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)

四個男作家指王統照, 許地山, 葉聖陶及鄭振鐸 / 論文(哲學碩士)--香港中文大學硏究院中國語言及文學學部,1994. / 參考文獻: leaves 322-342 / 陳亞鳳. / 提要 / Chapter 第一章 --- 緒諭 --- p.1 ´ؤ16 / Chapter 第二章 --- 研究的範圍與方法 --- p.17 ´ؤ20 / Chapter 第三章 --- 由“人的文學´ح到“婦女解放´ح題材 --- p.21 ´ؤ31 / Chapter 第四章 --- 王統照小說中的女性 --- p.32 ´ؤ74 / 小引 --- p.32 / Chapter 第一節 --- 王統照的“愛´ح和“美´ح的美學觀 / Chapter 第二節 --- 王統照對婦女的期望 --- p.37 / Chapter 第三節 --- 王統照的文學觀 --- p.39 / Chapter 第四節 --- 王統照小說中的女性 / Chapter 一 --- “美´ح和“愛´ح的化身 --- p.45 / Chapter 二 --- 為愛情而自我犧牲的女性 --- p.56 / Chapter 三 --- 王統照理想中的妻子 --- p.65 / Chapter 四 --- 無夢可紀的霍君素 --- p.69 / Chapter 第五節 --- 小结 --- p.73 / Chapter 第五章 --- 許地山小說中的女性 --- p.75´ؤ145 / 小引 --- p.75 / Chapter 第一節 --- 許地山的創作三寶 --- p.76 / Chapter 第二節 --- 許地山的宗教精神 --- p.79 / Chapter 第三節 --- 許地山對愛情的執著 --- p.85 / Chapter 第四節 --- 許地山的婦女觀 --- p.89 / Chapter 第五節 --- 許地山小說中的女性 / Chapter 一 --- 愛情理想的追求者 --- p.96 / Chapter 二 --- 理想人生哲學的追隨者 --- p.108 / Chapter 三 --- 對男性忠心耿耿的女性 --- p.123 / Chapter 四 --- 被“愛父母的民族´ح犧牲的女性 --- p.133 / Chapter 五 --- 走上絶路的母親 --- p.139 / Chapter 第六節 --- 小結 --- p.142 / Chapter 第六章 --- 葉聖陶小說中的女性 --- p.146´ؤ196 / 小引 --- p.146 / Chapter 第一節 --- “真實´ح與“真誠´ح的文學觀 / Chapter 一 --- “不能超越認識與理解´ح的創作 --- p.149 / Chapter 二 --- 講求創作獨特的作品 --- p.150 / Chapter 三 --- 本著真情實感創作 --- p.154 / Chapter 第二節 --- 葉聖陶對女子人格的重視 --- p.156 / Chapter 第三節 --- 葉聖陶小說中的女性 / Chapter 一 --- 體現母愛的女性 --- p.160 / Chapter 二 --- 願為男人奴僕的女性 --- p.169 / Chapter 三 --- 處在家庭矛盾中的母親 --- p.181 / Chapter 四 --- 保持人格獨立的萬女士 --- p.192 / Chapter 第四節 --- 小結 --- p.194 / Chapter 第七章 --- 鄭振鐸小說中的女性 --- p.197 ´ؤ236 / 小引 --- p.197 / Chapter 第一節 --- 鄭振鐸的“文學為人生´ح的思想體糸 / Chapter 一 --- 文學是感情的產物 --- p.200 / Chapter 二 --- 表現個性的文學 --- p.203 / Chapter 三 --- 血和淚的文學 --- p.205 / Chapter 四 --- 推崇悲劇文學 --- p.207 / Chapter 第二節 --- 《新社會》旬刊與改革社會的熱忱 / Chapter 一 --- 熱忱之火燃於五四運動 --- p.208 / Chapter 二 --- 言論涉及婦女解放的《新社會》 --- p.212 / Chapter 第三節 --- 鄭振鐸小說中的女性 / Chapter 一 --- 追逐理想愛情的女性 --- p.215 / Chapter 二 --- 以婚姻為唯一出路的女性 --- p.224 / Chapter 三 --- 自願為丈夫犧牲的紫涵 --- p.231 / Chapter 第四節 --- 小结 --- p.234 / Chapter 第八章 --- 總結 --- p.237 ´ؤ243 / 〔附錄1〕-〔附錄6〕 --- p.244´ؤ263 / 第一章注釋-第八章注釋 --- p.264 ´ؤ321 / 參考書籍 --- p.322 ´ؤ331 / 參考論文 --- p.332 ´ؤ341 / 後記 --- p.342

