Thesis (MA (English))--Stellenbosch University, 2008. / This dissertation rests on the assumption that the literary text is fundamentally part of the world from which it emerges. Following Heidegger's understanding of the work of art as a form of unconcealment, it argues that Michael Ondaatje's fictional work Anil's Ghost discloses the particular, historically contingent conditions that determine the ethical relations people are cast into during a time of war in the present era of globalization. The novel interrogates the idea of truth in its meta-fictional discourse and stakes out the grounds of its own fictional truth in contra-distinction to truth as fact offered by Western empiricism. Alongside the implicit criticism of Western epistemology, the novel mounts a critique of the universal human rights discourse and suggests that an ethical approach to the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka is preferable to a political solution imposed from the outside. War is presented as a radically embodying event in which the body is made vulnerable to death and injury: and the ethical imperative to alleviate physical suffering is identified as the most immediate and appropriate response to the crisis of war. Following Levinas, ethics is understood to transpire in the corporeal relation between individuals. By attending in detail to the embodied experience of being in the world, the novel prepares the ground for an ethics of the body that is closely aligned to the ethics as first philosophy espoused by Levinas. The dissertation argues throughout that the novel discloses the nature of ethical relations between people in the world by means of its aesthetic forms of language. The domain of the ethical and aesthetics are thus commensurate.

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D.Litt. et Phil. / This study explores the tension between politics and ethics in selected novels by J.M Coetzee. It contends that, in this writer's fiction, ethics is conceived of in Levinasian terms as a relation of responsibility for the other which is grounded in an acknowledgement of the other's radical difference to the same. The thesis examines Coetzee's self-reflexive investigation of the problem for novelistic representation posed by this conception of ethics. In order to contextualise this examination, the first chapter of the study establishes that the form and medium of the novel install a relation of correlation between same and other, and that the novel-as-genre therefore routinely forecloses on, rather than maintains a relation of difference to, alterity. Chapter One also traces the various strategies through which Coetzee's novels attempt not only to prevent the medium and form of the novel-as-genre from reducing the other to an object and thereby violating it, but also to impart a sense of that which inevitably exceeds, and so transcends, this genre's representational protocols. By means of such strategies of excession, the study contends, Coetzee's texts endeavour to inscribe a responsible relation to the other. The four remaining chapters of the thesis trace Coetzee's installation of strategies of excession, and therefore of an ethical aesthetic, in Dusklands, Life and Times of Michael K, Foe, Age of Iron and The Master of Petersburg. They also consider these novels' self-conscious articulation of the ethical implications of such strategies. Chapter Four and Chapter Five pay special attention to the inscription in Coetzee's later fiction of a debate on the possible effect on the reader of the individual text's ethical relation to the other. In this regard, the thesis argues that the ultimate purpose of Coetzee's attempt to respond responsibly to alterity in his writing is to enable the other to approach the reader in the course of the literary encounter. It thereby demonstrates that Coetzee's concern with ethics is deeply political: in attempting to contrive an ethical relation between the reader and the other, the individual text seeks to secure a mediation of the political by the ethical.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this dissertation I investigate how aesthetics, politics and ethics intersect as material flows in translation, and how these actualise in the oeuvre of Lettie Viljoen/Ingrid Winterbach. With the emphasis on praxis, I explore these three threads through the philosophy of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari in particular, though not exclusively. With reference to Deleuze and Guattari’s project on ‘minor literature’, I demonstrate that Viljoen/Winterbach’s oeuvre contains a high degree of deterritorialisation through methods such as thematic refrains, stylistic devices and her use of Engfrikaans. In translation these methods are investigated in terms of the ethico-aesthetic framework developed by Guattari, the role of capitalism in its relation to translation and the publishing industry (i.e. the political), and how translation and/as praxis may begin to develop a nomadic ethics. Aesthetics, from a Deleuzo-Guattarian perspective is shown to be not about the value produced by capitalism, but rather about that which deterritorialises