This thesis argues that a prominent concern among contemporary writers of fiction is the recuperation of lost or occluded histories. Increasingly, contemporary writers, especially postcolonial writers, are using the medium of fiction to explore those areas of political and cultural history that have been written over or unwritten by the dominant narrative of “official” History. The act of excavating these past histories is simultaneously both traumatic and liberating – which is not to suggest that liberation itself is without pain and trauma. The retelling of traumatic pasts can lead, as is portrayed in The God of Small Things (1997), to further trauma and pain. Postcolonial writers (and much of the world today can be construed as postcolonial in one way or another) are seeking to bring to the fore stories of the past which break down the rigid binaries upon which colonialism built its various empires, literal and ideological. Such writing has in a sense been enabled by the collapse, in postcolonial and postmodernist discourse, of the Grand Narrative of History, and its fragmentation into a plurality of competing discourses and histories. The associated collapse of the boundary between history and fiction is recognized in the useful generic marker “historiographic metafiction,” coined by Linda Hutcheon. The texts examined in this study are all variants of this emerging contemporary genre. What they also have in common is a concern with the consequences of exile or diaspora. This study thus explores some of the representations of how the exilic experience impinges on the development of identity in the postcolonial world. The identities of “displaced” people must undergo constant change in order to adjust to the new spaces into which they move, both literal and metaphorical, and yet critical to this adjustment is the cultural continuity provided by psychologically satisfying stories about the past. The study shows that what the chosen texts share at bottom is their mutual need to retell the lost pasts of their characters, the trauma that such retelling evokes and the new histories to which they give birth. These texts generate new histories which subvert, enrich, and pre-empt formal closure for the narratives of history which determine the identities of nations.

This study examines a range of South African speculative novels which situate their narratives in futuristic or ‘alternative’ milieus, exploring how these narratives not only address identity formation in a deeply divided and rapidly changing society, but also the ways in which human beings place themselves in relation to Nature and form notions of ‘ecological’ belonging. It offers close readings of these speculative narratives in order to investigate the ways in which they evince concerns which are rooted in the natural, social and political landscapes which inform them. Specific attention is paid to the texts’ treatment of the intertwined issues of identity, belonging and ecological crisis. This dissertation draws on the fields of Ecocriticism, Postcolonial Studies and Science Fiction Studies, and assumes a culturally specific approach to primary texts while investigating possible cross-cultural commonalities between Afrikaans and English speculative narratives, as well as the cross-fertilisation of global SF/speculative features. It is suggested that South African speculative fiction presents a socio-historically situated, rhizomatic approach to ecology – one that is attuned to the tension between humanistic- and ecological concerns.

Orientador: Maria Eugênia da Gama Alves Boaventura Dias / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-26T12:13:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Valle_DiegoGomesdo_D.pdf: 1877351 bytes, checksum: 694dd5439c91ff64dce5e454ea41ca65 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Resumo: Esta tese tem como objeto a obra romanesca de João Gilberto Noll, que é composta de doze romances publicados até o presente momento. A ideia que alimentou nosso ímpeto inicial foi surpreender na heterogeneidade dos diversos romances uma certa unidade que poderia ser o princípio estruturante dos romances de Noll. Correndo o risco de sermos demasiado sistemáticos, empreendemos tal trabalho. Divide-se esta tese em dois momentos distintos e complementares, a saber: primeiramente traçamos, um tanto quanto abstratamente, o que há de constante, o traço comum entre os doze heróis (que, em certo sentido, são o mesmo) que falam nos romances. Destacamos, neste primeiro momento da tese, a importância que a análise temporal teve, fornecendo talvez a chave interpretativa mais importante para se compreender as questões identitárias que os romances em questão evocam. Neste sentido, teóricos como Paul Ricoeur e Jean Pouillon forneceram a base teórica para se estabelecer uma visão substancial do fazer narrativo no tempo. Na segunda parte, cada romance é compulsado de maneira a concretizar os corolários produzidos na primeira parte da tese. Buscamos evitar o périplo teleológico, no qual estaria dado já no início o fim em direção ao qual conduziríamos nossa exposição. Sendo assim, a hipótese que se transformou em tese sustenta que todos estes romances são, na sua essência mesma, dramas identitários nos quais seus heróis deliberadamente buscam o não-ser, aquilo que não são, mas que anelam profunda e angustiadamente. Não se trata de uma carência de ser, mas de uma busca consciente pelos limites do eu diante do não-eu. As análises de cada romance nos permitiram demonstrar sobejamente que esta hipótese se confirma tout court e nos conduzem a reflexões que são de teor filosófico - uma vez que dizem respeito aos nossos dramas existenciais -, às quais buscamos encontrar respectivos filósofos para nos auxiliar / Abstract: This thesis focuses on the novelistic work by João Gilberto Noll, which comprises twelve published novels until the present moment. The idea that nurtured our initial impetus was to come upon, at the diversity of the various novels, a certain unit that could be the structuring principle of the novels by Noll. At the risk of being too systematic, we undertake such work. This thesis is divided into two distinct and complementary moments, namely: first we trace, somewhat abstractly, what is constant, the common thread among the twelve heroes (which, in a sense, are the same) who speak in the novels. In this first moment of the thesis, we emphasize, the importance of the temporal analysis, perhaps providing the most important interpretative key to understand the identity issues that the novels in question evoke. In this sense, theorists such as Paul Ricoeur and Jean Pouillon provided the theoretical basis for establishing a substantial vision of the narrative in time. In the second part, each novel is examined in order to achieve the corollaries produced in the first part of the thesis. We seek to avoid the teleological periplus, in which the end would be already given at the beginning of the way of our exposition. Thus, the hypothesis that turned into thesis argues that all these novels are, in their essence, identity dramas in which their heroes deliberately seek the non-being, what they are not, but what they wish to be deep and anxiously. It is not a lack of being, but it is a percipient search for the limits of the self before the not-self. The analysis of each novel allowed us to widely demonstrate that this hypothesis is confirmed tout court and they lead us to philosophical reflections - once they are related to our existential dramas - to which we seek to find respective philosophers to help us / Doutorado / Teoria e Critica Literaria / Doutor em Teoria e História Literária

