This study concerns itself with the phenomenon of literary encyclopaedism, as especially evident in James Joyce's Finnegans Wake, Philippe Sollers' Paradis and Ezra Pound's Cantos. The study focuses on developing the notion of an encyclopaedic literary mode and on establishing the existence of a genre of fictional encyclopaedias. It finds an encyclopaedic mode in literature to be one comprehending and imitating other literary modes, both mimetic and didactic. Further, the idea of a fictional encyclopaedia is developed through an understanding of the traits of the neighbouring forms of essay, Menippean satire and epic, and through an understanding of the paradoxes associated with the making of the non-fictional encyclopaedia. The fictional encyclopaedia thus comprehends and exceeds the following traits: 1. A tension, characteristic of the essay, between integrated autobiography and impersonal (and ultimately fragmented) exposition of the categories of knowledge. 2. A tension, characteristic of the Menippean satire, between tale and digression, between a single narrating subject and a multiplicity of transient narrating voices. The menippea also contributes a simultaneous preoccupation with the most sacred and the most profane subjects. 3. A totalizing drive characteristic of the epic, a desire--rivalling the urge to tell a story--to list or include all aspects of the culture in the epic past. The fictional encyclopaedia also translates into fiction the following paradoxes associated with the encyclopaedic enterprise: 1. The recognition, implicit in the drive to trace a complete and eternally-perfect circle of the arts and sciences, that encyclopaedic knowledge is always ultimately incomplete and obsolete. 2. The recognition, at the heart of the attempt to produce an objective and unmediated picture of the world, that encyclopaedic knowledge is ideologically shaped and textually mediated. The dominance of the encyclopaedic gesture in Finnegans Wake, Paradis and the Cantos allows us to account for the characteristic length, obscurity and "bookishness" of these works; they absorb the traits and tensions of essay, Menippean satire and epic while yet exceeding these traits in their fictional translation of the encyclopaedic paradoxes noted above. This translation manifests itself in each work as a characteristic parodic hesitation before the authority of totalizing predecessors; it manifests itself in the texts' fascination with images of a paradisiacal completion and timelessness, a tendency that is undercut by a repetitive, digressive or fragmented form which asserts the inevitability of time and incompletion. Further, the Wake, Paradis and the Cantos, in their overt and extensive intertextual activity, emphasize the textual boundaries of encyclopaedic knowledge. Nonetheless, in their foregrounding and valorization of speech rhythms, the works also repeat the challenge that the encyclopaedia brings to its own limited nature as written book. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

published_or_final_version / Education / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The purpose of this thesis is to explore how categorisation of marginalised groups is done on Swedish Wikipedia. Taking its starting point in social constructionism and critical knowledge organisation research, classic knowledge organization is seen as inherently flawed. In its quest for universal knowledge organisation systems, the fact that knowledge is contingent (emerging and constructed), is obscured. This runs the risk of marginalising marginalised groups further. Instead it is claimed that knowledge organization systems ought to strive for transparency by inviting its users to witness and take part in the knowledge process. A discourse analysis was made on two source materials: an interview study with three editors of Swedish Wikipedia and openly available discussion threads from Swedish Wikipedia. The result of the discourse analysis shows that the wider to write at Wikipedia discourse contains two nodal points: neutrality and consensus. The neutrality nodal point is a floating signifier in the sense that two different discourses try to give it two different meanings. In one of the discourses neutrality is seen as possible to achieve when describing reality. Categorisation is uncomplicated, it is simply a case of reflecting the categories that already exist ”out there”. In another discourse neutrality is seen as something impossible to achieve when describing reality because it is ever-changing and many-faceted. Categorisation is hard and complicated. Between these two discourses there is a discursive struggle which is mitigated by the nodal point consensus. Through discussions leading to consensus a ”neutral enough” way of describing the world is achieved. Categorisation on Wikipedia can thus be seen to achieve the transparency that critical knowledge organization research requests: the categories are results of discussions that all reading users can access. But there is doubt as to how many of the reading users of Wikipedia actually find and read the discussion pages. If there are only a few who ever finds the discussions, the transparency remains low and the constructed nature of Wikipedias knowledge organization system remains obscured. This is a two years Master’s thesis in Library and Information Science.