自八十年代始，中國大陸文藝雜誌相繼出現一批帶筆記風格或直接以筆記體寫作的短篇小說。研究者不僅探討此等作品轉化運用傳統文體的寫作現象及美學特徵，更為配合「新時期」之文藝氣象，進而以「新筆記小說」的文類加以歸納，突出其「舊瓶新酒」的現代意義。新筆記小說與筆記傳統的連繫，無疑為論者提供最佳範本，展開「傳統」與「現代」對話和融合的可能性的探討。相關討論嘗試為新筆記小說爭取文學史位置，卻無法脫離「新」與「舊」、「傳統」與「現代」簡單的二分框架，弱化了這些短篇小說作為探索新時期寫作出路的尖兵角色。本文重新提出新筆記小說的研究，認為是理解八十年代文藝界重新定義、拓展現實主義和小說實踐的關鍵。新筆記小說作家結合筆記與小說的特性，其實已觸及敘事的真實與虛構的辯證，在中國的紀實傳統中力尋書寫現實的可能。本文分別以汪曾祺 (1920-1997)、林斤瀾 (1923-2009)和鍾阿城 (1949- )的新筆記小說為研究個案，探討三位作家如何借用筆記小說的文體結構和敘事特質，形構現實主義小說的另類形式，突破意識形態對「現實主義」小說的制約。與此同時，當「現實主義」在「現代性的追求」壓力下面臨一元性的崩解，新筆記小說作家堅持「擬真」的嘗試，顯得意味深長，本文將作進一步的討論。 / Since the 1980s, a number of fictions written in the note-form have emerged in literary magazines on Mainland China. These works were put under a genre named "New Anecdote" (XinBiji Xiaoshuo, 新筆記小說) which implies the transformation from the classical anecdote to the modern anecdote. Researchers put emphasis mainly on the classical aesthetic characteristics found in the new form of the anecdote. However, it is observed that their studies were limited to the simple framework based on the binary oppositions of "old" and "new" as well as "traditional" and "modern". Such discussion had obscured the actual role of the new anecdotes being taken in the particular historical context of China in the New Era. / The form of "New Anecdote" is, in fact, a fusion of note and fiction, which can possibly hit the border of realistic and imaginary narratives. The practice of "New Anecdote" is closely related to the development of Realism in China in the Twentieth Century. Based on the discussion about "reality" from the writers of new anecdotes, this thesis attempts to point out that the "New Anecdote" is a key to understand how the writers of the time re-defined the realistic writings and their relationship to the society in China in the 1980s. / This thesis gives an in-depth analysis of the new anecdotes written by three contemporary writers, namely Wang Zengqi 汪曾祺 (1920-1997), Lin Jinlan 林斤瀾 (1923-2009) and Zhong Acheng (Ah Cheng) 鍾阿城 (1949- ). It will illustrate how these three writers make use of the structure and the narrative style of the anecdote to re-create new forms of realistic fiction, and to achieve their aims of breaking through the ideological constraints of Realism. Meanwhile,since realistic fiction has been considered as an antiquated and declining form under the development of aesthetic modernity in China in the 1980s, it is crucial to profoundly discuss the essence of the new anecdotes with reference to the socio-historical background of the New Era. / Detailed summary in vernacular field only. / 王素韻. / Parallel title from English abstract. / Thesis (M.Phil.) Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2015. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 113-131). / Abstracts also in English. / Wang Suyun.

Kwok Sze-Ki. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 131-138). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / 摘要 --- p.iii / Acknowledgements --- p.v / Introduction The Genre of Detective Thriller --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter One --- The Figure in the Carpet: Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd --- p.33 / Chapter Chapter Two --- """Thrillers are like life´ؤmore like life than you are"": Graham Greene's The Ministry of Fear" --- p.68 / Chapter Chapter Three --- "Cultural and Metaphysical Mysteries: Paul Bowles's ""The Eye"" and Jorge Luis Borges's ""The Garden of Forking Paths""" --- p.99 / Concluding Remarks --- p.127 / Bibliography --- p.131

