uit te beeld, aangesien dit aan dui dat probleme van die verlede steeds voorkom in die huidige samelewing.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis investigates texts which are argued to construct secular imaginings of the afterlife. As such my argument is built around the way in which these texts engage with death, while simultaneously engaging with the religious concepts which have come to give shape to the afterlife in an increasingly secular West. The texts included are: Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven (1907), Mark Twain’s unfinished reimagining of Christian salvation; Kneller’s Happy Campers (1998) by Etgar Keret, its filmic adaptation Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006), as well as the Norwegian film A Bothersome Man (2006), which all strip the afterlife of its traditional furnishings; Philip Pullman’s acclaimed His Dark Materials trilogy (1995, 1997, 2000) in which he wages a fictional war with the foundations of Western religious tradition; and finally William Gibson’s Neuromancer (1984) and Feersum Endjinn (1994) by Iain M. Banks, two science fiction texts which speculate on the afterlife of the future. These texts are so chosen and arranged to create a logical progression of secular projects, each subsequent afterlife reflecting a more extensive and substantial distantiation from religious tradition. Twain’s text utilises a secularising satire of heaven, and draws attention to the irrational notions which pervade this concept. In the process, however, it embarks on the utopian endeavour of reconstructing and improving the Christian afterlife of salvation. In Chapter 3, the narratives under investigation discard the surface details of religious afterlives, and reimagine the hereafter against a contemporary backdrop. I argue that they conform, in several significant ways, to the mode of magical realism. Furthermore, despite their disinclination for evident religiosity, these texts nevertheless find problematic encounters when they break this mode and invoke higher authorities to intervene in the unfolding narratives. Chapter 4 focuses on Philip Pullman’s high fantasy trilogy, which enacts open war between the secular and religious and uses the afterlife as an integral part of the secularising agenda. With the literal battle lines drawn, this text depicts a clear distinction between what is included as secular, or renounced as religious. Finally, I turn to science fiction, where the notion of the virtual afterlife of the future has come to be depicted, with its foundations in human technologies instead of divine agencies. They rely on the ideology of posthumanism in a reimagining of the afterlife which constitutes a new apocalyptic tradition, a virtual kingdom of heaven populated by the virtual dead. Ultimately, I identify three broad, delineating aspects of secularity which become evident in these narratives and the meaningful distinctions they draw between religious and secular ideologies. I find further significance in the way in which these texts engage with the very foundations on which fictions of the afterlife have been constructed. Throughout these texts, I then find a secular approach to death as a developing alternative to that which has traditionally been propagated by religion. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis ondersoek tekste wat alternatiewe uitbeeldings van die hiernamaals bevat, wat dan geargumenteer word dien as voorbeelde van sekulêre konsepsies van die nadoodse toestand. My argument berus op die manier waarop hierdie tekste met die dood omgaan, asook die verskeie maniere waarop hul tot die religieë van die Westerse wêreld spreek. Die tekste wat ondersoek word sluit in: Mark Twain se Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven (1907), sy onvoltooide satire van die Christelike hemel; Kneller’s Happy Campers deur Etgar Keret (1998), die verfilmde weergawe daarvan, Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006), asook die Noorweegse film A Bothersome Man (2006), waarin die hiernamaals uitgebeeld word as ‘n lewelose weergawe van kontemporêre samelewing; Philip Pullman se fantasie trilogie His Dark Materials (1995, 1998, 2000) waarin hy ‘n sekulêre oorlog teen die onderdrukkende magte van religie uitbeeld; en laastens die wetenskap-fiksie verhale Neuromancer (1984), deur William Gibson, en Feersum Endjinn (1994), deur Iain M. Banks, waarin die sekulêre, virtuele hiernamaals van