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Solitude, suffering, and creativity in three existentialist novelsBoag, Cara Ingrid 12 1900 (has links)
Thesis (MA (English Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: As existent beings, we identify with the world through our thoughts and perceptions. Man is driven
to seek meaning by the very complexities and contradictions of existence. As self-conscious
beings, we cannot live without a sense of awareness and understanding. Creativity allows an
individual to develop a unique understanding of the nature and destiny of man. This study draws
attention to writers who were able to transcend their external environment and immerse
themselves in a setting where man’s individuality is fundamental to living an authentic life.
Camus, Dostoevsky and Kafka made every effort to live consciously and authentically. They
believed that inwardness was not to be defined by an external, social setting, but rather through an
intimacy of consciousness. This awareness and unveiling of being enables us to create meaning.
These authors removed their social mantles and were willing to sacrifice acceptance in the pursuit
of this cause. They believed that every man has a responsibility to live an individual and authentic
life. This psychological and even physical isolation is not easy, however, and often causes much
suffering. Using existentialism as a framework, this thesis will focus on solitariness, suffering and
creativity, all of which point to the importance of individual consciousness rather than living a life of
societal pressures and conformity. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: As lewende wesens identifiseer ons onsself met die wêreld deur middel van gedagtes en
waarnemings. Die mens word gedryf deur die soeke na betekenis in die kompleksiteit en
teenstellings van sy bestaan. As wesens met selfkennis kan ons nie leef met ‘n gebrek aan
bewustheid en begrip nie. Kreatiwiteit laat die individu toe om ‘n unieke begrip van die aard en lot
van die mens te ontwikkel. Hierdi verhandeling vestig die aandag op skrywers wat verby hul
uiterlike omgewings kon uitreik en hulself kon indompel in ‘n mileu waar die mens se individualiteit
grondliggend is om ‘n onvervalste lewe te lei.
Camus, Dostoevsky en Kafka het alles in hul vermoë gedoen om bewustelik en suiwer te lewe.
Hulle het geglo dat die innerlike nie gedefinieer kan word deur die uiterlike, sosiale omgewing nie,
maar eerder deur ‘n intimiteit van bewustheid. Hierdie bewustheid en openbaring van bestaan laat
ons toe om betekenis te skep. Hierdie skrywers het hul sosiale mantels afgewerp en was bereid
om sosiale aanvaarbaarheid op te offer in hul strewe na hierdie doelwit. Hulle het geglo dat elke
mens oor ‘n individuele en onvervalste lewe beskik. Die sielkundige en selfs fisieke afsondering is
egter nooit maklik nie en het dikwels groot lyding tot gevolg. Met eksistensialisme as raamwerk sal
hierdie tesis focus op afsondering, lyding en kreatiwiteit.
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Reading rubbish: pre-apartheid to post-apartheid South African kitschPotgieter, Carla 12 1900 (has links)
Thesis (MA (English Studies)--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This thesis is concerned with kitsch as cultural phenomena, which it will approach as a
specific ‘aspect’, or ‘product’ of modernity. In doing so, this thesis aims to interrogate the
notion of modernity, through an analysis of kitsch. In the first place, modernity can be
thought as a collection of progressive material changes, usually associated with the onset
of the industrial revolution. In this sense, it is easy to establish kitsch as a typical product
of modernity, as the latter literally provided the objective conditions of possibility for the
production of cheap, easily reproducible industrial goods, with which kitsch is often
associated. In the second place, more than a set of material changes however, modernity
also entailed a concomitant series of cultural values, the rational, scientific worldview
associated with the onset of the Enlightenment. The thesis will therefore also consider
how kitsch can be regarded as a direct expression of these values, in as much as the
characteristic falseness and conformity of kitsch might be seen as a typical product of this
rational, utilitarian worldview. In the third place, modernity also refers to the combined
effect of these material conditions and cultural values. Kitsch will be considered, then,
also in relation to this ‘life-world’. Importantly, the thesis seeks to demonstrate how the
inherent contradictions of modernity become particularly apparent in kitsch.
