Orientador: Cláudia Maria Ceneviva Nigro / Banca: Célia M. R. da Rocha / Banca: Álvaro Luiz Hattnher / Resumo: O objetivo deste trabalho é analisar como ocorrem as buscas do ser e da arte em "O cavaleiro inexistente" de Ítalo Calvino. Para tal, serão observados alguns diálogos que a obra estabelece com o poema épico-cavaleiresco "Orlando furioso" de Ludovico Ariosto no âmbito da formação identitária dos entes ficcionais e da própria narrativa e, além disso, das fronteiras entre a literatura e a realidade. / Abstract: The present work aims at analysing the search for art and existence occurs in "The Non- Existent Knight" by Italo Calvino. To fulfil this analysis, it will be closely observed the dialogues between "The Non-Existent Knight" with the knight-epic poem "Orlando Furioso" by Ludovico Ariosto respecting features such as identity construction of the fictional and the narrative itself, and, the boundaries between literature and reality. / Mestre

This research expresses female character portrayal in various drama works written by males. Chapter one is a general introduction that gives the key to this study, the motivation that leads to the selection of this topic; a literary review on the portrayal of female characters in literary works written by males; the scope of study, the basic composition of the ensuing chapters and the definitions of terms that are of paramount importance for this research. Various literary theories are used in Chapter two for the analysis of the research texts. These literary theories include womanism, gender and feminism which expose the social effects caused by the negative perception of females in social life and the negative portrayal of female characters in male dramatic writings. Other literary theories include onomastics as a literary theory, which exposes the relationship between the name giver of a person and the power the name gives to its bearer, as well as psychoanalysis as a theory which proved to be unavoidable, since this study analyses the personal behaviour of the individual characters within their literary environment. Chapter three depicts the general victimization of female characters in male drama works and exposes the various effects of the attitudes of male writers towards female characters in terms of gender role. Chapter four shows a general stereotypical portrayal of female characters in male written drama texts. This chapter shows the impact of stereotyping on female characters from drama works that puts them in a vulnerable position, showing that it is risky to become a victim of ill-treatment in their communities and the literary world. Chapter five deals with the psychological literary review of female characters, showing them as being suicidal and murderers who easily take their own lives and those of other people. Chapter six is a general conclusion of the works which includes observer remarks from other literary researchers of the literature.

This dissertation examines the constructions of gender and national identity in four of Alan Warner's novels: Morvern Callar, These Demented Lands, The Sopranos, and The Man Who Walks. I argue that Warner uses gender identity as the basis for the examination of a Scottish national identity. He uses the metaphor of the body to represent Scotland in devolution. His pregnant females are representative of "Scotland Expecting," a notion that suggests Scotland is expecting independence from England. I argue that this expectation also involves the search for a genuine Scottish identity that is not marred by the effects of colonization. Warner's male characters are emasculated and represent Scotland's mythological past. The Man Who Walks suggests that his female characters' pregnancies result in stillbirths. These stillbirths represent Scotland's inability to let go of the past in order to move towards a future independent nation.