die toekoms vervat word. Hierdie tekste is gekies en ook so gerangskik om ‘n duidelike sekulêre progressie te toon, met elke opeenvolgende teks wat in ‘n meer omvattende wyse die tradisioneel religieuse konvensies herdink of vervang met sekulêre alternatiewe. Twain se teks dryf die spot met die Christelike idee van die hemel en om aandag te trek na die irrasionele ideologieë wat daarin vervat is. In die proses poog Twain egter om te verbeter op die model en gevolglik ondervind die teks probleme wat met die utopiese literatuur gepaard gaan. In hoofstuk 3 word die hiernamaals gestroop van alle ooglopend religieuse verwysings en vervang met die ewigheid as ‘n kontemporêre landskap deurtrek met morbiede leweloosheid. Ek argumenteer dat hulle op verskeie belangrike manier ooreenstem met die genre van magiese realisme en dat, ten spyte van die pogings om religie te vermy, die tekste steeds probleme teëkom wanneer hoër outoriteite by die verhale betrokke raak. Hoofstuk 4 draai om Pullman se sekulêre oorlog wat daarop gemik is om die wêreld te sekulariseer. Die duidelikheid waarmee die tekste onderskeid tref tussen die magte van religie en die weerstand vanaf sekulariteit, maak dit insiggewend om te bepaal wat Pullman in ‘n sekulêre wêreldbeeld in-of uitsluit. Laastens ondersoek ek wetenskap-fiksie, waarin die hiernamaals omskep is in ‘n toestand wat bereik word deur menslike tegnologiese vooruitgang, in stede van religieuse toedoen. Hier word daar gesteun op die idees van posthumanisme, wat beteken dat hierdie uitbeeldings van die ewigheid ‘n oorspronklike verwerking van religieuse apokaliptiese verhale is, waar ‘n virtuele hemelse koninkryk geskep word vir die virtuele afgestorwenes. Uiteindelik identifiseer ek drie breë ideologiese trekke wat deurgaans in al die tekste opduik, en waarvolgens betekenisvolle onderskeid getref kan word om definisie te gee aan die begrip van sekulariteit. Verder vind ek dat die sekulêre hiernamaals in ‘n unieke wyse met die dood omgaan, en dat dit ‘n alternatiewe uitkyk gee op die fondasies waarop verhale van die hiernamaals oorspronklik geskep is. Derhalwe argumenteer ek dat ‘n sekulêre wêreldbeeld ‘n alternatiewe uitkyk op die dood ontwikkel, een wat die tradisies van religie terselfdertyd inkorporeer en verwerp.

Thesis (MA (English))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / This thesis argues that Ndi Sibiya, fictional writer and protagonist of the novel, Mating Birds by Lewis Nkosi develops a pathological obsession with Veronica Slater, a white woman for whose rape Sibiya is about to be executed. One of the many theorists that have commented on the effects of race on sexuality, particularly in colonized black people is Frantz Fanon. In Black Skin White Masks Fanon asks a question based on Freud’s question, “What does a woman want?” Fanon’s question is different in that he asks, what do black people want, which opens the way for a post-colonial psychoanalytical analysis of Ndi Sibiya. What he is concerned with in Black Skin White Masks is a post-colonial psycho-analytical evaluation of the state of being black in colonial societies. Nkosi does the same in his novel, whereas he deals with Apartheid South Africa as an extension of colonialism. Nkosi and Fanon are both addressing the broader psychological impact racially oppressive societies have on the black person’s psyche. Fanon in his psychoanalytical study of the black man from within the Freudian framework aims to save the man of colour from himself (9) by giving black people a warning that is not much different from the warning Sibiya’s father gives to him: do not lust after the white man’s woman.

Thesis (MA (English))—University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / In this thesis, I examine the way in which Martin Scorsese’s 1976 film Taxi Driver can be read as a critical investigation of post-World War II American masculinity. Drawing on Susan Faludi’s arguments regarding the post-World War II American ‘masculinity crisis’, I highlight specifically how Taxi Driver addresses American masculinity in the context of ideals of heroism, of the myth of the Wild West, of the Vietnam era, and of the increasingly influential role that the popular media play in shaping conceptions of masculinity. In the process I indicate that Taxi Driver exposes, and critiques, an association in modern American society between masculinity and what analysts have termed the ‘myth of regeneration through violence’.