The connection between colonialism and the Enlightenment is nothing new. Indeed, the
colonial project was driven by the notion that the West was responsible for the
“modernization” and “upliftment” of the rest of the world. However, the idea of
modernity as a universal, ideologically neutral concept is deeply problematic. Indeed, this
can also be considered as one of the contradictions inherent in modernity. By looking at
South African kitsch, this thesis will examine the possibility that, as a typical product of
modernity produced in a local context, it can reveal much about the manifestations or
‘trajectory’ of modernity outside the metropolitan centres, where it is usually located.
This will be explored by examining, on the one hand, the local ‘trajectory’ of the
discourse of modernity, and, secondly, to the place assigned to people within the creation
of these local modernities / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die onderwerp van hierdie tesis is kitsch as ’n kulturele verskynsel, wat dit as volg
benader. Eerstens word daar gevra of dit moontlik is om kitsch as een van die mees
tipiese ‘produkte’ van moderniteit te beskou. Die bogenoemde vraagstelling maak dit dus
moontlik om moderniteit te ondersoek deur ‘n analise van kitsch. In hierdie tesis, word
moderniteit as volg benader: ten eerste, die materiële veranderings in terme van die
produksie proses wat gewoonlik met die industriële revolusie geassosieer word; en
tweedens, die rasionele, wetenskaplike, kommersiële en utilitêre lewensbeskouing ingelei
deur die ‘Verligting’ (of sogenaamde Enlightenment) in die sewentiende eeu. Meer as net
’n versameling fisiese en filosofiese omwentelings, verwys moderniteit egter ook ten
derdens na die gekombineerde impak van die bogenoemde in terme van die effek van
tegnologie op kultuur, en hoe dit die menslike ‘leefwêreld’ betekenisvol beïnvloed en
vervorm.
Die bogenoemde skep dus ‘n raamwerk waarbinne kitsch benader kan word. Ten eerste is
dit maklik om ‘n verband tussen kitsch en tegnologiese ontwikkelinge, wat dit moontlik
maak om vinnige reproduksies van ‘n lae gehalte te vervaardig, te trek. Maar soos beskou
vanuit ‘n meer filosofiese perspektief, kan die valsheid en patroonmatigheid van kitsch
teruggetrek word na rasioneel utilitaristies wêreldbeskouing van die ‘Verligting’, wat
deur die neig na abstrakte, universele waarhede, dikwels vervlakking lei en ook
spesifieke etiese gevolge het. Derdens, wanneer daar na die impak van modernisasie op
die leefwêreld gekyk word, sal faktore soos die opkoms van die middelklas en
sekularisasie ook in ag geneem word. Deur die bogenoemde te ondersoek, sal daar dan
ook gedemonstreer word dat die teenstrydighede wat noodwendig deel vorm van die
konsep van moderniteit self, in kitsch duidelik sigbaar word, juis in die manier hoe kitsch
hierdie teenstrydighede probeer verberg.
Díe drie areas dan in ag geneem, is dit verder nodig om ‘n vierde definisie in te sluit om
die ondersoek van moderniteit, soos dit in hierdie tesis benader word, te verdiep. Die idee
dat kolonialisme en moderniteit ten diepste verbind is, is niks nuuts nie. Die gedagte dat
die Weste juis die onontwikkelde kolonies moes “ophef” en “moderniseer” was
inderdaad dikwels die ideologiese beweegrede vir die koloniale projek. Maar by nadere
ondersoek blyk dit onwaarskynlik dat moderniteit bloot ‘n ideologies neutrale konsep is,
wat oral eenvormige resultate sou behaal. Inderdaad, laasgenoemde kan ook as een van
hierdie sogenaamde “teenstrydighede” inherent tot die konsep van moderniteit beskou
word. Dus, deur na kitsch te kyk wat spesifiek in ‘n Suid-Afrikaanse konteks ontstaan
het, wil hierdie tesis ook die moontlik ondersoek dat plaaslike kitsch (as tipiese produk
van moderniteit) ons iets meer kan vertel oor die spesifieke verloop en gevolge van
hierdie sogenaamde “projek van moderniteit” binne ‘n plaaslike konteks.
