La présente recherche est une approche transdisciplinaire et pluridisciplinaire qui a pour objet principal, la réévaluation et la redéfinition du concept du mythe littéraire, en abordant la vision des sciences biologiques, plus précisément la génétique dont les instruments et concepts servent de notre point de vue à la reconfiguration des structures déjà classiques de l'imaginaire. Nous avons comme objectif de proposer une définition du mythe qui rend compte de son évolution dans les cultures, non pas une définition statique, immobile ; mais une définition qui suppose l'idée de l'évolution. Le biologiste anglais, Richard Dawkins, écrit en 1976 Le Gène égoïste, dans lequel il explique que «toute vie évolue en fonction des chances de survie des entités répliquées». Selon lui, le gène est la principale unité de sélection dans l'évolution. Dawkins invente aussi le concept de « mème » comme étant l'unité de l'évolution culturelle par analogie avec le gène. Donc, il estime qu'il y a un rapport très fort entre la génétique et la culture humaine, autrement dit, entre le monde physique, le cerveau humain et l'imaginaire. Claude Lévi-Strauss dans, Roger Caillois, Gilbert Durand et Richard Dawkins voyaient une liaison forte entre l'imaginaire et la biologie. Mais, leurs recherches n'aboutissent pas à présenter un modèle concret. Ce que nous essayerons de présenter dans notre recherche, est un nouveau parcours vers ce but avec le nouvel outil de la génétique. Nous étudions quelque domaine crucial de l'imaginaire tel que l'origine ou le Big Bang de l'imaginaire, la frontière dans l'imaginaire et le réel, le tableau des gènes littéraires et les codes des gènes littéraires. C'est une sorte de redécouverte de l'imaginaire basé sur le gène et mythe littéraire. Pour prouver notre point de vue, nous appliquons la méthode du repérage des gènes littéraires sur un récit. Cette recherche transdisciplinaire veut mettre en évidence que le mythe, comme il est défini par les mythologues, les ethnographes, les anthropologues etc., n'est pas seulement un phénomène culturel, religieux, historique, ou déterminé par les représentations littéraires, mais il est en fait, déterminé par les structures génétiques qui préparent l'homme à la propension et la compétence de raconter des « histoires »/ des « récits ». / This research is an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary approach has the main purpose, reassessment and redefining the concept of literary myth, addressing the vision of Biological Sciences, specifically the genetic tools and concepts which serve as our point of view reconfiguration of the structures already classics of the imagination. We aim to offer a definition of myth that reflects its evolution in the cultures, not a static definition, motionless, but a definition that implies the idea of evolution. The British biologist Richard Dawkins wrote The Selfish Gene in 1976, in which he explains that "all life evolves according to the survival of replicated entities. He said the gene is the main unit of selection in evolution. Dawkins also invented the concept of "meme" as the unit of cultural evolution by analogy with the gene. So he sees a strong relationship between genetics and human culture, between the physical world, the human brain and “imaginaire”. Claude Levi-Strauss, Roger Caillois, Gilbert Durand and Richard Dawkins saw a strong link between “imaginaire” and biology. But their researches fail to present a concrete model. What we try to the present research, is a new route to this goal with the new tool of genetics. We study some crucial area of the imaginaire as the origin or the Big Bang of imaginaire; and the borders into imaginaire and the real; and the table of literary genes and codes of literary genes. It is a kind of rediscovery of imaginaire, based on the literary gene and myth. To prove our point of view, we apply this method of identification of the genes on a literary text. This interdisciplinary research will highlight the myth, as defined by the mythologies, ethnographers, anthropologists etc., is not only a cultural phenomenon, religious, historical, or determined by literary representations; but it is in fact, determined by the genetic structures that prepare the human propensity and ability to tell "histoires" / "récits".

The genesis and development of modern African literature in indigenous languages in South Africa cannot be satisfactorily handled without linking them to the historical, social and political developments in South Africa. The first literary works to be published in South Africa in indigenous languclges were the products of western imperialist agents, the missionaries especially. This literature was later exposed to further ideologies when the government took control of education for Af~cans. The intensification of th€ liberation struggle from mid 20th century saw literature becoming another area of resistance politics in South Africa. African writers began to write in English. The birth of the Black Consciousness Muvement in the late sixties gave further impetus to this development with the emergence of black protest literature. This study seeks to investigate thes. developments in both African literature and black protest literature by employing a materialist analysis, specifically focusing on ideology as a material condition. / Afrikaans & Theory of literature / (M.A. (Theory of Literature ))