Thesis (MA (English))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation provides a reading of the fantasy novel series Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling and The Belgariad by David Eddings. In particular this dissertation endeavours to recuperate a literary critical methodology rooted in Myth Criticism. Further, it seeks to demonstrate the continued relevance and necessity of this form of criticism in our postmodern era and to refute some of the commonplaces of postmodern critical theory, specifically the poststructuralist scepticism towards the idea of universal truth and individual agency. Using Jungian theory, myth critics ranging from Laurence Coupe to Joseph Campbell and incorporating various postmodern theorists, like the contemporary Marxist theorist Terry Eagleton, and fantasy critics like Brian Attebery and Ursula LeGuin, this dissertation aims to give a well-rounded analysis of the merits of looking at fantasy as a legitimate field of literary study. Moreover, this dissertation seeks to illustrate the fact that fantasy is capable of informing readers’ interaction with the ‘real’ world and that this genre allows for insight into identity formation in present day reality. The chief structure used to explore these claims is an analysis of the Hero’s Journey. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: This dissertation provides a reading of the fantasy novel series Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling and The Belgariad by David Eddings. In particular this dissertation endeavours to recuperate a literary critical methodology rooted in Myth Criticism. Further, it seeks to demonstrate the continued relevance and necessity of this form of criticism in our postmodern era and to refute some of the commonplaces of postmodern critical theory, specifically the poststructuralist scepticism towards the idea of universal truth and individual agency. Using Jungian theory, myth critics ranging from Laurence Coupe to Joseph Campbell and incorporating various postmodern theorists, like the contemporary Marxist theorist Terry Eagleton, and fantasy critics like Brian Attebery and Ursula LeGuin, this dissertation aims to give a well-rounded analysis of the merits of looking at fantasy as a legitimate field of literary study. Moreover, this dissertation seeks to illustrate the fact that fantasy is capable of informing readers’ interaction with the ‘real’ world and that this genre allows for insight into identity formation in present day reality. The chief structure used to explore these claims is an analysis of the Hero’s Journey.

Thesis (MA (English))--University of Stellenbosch, 2010. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis proposes a detailed study of the novel Agaat by South African author Marlene van Niekerk (first published 2004). A particular focus throughout is on constructions of identity and subjectivity, and the novel is considered as writing within and against both the Realist tradition as well as the South African genre of the plaasroman and/or farm novel. The translation of the novel into English by Michiel Heyns (published 2006) is used as primary text, which furthermore raises questions of language and interpretation already implicit in the narrative, questions which provide a compelling filter for reading the novel in its entirety. In the Introduction, I briefly delineate the novel’s storyline. This serves to introduce the novel’s thematic concerns and outlines the linguistic complexities which emerge as a result of the novel’s structure. An exposition on Realism in the novel follows, where I suggest how a consideration of the Realist tradition might be useful in exploring the mimetic effect in Agaat. Next the appearance and history of the plaasroman and farm novel in South African literature is considered. In Chapter One, the novel’s structural elements are examined in greater detail, through a close analysis of the five different narrative voices of the novel. I suggest that the novel is an elaborate study of identity and subjectivity which simultaneously uproots questions of voice and authorship. While the subject matter of the novel and the attention to details of farming and the physical environment makes it seem a near-historical record and places Agaat within the genre of the plaasroman, the effect of the different voices of the novel is to undercut fundamentally any stable narrative authority. Agaat is nevertheless an incredible compendium of the nitty-gritty of life. In Chapter Two I explore the manner in which the body and the self are located within a very particular landscape and setting. How and for what purpose is subjectivity and identity refracted and articulated through metaphors of space and the