An interest in colonial literature is relatively new in the study of English. English-speaking South Africans especially, cut off as they are, a minority group in a new republic, have begun to re-assess their identity through a study of their existing literature. When asked what South African verse there was beside his own, Kipling remarked, "As to South African verse, it's a case of there's Pringle, and there's Pringle, and after that one must hunt the local papers." This thesis is the result of such a hunt - the hunt being limited to the years 1824 to 1851 - and on occasion, the writer has been tempted to conclude rather unfairly, "And there is only Pringle." It cannot be claimed that every poem ever printed during the period under review has been collected and examined, for the reason that many volumes of old newspapers are no longer available. Nevertheless, it has been possible to make a representative selection, which could provide the raw material for several theses to come. A detailed study of critical criteria prevalent at the Cape during this period, or public taste and the influence especially of the lesser British poets are some of the topics which might repay study. Intro., p. 1.

This study discusses works by Martin Amis and Don DeLillo in the context of several key scientific and technological transformations that occur in the aftermath of the Second World War. I begin by revisiting one of the most-discussed aspects of DeLillo's work: the currents conspiracy and paranoia that recur in his novels and, he claims, pervade the wider culture. By demonstrating how paranoid narratives strive to accommodate contemporary technologies, I create a context in which the paranoia addressed in works such as Libra and Underworld becomes intelligible as a response to the specific technological character of surveilance and control in the post-War period. The sciences of information and cybernetics also cohere in the years folowing the War, and the second chapter explores the creative tension between metaphors of entropy and information in Amis's fiction as wel as DeLillo's. The third chapter focuses on television as a constitutive element of postmodernity, and traces how DeLillo and Amis adopt narrative strategies that enable them to represent subjects who have grown accustomed to living within an environment mediated, to an unprecedented degree, by visual imagery supplied by or formatted for television. Another product of postmodern technology, commercial air travel reconfigures relationships to place and to time for inhabitants of industrialized countries. Both the liberating and limiting consequences of living in the latter half of the century of flight are addressed in the fourth chapter. The final chapter offers an assessment of the role contemporary media and technology play in establishing the characteristics associated with postmodernity, and concludes with a brief discussion of the role the internet might play within the context of the specific technologies discussed in the body of the thesis.

This study discusses works by Martin Amis and Don DeLillo in the context of several key scientific and technological transformations that occur in the aftermath of the Second World War. I begin by revisiting one of the most-discussed aspects of DeLillo's work: the currents conspiracy and paranoia that recur in his novels and, he claims, pervade the wider culture. By demonstrating how paranoid narratives strive to accommodate contemporary technologies, I create a context in which the paranoia addressed in works such as Libra and Underworld becomes intelligible as a response to the specific technological character of surveilance and control in the post-War period. The sciences of information and cybernetics also cohere in the years folowing the War, and the second chapter explores the creative tension between metaphors of entropy and information in Amis's fiction as wel as DeLillo's. The third chapter focuses on television as a constitutive element of postmodernity, and traces how DeLillo and Amis adopt narrative strategies that enable them to represent subjects who have grown accustomed to living within an environment mediated, to an unprecedented degree, by visual imagery supplied by or formatted for television. Another product of postmodern technology, commercial air travel reconfigures relationships to place and to time for inhabitants of industrialized countries. Both the liberating and limiting consequences of living in the latter half of the century of flight are addressed in the fourth chapter. The final chapter offers an assessment of the role contemporary media and technology play in establishing the characteristics associated with postmodernity, and concludes with a brief discussion of the role the internet might play within the context of the specific technologies discussed in the body of the thesis. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

Novel:

Univ. of Iowa, Diss. u.d.T.: Rolón-Collazo, Lisette: Voces múltiples de resistencia: Mujer y representación en la producción de Carmen Martin Gaite--Iowa City, 1997.

