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The reading of four contemporary novels, namely: Credo by Melvyn Bragg, The Catastrophist by Ronan Bennett, Everything You Need by A.L. Kennedy and American Gods by Neil Gaiman explores the prominent position of mythification and remythification in contemporary literature. The discussion of Bragg's novel examines the significance of Celtic mythology and folklore and to what extent it influenced Christian mythology on the British Isles and vice versa. The presentation of the transition from a cyclical, pagan to a linear, Christian belief system is analysed. My analysis of Bennett's novel supports the observation that political myth as myth transformed contains elements and qualities embodied by sacred myths and investigates the relevance of Johan Degenaar's observation that "[p]ostmodernism emphasises the fact that myth is an ambiguous phenomenon" and practices an attitude of "eternal vigilance" (1995: 47), as is evident in the main protagonist's dispassionate stance. My reading of Kennedy's novel explores the bond that myth creates between the artist and the audience and argues that the writer as myth creator fulfils a restorative function through the mythical and symbolic qualities embedded in literature. Gaiman's novel American Gods focuses on the function of meta/multi-mythology in contemporary literature (especially the fantasy genre) and on what these qualities reveal about a society and its concerns and values. The thesis contemplates how in each case the original myths were substituted, modulated or transfigured to be presented as metamyth or myth transformed. The analysis shows that myth can be used in various ways in literature: as the data or information that is recreated and transformed in the creative process to establish a common matrix of stories, symbols, images and motifs which represents a bond between the author and the reader in terms of the meaning-making process; to facilitate a spiritual enrichment in a demythologized world and for its restorative abilities. The study is confirmed by detailed mythical reference. / English Studies / (D. Litt. et Phil. (English))

This dissertation attempts to show that the phenomenon of loneliness is written into Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient. The Introduction offers a description of the origins of loneliness as a field of study, presents key instances of loneliness in literature, and investigates the nature of loneliness. In the first chapter, the Villa is introduced as a figural and conceptual framework for analysis. The second chapter focuses on the patient’s room and the library, leading to a discussion of personal and existential loneliness, identity and naming. The third chapter investigates social loneliness with reference to the kitchen, garden and hallway, addressing notions of race and othering, home and family. The fourth chapter discusses the body and embodiment, as well as emotion and metaphor. The dissertation argues that the stylistic, thematic and structural features of The English Patient suggest and reflect the complexities and characteristics of loneliness. / English / M. A. (English)

Thesis (MA (Afrikaans and Dutch))—University of Stellenbosch, 2007. / Two separate texts are submitted towards the degree MA in Kreatiewe Afrikaanse Skryfkunde. Firstly, a thesis with the title ‘Drempellewens: die uitbeelding van bewussyn in vyf debuutromans’, and secondly a novel called Hanna in die park. The novel and the thesis are thematically related. The focus of the thesis is the portrayal of the consciousness of protagonists who, because of their age and situation, may be considered ‘threshold characters’. The question that is posed is the following: what kind of narrator and what narratological strategies can best express the unfixed nature of the protagonist in a so-called ‘coming of age’-novel? To examine this issue, theoretical tools are taken from mainly two sources: the work of anthropologists Arnold van Gennep and Victor W. Turner about the liminal phase in rites of passage, and Dorrit Cohn’s theories about the depiction of consciousness, as set out in her book, Transparent Minds (1983). Five debut novels are discussed using these concepts. They are Die Ryk van die Rawe (Jaco Fouché), Annerkant die Longdrop (Anoeschka von Meck), trips (Manie de Waal), Less than Zero (Bret Easton Ellis) and You Shall Know Our Velocity! (Dave Eggers). The liminal characteristics of the protagonists and their situations are discussed. Using Cohn’s three modes of narration, namely psychonarration, narrated monologue and quoted monologue, a discussion follows of what effect the kind of narrator and narratological modes has on the convincing and striking portrayal of a liminal character’s consciousness. The conclusion is reached that a narrator who is also in some kind of liminal position, or who experiences a threshold-consciousness, is most effective in the portrayal of the nature of liminality. The novel is about a young woman, Hanna Moolman, who is having trouble with the requirements of becoming adult. She works as a waitress in Stellenbosch and leads a somewhat lonely, frustrated life. Her relationship with especially her mother and her younger sister is strained. When her sister, a beautician in training, becomes pregnant, old sibling rivalries and family secrets are brought to the fore. During the crisis of her sister’s pregnancy, there are also various other influences on Hanna’s state of mind; among others, her part-time job as a researcher for an old lady who is writing about the domestic history of the Afrikaner woman, an impudent graffiti artist who seems to be watching Hanna, and a client at the restaurant where she works who leaves her mysterious notes.