黃華昌. / "2002年5月" / 論文 (哲學碩士)--香港中文大學, 2002. / 參考文獻 (leaves 98-102) / 附中英文提要. / "2002 nian 5 yue" / Huang Huachang. / Lun wen (zhe xue shuo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 2002. / Can kao wen xian (leaves 98-102) / Fu Zhong Ying wen ti yao. / Chapter 第一章. --- 李劼人生平、作品及其研究槪況 --- p.1 / Chapter 第二章. --- 三部曲與歷史小說 --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1 --- 歷史小說文類介說 --- p.8 / Chapter 2.2 --- 三部曲的歷史小說特色 --- p.17 / Chapter 2.2a --- 《死水微瀾》´ؤ´ؤ淡遠的歷史背景下的小鎭故事 --- p.18 / Chapter 2.2b --- 《暴風雨前》´ؤ´ؤ風雨將至，歷史的步履漸重 --- p.25 / Chapter 2.2c --- 《大波》´ؤ´ؤ滾滾浪濤，何以安身 --- p.32 / Chapter 2.3 --- 三部曲與中國現代歷史小說 --- p.41 / Chapter 第三章´Ø --- 三部曲的「民間」寫作與三十年代文學 --- p.46 / Chapter 第四章´Ø --- 李劼人的三部曲與茅盾的《子夜》´ؤ´ؤ兩種敘述歷史的模式 --- p.61 / Chapter 第五章. --- 男女情慾故事´ؤ´ؤ個人空間與歷史空間 --- p.71 / Chapter 第六章´Ø --- 新舊版《大波》比較 --- p.81 / Chapter 第七章´Ø --- 總結 --- p.93 / 附錄：保路運動大事表 --- p.95 / 參考書目 --- p.101

陳志傑. / "2001年6月" / 論文 (哲學碩士)--香港中文大學, 2001. / 參考文獻 (leaves 117-123) / 附中英文摘要. / "2001 nian 6 yue" / Chen Zhijie. / Lun wen (zhe xue shuo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 2001. / Can kao wen xian (leaves 117-123) / Fu Zhong Ying wen zhai yao. / Chapter 第一章 --- 導言 --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- 基督教與中國現代小說的研究 / Chapter 1.2 --- 郁達夫、茅盾、許地山的獨特之處 / Chapter 1.3 --- 郁達夫、茅盾、許地山三人的硏究檢討 / Chapter 1.4 --- 硏究構想與槪念簡釋 / Chapter 1.5 --- 材料與方法 / Chapter 1.6 --- 史料搜集與論證過程 / Chapter 1.7 --- 各章簡介 / Chapter 第二章 --- 時代巨變中的中國：「啓蒙與救亡」 --- p.25 / Chapter 2.1 --- 吾人覺悟與啓蒙 / Chapter 2.2 --- 「啓蒙與救亡」的一脈相承 / Chapter 2.3 --- 救亡壓倒啓蒙 / Chapter 2.4 --- 小結 / Chapter 第三章 --- 普遍皇權崩潰：「以耶補儒」 --- p.34 / Chapter 3.1 --- 皇權崩潰下的真空 / Chapter 3.2 --- 陳獨秀對基督教的理解與認同 / Chapter 3.3 --- 小結 / Chapter 第四章 --- 由傳統轉向現代的「文以載道」與郁達夫的啓蒙 --- p.40 / Chapter 4.1 --- 文學革命 / Chapter 4.2 --- 沉淪與重新 / Chapter 4.3 --- 《南遷》的諷刺與肯定 / Chapter 4.4 --- 小結 / Chapter 第五章 --- 茅盾的政治寓言小說 --- p.54 / Chapter 5.1 --- 審查下的創作 / Chapter 5.2 --- 在桂林的《新舊約全書》 / Chapter 5.3 --- 《耶稣之死》的政治暗喻 / Chapter 5.4 --- 小結 / Chapter 第六章 --- 我們要甚麼樣的宗敎：許地山 --- p.76 / Chapter 6.1 --- 許地山與宗教 / Chapter 6.2 --- 我們要甚麼樣的宗教 / Chapter 6.3 --- 基督教「人格救國」 / Chapter 6.4 --- 聖賢基督徒《商婦人》、《缀網勞蛛》 / Chapter 6.5 --- 處於民族主義與基督教的《玉官》 / Chapter 6.6 --- 小結 / Chapter 第七章 --- 郁達夫、茅盾、許地山與基督敎 --- p.107 / Chapter 7.1 --- 郁達夫：向基督的懺悔 / Chapter 7.2 --- 茅盾：耶稣的犧牲精神 / Chapter 7.3 --- 許地山：耶穌之再現 / Chapter 7.4 --- 小結 / Chapter 第八章 --- 結論 --- p.115 / 參考書目 --- p.117