experiences of place? In the course of a close reading of the novel, I draw on broadly post-structuralist conceptions of language, as well as South African critics’ writing on the genre of the plaasroman. The third and final chapter examines the novel Agaat in translation. Agaat is a deeply literary novel, drawing on a remarkably wide lexicon of cultural references, suffused with questions of interpretation and a compelling and complex inquiry of language. The English translation by Michiel Heyns remains a novel of and about Afrikaans. Quite how this is achieved raises questions of translation pertaining both to the ‘postcolonial’, if one reads South Africa as such, and to the specifically local. To this end, a brief context to translation and language politics within the ‘postcolonial’ and South Africa is considered, before engaging in a closer examination of the techniques by which Agaat was translated from Afrikaans into English. I conclude with remarks regarding the success of the translation into English and suggest that the translation is masterful but that its most striking characteristics depend on a local South African reader. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis behels ‘n noukeurige studie van die roman Agaat (2004) deur die Suid- Afrikaanse skrywer Marlene van Niekerk. Die klem val deurgaans op die konstruksie van identiteit en subjektwiteit, en die roman word beskou as ‘n reaksie teen, maar ook ‘n uitbouing van die tradisies van Realisme en die Suid-Afrikaanse plaasroman/“farm novel”. Die primêre teks vir hierdie ondersoek is Michiel Heyns se Engelse vertaling van die roman (2006), wat verdere vrae rondom taal en interpretasie laat ontstaan. Sodanige vrae is alreeds implisiet in die narratief gesetel en verskaf ‘n indringende lens waardeur die roman in sy geheel gelees kan word. In die Inleiding gee ek ‘n kort oorsig van die verhaalloop, wat ook dien as ‘n bekendstelling van die roman se temas en die linguistieke kompleksiteite wat ontstaan as ‘n gevolg van die roman se struktuur. ‘n Beskrywing van Realisme in die roman volg, waarin ek suggereer dat ‘n beskouing van die tradisie van Realisme nuttig kan wees vir ‘n verkenning van die mimetiese effek in Agaat. Volgende word die verskyning en geskiedenis van die plaasroman en “farm novel” in Suid-Afrikaanse literatuur bekyk. In Hoofstuk Een word die strukturele elemente van die roman in groter detail beskou deur middel van ‘n noukeurige analise van die vyf verskillende narratiewe stemme in die roman. Ek stel voor dat die roman ‘n verwikkelde studie van identiteit en subjektwiteit is, wat terselfdetyd ook sekere vrae rondom stem en outeurskap ontbloot. Die onderwerp van die roman en die aandag wat dit skenk aan noukeurige beskrywings van boerdery en die landelike omgewing skep die indruk van ‘n historiese rekord en situeer Agaat in die genre van die plaasroman, maar die effek van die verskillende stemme is dat enige stabiele narratiewe outoriteit op deurslaggewende wyse ondermyn word. Desondanks bly Agaat ‘n indrukwekkende kompendium van die materiële aspekte van die lewe. In Hoofstuk Twee verken ek die manier waarop die liggaam en die self gesetel is binne ‘n baie spesifieke landskap en ligging. Hoe en om watter rede word subjektiwiteit en identiteit versplinter en geartikuleer deur middel van metafore van spasie en die ervaring van plek? Deur die loop van ‘n noukeurige lees van die roman betrek ek breedvoerig sekere post-strukturele gedagtes oor taal, asook Suid-Afrikaanse kritici se beskouings oor die genre van die plaasroman. Die derde en laaste hoofstuk ondersoek die roman Agaat in vertaling. Agaat is ‘n diep literêre roman. Dit betrek ‘n merkwaardige verskeidenheid kulturele verwysings en is deurspek met vrae rondom interpretasie en ‘n indringende en komplekse ondersoek na die aard van taal. Michiel Heyns se Engelse vertaling bly ‘n roman oor Afrikaans. Presies hoe dít bewerkstellig word opper sekere vrae oor vertaling wat verwys na die “postkoloniale”, as mens Suid-Afrika in hierdie lig sou beskou, en ook na die spesifiek plaaslike. Daarom word ‘n opsommende konteks van vertaling en taalpolitiek in die “postkoloniale” en in Suid-Afrika belig, voordat die tegniek waardeur Agaat van Afrikaans na Engels vertaal is, van naderby bekyk word. Ek sluit af met opmerkings oor die sukses van die vertaling na Engels en stel voor dat die vertaling meesterlik is, maar dat die mees treffende aspekte daarvan ‘n plaaslike, Suid-Afrikaanse leser vereis.