Based on author's thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 225-238) and index.

This thesis constitutes a narrative that explores an alternative meaning construction for the experience of loss. During the telling of this story, I consider the appropriateness of adopting the 'new paradigm' approach for this particular thesis, and the constructivist and social constructionist epistemological assumptions underlying such an approach. I delve into the use of 'self as researcher under this epistemological umbrella. This is followed by an exploration of 'chaos theory' and its application to social systems. And finally, I consider the usefulness of this theory in constructing meanings for loss experiences on various systemic levels within my own family system. / Psychology / M.A.(Clinical Psychology)

The study critically investigated the concept of ―Double Consciousness‖ in selected African-American autobiographies. In view of the latter, W.E.B. Du Bois defined double consciousness as a condition of being both black and American which he perceived as the reason black people were/are being discriminated in America. The study demonstrated that creative works such as Harriet Jacobs‘ Incidents in the Life of Slave Girl: Told by Herself, Frederick Douglass‘ The Narrative of Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Du Bois‘ The Souls of Black Folk, Booker T. Washington‘s Up from Slavery, Langston Hughes‘ The Big Sea, Zora Neale Hurston Dust Tracks on a Road, Malcolm X‘s The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Maya Angelou‘s All God’s Children Need Travelling Shoes, Cornel West‘s Brother West: Living and Loving Out Loud and bell hooks‘ Bone Black affirm double consciousness as well as critiqued the concept, revealing new layers of identities and contested sites of struggle in African-American society. The study used a qualitative method to analyse and argue that there are ideological shifts that manifest in the creative representation of the idea of double consciousness since slavery. Some relevant critical voices were used to support, complicate and question the notion of double consciousness as represented in selected autobiographies. The study argued that there are many identities in the African-American communities which need attention equal to that of race. The study further argued that double consciousness has been modified and by virtue of this, authors suggested multiple forms of consciousness. / English Studies / D. Litt. et Phil. (English)

In the last two decades, in media and political discourses, Italianness has been increasingly represented as a homogeneous and compact entity, which is intruded on and contaminated by immigrants. In this study, the binary opposition between Italians and migrants is investigated from the perspective of writers who inhabit a liminal space, between at least two cultures, with the main intent to problematize the binary itself and to show its nature of fabrication. On the basis of Said's contrapuntal method, the novels by Ghermandi, Scego, Ali Farah and Lakhous are thought to establish a counterpoint with dominant discourses about Italianness. With the firm belief that discourses about postcolonial Italy must address its colonial past, the works analysed are considered as in dialogue with both colonial and postcolonial discourses. A dialogical relation is established, within the study, between Ghermandi's Regina di fiori e di perle and Flaiano's Tempo di uccidere. Written from the perspectives of the colonized and the colonizers respectively, both novels unveil colonial crimes and faults in Ethiopia, thus being counter-narratives about official representations of Italian colonialism. In Scego's Rhoda and Oltre Babilonia and Ali Farah's Madre piccolo, like threads, the individual stories of Somali exiles intertwine to create a fabric, whose pattern reveals the importance of the legacy of colonialism within contemporary Italy. Mainly situated between Italian and Somali cultures, the protagonists experience traumas, suffering and loss but finally attain a contrapuntal awareness between the two cultural poles. They become conscious of how enriching their in-between position is; they affirm the value of their hybrid identity. With a further zoom into postcolonial Italy, Lakhous' Scontro di civiltà per un ascensore a piazza Vittorio and Divorzio all'islamica a viale Marconi analyse the binary ‘us-Italians' versus ‘thosemigrants' in two microcosms in Rome. General polarizations such as Islam and the West emerge as factors which are exploited in order to exacerbate tensions and divisions. In addition, Italianness appears to be an internally fragmented entity, which is imagined as compact and homogeneous, as a reaction to the influx of immigrants. Against any logic of binarism, the novels by Ghermandi, Scego, Ali Farah and Lakhous reveal the constant effort to create a passage between two poles and to uphold a dialogical relation between them; crossings over and hybridity are continuously affirmed. With their highly important affirmation of multiplicity, the works challenge any essentializing notion of identity and any narrow representation of Italianness, within multiethnic contemporary Italy.

