Charles Dickens é um autor cujos méritos literários são, muitas vezes, obscurecidos por sua enorme popularidade, sendo seus livros relegados por muitos à categoria de mero entretenimento. O propósito deste trabalho é analisar na forma do romance como - apesar de temas e estilo que se apresentam como populares - o texto de Hard Times pode revelar um interessante e profundo diálogo entre literatura e sociedade. Sentimentalismo e melodrama são estudados como formas tipicamente dickensianas de representação dos conflitos e transformações sociais que afetaram o século XIX. / Charles Dickens has sometimes had his literary qualities darkened by his enormous popularity, and his books have been considered by many critics as nothing but entertainment. The objective of this work is to analyse how the form of the novel - in spite of its popular style and theme- promotes in Hard Times an interesting and profound dialogue between literature and society. Sentimentalism and melodrama are studied as typically Dickensian forms of representation of social changes and conflicts in the 19th Century.

M.Ed. (Subject Didactics) / There is growing concern that high school pupils and especially those pupils in the senior secondary phase, are no longer interested in reading ., Afrikaans books. The result is that the pupils' knowledge and understanding of literature is fast diminishing. A further consequence is that the formative possibilities that literature holds for the pupil are also lost. It can therefore be accepted that literature and the teaching of literature has a substance which contributes to the forming of young people on their way to adulthcod, A paradoxical situation prevails in that the high school pupil and specifically pupils in the senior secondary phase do not realise what formative value literature holds for him. The fact is that prescribed prose and drama hold little significance for the majority of pupils in this phase of their achonl, careers, as it is nei ther relevent nor actual. It is therefore necessary that serious attention be given to the goals we wish to achieve in the teaching of Afrikaans First Language literature. The goals we wish to achieve in the teaching of Afrikaans First Language literature (senior secondary phase) as evaluated in a curriculum rational and compared to the syllabus, results in a discrepancy between the goals (ideals), the syllabus content and the teaching (practical). The reason for this can possibly be attributed to the following factors: the syllabus content does not accommodate sufficiently the formative value of literature the criteria for prescribing prose and drama are too limited too much emphasis is placed on examination the teaching of literature is possibly too closely tied to the text * addressing of modern life situations via literature is not given sufficient recognition. From a didactical-pedagocical approach the nature of the discrepancy between goals, syllabus content and teaching have been analysed. The criteria for prescribing prose and drama have been examined and curriculum rational has been brought into line. A situation analysis as a component of curriculum rational is discussed and attention has been paid to the present situation in respect of Afrikaans First Language...

This dissertation studies conservative modernism through the work of three Brazilian authors: Olavo Bilac, Graça Aranha and Monteiro Lobato. The three of them lived and were active between the 1890s and 1930s and were influential and controversial public figures during that period. Commonly criticized by the avant-garde modernists, their names remain associated with conservative and traditional views of modernity. I analyze how these three authors dialogued with the literary and journalistic circles and what kind of impact their works had when confronted with the avant-garde generation. I argue that some of their main ideas – misconceived in their attempt to answer the dilemmas of Brazilian society at the time – represented, nevertheless, an opportunity to think about the dialogue between high culture and popular culture, key elements of national identity used in the political discourse, and the role of the writer. These three central issues were tackled in the development and accommodation of modernity in the social and political discourse at that time.

