This dissertation examines three novels by the author and critic A.S. Byatt, namely Possession (1990), Babel Tower (1996) and The Biographer’s Tale (2000), using a hermeneutic method of analysis. The investigation pays specific attention to the structure of the novels and how this compares to the structure of the ancient palimpsest. Theoretical information on the palimpsest as model is based on relevant writings by Thomas Carlyle (1830, 1833), Thomas De Quincey (1845) through to Josephine McDonagh (1987), Gérard Genette (1997) and Sarah Dillon (2007). The ensuing argument is that Byatt’s use of postmodernist pseudo-intertextuality and intertextuality cause her novels to have a palimpsestic structure of various layers, with the effect that textual boundaries are transgressed. Ultimately Byatt’s writing strategies result in ontological uncertainty for the reader. / MA (English), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014.

Intertextuality as a method of biblical interpretations is well known and often misused in theological circles. This thesis critically describes how intertextuality is used and what are the main issues with this term and method. The main conclusion is that intertextuality as the modern method is for no much use in biblical hermeneutics though it can be used as an old and well know method of source theory. Intertextuality in the modern view appears to be as a confusing and an unstable term. Philosophical presuppositions of a modern hermeneutics might lead to self-contradictory conclusions. It is not that the attempt to come to original meaning is fulfilled through new interpretational methods, but anyone can introduce any new meaning to old texts. This work shows that the reasons to believe in the death of the original meaning is based on shaky and uncertain grounds. The main concern of this work is introductory citation of the Gospel of Mark. It shows that Mark bases his high Christological understanding on the prophecy of Isaiah and Malachi. Though Mark's Gospel is often considered as the earliest manuscript containing non-high Christological notion, this work shows that Mark from the very beginning introduced us to Jesus who possesses the same qualities as the Yahweh in the books of Isaiah and...

This thesis is basically an exegetical work investigating the Abraham narrative (Gen 11:27-25:11) in Genesis in a sense of a text-centered approach, which aims to the Sitz im Text not to reconstruct the early Sitz im Leben of the narrative. In other words, this study seeks primarily to interpret the final form of the narrative as the locus of revelation. Taking the adages ‘no text is an island,’ ‘let the text speak for itself’ as its point of departure, this study focuses on the question how the individual episodes in the Abraham narrative are played by texts in Genesis and in the larger literary units in the Pentateuch. In this vein, the work examines the narrative through careful attention to literary and rhetorical features such as narrative structure, recurring themes and motifs, allusion (or foreshadowing), wordplays, points of view, plot, and characterization by attempting to analyze and describe its structure and the semantics of the arrangement of source material in the pericope of the narrative. For it is believed that the literary tools used by the author (or the final composer) to establish continuity and link various constituent parts together in a unified literary composition. Seen within such a context, two methodological approaches in this study will be offered promise for discovering possible the narrative function of the Abraham cycle: intertextuality and the composition criticism. The former provides the compositional tactics mapped out by the author (or the final composer) for the recognition of narrative literary context of the Abraham narrative within the macro-structure and the micro-structure of the Pentateuch. While, the latter asks the right questions to discover textual correlations between the narrative and the rest of texts in Genesis and in the Pentateuch. As a result, this approach to the narrative reveals a distinct compositional strategy, which is to convey the author’s (or the final composer’s) theological considerations clearly and persuasively. Methodological peculiarities for reading the Abraham narrative are considered in chapter 1. Chapter 2 is to examine in detail of the inner literary arrangement of the Abraham narrative in the narrative frame of Genesis and the Pentateuch. It is followed by a discussion of the inner textual integrity of logic, and syntax of the narrative in chapter 3. The intertextual relationships between the pericope and the remaining texts in the Pentateuch will be explored by syntactically examining of the texts at semantic and thematic level. The theological considerations of the narrative proceed by these scrutinized intra/inter-textual examination of the texts. The final chapter, chapter 5, summarizes some of the advantages of applying the method to the narrative and some exegetical suggestions in terms of pre-critical angle. Please cite as follows: Hong, KS 2007, An exegetical reading of the Abraham narrative in Genesis : semantic, textuality and theology, PhD thesis, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd- etd-05262008-155326> / Thesis (PHD)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Old Testament Studies / unrestricted