Dazai Osamu (born Tsushima Shûji) was a post-WWII writer who wrote a number of works using a female narrator. This thesis research focused on the reasons as to why Dazai may have written using female narratives, taking into consideration the time period and social milieu in which he was writing, as well as his own personal history with women. In addition, the history of male authors utilizing female narratives was explored, as well as the ideas of gender in the Japanese arts. Dazai works were also compared with Tankizaki Junichirô's to see how the roles of women in their works differ. The four main Dazai works analyzed were "Magic Lanterns" ("Tôrô"), "The Schoolgirl" ("Joseito"), "December 8th" ("Jûnigatsu yôka"), and "Villon's Wife" ("Biyon no tsuma"). The conclusion was that Dazai was using female narrators as a different approach to further critiquing himself, with the female narrator being used to critique a Dazai-like persona in the works.

Text in Afrikaans / Hoewel die retorika bykans 26 eeue oud is, word die relevansie daarvan vir ons eie tyd toenemend besef - as 'n sleutel tot die wyse waarop mense dinkargumenteer en oorreed. Hierdie studie ondersoek retoriese (oorredende) strategiee in Afrikaanse historiese romantekste, binne 'n historiese konteks en teen die agtergrond van eietydse historiografiese insigte. Die aspekte van die kommunikasiesituasie wat saamhang met die retorika, word verbind met die vernuwende denke daaroor binne die hedendaagse literatuurteorie en historiografie. Die konteks van die outeur en roman word telkens bestudeer, gevolg deur 'n retoriese analise. Aristoteles se idees oor die retorika kry hierby voorrang, vanwee sy nadruk op die inventio of vinding, maar die retorika word eerder geassosieer met 'n dinamiese metode as met rigiede kategorisering. Aandag word veral bestee aan retoriese strategies in S.J. du Toit se Di koningin fan Skeba (1898) en Andre P. Brink se Houd-den-bek (1982), maar ook aan resente historiese romans wat hedendaagse historiografiese en retoriese opvattinge en konvensies ontgin en problematiseer. Beide S.J. du Toit, wat kennelik 'n goeie kennis van die antieke retorika gehad het en Andre P. Brink, met sy romanonderwerp wat aansluit by die geregtelike rede, betree die retoriese terrain op sodanige wyse dat hul romans tipiese produkte van hul eie tyd genoem kan word. Beide die geskiedskrywing en die historiese roman is gemedieerde weergawes, gekenmerk deur 'n subjektiewe seleksie (inventio) van gegewens en die kombinasie daarvan binne eie verbale strukture (dispositio). Dit kan in verband gebring word met nie-tegniese oorredingsmiddele, waar die sender sy informasie van buite kry. Hy gebruik dan sogenaamde empiries-verifieerbare feite as retoriese strategie ten einde 'n waarheids- en I of werklikheidsillusie te skep wat bydra tot die roman se oorredingsskrag. Die keuse vir die skryf van 'n historiese roman, impliseer reeds ook 'n keuse vir die bakens van die geskiedskrywing, maar 'n skeppende skrywer is, anders as 'n historikus, eties vry om nie-tegniese bewysmiddele te transformeer tot tegniese bewysmiddele, in aanpassing by 'n nuutgeskepte argumentatio en 'n eie causa. Na aanleiding van die tekste kom die ontvanger op sy beurt tot 'n eie seleksie en skep sy eie kousale en argumentatiewe strukture / While rhetoric has been part of the history of mankind for nearly 26 centuries, it is increasingly regarded as extremely relevant for our time - as a key to the way in which people think, argue and persuade. This study investigates rhetorical (persuasive) strategies in Afrikaans historical novels. The novels and their authors are first situated in their historical contexts and against the background of contemporary historiographical inquiry, and then analyzed by means of rhetorical concepts. Aspects of communication, which coincide with rhetorical categories, are combined with recent developments in the field of literary theory and historiography. Aristotle's views on persuasion and rhetoric are used as point of departure, but rhetoric is regarded as a dynamic method rather than a rigid categorization. Attention is given to rhetorical strategies in the novel Di konlngin fan Skeba [The queen of Sheba] by S.J. du Toit (1898) and Andre P. Brink's Houd-denbek [translated into English by the author as A chain of voices], but also to recent Afrikaans historical novels which exploit contemporary historiographical and rhetorical conventions. In S.J. du Toit's novel (which illustrates his knowledge of ancient rhetoric) as well as Andre P. Brink's (where the topic can be linked to litigation) rhetorical strategies are employed in such a manner that their texts can be regarded as products of their historical contexts. Both historiography and historical novels are mediated representations, characterized by a subjective selection (inventio) of data and its combination in verbal structures (dispositio). This can be related to 'extrinsic' or 'inartificial' proofs, which are not contrived by the author. The author exploits the so-called empirically verifiable facts as rhetorical strategies to create an illusion of truth or verisimilitude, which greatly contributes to the persuasiveness of the novel. The decision to write a historical novel implies a choice to keep to the historical 'facts', but the writer, in contrast to the historiographer, is ethically free to transform the inartificial proofs into artificial proofs, in combination with his own invented argumentatio and causa. Prompted by these texts the reader, in his turn, makes his own selection and creates his own causal and argumentative structures / Afrikaans & Theory of Literature / D. Litt. et Phil. (Afrikaans)