published_or_final_version / Chinese / Master / Master of Philosophy

This thesis seeks to offer an explicitly political reading of E.M. Forster's fiction, focusing on three of his novels (A Room with a View, Howards End and Maurice) and two of his short stories ("The Life to Come" and "The Other Boat"). Throughout I have used a combination of close reading techniques and elements of critical theory to show how Forster's fiction is characterised by a prolonged and ongoing analysis of the political notion of the intersection of mainstream and marginal cultures. In this regard, I argue that the majority of Forster's novels and short stories are concerned with issues surrounding characters who are somehow marginalised from mainstream power structures and who then have to rebel against the cultural centre in their personal quests for political autonomy. It is this cultural issue, I argue, that gives Forster's novels and short stories their thematic unity and continuity. In probing this theme, I hope to move beyond restrictive (and often reductive) liberal humanist styles of criticism, which tend to downplay the political implications of Forster's fiction by fore grounding only the metaphysical questions posed by his writing. However, this thesis is also informed by certain deconstructive theoretical concepts, which I have loosely drawn upon in tracing the development of this theme. In particular, I argue throughout that the oppositional quality of the novels and short stories identified by the liberal humanist critics is only truly evident in the early novels, such as A Room with a View. In the later novels, I argue, it is evident that Forster had significantly re-evaluated his understanding of the relationship between the dominant culture and its dissident, subordinate subcultural strands, and that he had begun to conceive of the interaction between the two in a vastly more fluid and pluralistic manner than has been acknowledged by earlier critics. In particular, Forster seems to apprehend in the later works the manner in which a subject can be simultaneously both at the centre and the margins of hislher respective cultural system. It is for this reason that I stress that Forster sees the relationship between mainstream and marginal cultures as an intersection rather than an opposition. I also stress throughout this thesis the fact that the mainstream/marginal theme extends beyond issues raised in the novels and short stories and includes the author himself. As a male homosexual living in a sexually repressive society, Forster was himself a marginalised member of society, and this cultural positioning must therefore be seen to infonn the themes raised in his writings. However, as a middle-class male, Forster was himself also an empowered subject, and his writing thus also reflects his own complicity in the power structures he was seeking to subvert. This is particularly evident when one considers the recurrent misogyny his novels and short stories display. In addition, Forster's particular historical positioning as an early twentieth century writer means that his novels resonate with several of the non-literary discourses so prominent in the period, such as feminism and sexology. It is when one considers the manner in which the novels actively engage with these non-literary discourses that the considerable political invective of Forster's writing becomes apparent. In the light of the issues outlined above, I interpret Forster's novels as an attempt on the author's part to vocalise the feelings, hopes and aspirations of those groups somehow marginalised from the dominant culture. / Thesis (M.A.) - University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2002.

The basic aim of this study is to investigate the nature of the narrative, concerning itself with the structures inherent in a system of signs which reveals the communicative function of literature. The general aim is to interpret the meaning of the narrative against the cultural background. The study makes a synthesis of formalist and structuralist points of view on the relations between story and discourse. A comparison of the oral and written narratives reveals that the discourse of the latter displays more artistry than that of the former. An examjnation of the problems of theme selection and development in the Northern Sotho prose narrative, from the point of view of African literature, is made. This reveals that the South African censorship laws have caused the emergence of sophisticated writers with a highly developed artistic way of portraying the South African situation sensitively by making it speak for itself. The study also examines some aspects of character in the narrative, analyzing the actions of characters in the story rather than psychological essences about them, and showing how these characters help the reader to understand the narrator's moral vision of the world. A comparison of the narrative techniques in the oral and the written narrative shows that in the former, the narrator is limited by tradition to the actions and the events that can be seen or heard, while the narrator in the latter can even describe what his characters are thinking or feeling. The study finally examines the relationship between symbolism and culture in the Northern Sotho narrative to reveal the general African philosophy in which -life is perceived as a perpetual journey undertaken by the hero from the natural to the non-natural world, whence he returns to the original world after experiencing moral lassitude and frustration. In the conclusion it is observed that both the oral and the written narratives deal with the intricacies of life as series of patterns and developments. The functional nature of the traditional African aesthetics reflected in the narratives prescribes the study of their meaning against the African cultural background. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)