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In Charlotte Bronte's novels, the importance accorded to female homosocial relationships - such as friendship and the mother-daughter relationship - challenges the conventional structure of the Victorian realist novel, in which the focus of the female protagonist's development is almost exclusively on the eventual achievement of heterosexual marriage Structurally. heterosexual marriage at closure re-establishes the status quo that has been threatened or destabilised during the unfolding of the plot. Yet what Bronte's novels reveal, is that the status quo thus re-established also confirms patriarchy as a system in which the bonds between men are consolidated to maintain social, political and economic power as a male prerogative By contrast, the ideology that promotes marriage as the sine qua non of women's existence positions women as rivals and the representation of female homosocial relationships in the nineteenth-century novel is either relegated to the margins of the text or erased entirely. In Bronte's novels, the structural relationship between this conventional displacement of female homosocial relationships and the silencing and containment of female desire in heterosexual marriage at closure is consistently explored and subverted. In an increasingly complex process of rewriting the Victorian novel from a female perspective, Bronte's novels construct alternative plots that privilege the representation of female homosocial relationships even as they imitate conventional plot structure In so doing. the gendering of narrative voice as female lays claim to a female discourse of desire. which is rooted in female homosociality and inclusive of lesbian desire. Compulsory (female) heterosexuality which is exclusively domestic and maternal. IS therefore challenged by an alternative representation of female desire as defiant of the ngid categories Imposed by heterosexuality. because it is fiurd and multiple in Its expression This thesis explores the process of recuperation through which Bronte both places the representation of female hornosocial relationships at the centre of her novels and reveals patriarchal structures of control at work / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In die romans van Charlotte Bronte konfronteer the sentraliteit van vroulike homososiale verhoudings - soos vriendskap en die moeder-dogter verhouding - die konvensionele struktuur van die Victoriaanse realistiese roman. Volgens hierdie konvensionele struktuur is die fokus van die vroulike protagonis se ontwikkeling bykans uitsluitlik gerig op haar uiteindelike toetrede tot 'n heteroseksuele huwelik. Struktureel gesproke herstel die heteroseksuele huwelik by die sluiting van die roman die status quo wat bedreig of gedestabiliseer is gedurende die ontplooing van die roman. Wat Bronte se romans egter aan die lig bring, is dat die status quo wat so herstel word, ook die patriargale sisteem bevestig - waarbinne die bande tussen mans gekonsolideer word ten einde sosiale politieke en ekonomiese mag as 'n manlike prerogatief te waarborg Die ideologie wat die huwelik voorhou as die sine qua non van die vrou se bestaan posisioneer vroue as mededingers, en hierdeur word die uitbeelding van vroulike homososiale verhoudings in die negentiende-eeuse roman verskuif na die buitewyke van die teks, of word dit algeheel uitgewis. In Bronte se romans word die strukturele verwantskap tussen hierdie konvensionele verplasing van vroulike homososiale verhoudings en die demping of beheer van vroulike begeerte in die heteroseksuele huwelik voortdurend in die roman se sluiting ondersoek en ondermyn In 'n proses wat 'n toenemend ingewikkelde herskrywing van die Victonaanse roman vanuit 'n vroulike qesiqspunt inhou. stel Bronte se romans alternatiewc verwikkelinqsplanne saam wat voorrang gee aan die uitbeelding van vroulike hornososiale verhoudings terwyl hierdie storieplanne konvensionele struktuurplanne naboots. Ole manier waarop die verteller se stem so vervroulik word gee uiting aan 'n vroulike diskoers van begeerte wat gewortel IS In vroulike hornososialiteit en wat lesbiese begeerte insluit Verpliqte (vroullke) heteroseksualiteit. wat uitsluitlik huislik en moederlik IS, word dus gekonfronteer deur 'n alternatiewe uitbeeldinq van vroulike begeerte wat die rigiede kateqoriee opqele deur heteroseksualiteit verwerp en meer vloeibare en veelsoortiqe vorme van ultdrukklng daarstel Hierdie tests ondersoek die herstellinqsprcses waardeur Bronte die uitbeeldinq van vroulike hornososiale verhoudinqs sentraal plaas In haar romans, terwyl sy terselfdertyd die werkswyses van patriargale beheerstrukture aan die lig bring.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2004. