Le premier travail de cette thèse a consisté à envisager l'artiste, essentiellement, comme un auteur. Il nous a conduit à suggérer, quant à l'auteur, que sa mort jadis annoncée imposait de penser sa résurrection à partir d'autres catégories et outils conceptuels que ceux qui ont permis de constater son décès. Après avoir démontré, d'une part, que l'auctorité (authorship) définissait exemplairement l'artiste, et s'être acquitté, d'autre part, d'un indispensable rappel historique permettant de comprendre les conditions de son apparition, nous avons tâché de faire jouer entre eux (au double sens de mettre en relation et de donner du jeu) les éléments qui structurent le phénomène artistique, ses doctrines et ses discours associés. Nous avons cherché à déceler, dans cet espace non ajusté, propice aux paradoxes et aux contradictions, le lieu d'une possible redéfinition de l'artiste-auteur, bâtie sur une rationalité plus large que celle d'une simple causalité. / The initial task of this thesis consisted in considering the artist mainly as an author. As for the author, this led us to suggest that his death, once announced, required to think of his resurrection from other criteria and conceptual tools than those which made it possible to bury him. Having established, on the one hand, that authorship defines the intrinsic status of the artist, and put forward, on the other hand, a necessary historical reminder in order to encompass the conditions of its emergence, we attempted to clear up (in the sense of displaying interactions and leaving a clearance between) the elements which structure the artistic phenomenon, its doctrines and related discourses. We sought to uncover, in this unadjusted space full of paradoxes and contradictions, the place of a possible redefinition of the artist-author, built on a rationality broader than that of a mere causality.

Selon différents théoriciens (Guénoun, Lehmann, Ryngaert, etc.), la fin du vingtième siècle se caractérise par l'émergence de nouvelles formes théâtrales, marquées par la contamination des pratiques spectaculaires. Hans-Thies Lehmann reprend la notion de "théâtre postdramatique" proposée par Richard Schechner pour qualifier ces formes métissées de spectacle vivant La thèse défendue est la suivante : le théâtre postdramatique trouve sa spécificité non seulement dans la transgression des codes dramatiques mais surtout dans des processus de réception spécifiques qu'il importe de définir, à l'aide d'outils notamment sémiotiques. Ces processus sont situés et construits par rapport à différents modèles interdisciplinaires.

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This dissertation investigates rhetoric and prudence in Sophocles through close readings of Antigone, Ajax, Philoctetes, and Oedipus at Colonus. Central to the project is a reconstruc-tion of a uniquely Sophoclean conception of prudence as “good sense”; good sense is distinguished from traditional conceptions of prudence as an inter-subjective capacity for good judgment that is born of experience and chance. The study finds that while good sense and persuasive rhetoric are occasionally paired, they are frequently divorced from one another. Thus, in place of heroic conflicts and tragic failings, these readings present an alternative tragic tension between the persuasive yet often solipsistic speech of heroes and protagonists and the good sense of marginalized characters. This project is situated within the “turn to rhetoric” in contemporary democratic theory; in this context, it presents Sophocles as a novel and under-theorized resource in three overarching ways. First, his dramas were performed in a democratic context and gave voice to perspectives otherwise marginalized within the polis; in this respect he offers more inclusive democratic resources than his Athenian contemporaries. Second, these plays offer sobering insight into the impact of contingency in shaping rhetorical contexts. They reveal that overconfidence in rhetorical technē underestimates the extent to which successful persuasion is often aligned with chance and social advantage. Third, he draws attention to pervasive structural inequalities that work against and silence good sense. In this final respect the plays themselves are considered as didactic resources that cultivate reflective judgments and good sense in the spectator and reader.

