Kwok, Tsz Ki. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 116-120). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Acknowledgements --- p.i / Abstract --- p.ii / 摘要 --- p.iii / Abbreviations --- p.v / Chapter Chapter One --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter Two --- """Honest! Honest!"" - Down and Out in Paris and London" --- p.11 / Chapter Chapter Three --- """It is almost impossible to be honest and remain alive"" -The Road to Wigan Pier" --- p.42 / Chapter Chapter Four --- "“Still, I have done my best to be honest"" ´ؤ Homage to Catalonia" --- p.76 / Conclusion --- p.108 / Bibliography --- p.116

Tsang Tim. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 101-105). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / 摘要 --- p.ii / Table of Contents --- p.iii / Abbreviations --- p.iv / Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter I --- Journey to Poverty in Paris and London --- p.8 / Chapter Chapter II --- Struggles and Failures in Two Novels --- p.35 / Chapter Chapter III --- The Road from Fellow Feeling to a Yearning for Common Decency --- p.61 / Conclusion --- p.89 / Bibliography --- p.101

This study examines George Orwell's contribution to our understanding of imperialism and to political writing in general. The basic assumptions of the study are that for a creative writer plot performs essentially the same function as model-building does for the political scientist and the role of the imagination is paramount both in the drawing of a novelist's picture of environment and in a social scientist's selection of variables. To show how a creative writer can offer the student of politics an unusual perspective of various systems of government (in this case, imperialism), the study draws upon concrete examples from Orwell's novel Burmese Days and other of his related writings to illustrate a number of political science's theoretical concepts. The study is also concerned with showing how Orwell was a pacesetter, as it were, in rejecting jargon as a means of expression and instead pressing vigorously, particularly in his description of imperialism in Burmese Days, for a straightforward yet imaginative prose in describing political as well as other events. The study assumes that Orwell's plea is echoed in a succeeding generation by others such as Landau and asserts that Burmese Days has either rendered many of imperialism's more harmful clichés impotent or has at least exposed them to closer scrutiny. At the same time, despite Orwell's often vehement denunciation of imperialism, it is assumed that there is implicit in the dialogue of some of his characters a recognition that while the system of uninvited foreigners exploiting and governing another people's country may be morally repugnant, in the light of an all-embracing and privacy-invading industrialism British imperialism may have been the least offensive kind of such exploitation. The study argues that our understanding of the motivations for group behaviour may, in some cases such as imperialism, be best pursued through more intensive studies of individuals within the group rather than by investing all of our attention in observing the collective action of the group. The study has evolved not from the notion that a creative writer can ever replace the perhaps more disciplined approach of the social sciences in understanding our world, but that he can significantly aid the academic world in illustrating its theoretical concepts. Finally, it is the overriding conclusion of this study that the moderately experimental nature of its juxtaposition of social science theory and fiction is mutually beneficial to both the social scientist and the student of literature in offering them new perspectives in their respective fields of interest. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

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À partir du roman 1984 de George Orwell, nous entendons montrer la relation entre la mémoire et la dystopie afin d'expliciter le lien qui existe entre les facultés mnésiques et leurs incidences sur une oeuvre de fiction à visée politique. Chez Orwell, les récupérations historiques d'événements avérés, les mises en abîmes tirées de la tradition de l'utopie et l'utilisation du langage sont représentatives d'une tendance à voir dans le passé les possibilités d'un à-venir autre. La manipulation des mémoires individuelle et collective par un régime totalitaire devient la voie privilégiée pour asseoir un pouvoir sur le social. Cependant, c'est également la mémoire qui permet à l'individu de s'échapper du cauchemar sociétal en lui inspirant des rêves compensatoires et en lui insufflant le désir d'oeuvrer concrètement au renversement de l'ordre établi. La mémoire permet ainsi l'émergence d'une altérité en fournissant les références d'un passé différent du présent qui alimenteront une critique du totalitarisme et, ultimement, contribueront à l'avènement d'un monde meilleur. La réappropriation d'une mémoire du passé devient, par conséquent, le moteur d'une écriture visant à définir l'horizon possible de l'avenir. Dans ce contexte, le passé s'avère être à la fois un enjeu primordial pour la domination totale et l'essence d'une résistance pour assurer à l'humanité l'espoir et l'avenir de la liberté. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Littérature, Mémoire, Dystopie, Totalitarisme. George Orwell: 1984.

The subject of this thesis is the influence of George Orwell's experience as a war-time BBC radio broadcaster on the author as he created the world of NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR. In 1985 W. J. West published the transcripts of Orwell's wartime broadcasts. West suggested in his introductory preface that Orwell's NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR was based directly on his BBC experience and problems encountered with the Ministry of Information at that time. This thesis argues that, though Orwell probably drew on his BBC experience for the psychological content of NINETEEN EIGHTY-FOUR, Winston's treatment at the hands of Big Brother is not based on anything the author endured during his tenure at the BBC. To this end Orwell's personal and political reasons for both joining and leaving the BBC are discussed. The connection between reality and fiction in Orwell's works, both documentary and fictional, is examined, and the literary nature of all of Orwell's writing taken into consideration in an exploration of the creative dynamic shaping Orwell's expression.

