Thesis (M.A.)--University of Auckland, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 223-232).

Theses (M.A.)--Marshall University, 2005. / Title from document title page. Includes abstract. Document formatted into pages: contains vi, 76 p. Bibliography: p. 73-74.

Currently, in the period of Poststructualism literature is widely approached as a cultural and social phenomenon and the aims of literary studies as the illuminating of social codes, ideology etc. embedded in literature. This study evaluates the contribution of specific critics working within the so-called "New paradigm". The concept "New paradigm" is used as an umbrella term covering a number of distinct developments, referring to literature as a system of literary "actions" rather than as a canon of books. In recent years several Afrikaans critics have embraced or adapted current theories in the domains of Deconstruction, Ideology Criticism, Literary, Sociology, Recepticm Aesthetics, Semiotics and Feminism. This study explores and evaluates the application of such theoretical paradigms to their work in the field of practical criticism. This study also explores the relationship between current theories of literature and their antecedents. The notion of current literary theory and practice not only as a broadening of scope and content of the notion of the "literary" but on the other hand as a liberation of theory and practice from an over-deterministic thrust (i.e. the approach of literature as no more than a set of social documents) is also evaluated in this study. A twofold aim of this study can thus be defined: a. to determine the extent to which the shift from the "old" to "new" theories was made necessary by the developing literary and social scene; b. to examine the links beween theory and practice in the work of specific, key figures in Afrikaans. Is it possible for theory and practice to be separated? Is there an important consistence in the relationship between the two in the work of the figures chosen?

Uppsatsen är en litteraturvetenskaplig analys av Marianne Fredrikssons roman Simon och ekarna utifrån genren magisk realism. Uppsatsens syfte är att undersöka och diskutera hur romanens övernaturliga element samspelar och kontrasterar med romanens realistiska element, samt hur romanen passar in i den magiskt realistiska traditionen. Detta görs främst utifrån Wendy B. Faris fem kriterier för magiskt realistisk litteratur, samt hennes begrepp avfokalisering. I uppsatsens analysdel sker en genomgång av samtliga fem kriterier som diskuteras i förhållande till romanens handling och tematik. Uppsatsen förhåller sig också till Talia E. Crocketts artikel om användningen av textuell tystnad för att beskriva Förintelsen i Simon och ekarna, och finner att den magiska realismen liksom den textuella tystnaden används för att hantera och beskriva det obeskrivliga. Uppsatsen finner vidare att Simon och ekarna placerar sig i den magiskt realistiska traditionen genom sin sammanblandning av gammal folktro, övernaturliga element och realistiska stil.

Der Beitrag setzt zwei künstlerische Positionen aus den Bereichen Bildende Kunst und Choreografie in Beziehung, die auf prägnante Weise Bildarchive von geschlechterspezifischen Körperhaltungen zur Anwendung bringen. Mein Fokus liegt dabei auf dem formal und medial jeweils vielschichtigen Umgang der beiden Künstlerinnen mit geschlechterspezifischer Körpersprache und ihrem performativen Charakter.

