Unlike the Russian Civil War or Second World War, the Soviet-Afghan War (1979–1989) never acquired a stable, dominant narrative in Soviet or Russian culture. Even as the war was in progress, Soviet media revised its evaluation of key events and players to reflect the changing political tides through the 1980s. After the war ended, state leaders were distracted by the political turbulence of the 1990s, and the citizens—largely unaffected by the war on a personal level—were not particularly interested in assessing either the war’s successes or failures. This lack of definition left the descriptions and representations of the Soviet-Afghan War open to the influence of evolving political realities and agendas. This study examines the literary techniques and strategies that writers Svetlana Alexievich and Alexander Prokhanov have employed in articulating different narratives that responded to the shifting demands of the moment. With respect to the several revisions that Alexievich made to her documentary novel Zinky Boys from its initial publication in 1990 through its final version in 2007, I argue that the author’s position as anti-authoritarian and anti-war becomes increasingly rigid. Like many liberal-minded members of the intelligentsia after the fall of the Soviet Union, Alexievich had early hopes for a transition from totalitarianism to democracy in her native Belarus which would be disappointed. The poetics of her documentary prose, I argue, challenge the traditional identities and relationships of author, character, and reader by destabilizing the boundaries and allowing crossovers between roles. By engaging the reader in constructing the deeper meaning of the novel, Alexievich projects her reader into the full and active participation of a citizen building a new post-Soviet state. Prokhanov, situated on the opposite side of the political divide, also made substantial revisions to his novels about the Soviet-Afghan War. Prokhanov’s 1994 novel The Palace is remarkable for its change in message and tone from the narratives of his Soviet-era writing on Afghanistan: it openly questions the Soviet Politburo’s decision to invade, and includes surreal dreamlike sequences that, I argue, reflect his contemporaneous collaboration with Alexander Dugin, founding proponent of neo-Eurasianism. In Dream about Kabul—his 2001 “remake” of his own 1982 novel Tree in the Center of Kabul—Prokhanov’s alter-ego protagonist becomes an even more passive participant in the progression of the Soviet-Afghan War, compared to The Palace, as well as a powerless pawn in the political conspiracies involving the Russian Federation, Israel, and the United States. His reader is more like the obedient subject of a tsar than the politically engaged citizen of a democracy, as envisioned by Alexievich. In my study of the substantial revisions that Alexievich and Prokhanov made to their Soviet-Afghan War stories from the 1980s into the twenty-first century, I demonstrate how the literary representations of a military conflict in recent Soviet history reflect the increasing polarization of political and social realities facing authors and readers in the post-Soviet states of Russia and Belarus. The aesthetic decisions that Alexievich and Prokhanov made in revising their Soviet-Afghan War stories carry political and ethical implications. Thus, the relationship between implied author and implied reader in a literary text becomes a political statement about the relationship between the state and the citizen.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, 2008. / Title from first page of PDF file (viewed July 14, 2008). Available via ProQuest Digital Dissertations. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (p. 327-344).

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Using insights drawn from research in a variety of disciplines into theories of the body, this dissertation investigates Heinrich Boll's (1917-1985) early prose (1936-1955) as a discourse of war damaged bodies. The "new" texts discussed appeared in Germany between 1982 and 1995. The thesis represents the first attempt to analyse Boll's work from the perspective of the human body. Chapter I briefly outlines the influence sociology has had for a better understanding of the role of the human body in society. This chapter demonstrates that the body can be fruitfully used both as a critical tool and as an interpretative device in discussing literary texts. An elucidation of the methodology and theoretical approach used concludes the chapter. The thesis explores Boll's use of the body not only as aspects of the narrative and also for its ethical implication. According to him, an author's temporality ("Zeitlichkeit") is the first thing to be communicated before embarking on an analysis or interpretation of his work. Chapter II investigates the "Aryan/Nazi" body and refers to other contemporary body discourses. Chapter III, investigating the "Writer's" body, provides insights into Boll's biography. Both chapters shed considerable light on Germany's cultural, social, internal, and external political situation. Chapter IV describes the soldier's 'closed,' "disciplined" body as portrayed in texts such as Das Vermachtnis. Colonel Bressen, a key character in Wo warst du, Adam?, epitomises the "mirroring" body in Chapter V. More "Schein" than "Sein," it reflects an intentionally internalised and acquired "habitus." In Chapter VI, Boll's war story "Der blasse Hund," provides a striking example of a "dominating" body which seeks to preserve its power and to control its fears through committing violent acts against its helpless victims. In contrast, however, a "communicative" body such as Kate Bogner's in Und sagte kein einziges Wort, examined in Chapter VII, is 'open' and caring. Throughout his early prose, Boll's careful use of body language reveals the multi-layered nature of reality. Chapter VIII summarises the thesis and presents its major findings upon which further critical work on the significance of the human body in Boll's later writings might be based.

The Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. is an event of Greek history that has inspired numerous subsequent receptions. Many of these later ‘receptions’ of the battle have been studied in varying degrees of detail by scholars over the years, however certain periods, or modes of reception have been ignored or neglected in this scholarship. In this dissertation I examine some of these neglected areas of research. These areas include: the uses and abuses of the Battle of Thermopylae in contemporary popular culture. In this section I focus primarily on Frank Miller’s graphic novel 300 (1998/9), as well as Zack Snyder’s 2006 film of the same name. Secondly I focus on a ‘national’ response to the ‘Thermopylae theme’, in which I consider its use in South Africa. I narrow my focus to examine its use as a motif in the poetry of the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. Finally I explore how the Battle of Thermopylae was employed by writers of children’s literature in the Victorian period, where I delimit my discussion to Caroline Dale Snedeker’s The Coward of Thermopylae (1911), as well as Andrew Lang’s short story: ‘The Spartan Three Hundred’ in The True Story Book (1893). These categories cover films, graphic novels, poetry as well as fiction and non-fiction for children. Yet despite being disparate categories, each of these periods, places or genres maintains the ‘kernel’ of the story of Thermopylae: a few, brave Greeks who fought for freedom against the countless Persians invading their land. At the same time different elements of the story are exploited to highlight various issues important in the different contexts and periods. It is my hope that this thesis will not only play a role in researching these lesser known appropriations and adaptations of the Battle of Thermopylae, but that it will also ‘break boundaries’ in the field of reception studies within the discipline of Classics. / Theses (M.A)-University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban, 2009.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Tufts University, 2003. / Adviser: Laurence Senelick. Submitted to the Dept. of Drama. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 222-251). Access restricted to members of the Tufts University community. Also available via the World Wide Web;

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Michigan State University. Dept. of English, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on July 22, 2009) Includes bibliographical references (p. 248-259). Also issued in print.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin, 1940. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 200-222).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2007. / "Graduate Program in Spanish and Portuguese." Includes bibliographical references (p. 188-192).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wyoming, 2009. / Title from PDF title page (viewed on May 21, 2010). Includes bibliographical references (p. 96-97).