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This thesis examines the political pop art of contemporary Chinese artist Wang Guangyi in light contemporaneous shifts within the political, economic, and artistic space of China from 1978 until the present. Through an analysis of the work of art as an historically determined antagonistic aesthetic praxis, this thesis attempts to reveal the sedimented traces of the alternative modernity which the Chinese government is actively attempting to construct. With its evocative juxtaposition of contrasting ideological forms, the artwork of Wang Guangyi seeks to deconstruct the normative and teleological narratives encountered within the dialectic interplay between state sponsored transnational capitalism and Marxist-Leninist communism. An understanding of the discursive structure upon which these dual modernising narratives has been based, and of the fragmented artistic space they have engendered, should serve to enliven the debate concerning the role of cultural production in questioning and revealing narratives of the nation, of the Self, and of modernity.

This thesis starts from the observation that, while it is common for commentators to divide postmodern fiction into two general fields – one experimental and anti-mimetic, the other cautiously mimetic, there remains a fairly significant field of postmodern texts that use largely mimetic approaches but represent worlds that are categorically distinct from actuality. This third group is even more pronounced if popular culture and “commercial” fiction, in particular sf and fantasy, are taken into account. Additionally, the third category has the interesting characteristic that the texts within this group very often generate unusual loyalty among its fans. Based on a renewed investigation of the main genre critics in postmodern fiction, the first chapter suggests a tripartite division of postmodern fiction, into formalist, metamimetic, and transreferetial texts. These are provisionally circumscribed by their reference worlds: formalist fiction attempts to derail its own capacity for presenting a world; metamimetic fiction presents mediated versions of worlds closely reminiscent of actuality; and transreferential fiction sets its narrative in worlds that are experienced as such, but are clearly distinct from actuality. If transreferential fiction deals with alternate worlds, it also very often relies on the reader’s immersion in the fictional world to provide unique, often subversive, fictional experiences. This process can be identified as the exploration of the fictional world, and it is very often guided so as to be experienced as a virtual reality of sorts. If transreferential texts are experienced as interactive in this sense, it is likely that they convey experiences and insights in ways different from either of the other two strands of postmodern fiction. In order to investigate the interactive experience provided by these texts, an extended conceptual and analytical set is proposed, rooted primarily in Ricoeurian hermeutics and possible-worlds theory. These two main theoretical approaches approximately correspond to the temporal and the spatial dimensions of texts, respectively. Much of the power of these texts rooted in the care they take to guide the reader through their fictional worlds and the experiences offered by the narrative, often at the hand of fictioninternal ‘guides’. These theoretical approaches are supplement by sf theoretical research and by Aleid Fokkema’s study of postmodern character. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 apply the theoretical toolset to three paradigmatic transreferential texts: sf New Wave author M John Harrison’s Viriconium sequence; Gibson’s Sprawl trilogy; and Jeff Noon’s Vurt and Pollen, texts that have much in common with cyberpunk but which make much more extensive use of formalist techniques. Each chapter has a slightly different main focus, matching the text in question, respectively: aesthetic parameters and worldcreation strategies of transreferential fiction; close “guidance” of the reader and extrapolation; and virtual reality and identity games. The final chapter presents the findings from the research conducted in the initial study. The findings stem from the central insight that transreferential texts deploy a powerful suit of mimetic strategies to maximise immersion, but simultaneously introduce a variety of interactive strategies. Transreferential fiction balances immersion against interactivity, often by selectively maximising the mimesis of some elements while allowing others to be presented through formalist strategies, which requires a reading mode that is simultaneously immersive and open to challenging propositions. A significant implication of this for critical studies – both literary and sf – is that the Barthesian formalist reading model is insufficient to deal with transreferential texts. Rather, texts like these demand a layered reading approach which facilitates immersion on a first reading and supplements it critically on a second. The final chapter further considers how widely and in what forms the themes and strategies found in the preceding chapters recur in other texts from the proposed transreferential supergenre, including sf, magic realist and limitpostmodernist texts. / Thesis (PhD (English))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