A travers la thèse intitulée « l'Italie vue à travers les grands hebdomadaires français depuis mars 1994 », nous tenterons de saisir l'image que les principaux hebdomadaires français donnent de l'Italie depuis la formation du premier gouvernement Berlusconi. Ces hebdomadaires sont les suivants : «l'Express », « Le Point », « Marianne », « Courrier international » et « le Nouvel Observateur ». Il sera nécessaire de définir pour chacun d'entre eux la conception qu'il renvoie de l'Italie en général et de son actualité politique en particulier. Nous pouvons formuler quelques hypothèses : la représentation renvoyée par les médias est largement caricaturale. Elle pourrait être influencée par les idéologies et postures politiques des hebdomadaires. Il nous faudra le démontrer. Il faudra également rechercher quels facteurs influencent la vision des journalistes français dans les jugements qu'ils portent sur l'Italie. Il est possible, deuxième hypothèse, que la situation politique qui évolue en France pendant cette période, détermine en partie l'appréciation des journalistes. Probablement aussi, toutes sortes de préjugés partagés par l'opinion française interfèrent dans ces interprétations. D'autres facteurs comme les rivalités sportives (le football par exemple) ou les engagements politiques (l'Italie aux côtés des Etats-Unis dans la guerre en Irak, par exemple) peuvent jouer un rôle. Si ces hypothèses se confirment, nous pourrons réfléchir aux conséquences de ces commentaires parfois peu rationnels sur l'Italie, qui s'apparentent même à une forme d'ingérence. Nous en dégagerons des conclusions sur les rapports entre le journalisme et la politique : les propos journalistiques d'un pays sur un autre ont-ils une incidence sur les relations de politique extérieure qu'entretiennent les deux pays ? / The way the french weekly press describes Italy is rather negative. It is true that Italy has to face important difficulties such as an economic recession and a permanent government instability. The “Ligue du Nord”, a xenophobic party, is also worrying. « Antipolitic », which is known as the rejection of politicians, is a disturbing phenomenon too. Above all, Berlusconi who was at the same time a Prime minister and the owner of three commercial TV channels is suspected to distort and pervert democracy. However, Italy can’t be reduced to these negative aspects. Positive aspects are not fully appreciated by the french weekly press. It also attributes too much responsibility to Berlusconi. Journalists thinks throw « filters », that means their own standards. These standards are usually french, elitist and conservative ones. More than that, severe critics against Berlusconi are probably the way the journalists try to get power over politicians. The requirement of their job also explains the picture which is reflected in the french newspapers. Of course their editorial lines as their ideologies do influence their choices. Berlusconi is questioning our certitudes, our values and our assumptions: should the extremist parties be involved in a government? Should media be considered as a power that needs to be separated from the others? Journalists can’t distance themselves from news like historians or philosophers may do. However they should become conscious of their « filters » and then should describe Italy with more various nuances. The challenge is the quality of french press and the esteem the Italians might not carry on concerning France.

The aim of this thesis is to describe and analyze the Swedish artist Marianne Lindberg De Geer’s public sculpture Jag tänker på mig själv in relation to the female nude as a traditional motif within the western art and aesthetic. The artwork in question depicts two naked upright standing women, one of whom is represented as emaciated and skinny and the other one as voluminous and fat. By using previous research on the subject of aberrant bodily representations as its main theoretical framework and with a methodological approach based on visual semiotics, this study has found that Jag tänker på mig själv is to be seen as a deviant representation of the female body in several ways. The way in which the female body is represented in Marianne Lindberg De Geer’s sculpture has shown to deviate not only from the traditional female nude but also from the visual norms that usually characterizes aberrant representations of the female-coded body.

