The aim of this study is to investigate conflict as a literary technique in general, and in J. M. Ntsime's play, Pelo e ja Serati, in particular. The discussion will focus on the structural causes and the effect of conflict in drama. The study comprises seven chapters. The aim, scope and methods of research are outlined and motivated in chapter one. The second chapter provides background about Ntsime's text. This mise en scene includes a plot summary, discussion of the genre of the play as well as information about the cast of characters. The chapter further considers some of the aspects upon which conflict relies, including characterisation, naming and setting. The third chapter offers some theoretical perspectives on conflict in general. These serve to determine the nature of conflict and its importance in drama. Chapter four deals with the structural analysis of conflict in Pelo e ja Serati. Emphasis is placed on the internal structure of conflict, to demonstrate its vital role in the development of dramatic action, from the beginning of the play through to its conclusion. Chapter five explores the relationship between dialogue and conflict in the play. It explores the ways in which dialogue develops and sustains conflict, Chapter six focuses on the style of the author. It discusses general stylistic techniques, including poetic language, imagery, proverbs and idioms. Particular attention was given to the use of these devices in Pelo e ja Serati and the manner in which they develop and sustain the conflict. Chapter seven revisits the main points of the study. By way of conclusion, I argued that the moral and ethical lessons portrayed by Ntsime in Pelo e ja Serati remain relevant to today's reader/audience. / Thesis (MA)--PU for CHE, 1999

The aim of this study was to explore representation and use of character in J. M. Ntsime's play, Pelo e ja Serati, with special reference to the ways in which the general attitudes and thinking processes of the characters are influenced by the social environment in which they find themselves. Conflict between traditional and modern marriage customs, a major theme of Ntsime's play, will also be examined. Although this study confines itself to Ntsime's drama, it intends to highlight the significance of characterisation in plays generally. Reference will be made to the views of, inter alia, Levitt, Pfister and Barry. This study comprises a total of seven chapters, including the introduction which details the aim, scope and method of research. Chapter two provides a backdrop to the analysis, exploring the life and career of J. M. Ntsime and also summarises the cast of characters and the plot of Pelo e ia Serati. Following this mise en scene, chapter three takes up the concept of "characterisation" and considers the author's use of setting (temporal as well as geographical) and the significance of place names. Chapter four focuses on one of Ntsime's most effective methods of characterisation, his naming of the characters. Chapter five examines Ntsime's use of imagery and comparison. Chapter six considers the crucial role of conflict in Peto e ja Serati. Here, I examine the fundamental conflict between traditional and modern marriage customs as well as the character Dithole's personal struggle between duty/destiny and desire. Chapter seven concludes this minidissertation by considering, in the spirit of comedy, the lessons about social change contained in the play. / Thesis (MA)--PU for CHE, 1999

Thesis (M.A.). / Written for the Dept. of English. Title from title page of PDF (viewed 2008/01/14). Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Giessen, 1974. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 213-226).

Thesis (M.F.A.)--West Virginia University, 2008. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains iii, 23 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 23).

Thesis (doctoral)--Université de la Sorbonne nouvelle Paris III, 1996. / Cover title. Includes bibliographical references (p. [384]-398).

Thesis (doctoral)--Université de la Sorbonne nouvelle Paris III, 1996. / Cover title. Includes bibliographical references (p. [384]-398).

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Giessen, 1974. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 213-226).

This study investigates J.M. Coetzee's use of the female voice in In the Heart of the Country, Foe and Age of Iron, and is based on the premise that Coetzee's position as a male author using a female voice is important for readings of these novels. Although the implications of Coetzee's strategy are examined against the theoretical background of feminist or gender-related discourses, this study does not attempt to claim Coetzee for feminism, nor to prove him a misogynist. Instead, it focuses on the specific positional and narrative possibilities afforded by Coetzee's use of a female voice. Chapter One comments on the fact that Coetzee's strategy of "textual cross-dressing" has not been given much critical attention in the past, observing that research on South African literature has largely been limited to studies of racial and colonial problematics. This introductory chapter mentions that the different female narrators in Coetzee's novels articulate aspects of a discourse in crisis, resulting in profound ambivalence in their representation. Chapter Two observes that the female voices in Coetzee's novels invoke the textual illusion of a speaking/writing female body, and explains that this is useful in expressing aspects of what Coetzee refers to as the suffering body. Although Coetzee appropriates a female narrative position and employs certain subversive textual elements associated with "the feminine", attempts made by certain critics to label Coetzee's writing as ecriture feminine are rejected as highly problematic. Instead, the study contends that the femaleness of the narrators relative to "masculine" discursive power enables Coetzee to perform a critique of power "from a position of weakness". Furthermore, the presence of certain "feminine" elements within these narrators suggests Coetzee's affiliation with characteristics derided within phallocratic discourses, and becomes a strategic means of fictive self-positioning, of figuring his own position as a dissident. Chapter Three is a study of In the Heart of the Country, and proposes that Magda is represented as a typical nineteenth century hysteric. Her hystericized narrative is linked to certain avant-garde narratives, such as the nouveau roman and "New Wave" cinematography, both cited by Coetzee as influences on the novel. Furthermore, the novel provides insight into the ambiguous role of the hysteric and dramatises the position of the dissident: on a discursive level Magda's narrative is subversive, and yet in terms of social "reality" her revolt is ineffectual. Chapter Four addresses the issue of author-ity in Foe, and draws on Coetzee's affiliation with Susan Barton, the struggling authoress, whose narrative reveals the levels of power and authority operating within, novelistic discourse when she asks "Who ,is speaking me?". The study observes that Foe also performs a critique of the power-seeking project of liberal feminism, as the novel sets Susan's quest for authorship against the background of a more radical "otherness", that of Friday. Chapter Five asserts that Age of Iron exploits the ethical possibilities of a maternal discourse. Tracing parallels between images of motherhood in psychoanalytic feminism and in Age of Iron, this chapter argues that Kristeva's theory of abjection is relevant for a reading of Elizabeth Curren's position as a mother who has cancer. The childbirth metaphor as it appears in Age- of Iron becomes an alternative and profoundly ethical way of figuring the process of novel writing.