This thesis starts from the observation that, while it is common for commentators to divide postmodern fiction into two general fields – one experimental and anti-mimetic, the other cautiously mimetic, there remains a fairly significant field of postmodern texts that use largely mimetic approaches but represent worlds that are categorically distinct from actuality. This third group is even more pronounced if popular culture and “commercial” fiction, in particular sf and fantasy, are taken into account. Additionally, the third category has the interesting characteristic that the texts within this group very often generate unusual loyalty among its fans. Based on a renewed investigation of the main genre critics in postmodern fiction, the first chapter suggests a tripartite division of postmodern fiction, into formalist, metamimetic, and transreferetial texts. These are provisionally circumscribed by their reference worlds: formalist fiction attempts to derail its own capacity for presenting a world; metamimetic fiction presents mediated versions of worlds closely reminiscent of actuality; and transreferential fiction sets its narrative in worlds that are experienced as such, but are clearly distinct from actuality. If transreferential fiction deals with alternate worlds, it also very often relies on the reader’s immersion in the fictional world to provide unique, often subversive, fictional experiences. This process can be identified as the exploration of the fictional world, and it is very often guided so as to be experienced as a virtual reality of sorts. If transreferential texts are experienced as interactive in this sense, it is likely that they convey experiences and insights in ways different from either of the other two strands of postmodern fiction. In order to investigate the interactive experience provided by these texts, an extended conceptual and analytical set is proposed, rooted primarily in Ricoeurian hermeutics and possible-worlds theory. These two main theoretical approaches approximately correspond to the temporal and the spatial dimensions of texts, respectively. Much of the power of these texts rooted in the care they take to guide the reader through their fictional worlds and the experiences offered by the narrative, often at the hand of fictioninternal ‘guides’. These theoretical approaches are supplement by sf theoretical research and by Aleid Fokkema’s study of postmodern character. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 apply the theoretical toolset to three paradigmatic transreferential texts: sf New Wave author M John Harrison’s Viriconium sequence; Gibson’s Sprawl trilogy; and Jeff Noon’s Vurt and Pollen, texts that have much in common with cyberpunk but which make much more extensive use of formalist techniques. Each chapter has a slightly different main focus, matching the text in question, respectively: aesthetic parameters and worldcreation strategies of transreferential fiction; close “guidance” of the reader and extrapolation; and virtual reality and identity games. The final chapter presents the findings from the research conducted in the initial study. The findings stem from the central insight that transreferential texts deploy a powerful suit of mimetic strategies to maximise immersion, but simultaneously introduce a variety of interactive strategies. Transreferential fiction balances immersion against interactivity, often by selectively maximising the mimesis of some elements while allowing others to be presented through formalist strategies, which requires a reading mode that is simultaneously immersive and open to challenging propositions. A significant implication of this for critical studies – both literary and sf – is that the Barthesian formalist reading model is insufficient to deal with transreferential texts. Rather, texts like these demand a layered reading approach which facilitates immersion on a first reading and supplements it critically on a second. The final chapter further considers how widely and in what forms the themes and strategies found in the preceding chapters recur in other texts from the proposed transreferential supergenre, including sf, magic realist and limitpostmodernist texts. / Thesis (PhD (English))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

This thesis examines the political pop art of contemporary Chinese artist Wang Guangyi in light contemporaneous shifts within the political, economic, and artistic space of China from 1978 until the present. Through an analysis of the work of art as an historically determined antagonistic aesthetic praxis, this thesis attempts to reveal the sedimented traces of the alternative modernity which the Chinese government is actively attempting to construct. With its evocative juxtaposition of contrasting ideological forms, the artwork of Wang Guangyi seeks to deconstruct the normative and teleological narratives encountered within the dialectic interplay between state sponsored transnational capitalism and Marxist-Leninist communism. An understanding of the discursive structure upon which these dual modernising narratives has been based, and of the fragmented artistic space they have engendered, should serve to enliven the debate concerning the role of cultural production in questioning and revealing narratives of the nation, of the Self, and of modernity.