MA (English) / Department of English / In this study, I explore the depiction of homelessness in K. Sello Duiker’s Thirteen Cents (2000) and Phaswane Mpe’s Welcome to Our Hillbrow (2001). Against the background of post-colonial and transcultural theories, I explore the effects of homelessness on select characters depicted in the two novels, particularly how homelessness and its effects impact on the characters’ identity and human dignity, as some of the themes which the two authors deal with. I achieve this through a close analysis of themes, characterisation and style as well as a demonstration of how the metaphor of the plight of the homeless is drawn from the experiences of the homeless characters portrayed in the novels. I establish, through this study, that the two novels depict characters on whose identity and human dignity, colonialism had an adverse impact. I argue that the corroded dignity and identity of the select homeless characters can be restored through the application of the tenets of transcultural theory. I consistently identify the central morals of the two novels under study as highlighting the need for society to address the plight central to the two novels’ major themes of homelessness, poverty, identity and human dignity against the backdrop of postcoloniality and transculturalism.

This dissertation analyses the protagonists in The Dispossessed, The Left Hand of Darkness, and Tehanu by Ursula K. Le Guin, and looks at the extent to which they confront the Jungian archetype of the anima. I demonstrate that individuation and wisdom are not achieved in these characters until they confront the anima archetype within their individual psyches. I analyse the experiences and behaviour of each protagonist in order to identify anima confrontation (or lack thereof), and I seek to prove that such confrontation precipitates maturity and wisdom, which are goals of the hero's journey. The essential qualities of the anima archetype are wisdom, beauty and love. These qualities require acceptance of vulnerability. I argue that the protagonist is far from anima integration when he displays hatred and fear of vulnerability, and conclude that each protagonist is integrated with the anima when wisdom, beauty and love are evident in his character. / English Studies / M.A. (English)

