Coetzee’s last novel Diary of a Bad Year (2007) has an intriguing triple-voiced narrative structure and deals with the grey area of shame. The narrative is divided between a writer, his written contribution to a book called “Strong Opinions”, and his secretary’s thoughts about both the opinions in the manuscript and her employer’s circumstances. This essay explores the relation between form and theme in Diary of a Bad Year; to see in what way these two fundamental elements of the novel intervene and support each other. By doing so the narrative structure is read through Freud’s structural model of personality, whereby each narrator’s voice is related to the notions of the super-ego, the ego and the id. In other words, this essay argues that the specific threefold narrative structure in Diary of a Bad Year, by reflecting the interrelated parts of human identity, helps in creating and developing the theme of shame, which only exists connected to the human psyche. This connection in turn gives special meaning to the entire narratology of the novel.

This dissertation attempts to research the construction of meaning through the analysis and interpretation of the multi-textual novel Memorandum: 'n verhaal met skilderve by Marlene van Niekerk and Adriaan van Zyl. Memorandum is an exceptionally multifaceted text in which various patterns overlap. Any adequate analysis and interpretation of the novel must pay due attention to the comprehensive and variegated processes of meaning generation that are simultaneously active in this very dense text. Given the fact that all themes and motives are kept relevant all the way through, there is a danger that the researcher might get lost and that the argument (s)he produces might become too vague. Therefore this study focuses on only four aspects, which will then also determine the structure of the dissertation: (1) the unusual and complex narrative structure of the text; (2) the wide variety of forms, spheres or dimensions of the representation of spaces; (3) the disseminating intertextual game; and (4) the textual manifestations of liminality, which include liminal persons, situations, processes and the innovative approach and style of the text with regard to the relation between text and paintings. The dissertation attempts to participate in and add to the ongoing conversation between word, image, structure and theory through utilising not only narrative theory and narrative methods (which include the basic theory for studying spaces in literary texts), but also intertextual and liminal theory, in order to add to accepted notions of textual boundaries. / Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans and Dutch))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

This dissertation attempts to research the construction of meaning through the analysis and interpretation of the multi-textual novel Memorandum: 'n verhaal met skilderve by Marlene van Niekerk and Adriaan van Zyl. Memorandum is an exceptionally multifaceted text in which various patterns overlap. Any adequate analysis and interpretation of the novel must pay due attention to the comprehensive and variegated processes of meaning generation that are simultaneously active in this very dense text. Given the fact that all themes and motives are kept relevant all the way through, there is a danger that the researcher might get lost and that the argument (s)he produces might become too vague. Therefore this study focuses on only four aspects, which will then also determine the structure of the dissertation: (1) the unusual and complex narrative structure of the text; (2) the wide variety of forms, spheres or dimensions of the representation of spaces; (3) the disseminating intertextual game; and (4) the textual manifestations of liminality, which include liminal persons, situations, processes and the innovative approach and style of the text with regard to the relation between text and paintings. The dissertation attempts to participate in and add to the ongoing conversation between word, image, structure and theory through utilising not only narrative theory and narrative methods (which include the basic theory for studying spaces in literary texts), but also intertextual and liminal theory, in order to add to accepted notions of textual boundaries. / Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans and Dutch))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

This dissertation attempts to research the construction of meaning through the analysis and interpretation of the multi-textual novel Memorandum: 'n verhaal met skilderve by Marlene van Niekerk and Adriaan van Zyl. Memorandum is an exceptionally multifaceted text in which various patterns overlap. Any adequate analysis and interpretation of the novel must pay due attention to the comprehensive and variegated processes of meaning generation that are simultaneously active in this very dense text. Given the fact that all themes and motives are kept relevant all the way through, there is a danger that the researcher might get lost and that the argument (s)he produces might become too vague. Therefore this study focuses on only four aspects, which will then also determine the structure of the dissertation: (1) the unusual and complex narrative structure of the text; (2) the wide variety of forms, spheres or dimensions of the representation of spaces; (3) the disseminating intertextual game; and (4) the textual manifestations of liminality, which include liminal persons, situations, processes and the innovative approach and style of the text with regard to the relation between text and paintings. The dissertation attempts to participate in and add to the ongoing conversation between word, image, structure and theory through utilising not only narrative theory and narrative methods (which include the basic theory for studying spaces in literary texts), but also intertextual and liminal theory, in order to add to accepted notions of textual boundaries. / Thesis (M.A. (Afrikaans and Dutch))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2009.