L’étude porte sur la question des burakumin, les intouchables japonais, dans deux oeuvres de l’écrivain japonais Nakagami Kenji (1946-1992), lui-même issu de cette communauté. Mille ans de plaisir, recueil de six contes basés sur des récits de vie, et le roman Miracle forment une suite organisée autour des mêmes lieux, des mêmes personnages et des mêmes thèmes. Ils décrivent la condition sociale d’une collectivité mise au ban de la société japonaise malgré sa modernisation. Ils se distinguent par leur caractère d’ethnofiction. Nakagami cherche à réhabiliter les burakumin en valorisant le patrimoine religieux et folklorique dont ils sont dépositaires. Il puise dans les genres traditionnels comme le monogatari ou les contes et légendes du Japon. Il s’inspire également d’auteurs modernes japonais (Mishima, Tanizaki) et d’auteurs étrangers (Faulkner, García-Márquez). À partir de cet intertexte et pour faire barrage à l’occidentalisation, il élabore un style « hybride » digne de la littérature nationale (kokubungaku). Les oeuvres traditionnelles sont réinterprétées dans une esthétique postmoderne ayant une fonction ironique et critique contre l’idéologie impériale répressive qui continue d’alimenter la discrimination envers les burakumin. L’analyse porte sur les procédés qui sous-tendent le projet social et le projet littéraire de l’auteur. Elle se divise en trois parties. La première donne un aperçu biographique de l’auteur et décrit les composantes de son projet social qui consiste à vouloir changer l’image et le statut des burakumin. La deuxième partie décrit les éléments religieux et folkloriques des deux oeuvres et analyse en contexte leur signification ainsi que leur fonction, qui est de mettre en valeur les traditions préservées par les burakumin. La troisième partie montre en quoi le répertoire traditionnel (monogatari) et les intertextes sont mis au service du projet littéraire proprement dit. / This study addresses the issue of burakumin, Japanese untouchable or social outcast, in the works of the Japanese novelist Nakagami Kenji (1946-1992), who had himself come from this community. Together, A Thousand Years of Pleasure, a collection of six tales based on life stories, and the novel Miracle, form a continuum articulated around the same places, characters and themes. They describe the social condition of a community exiled by the Japanese society in spite of its modernization and stand out as works of the ethnofiction genre. Nakagami tries to rehabilitate the burakumin by the valorization of the religious and folk heritage of which they are the custodians. He draws from the traditional works such as monogatari, the folk tales and legends of Japan. He also draws from contemporary Japanese authors (Mishima, Tanizaki) as well as from foreign ones (Faulkner, García-Márquez). With this intertext as a starting point and to stand against westernization, he elaborates a “hybrid” style worthy of the national literature (kokubungaku). The traditional works are reinterpreted with postmodern aesthetics that introduce an ironic and critical tone against the repressive imperial ideology still feeding discrimination towards burakumin. The analysis bears on the processes underlying the social and literary projects of the author. The thesis is divided in three parts. The first one provides a biographic overview of the author`s life and describes the components of his social project which consisted in changing the image and status of burakumin. The second describes the religious and folk elements of both works and analyzes in context their meaning and their function, which is to emphasize the traditions upheld by the burakumin. The third and last part shows how the traditional repertoire (monogatari) and intertexts are used to support the literary project itself.