Les formes personnelles du récit (roman à la première personne et roman épistolaire) se sont imposées comme des formes privilégiées de la narration romanesque depuis la fin du dix-septième siècle jusqu'aux années 1760. L’étude a porté sur ce qui a pu inciter les auteurs, féminins ou masculins, à adopter très fréquemment une voix féminine dans ces narrations à la première personne. Qu'autorise cette voix féminine ? Cette adoption implique-t-elle une identification possible au féminin ? S'agit-il au contraire de mieux « construire » une représentation du féminin auquel d'ailleurs, en retour, les femmes peuvent finir par s'identifier ? L’étude a d'abord porté sur l'héritage des voix féminines en revenant à la situation de ce qu'on peut qualifier de « genres féminins » au dix-septième siècle : l’écriture épistolaire et mondaine pratiquée par Madame de Sévigné, les contes de fée, et le genre du roman-mémoires qui se développe sous la plume de romancières comme Mme de Villedieu ou Mme de Murat. Tous ces genres mettent en place certaines images de la féminité et de la narration féminine marquées par l’audace, l’humour, le badin et parfois la mise à mal des modèles héroïques. Ceci nous a menée à la voix de la Marianne de Marivaux qui est le pivot de cette réflexion, en ce qu’elle a incarné le féminin dans le roman-mémoires pendant plusieurs décennies. En amont, il s’agissait de voir en quoi la voix imaginée par Marivaux n’avait pas surgi ex nihilo, mais comment elle avait été préparée par les romancières et écrivaines de la seconde moitié du XVIIe siècle, et de quelle manière les conditions étaient réunies pour qu’émerge cette voix véritablement fondatrice. En aval, l’étude nous a permis de voir en quoi cette voix a influencé et inspiré les auteurs contemporains de Marivaux ou ceux qui l’ont suivi. L’étude se poursuit par une confrontation entre La Religieuse de Diderot et la Nouvelle Héloïse Rousseau afin d’observer la manière très différente mais en écho dont les deux romanciers faisaient parler des personnages de femmes et ramenaient dans le champ du romanesque une forme de tragique ou de pathétique qui semblait éteindre la voix de Marianne et donc avec elle les voix des romancières et conteuses de la fin du XVIIe siècle. / The personal narrative forms (novels written in the first person and epistolary novels) are among the most commonly used narrative forms in novels written between the end of the seventieth century and the period circa 1760. This research aims to identify the motivations of many male as well as female authors to use very frequently a woman’s voice in their first person narration. What does this woman’s voice allow? Does it mean the author identifies himself with a woman ? Or is it a way to shape a woman’s representation, to which the women, in return, might identify themselves ? This research studies the legacy of women’s voices, through what we may call the feminine narrative forms in the 17th century : the epistolary and mundane writtings of Madame de Sévigné, the fairy tales and the memoir-novels from Mme de Villedieu or Mme de Murat. All these narrative forms convey an image of feminity and feminine narrative forms full of audacity, humour, « badin » and also a certain undermining of the heroic role model. “The voice of Marivaux’s Marianne” is at the center of this reflexion, as she embodied the feminine in the memoir-novels for several decades. A feminine voice who did not appear ex-nihilo but whose emergence was fully prepared by the female novelists and writters of the second half of the 17th century. And a feminine voice who did not disappear with her author, as many Marivaux’s contemporaries and authors in the following years gave new inspirations to this voice. This study also confronted La Religieuse de Diderot and La Nouvelle Héloïse de Rousseau in order to identify the very different, although mirroring ways in which the two authors have the women characters express themselves and bring forward a form of tragedy and pathetic that seems to silence Marianne’s voice and close the era of the female authors and storytellers of the end of the 17th century.

This thesis analyzes and demonstrates the similarities and differences between some of the national symbols of France and the United States. This includes the shared and borrowed aspects of each one and the ways in which each culture is reflected through, and built around them. The flags, national anthems, and several national icons such as France's Marianne and Uncle Sam are discussed. This analysis deals with the historical contexts and cultural meanings of the symbols, showing the changes each has undertaken in form and in national and international importance. Through the study of national symbols, this thesis reveals the similarities along with the differences between the two nations, which are often perceived as being highly dissimilar and even opposing in belief systems, cultures, and histories.

The year 1880 was rife with nationalist fervor and a general glorification of the French nation through imagery, literature and legislation. However, at this same time, Les Soirées de Médan, a collection of stories concerning the Franco-Prussian war also appear, bringing with them a distinctly anti-nationalist, harsh, and unforgiving view of the war and France's role in it. This thesis will examine personifications of France within L'attaque du Moulin and Boule de suif, the first two texts of Les Soirées de Médan, and their definite lack of the nationalist enthusiasm that characterized the time of their creation. The study of these allegorical representations reveals the place in the mentality of the French people of the concept they represent, a shorthand for a complex and evolving idea. Though others have mapped out the historical appearance and place of representations of France, I will delve into the possible reasons for the necessity of the feminine in this allegorization, the connotations and conventions that make it an effective tool for fighting nationalist tides for both Zola and Maupassant, and the historical and political context that allow us to trace a general shift in the concept of the nation through these female symbols. Furthermore, given the prevalence of female allegories at the time, and the monopolization of their usage for political purposes, the choice of these authors to employ allegory (a rhetorical mode characterized by its official status with the very regime they are criticizing) takes on further levels of criticism and satire. Exploring the opposition and relationship of these two literary female allegories to contemporary allegorical and visual representations will reveal how they relate to-and eventually criticize and reject-the prevailing political and nationalist discourse of their day.