Any text which criticizes, undermines and/or transforms the encyclopaedic ideal of ordering and textualizing the world in a closed, linear fashion can be defined as a post-encyclopaedic text. This thesis explores both theoretical and artistic texts which inhabit the realm of post-encyclopaedism. In the past, critical speculation on encyclopaedism in literature has been concerned with the ways in which artistic texts attempt to live up to the encyclopaedic ideal. In some cases, this effort to establish an identity between the artistic text and the encyclopaedia has led to an ignorance of the disruptive or even deconstructive effects of so-called fictional encyclopaedias. Once we recognize the existence of such effects, we must begin to examine the techniques and possibilities of post-encyclopaedism. Hence we can see post-encyclopaedic qualities in the condensed meta-encyclopaedism of Jorge Luis Borges' "Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius", the disrupted quests for encyclopaedic revelation in Herman Melville's Moby Dick and Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow, and the principle of textualized world as fugue in Louis Zukofsky's "A"-12. In addition, we can create a theoretical space for the post-encyclopaedic text by weaving together Mikhail Bakhtin'sideas on the novel as opposed to the epic, Michel Foucault's notion of restructuring the closed circle of the text through mirrored writing, Jurij Lotman's theory of internal and external recoding in texts, and Umberto Eco's concept of the open text. By combining an investigation of theoretical and artistic texts which lend themselves to post-encyclopaedism, we can create a generic distinction between texts which attempt to be encyclopaedic in themselves: and texts which disrupt and/or transform the encyclopaedic ideal / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

Dissertation (DLitt)--University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The dictionaries available in the Gabonese languages are all translation dictionaries biased towards French and compiled by missionaries and colonial administrators. No proper monolingual dictionaries exist in the Gabonese languages. There is therefore a need for monolingual dictionaries in the Gabonese languages, particularly in Yipunu, one of the Bantu languages (B 43) spoken in the South of Gabon. Yipunu is a regional vehicular language or a major or majority language. Yipunu is a domestic language i.e spoken inside Bapunu communities or a mother tongue or first language and Yipunu is also taught as subject in the national educational system. As a response to this need, this dissertation proposes metalexicographic criteria for the compilation of a standard descriptive monolingual dictionary with special reference to Yipunu. The proposed model focuses primarily on the inclusion and the treatment of the standard variety of Yipunu and to a lesser degree on the other varieties. Such a model is directed at a dictionary primarily dealing with the needs of the average, educated members of the Yipunu speech community, the mother-tongue speakers, and also designed for experienced and advanced learners of Yipunu and their teachers. This study aims to point out how important standard descriptive monolingual dictionaries are in general and specifically in the case of African Bantu languages. This study also aims to highlight the importance for Gabonese lexicographers to adopt modern lexicographical principles in dictionary compilation such as the user-driven dictionary and the corpus-based dictionary. This model, although devised for Yipunu, will eventually serve as model for the design of standard descriptive dictionaries in all Gabonese languages. This study provides information about the content and the structures of such a dictionary and is structured as follows: Chapter 1 focuses on introducing and contextualising the research. It presents the linguistic situation in Gabon with reference to the status of Yipunu. It also shows the importance and the relevance of the research and gives the theoretical basis, methodology, hypotheses and objectives underlying the study. Chapter 2 criticises the lexicographic works in Yipunu in order to improve the quality of future Yipunu dictionaries and examines the major needs of Yipunu lexicography. Chapter 3 envisages some aspects of the standardisation of Yipunu. It targets the discussion at the level of the language analysis namely the phonology, the grammar, the dictionary and the orthography of Yipunu. Chapter 4 discusses the user perspective, which guides the dictionary compilation. It focuses on the user profile, user typologies and dictionary functions. The intended dictionary has a multifunctional character. Special attention is given to a pioneering survey of dictionary use among Gabonese students and to the discussion of the teaching of dictionary use in Gabon. Chapter 5 deals with the dictionary plan. Different aspects such as the style guide, the genuine purpose, the dictionary basis, data collection, the data collection policy, data collection methods and the corpus of the proposed dictionary are discussed Chapter 6 elaborates on the macrostructure of the proposed dictionary. The dictionary gives