Syftet med denna uppsats är att undersöka kontinuitet och förändring i holländares identitet(er) när de flyttar till Sverige. Teorier kring identitet och förändring/förhandling appliceras på empiri som framkommer ur intervjuer med fyra holländska informanter som har emigrerat till Sverige. Resultatet visar att identitet är något som informanterna anser vara relativt konstant under livets gång vad gäller personlighet, karaktärsdrag och nationalitet. Dock är de överens om att identitetsförändringar sker beroende på ålder och nya livsroller som exempelvis när man blir företagare eller förälder. Holländare och svenskar tycks vara så lika vad gäller utseende att myndigheter tror att även sociala, ekonomiska och politiska system liknar de svenska systemen. Hos de holländska informanterna finns dock ett behov att särskilja sig från svenskarna samtidigt som de vill integrera med svenskarna. Integrationsprocessen innebär även att i vissa sammanhang identifierar de sig som holländare och i andra sammanhang identifierar de sig mer som svenskar. / The purpose of the thesis is to investigate continuity and change in Dutch peoples´ identities as they immigrate to Sweden. Identity and change/negotiation theories will be applied to empirical material gained from interviews with four Dutch participants who have immigrated to Sweden. The result shows that identity is something that the immigrants view as relatively constant through their lives what concerns personality, character and nationality. They agree that changes in identity occur when factors such as age and new roles in life as for an example when one becomes a company owner or a parent. Dutch and Swedish people seem to be the same when it comes to appearance that one thinks that even social, economic and political systems are the same as the Swedish systems. Because of this the Dutch participants seem to separate themselves from the Swedes and at the same time they want to integrate with the Swedes. The integration process contains that in some contexts the Dutch immigrant identify him-/herself as a Dutch person and in other contexts they identify more as a Swedish person.

À l’origine de la présente étude se trouve l’invocation par Michel Houellebecq des lectures dix-neuvièmistes qui ont marqué sa jeunesse ainsi que sa nette opposition à des écrivains du XXe siècle auxquels il préfère les écrits du XIXe siècle. Notre intérêt a été suscité par ses constantes références et allusions à des noms tels Balzac, Zola, Huysmans, Auguste Comte, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Lamartine, Baudelaire. Qu’ont-ils à lui dire ? Si Michel Houellebecq s’oriente vers cette période du passé, c’est parce qu’elle coïncide avec les premières protestations antimodernes contre la froideur du libéralisme, du capitalisme, de l’esprit irréligieux, c’est-à-dire contre les trois maux responsables de l’ébranlement de la structure sociale (post)moderne. La première partie de notre analyse comparative introduit les romans de Houellebecq dans le tissu du réalisme - en écho à Balzac -, du naturalisme - en référence à Zola -, du décadentisme - en évoquant Huysmans. La deuxième a pour fil conducteur les raisonnements philosophiques d’Auguste Comte, de Schopenhauer et de Nietzsche dont Houellebecq nourrit ses jugements au sujet de l’amour et de la religion, sous l’emprise d’un ressentiment tantôt discret, tantôt criard. La dernière partie intervient également sur le territoire de la poésie houellebecquienne. En écho à Lamartine et à Baudelaire nous découvrirons un Houellebecq éclairé par une sensibilité qu’il manie dans des projets prophétiques à portée utopique ou dystopique. Son œuvre appartient certainement à la tradition littéraire postmoderne, mais elle a bien le mérite de revaloriser les voix des romantiques et premiers témoins des temps modernes. / At the origin of this study lies the invocation by Michel Houellebecq of the nineteenth-century readings that marked his youth and also his clear opposition to writers of the XXth century to whom he prefers the writings of the XIXth century. Our interest was aroused by his constant references and allusions to names such as Balzac, Zola, Huysmans, Auguste Comte, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Lamartine, Baudelaire. What do they have to say to him? If Michel Houellebecq moves towards this period of the past, it is because it coincides with the first anti-modern protests against the coldness of liberalism, of capitalism, the irreligious spirit, that is against the three evils which are responsible for the disruption of the (post)modern social structure.The first part of our comparative analysis introduces the novels of Houellebecq into realism - an echo to Balzac -, to naturalism - in reference to Zola, relating to decadence - evoking Huysmans. The second is the thread of philosophical reasoning of Auguste Comte, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche, of which Houellebecq feeds his judgments about love and religion, under the influence of a resentment sometimes discreet, sometimes sharp. The last part also enters on the territory of the Houellebecq poetry. In echo to Lamartine and Baudelaire we will discover a Houellebecq enlightened by a sensitivity that he uses in prophetic projects with utopian or dystopian reach. His work certainly belongs to the postmodern literary tradition, but it has the merit of revalorizing the voices of the romantics and the first witnesses of modern times.