Fay Weldon is a popular, prolific author whose oeuvre stretches from 1967 to the present and includes 20 novels, three collections of short stories and numerous stage, radio and television plays, scripts and adaptations. This thesis limits itself to her fiction and follows the chronological course of Weldon's writing career in five chapters. Fay Weldon's fiction, situated at the intersection of postmodemism and feminism, is doubly subversive. It both overturns 'reasonable' narrative conventions and wittily deconstructs the specious terminology used to define women. Weldon's disobedient female protagonists - madwomen, criminals, outcasts and she-devils - assert the power of the Other. Gynocentric themes - single parenthood, sisterhood, reproduction, motherhood, sex and marriage - are transformed by Weldon into uproarious feminist revenge comedy. This she achieves through an intertextuality which often involves unorthodox typography, genreswopping and metafictional devices. Moreover, a unique ventriloquism enables her omniscient first-person narrators to mimic 'Fay Weldon' herself. Since her narrators are rebels and iconoclasts, Weldon has always been viewed as a subversive individual worthy of media attention, especially interviews. For this reason, and because she is a woman writer who struggled initially against social and domestic odds, the thesis incorporates in its argument the author's biography and public personae. Chapter One explores the connections between Weldon's first novels - notably Down Among the Women (1971) - and early liberationist and anthropological feminism. In Chapter Two, Bakhtin's dialogic imagination and Derrida's differance provide the basis for a discussion of multiplicity in Weldon's novels of the late 1970s, particularly Praxis (1979), shortlisted for the Booker prize. Chapter Three tests the limits of a psychoanalytical model in accounting for Weldon's novels of (m)Otherhood, including The Life and Loves of a SheDevil (1983). Theories of humour and carnival inform Chapter Four's analysis of how Weldon's wit - at its tendentious best in The Heart of the Country (1987) - declines into innocence. Finally, Chapter Five sees Weldon's flagging literary reputation as the symptom of authorial exhaustion and retreat from a feminist agenda. This concluding chapter is, however, ultimately optimistic that the mercurial author's undeniable talents may reassert themselves / English Studies / D.Litt. et Phil. (English)