(Résumé en français) "Exercices de style" est-elle une oeuvre simplement comique et acrobatique ? Sa réception positive mais plutôt superficielle auprès du public semble avoir dissimulé ses aspects plus profonds et plus problématiques. A nos yeux, en revanche, les 99 "Exercices" d'écriture sont tout à fait aptes à éclairer les problèmes essentiels de la création littéraire et de la transmission de l'énoncé qu'est la communication verbale. La structure multi-dimensionnelle du livre, où les "Exercices" s'enchaînent, se complètent et se répondent, nous rend sensibles non seulement aux réseaux intratextuels qu'entretiennent les "Exercices", mais également aux liens intertextuels qui lient cetains d'entre eux et les discours littéraires et non littéraires préexistants. D'autres "Exercices" témoignent du regard autoréflexif de l'écrivain, ceux qui peuvent être considérés comme autoparodie. Par ailleurs, la virtuosité des variations stylistiques exige parfois du lecteur une attention particulière - face à quelques variations hermétiques et presque inintelligibles, on devra recourir à d'autres composants du livre qui serviront de "traductions". La terme "traduction" devra être compris non seulement dans le sens de la transmission de messages entre différentes langues, mais aussi dans le sens de la transposition d'un signifiant dans d'autres signifiants, ou bien de la "réécriture" d'un énoncé, tout en restant dans la même langue. Si le principe des "Exercices de style" est de renouveler à l'infini des exercices d'écrire, ou plutôt de réécrire LE texte original - "qui est d'ailleurs inexistant" -, nous pouvons poser, semble-t-il, que la Littérature est basée sur le même procédé de tâtonnements,auquel le lecteur est enctraîné à participer. (Abstract in English) Is "Exercises in style" just a comic and acrobatic book ? The fact that the readers welcomed it so favourably - but rather superficially - seems to have overshadowed its more serious and problematic aspects. In our opinion indeed, Queneau's ninety-nine writing "Exercises" can clearly shed light on the essential problems of literary creation and utterance transmission, i.e. verbal communication. The book presents an intricate structure:the "Exercises" are linked together, echo each other and complement one another. Through this multidimensional structure, we can see the intratextual networks between the "Exercises" as well as their intertextual relations with pre-existent literary and non-literary discourses. Other "Exercises" show the author's autoreflective, autoparodic attitude. Furthermore, the virtuosity of the stylistic variations sometimes requires particular attention from the reader. To understand some abstruse, sometimes almost unintelligible "Exercises", the reader has to resort to other parts of the book, which will serve as "translation" for these enigmatic passages. The word "translation" here means not only transmission of messages from a language to another, but also transposition of a signifier to other signifiers - in other words, "rewriting" of an utterance in the same language. If the principle of "Exercices in style" is to practice writing endlessly, or rather rewriting of THE original text - "which actually does not exist" - , we can reasonably deduce that Literature is based on the same trial and error process the reader will inevitably take part in.

This dissertation attempts to investigate the intertextual modus operandi in the oeuvre of H.J. Pieterse, with specific focus on his volumes, Alruin (1989) and Die burg van hertog Bloubaard (2000). The overarching purpose of the investigation is to prove that the author not only uses intertextuality in the sense that one text (literary text) refers to another text (literary and non–literary), or that one text influences another. Pieterse engages in conversation with other texts and re–writes these texts by repositioning them in another context and by adding additional metaphoric meaning to them. The author allows these texts to exchange conversation, to mutually influence one another, and this has as a result that, in his poems, his poetry and his oeuvre, metaphoric lines come into being, which lend a layered meaning to these texts and enrich the possibilities of their interpretation. Thus, a play on multiple meaning develops, which moves between texts: written texts, literary texts, non–literary texts, the author, the reader and the context(s). The conclusion to which this dissertation comes, is that the above mentioned manifestations of meanings, which exist and come into existence within the physically confines of the text, expand this text to a less confined existence in terms of meaning, more unlimited and unbound than what is necessarily allowed by the physically confined nature of the written text. The question thus arises of how the physically limited text take possession of and draws into the texts what lies beyond its physical confines to produce meaning, and how this tension around the limits of the literary text is functionally used. Consequentially, the question that follows is how this happens in the oeuvre of H.J. Pieterse and how the author uses his poetic technique to go beyond the confines of the written text. / Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans and Dutch))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

This dissertation attempts to investigate the intertextual modus operandi in the oeuvre of H.J. Pieterse, with specific focus on his volumes, Alruin (1989) and Die burg van hertog Bloubaard (2000). The overarching purpose of the investigation is to prove that the author not only uses intertextuality in the sense that one text (literary text) refers to another text (literary and non–literary), or that one text influences another. Pieterse engages in conversation with other texts and re–writes these texts by repositioning them in another context and by adding additional metaphoric meaning to them. The author allows these texts to exchange conversation, to mutually influence one another, and this has as a result that, in his poems, his poetry and his oeuvre, metaphoric lines come into being, which lend a layered meaning to these texts and enrich the possibilities of their interpretation. Thus, a play on multiple meaning develops, which moves between texts: written texts, literary texts, non–literary texts, the author, the reader and the context(s). The conclusion to which this dissertation comes, is that the above mentioned manifestations of meanings, which exist and come into existence within the physically confines of the text, expand this text to a less confined existence in terms of meaning, more unlimited and unbound than what is necessarily allowed by the physically confined nature of the written text. The question thus arises of how the physically limited text take possession of and draws into the texts what lies beyond its physical confines to produce meaning, and how this tension around the limits of the literary text is functionally used. Consequentially, the question that follows is how this happens in the oeuvre of H.J. Pieterse and how the author uses his poetic technique to go beyond the confines of the written text. / Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans and Dutch))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2011.

