In 2K Games’ Bioshock (2007) the player, as the protagonist Jack, is thrown into a dystopian, futuristic alternate history of America. Rapture is an underwater city saturated in music: popular songs from the mid twentieth century; classical-style soundtrack pieces composed by Garry Schyman; characters humming, singing, whistling or playing instruments; musical vending machines; and even the sounds of whales and other creatures all participate in forming a textured soundscape. The songs from the 1930s - 50s used throughout Bioshock recall a real-world cultural environment—a popular music culture that is both comfortably recognizable yet strangely unfamiliar. They occur within the game world and are heard by the player and game characters, and thus the songs are diegetic or “screen music.” In Bioshock, such music is an explicit component of narrative production, game environment creation, and player immersion. Significantly, diegetic music participates in the construction of narrative through a constant interplay or negotiation with the video game’s other elements—visual, textual, ludic—and ultimately functions as a distinct discourse able to mediate for Jack/the player between contesting factors, via established conventional codes of musical, cultural, film, and now video game signification. Bioshock’s use of music initiates a pre-game discourse during installation and prior to every game session in the disc-loading scenes, and this musical discourse is continued throughout the narrative. The story’s opening and descent into Rapture further establishes and “naturalizes” the presence of diegetic music as part of the story being told, and as a vital component of the audio-visual environment enhances player immersion. At the same time, these opening instances and subsequent occurrences of diegetic music at significant points in the story demonstrate that music’s culturally encoded emotive potential produces ironic and poignant effects, while its lyrical intertextuality generates narratological and ludic commentary in various song/scene pairings.

With a view to conducting a study of the identity portrayal as presented in the film Paljas - and more specifically of the two youth characters, Willem and Emma - a few relevant theoretical concepts are included in this investigation, i.e. developmental psychology, film theory and narratology. By analysing and interpreting the film-related representation of the two youth characters it was possible to establish to which extent and in which way the identity portrayal of the two youth characters enhances the main theme of the film. It was, accordingly, also possible to elucidate facets of the placement of the fictional reality as represented in the film text and the reality as such in parallel correlation. According to the research method that was implemented certain aspects of different related sciences proved to be of integral importance. Such aspects included the psychological development of the child during mid-childhood years, the psychological development of the late adolescent, the application of film-related techniques pertaining to character portrayal and characterisation in narratology. During the course of this research the focus was on the identity portrayal of the two characters, Willem and Emma as youth characters in the film Paljas. An analysis of the identity portrayal of the youth characters implies that the investigation and application of narratology and film theory be incorporated in conjunction with theories pertaining to developmental psychology as specific point of focus. The research results were thus described by means of an integrated method. The children's experience of interpersonal communication at their home exercises an important influence on their identity development. The parents create the primary framework of reference for the children's attitude, value systems and convictions in connection with life in general as well as for their own sense of the self and their self-estimation. Key words: film, film text, film theory, identity portrayal, interpretation, youth characters, late adolescence, mid-childhood years, narratology, developmental psychology, Paljas, reception theory. / Thesis (M.A. (Languages))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