Thesis (MTh)--Stellenbosch University, 2015. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study investigates whether the counter-cultural spiritual formation theology of Henri Nouwen could make a significant contribution to the discourse on an inclusive, gender-equitable, spirituality-based approach to holistic health. An analysis of Nouwen’s literary output reveals that three main relationships feature in the majority of his works: the relationship to self, the relationship to others and the relationship to God. This foundational framework of Nouwen is then used to structure the rest of the study to get an indication of the possible enduring value of certain core concepts that Nouwen developed within his triad of “movements” toward wholeness. In his thinking about the movement of Reaching out to our Fellow Human Beings, the concept of Vulnerability emerged as a key component of his theology. This forms the focus of investigation in Chapter 3 of this study. The movement of Reaching out to our Innermost Self led to an evaluation of the current usefulness of Nouwen’s seminal thinking on Embodiment, in chapter 4. In Chapter 5 the possible value of Nouwen’s lifelong engagement with Mystery as basis for his movement of Reaching Out to our God, is considered. In each of these chapters Nouwen’s possible contribution is brought into conversation with the current discourse in this field. This study then suggests that following the “downwardly mobile” way of Henri Nouwen’s spirituality of vulnerable embodiment could add a valuable contemplative dimension to the current conversation on global health and wellness. This approach may open up a range of important questions in the areas of vulnerability, embodiment and mysticism. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie stel ondersoek in na die vraag of die kontra-kulturele spiritualiteitsvorming-teologie van Henri Nouwen ’n betekenisvolle bydrae kan lewer tot die huidige diskoers rondom ’n geslagsgelyke, spiritualiteit-gebaseerde benadering tot holistiese gesondheid. ’n Analise van Nouwen se literere bydraes dui aan dat drie basiese verhoudinge ’n prominente rol speel in die meeste van sy werke: die verhouding tot self, die verhouding tot ander mense en die verhouding tot God. Hierdie grondliggende raamwerk van Nouwen word dan gebruik om die struktuur van die res van die studie te bepaal om daardeur ’n aanduiding te probeer kry oor die moontlike blywende waarde van sekere kernkonsepte wat Nouwen ontwikkel het binne sy drieledige stel “bewegings” na heelheid. Uit sy denke rondom die beweging wat hy Uitreik na ons Medemense noem, het die konsep kwesbaarheid na vore gekom as ’n sleutelbegrip in sy teologie. Dit is die navorsingsfokus van Hoofstuk 3 van hierdie studie. In Hoofstuk 4 word die moontlike bydrae van Nouwen se ontwikkelende denke rondom beliggaming ondersoek, na aanleiding van sy beskrywing van die beweging Uitreik na ons Diepste Self. In Hoofstuk 5 word ondersoek ingestel na die moontlike waarde wat Nouwen se lewenslange betrokkenheid by die mistiek mag inhou, na aanleiding van wat hy skryf oor die beweging van Uitreik na ons God. In elkeen van hierdie hoofstukke word Nouwen se moontlike waardetoevoeging in verband gebring met die huidige diskoers in hierdie area. Hierdie studie suggereer dan dat die “afwaartse beweging” van Henri Nouwen se spiritualiteit van kwesbare beliggaming ’n waardevolle kontemplatiewe dimensie mag toevoeg tot die huidige diskoers oor globale gesondheid en welwese. Hierdie benadering mag ’n verskeidenheid belangrike vrae na vore bring op die terreine van kwesbaarheid, beliggaming en mistiek.