Die verhandeling ondersoek die wyse waarop Deon Opperman die versetmotief in sy Afrikanerdramas uitbeeld en vernuwe om die veranderende sosiale omgewing te weerspieël. Hoofstuk 1 verskaf ‘n oorsig oor verset as leefwyse en motief in die Afrikaanse drama. Hoofstuk 2 bied ‘n teoretiese ondersoek van The theatre of revolt (Brustein 1991), ’n bespreking van begrippe soos herskrywing, multikulturalisme, moderne diaspora en globalisasie sowel as ‘n kontekstuele studie van Deon Opperman se Afrikaanse oeuvre. Hoofstuk 3 (Donkerland) fokus op verset binne ‘n postkoloniale herskrywing van die Afrikanergeskiedenis. Hoofstuk 4 (Kruispad en Ons vir jou) sentreer rondom sosiale verset binne ‘n multikulturele omgewing, terwyl hoofstuk 5 Kaburu as weerkaatsende teks en die aktuele kwessie van die moderne diaspora as versetreaksie aanspreek. Die verhandeling kom tot die slotsom dat Opperman versetteater gebruik om kommentaar op aktuele probleme te lewer en om terselfdertyd‘n boodskap van transformasie oor te dra. / The dissertation examines how Deon Opperman portrays and regenerates the revolt motif in his Afrikaner dramas, in order to reflect the changing social environment. Chapter 1 provides an overview of revolt as lifestyle and as motif in Afrikaans drama. Chapter 2 offers a theoretical examination of The theatre of revolt (Brustein 1991), a discussion of concepts such as rewriting, multiculturalism, modern diaspora and globalization, as well as a contextual study of Deon Opperman’s Afrikaans oeuvre. Chapter 3 (Donkerland) focuses on revolt within the postcolonial rewriting of Afrikaner history. Chapter 4 (Kruispad and Ons vir jou) deals with social revolt within a multicultural milieu, whereas chapter 5 discusses Kaburu as a reflecting text and addresses the issue of the modern diaspora as a reaction to political transition. The dissertation reaches the conclusion that Opperman is using South African theatre as a platform for revolt as well as for transformation. / Afrikaans & theory of Literature / MA (Afrikaans en Algemene Literatuurwetenskap)

Die verhandeling ondersoek die wyse waarop Deon Opperman die versetmotief in sy Afrikanerdramas uitbeeld en vernuwe om die veranderende sosiale omgewing te weerspieël. Hoofstuk 1 verskaf ‘n oorsig oor verset as leefwyse en motief in die Afrikaanse drama. Hoofstuk 2 bied ‘n teoretiese ondersoek van The theatre of revolt (Brustein 1991), ’n bespreking van begrippe soos herskrywing, multikulturalisme, moderne diaspora en globalisasie sowel as ‘n kontekstuele studie van Deon Opperman se Afrikaanse oeuvre. Hoofstuk 3 (Donkerland) fokus op verset binne ‘n postkoloniale herskrywing van die Afrikanergeskiedenis. Hoofstuk 4 (Kruispad en Ons vir jou) sentreer rondom sosiale verset binne ‘n multikulturele omgewing, terwyl hoofstuk 5 Kaburu as weerkaatsende teks en die aktuele kwessie van die moderne diaspora as versetreaksie aanspreek. Die verhandeling kom tot die slotsom dat Opperman versetteater gebruik om kommentaar op aktuele probleme te lewer en om terselfdertyd‘n boodskap van transformasie oor te dra. / The dissertation examines how Deon Opperman portrays and regenerates the revolt motif in his Afrikaner dramas, in order to reflect the changing social environment. Chapter 1 provides an overview of revolt as lifestyle and as motif in Afrikaans drama. Chapter 2 offers a theoretical examination of The theatre of revolt (Brustein 1991), a discussion of concepts such as rewriting, multiculturalism, modern diaspora and globalization, as well as a contextual study of Deon Opperman’s Afrikaans oeuvre. Chapter 3 (Donkerland) focuses on revolt within the postcolonial rewriting of Afrikaner history. Chapter 4 (Kruispad and Ons vir jou) deals with social revolt within a multicultural milieu, whereas chapter 5 discusses Kaburu as a reflecting text and addresses the issue of the modern diaspora as a reaction to political transition. The dissertation reaches the conclusion that Opperman is using South African theatre as a platform for revolt as well as for transformation. / Afrikaans and theory of Literature / M. A. (Afrikaans en Algemene Literatuurwetenskap)