Dit sal gedoen word deur die volgende twee vraagstukke aan te spreek, aan die hand van
plaaslike vorme van kitsch. Eerstens sal daar aandag aan die spesifieke “verloop” en
manifestasies van die diskoers van moderniteit in ‘n plaaslike konteks ondersoek word.
Tweedens, gaan hierdie tesis ook aandag gee aan die spesifieke plek wat aan verskillende
groepe mense binne hierdie plaaslike vorme van moderniteit toegeken word. So ‘n
ondersoek sal dan op die plaaslike manifestasies van moderniteit konsentreer, om die
aanname dat moderniteit oral eenvormige resultate en vooruitgang sou bereik, ongeldig te
verklaar. Die idee van “moderniteit” as universele en eenvormige konsep breek dus
letterlik uit mekaar, soos dit met die idee van geografiese spesifieke weergawes van
moderniteit gekonfronteer word.
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Separate and warring selves : identity crises in Africa in Shiva Naipaul's "North of South: an African journey"Coetsee, Jarryd 12 1900 (has links)
Thesis (MA (English Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This project seeks to analyze the representation of identities in Shiva
Naipaul's travel narrative North of South: An African Journey (1978) as
encoded in the binaries of primitive / traditional; civilized / modern; settler /
native; civic / tribal and neo-colonial / liberated. By analyzing this select series
of identities, this project aims to explore the fractured nature of identity as
constructed in the post-colony. It will argue that the identities are rendered
unstable by the ungrounded nature of the post-colonial space in which they
are located. Naipaul concludes his travel narrative by qualifying the postcolonial
situation as an abortion of Western civilization in the trope of
Conrad's Kurtz. Naipaul implies that any identity in Africa is a simulacrum, a
phantom double, a copy of something that was not there to begin with. He
attempts to articulate the diverse cultures that he encounters as though he
were apart from them without recognizing that he is essentially and
inextricably a part of the various cultural articulations themselves. It is easy to
criticize Naipaul, therefore, as a non-starter. With the advantages of hindsight,
however, it is possible for the contemporary reader to recognize these
instabilities as evidence of the post-modern phenomenon in which reality is
not an absolute. As a modernist writer, Naipaul's efforts to understand these
instabilities of identity as an articulation of culture are circumvented by a
Sisyphean struggle wherein he attempts to establish a sense of ontological
alterity in the narrative yet implicates himself, as well as his invocation of
archival literature and hence his ultimate position of disillusionment,
hopelessness and doom. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie projek poog om die verteenwoordiging van identiteite in Shiva Naipaul
se reisverhaal, North of South: An African Journey (1978), gekodeerd met die
binere van die primitiewe / tradisionele ; beskaafde / moderne; setlaars /
inheemse; staats / etniese; en neo-kolonialisme / vryheid, te analiseer. Deur
die analise van die gekose reeks identiteite, neig die studie om die gebroke
aard van identiteit in In post-koloniale omgewing te ondersoek, en te redeneer
dat die identiteite bemoeilik word deur die ongegronde natuur van die postkoloniale
ruimte waarin hulle voorkom. Naipaul omvat North of South om die
post-kolonialistiese situasie te kwalifiseer as In aborsie van die Westerse
beskawing in die metafoor van Conrad se Kurtz. Naipaul impliseer dat enige
identiteit in Afrika In simulacrum is, In spookbeeld, 'n kopie van iets wat nooit
was nie. Hy poog om die menigte kulture wat hy ondervind te omskryf asof hy
van hulle verwyder is, sonder om te besef dat hy volledig deel uitmaak van die
geleding van hierdie kulture, en dit is daarvolgens maklik om Naipaul as 'n
mislukking te kritiseer. Met die duidelikheid van In moderne leser se terugblik
is dit wei moontlik om hierdie onkonsekwenthede as bewyse te sien van die
post-modernistiese verskynsel waarin realiteit nie In absoluut is nie. As In
modernistiese skrywer is Naipaul se bemoeienis om hierdie onbestendigheid
van identiteit as 'n omskrywing van kultuur te verstaan belemmer deur 'n
Sisyphiesestryd waarin hy poog om In sin van die andersheid van die aard
van die werklikheid in die storielyn te vestig, maar tog impliseer hy homself
asook sy gebruik van argiefmateriaal, en vandaar sy uiteindelike posisie van
ontnugtering, hopeloosheid en verwoesting.