The relationship between the Bible and literature is long-standing and has received increasing attention in recent years. This project investigates the interface between the Bible and literature by focusing on the genre of “parable”. The influence of the Bible on Western literature is considerable, and yet in the case of George MacDonald’s writing it is often overlooked. The “parabolic” is a helpful way to focus our discussion as it is an important genre both in Jesus’ proclamation of the Kingdom of God and more subtly in MacDonald’s fantasy and fairytale writing. It is remarkable that approximately a third of Jesus’ teaching about the Kingdom of God comes in the form of parabolic speech. Rather than serving as a nice illustrative story to a theological point made elsewhere, the actual form of parabolic speech is crucial for the message it seeks to convey. Form and content work together in Jesus’ parables in a unique way to break open the reality depicted in parable. This thesis attempts to investigate a specifically biblical view of “parable” for understanding certain aspects of MacDonald’s fantasy literature. MacDonald developed a decidedly theological understanding of story as having the capacity to refresh the revelatory nature of Scripture. It is by the imagination that a poet is able to find new forms to recast and recover old and forgotten truths. By designating the poet as a finder rather than a maker, MacDonald resists Coleridge’s idealist inclinations to elevate the poet to a creator. His employment of story and more particularly the “parabolic” is then not only an aesthetic but also a theological choice. MacDonald’s last fantasy romance, Lilith, will serve as our test case to demonstrate this. Considering the “parabolic” in Lilith sheds significant light on the meaning of Lilith and offers up a decisive answer to the important question of whether MacDonald moves in his fantasy and fairytales from a decidedly Christian perspective to a more polyvalent view of reality. This argument shall be further substantiated by bringing to the light the important influence of Novalis on Lilith.

This thesis examines selected speculative novels by Margaret Atwood, Ursula K. Le Guin, Doris Lessing and Marge Piercy. It argues that a specifiable ecological ethic can be traced in their work – an ethic which is explored by them through the tensions between utopian and dystopian discourses. The first part of the thesis begins by theorising the concept of an ecological ethic of respect for the Other through current ecological philosophies, such as those developed by Val Plumwood. Thereafter, it contextualises the novels within the broader field of science fiction, and speculative fiction in particular, arguing that the shift from a critical utopian to a critical dystopian style evinces their changing treatment of this ecological ethic within their work. The remainder of the thesis is divided into two parts, each providing close readings of chosen novels in the light of this argument. Part Two provides a reading of Le Guin’s early Hainish novels, The Left Hand of Darkness, The Word for World is Forest and The Dispossessed, followed by an examination of Piercy’s Woman on the Edge of Time, Lessing’s The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four and Five, and Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale. The third, and final, part of the thesis consists of individual chapters analysing the later speculative novels of each author. Piercy’s He, She and It, Le Guin’s The Telling, and Atwood’s Oryx and Crake are all scrutinised, as are Lessing’s two recent ‘Ifrik’ novels. This thesis shows, then, that speculative fiction is able to realise through fiction many of the ideals of ecological thinkers. Furthermore, the increasing dystopianism of these novels reflects the greater urgency with which the problem of Othering needs to be addressed in the light of the present global ecological crisis.

This thesis project examines the work of three female Nigerian authors: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Sefi Atta and Chika Unigwe. They are part of a growing number of young African writers who are receiving international acclaim and challenging narratives that have long defined the continent in pejorative terms. They question what it means to be female and African in a transcultural, global world but counter discourses that are both restrictive and prescriptive. Their female characters are not imaged in binary terms as either victims or villains. For all three writers, the African story has to be told in its entirety incorporating what some may argue are negative stereotypes but doing so in a manner that examines and undermines those same stereotypes. For the purposes of the thesis, I focus on their first novels: Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus, Atta’s Everything Good Will Come and Unigwe’s On Black Sisters’ Street. Chapter One examines Purple Hibiscus and argues that the novel is much more than a coming of age story or, as some critics have posited, an allegory of the postcolonial state. Chapter Two highlights Atta’s use of fairly familiar feminist theories but grounds them in the lived realities of the African city. All three authors are concerned with issues of violence and death. Unigwe’s novel, which forms the focus of Chapter Three, offers a critical perspective on how both of those themes intersect with the increasing commercialisation of global culture. Her characters are female sex workers whose lives are irrevocably altered by the murder of one of their colleagues. I conclude by arguing that the three novels offer a nuanced if not necessarily new understanding of the various social, economic and political forces that continue to shape the lives of women on the continent.

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)