Thesis (M.A.)--Acadia University, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 136-139). Also available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia, 2000. / Typescript. Includes abstract. Includes vita. Appendix contains the full text of the four works analyzed, with added cross-references. Hypertext to be published on web site of Quaker Heritage Press. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 379-389).

Zugl.: Osnabrück, Univ., Habil.-Schr. Albrecht Geck, 2008.

Zugl.: Osnabrück, Univ., Habil.-Schr. Albrecht Geck, 2008.

Texte abrégé et remanié de: Diss.--Philosophische Fakultät--Freiburg im Breisgau--Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Wintersemester 1994/1995. / Bibliogr. p. 357-380. Index.

From Preface: The scope and focus of this thesis has been determined by the fact that I have tried to present a thematic, though not exhaustive, account of the poetry of Edward Thomas. (I have analysed a representative selection of the poems.) Much has been written on his life and poetry in this past decade to coincide with the centenary of his birth which was celebrated in 1978. Edna Longley, William Cooke and more recently, Andrew Motion have thrown much light on his poetry and I am indebted to them. I acknowledge especially the work of Edna Longley; her Edward Thomas: Poems and Last Poems, though it does not include all the poems, has proved to be an invaluable source because of the many extracts from Thomas's prose incorporated into her notes on his poems. Her book is also rich in suggestive insights into Thomas's poetry. Unfortunately not all of Thomas's works are available in South Africa. On a brief visit overseas I tried without success to obtain the more important books not available here. I have had to make use of anthologies of Thomas's prose where a particular text was not available, for example, In Pursuit of Spring and The South Country. I thank Ms Yolisa Soul who through the Inter Library Loan services of the University of Fort Hare managed to obtain for me a substantial number of Thomas's prose works.

O estadunidense Edward Fredkin, um pioneiro na área de computação, é conhecido por defender a hipótese do mundo natural ser fundamentalmente um sistema de computação digital se partirmos do princípio de que todas as grandezas físicas são discretas, de modo que cada unidade mínima de espaço e tempo possa assumir apenas uma quantidade finita de estados possíveis. Nesse cenário, as transições de estado do universo nas escalas mais elementares poderiam ser representadas por modelos de autômatos celulares, sistemas computacionais formados de unidades espaciais básicas (células) que modificam seus estados em dependência de uma regra de transição que toma o próprio estado da célula com relação às unidades vizinhas. Quando as mudanças de estados das células são consideradas em escalas maiores, é possível notar um comportamento coletivo que parece seguir uma regra própria, não contemplada na programação básica atuando no nível das células. Fredkin acredita que o nível mais microscópico de nosso universo funcione como um autômato celular e, quando sua computação é tomada em maiores escalas, o padrão coletivo é identificado com os elementos que definimos em nossa física atual como elétrons, moléculas, pedras, pessoas e galáxias, ainda que todos esses elementos macroscópicos sejam apenas o resultado de uma computação alterando estados presentes em unidades mínimas de espaço. Diante disso, a intenção deste trabalho é mostrar que a conjectura de Fredkin pode ser interpretada como uma hipótese reducionista, uma vez que todo sistema explicado por nossas teorias físicas podem ser completamente definidos em termos de uma estrutura computacional. / Edward Fredkin, an American computer pioneer, is known for defending that the natural world be fundamentally a digital computing system, assuming that all physical quantities are discrete, in a way that each unit of space and time can only attain a finite number of possible states. In this scenario, the state transitions of the universe, taking place in the most elementary scales, could be represented by cellular automata models, computer systems formed by basic space units (cells) that modify their states in dependence on a transition rule that takes the state of the cell itself with respect to neighboring units. When cell state changes are considered on larger scales, it is possible to notice a collective behavior that seems to follow a rule of its own, not contemplated in basic programming at the cell level. Fredkin believes that the most microscopic level of our universe works as a cellular automaton and when its computation is taken at larger scales, the collective pattern is identified with the elements we define in our current physics as electrons, molecules, stones, people and galaxies, although all these macroscopic elements are only the result of a computation altering the states in minimum space units. The purpose of this work is to show that Fredkin\'s conjecture can be interpreted as a reductionist hypothesis, since every system explained by our physical theories can be completely defined in terms of a computational structure.

From introduction: It has become something of a commonplace among critics to remark Forster's relative lack of success in offering an alternative to the world which he satirises with such wit and humour. His comic treatment of the suburban absurdities of the Edwardian Englishman is, on the whole, far more compelling and memorable than the often vague, symbolic gestures by means of which he implies the possibility of something better. With the exception of his last and greatest novel, A Passage to India, his "alternatives" are largely factitious and contrived. Worse, the reader senses a fundamental uncertainty on the part of the author: his characteristic ambivalence in itself an indication of a perceptive and discriminating mind -- all too often suggests lack of conviction rather than an intelligent awareness of the infinitude of human possibilities.