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Translocation and female subjectivities in four contemporary narratives : Kingston’s The woman warrior, Magona’s To my children’s children and Forced to grow and Hoffman’s Lost in translationJoss, Elizabeth 12 1900 (has links)
Thesis (MA (English Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Drawing on theories of gender and subjectivity, this thesis explores the way in which
constructions of modernity as well as tradition are mapped onto geographical localities and thus
expressed through gender acts. The female protagonists in Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman
Warrior, Sindiwe Magona’s To My Children’s Children and Forced to Grow, as well as Eva
Hoffman’s Lost in Translation undergo either transnational translocation or imagined
translocation where they straddle multiple cultural contexts concurrently. The role of globalism
and modernity amplifies the female’s ambiguous position and therefore challenges her gender
identity as she takes on additional gender characteristics. This challenge, a result of translocation,
causes both the individual and collective nature of the subject to be emphasised and placed in
multiple cultures concurrently. The female’s subjectivity is under much tension as the cultures
she immerses herself in interlace but also clash. As a result of this, her sense of self is constantly
in flux as she attempts to achieve stability and coherence. This sense of a gendered, stable and
located self will, I argue, both dissipate and transmutate upon undergoing physical or imagined
translocation.
In addition, this thesis examines the manner in which globalism allows for the dissolving of
boundaries and explores the extent to which the ambiguous position these female protagonists
occupy enables them to reformulate and refashion their gender identity as well as write
themselves away from the marginalised positions they inhabit. I will further explore how female
subjects are compelled to take on additional feminine or masculine attributes upon translocation,
seeming to become androgynous in the reformulation of their gender identity for a certain period
of time. I will argue that protagonists supplement their gender in order to obtain a sense of
belonging in a specific cultural context which requires this alteration of gender, and argue that
this is also a means by which they liberate themselves from the marginal positions they occupy
in their ethnic culture where sexism and prejudice are prevalent. However, I will demonstrate
that modernity does not only provide them with liberation and autonomy, but that simultaneously
it is also restrictive on the subject’s gender identity. Finally, this thesis explores whether the
female protagonists are able to use their ambiguous positioning strategically in order to generate coherence of the self yet, concurrently, maintain fluidity between multiple cultural boundaries of the self. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie verhandeling gebruik geslags- en subjektiwiteitsteorieë om ondersoek in te stel na die
maniere waarop konstruksies van moderniteit en tradisie uiting vind in geslagshandeling.
Dieselfde teorieë word gebruik om ondersoek in te stel na die invloed van geografiese plasing op
geslagshandeling. Die vroulike protagoniste in Maxine Hong Kingston se The Woman Warrior,
Sindiwe Magona se To My Children’s Children en Forced to Grow, sowel as Eva Hoffman se
Lost in Translation, ervaar elkeen óf transnasionale translokasie, óf verbeelde translokasie,
waardeur hulle vele kulturele kontekste tegelykertyd in die dwarste beset. Die rol van
globalisering en moderniteit versterk sonder twyfel die vroulike protagonis se dubbelsinnige
posisie, en haar geslagsidentiteit word in twyfel getrek soos sy addisionele geslagseienskappe
aanneem. Hierdie vertwyfeling – die gevolg van translokasie – veroorsaak dat beide die
kollektiewe sowel as die individuele aard van die subjek benadruk word, en gelyktydig in
meervoudige kulture geplaas word. Die protagonis se subjektiwiteit verkeer onder baie spanning
omdat die kulture waarin sy haarself verdiep onderling vervleg is, maar tog ook bots. Derhalwe
is haar beskouing van haarself voortdurend vloeibaar en veranderend terwyl sy probeer om
samehorigheid en stabiliteit te bewerkstellig. Ek is van mening dat hierdie sin van 'n
“geslaghebbende”, stabiele, gelokaliseerde self verdwyn en/of transmuteer wanneer dit fisiese of
verbeelde translokasie ondergaan.