The aim of this research entitled Narrative Strategies in Selected Amharic Novels from 2000 until 2010 was to shed light on the relationship among form, meaning (content) and social milieuin establishing the textual and contextual features of fictional narratives. It mainly contends that it is possible to unravel the textual and contextual qualities of fictional narratives by studying form as a narrative strategy. In this research, form, when understood as a narrative strategy, is not only considered as a textual construct which motivates textual meaning but also regarded as a product of the social milieu from which the text emerges. Having this conception, form as a narrative strategy is investigated in selected Amharic novels published from 2000 until 2010 in view of expounding the artistic and thematic features of contemporary Amharic novels, endeavouring to fill the knowledge gap in Amharic literary scholarship about their literary features. The present research applies narratological approaches that range from classical to post-classical narratology. However, it dominantly uses post-classical conceptions of narratology as guidelines for its discussion. The dissertation comprises six chapters. The first one is an introductory chapter in which the research problems, goals and assumptions are explicated. Chapter two deals with the theoretical framework where the theoretical insight the research utilizes as a guideline is outlined and methodological issues are specified. The following three chapters focus on the analysis. In the third chapter, story is investigated as a narrative strategy in Yeburqa Zemeta (Burka’s Silence) (2000); in the fourth one, focalization is treated as a narrative strategy in Gerač.a Qač.eloč (Grey Bells) (2005), and in the fifth chapter, characterization is studied as a narrative strategy in Dèrtogada (Dertogada) (2010). The dissertation concludes with a chapter in which independent findings in the three analysis chapters are summed up and generalizations on the textual and contextual features of the present day Amharic novels are made. / Afrikaans & Theory of Literature / D. Litt. et Phil. (Theory of Literature)

Thesis contains the novel "Waterval" by Phyllis Sakinofsky. / Thesis (PhD)--Macquarie University, Faculty of Arts, Department of Media, Music, and Cultural Studies, 2009. / Bibliography: p. 128-138. / PART ONE -- Introduction -- Section One -- Early history -- The apartheid years - two realities -- Post-apartheid South Africa -- The creative response of Jews to apartheid -- Section Two -- Our relationship with the past: placing narrative in the context of history -- Rememory and representation -- Telling the truth through stories -- Section Three -- Imprints of memories, shadows and silences: shaping the Jewish South African story -- PART TWO -- Waterval: a work of fiction by Phyllis Sakinofsky / This is a non-traditional thesis which comprises a work of fiction and a dissertation. -- The novel is set in South Africa and provides an account of events that took place among three families, Jewish, Coloured and Afrikaans, over three generations. -- The dissertation is constructed in three sections. The first section describes the settlement of South Africa's Jewish community, its divergent responses to apartheid and how this is mirrored in its literary output. -- In the second section, the relationship between history and fiction since the advent of postmodernism is discussed, how there has been a demand for historical truthfulness through multiple points of view and how consequently there has been an upsurge in memories and memorials for those previously denigrated as the defeated or victims. -- Fiction has been re-valued because it is through the novel that these once-submerged stories are being told. The novel has the capacity to explore uncomfortable or silenced episodes in our history, tell important truths and record stories and losses in a meaningful and relevant way. A novel might be shaped by history but it is through the writer's insights and interpretations that messages or meanings can reach many. -- South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission report is an example of how the written word can expose the relationship between the re-telling of history and finding an alternate truth. By recording the many conflicting stories of its peoples, it has linked truth and literature, ensuring an indelible imprint on the country's future writing. The past cannot be changed, but how the nation deals with it in the future will be determined by language and narrative. -- The final section is self-reflexive and illustrates the symbiotic bond between the research and creative components, citing examples from the dissertation of how the two streams influenced one another. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / 145 p