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this thesis I will look at the way in which power relationships are presented in Shakespeare's dramas, with specific reference to the so-called ''Henriad'', Measure for Measure and The Tempest. Each play consists of a network of power relationships in which different forms of power interact on different levels. Different characters in the above-mentioned plays have access to different forms of power according to their position within these networks. The way in which the characters interact could also cause or be influenced by shifts and changes in the networks of power relationships that occur in the course of the action. I will use Michel Foucault's theories on the relationship between power, knowledge and discourse as a guide to my analysis of Measure for Measure. I will also use selected aspects of Mikhail Bakhtin's theories on language and literature, with specific references to the concepts of "dialogism" and "heteroglossia" or "manyvoicedness", as well as his concept of carnival, which implies a temporary inversion in power relationships in an unofficial festive context, as a guide to my analysis of the Henriad. I will use a combination of the theories of Foucault and Bakhtin in my analysis of The Tempest. I have chosen the terms "discourse" and "dialogue" as key terms in the title of this thesis not only because they play an important role in the theories of Foucault and Bakhtin respectively, but also because they play an important role in the analysis and representation of power relationships. According to Robert Young, Foucault relates ''the organisation of discourse ...to the exercise of power" (10). One could also say that the power relationships in a society are reflected in the portrayal of a dialogue between different voices representing different sections of or classes in that society as in Bakhtin's principles of dialogism. I will explain the overall importance of these terms in more detail in the Introduction and the other relevant chapters. In the introductory chapter I will first provide a theoretical background for the thesis as a whole. Then I will look at the specific theoretical principles that are relevant to each chapter. In the chapter on the Henriad I will look at the way in which an alternative perspective on power relations and the role of the king are created by looking at them from the perspective of Bakhtin's concept of carnival. In the next chapter, I will show how Measure for Measure presents us with an evaluation of different strategies of power, which I will look at from the perspective of Foucault's theories on power, knowledge and discourse. In my chapter on The Tempest I will combine aspects of both theories in my analysis of a play that presents us with a complex analysis of power relationships as a social phenomenon. In the concluding chapter I will look at the different perspectives on power relationships that emerged from my previous chapters and attempt to see what its implications are for the representation of power relationships in Shakespeare's work and perhaps as a social phenomenon. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie tesis gaan ek kyk na die wyse waarop magsverhoudinge uit gebeeld word in Shakespeare se dramas, met spesifieke verwysing na die sogenaamde "Henriad", Measure for Measure en The Tempest. Elke drama bestaan uit 'n netwerk van magsverhoudinge waarin verskillende vorme van mag op verskillende vlakke wisselwerking uitoefen. Verskillende karakters in bogenoemde dramas het toegang tot verskillende vorme van mag volgens hul posisie in die netwerke. Die manier waarop die wisselwerking tussen die verskillende karakters plaasvind kan ook verskuiwings en veranderinge in die netwerk van magsverhoudinge in die loop van die aksie veroorsaak, of daar deur beïnvloedword. Ek gaan Michel Foucault se teorieë oor die verhouding tussen mag, kennis en diskoers as 'n gids tot my analise van Measure for Measure gebruik. Ek gaan ook uitgesoekte aspekte van Mikhail Bakhtin se teorieë oor taal en literatuur, met spesifieke verwysing na die konsepte van "dialogisme" en "heteroglossia" of "meerstemmigheid", sowel as sy konsep van karnaval, wat 'n tydelike ommekeer in magsverhoudinge in 'n onoffisiële feestelike konteks impliseer, as 'n gids tot my analise van die Henriad gebruik. Ek sal 'n kombinasie van die teorieë van Foucault en Bakhtin gebruik in my analise van The Tempest. Ek het die terme "discourse" en "dialogue" as sleutel terme in die titel van hierdie tesis gebruik, nie net omdat hulle 'n belangrike rol in die teorieë van Foucault en Bakhtin onderskeidelik speel nie, maar ook omdat hulle 'n belangrike rol in die analise en uitbeelding van magsverhoudinge speel. Volgens Robert Young verbind Foucault die manier waarop diskoers georganiseer word met die uitoefening van mag (10). Mens kan ook sê dat die magsverhoudinge in 'n gemeenskap gereflekteer word in die uitbeelding van 'n dialoog tussen verskillende stemme wat verskillende dele van of klasse in die gemeenskap verteenwoordig