Thesis (MPhil (Ancient Studies)--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / This thesis explores the Star Wars films in terms of C.G. Jung's theories on the archetypes and the collective unconscious, particularly as described by Joseph Campbell in his discussion of the journey of the mythic hero. In Chapter 1 short definitions of relevant terms such as “myth,” “the collective unconscious” and “archetypes” are given. Chapter 2 is a short discussion of four Jungian archetypes relevant to the topic, namely the Shadow, Guide, Mother, and Father. Chapter 3 focuses on the archetype of the Self and the psychological process of individuation as described by Jung, and its relation to the mythic hero and his journey. In Chapter 4 Star Wars is analysed in terms of the theoretical framework set out in Chapters 1-3. Chapter 5 is the concluding chapter, in which certain conclusions are made pertaining to the mythic character and psychological function of Star Wars, i.e., that the films contain elements that are mythic in character and may therefore perform the same psychological functions as myth. It is also argued that the popularity of Star Wars can therefore be ascribed to the same psychological reasons as the popularity of myth. Some attention is also given to possible further areas of study in this field, such as the mythic character of some other popular phenomena (for example Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings) and the function of myth and modern mythic equivalents as a community-shaping factor in people’s lives.

The thesis consists of five chapters: the first functions as an overture; the second, third and fourth deal with Plato, Cicero and Montaigne respectively; and the fifth raises some questions. The overture explores the ways in which Odysseus, Lucretius and Seneca approached death, and in the process introduces some obvious distinctions - between death viewed as the act of dying and death viewed as the state of being dead, between the death which comes to everyone and the death which comes to me, between our own death and the death of others - and anticipates certain recurring themes. The second chapter, on Plato, is concerned chiefly with the Phaedo and the question of what is involved in "the practice of death". This entails an examination of related concepts and terminology in the Gorgias and the Republic, and of the whole subject of Platonic myth. The third chapter discusses Cicero's views on death and immortality - both the considered reflections of the philosopher and the spontaneous reactions of the bereaved father - principally as these emerge from the Tusculan Disputations and the letters to Atticus. The fourth chapter approaches Montaigne - his own experiences of death, the relationship between his earlier and later approaches, the tension between his professed Catholicism and his pagan inclinations, the difficulty and perhaps undesirability of extracting a 'message' from the Essais on this or any other subject. The conclusion asks to what extent these various approaches succeed in what they set out to do, and whether any generalised, objective approach to death can ever successfully address the individual predicament, either in relation to one's own death or in facing bereavement.

至屏東 花蓮 台東田調 探討排灣族的鼻笛笛文化 / Through fieldwork in Pingtung, Taitung and Hualien, the researcher gained first-hand data for this thesis. This thesis introduces the ethnography, environment, material culture, spiritual civilization and social structure of the Paiwan. This research is not limited to the technical aspects of Paiwanese nose flute art, and their playerts, but also discusses the making of nose flutes and the people who are able to play them. The paper discusses the myths and origins of nose flutes and the formation of nose fltue culture. The research focuses on the social function of nose flutes through analysis of the flutes and the symbols they represent. To the Paiwan, nose flutes represent the sound of hundred-pace snakes, the wooing of girls, sorrow and memories, the gathering together of friends and performing of wedding rites. Finally, the research examines the continuity and promotion of nose flute culture, including periods of decline and of changing factores in the culture.

This dissertation examines theatre and film in Ireland between 1988 and 2005, focusing on the plays of Sebastian Barry and Marina Carr, as well as a select group of films from this period. Employing a method of analysis that couples close-readings with attention to socio-cultural context, aesthetic form, and issues of representation, the dissertation demonstrates how theatre and film work to complicate conventional Irish historical narratives and thereby encourages a reassessment of contemporary constructs of Irish identity. The introduction provides a contextual framework for significant contemporaneous social, cultural and economic changes in Ireland, and includes a case study of ‘The Spire,’ a monument unveiled on Dublin’s central boulevard in 2003, which I argue is the architectural metonym for the transitional nature of Celtic Tiger Ireland. The case study explores the aesthetics of the monument, as well as the politicised public debate that ensued, and thereby provides a snapshot of issues relevant to the readings pursued in dissertation’s remaining chapters. The discussion of Sebastian Barry’s ‘family plays’ reveals the playwright’s effort to refuse traditional binary conceptions of identity and to proffer, instead, a dramatic landscape that similarly refuses to allow conflict to dominate. Barry’s use of a non-conflictual dramatic form supports his narrative interest in compassion and peaceful resolution, and provides a model for living with otherness that could prove useful in an increasingly diverse and globalised Ireland. Marina Carr’s plays share Barry’s desire to represent aspects of Irish character anew, but they also dramatise how cultural transitions are difficult and never linear, and how the conventional pull of memory and the past has a residual presence in the ‘new’ Ireland. Taken together, these chapters reveal Barry’s hopefulness as an antidote to Carr’s tragic endings. The final chapter provides close readings of several ‘Celtic Tiger’ films, arguing that the representation of landscape is the key lens through which Irish film communicates shifting images of Irish identity. A cycle of films from the first years of the new millennium ekes out a space for new modes of representation through a critical dialogue with major tropes in Irish film history.

