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No description available.

This thesis develops and refines a term used initially by Bill Buford to refer to works of contemporary realism. Dirty realism characterises a strain of realism first appearing in American and Canadian writing during the 1960s and increasing in prominence through the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s. The study focuses on the scholarship surrounding both the term and the works of particular authors, and applies the theories of Fredric Jameson and Michel de Certeau to develop a basic critical vocabulary for engaging the fiction and poetry of Charles Bukowski, Raymond Carver, Richard Ford, and Mark Anthony Jarman, as well as other writers treated with less intensity, such as David Adams Richards, Helen Potrebenko, Al Purdy, and Bobbie Anne Mason. In particular, the dissertation attempts to develop a critical terminology through which to discuss dirty realist texts. The most prominent of such terms, the "hypocrisy aesthetic," refers to dirty realism's aesthetic of contradiction, discursive variance, and offsetting of theory against practice. The chapters of the dissertation deal with the emergence of the hypocrisy aesthetic through a study of literary genealogy, history, and theory. The second chapter, "Dirty Realism: Genealogy," traces the development of major currents in twentieth-century American realism, particularly naturalism. Arguing for dirty realism as a variant of naturalism, the chapter traces the transmission of ideas concerning dialectics, determinism, and commodity production from Theodore Dreiser and Frank Norris, through James T. Farrell and John Steinbeck and ending with an extensive discussion of Charles Bukowski's Factotum. The third chapter, "Dirty Realism: History," addresses the impact of the Cold War on the development of dirty realism. Referring to major critics on the period, this section of the dissertation follows the development of hypocrisy as a form of discourse eventuated by Cold War contradictions, particularly between that of democratic freedoms proclaimed abroad and the atmosphere of suspicion and paranoia on the domestic scene (as—in the USA—in the HUAC hearings chaired by Senator Joseph McCarthy). / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

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Thesis (MA) -- Stellenbosch University, 1989. / Contents: Bd. 1. Darstellung -- Bd. 2. Dokumentation. / No Abstract Available