soos in Bakhtin se beginsel van dialogisme. Ek sal die algehele belang van hierdie terme in meer besonderhede bespreek in die inleidingen die ander relevante hoofstukke verduidelik. In die inleidende hoofstuk gaan ek eers 'n teoretiese agtergrond vir die tesis as geheel verskaf Dan sal ek kyk na die spesifieke teoretiese beginsels wat relevant is tot elke hoofstuk. In die hoofstuk oor die Henriad gaan ek kyk hoe 'n alternatiewe perspektief op magsverhoudinge en die rol van die koning geskep word deur hulle te beskou van uit die perspektief van Bakhtin se konsep van karnaval. In die volgende hoofstuk sal ek kyk hoe Measure for Measure 'n evaluasie van verskillende magsstrategieë aan ons voorlê, waarna ek gaan kyk van uit die perspektief van Foucault se teorieë oor mag, kennis en diskoers. In my hoofstuk oor The Tempest gaan ek aspekte van albei die teorieë kombineer in 'n drama wat 'n komplekse analise van magsverhoudinge as 'n sosiale verskynsel aan ons voorln sosiale verskynsel aan ons voorlê. In die laaste hoofstuk gaan ek kyk na die verskillende perspektiewe op magsverhoudinge wat voortspruit uit die voorafgaande hoofstukke en kyk wat die implikasie daarvan vir die uitbeelding van magsverhoudinge in Shakespeare se werk en as 'n sosiale verskynsel is.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In the recent past, the large-scale production and marketing of e-reading devices, such as Amazon’s Kindle, and tablet computers, such as Apple’s iPad, have allowed literary works to be presented in a digital reading space, both in the form of standard e-books and, more recently, as enhanced or “amplified” e-books. Much of the position-taking on the matter is polarised: technologists continue to imagine the myriad possibilities of multimodal online “stories”, focusing on opportunities for interactive engagement, while the guardians of literary tradition fear the digital reading space might well cause fluency disruptions and break the hermeneutic immersion necessary for strong reading, irrevocably altering a traditional, paper-based reading experience known to promote a state of deep attention and imaginatively engaged reading. This thesis looks realistically at the current literary climate in which the so-called “digital native” operates, scrutinises the “print” versus “electronic” debate, paying careful attention to how an online environment may well prevent hermeneutic immersion, and then discusses recent enhanced literary products, such as the transmedia fiction title, Chopsticks (Penguin Group USA 2012), and the nonfiction titles released by online publisher Atavist. Then, in an attempt to bridge the gap between the technologists and the print-book purists, and based on what might be considered to be literature’s original value, the thesis proposes a digital reading product in which a formalised set of conventions and a strategic instructional design, or interface, attempts to protect the qualities of traditional, paper-based reading, while at the same time taking advantage of on-screen, online environments to reconnect digital natives with the relevance of past literatures. More specifically, the product presented herein is an attempt to demonstrate 1) how a new aesthetic of literary presentation might stimulate renewed interest in the humanities and liberal arts; 2) how fiction might be reinstated as one of the central components in the education process; 3) how works of fiction that have become increasingly obscure over time or inaccessible to young people might be re-energised; and 4) how what one might call “local” literatures might be “de-parochialised” within an increasingly globalised reading environment. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die produksie en bemarking op groot skaal van e-lesers soos Amazon se Kindle en tabletvormige rekenaars soos Apple se iPad het dit moontlik gemaak om letterkunde in ’n digitale ruimte aan te bied, hetsy in die vorm van e-boeke, of (meer onlangs) in versterkte en “aangevulde” e-boek vorm. Meningsvorming rondom die letterkundige toepaslikheid van e-boeke is sterk gepolariseerd: tegnoloë sien net die magdom moontlikhede raak wat multi-modale aanlyn stories en interaktiewe betrokkenheid inhou, terwyl tradisionele literêre kurators vrese koester oor hoe die digitale leesruimte inbreuk sal maak op die vloei en hermeneutiese onderdompeling nodig vir ’n grondige leeservaring; dit, meen hulle, sal dan ook lei tot die onherroeplike verlies van diep en verbeeldingryke aandag, eienskappe wat lees op papier veronderstel is om mee te bring. Hierdie proefskrif werp ’n realistiese blik op die huidige literêre klimaat, veral die omstandighede waarin die sogenaamde “digital native” deesdae funksioneer. Die debat rondom gedrukte teenoor