Thesis (M.A.) --University of Limpopo, 2011 / This study is to conduct a detailed study of milieu in a number of Xitsonga novels in I Vutomi by Lubis CM and Xona hi Xihi? by DR Maluleke. This study also emphasizes on how the characters are depicted in rural areas and urban places. Lubisi and Maluleke are able to enlighten the community about the importance of establishing the distinct relationship between space and time. The first chapter is a general introduction that outlines and provides background of the study. Milieu as well as its manifestation in I Vutomi and Xona hi Xihi? is discussed in the second chapter. The third chapter deals with characterization. In the fourth chapter, the main theme of the novels is critically examined. The fifth chapter is a brief overview of the first four chapters. It also summarizes the findings of the research and provides recommendations.

Adolescence is an incredibly complex period of life. During this time young people are searching for and wanting to create their own unique identity, however being confronted with a plethora of roles and directions is challenging and confusing. These challenges are reflected in the vast array of young adult literature being presented to young people today. As a result young adult literature has the potential to function as scaffolding to assist teenagers in the struggles of adolescence by serving as an important source of information about the world and the people in it. Teenage novels also give young people the opportunity to try on different identities and vicariously experience consequences of actions while developing their own distinctive personality and character. As this study reveals, the Australian young adult novel has undergone considerable developments, with 1989 serving as a milestone year in which writers and publishers turned in new directions. In general, Australian young adult novels have changed from books set predominately in rural areas, incorporating major themes of child abuse, death, friendship and survival with introverted characters aged between twelve and sixteen in the early 1980s to novels with urban settings, a large increase in books about crime, dating, drugs and mental health and sexually active, extroverted characters aged between fourteen and eighteen in the late 1990s. To chart the progression of these changes and gain an understanding of the messages young adults receive from adolescent novels an evaluative framework was developed. The framework consists of two main sections. The first part applies to the work as a whole, obtaining data about the novel such as plot, style, setting, temporal context, use of humour, issues within the text and ending, while the second part collects information about character demographics including gender, age, occupational status, family type, sexual orientation, relationships with family and authority figures, personality traits and outlook for character. To qualitatively and quantitatively assess the construction of youth in Australian young adult literature a random selection of 20 per cent of Australian young adult books published in each year from 1980 to 2000 were analysed using the evaluative framework, with 186 novels being studied altogether. During the 1990s in particular, Australian young adult literature was heavily criticised for being too bleak, too dark, presenting a picture of life that was all gloom and doom. This research resoundingly dismisses this argument by showing that rather than being a negative influence on the lives of young people, Australian books for young people present a comprehensive portrayal of youth. They probe the entire gamut of teenage experiences, both the good and the bad, providing a wide range of scenarios, roles, relationships and characters for young people to explore. Therefore Australian young adult literature provides an important source of information and support for the psycho-social development of young people during the formative years of adolescence. This research is significant because it gives hard evidence to support the promotion of a representative selection of Australian young adult novels both in the classroom and in home, school and public libraries. By establishing the available range of contemporary Australian young adult literature through this study, young adult readers, teachers and librarians can be confident in the knowledge that appropriate titles are accessible which meet the needs and interests of young people. Consequently, the substantial amount of data gathered from this study will considerably add to the knowledge and understanding ofAustralian young adult novels to date and provide an excellent starting point for further research in the future.

<p>The main purpose of this study is to analyse how the main themes of alienation and the search for identity is portrayed by Swedish author Inger Edelfeldt. I have applied the theories of Rita Felski concerning feminist novels of self-discovery, in which the development of the female identity is the main question. As Edelfeldt’s writing consists of literature for the young as well as adults, I have included material from both of these genres. I have also taken use of Ulla Lundqvists theories about Swedish juvenile books when examining aspects of the main character’s feelings of alienation and identity searching.</p><p>The results of my analysis show that the reading of my material as feminist novels of self-discovery has revealed pervading charachteristics of alienation, love, friendship and psychological development. The genre-crossing tendency of Edelfeldt’s writing shows in that the theme of identity crisis and the search for identity is an important issue in all of her novels, despite the protagonist’s age. Finally, I show in my study, that by rejecting the heterosexual love-story narrative, Edelfeldts novels put the woman’s own psychological development in focus.</p>