Esta tese de doutorado analisa dois romances do escritor Norte-Americano Robert Coover como exemplos de escrita hipertextual e de hiperficção no suporte do livro de papel. A complexidade dos romances John's Wife e The Adventures of Lucky Pierre integra os elementos culturais característicos da atual fase do capitalismo e as práticas tecnologizadas que vêm forjando uma subjetividade diferente na escrita e leitura hipertextual, a subjetividade pós-humana. Os modelos da complexidade dos romances derivam do conceito de atratores estranhos da Teoria do Caos e de rizoma da Nomadologia. As transformações no grau de corporeidade dos personagens estabelecem o plano em que se discute a turbulência e a pós-humanidade. As noções de padrões dinâmicos e atratores estranhos e os conceitos do Corpo sem Órgãos e do Rizoma são interpretados para se revisar a narratologia e chegar a categorias apropriadas ao estudo dos romances. A leitura exercitada nesta tese põe em prática a proposta de leitura corpórea de Daniel Punday. As mudanças no grau de materialidade dos personagens são associadas aos estágios de ordem, turbulência e caos na estória, agindo sobre a constituição da subjetividade ao longo do processo de leitura. A inscrição dos planos de consistência que Coover realiza para se contrapor à linearidade e acomodar as feições hipertextuais nas narrativas em papel descreve a trajetória rizomática dos personagens. O presente estudo leva a concluir que a narrativa hoje se constitui antes como um regime numa relação rizomática com outros regimes na prática cultural do que como forma e gênero predominantemente literários. Também se conclui que a subjetividade pós-humana emerge alinhada a uma identidade de classe que tem nos romances hipertextuais a sua forma literária predileta. / This doctoral dissertation analyzes two novels by the American novelist Robert Coover as examples of hypertextual writing on the book bound page, as tokens of hyperfiction. The complexity displayed in the novels, John's Wife and The Adventures of Lucky Pierre, integrates the cultural elements that characterize the contemporary condition of capitalism and technologized practices that have fostered a different subjectivity evidenced in hypertextual writing and reading, the posthuman subjectivity. The models that account for the complexity of each novel are drawn from the concept of strange attractors in Chaos Theory and from the concept of rhizome in Nomadology. The transformations the characters undergo in the degree of their corporeality sets the plane on which to discuss turbulence and posthumanity. The notions of dynamic patterns and strange attractors, along with the concept of the Body without Organs and Rhizome are interpreted, leading to the revision of narratology and to analytical categories appropriate to the study of the novels. The reading exercised throughout this dissertation enacts Daniel Punday's corporeal reading. The changes in the characters' degree of materiality are associated with the stages of order, turbulence and chaos in the story, bearing on the constitution of subjectivity within and along the reading process. Coover's inscription of planes of consistency to counter linearity and accommodate hypertextual features to the paper supported narratives describes the characters' trajectory as rhizomatic. The study led to the conclusion that narrative today stands more as a regime in a rhizomatic relation with other regimes in cultural practice than as an exclusively literary form and genre. Besides this, posthuman subjectivity emerges as class identity, holding hypertextual novels as their literary form of choice.