as a singularity. Such a singularity in literature may be said to actualise as a minor literature or, more accurately, a becoming-minor. With regards to politics in translation/translation in politics, I argue that the question of translation should no longer be What does this word/text mean? but rather What is the word/text/translation doing? When the emphasis moves from semantics to praxis I argue that translation, like other forms of literature, has the potential to affect social transformation. I put forth as part of my argument that this is possible through deterritorialising practices like écriture féminine and Viljoen/Winterbach’s use of Engfrikaans and the trickster figure, as such methods allow for bifurcations away from State territorialisations. And finally, I examine how translators might begin to develop a praxis informed by a nomadic ethics which is not reliant on a normative morality, but rather constitutes an orientation founded on heterogeneity and the repudiation of universality. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie proefskrif word daar ondersoek hoe estetika, politiek and etiek as reële elemente saamvloei in vertaling, en hoe dit aktualiseer in the oeuvre van Lettie Viljoen/Ingrid Winterbach. Met die klem op praxis ondersoek ek dié drie elemente in besonder in terme van die filosofie van Gilles Deleuze en Félix Guattari, alhoewel nie eksklusief nie. Met verwysing na Deleuze end Guattari se projek aangaande ’n ‘klein (mindere) literatuur’, demonstreer ek dat Viljoen/Winterbach se oeuvre ’n hoë graad van deterritorialisasie weerspieël wat uit haar gebruik van metodes soos tematiese refreine, stilistiese instrumente en die gebruik van Engfrikaans voortspruit. In vertaling word hierdie metodes ondersoek in terme van die eties-estetiese raamwerk wat deur Guattari ontwikkel is asook die politieke rol van kapitalisme in verhouding tot vertaling en die publikasiebedryf, sowel as hoe vertaling as praxis daartoe mag bydra om ’n nomadiese etiek te ontwikkel. Vanuit ’n Deleuzo-Guattariaanse perspektief word daar aangetoon dat estetika nie handel oor die waarde wat kapitalisme voortbring nie, maar eerder oor die enkele-uniekheid (“singularity”) wat deterritorialisering meebring. Dit kan gestel word dat in literatuur sodanige enkele-uniekheid as mindere (“minor”) literatuur gesien kan word of, om meer akkuraat te wees, die voortbring daarvan kan aktualiseer. Betreffende politiek in vertaling/vertaling in politiek word daar aangevoer dat die vraagstuk van vertaling voortaan nie moet wees Wat beteken hierdie woord of teks? nie, maar eerder Wat vermag ’n woord of teks in die vertaling? Daar word verder aangevoer dat wanneer die klem vanaf semantiek na praxis verskuif vertaling, soos ander vorme van literatuur, die potensiaal inhou om sosiale transformasie te beïnvloed. As deel van die onderliggende argument word daar gepostuleer dat die voorgenoemde inderdaad moontlik is deur deterritorialiserende paraktyke soos écriture féminine en Viljoen/Winterbach se gebruik van Engfrikaans asmede die triekster-figuur omdat sulke metodes die geleentheid skep vir splitsing (“bifurcation”) weg van Staatsterritorialisering af. Ten slotte word ondersoek ingestel na hoe vertalers ’n praxis sou kon ontwikkel wat deur ’n nomadiese etiek en nie’n normatiewe moraliteit gelei word nie, maar wat eerder op ’n orientasie van heterogeniteit en die verwerping van essensie gebaseer is.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Pennsylvania, 1922.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Flinders University of South Australia, 2000. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on July 9, 2005). Includes bibliographical references (p. 307-379).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Baylor University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 224-226).

Diplomová práce se zabývá proměnou hodnot v dětské literatuře od obrození k dnešku. Na začátku práce se pojednává o problematice hodnot a o významu dětské literatury pro rozvoj morálního vědomí žáků. Dále se práce zabývá proměnou hodnotové orientace ve společnosti v průběhu sledovaného období. V rámci interpretace děl dětské literatury, která byla dobově nejvýznamnější či nejčtenější, je ukázáno, jak se měnil pohled na morální normy a hodnoty v literatuře pro děti a mládež. V závěru práce jsou porovnány hodnotové rámce napříč zmíněnými tituly s přihlédnutím k subjektivnímu pohledu autora i hodnotové orientaci společnosti. Z výsledků práce jsou pak vyvozeny didaktické závěry, které mohou posloužit jako pomůcka učitelům při výuce občanské výchovy. Abstract The diploma thesis deals with the change of values in children's literature. At the beginning of the thesis the values and the importace of children's literature for pupil's moral development are being discussed. Further on the study is aimed to discuss the change of the oreintation of social values throughout the examined peroids. Within the interpretation of different works of Children's literature (which were the bestsellers or the most frequently read books) is demonstrated how the view of moral codes and values in children's literature has...