Fiction and drama have engaged with madness across the epistemes of the American twentieth century. Given the prominence of the subject of madness, both historically and literarily, we need a unified methodology for analysis and action. As a subfield of disability studies, "mad studies" deals specifically with representations of mental distress rather than physical otherness, examining how "madness" enables writers to convey certain meanings or produce certain stories. In minor characters, these meanings are infused into characters' actantial function within the symbolic model of disability: madness works as a device for plot, psychological depth (of other characters), and thematic resonance. Onstage, these meanings transform as they inhabit the social/political/cultural model of disability rather than the medical or symbolic models. Realistic, expressionistic, and musical theatre across the twentieth century have all found ways to stage not only "madness," but also the social responses and contexts that construct it, while simultaneously giving audiences formal opportunities to sympathize with the so-called mad characters. Mad protagonists follow particular plot patterns prompted by the temporal, existential, or hermeneutic mystery posed by madness. Male madness narratives often engage with the legitimizing etiology of war, freeing them from the temporal mystery - "what caused this to happen?" - and allowing them to address the existential mystery - "what is this like?" - through formal experimentation. Female madness narratives, grappling with a medical discourse that emphasizes endogenous causality for women, retort to such discourse by emphasizing a broader temporal plot. Offering more possible answers to "what caused this to happen" than doctors do, female madness narratives show that subjective experience exists within a social, as well as a biological, framework. Yet, popular as fictions remain, in recent years, the genre of memoir has eclipsed them. Madness memoir engages in a real-world context with the central linguistic challenge of madness. Memoirists' use of metaphor to convey recalcitrant experiences of distress not only engages with existential and hermeneutic mystery (what is it like, and what does it mean), but suggests a way forward for intersubjective understanding that sympathizes without co-opting, allowing for meaningful communication and political action across differences.

This is an architectural thesis for the creation of stories. Through the collection of memories and ideas, stories are discovered and then assembled to form objects of intent. The proposed design is also a hybrid - a hybrid of spaces, both formal and mundane, structured to form a unique body that is an extension of city from which it originated. The architectural project, located at the Dupont Circle North Metro exit in Washington, DC, houses performance, teaching and office space for the Speakeasy DC organization. The collection of spaces delineated in this design was inspired by characteristics of storytelling, structure and sound, and by the specific nature of the site. These spaces were then assembled to create a places of discovery (in markets and offices), reflection (in libraries and workrooms), and performance (in auditoriums and cafes). / Master of Architecture

No description available.

This essay investigates the applicability of Joseph Campbell’s notion of the Hero’s Journey from his theoretical work The Hero with a Thousand Faces on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit, or, There and Back Again. This has been done by outlining the essential aspects of Campbell’s theory and then performing a reading and analysis of Tolkien’s work. Furthermore, this essay focuses on the narrative structure proposed by Campbell, but also the heroic character’s development—in this instance, Bilbo Baggins’ development. As such, a brief examination of Campbell’s attitude and use of Freudian psychoanalysis has been performed as well as a presentation of Bilbo Baggins’ character and dual nature before the adventure. As a possible line of argument Tolkien’s knowledge of myth is also briefly expounded on. This essay does not research or make any definitive statements on the universal applicability of Campbell’s theory, but merely finds that Tolkien’s The Hobbit, or, There and Back Again appears to conform well to Campbell’s proposed narrative structure and that the development of Bilbo’s heroic character, or his character arc, is in concurrence with this as well.