Text in Afrikaans / Hoewel die retorika bykans 26 eeue oud is, word die relevansie daarvan vir ons eie tyd toenemend besef - as 'n sleutel tot die wyse waarop mense dinkargumenteer en oorreed. Hierdie studie ondersoek retoriese (oorredende) strategiee in Afrikaanse historiese romantekste, binne 'n historiese konteks en teen die agtergrond van eietydse historiografiese insigte. Die aspekte van die kommunikasiesituasie wat saamhang met die retorika, word verbind met die vernuwende denke daaroor binne die hedendaagse literatuurteorie en historiografie. Die konteks van die outeur en roman word telkens bestudeer, gevolg deur 'n retoriese analise. Aristoteles se idees oor die retorika kry hierby voorrang, vanwee sy nadruk op die inventio of vinding, maar die retorika word eerder geassosieer met 'n dinamiese metode as met rigiede kategorisering. Aandag word veral bestee aan retoriese strategies in S.J. du Toit se Di koningin fan Skeba (1898) en Andre P. Brink se Houd-den-bek (1982), maar ook aan resente historiese romans wat hedendaagse historiografiese en retoriese opvattinge en konvensies ontgin en problematiseer. Beide S.J. du Toit, wat kennelik 'n goeie kennis van die antieke retorika gehad het en Andre P. Brink, met sy romanonderwerp wat aansluit by die geregtelike rede, betree die retoriese terrain op sodanige wyse dat hul romans tipiese produkte van hul eie tyd genoem kan word. Beide die geskiedskrywing en die historiese roman is gemedieerde weergawes, gekenmerk deur 'n subjektiewe seleksie (inventio) van gegewens en die kombinasie daarvan binne eie verbale strukture (dispositio). Dit kan in verband gebring word met nie-tegniese oorredingsmiddele, waar die sender sy informasie van buite kry. Hy gebruik dan sogenaamde empiries-verifieerbare feite as retoriese strategie ten einde 'n waarheids- en I of werklikheidsillusie te skep wat bydra tot die roman se oorredingsskrag. Die keuse vir die skryf van 'n historiese roman, impliseer reeds ook 'n keuse vir die bakens van die geskiedskrywing, maar 'n skeppende skrywer is, anders as 'n historikus, eties vry om nie-tegniese bewysmiddele te transformeer tot tegniese bewysmiddele, in aanpassing by 'n nuutgeskepte argumentatio en 'n eie causa. Na aanleiding van die tekste kom die ontvanger op sy beurt tot 'n eie seleksie en skep sy eie kousale en argumentatiewe strukture / While rhetoric has been part of the history of mankind for nearly 26 centuries, it is increasingly regarded as extremely relevant for our time - as a key to the way in which people think, argue and persuade. This study investigates rhetorical (persuasive) strategies in Afrikaans historical novels. The novels and their authors are first situated in their historical contexts and against the background of contemporary historiographical inquiry, and then analyzed by means of rhetorical concepts. Aspects of communication, which coincide with rhetorical categories, are combined with recent developments in the field of literary theory and historiography. Aristotle's views on persuasion and rhetoric are used as point of departure, but rhetoric is regarded as a dynamic method rather than a rigid categorization. Attention is given to rhetorical strategies in the novel Di konlngin fan Skeba [The queen of Sheba] by S.J. du Toit (1898) and Andre P. Brink's Houd-denbek [translated into English by the author as A chain of voices], but also to recent Afrikaans historical novels which exploit contemporary historiographical and rhetorical conventions. In S.J. du Toit's novel (which illustrates his knowledge of ancient rhetoric) as well as Andre P. Brink's (where the topic can be linked to litigation) rhetorical strategies are employed in such a manner that their texts can be regarded as products of their historical contexts. Both historiography and historical novels are mediated representations, characterized by a subjective selection (inventio) of data and its combination in verbal structures (dispositio). This can be related to 'extrinsic' or 'inartificial' proofs, which are not contrived by the author. The author exploits the so-called empirically verifiable facts as rhetorical strategies to create an illusion of truth or verisimilitude, which greatly contributes to the persuasiveness of the novel. The decision to write a historical novel implies a choice to keep to the historical 'facts', but the writer, in contrast to the historiographer, is ethically free to transform the inartificial proofs into artificial proofs, in combination with his own invented argumentatio and causa. Prompted by these texts the reader, in his turn, makes his own selection and creates his own causal and argumentative structures / Afrikaans and Theory of Literature / D. Litt. et Phil. (Afrikaans)