isiZulu text / Esahlukweni sokuqala, besingenisa ucwaningo lonkana futhi sethula nenjongo yalolu cwaningo ukuze ofundayo asheshe abe nesithombe ngokuzolandela ezahlukweni ezilandelayo. Sizamile ukuveza isisekelo nokubaluleka kwalolu cwaningo njengoba sivezile ukuthi isicwaningwe kakhulu imibhalo yabesilisa ngakho-ke sizoke sibheke eyabesifazane neyabesilisa sicubungula ukuthi yibaphi abethula abalingiswa besifazane kangcono kunabanye. Sibe sesibheka nezindlela zokuhluza imibhalo. Kuso lesi sahluko sethule isakhiwo socwaningo lapho siveze zonke izahluko nokuthi yini umongo wesahluko ngasinye. Esahlukweni sesibili, bese singena-ke sigxila kuzo izindlela zokucubungula imibhalo ezikhethelwe lolu cwaningo. Kulolu cwaningo sigxile kakhulu kuyiwumanizimu nesemiyothikhi. Sizichazile-ke lezi zindlela zokucubungula imibhalo. Isemiyothikhi inezimpawu eziningi ezithinta abalingiswa emibhalweni esiyivezile sayichaza kafuphi. Esahlukweni sesithathu, sibe sesiqala wona umshikashika wokucubungula imibhalo engamanoveli ebhalwe ngabesifazane. Kuningi ebe kade singakubheka emanovelini kodwa ngoba injongo yalolu cwaningo lwethu ukubheka ukuthi abesifazane bethulwe kanjani nezinto ezibathintayo sisebenzise izimpawu ezimbalwa. Sibone kuzosiza ukuqale siyifingqe indaba yonke bese sidingida lezo zinto esizibone zithinta abesifazane enovelini. Esahlukweni sesine, sicubungule amanoveli abhalwe ngabesilisa ngenhloso yokuthola ukuthi bavezwe kanjani abesifazane ngababhali besilisa. Besifisa ukubona ukuthi ukonakala okuye kuvezwe ngabesilisa emibhalweni ngabesifazane kukuliphi izinga. Esahlukweni sesihlanu, bese sisonga, sincoma sibuka esikwenzile esahlukweni ngasinye. Kubuye kwabaluleka ukuba sibheke ukuthi empeleni yibaphi ababhali phakathi kwabesifazane nabesilisa abaveza abalingiswa besifazane kangcono sisho nezizathu ezenza sithi uhlobo lwababhali oluthize lubethula kangcono abalingiswa besifazane. Ake sijeqeze kancane khona ukwethulwa kwabalingiswa sesisonga lolu cwaningo lwethu. / Chapter 1 is introducing the research and introduces its aim so that it could be easy for the reader to depict what the whole study will be about. This chapter has also laid the background to the study as it has been said that lot of research has been done with books written by males. The focus will be on both male and female writers trying to find out who portrays female characters better. We therefore looked at the ways of analyzing literature and the structure and the gist of each chapters. Chapter 2 we engaged in theory or the ways of analyzing literature that is used in this research. The study will mostly embark on womanism and semiotics which have been described. Chapter 3 focuses on analyzing novels written by female writers Msimang Nelisile, Shange Maphili, Langa Zakithi and Zulu Nelisiwe. The focus is on the women portrayal. The chapter starts with a summary. Chapter 4 has its focus on analyzing novels written by male writers Molefe Lawrence and Wanda Mjajisi. The aim was also to find out how women are portrayed by male authors. We wanted to find out the extent of the corruption of female characters as portrayed by males in their literature. Chapter 5 this chapter summarizes and appreciates what has been done in other chapters. There was also a need to compare between the male and female writers, who portrayed females better than the other and give reasons for that judgment. / African Languages / M.A. (African Languages)

Amharic literature has always occupied an important place in the history of the literary traditions of Ethiopia. Although this literature is believed to be strongly related to the politics of the country, there has been no study that proves this claim across the different political periods in the country. It would be ambitious to deal with all the literary genres in this respect. Therefore, delimiting the investigation of the problem is considered to be useful to filling the knowledge gap. Accordingly, this comparative research which investigates a representation of Ethiopian politics in selected Amharic novels across three political periods: 1930 – 2010 was designed. The objective of the research is to investigate the representation of Ethiopian politics in selected Amharic novels. The basic research question focuses on how these representations can be explained. An eclectic theoretical approach (the New Historicism, Bourdieu’s System Theory and the Critical Discourse Analysis) is employed to understand the representations. The main method of data collection focuses on a close reading of non-literary and literary texts. A purposive sampling technique is used to select the sample novels as the technique allows to select those that yield the most relevant data using some criteria. Based on the criteria set, sixteen novels are selected. The manners in which the political events represented in the novels are examined using different parameters. The parameters also look into the methods used in representing the political events and the time in which the events were represented, i.e. whether they are represented contemporarily, post-contemporarily or before the actual happening of the event. Having read the novels critically, the political events that took place in the three respective states are identified, analyzed and interpreted. The analysis mainly shows that different novels represented the political events in different manners: lightly or deeply, overtly or covertly, positively or negatively, contemporaneously or post-contemporaneously. Regarding the ‘how’ of the representations, it is observed that the critical novels, for instance, Alïwälädïm and Adäfrïs are covert and use symbols, direct and indirect allusions and other figures of speeches, and other techniques including turn taking, and size of dialogues to achieve their goals. Some political events are found to be either under-represented or totally un-represented in the novels. In some cases, same political events are represented differently in different novels at different times. Some novels that criticized the political events of the governments contemporaneously have been removed from market, republished in the political period that followed and exploited by the emerging government for its political end. There are some patterns observed in the analyses and interpretations of the politics in the novels. One of the patterns is that sharp criticisms on the events of an earlier political period are usually reflected in novels published in a new period. The critique novels of the Haileselassie government, for instance, Maïbäl Yabïyot Wazema, were published during the Darg period, and those that were critical of the Darg government, for instance, Anguz, were published in the EPRDF period. Another pattern observed is that there is no novel that praises a past regime, even despite being critical of a contemporary government. No novel written during the Darg period admired the Haileselassie period; and no novel written during the EPRDF period appreciated the Darg period. There are cases in which novelists who were critical of the contemporary Haileselassie and Darg periods, for instance, Abe and Bealu, respectively, ended up in detention or just disappeared and their novels, Alïwälädïm and Oromay, respecitely were banned from being circulated. Unlike the two previous political periods, the critique novels of the EPRDF period, for instance Dertogada, Ramatohara, and Yäburqa Zïmïta, have been published, or even republished, several times. Novels written during the Haileselassie period, such as Alïwälädïm, which were critical of the respective contemporary period, made their criticism covertly, using probes and imaginary settings and characters, while the critique novels of the EPRDF period, criticize overtly, and boldly. Generally, it could be concluded that the novels had the power to reflect history, and show human and class relationships implicitly, through the interactions of characters, story developments, and plot constructions, and the impact that politics has on the literature, and the influence of literature on politics. / Classics and World Languages / D. Phil. (Theory of Literature)