This thesis is an analysis of the manner in which the persona and works of Ben Jonson were appropriated – between the Restoration, in 1660, and the retirement of David Garrick, in 1776 – to reflect the political and social concerns of the age. Unlike previous studies, rather than primarily focusing on the stage history of Jonson, I analyse a wide range of sources – produced both within and outwith the theatre – in order to explore, across a variety of media, a breadth of material which appropriates the playwright and his works. I shall consider in my first main chapter the appropriations of Jonson within the Restoration court, in particular noting the assimilation of the playwright's work to what might be styled a proto-Tory ideology, as well as the way in which his plays could mirror the destabilising effects of the king's romantic liaisons. In my second chapter, I explore the moral reformation at the turn of the eighteenth century, in which we can see appropriations of Jonson which cast his works as being primarily didactic. The third chapter moves the narrative of the thesis into the years of the premiership of Sir Robert Walpole. I shall consider the way in which the playwright's works – especially The Alchemist and Eastward Ho! – were seen as being especially relevant to an age of speculation and mercantile endeavour, as well as examining the manner in which the figures of Sejanus and Volpone were appropriated to mock the increasingly unpopular premier. In the final chapter, I shall offer an analysis of Garrick's seminal portrayal of Drugger in the contexts of the political philosophy of the mid-eighteenth century, considering the manner in which it was interpreted alongside the character's further appropriations by Francis Gentleman. The thesis concludes by exploring political appropriations of Jonson up to the present day.

The aim of this study is to discover to what extent and in what way Peterson and Seligman’s (2004) twenty-four character strengths are present in Winnie the Pooh storybooks, and how they are depicted. Character strengths are a well-known theory in positive psychology and the analysis of children’s literature is a respected genre. A qualitative examination of the text was conducted using content and thematic analyses to extract examples of the strengths. The exemplars were coded and recoded before being subjected to a peer and supervisor review. The excerpts indicated that all strengths are depicted in the text, but Pooh is the only character to exhibit them all. A discussion of the findings revealed that no single strength could be deemed more prominent as they are intrinsically interconnected. It is recommended that the findings be reworked into a training manual for guardians to foster character strengths in young children. / Psychology / M.A. (Psychology)

Summaries in Afrikaans and English / In hierdie navorsingsverslag word die representasie van die reg en die verskynsel van die verhoor as romangegewe in enkele tekste van André P. Brink ondersoek. Die studie vind plaas binne die interdissiplinêre konteks van die reg en die letterkunde. Die studie: (i) fokus op die rol wat die reg in die literêre teks vervul; (ii) ondersoek uitbeeldings van die verhoor soos wat dit in Brink se romankuns aangetref word; en (iii) ondersoek die fiksionalisering van historiese en dokumentêre regsbronne met spesifieke verwysing na sekere eksemplariese Brink-­‐romans. / In this research report, representations of the law and of the trial, as embedded in certain novels by André P. Brink, are explored. The study is structured within the interdisciplinary field of law and literature. This study: (i) focuses on the role of law within the literary text; (ii) explores the legal delineation of a trial in novels by Brink; and (iii) explores the fictionalisation of historic and documentary judicatory resources with specific reference to exemplary texts by Brink. / Afrikaans & Theory of Literature / M.A. (Afrikaans)

Summaries in Afrikaans and English / In hierdie navorsingsverslag word die representasie van die reg en die verskynsel van die verhoor as romangegewe in enkele tekste van André P. Brink ondersoek. Die studie vind plaas binne die interdissiplinêre konteks van die reg en die letterkunde. Die studie: (i) fokus op die rol wat die reg in die literêre teks vervul; (ii) ondersoek uitbeeldings van die verhoor soos wat dit in Brink se romankuns aangetref word; en (iii) ondersoek die fiksionalisering van historiese en dokumentêre regsbronne met spesifieke verwysing na sekere eksemplariese Brink-­‐romans. / In this research report, representations of the law and of the trial, as embedded in certain novels by André P. Brink, are explored. The study is structured within the interdisciplinary field of law and literature. This study: (i) focuses on the role of law within the literary text; (ii) explores the legal delineation of a trial in novels by Brink; and (iii) explores the fictionalisation of historic and documentary judicatory resources with specific reference to exemplary texts by Brink. / Afrikaans and Theory of Literature / M.A. (Afrikaans)