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the significance of conflict stories in the Gospel of Matthew from a literary critical perspective. The key research question the thesis has attempted to answer is, how do conflict stories function in Matthew’s narrative? Because their interest is often limited to the Sitz im Leben behind the Matthean text, previous studies attempting the similar pursuit view conflict stories as transparent accounts of Matthew’s polemical program against the Jews or Judaism. Thus they have neglected a vital purpose of the author, that is, besides his interest to record or preserve what happened in history, the Gospel author is also interested to arouse or affirm the readers’ faith in Jesus through his preservation and redaction of his sources, which is an inseparable part of the author’s theological program. How exactly then has his literary work achieved this purpose? Assuming the literary unity of the Matthean text, this study has treated the Matthean text as a mirror and explored literary nuances reflected by the textual ‘surface.’ Under such a premise, the narrative analysis of this thesis has highlighted three foci: 1. The connection which each conflict makes with its narrative context; 2. How the Hebrew Scripture interacts with the author’s composition or redaction of the stories; and 3. The literary impact these stories have on the implied reader. This study selects a total of seventeen conflict stories in Matthew based on three criteria, Matt 9.1-8, 9-13, 14-17; 12.1-8, 9-14, 22-37, 38-45; 13.53-58; 15.1-9; 16.1-4; 19.1-9; 21.14-17, 23-27; 22.15-22, 23-33, 34-40, 41-46: 1. The presence of an attitude of hostility or challenge in the setting of the narrative (either explicit or implied); 2. The presence of a question of an accusation or a challenge; and 3. The question or the accusation is usually followed by a reply of Jesus. In conclusion, the literary analysis of this study suggests two most important functions of Matthean conflict stories: 1. Conflict stories function, either individually or in clusters, as kernels of the Matthean plot to advance the narrative forward in order to reach its climax in the passion narrative. 2. The Christological focus in conflict stories is consistently concerned not only with the superiority of Jesus over the opponents, but more importantly with the nexus between the divine status of Jesus and him being the messianic figure.

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Britain imported a vast number of cashmere shawls from the Indian subcontinent in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. These were largely male garments in India at the time, which became popular dress accessories for British women. The demand for these shawls was opportune for textile manufacturers at home – particularly in Edinburgh, Norwich, and Paisley, who launched a thriving industry of shawls, ‘made in imitation of the Indian’. There has been considerable scholarship on cashmere shawls and their European copies in textile history. However, it has enjoyed no such prominence in literary studies. This PhD thesis examines Cashmere and ‘Paisley’ shawls in works of literature. Indian shawls are mentioned in a number of literary texts, including plays, poems, novels, opera, and satire. A wide variety of writers such as Richard Sheridan, Sir Walter Scott, Jane Austen, and Wilkie Collins (to name a few) depict these textiles in their works. For these writers, I argue, shawls provide a means to explore Britain’s changing social and imperial identity through the prism of material culture. The sheer incidence of ‘shawls’ in printed discourse furthermore suggests that they went beyond the realm of everyday fashion to constitute one of the important narratives of nineteenth-century Britain. In emphasising the significance of material culture and recovering new historical contexts, this investigation raises important questions relating to the links between industry and trade, and literary production. I rely on literary criticism, scholarship on India, and textile history to examine the phenomenon of cashmere shawls. In the wider context of postcolonialism, the research suggests that instead of the Saidian model which viewed the East as an abject ‘Other,’ colonies actually exerted a reverse and important influence on the imperial centre. A new emphasis on Indian things in literature, this work hopes, will contribute a fresh strand of thought to studies of imperialism.

published_or_final_version / Literary Studies / Master / Master of Arts

Throughout its long history, the Brahmanical literary tradition has demonstrated a deep concern with gifting and, thus, provides valuable data on this important institution in pre-modern South Asia. Significantly, this long tradition of reflection on the gift culminates in a class of texts called dānanibandhas, which start to appear in the early twelfth century CE and continue to be composed in widespread areas of the subcontinent until roughly the beginning of British rule. These dānanibandhas draw together, organize, and comment upon a vast array of earlier scriptures on dāna (Sanskrit: gift/gifting) and, therefore, represent a grand attempt to synthesize all earlier Brahmanical thought on the subject. Consequently, they are invaluable sources for the understanding of orthodox Brahmanical theories of the gift during much of South Asian history. Despite their potential value to modern scholarship, however, none of these texts has been translated into any Western language or even properly edited. Thus, the state of these primary sources greatly hampers any scholarly attempts at their analysis. This dissertation constitutes a first and crucial step toward remedying this situation, for it comprises a critical edition and annotated translation of the Dānakāṇḍa (“Book on Gifting”), the fifth section of the encyclopedic Kṛtyakalpataru of Lakṣmīdhara and the earliest extant dānanibandha. As a complement to this philological work, a more general study of Brahmanical theories of the gift with special emphasis on the early dānanibandhas has been included. / text

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