Mêlant réalisme et merveilleux, temps de la nature et celui de la vie sociale, les textes d’El-Mahdi Acherchour détruisent les frontières entre l’espace sauvage et domestique, rattachent, dans un continuum, le monde des vivants à celui des morts, les temps anciens au présent, les oralités aux pratiques scripturales. Ils s’inscrivent ainsi dans le sillage de l’esthétique postmoderne en ne présentant pas une seule intrigue, mais d’infinis récits enchâssés. Pour ces raisons premières, nous proposons d’interroger ces textes dans une perspective qui croise poétique des textes littéraires et anthropologie du symbolique. Dans la première partie consacrée à l’étude du dernier roman de cet auteur, Moineau (2010), nous avons tenté de souligner les problématiques qui s’y posent. Depuis le paratexte jusqu’aux chronotopes structurant ce roman, en passant par les configurations des personnages qui y évoluent, quelques réflexions sur la mise en écriture de logiques plus au moins hétérogènes (une hétérologie culturelle) se sont (im)posées d’elles-mêmes. Des questions liées au sauvage et au domestique, au familier et à l’étrange(r), à l’écriture et à l'oralité, etc. Autant de logiques que l’écriture acherchourienne tend à métisser. Dans la seconde partie, nous avons interrogé, dans la même perspective, les deux autres romans d’El-Mahdi Acherchour : Pays d’aucun mal (2007) et Lui, le livre suivi de l’Autre, l’autre livre (2005). Deux romans qui convoquent les mêmes lieux imaginaires et font appel à cette même figure du folklore berbère (Zalgoum), dans un élan esthétique qui « fait le procès de l’Unité ». La dernière partie a été consacrée à une lecture des cultures mises en œuvre dans la poésie d’El-Mahdi Acherchour, notamment dans L’Œil de l’égaré (1997) et Chemin des choses nocturnes (2003). Au carrefour de la (des) culture (s) du Même, de la culture et de la langue de l’Autre, l'écriture d'El-Mahdi Acherchour prend une position d'entre-lieu, d’entre-deux entre des cultures, érigeant toute l’œuvre poétique et romanesque en géographie de l'ambivalence et de la cohabitation. En faisant siennes la langue et la culture de l’Autre, elle-même composite et hétérogène, les vers et la prose d’El-Mehdi Acherchour proposent une vision du monde centrée sur sa réalité syncrétique / Combining realism and the sublime, time in nature and in social life, the texts of El-Mahdi Acherchour destroy the boundaries between wild and domestic spaces and continuously link the world of the living to that of the dead, the ancient times to the present, and oral traditions to writing practices. His texts are inscribed in the wake of postmodern aesthetics, presenting not only one plot, but infinite inserted narratives. For these major reasons, we propose to analyze these texts from a perspective that takes into consideration literary texts poetics and symbolic anthropology. In the first part of this research, devoted to the study of Acherchour’s last novel, Moineau (2010), we have endeavored to shed light on the problematics that are posed in the text. Moving from the paratext, to the chronotopes that structure this novel, and through the representation of the different characters that evolve in the narrative, some reflections on the writing of heterogeneous consistencies ( cultural heterology) have imposed themselves. Some questions linked to the wild and to the domestic, to the familiar and the strange(r), to writing and oral tradition, are varied consistencies that “Acherchourian” writing tries to hybridize. In the second part of this work, we have questioned, from the same perspective, two other novels of El Mahdi Acherchour: Pays d’aucun mal (2007) and Lui, le livre followed by l’Autre, l’autre livre (2005). These two novels address the same fictional settings and appeal to the same berber folklore figure (Zalgoum) in an aesthetic surge, which makes “le procès de l’unité”. The last part of this research deals with reading the established cultures in the poetry of El Mahdi Acherchour, notably in L’Oeil de l’égaré (1997) and Chemin des choses nocturnes (2003). At the crossroads of the culture(s) of the Self, and of the culture and language of the Other, the writing of El-Mahdi Acherchour takes an ‘entre-lieu’ position, in -between cultures, establishing his poetic and fictional oeuvre as a setting for ambivalence and coexistence. By appropriating the language and the culture of the Other, which is varied and heterogeneous, the verse and prose of El-Mahdi Acherchour propose a world vision centered on its syncretic reality