Acompanha produto educacional / A presente dissertação apresenta os resultados de uma pesquisa de caráter bibliográfico e exploratório, tendo como principal enfoque o trabalho com best-sellers e ensino de literatura em uma escola de Cornélio Procópio-PR. Os temas principais dessa pesquisa são: literatura de massa, distopia, tecnologias e ensino de literatura. Esses temas possuem uma pesquisa teórica que os fundamenta e que é o alicerce para a elaboração das atividades apresentadas, calcadas principalmente em textos de Adorno; Horkheimer (2009), Candido (2002), Cosson (2012), Clayes (2013) e Eco (2011). A questão que norteia este trabalho é de que maneira a leitura orientada da literatura de massa, apreciada e conhecida pelos alunos, poderia contribuir para a formação de leitores de literatura clássica. Portanto, o principal objetivo do presente trabalho é o de contribuir para a formação de leitores de literatura de proposta (ECO,2011). Este texto versa, por conseguinte, sobre o website e a fan page Admirável Livro Novo construído como produto educacional, das atividades realizadas e aplicadas durante o estágio do programa de Mestrado, utilizando como corpus principal o best-seller Jogos Vorazes, de Susanne Collins, e a distopia 1984 de George Orwell. Assim, os dados coletados revelam a importância de um ensino de literatura que parta de leituras escolhidas e realizadas pelos alunos, evidenciando possibilidades de uma efetiva formação de leitores. / This dissertation presents the results of a bibliographic and exploratory research, with the main focus is the work with best-sellers and literature teaching in a school of Cornélio Procópio-PR. The main research topics are: mass literature, dystopia, technology and literature teaching. These issues have a theoretical research that underlies them and which is the foundation for the elaboration of activities presented, substantiate mainly on texts of Adorno; Horkheimer (2009), Candido (2002), Cosson (2012), Clayes (2013) and Eco (2011). The question that orients is, in which way guided reading of mass literature, appreciated and known by the students, could contribute to the formation of classical literature readers. Thus, the main aim of this work is to form readers of proposal literature (ECO, 2011). This text versa, therefore, on the website and fan page built Brave New book as an educational product, of the activities undertaken and applied during the stage of the Master program, used as the main corpus the best-seller The Hunger Games of Susanne Collins and The Dystopia 1984 of George Orwell. So, the data collected shows the importance of a teaching of literature that starts of reads chosen and performed by the students, showing possibilities of an effective training readers.

Acompanha produto educacional / A presente dissertação apresenta os resultados de uma pesquisa de caráter bibliográfico e exploratório, tendo como principal enfoque o trabalho com best-sellers e ensino de literatura em uma escola de Cornélio Procópio-PR. Os temas principais dessa pesquisa são: literatura de massa, distopia, tecnologias e ensino de literatura. Esses temas possuem uma pesquisa teórica que os fundamenta e que é o alicerce para a elaboração das atividades apresentadas, calcadas principalmente em textos de Adorno; Horkheimer (2009), Candido (2002), Cosson (2012), Clayes (2013) e Eco (2011). A questão que norteia este trabalho é de que maneira a leitura orientada da literatura de massa, apreciada e conhecida pelos alunos, poderia contribuir para a formação de leitores de literatura clássica. Portanto, o principal objetivo do presente trabalho é o de contribuir para a formação de leitores de literatura de proposta (ECO,2011). Este texto versa, por conseguinte, sobre o website e a fan page Admirável Livro Novo construído como produto educacional, das atividades realizadas e aplicadas durante o estágio do programa de Mestrado, utilizando como corpus principal o best-seller Jogos Vorazes, de Susanne Collins, e a distopia 1984 de George Orwell. Assim, os dados coletados revelam a importância de um ensino de literatura que parta de leituras escolhidas e realizadas pelos alunos, evidenciando possibilidades de uma efetiva formação de leitores. / This dissertation presents the results of a bibliographic and exploratory research, with the main focus is the work with best-sellers and literature teaching in a school of Cornélio Procópio-PR. The main research topics are: mass literature, dystopia, technology and literature teaching. These issues have a theoretical research that underlies them and which is the foundation for the elaboration of activities presented, substantiate mainly on texts of Adorno; Horkheimer (2009), Candido (2002), Cosson (2012), Clayes (2013) and Eco (2011). The question that orients is, in which way guided reading of mass literature, appreciated and known by the students, could contribute to the formation of classical literature readers. Thus, the main aim of this work is to form readers of proposal literature (ECO, 2011). This text versa, therefore, on the website and fan page built Brave New book as an educational product, of the activities undertaken and applied during the stage of the Master program, used as the main corpus the best-seller The Hunger Games of Susanne Collins and The Dystopia 1984 of George Orwell. So, the data collected shows the importance of a teaching of literature that starts of reads chosen and performed by the students, showing possibilities of an effective training readers.