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2001. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This work investigates characterisation in four modern Zulu novels. The objective of the study is to examine whether or not there is development in the portrayal of characters in recently published Zulu novels. The study is prompted by the view that a high number of novels in African languages have inadequate portrayal of characters (Zulu 1998). Focus has been placed on the following four Zulu novels: Izibiba Ziyeqana, Asikho Ndawo 8akithi, Isidleke Samanqe, and Itshwele Lempangele. The novels were published between 1995 and 1998 and all have won literary prizes in recognition of their high literary qualities. It has been found in the study that the way characters are portrayed in the four novels shows some signs of development. All the chief characters are 'round' in the sense that they change and adapt to changes and circumstances. Even though there are serious problems, the characters are seen to be fighting like ordinary human beings to better their lives. It is also found in the study that antagonists in some novels are round characters. It is concluded that this study identifies positive properties about the development of characterisation in the Zulu novel of the late 1990's. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie ondersoek karakterisering in vier moderne Zulu novelles. Die hoofdoelstelling van die studie is om vas te stel of daar 'n ontwikkeling in die voorstelling van karakters in onlangs-gepubliseerde Zulu novelles is. Die studie is gemotiveer deur die siening wat bestaan dat 'n groot aantal novelles in Afrikatale 'n onvoldoende voorstelling van karakters toon (Zulu, 1998). Die fokus van die studie val op die volgende vier Zulu novelles: Izibiba Ziyeqana, Asikho Ndawo Bakithi, Isidleke Samanqe en Itshwele Lempangele. Hierdie novelles is gepubliseer tussen 1995 en 1998 en het almal literere pryse gewen ter erkenning van hulle uitstaande letterkundige meriete. Die studie het bevind dat die wyse waarop die karakters voorgestel is in al vier novelles verskeie tekens van ontwikkeling ten opsigte van die Zulu letterkunde toon. AI die hoofkarakters is "rond" in die sin dat hulle verander en aanpas na gelang van veranderinge en omstandighede. Selfs onder ernstige omstandighede, veg die karakters soos gewone mense om hulle lewens te verbeter. Daar is ook in die studie bevind dat die antagoniste in sommige novelies ronde karakters is. Die studie identifiseer positiewe kenmerke t.o.v. die ontwikkeling van karakterisering in die Zulu novelle in die laat 1990's. / IQOQO Lomsebenzi ubhekane nokuvezwa kwabalingiswa emanovelini amane wesiZulu. Kubhekwe amanoveli amasha ngenjongo yokuthola ukuthi ngabe kukhona yini ukuthuthuka ngokuvezwa kwabalingiswa. Okwaziwayo okwamanje wukuthi ukuvezwa kwabalingiswa emanovelini amaningi wabomdabu kusezingeni eliphansi (Zulu 1998), yingakho-ke lomsebenzi ubuzama ukuthola ukuthi ngabe luyabonakala yini loguquko Iwemqubekela phambili. Kukhethwelamanoveli alandelayo: Izibiba Ziyeqana, Asikho Ndawo Bakithi Isidleke Samanqe, kanye ne-Itshwele Lempangele lapho kucubungulwa loshintsho lokuvezwa kwabalingiswa ngababhali bemnyaka yabo 1990. Lamanoveli angawoshicilelo olusuka ku-1995 ukuya ku-1998. Kuye kwakhethwa lamanoveli ngoba azuze imiklomelo yokuthi abhalwe ngezinga eliphezulu. Okutholwe kulomsebenzi ukuthi ukuvezwa kwabalingiswa yilababhali balamanovela kubonisa impumela phambili. Bonke abalingiswa abaphambili batholakala beyizindilinga. Umlingiswa nomlingiswa lapho ehlangabezana nezingqinamba uyaguquguquka azifune ebuhleni ngempilo yakhe. Nanoma kunobunzima sibathola ngasosonke isikhathi balwisana nabo bazama izindlela ezizobasa empumelelweni. Kutholakale futhi ukuthi bonke labalingiswaabangabaphikisi (antagonists)babonakala bakhula. Lomsebenzi uphethwa ngokuthi ziyabonakala zrmpewu zokukhula nokuthuthuka ekuvezweni kwabalingiswa emanovelini wesiZulu wababhali bango1990.

published_or_final_version / Chinese / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / abstract / Chinese / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

No description available.

Early in Richard Wright's Native Son, we see Bigger and his friend Gus “playing white.” Taking on the role of “J. P. Morgan,” the two young black men give orders and act powerful, thus performing their perceived role of whiteness. This scene is more than an ironic comment on the characters' distance from the lifestyle of the J. P. Morgans of the world; their acts of whiteness are a representation of how whiteness is constructed. Such an analysis is similar to my own focus in this dissertation. I argue that whiteness is a culturally constructed identity and that work serves as a performative space for defining and transgressing whiteness. To this end, I examine work and its influence on the performance of middle class and working class whiteness, as well as how those outside the definitions of whiteness attempt to “play white,” as Bigger does. Work enables me to explore the codes of whiteness and how they are performed, understood, and transgressed by providing a locus of cultural performance. Furthermore, by looking at novels written in the early twentieth century, I am able to analyze characters at a historical moment in which work was of great import. With the labor movement at its peak, these novels, particularly those which specifically address socialism, participate in an understanding of work as a performative act more than a means to end. Within the context of this history and using the language of whiteness studies, I look at how gendered whiteness is transgressed and reinforced through the inverted job-roles of the Knapps in Dorothy Canfield's The Home-Maker, how work can cause those who possess the physical attributes of whiteness to transgress this cultural identity, as the Joads in The Grapes of Wrath demonstrate, and how the ascribed identities as non-white for Sara in The Bread Givers, Jurgis in The Jungle, and Bigger in Native Son are by far more compelling than their performative acts.