The main purpose of this study is to analyse how the main themes of alienation and the search for identity is portrayed by Swedish author Inger Edelfeldt. I have applied the theories of Rita Felski concerning feminist novels of self-discovery, in which the development of the female identity is the main question. As Edelfeldt’s writing consists of literature for the young as well as adults, I have included material from both of these genres. I have also taken use of Ulla Lundqvists theories about Swedish juvenile books when examining aspects of the main character’s feelings of alienation and identity searching. The results of my analysis show that the reading of my material as feminist novels of self-discovery has revealed pervading charachteristics of alienation, love, friendship and psychological development. The genre-crossing tendency of Edelfeldt’s writing shows in that the theme of identity crisis and the search for identity is an important issue in all of her novels, despite the protagonist’s age. Finally, I show in my study, that by rejecting the heterosexual love-story narrative, Edelfeldts novels put the woman’s own psychological development in focus.

This thesis seeks to portray how an objectifying intra-diegetic gaze influences and constructs the plot devices Frances Burney uses in her four novels: Evelina, Cecilia, Camilla, and The Wanderer. Burney creates a literary reality within her four novels’ narratives and breaks that reality down with the influence of the gazes and judgments of her novels’ characters upon each of her heroines. The gaze is an almost microscopic examination that objectifies and depersonalizes all of Burney’s heroines. Burney shows how the gaze shifts perspectives and manipulates that which it objectifies. Burney places her audience and her heroines into unfamiliar situations and then she shows the costs and benefits of reasserting one’s gaze. This thesis will show how Burney portrays the power of objectification in her novels upon her heroines, and the consequences that arise from the tensions of bombarding social gazes in all their duplicitous forms.

My ambition with his exam is to study how young girls are being depicted in swedish novels of 2010. I have analyzed how the identity and the search for identity are produced in these books. To be able to make my analysis of these books I have used Maria Nikolajeva’s book Barnbokens byggklossar. From wich I have worked out a few questions that I have used my analysis in the portrayal of these girls. All the girls are between 12-14 years old and they all are struggeling to find out who and what they realy are. To put my results and analysis in a bigger perspective i have compared them with earlier research of how girls have been depicted in novels through history. Throughout history girl books have had the purpuse to bring up girls into being good girls. In the novels of 2010 we can see that girls now are being depicted differently. But one thing they all have in common is their search for identity and for finding who they realy are. They all are struggeling to trust who they realy are and to find the courage to stand up for themselvs and their identity.

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It is a research about The Four Great novels in late Ching Dynasty, to discuss the intentions of the writers, the background of the era, structure and narrative, characters, readers and the thought of the novels. The intentions of the writers were strong and everyone of them had his own specialty. There were so many wars in late Ching Dynasty, the politics was disorder and the culture was continued to change from the old one to the new one. The disorder situation effected the novels. Transporting foreign novels to China and printing the novels on newspapers made the Four Great novels got change. It changed the structure and narrative of the novels. The readers were very important to the novels and the relations among the readers,writers and works got change because of printing the novels on newspapers. The intention of the writers were strong that it made the novels more thoughtful and showed them by the way of blaming and exposing the crimes. This is not only a research about the forms but also the thought of the novels that it tries to offer a more complete observation of the Four Great novels.

Product placement, an advertising trend that places a brand within the context of an information medium, has emerged as an effective means of increasing brand recognition. The practice has not been thoroughly examined in the different media in which it occurs. The purpose of the present experiment was to investigate the effectiveness of prominent and subtle product placements in books on different forms of memory. The effectiveness of the placements was evaluated by measuring explicit and implicit memory for the placed brands. Additionally, effectiveness was measured with two types of preference judgments: a forced choice scenario and a shopping list scenario. Results from Experiment 1 showed that participants demonstrated implicit memory for brands mentioned in the novel with a word stem completion task and a category exemplar generation task. The centrality of placement only affected performance on these tasks for test-aware participants. Experiment 2 used a forced choice task and showed that consumer preference was unaffected by subtle and prominent placements. Experiment 3 used a shopping list scenario and showed that brand placement affected participants’ preferences for previously studied brands regardless of the placement centrality. The experiments also showed that participants had explicit memory for the brands with prominent placements leading to better recall than subtle placements. Taken together, the findings show that the placement of brands in books is a valid means of influencing consumer awareness and behavior toward the brand.

No description available.