Gevolglik ondersoek hierdie verhandeling dus ook die manier waarop globalisme die ontbinding
van grense tot gevolg het, sowel as die mate waartoe die dubbelsinnigheid van die vroulike
protagoniste se posisie hulle toelaat om hul geslagsidentiteit te herformuleer en te herontwerp, en
hulself weg, of uit, die gemarginaliseerde posisies wat hulle beset te skryf. Ek wil ook kyk na die
maniere waarop die vroulike subjek genoop is om, as gevolg van translokasie, addisionele
vroulike of manlike karaktertrekke aan te neem, met dié dat dit blyk dat die protagoniste vir 'n
ruk lank androgene eienskappe in hul geslagsidentiteit toon. Ek argumenteer dat die protagoniste
hul geslag aanvul, nie net sodat hul aanklank binne 'n spesifieke kulturele konteks kan vind nie,
maar ook as 'n manier waarop hul hulself kan bevry van die marginale posisies waarin hulle hul
in 'n etniese kultuur, waar seksisme en vooroordeel gedy, bevind. Nietemin wil ek ook aantoon
dat moderniteit nie bloot net bevryding en selfstandigheid aan die vroulike protagoniste bied nie, maar dat dit ook tegelykertyd beperkings op die subjek se geslagsidentiteit plaas. Die uitkoms
van hierdie tesis is om te bepaal of die vroulike protagoniste in staat is tot die strategiese gebruik
van hul dubbelsinnige posisionering, wat koherensie van die self sal meebring, en tog
terselfdertyd vloeibaarheid tussen verskillende kulture sal behou.
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The contextual compass : a literary-historical study of three British women’s travel writing on Africa, 1797 – 1934Visser, Liezel 12 1900 (has links)
Thesis (MA (English Studies))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Texts by women travellers describing their journeys date back almost as far as
those produced by their male counterparts, yet women’s travel writing has only
become an area of academic interest during the past ten to fifteen years.
Previously, women’s travel writing was mostly read for its entertainment value
rather than its academic merit and – as Sara Mills notes in her Discourses of
Difference – appeared almost exclusively in the form of coffee table books or
biographies offering romanticized accounts of heroic, eccentric women who
undertook epic journeys to Africa (4). The growing interest in women’s travel
writing as part of colonial discourse coincides with the emergence of gender
studies and related subjects. The emergence of these areas of academic enquiry
can be attributed to the systematic dismantling of the patriarchal structures,
which previously dominated social and academic domains.
The aim of this study is to examine European women’s travel writing as a
subversive discourse which, while sharing some characteristics with traditional
male-produced travel texts from the colonial era, was informed by the discursive
constraints of femininity. These texts thus differ from male-produced texts in
the sense that, because of the different discursive constraints informing women’s
travel writing, they offer commentary on aspects of Africa and its peoples which
men had omitted in their travel accounts. Three specific texts by British women
who recorded their travels in Africa form the basis of the discussion in this
dissertation: the travel writing of Lady Anne Barnard (South African Cape Colony,
1797 – 1801), Mary Kingsley (West Africa: Gabon and the Congo, 1896 – 1900)
and Barbara Greene (Liberia, 1935). Since, as Mills argues, “feminist textual
theory has restricted itself to the analysis of literary texts and has been
concerned with analysis of the text itself” (12), which limits the extent to which
one can provide interesting, discerning, and relevant comment on women’s
writing, the readings of these texts are not limited to feminist theory of women’s
travel writing.