Les Vies de Caravage publiées par Giovanni Baglione, Gian Pietro Bellori, Guilio Mancini et Francesco Susinno ont une influence considérable dans la réception du corpus de l’artiste. Souvent considérées en tant que sources primaires, ces œuvres littéraires opèrent toutefois une médiation dans le discours de la discipline en émettant des jugements critiques et stylistiques sur les œuvres et par la mise en scène de faits historiques par la fiction. Ce mémoire situe le mythe du Caravage dans le contexte de la production littéraire italienne et de son héritage antique et contemporain. Les illustrations de ces ouvrages sont également étudiées en regard de la tradition de portraiture. Les stéréotypes définissant le peintre sont perçus dans leurs mutations et confrontés à la perception de la violence et de l’érotisme par l’historiographie moderne, de même que leur récupération par la culture populaire notamment dans le film Caravaggio de Derek Jarman (1986). / The Lives of Caravaggio, published by Giovanni Baglione, Gian Pietro Bellori, Guilio Mancini and Francesco Suninno, had considerable influence on the reception of the artist’s oeuvre. Often considered to be primary sources, these literary works express stylistic criticism and stage historical facts through fiction. This master’s thesis situates Caravaggio’s myth in the context of Italian literary production and its ancient and contemporary heritage. The stereotypes that define the painter are perceived in their changes and confronted with the perception of their violence and eroticism by modern historiography and popular culture, particularly in Derek Jarman’s movie Caravaggio (1986). / Pour respecter les droits d’auteur, la version électronique de ce mémoire a été dépouillée de certains documents visuels. La version intégrale du mémoire a été déposée au Service de la gestion des documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

Grâce à la présence et à l'instrumentalisation de la Mare de Déu, l'abbaye et le massif de Montserrat sont devenus, au fil des siècles, un symbole religieux et un bastion du christianisme, puis les gardiens des traditions, de la culture et de l'identité catalanes. Le mythe fondateur religieux, lié à la Vierge de Montserrat, est associé au mythe fondateur de la Catalogne, lié au comte de Barcelone Guifré le Velu, de sorte que religion et identité nationale sont étroitement imbriquées dès la fin du Moyen Âge. Beaucoup d'autres légendes sont élaborées à cette époque, mais la relation entre les Catalans et la Mare de Déu de Montserrat prend une orientation particulière et s'exerce dans un cadre à part.L'universalité de la pensée mythique permet une instrumentalisation politico-religieuse de l'image mariale tout au long de l'histoire de la Catalogne, jusqu'à aujourd'hui. Le XIXe siècle marque une étape majeure dans l'instrumentalisation de la Moreneta et sa liaison avec le sentiment identitaire. Le massif de Montserrat devient le symbole de la patrie catalane et la Vierge de Montserrat se transforme en Vierge de la Patrie. Le régime franquiste signifie une rupture profonde. La Moreneta, dans un premier temps, protège l'action de suppléance intellectuelle et culturelle accomplie par les Bénédictins de Montserrat, puis l'engagement politique devient total. Avec l'arrivée de la démocratie, la Catalogne se réapproprie son passé, et un nouveau rôle se dessine pour la Mare de Déu de Montserrat.

This study undertakes an examination of the representation of nature in works of literature that it regards as early British ‘mythopoeic fantasy’. By this term the thesis understands that fantasy fiction which is fundamentally concerned with myth or myth-making. It is the contention of the study that the connection of these works with myth or the idea of myth is integral to their presentation of nature. Specifically, this study identifies a connection between the idea of nature presented in these novels and the thought of the late-Victorian era regarding nature, primitivism, myth and the impulse behind mythopoesis. It is argued that this conceptual background is responsible for the notion of nature as a virtuous force of spiritual redemption in opposition to modernity and in particular to the dominant modern ideological model of scientific materialism. The thesis begins by examining late-Victorian sensibilities regarding myth and nature, before exposing correlative ideas in selected case studies of authors whose work it posits to be primarily mythopoeic in intent. The first of these studies considers the work of Henry Rider Haggard, the second examines Scottish writer David Lindsay, and the third looks at the mythopoeic endeavours of J. R. R. Tolkien, the latter standing alone among the authors considered in these central case studies in producing fiction under a fully developed theory of mythopoesis. The perspective is then widened in the final chapter, allowing consideration of authors such as William Morris and H. G. Wells. The study attempts to demonstrate the prevalence of an identifiable conceptual model of nature in the period it considers to constitute the age of early mythopoeic fantasy fiction, which it conceives to date from the late-Victorian era to the apotheosis of Tolkien’s work.