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis examines the work of two contemporary South African poets, Antjie Krog and Joan Metelerkamp. Through an analytical-discursive engagement with their work, it explores the relationship between confession and embodiment, drawing attention to the ethical potential located at the confluence of these theories and modes. The theory informing this thesis is drawn from three broad fields: that of feminism, embodiment studies and ethical philosophy. More specifically, foundational insights will come from the work of Simone de Beauvoir, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Emmanuel Levinas. While much of the theory used originates from Western Europe and North America, this will be mediated by sensitivity towards Krog and Metelerkamp’s South African location, as is fitting for a study focused on embodied confession and the ethical treatment of the other. The first chapter will establish Krog and Metelerkamp as confessional poets and explore the ethical implications of this designation. It will also explore the contextual grounds for the establishment for a confessional culture in both the United States of America of the 1950s that gave rise to the school of confessional poets, and in South Africa of the 1990s. The second chapter will use embodiment theory to discuss the relationship between poetry and the body in their work, and the ethics of this relationship. The remaining chapters concentrate on three forms of embodiment that frequently inhabit their poetry: the maternal body, the erotic body and the ageing body. Throughout the analyses of their poetic depictions of, and engagements with, these bodies, the ethical potential of these confessional engagements will be investigated. Through the argument presented in this thesis, Metelerkamp’s status as a minor South African poet will be re-evaluated, as will that of Krog’s undervalued English translations of her acclaimed Afrikaans poetry. The importance of confessional poetry and poetry of the body, often pejorative classifications, will also be asserted. Ultimately, through drawing the connections between confession, embodiment and ethics in poetry, this thesis will re-evaluate the way poetry is read, when it is read, and propose alternative reading strategies. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis ondersoek die werk van twee kontemporêre Suid-Afrikaanse digters, Antjie Krog en Joan Metelerkamp. Analities-beredeneerde benadering tot hulle werk verken die verband tussen belydenis en beliggaming. Klem word gelê op die etiese implikasies waar hierdie teorieë en vorme bymekaarkom. Die teorie waarop hierdie tesis berus, word vanuit drie breë velde geput: feminisme, beliggamingsteorie en etiese filosofie. Daar word meer spesifiek op die fundamentele beskouings van Simone de Beauvoir, Maurice Merleau-Ponty en Emmanuel Levinas gesteun. Alhoewel die teorie grotendeels ontstaan het in Wes-Europa en Noord-Amerika, sal dit met begrip benader word ten opsigte van Krog en Metelerkamp se Suid-Afrikaanse agtergrond, wat meer gepas is vir studie wat fokus op beliggaamde belydenis en die etiese hantering van die ander. Die eerste hoofstuk vestig Krog en Metelerkamp as belydenisdigters en verken die etiese implikasies van hierdie benaming. Die kontekstuele beweegredes vir die vestiging van belydeniskultuur word ook ondersoek, in beide die Verenigde State van Amerika van die 1950s (wat geboorte geskenk het aan die era van belydenisdigters) en in Suid-Afrika van die 1990s. Die tweede hoofstuk rus op beliggamingsteorie om die verband tussen poësie en liggaam in hul werk te bespreek, asook die etiese implikasies binne hierdie verband. Die oorblywende hoofstukke fokus op drie vorme van die liggaam wat dikwels in hulle digkuns neerslag vind: die moederlike lyf, die erotiese lyf en die verouderende lyf. Die etiese implikasies van hierdie belydende betrokkenheid word deurgaans in ag geneem in die analise van hulle digterlike uitbeelding van en omgang tot hierdie liggame. Die argument in hierdie tesis herevalueer Metelerkamp se status as meer geringe Suid-Afrikaanse digter asook Krog se onderskatte Engelse vertalings van haar bekroonde Afrikaanse gedigte. Die waarde van belydenispoësie en gedigte oor die liggaam, dikwels pejoratiewe klassifikasies, sal ook verdedig word. Deur belydenis, beliggaming en etiek in digkuns met mekaar te verbind, herevalueer hierdie tesis uiteindelik die manier waarop gedigte gelees word, wanneer dit gelees word, en stel alternatiewe leesstrategieë voor.