elektroniese boeke word noukeurig ondersoek, veral met betrekking tot die mate waarin aanlyn lees dalk wel hermeneutiese onderdompeling onderdruk. Verder word versterkte literêre produkte soos die transmedia fiksie titel, Chopsticks (Penguin Group USA 2012), en nie-fiksie titels deur aanlyn-uitgewer Atavist, noukeurig bekyk. Voorts, in ’n poging om die gaping tussen tegnoloë en gedrukte-boek puriste te oorbrug, en op grond van wat mens die oer-waarde van letterkunde dalk kan noem, stel hierdie proefskrif ’n digitale leesproduk voor met ’n geformaliseerde stel konvensies en ’n strategiese instruksionele ontwerp, of koppelvlak (‘interface’). Dit word gedoen in ’n poging om die eienskappe van tradisionele, ‘papier’ lees te behou, maar terselfdetyd voordeel te trek uit die aanlyn-omgewing, en om sodoende die ‘digitale inboorling’ te herenig met die relevansie van vervloë letterkunde. Hierdie voorgestelde produk, dan, is meer spesifiek ’n poging om te wys 1) hoe ’n nuwe literêr-digitale aanbiedingsestetika hernieude belangstelling in die geesteswetenskappe en liberale kunste kan werk; 2) hoe fiksie weer ingestel kan word as kern-komponent in die opvoedingsproses; 3) hoe nuwe energie verleen kan word aan fiksie wat toenemend onbekend of ontoeganklik vir jongmense word; en 4) hoe die Suid-Afrikaanse letterkunde opgehef kan word binne die opset van ’n toenemend-globale leesomgewing.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Student Preparedness for Academic Writing examines perceptions of student preparedness for academic writing in the first-year literary studies course, English 178, located in the English Department at Stellenbosch University. The research was conducted during 2011 and 2012 making use of a survey which was completed by the 2011 first-year English 178 class, and also utilising a series of interviews with students, tutors and lecturers in 2012. Preparedness for English 178 is framed in terms of Pierre Bourdieu’s notion of socially constructed habitus. In addition to the thought of Bourdieu the thesis draws on the writings of Peter Elbow, Arlene Archer and Pamela Nichols, among others, to analyse and frame the quantitative and qualitative information yielded by the study. The dissertation assesses multiple interlocking elements that comprise student preparedness and finds striking discrepancy between student perception of their preparedness and that of the lecturers and tutors. While tutors, lecturers and the report of the National Benchmark Test all suggest that at least half of all first-year students are poorly prepared for academic writing, only about 21% of students perceive themselves to be poorly prepared. Possible reasons for the difference in views between students and other sources are explored. The thesis concludes by asking if the English 178 course at Stellenbosch University truly tests the students’ academic writing abilities and if the course is balancing its “obligations to students [with the]… obligation[s] to knowledge and society” (Elbow 327). / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie verhandeling ondersoek persepsies van studentevoorbereidheid vir akademiese skryf in die eerstejaars-letterkundekursus, Engels 178, gesetel in die Departement Engels aan die Universiteit Stellenbosch. Die navorsing is gedurende 2011 en 2012 gedoen deur gebruik te maak van ’n vraelys wat deur 2011 se Engels 178-eerstejaarsklas voltooi is, asook van ’n reeks onderhoude met studente, tutors en lektore in 2012. In hierdie verhandeling word voorbereidheid vir Engels 178 in terme van Pierre Bourdieu se konsep van sosiaal gekonstrueerde habitus beskryf. Benewens Bourdieu se denke word daar ook na die werke van onder andere Peter Elbow, Arlene Archer en Pamela Nichols verwys om die kwalitatiewe en kwantitatiewe inligting wat uit die studie voortgekom het, te ontleed en te situeer. Die verhandeling assesseer die veelvuldige ineengeskakelde elemente wat studentevoorbereidheid omvat, en bevind ’n opvallende teenstrydigheid tussen studente se persepsie van hulle eie voorbereidheid en lektore en tutors se persepsie van studente se voorbereidheid. Terwyl tutors en lektore se ervaring en die Nasionale Normtoetsverslag alles daarop wys dat ten minste die helfte van alle eerstejaarstudente swak voorbereid is vir akademiese skryf, beskou slegs ongeveer 21% van studente hulself as swak voorbereid. Moontlike redes vir die verskil in beskouings tussen studente en ander bronne word ondersoek. Die verhandeling sluit af met die vraag of die Engels 178-kursus aan die Universiteit Stellenbosch werklik studente se akademiese skryfvaardighede toets, en of die kursus wel ’n ewewig handhaaf tussen verpligtinge teenoor studente en ’n verantwoordelikheid teenoor kennis en die samelewing (Elbow 327).