Beethoven’s vocal works are often neglected or overshadowed as a result of his prominent involvement with large-scale instrumental genres such as sonata, symphony, or string quartet. Nevertheless, he sustained throughout his life a significant interest in literature and poetry; his personal library, as well as his letters, Tagebuch, and conversation books all document this by way of numerous direct quotations from—and indirect references to—the literary materials that interested him. The numerous vocal works he produced between 1783 and 1826 are one relevant manifestation of this interest and engagement with words. Beethoven produced a significant body of vocal works, the majority of which have not received the same intensity of analytical treatment as the instrumental works. Specifically, this study examines the relationship between words and music in the solo songs and other vocal works of Beethoven. The points of intersection between literary and musical expression are evaluated within four aspects of text setting: structure, rhythm, meaning, and narrative. Firstly, elements of derivation and deviation are explored to determine the diverse ways that he deliberately constructed musical structures in response to the poetic (and semantic) structures of each source text. Secondly, and by extension, rhythm and metre—and varying degrees of derivation, deviation, and manipulation—are assessed so as to demonstrate how these works illustrate Beethoven’s awareness of the expressive possibilities for adhering to or altering the relationship between poetic and musical metre. Thirdly, various types of musical rhetoric—including Beethoven’s implementation of the conventions for affective tonality, as well as the reliance on both conventional and uniquely-Beethovenian depictive idioms and gestures—illustrate his response to various levels of semantic content. Fourthly, his response to individual (though interrelated) aspects of narrative in his selected texts are evaluated. Drawing concepts from key figures of narrative theory—including Gérard Genette, Roland Barthes, Mieke Bal, and others—this study assesses the narrative content in selected texts as a means by which to gauge Beethoven’s compositional response to aspects of temporality, focalisation, spatiality, and so forth, both individually and in combination. Ultimately, this study demonstrates that—contrary to frequently voiced opinions—Beethoven responded quite closely and deliberately to the expressive implications of his selected texts, while aspects of poetic and musical structure, rhythm, syntax, imagery, and layers of meaning coalesce within complex narrative processes. Beethoven was aware of the inherent musicality of poetic texts and the significance of forging a close compositional relationship between words and music; thus he consistently demonstrated in composing these works his ideology that within vocal works ‘words and music form a unit’.

Nesta tese, a partir da leitura de estórias escritas por João Dias, José Craveirinha, Luís Bernardo Honwana, Costa Andrade, Antonio Cardoso, Luandino Vieira, Arnaldo Santos e Jofre Rocha nas décadas de 50 e 60 no contexto colonial angolano e moçambicano, analiso as estratégias narrativas utilizadas pelos autores para formalizar a violência das relações de trabalho impostas pelo colonialismo. No estudo dessas narrativas engajadas focalizo e sistematizo as estruturas convergentes que denunciam a exploração do trabalhador e da trabalhadora em Angola e Moçambique. Com efeito, considerando as recorrências estruturais encontradas e sistematizadas no contexto recortado, julgo que enuncio aqui, cônscio dos limites do estudo, a existência de uns contos iguais a muitos, ou seja, de diferentes estórias que valendo-se de estratégias narrativas congruentes formam uma estrutura de denúncia das relações de trabalho. Enunciadas por um(a) narrador(a) empenhado(a), estas estórias de enclausuramento, resistência e libertação articulam um confronto entre as ações das personagens agressoras brancas (patrões e seus agentes) e as dos(as) trabalhadores(as) negros(as). Além disso, é recorrente o uso de uma temporalidade tensiva e a inserção dos(as) trabalhadores(as) em espaços sociais compartimentados. Diante da vida rastejante e dos caminhos fechados, da exploração, da imobilidade e do racismo, as estórias também estruturam um processo de resistência no qual os(as) trabalhadores(as) enfrentam seus agressores e promovem a contra-violência do colonizado. / In this thesis, from the reading of stories written by João Dias, José Craveirinha, Luís Bernardo Honwana, Costa Andrade, Antonio Cardoso, Luandino Vieira, Arnaldo Santos and Jofre Rocha in the 50s and 60s in the Angolan and Mozambican colonial context, I analyze the narrative strategies used by the authors to formalize the violence of labor relations imposed by colonialism. In the study of these engaged narratives I focus and systematize the convergent structures that denounce the exploitation of male and female workers in Angola and Mozambique. In fact, considering the structural recurrences that were found and systematized in the highlighted context, I believe I enunciate here, aware of the limits of the study, the existence of \"a few tales equal to many others\", that is to say, of different stories that making use of congruent narrative strategies form a structure of denunciation of labor relations. These stories of imprisonment, resistance and liberation, stated by a committed narrator, articulate a confrontation between the actions of the white aggressive characters (bosses and their agents) and those of the black workers. Moreover, it is recurrent the use of a tense temporality and an insertion of the workers into compartmentalized social spaces. In the face of \"creeping life\" and \"closed paths,\" of exploitation, immobility and, racism, the stories also structure a process of resistance in which the workers face their aggressors and promote the counter-violence of the colonized.