Social expectations until as recently as the early twentieth century located
women firmly in the domestic sphere. It was almost unthinkable for women to
undertake travels other than the traditional Grand Tour. To attempt to venture
into the predominantly male territory of travel writing was to expose oneself to
harsh criticism and to risk being labelled as eccentric and unfeminine. Thus
women had to find a way of making both their travels and writing seem
acceptable by social standards, while still presenting as true as possible a picture
of Africa in their writing. These constraints of the discourse of femininity on their
texts necessarily make women’s writing seem concerned almost exclusively with
matters of feminine interest. Mills attributes this to women travel writers’
“problematic status, caught between the conflicting demands of the discourse of
femininity and that of imperialism.” (Mills, Discourses of Difference 22) / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Reisbeskrywings deur vroue dateer byna so ver terug as dié wat deur mans
geskryf is. Tog het vroue se reisbeskrywings eers in die afgelope tien tot vyftien
jaar akademiese belangstelling begin ontlok. Voorheen is vroue se
reisbeskrywings meestal vir vermaak eerder as akademiese meriete gelees, en –
soos Sara Mills in haar Discourses of Difference opmerk – het dit byna uitsluitlik
verskyn as koffietafelboeke of verromantiseerde biografieë van heldhaftige,
sonderlinge vroue wat epiese reise na Afrika onderneem het (4).
Die toenemende belangstelling in vroue se reisbeskrywings as deel van koloniale
diskoers val saam met die verskyning van gender-studies en verwante
vakgebiede. Die ontstaan van hierdie akademiese vakgebiede kan toegeskryf
word aan die stelselmatige aftakeling van die paternalistiese strukture wat
sosiale en akademiese arenas voorheen oorheers het.
Die doel van hierdie studie is om Europese vroue se reisbeskrywings te
ondersoek as ‘n ondermynende diskoers wat, hoewel dit sekere eienskappe van
tradisionele reisbeskrywings deur manlike skrywers uit die koloniale tydperk
toon, gegrond is in die beperkende diskoers van vroulikheid. Hierdie tekste
verskil dus van tekste deur manlike skrywers in die opsig dat dit, as gevolg van
die verskillende diskoersbeperkinge waarin dit gegrond is, kommentaar lewer op
aspekte van Afrika en sy bevolking wat mans in hul reisbeskrywings uitgelaat
het. Drie spesifieke tekste deur Britse vroue wat hul reise beskryf het vorm die
grondslag van hierdie verhandeling; dit is die reisbeskrywings van Lady Anne
Barnard (Suid-Afrikaanse Kaapkolonie, 1797 – 1801), Mary Kingsley (Wes-
Afrika: Gaboen en die Kongo, 1896 – 1900) en Barbara Greene (Liberië, 1935).
Mills voer aan: “Feminist textual theory has restricted itself to the analysis of
literary texts and has been concerned with analysis of the text itself” (12). Dít
beperk die mate waartoe interessante, skerpsinnige en toepaslike kommentaar
oor vroue se reisbeskrywings gelewer kan word; dus is die interpretasie van
hierdie tekste nie beperk tot feministiese teorie met betrekking tot vrouereisbeskrywings
nie.
Tot so onlangs as die vroeë twintigste eeu het die samelewing se verwagtinge
vroue streng tot die huishoudelike sfeer beperk. Afgesien van die tradisionele
Grand Tour was dit bykans ondenkbaar vir vroue om te reis. As ‘n vrou inbreuk
sou probeer maak op die tradisioneel manlike gebied van die skryfkuns sou sy
haarself blootstel aan skerp kritiek en onwenslike etikettering as eksentriek en
onvroulik. Dus moes vroue ‘n manier vind om sowel hul reise as hul skryfwerk
sosiaal aanvaarbaar te maak en terselfdertyd so ‘n egte beeld as moontlik van
Afrika te skets in hul skryfwerk. Die beperkinge wat die diskoers van vroulikheid
op hul tekste plaas, lei noodwendig daartoe dat vroue se skryfwerk as byna
geheel en al beperk tot sake van vroulike belang voorkom. Mills skryf dít toe aan
vroue-reisbeskrywers se “problematic status, caught between the conflicting
demands of the discourse of femininity and that of imperialism.” (Mills,
Discourses of Difference 22)
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