Avec la conscience grandissante de la constructibilité de l’histoire, l’historiographie et les sciences littéraires se sont beaucoup rapprochées dans les dernières années. Hayden White a montré, dans son livre Metahistory (1973), que dans la construction de l’histoire, les historiens utilisent, pour construire leur récit, des techniques de narration semblables à celles utilisées par les écrivains. La narratologie devient ainsi une discipline qui rend possible le dialogue entre l’historiographie et les sciences littéraires. Par ce dialogue entre les deux disciplines, les théories (post)modernes de l’historiographie et les concepts de la métafiction dans la littérature s’influencent réciproquement. Dans ce contexte, il est d’autant plus intéressant d’analyser le roman Novembre 1918 de l’écrivain allemand Alfred Döblin (1878-1957), qui anticipe sur cette évolution de l’historiographie et de la littérature, mais qui, malgré sa modernité, reste paradoxalement très peu connu et quasiment ignoré par la critique littéraire. Dans son roman historique, Döblin combine le récit épique des faits historiques avec l’analyse existentielle des protagonistes, en vue de décrire l’histoire comme procès. Du point de vue formel, il combine les moyens narratifs expérimentaux et avant-gardistes, avec la conviction traditionnelle de l’auteur réaliste, c’est-à-dire qu’un récit de fiction puisse dire la vérité sur la réalité et l’histoire. Ainsi il crée une forme singulière de récit entre tradition et innovation, forme qu’il caractérise dans ses essais poétologiques à partir de deux concepts clés : « modernes Epos » et « Tatsachenphantasie », « épopée moderne » et « fantaisie de la réalité ». Dans ma thèse, j’entends définir ces concepts clés de la poétique d’Alfred Döblin pour ainsi établir le cadre théorique de l’interprétation du roman Novembre 1918. L’auteur lui-même définit dans ses essais esthétiques la « fantaisie de la réalité » comme union entre des faits réels et des faits fantastiques. C’est pourquoi ma thèse se concentre sur ce jeu fictionnel entre réalité et fantaisie, entre les éléments du récit réaliste et ceux du récit fantastique. « L’incursion de la démonie » et « le narrateur démiurge » sont deux concepts innovateurs de ma thèse qui aideront à mieux comprendre et définir la poétique du roman d’Alfred Döblin. / As a result of the acute understanding of the constructibility of historical writings, the historiography and the literary sciences have come closer in the last few years. Hayden White shows in his book Metahistory (1973) that the narrative techniques historians use in their historical writings are similar to those used by the authors of literary writings. The narratology has also become a discipline, which allows the dialogue between historiography and literary sciences. Thus, the (post)modern theories of historiography and the concepts of metafiction in literature have an impact on one another. In this context, it is more than challenging to analyse the historical novel November 1918 written by the German author Alfred Döblin (1878-1957), as he already anticipates in the 1920es this evolution of historiography and literature. His historical novel November 1918 is, despite its modernity, a relatively unknown novel, not only to the public, but also to the literary critics. Döblin combines in this novel the monumental realistic description of historical events with the existential analysis of his protagonists. As far as the formal aspects are concerned, he combines the experimental narrative techniques of the avant-garde with the traditional elements, thus unveiling the conviction of the traditional realist author that a fictional literary work can bring out a hidden truth about history and reality. Therefore, he creates a unique form of literature linking tradition and innovation. He caracterises this form, in his poetological writings by means of two key-concepts: “modernes Epos” and “Tatsachenphantasie”: “modern epos” and “fantasy of the real”. In my dissertation I intend to define these key-concepts in Alfred Döblin’s poetics with a view to establish the theoretical setting for the interpretation of his novel November 1918. Since Döblin himself defines in his theoretical essays the “fantasy of the real” as portrayal of both real and fantastic elements, my dissertation focuses on this fictional tension between reality and fantasy, between the elements specific to the realist writings and those specific to the fantastic ones. The “incursion of the demonic” and “the narrator demiurge” are two innovative concepts I present in my dissertation. These concepts should lead to a better definition and understanding of Döblin’s novel poetics. / Die Historiographie und die Literaturwissenschaft haben sich in den letzten Jahren sehr viel angenähert. Durch sein bahnbrechendes Buch Metahistory (1973) bringt Haydn White ans Licht, dass sowohl die Schriftsteller als auch die Historiker sich ähnlicher narrativer Verfahren bedienen, um die Wirklichkeit zu beschreiben. Durch dieses Bewusstsein der Konstruktivität und Narrativität von Geschichte ist die Narratologie zur verbindenden Wissenschaft geworden. Darum ist es interessant, sich Alfred Döblins historischem Roman November 1918, einem der großen historischen Romane der deutschen Literatur, zuzuwenden, weil er vieles davon vorwegnimmt, was die (post)modernen Theorien der Historiographie und die metafiktionalen Konzepte der Literatur ins Blickfeld rücken. Aufgrund unglücklicher Rezeptionsbedingungen wurde Döblins Roman bis heute kaum beachtet, sowohl vom Publikum als auch von der literarischen Kritik. In seiner Darstellung der deutschen Revolution verknüpft Döblin die experimentell-avantgardistischen Erzählverfahren und das Misstrauen gegenüber der Erzählbarkeit der Geschichtsprozesse mit der traditionellen Einstellung, dass eine fiktive Erzählung die Wahrheit über Wirklichkeit und Geschichte sagen kann. Dementsprechend schafft er eine einzigartige Erzählform zwischen Tradition und Innovation, die er bereits in seinem Berliner Programm anhand von zwei Schlüsselbegriffen definiert: „modernes Epos“ und „Tatsachenphantasie“. Meine Arbeit versucht, Döblins Geschichtsepos November 1918 im Lichte dieser zwei Begriffe zu analysieren und zu zeigen, wie Döblin sein ästhetisches Postulat der „Tatsachenphantasie“ in seinem Roman literarisch realisiert. Da Döblin selbst die „Tatsachenphantasie“-Ästhetik als Verbindung der wirklichen und der phantastischen Fakten und Elementen definiert, befasse ich mich in meiner Arbeit mit diesem Zusammenspiel zwischen den narrativen Formen der realistischen Erzählung und denjenigen Motiven und Elementen, die in den phantastischen Erzählungen vorkommen. „Der Einbruch des Dämonischen“ und „der Erzähler als Demiurg“ sind zwei innovative Schlüsselkonzepte meiner Arbeit, die zu einer besseren Begriffsbestimmung von Döblins „Tatsachenphantasie“-Ästhetik führen werden. / Thèse réalisée en co-tutelle avec l'Université Libre de Berlin, Institut für Deutsche und Niederländische Philologie