priority to a strict alphabetical macrostructure. Macrostructural elements, lemmatisation strategies, and types of lemmas and articles to be included in the proposed dictionary are discussed. Chapter 7 focuses on the microstructure of the proposed dictionary. The model suggests an obligatory microstructure and an extended obligatory microstructure and discusses the variety of data to be included in the articles of the proposed dictionary. Chapter 8 deals with the outer text section and the guide structures of the proposed dictionary, which includes front and back matter texts. Polyaccessibility, a system of cross-referencing, and lemmatic and non-lemmatic addressings are characteristics of the proposed dictionary. Chapter 9 makes some concluding remarks by highlighting the focus point of each chapter of the dissertation. It gives also some recommendations for the research. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die woordeboeke beskikbaar in die Gaboenese tale is almal vertalende woordeboeke gerig op Frans en saamgestel deur sendelinge en koloniale administrateurs. Geen werklike eentalige woordeboeke bestaan in die Gaboenese tale nie. Daar is gevolglik 'n behoefte aan eentalige woordeboeke in die Gaboenese tale, veral in Jipoenoe, een van die Bantoetale (B 43) wat in die Suide van Gaboen gepraat word. Jipoenoe is 'n streeksvoertaal of 'n hoof- of meerderheidstaal. Jipoenoe is 'n huistaal d.w.s. wat binne Bapoenoegemeenskappe gepraat word of 'n moedertaal of eerste taal en Jipoenoe word ook as vak in die nasionale opvoedingstelsel onderrig. In reaksie op hierdie behoefte stel hierdie proefskrif metaleksikografiese kriteria voor vir die samestelling van 'n standaard beskrywende eentalige woordeboek met spesiale verwysing na Jipoenoe. Die voorgestelde model fokus primêr op die insluiting en behandeling van die standaardvariëteit van Jipoenoe en in 'n mindere mate op die ander variëteite. Die model is gerig op 'n woordeboek wat primêr aandag gee aan die behoeftes van die deursnee- opgevoede lede van die Jipoenoespraakgemeenskap, die moedertaalsprekers, en wat ook ontwerp is vir kundige en gevorderde leerders van Jipoenoe en hul onderwysers. Die doel van hierdie studie is om aan te toon hoe belangrik standaard beskrywende eentalige woordeboeke in die algemeen en spesifiek in die geval van die Bantoetale van Afrika is. Die doel van hierdie studie is ook om die belangrikheid vir Gaboenese leksikograwe te belig om moderne leksikografiese beginsels toe te pas in die samestelling van woordeboeke soos die gebruikersgedrewe woordeboek en die korpusgebaseerde woordeboek. Hierdie model, alhoewel ontwerp vir Jipoenoe, sal uiteindelik dien as model vir die opstel van standaard beskrywende woordeboeke vir al die Gaboenese tale. Die studie verskaf inligting oor die inhoud en strukture van so 'n woordeboek en is soos volg gestruktureer: Hoofstuk 1 fokus op 'n inleiding tot en 'n kontekstualisering van die navorsing. Dit beskryf die taalkundige toestand in Gaboen met betrekking tot die status van Jipoenoe. Dit toon ook die belangrikheid en relevansie van die navorsing en gee die teoretiese basis, metodologie, hipoteses en doelstellings onderliggend aan die studie. Hoofstuk 2 kritiseer die leksikografiese werk in Jipoenoe met die doel om die gehalte van die Jipoenoewoordeboeke te verbeter en die behoeftes van die Jipoenoeleksikografie te ondersoek. Hoofstuk 3 beskou 'n aantal aspekte van die standaardisering van Jipoenoe. Dit is gemik op 'n bespreking op die vlak van taalontleding, naamlik die fonologie, die grammatika, die woordeboek en die ortografie van Jipoenoe. Hoofstuk 4 bespreek die gebruikersperspektief wat die woordeboeksamestelling rig. Dit fokus op die gebruikersprofiel, gebruikerstipologieë en woordeboekfunksies. Die beplande woordeboek het 'n multifunksionele karakter. Spesiale aandag word gegee aan 'n baanbrekende ondersoek na woordeboekgebruik onder Gaboenese studente en aan 'n bespreking van die onderrig van woordeboekgebruik in Gaboen. Hoofstuk 5 handel oor die woordeboekplan. Verskillende aspekte soos die stylgids, die werklike doel, die woordeboekbasis, dataversameling, die dataversamelingsbeleid, dataversamelingsmetodes en die korpus van die voorgestelde woordeboek word bespreek. Hoofstuk 6 wei uit oor die makrostruktuur van die voorgestelde woordeboek. Die woordeboek gee voorkeur aan 'n streng alfabetiese makrostruktuur. Makrostrukturele elemente, lemmatiseringstrategieë, en soorte lemmas en artikels vir insluiting in die beplande woordeboek word bespreek. Hoofstuk 7 fokus op die mikrostruktuur van die voorgestelde woordeboek. Die model stel 'n verpligte mikrostruktuur en 'n uitgebreide verpligte mikrostruktuur voor en bespreek die verskeidenheid data wat in die artikels van die voorgestelde woordeboek ingesluit behoort te word. Hoofstuk 8 handel oor die buiteteksgedeelte en die gidsstrukture van die voorgestelde woordeboek wat voor- en agtervoor- en agtertekste insluit. Politoeganklikheid, 'n stelsel van kruisverwysings, en lemmatiese en nielemmatiese adresserings is kenmerke van die voorgestelde woordeboek. Hoofstuk 9 maak 'n aantal slotopmerkings deur die fokuspunt van elke hoofstuk van die proefskrif te belig. Dit verskaf ook 'n aantal aanbevelings vir navorsing.