This dissertation investigates rhetoric and prudence in Sophocles through close readings of Antigone, Ajax, Philoctetes, and Oedipus at Colonus. Central to the project is a reconstruc-tion of a uniquely Sophoclean conception of prudence as “good sense”; good sense is distinguished from traditional conceptions of prudence as an inter-subjective capacity for good judgment that is born of experience and chance. The study finds that while good sense and persuasive rhetoric are occasionally paired, they are frequently divorced from one another. Thus, in place of heroic conflicts and tragic failings, these readings present an alternative tragic tension between the persuasive yet often solipsistic speech of heroes and protagonists and the good sense of marginalized characters. This project is situated within the “turn to rhetoric” in contemporary democratic theory; in this context, it presents Sophocles as a novel and under-theorized resource in three overarching ways. First, his dramas were performed in a democratic context and gave voice to perspectives otherwise marginalized within the polis; in this respect he offers more inclusive democratic resources than his Athenian contemporaries. Second, these plays offer sobering insight into the impact of contingency in shaping rhetorical contexts. They reveal that overconfidence in rhetorical technē underestimates the extent to which successful persuasion is often aligned with chance and social advantage. Third, he draws attention to pervasive structural inequalities that work against and silence good sense. In this final respect the plays themselves are considered as didactic resources that cultivate reflective judgments and good sense in the spectator and reader.

The filmic oeuvre of auteur director David Lynch has a reputation among average spectators as being too “difficult” to understand. In particular, the Lynch films Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive are considered by the average spectator to be devoid of any real meaning. Spectator theory provides insight into the structures through which spectators find or fail to find meaning in films. Spectator theory explains that the average spectator has a set of schemas for “reading” and understanding film, and that these schemas are shaped by the conventions of popular Hollywood cinema. The films of David Lynch do not adhere to these conventions, and thus challenge the average spectator’s competency with regard to their ability to emplot a coherent and meaningful narrative from these films. In the case of Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive, the films present the spectator with multiple mysteries, yet never provide any solutions to these mysteries. If a spectator is to find meaning in Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive, then such a spectator needs an appropriate schema for interpreting these films. This dissertation aims to develop one possible schema which can be used to find meaning in Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive. To this end, the films Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive are shown to qualify as metaphysical detective films, a genre of narrative which playfully interprets the conventions of classical detective narrative. Under the neologism “transtextual detective” this dissertation traces the characteristics of a spectator who would assume the role of a detective figure, existing outside of the borders of the film text, and calling upon a diverse collection of texts and schemata to solve the mysteries identifiable in these metaphysical detective films. In order to test the applicability of the schema of the transtextual detective, the writer undertakes a demonstration of an investigation into the films Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive while assuming the role of a transtextual detective. The writer firstly indentifies the mystery of identity as a salient mystery in both films, before demonstrating how solutions to this mystery can be found in Lost Highway. / Thesis (MA (English))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

The filmic oeuvre of auteur director David Lynch has a reputation among average spectators as being too “difficult” to understand. In particular, the Lynch films Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive are considered by the average spectator to be devoid of any real meaning. Spectator theory provides insight into the structures through which spectators find or fail to find meaning in films. Spectator theory explains that the average spectator has a set of schemas for “reading” and understanding film, and that these schemas are shaped by the conventions of popular Hollywood cinema. The films of David Lynch do not adhere to these conventions, and thus challenge the average spectator’s competency with regard to their ability to emplot a coherent and meaningful narrative from these films. In the case of Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive, the films present the spectator with multiple mysteries, yet never provide any solutions to these mysteries. If a spectator is to find meaning in Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive, then such a spectator needs an appropriate schema for interpreting these films. This dissertation aims to develop one possible schema which can be used to find meaning in Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive. To this end, the films Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive are shown to qualify as metaphysical detective films, a genre of narrative which playfully interprets the conventions of classical detective narrative. Under the neologism “transtextual detective” this dissertation traces the characteristics of a spectator who would assume the role of a detective figure, existing outside of the borders of the film text, and calling upon a diverse collection of texts and schemata to solve the mysteries identifiable in these metaphysical detective films. In order to test the applicability of the schema of the transtextual detective, the writer undertakes a demonstration of an investigation into the films Lost Highway and Mulholland Drive while assuming the role of a transtextual detective. The writer firstly indentifies the mystery of identity as a salient mystery in both films, before demonstrating how solutions to this mystery can be found in Lost Highway. / Thesis (MA (English))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

