This thesis offers both a survey of representative French language literary plagiarisms from Corneille's Le Cid to contemporary internet downloading, and an evaluation of theoretical approaches to plagiarism and plagiarism-related subjects including intertextuality, pastiche, heteroglossia, and citation. The author argues that all-encompassing theoretical approaches to plagiarism cannot account for vast variations, both in the motivation for plagiarizing on the part of the author, and in the reception of the plagiarized material by individual readers and by the literary/discursive community. Varying standards of acceptability for plagiarized texts are contingent upon the historical, political, geographical and legal juncture within which they are undertaken, and the consequences of plagiarisms uncovered vary accordingly. Nevertheless, the author notes an important relationship between prevailing socio-economic relations within the society and the ways in which plagiarism is regarded by the institutions entrusted with the regulation of, for example, copyright, author's rights, and the publishing industry. After considering the findings and failings of the growing corpus of approaches to plagiarism from Angenot to Zumthor, the author concludes that at the end of the day, approaches are most significantly narrowed-down to categories that uphold or reject the practise of plagiarism. Two extreme examples of these categories would be the corporations' attempts to purchase for all time the rights to the reproduction and diffusion of literary texts, and the Bakhtin-inspired approach that emphasizes the point that utterances are common to communities of speakers, and as such redundancy and repetition are inevitable--but so too is assurance that the originality of each repetition will be affirmed by the ever-changing context within which it is spoken. The latter approach, deemed utopic within the present system of economic relations, is not upheld as a panacea: indeed the

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Thomas Hardy described himself as "churchy". Yet his later novels and poetry gave him the reputation of being an agnostic, an atheist and a heathen. He denied that there was any particular philosophy behind his work claiming that it was the result of impressions not convictions. However, I wish to show that Hardy's fiction and poetry expose specific religious beliefs and doubts, that gave rise to his notoriously pessimistic art. By investigating the themes of sin, atonement and salvation, as reflected in the Mosaic Law and the New Testament against Hardy's mature novels, and examining Hardy's concept of God in his poetry, I aim to show that Hardy rejected the miraculous and the doctrine of redemption but retained a belief in the Biblical premiss that the earth is cursed and that humanity is governed by the Biblical Laws which dictate the consequences of sin. Hardy depicts a universe in which humankind is cursed from birth, resides on a cursed earth and is denied the possibility of salvation or redemption. Hardy's profoundly pessimistic world view is a result of his inability to accept the Christian doctrines that offer man a means to rise above the curse of original sin. The characters and plots he created in his fiction were born out of doubt and despair. Consequently, his imaginative universe is permeated with doom and damnation. / English Studies / M.A. (English)

Thomas Hardy described himself as "churchy". Yet his later novels and poetry gave him the reputation of being an agnostic, an atheist and a heathen. He denied that there was any particular philosophy behind his work claiming that it was the result of impressions not convictions. However, I wish to show that Hardy's fiction and poetry expose specific religious beliefs and doubts, that gave rise to his notoriously pessimistic art. By investigating the themes of sin, atonement and salvation, as reflected in the Mosaic Law and the New Testament against Hardy's mature novels, and examining Hardy's concept of God in his poetry, I aim to show that Hardy rejected the miraculous and the doctrine of redemption but retained a belief in the Biblical premiss that the earth is cursed and that humanity is governed by the Biblical Laws which dictate the consequences of sin. Hardy depicts a universe in which humankind is cursed from birth, resides on a cursed earth and is denied the possibility of salvation or redemption. Hardy's profoundly pessimistic world view is a result of his inability to accept the Christian doctrines that offer man a means to rise above the curse of original sin. The characters and plots he created in his fiction were born out of doubt and despair. Consequently, his imaginative universe is permeated with doom and damnation. / English Studies / M.A. (English)

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: J. M. Coetzee se werke ondersoek dikwels op intense en ongewone wyse wat kreatiwiteit is en hoe dit werk, wat die bronne en oorspronge daarvan is, en verwonder sig aan die onvoorspelbaarheid van die voorwaardes en katalisators vir, en die aard en uitkomste van, die kreatiewe proses. Hierdie essay ondersoek eerstens die teoretisering van literêre kreatiwiteit deur veral Derek Attridge, wat hy hoofsaaklik baseer op Coetzee se werk. Tweedens word die komplekse uitbeeldings – of performance – van kreatiwiteit en die kreatiewe proses in Coetzee se oeuvre, spesifiek aan die hand van The Master of Petersburg en die post-Disgrace werke, ontleed. Daar word gefokus op skeppende karakters en alter ego’s, veral skrywers, wat toenemend hul verskyning in Coetzee se prosa maak. Kwessies van skrywerlike mag, die etiek van skryf, die konflik tussen werklikheidsvlakke binne fiksie asook tussen werklikheid en fiksie, soos dit uitspeel in die hibriede en eksperimentele laat werke, kom aan bod. Die essay maak dikwels van stipleestegnieke gebruik in die lees van die betrokke werke. Ander strategieë word egter ook ingespan, veral by die lees van die laat werke. Die siening van kreatiewe impuls wat aldus blyk, is ‘n radikale een. Kreatiwiteit is blind vir moraliteit en dalk selfs etiek. Dit word onder andere gelykgestel aan die epileptiese val. Dit gaan oor die oopstelling vir – en die eksklusiewe verantwoordelikheid teenoor – die onverwagse, die Beckettiaanse/Derridiaanse proses van ‘n produktiewe/onproduktiewe gewag. Dit word vergestalt deur ‘n gebeurtenis wat beslag vind in die onverminderbare eiesoortigheid van die literêre werk. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: J. M. Coetzee’s work often investigates in an intense and unusual manner the nature of creativity and how it works, what the sources and origins of creativity are, and marvels at the unpredictability of the preconditions and catalysts for, and the nature and outcomes of, the creative process. This essay investigates, in the first place, the theorisation of literary creativity by especially Derek Attridge, which he mainly bases on Coetzee’s work. In the second instance, the complex portrayals – or performances – of creativity and the creative process in Coetzee’s oeuvre are analysed, particularly with reference to The Master of Petersburg and the post-Disgrace works. The focus is on creative characters, particularly authors, who are increasingly making an appearance in Coetzee’s prose. Questions of authorial power, the ethics of writing, the conflict of reality levels within fiction as well as between reality and fiction, as it plays out in the hybird and experimental late works, are presented. The essay often uses close reading in the reading of the mentioned works. Other strategies are also used, particularly in the reading of the late works. The view of the creative impulse thus crystallising, is a radical one. Creativity is blind to morality, and perhaps also ethics. It is equated, inter alia, to the epileptic fit. It is about the opening up – and the exclusive responsibility – to the unexpected, to the Beckettian/Derridian process of a productive/unproductive waiting. It is represented by a happening which precipitates in the irreducible singularity of the literary work.

Zugl.: Bamberg, Univ., Diss.

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