La philosophie politique contemporaine est chargée d’une histoire qu’il reste encore à déblayer, tant la « guerre civile européenne » du siècle dernier a forcé son autodafé. Dans ce mémoire, nous prenons Georges Sorel, figure de proue du syndicalisme révolutionnaire des années 1900, comme figure archétypique de ce qui demeure en reste de cette histoire. Archétype non seulement de la manière dont des théoriciens de premier plan peuvent tomber, par la force de l’histoire, dans l’oubli le plus absolu, mais aussi archétype de ces forces mêmes, alors que Sorel est considéré par l’histoire intellectuelle comme le penseur ayant dressé le pont entre l’extrême-gauche et l’extrême-droite. Ce mémoire ne s’affaire pas directement à lui attribuer la « paternité du fascisme » ni à l’en disculper. Il s’agit bien plutôt de procéder à une déconstruction de ses principales idées à partir d’un angle essentiellement philosophique, procédé connaissant peu d’antécédents. Plus précisément, notre travail consiste à en dégager une définition de l’éthique, alors que le geste théorique principal de Sorel apparaît bien être une réduction du politique à l’éthique. Pour ce faire, nous mobilisons la philosophie contemporaine, notamment Gilles Deleuze et Giorgio Agamben, en raison de la forte affinité théorique qu’ils ont avec Sorel, particulièrement dans la définition de l’éthique. / Contemporary political philosophy is fraught with a history still to be discharged, as much as last century’s “European civil war” forced its concealing. In this masters thesis, we seize Georges Sorel, figurehead of the 1900s revolutionary syndicalism, as an archetypical figure of what is “in remaining” of this history. Archetype not only of the way in which popular theorists can be easily forgotten by the force of history, but also archetype of these forces themselves, as Sorel is considered by intellectual history as the thinker having set up the bridge between extreme left and extreme right. This master does not directly intend to attribute to Sorel the “paternity of fascism”, or to exonerate him. It rather develops a deconstruction of its principal ideas from an essentially philosophical standpoint, method virtually unprecedented. More precisely, our work consists to extricate Sorel’s definition of ethics, whereas his major theoretical gesture appears like a reduction of politics to ethics. To do so, we mobilize contemporary philosophy, especially Gilles Deleuze and Giorgio Agamben, because of their strong theoretical affinities with Sorel, particularly in their definition of ethics.

Cette étude s’attache à analyser deux performances symboliques ayant cours sur les îles de Pitcairn et de Norfolk dans le Pacifique Sud. Les habitants de ces deux îles séparées par 6000km de distance partagent tout d’abord un événement historique ayant eu lieu en 1789, la révolte du Bounty, rendue célèbre par des réalisations cinématographiques hollywoodiennes et de nombreux ouvrages ; et également un rattachement à cette histoire et à leur filiation avec ces mutins qui prennent forme dans une performance annuellement répétée qu’ils nomment : le Bounty Day. Ici, nous verrons comment l’identité émerge de la manipulation de faits historiques, pour saisir non seulement l’importance du processus de construction identitaire, mais comment cette macro-identité influence certains aspects du micro-vécu. « L’histoire », dans l’analyse qui sera proposée, est un domaine rhétorique et un ensemble de valeurs qui lient les individus non seulement à un monde oublié mais à un monde invisible, à l’Autre lointain, inconnu et donc potentiellement menaçant. / This study focuses on the analysis of two symbolic performances occurring on the islands of Pitcairn and Norfolk in the South Pacific. The people who live on those two islands, separated by 6000 km, share a particular bond: through a historic event which took place in 1789, the Bounty mutiny, which was made famous by several well-known Hollywood film productions and by numerous books. They are joined by this story and by their heritage, as they share common ancestors, the mutineers. both also commemorate every year the mutiny and subsequent events by, a special ceremony : Bounty Day. This study shows how a specific identity emerges from the manipulation of the historical facts, which not only bears witness to the importance of the identity building process itself, but also how this macro-identity influences some aspects of everyday life on the individual level. Their “story”, in the following study, concerns a rhetorical purview and the enactment of a set of values that tie individuals not only to a forgotten world, but also to an invisible one, to the distant Other, unknown and potentially harmful.

This thesis concerns the function of fiction in the creation of an historical myth and the uses that that myth is put to in a number of periods and differing régimes. Its case study is the popular myth of August the Strong (1670-1733), Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, as a man of extraordinary sexual prowess and the ruler over a magnificent, but frivolous, court in Dresden. It examines the origins of this myth in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century, and its development up to the twenty-first century in German history writing, fiction, art, and media. The image August created for himself in the art, literature, and festivities of his court as an ideal ruler of extremely broad cultural and intellectual interests and high political ambitions and abilities linked him closely with eighteenth-century notions of galanterie. This narrowed the scope of his image later, especially as nineteenth-century historians selected fictional sources and interpreted them as historical sources to present August as an immoral political failure. Although nineteenth-century popular writers exhibited a more varied response to August’s historical role, the negative historiography continued to resonate in later history writing. Ironically, the myth of August the Strong represented an opportunity in the GDR in creating and fostering a sense of identity, first as a socialist state with historical and cultural links to the east, and then by examining Prusso-Saxon history as a uniquely (East) German issue. Finally, the thesis examines the practice of historical re-enactment as it is currently employed in a number of variations on German TV and in literature, and its impact on historical knowledge. The thesis concludes that, while narrative forms are necessary to history and fiction, and fiction is a necessary part of presenting history, inconsistent combinations of the two can undermine the projects of both.