In this thesis I have addressed some of the problems that have arisen in critical approaches to the nonsense works of Edward Lear from the late nineteenth century. I have entitled it “Reading Nonsense” because my central concern is with how best to apprehend the paradoxes inherent in literary nonsense, which inevitably raises interpretative questions. Because nonsense is a “basic type of communication” whose essence is “unresolved tension between [the] presence and absence of meaning” (Tigges, Anatomy 51), we are called upon either to “make sense of” that which claims to offer up no meaning or to surrender ourselves to meaninglessness. Broadly, critical approaches to nonsense fall into two classes: those that maintain that nonsense is not, in fact, “not sense”, but rather a kind of symbolic language that can be reconciled into meaning; and those which uphold the nonsensicality of nonsense, maintaining that certain ambiguities and paradoxes cannot be accounted for, and it is inappropriate to try to do so. In addition, Lear’s texts are situated in various traditions of writing for children and adults and in the distinctive setting of the Victorian era; and these cultural and literary influences play an important role in the interpretation and misinterpretation of nonsense. My first chapter comprises a mise en scène of the genre of literary nonsense; while in Chapter 2 I turn to the cultural backdrop of Lear’s nonsense in particular, and examine one of the claims frequently made in nonsense criticism: that Lear’s literary nonsense is distinctively “Victorian”. Chapter 3, “How to Read a Learian Limerick”, rests on the exegesis of nonsense that appears in Chapter 1, for here I propose a technique for reading Lear’s limericks that preserves both their “sensical” and nonsensical elements in contrast to critical analyses that attempt to reconcile the nonsense into a code. In Chapter 4 I examine Lear’s songs from the critical perspectives of nonsense and of romanticism. Finally, in conclusion, I consider the role and significance of humour in nonsense, and gesture towards further possible explorations, including in the appendix my essay on the nonsense poetry of South African writer Philip de Vos.

L’exil est un fait d’actualité qui concerne un grand nombre d’individus, il est aussi un sujet littéraire fréquent, car plusieurs auteurs l’ont vécu que ce soit par choix ou par obligation. Nous avons choisi dans cette thèse d’explorer l’enjeu de la question de l’exil dans la construction de la posture d’auteur chez Edward Said qui a fait de l’exil le thème central de sa réflexion et de son écriture. L’exil est pour Said une expérience qui mène à une condition interculturelle complexe avec une composante psychologique et une nostalgie qui génèrent une écriture tournée essentiellement vers l’élucidation des origines et la création d’un lieu d’habitat. Toutefois l’exil est un lieu de création et d’ouverture au monde qui permet d’appartenir à plusieurs univers sans être totalement d’aucun et de se positionner en « outsider ». Notre corpus d’étude est constitué, notamment de 46 essais et articles rédigés par Said entre 1965 et 2000, réunis dans son recueil Réflexions sur l’exil et autres essais. Nous avons choisi l’approche méthodologique qui considère la posture d’auteur comme un outil d’analyse permettant un double terrain d’observation : un terrain interne, avec la constitution de l’image de l’énonciateur dans le texte, et un terrain externe sur la présentation de soi qu’incarne l’auteur dans son rôle public. L’expérience de l’exil vécue et présente dans le discours et la pensée de Said l’a conduit à composer son identité auctoriale, à configurer son image d’auteur et enfin à construire sa posture d’auteur et sa singularité intellectuelle exilique. Sa posture d’auteur se définie en une multitude de postures : la posture critique et autocritique où Said s’interroge en essayiste sur lui-même et interprète son environnement sociologique, politique et culturel ; la posture humaniste où l’homme est au centre de son discours, il l’appelle à l’esprit critique et à la recherche de la vérité ; la posture anticoloniale où il défend les peuples opprimés et pourfend le colonialisme. Les postures de Said, qu’il nous a présentées et que nous avons perçues, ne sont ni contradictoires ni incohérentes, elles sont imprégnées de son statut d’exilé. / Exile is an event in which large number of individual are concerned, it is also a frequent literary subjects for several authors that lived in exile whether forced or by choice. We chose in this thesis to explore the issue of exile in the creation of the author posture, Edward Said who made exile the central theme of his reflection and writing. Exile for Said was an experience, which led him to a complex intercultural reflection, psychological and nostalgic components that was reflected on his writing and was the origin of the creation of his place in the surrounding world. However, exile creates an opening to the world and allows him to belong to several universes without being totally of any, nor feels as an “outsider” to any. Our body of study consisted particularly of 46 essays and articles that were drafted by Said between 1965 and 2000 were gathered in the collection and essays of Reflections on the exile”. We chose the methodological approach which considered the author posture as a tool of analysis allowing a double observations: an internal ground with the constitution of the image of the enunciator in the text, and an external ground on the presentation of the one whom embodies the author in his public role. The real-life and present experience of the exile in the speeches and the thoughts of Said led him to compose his auctorial identity and to configure his own image and finally to build his author posture and its intellectual exilic particularity. His author’s posture is defined in a multitude of postures: the critical posture and self-criticism where Said wonders his essay son himself and interprets his sociological, political and cultural environment; the humanistic posture where the man is in the center of his speech, he calls him the critical mind and in search of the truth; the anticolonial posture where he defend the oppressed people and assails the colonialism. The postures of Said, which he presented us and which we perceived, are neither contradictory nor inconsistent; they are filled with his exile status.