This interior design practicum investigates how narratives linked to the St-Boniface Fire Hall No.1, located in Winnipeg, can inform its adaptive reuse. Its oral history gathered in part through interviewing past users is spacialized into a physical realm. Narratives are translated into design elements by utilizing the creative process and analytical framework of the concept of mise en scène. Stories are analyzed and given structure through narratology as a theoretical approach. Post-Museum theory joined the concept of mise en scène by encouraging the visitors to become part of a living museum through sharing stories, thus becoming performers themselves. By utilizing narratives as a foundation, the interior weaves the existing heritage structure with new design interventions, therefore preserving the unique character of the building and incorporating its neighboring francophone community. The resulting design solution manifests itself as a mixed typology including a brewpub, an artist in residence studio and, a living museum.

The eyewitnessed reportage has a pronounced character of narrating. The imaginative power of the text helps the reader to empathise with the characters. That makes constructing empathy a necessary skill of reporters. But how can this be done? Despite a tradition of story telling among reporters, narratologists virtually have neglected the reportage genre. The purpose of this thesis is to examine how narrative strategies can be used in reportages and, at the same time, suggest methods for investigating those strategies. The main question is: How can empathy be constructed? Empathy is here defined as a function of presence, perspective, selection and disnarration. A screen of covert values is also added. The study applies a narratological and a media rhetorical approach to journalistic narratives, and focus is on basic discussions supported by analysis samples. Theories by Gérard Genette, Dorrit Cohn, Seymor Chatman, William C. Booth, Gerald Prince, Göran Rossholm, Bengt Nerman and others are discussed. Even though a reportage is about real events, it always represents a personal interpretation. It presents the readers with a represented reality. In a narratological model for the macro level of the reportage I identify the trait of construction as an interaction between three instances: the producer (i. e. the implied author), the narrator and the experiencing reporter. On a micro level this model helps me to explain, for example, how a homodiegetic narrator can be combined with external focalisation, and how another character than the experiencing reporter can be focalised. In the former case I examine the interplay between showing and telling relative to the narrator’s visibility. In the latter case I especially focus on a complex technique for shifting perspectives, both those concerning thoughts, like Free, Indirect Discourse (FID), and those concerning perception. At the same time I study different degrees of perspectivity.

The primary focus of this qualitative research project is on the articulation of contexts and identity in operatic texts. In literature, postmodern appropriations and re-writings of classic nineteenth-century texts have changed perceptions about the ability of the marginalized Other’s identity to change. As a discursive phenomenon, opera helped to shape nineteenth-century perceptions of the exotic Other. This thesis argues that the appropriation of operatic texts to reflect various contexts induces the potential to shape alternative perceptions about identity. In U-Carmen eKhayelitsha (2005), a cinematic adaptation of Bizet’s Carmen (1873–74), director Mark Dornford-May revisits earlier versions of Carmen and uses semiotics and several other narrative strategies in order to articulate the identities of the African female Other within the context of a post-apartheid township. This thesis illustrates how the dialectic relationship between text, context and identity formation becomes evident in the analysis and comparison of Prosper Mérimée’s novella Carmen (1845), George Bizet’s eponymous opera and U-Carmen eKhayelitsha. / Thesis (PhD (Music))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