Thesis (MA (Afrikaans and Dutch))—University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / When reading Henning J. Pieterse’s work the reader is confronted by a sombre central theme, that of loss. Loss manifests itself in different ways in his oeuvre, but the most notable forms of loss are as result of the ending of a love affair or death. A second noticeable theme in Pieterse’s work is art and artistry, specifically the creative writing process. In my opinion these themes are most evident in his 1998 collection of short stories Omdat ons alles is (Because we are everything). The main premise in this collection of short stories is the suicide of the beloved wife and the accompanying feelings of loss and grief. The male characters in these stories struggle with processing and accepting loss - loss due the suicide of a beloved wife or due to the ending of a relationship. Various attempts are made to forget the loss and to numb the pain. The characters turn to alcohol, drugs and sex as ways of trying to work through or process the loss, but these methods only bring temporary relief. These self-destructive methods op escapism are contrasted with the constructive act of writing. At the same time the journey to psychic recovery and the processing of trauma becomes a creative journey. By expressing trauma through writing about wounding experiences there is striven to process it. The processing of trauma by means of literary narratives is often extremely exhausting and distressing. In the act of writing about trauma, painful memories that are repressed in the psyche are brought to the surface. In this thesis Omdat ons alles is is viewed from a therapeutic perspective to establish whether the act of writing plays a part in the processing of trauma. Narrative therapy is concerned with the finding of words and language to communicate trauma by creating a story in which the meaning and coherence that trauma destroys, can be recaptured. Trauma destroys the meaning and coherence of a life story and leaves the individual powerless and confused, but by finding words to communicate trauma, there is a positive movement in the direction of dealing with and accepting loss. In Omdat ons alles is Pieterse maps the journey of working through loss and trauma, but in these stories it is also emphasised that this journey is by no means a joyride. In the end it seems that the act of writing does play a part in the processing of trauma, but to which extent, remains an open question.

A search for self through historical reconstruction constitutes a crucial concern of the American postmodern historical novels of Pynchon, Barth, Mailer, Coover, and Doctorow. This concern consists of a self-conscious dramatization, paralleled by contemporary theorists' arguments, of the constructedness of history and individual subject. A historian-character's process of historical inquiry and narrative-making foregrounded in these novels represents the efforts by the postmodern self to (re)construct identity (or identities) in a constructing context of discourse and ideology.

University of Macau / Faculty of Arts and Humanities. / Department of Chinese

University of Macau / Faculty of Arts and Humanities. / Department of Chinese

University of Macau / Faculty of Arts and Humanities. / Department of Chinese

Marie Corelli was arguably the most popular British novelist of the early 1900s, yet few today even know her name. Though she is not the only author to lose popularity, her enormous influence during her lifetime deserves consideration. What people liked about Marie Corelli can shed light on why the rise of modernism is seen as such a break from the popular in literature. This paper examines two of her bestsellers, A Romance of Two Worlds and The Sorrows of Satan, in light of the fin de siáecle, as well as the critical response to her work from both modernist and postmodern perspectives. Corelli is of interest today because her popular female characters are women who affirm traditional femininity yet also pursue and wield great power. The question I raise is whether Corelli's work is best seen as illustrative of theories about popular literature or as contradictory to them. / by Doris Moss. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.