The aim of this research entitled Narrative Strategies in Selected Amharic Novels from 2000 until 2010 was to shed light on the relationship among form, meaning (content) and social milieuin establishing the textual and contextual features of fictional narratives. It mainly contends that it is possible to unravel the textual and contextual qualities of fictional narratives by studying form as a narrative strategy. In this research, form, when understood as a narrative strategy, is not only considered as a textual construct which motivates textual meaning but also regarded as a product of the social milieu from which the text emerges. Having this conception, form as a narrative strategy is investigated in selected Amharic novels published from 2000 until 2010 in view of expounding the artistic and thematic features of contemporary Amharic novels, endeavouring to fill the knowledge gap in Amharic literary scholarship about their literary features. The present research applies narratological approaches that range from classical to post-classical narratology. However, it dominantly uses post-classical conceptions of narratology as guidelines for its discussion. The dissertation comprises six chapters. The first one is an introductory chapter in which the research problems, goals and assumptions are explicated. Chapter two deals with the theoretical framework where the theoretical insight the research utilizes as a guideline is outlined and methodological issues are specified. The following three chapters focus on the analysis. In the third chapter, story is investigated as a narrative strategy in Yeburqa Zemeta (Burka’s Silence) (2000); in the fourth one, focalization is treated as a narrative strategy in Gerač.a Qač.eloč (Grey Bells) (2005), and in the fifth chapter, characterization is studied as a narrative strategy in Dèrtogada (Dertogada) (2010). The dissertation concludes with a chapter in which independent findings in the three analysis chapters are summed up and generalizations on the textual and contextual features of the present day Amharic novels are made. / Afrikaans & Theory of Literature / D. Litt. et Phil. (Theory of Literature)

Critical Theory, as posited by members of The Frankfurt School, was evaluated with the objective of attaching an implied ethical dimension. This was discovered in their privileging of a particular type of aesthetic, as evinced in their analysis of certain works of autonomous High Modernism. This implied ethic, which is one based around the concept of enlightenment as potential for emancipation, was then applied as a norm for the evaluation of art. This ethic, however, does not seek to impose a particular reading on (specifically) literary production: Rather, it seeks to impart the importance of a commitment by the literary critic in the use of an ethically based norm, an ethic, what is more, that is based and supported by a discussion of the concepts 'freedom' and Enlightenment. Finally, with this ethic firmly established, the discussion then attempted to distinguish between modernism and post-modernism, using this implied ethic as a guide to separation. / Afrikaans & Theory of Literature / M.A. (Theory of Literature)

This research on the subject is one of a few written in the medium of isiZulu. Further, it is one of the few conducted on masikandi music in this depth. It identifies and analyzes strategies used by Zulu masikandis in their music. The researcher in this study demonstrated that Zulu masikandis comprise males and females and that at present male masikandis are dominating this genre. Besides that, the study also revealed two categories of Zulu masikandis: those who recorded their music and those who could not. The researcher demonstrated also that Zulu masikandis use different effective strategies for different purposes in their music. He demonstrated that Zulu masikandis use different strategies to introduce themselves to their followers and their counterparts, to brag about certain members of their groups, to coin and use nicknames, to reveal their themes, to reveal their emotions, to use various types of imagery and to use strategies which are the results of influences of factors like Christianity, riddles, folktales and praise-poems. Some of the challenges are that other masikandis find it very difficult to record their music owing to financial problems, other producers are corrupt, as masikandis are influential figures in public there is a danger that they can mislead the public by coining and spreading unstandardized Zulu expressions through their songs. Finally, it must be pointed out that the study of masikandi music, particularly strategies used by Zulu masikandis, makes a great contribution to the study of literature. The reason is that it introduces a new path, the different strategies used by Zulu masikandis in their music, categories of Zulu masikandis, nicknames for Zulu masikandis which are coined by themselves and sometimes by members of the public and different methods of collecting data to be used by other researchers. Therefore, it is worthy of publication. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)