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Dissertation (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2000. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis uses Mikhail Bakhtin's theory of dialogism, as well as postmodernism, to open up faultlines in satire, and to explore and challenge various perceptions and discourses surrounding and related to it. Both dialogism and postmodernism are used to suggest fresh approaches to satire, by repositioning it in relation to other discourses and reframing it as a complex dynamic, rather than a closed and inflexible system. Chapter 1 of the thesis opens with an historical survey of the beginnings and subsequent development of satire. It also contains a general discussion of the nature of satiric strategies and opens the door for the incorporation of postmodern perspectives into the argument. Chapter 2 contrasts the issues of morality and re-presentation in satire, arguing that satirists do not simply invite their audience to condemn, but offer them an opportunity to discover alternative worlds. The affinity between satire and postmodernism is emphasised by the postmodern predilection for modes highly favoured by satire: allegory, parody and fantasy. In Chapter 3 the issue of language and its referents is explored, starting with Saussure's theory of how the signifier and the signified function. It is argued that satire has never respected this fixed relationship, and that it is in this respect similar to deconstruction. The last part of the chapter is devoted to examining four key socio-political discourses - psychoanalysis, ideology, propaganda and political myth - in relation to satire. These four discourses are, like satire, intent on influencing the perceptions which people have of the world. The intention in juxtaposing these discourses is to create a dialogic process which will throw a fresh light on all of them, including satire itself. The four socio-political discourses named above play an important part in Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, and are relevant to the subsequent discussion of these novels. Chapter 4 consists of a detailed discussion of Animal Farm, in which the various layers comprising the work are examined. The satirical aspects of the novel are closely related to the fabular and fairy tale elements which are an important part of its constitution. These elements or levels are juxtaposed with the historical details alluded to continuously in Animal Farm and indicate its close concern with the world outside the novel. Chapter 5 consists of a detailed exploration of Nineteen Eighty-Four, which is illuminated by a process of dialogism between the modernist ideology from which the novel springs and the postmodern perspective introduced into the thesis, as well as the four socio-political discourses mentioned earlier. The main postmodern theories used in this chapter are those of Foucault. The last section of the thesis demonstrates how Orwell's personal experience drives his satire, and relates this specifically to a discussion of utopia / dystopia in satire. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die Dialogiek van Satire: Fokuspunte en Breuke in Orwell se Animal Farm en Nineteen Eighty-Four: Hierdie proefskrif maak gebruik van Mikhail Bakhtin se teorie van dialogisme, sowel as die postmodernisme, om die breuke in satire bloot te le, en om die verskillende persepsies en diskoerse wat verband hou met die satire te ondersoek en te bevraagteken. Beide die dialogisme en die postmodernisme word gebruik om nuwe perspektiewe op satire te open, deur dit te herposisioneer in verhouding tot ander diskoerse en dit voor te stel in terme van 'n komplekse dinamika eerder as 'n geslote en onbuigsame sisteem. Die eerste hoofstuk van die proefskrif begin met 'n historiese oorsig van die oorspronge en daaropvolgende ontwikkeling van satire. Dit omvat ook 'n algemene bespreking van die aard van satiriese strateqiee en open die moontlikheid om postmodernistiese perspektiewe in die argument te integreer. Hoofstuk 2 kontrasteer die kwessies van moraliteit en representasie in satire met mekaar; daar word geargumenteer dat satirici nie net hulle gehore uitnooi om te veroordeel nie, maar hulle die geleentheid gee om alternatiewe werelde te ontdek. Die verwantskap tussen satire en postmodernisme word benadruk deur die postmodernisme se voorliefde vir die modi waaraan die satire so dikwels voorkeur gee: allegorie, parodie en fantasie. In hoofstuk 3 word die kwessie van taal en referensialiteit ondersoek, beginnende by Saussure se teorie oor die funksionering van die betekenaar en die betekende. Daar word geargumenteer dat satire nog nooit die vaste verhouding tussen betekenaar en betekende eerbiedig het nie, en dat dit in hierdie opsig verwant is aan die dekonstruksie. Die laaste gedeelte van die hoofstuk word gewy aan 'n ondersoek van vier sentrale sosio-politiese diskoerse - psigoanalise, ideologie, propaganda en politieke mitologie - in verhouding met satire. Hierdie vier diskoerse is, soos satire, daarop ingestel om mense se persepsies/opvattings van die. wereld te verander. Die doelstelling met die jukstaposisie van hierdie diskoerse is die skep van 'n dialogiese proses wat al vier hierdie diskoerse, insluitende satire, in 'n nuwe lig sal stel. Die genoemde sosio-politiese diskoerse speel 'n belangrike rol in Animal Farm en Nineteen Eighty-Four, en is relevant vir die daaropvolgende bespreking van die romans. Hoofstuk 4 bestaan uit 'n gedetailleerde bespreking van Animal Farm, waarin daar ondersoek ingestel word na die verskillende lae waaruit die roman bestaan. Die satiriese aspekte van die roman word in noue verband gebring met die fabulere en die feeverhaalelemente wat so 'n belangrike deel uitmaak van die roman se samestelling. Hierdie elemente of vlakke word gejukstaponeer met die historiese detail waarna daar deurlopend in Animal Farm verwys word en wat die noue bemoeienis met die wereld buite die roman aandui. Hoofstuk 5 bestaan uit 'n intensiewe ondersoek van Nineteen Eighty-Four, wat belig word deur 'n proses van dialogisme tussen die modernistiese ideologie waaruit die roman spruit en die postmodernistiese perspektiewe wat in die proefskrif ingevoer word. Die belangrikste postmodernistiese teoriee wat in hierdie hoofstuk gebruik word, is die van Foucault. Die laaste afdeling van die proefskrif demonstreer hoedat Orwell se persoonlike ervaring bepalend is vir sy satire en bring dit spesifiek in verband met 'n bespreking van utopie/distopie in satire.

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