The primary focus of this qualitative research project is on the articulation of contexts and identity in operatic texts. In literature, postmodern appropriations and re-writings of classic nineteenth-century texts have changed perceptions about the ability of the marginalized Other’s identity to change. As a discursive phenomenon, opera helped to shape nineteenth-century perceptions of the exotic Other. This thesis argues that the appropriation of operatic texts to reflect various contexts induces the potential to shape alternative perceptions about identity. In U-Carmen eKhayelitsha (2005), a cinematic adaptation of Bizet’s Carmen (1873–74), director Mark Dornford-May revisits earlier versions of Carmen and uses semiotics and several other narrative strategies in order to articulate the identities of the African female Other within the context of a post-apartheid township. This thesis illustrates how the dialectic relationship between text, context and identity formation becomes evident in the analysis and comparison of Prosper Mérimée’s novella Carmen (1845), George Bizet’s eponymous opera and U-Carmen eKhayelitsha. / Thesis (PhD (Music))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013

With a view to conducting a study of the identity portrayal as presented in the film Paljas - and more specifically of the two youth characters, Willem and Emma - a few relevant theoretical concepts are included in this investigation, i.e. developmental psychology, film theory and narratology. By analysing and interpreting the film-related representation of the two youth characters it was possible to establish to which extent and in which way the identity portrayal of the two youth characters enhances the main theme of the film. It was, accordingly, also possible to elucidate facets of the placement of the fictional reality as represented in the film text and the reality as such in parallel correlation. According to the research method that was implemented certain aspects of different related sciences proved to be of integral importance. Such aspects included the psychological development of the child during mid-childhood years, the psychological development of the late adolescent, the application of film-related techniques pertaining to character portrayal and characterisation in narratology. During the course of this research the focus was on the identity portrayal of the two characters, Willem and Emma as youth characters in the film Paljas. An analysis of the identity portrayal of the youth characters implies that the investigation and application of narratology and film theory be incorporated in conjunction with theories pertaining to developmental psychology as specific point of focus. The research results were thus described by means of an integrated method. The children's experience of interpersonal communication at their home exercises an important influence on their identity development. The parents create the primary framework of reference for the children's attitude, value systems and convictions in connection with life in general as well as for their own sense of the self and their self-estimation. Key words: film, film text, film theory, identity portrayal, interpretation, youth characters, late adolescence, mid-childhood years, narratology, developmental psychology, Paljas, reception theory. / Thesis (M.A. (Languages))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2004.

This interior design practicum investigates how narratives linked to the St-Boniface Fire Hall No.1, located in Winnipeg, can inform its adaptive reuse. Its oral history gathered in part through interviewing past users is spacialized into a physical realm. Narratives are translated into design elements by utilizing the creative process and analytical framework of the concept of mise en scène. Stories are analyzed and given structure through narratology as a theoretical approach. Post-Museum theory joined the concept of mise en scène by encouraging the visitors to become part of a living museum through sharing stories, thus becoming performers themselves. By utilizing narratives as a foundation, the interior weaves the existing heritage structure with new design interventions, therefore preserving the unique character of the building and incorporating its neighboring francophone community. The resulting design solution manifests itself as a mixed typology including a brewpub, an artist in residence studio and, a living museum.

According to law all Swedish authorities must express themselves using correct, plain and comprehensible language whenever they communicate with the citizens in order to make it easy to understand what needs to be known to participate in the Swedish democratic society. I would like to explore if there are more tools than the language that could be used to make their communication easier to comprehend, in this case images and stories. In this essay I will investigate the relationship between the written words and the visual components – images and illustrations – in brochures from Swedish authorities. I will also try to identify possible narratives in the brochures, and examine the functions of these narratives. To do this study I use a semiotic analysis including denotation and connotation and narrative analysis according to Burke and Greimas. The result showed that most of the images are used to anchor, confirm, the written text while some seek to guide our interpretations of the text or to add a new dimension to it. Only one of my three analyzed brochures contains a clear example of a narrative, while the others contain narrative element. My most important finding is that the narratives are mostly hidden within the images and therefore get dual functions– both as anchors of the text and as a narrative