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This dissertation offers an examination of Delany's critical trajectory from structuralism to poststructuralism and postmodernism across a gamut of genres from SF to sword-and-sorcery, pornography, autobiography and literary criticism. Delany's engagement with semiotics, Foucault and deconstruction form the theoretical focus, together with his own theories of how SF functions as a literary genre, and its standing and reception within the greater realm of literature. The impact of Delany as a gay, black SF writer is also examined against the backdrop of his varied output. I have used the term 'dislocation' to describe Delany's tackling of traditional subjects and genres, and opening them up to further possibilities through critical engagement. Lastly, Delany is also examined as a postmodern icon. A frequent participant in his own texts, as well using pseudonyms that have developed into fully-fledged characters, Delany has become a critical signifier in his own work. / English Studies / M. A. (English)

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2014. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this thesis the potential of Eben Venter’s novel Ek stamel ek sterwe (1996) as a subversive text is investigated. The primary goal is to illustrate how Eben Venter depicts the stigmatisation of homosexuality, aids and death, but more specifically the death of a homosexual individual who has aids, in society. The secondary goal is to investigate the ways in which Venter depicts the impact that the heteronormative ideal has on homosexual individuals by means of the regulation of norms. Judith Butler’s theorisation of sex, gender, identity and performativity is used as a lens with which Ek stamel ek sterwe is read. The finding is that Ek stamel ek sterwe is a novel with subversive potential and the implications that this has is discussed. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie tesis word die potensiaal van Eben Venter se roman Ek stamel ek sterwe (1996) as ’n ondermynende teks ondersoek met as primêre doel om die wyse na te gaan waarop Eben Venter die stigmatisering van homoseksualiteit, vigs en die dood, maar ook spesifiek die dood van ’n homoseksuele individu en ’n vigslyer, in die samelewing uitbeeld. Die sekondêre doel is om ondersoek in te stel na die maniere waarop Venter met die roman die impak van die heteronormatiewe ideaal se regulering van norme op veral homoseksuele individue uitwys. Judith Butler se teoretisering oor geslag, gender, identiteit en performatiwiteit, sowel as die ondermyning van heteronormatiewe norme, word as lens gebruik waarmee Ek stamel ek sterwe gelees kan word. Daar word uiteindelik tot die gevolgtrekking gekom dat Ek stamel ek sterwe wel as ’n ondermynende teks beskou kan word en die implikasies hiervan word bespreek.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis explores how the feminine Other is used by Euripides in the Hecuba to highlight certain tensions between an aristocratic ideal of manliness and a classical democratic masculinity in the fifth century Athenian polis. The first chapter will establish the masculine nature of the Athenian polis and discuss the different elements which highlight the inherent masculinity of Athenian society. The second chapter provides a socio-political context for the position of women in fifth century Athens and explores the otherness of the feminine in the masculine polis. Chapter three explores the problematic nature of speech in the democratic state and uses the feminine Other in the Hecuba to examine possible tensions between an outmoded aristocratic ethos and the democratic ideal of manliness. In the fourth chapter Euripides' use of the Other in the Hecuba is utilized to discuss violence, revenge, and masculinity in the Athenian polis. The final chapter provides a discussion on nomos and how the tensions between aristocratic and democratic ideals problematise the authority of traditional laws and how Euripides uses the feminine Other in the Hecuba to emphasise these issues. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis ondersoek die wyse waarop Euripides die vroulike Ander in Hecuba gebruik om spanning tussen die aristokratiese ideaal van manlikheid en die klassieke demokratiese manlikheid in die vyfde-eeuse Atheense polis na vore te bring. Die eerste hoofstuk sal die manlike aard van die Atheense polis vestig en sal die elemente wat die inherente manlikheid van die Atheense samelewing beklemtoon, bespreek. Die tweede hoofstuk vervat die sosio-politieke konteks van die vrou se posisie in vyfde-eeuse Athene en verken die andersheid van die vrou in die manlike polis. Hoofstuk drie verken die problematiese aard van spraak in die demokratiese staat en gebruik die vroulike Ander in Hecuba om moontlike spanning tussen die verouderde aristokratiese etos en die demokratiese ideaal van manlikheid te ondersoek. Die vierdie hoofstuk ondersoek Euripides se gebruik van die Ander in Hecuba om geweld, wraak en manlikheid in die Atheense polis te bespreek. Die finale hoofstuk vervat 'n bespreking van nomos en die problematiek ten opsigte van die outoriteit van tradisionele wette as gevolg van die spanning tussen aristokratiese en demokratiese ideale en Euripides se gebruik van die vroulike Ander in Hecuba om hierdie geskilpunte te beklemtoon.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis puts the fiction of Zoë Wicomb and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie into conversation with particular reference to three issues: authorship, history and gender. Apart from anything else, what Wicomb and Adichie have in common is an interest in the representation of marginalised or minority ethnic groups within the nation - the coloured people in the case of Wicomb, and the Igbo in the case of Adichie. Yet what both writers also have in common is that neither seems to advocate the reification of these ethnic groups in reformulations of nationalist discourse. The thesis argues that through their focus on various forms of marginality, both Wicomb and Adichie destabilise traditional notions of nation, authorship, history, gender identity, the boundary between domestic and public life, and the idea of “home”. The thesis focuses on four main topics, each of which is covered in a chapter: the question of authorial voice in relation to history; perspectives offered by women characters in relation to oppressive or traumatic historical moments; oppressive or traumatic histories intruding into the intimate domestic space; and the issue of transnational migration and its (un)homely effects. Employing concepts of metafiction and mise-en-abyme self-reflexivity, the study begins by considering the ways in which Wicomb’s David’s Story and Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun both reflect on the idea of authorship. Focusing on the ways in which each text draws the reader into witnessing authorship, the thesis argues that the two novels can be put into conversation as they both stage dilemmas about authorship in relation to those marginalised by national histories. Following on from this idea of marginalisation by nationalist histories, the thesis then proceeds to examine both writers’ foregrounding of women’s stories that are set in oppressive and/or violent historical times – under apartheid in the case of Wicomb’s You Can’t Get Lost in Cape Town, and during the Biafran war in the case of Adichie’s Half of a Yellow Sun. Utilising ideas about gender, history and literary history by Tiyambe Zeleza, Florence Stratton and Elleke Boehmer, the study analyses how, beginning with father-daughter relationships, Wicomb and Adichie wean their female characters from their fathers’ control so that they may begin telling their own stories that complicate and subvert the stories that their fathers represent. Drawing on Sigmund Freud’s theory of “the uncanny” and Homi Bhabha’s postcolonial reading of that theory, the study then turns to discuss the ways in which oppressive national histories become manifest in domestic spaces (that are usually marginalised in national histories), turning those spaces into unhomely homes, in Wicomb’s Playing in the Light and Adichie’s Purple Hibiscus. In both novels, purity (whether racial or religious) is cultivated in the family home, but this cultivation of purity, which is reflected symbolically in the kinds of gardens each family grows, evidently has “unhomely” effects that signal the return of the repressed, of that which is disavowed in discourses of purity. Since both Wicomb and Adichie are African-born women authors living abroad, and since the “unhomely” aspects of transnational existence are reflected upon in their fiction, the study finally considers the forms of marginality to the national posed by the migrant. Transnational migration is examined in Wicomb’s The One That Got Away and in Adichie’s The Thing Around Your Neck, placing stories from these two recently published sets of short stories into dialogue. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie tesis plaas die fiksie van Zoë Wicomb en Chimamandi Ngozi Adichie in gesprek met mekaar, met verwysing na veral drie sake: outeurskap, geskiedenis en geslag (gender). Afgesien van ander kwessies het die fiksie van Wicomb en Adichie ‘n belangstelling in die fiktiewe voorstelling van gemarginaliseerde of minderheidsgroepe in die nasie in gemeen – die kleurlinggroep in die geval van Wicomb en die Igbo in die geval van Adichie. Nogtans beveel geeneen van hierdie twee skrywers ‘n reïfikasie van nasionalistiese diskoers aan nie. Die tesis voer aan dat, deur hulle fokus op verskeie vorme van marginaliteit, beide Wicomb en Adichie tradisionele konsepte van nasionalisme, skrywer-skap, geskiedenis, geslagsidentiteit, die grens tussen private en publieke lewe en die idee van ‘n eie tuiste destabiliseer. Die vier hoof-onderwerpe van die tesis is word elk in ‘n eie hoofstuk behandel: die kwessie van ‘n skrywerstem in verhouding tot die geskiedenis; perspektiewe wat belig word deur vrouekarakters in kontekste van onderdrukkende of traumatiese historiese momente; hoedat onderdrukkings- of traumatiese geskiedenisse die private sfeer binnedring; asook die kwessie van ‘n migrasie oor landsgrense en die ontheimingseffek hiervan. Deur die gebruik van metafisiese en mise-en-abyme selfrefleksie begin die studie deur te reflekteer op hoe Wicomb se David’s Story en Adichie se Half of a Yellow Sun [aangaande] die idee van outeurskap reflekteer. Deur te fokus op die wyses waarop beide tekste die leser betrek om skrywerskap waar te neem, voer die tesis aan dat die twee romans met mekaar in gesprek geplaas kan word, terwyl albei dilemmas van outeurskap met betrekking tot diegene wat in nasionale geskiedskrywing gemarginaliseer word, sentraal plaas. Volgende op hierdie kwessie gaan die tesis dan voort om albei skrywers se vooropstelling van vroue se verhale gesitueer in onderdrukkende of gewelddadige tye – onder apartheid in die geval van Wicomb se You Can’t Get Lost in Cape Town en gedurende die Biafraanse oorlog in Adichie se Half of a Yellow Sun – te ondersoek. Met behulp van idees aangaande gender, geskiedenis en literêre geskiedenis van Tiyambe Zeleza, Florence Stratton en Elleke Boehmer, analiseer die tesis hoedat, beginnende met vader-dogter verhoudings, Wicomb en Adichie hul vroulike karakters loswikkel van hul vaders se kontrole sodat hulle kan begin om hul eie verhale te vertel – stories wat die verhale van hul vaders kompliseer en ondermyn. Met behulp van Sigmund Freud se teorie van die onheimlike en Homi Bhabha se postkolonialistiese interpretasie van daardie idee, gaan die tesis dan voort deur maniere waarop onderdrukkende nasionale geskiedenisse in die tuis-ruimtes (wat gewoonlik deur nasionale geskiedskrywing gemarginaliseer word) manifesteer, met die onheimlike effek hiervan op die tuisruimte – beide in Wicomb se Playing in the Light en in Adichie se Purple Hibiscus – te ondersoek. In albei romans word reinheid ( van ras of geloof) in die familie-tuiste gekultiveer, maar hierdie nadruk op reinheid – simbolies gereflekteer in die tuine wat deur albei gesinne aangelê word – het wel onmiskenbare onheimlike gevolge wat die terugkeer van wat onderdruk is (in die naam van reinheid) aandui. Omdat beide Wicomb en Adichie vroue-skrywers is wat in Afrika gebore is maar oorsee lewe, en omdat die onheimlike aspekte van ‘n transnasionale lewensstyl in hul fiksie oorweeg word, beskryf die tesis die vorms van marginaliteit met betrekking tot die nasionale wat deur die migrant tot stand kom. Transnasionale migrasie word in Wicomb se The One that Got Away en Adichie se The Thing around your Neck oorweeg, wat die verhale uit hierdie twee versamelings in gesprek met mekaar plaas.

This thesis explores cosmopolitan and humanist literary interventions by Palestinian, Israeli, Indian and Pakistani writers to the rise of ‘ethnically’ defined cultural and political narratives of community. It uses a comparative framework to look at contemporary authors such as Amitav Ghosh, Raja Shehadeh, Kamila Shamsie, Uzma Aslam Khan and David Grossman, who deconstruct the biologically defined border as a repressive literary, cultural and political metaphor in favour of more open-ended categories of identity and community. I argue that in deconstructing the epistemology of the exclusive boundary through cosmopolitan and humanist philosophies, these international writers demonstrate the impossibility of shedding all borders in their own work. Their ‘borderless’ aesthetic that constantly conjures the border is thus indicative of the interrelated nature of cosmopolitan and sectarian identities in a globalized modernity. Moreover, it is suggestive of the ambivalent relationship between politically-conscious postcolonial texts (which draw political lines) and the emerging field of World literature that is coming to be defined by its ability to appeal to the 'universal'.