This project explores the areas of human perception and story narrative in moving images. Engaged by the research question, “Can spectators become co-authors in the process of a story narrative?”, the research focuses on exploring the co-existence and contradiction between the values of spectators and an author in a process of a narrative by developing a new potential narrative approach with multiple perspectives. I hypothesise that spectators could participate with the story narrative process as co-authors. My key method is to engage with spectators’ participation within a narration (story) by displaying story fragments across multiple screens simultaneously. The potential of having a story spread across multiple screens might bring further interest to authors to re-think the notion of a spectator and tell a story with multiple perspectives in a narrative process with spectators. In order to develop this project, I will use different approaches, such as Grounded Theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1998), Data Visualisation (Tufte, 1983), Action Research (Kemmis & McTaggart, 1988) and Heuristics (Moustakas, 1990), which I will explain in further details in each chapter of my exegesis.

This doctoral study, composed of four films and an exegesis, configures a new conceptualisation of death in and through film, assembling an intricate theorisation of ‘the mediated I’ and ‘the unmediated I’ of the witness. This thesis focuses on the consciousness of the witness, through locating a position and expression in reflective, reflexive, experiential, critical and artistic practice. My research questions the witness’s attempt to ‘manage’ the experience and tracks the self reflective process of thought s/he undertakes in the face of death, dying, coma and suffering. In probing the subjective experiences of the witness, the knowledge of disaster and the absent Other gives way to a moment of distinction between the spectator and the witness. The actual movement being proposed between the two is through the ways in which they both are activated through the reality of death. Critical and creative practice encourages a recognition of - and identification with - the possible meditations and negotiations of the witness. It aims to infuse a configuration of the witness by way of reflection in consciousness and artistic formulation. This thesis proposes a conceptual diagnosis as the original contribution to knowledge. I identify apathy as an anti-choice and unrecognised necessity of consciousness in the face of death, dying, coma and suffering. The research offers a new insight into the existential encounter of the witness. The aim of the practice component is to re-present and re-vision everyday encounters on television and in media alongside metaphors, possible meditations and negotiations to the subjective experience in and through filmic gaze. The visual propositions complement the written text by means of displaying the fear and anguish of the witness, and the attitude towards the Other, disaster and the irrecoverable death. The aim in turning this subject matter into an academic study has been to align two different perceptions: visual and theoretical practice. These two conceptual terms have offered distinct ways of handling the unsettling encounter from not only a witness’s point of view but also from the perspective of a researcher and the film-maker. Together, the visual and theoretical strategy reveal the workings of consciousness and creative meditation of the witness to identify the struggles against internal and external terror in being a witness. The research is interdisciplinary, deploying philosophy, literary and artistic theory. Yet it is not a contribution to the specialised discipline of philosophy, sociology or psychoanalysis of death, dying and suffering, but offers a critical and creative matrix combining inventive and reflexive approaches. This practice-based doctoral study challenges the artist and practitioner to create and then raise awareness through a dynamic, reflexive and interpretative discourse. It fuses genres, including autobiography, literary studies and visual arts. The relationship between the exegesis and films provide an innovative pathway through creative meditation and negotiation of the witness by integrating filmic presentations as an integral loop in the research. Every chapter frames a dialogue between already existing theories of death, dying and grief and filmic texts to transform experience into visuality through constructing a descriptive insight and artistic expression.

This project explores the areas of human perception and story narrative in moving images. Engaged by the research question, “Can spectators become co-authors in the process of a story narrative?”, the research focuses on exploring the co-existence and contradiction between the values of spectators and an author in a process of a narrative by developing a new potential narrative approach with multiple perspectives. I hypothesise that spectators could participate with the story narrative process as co-authors. My key method is to engage with spectators’ participation within a narration (story) by displaying story fragments across multiple screens simultaneously. The potential of having a story spread across multiple screens might bring further interest to authors to re-think the notion of a spectator and tell a story with multiple perspectives in a narrative process with spectators. In order to develop this project, I will use different approaches, such as Grounded Theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1998), Data Visualisation (Tufte, 1983), Action Research (Kemmis & McTaggart, 1988) and Heuristics (Moustakas, 1990), which I will explain in further details in each chapter of my exegesis.