Zugl.: Gießen, Universiẗat, Diss. / Zugl.: Gießen, Univ., Diss.

This study investigates the relation between faith in a transcendent reality and faith in language, both verbal and visual, in the work of English novelist and critic Antonia Byatt. Her ideal conception of communication combines the immediacy and primal vigour of the visual with the methodical pragmatism of words. However, Byatt's characters who exemplify this effort at double vision - in particular Stephanie Potter Orton in the 1985 novel Still Life - find in their quests frustration and even death rather than fulfillment. My investigation focuses on A. S. Byatt's presentation of the way language attempts to represent and interact with three particular areas: fundamental personal experiences (childbirth, death, love), perceptual and aesthetic experiences (colour and form, painting), and transcendent experiences (supernaturalism and Christian religion). I consider all stages of her career to date - from her first novel The Shadow of the Sun (1964) to Babel Tower (1996). Although Possession: A Romance (1990) has garnered most of the critical attention accorded to Byatt, I argue that this novel is not generally representative of her principles or style. A neo-Victorian romance, part parodic and part nostalgic, combined with an academic comedy, Possession shares neither the sombre mythological and psychological fatalism of her 1960s fiction nor the modified realism of her middle-period fiction. Still Life and The Matisse Stories (1993) are the works that best elucidate Byatt's major preoccupations; they intently strive to combine the most powerful aspects of verbal and visual knowledge. The methodological basis for this study is pluralist; it emphasizes close reading, combined with phenomenological, biographical, and thematic criticism. As Byatt does, I rely principally on the ideas of writers and artists rather than theorists; she cannot be understood without specific reference to George Eliot, Donne, Forster, Murdoch, Van Gogh, and Matisse (among others). Byatt's quest for truth and transcendent meaning and her investigation of the trustworthiness of words have undergone recent changes; she seems more sharply aware of the limitations of language and the unattainability of absolute truth. Her writings in the 1990s about paintings and colour emphasize their intrinsic value rather than their ability either to revitalize the word or suggest the numinous. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

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Univ., Diss.--Gießen, 2007. / Literaturverz. S. [265] - 284.

Cette thèse se propose d'offrir un commentaire linguistique, philologique, rhétorique des vers 49-396 [ = 1-348 Petsch.] du livre V, qui est le livre de la bataille d’Antonia Castra, et une analyse de l'œuvre, qui montre in primis son importance littéraire. Le cœur de ma thèse est l'édition du texte latin présenté selon une nouvelle numérotation et avec quelques différences par rapport au texte de Diggle-Goodyear (Cambridge 1970). Une importante découverte philologique nous a permis d'établir le véritable incipit du livre V de la Iohannis, jusqu’à présent reconnu traditionnellement dans en un endroit déterminé par une conjecture de G. Loewe, accueillie par l'édition Petschenig et après Diggle-Goodyear. Dans une riche introduction divisée en deux sections et qui précède le commentaire, on parle de la tradition du texte et on encadre historiquement l'activité du poète. Après, nous décrivons les formes d'écriture épique du livre V de la Iohannis, livre par excellence de la Bataille, entre histoire et clichés littéraires (furor bellicus comme Erinys, cohortationes des généraux aristiai, similitudes conduisent à la même idée de guerre sainte, dans une lignée héroïque et mythologique). / Subject of this thesis is the commentary to Coripp. Ioh 5*,49-396 [=5,1-348 Petsch.], that is the description of Antonia Castra’s battle. My intention is to offer a study on Corippus’ work, where first is clear its literary importance. The heart of my thesis is the edition of the Latin text that is based on a new numbering of the verses and with some differences compared with the Diggle-Goodyear’s edition (Cambridge 1970). A very important philological discovery has allowed us to establish the real beginning of Iohannis’ book V, traditionally recognized until Diggle-Goodyear in a point determined by a G. Loewe's conjecture. In a rich introduction, divided into two sections and which precedes the commentary, we talk about the tradition of the Iohannis, through the Trivultianus 686, the only surviving manuscript, and we introduce the poet's historical background. After that, we describe the epic shapes of the book V, the very book of the Battle, between concrete history and literary stereotypes (furor bellicus like Erinys, generals’ cohortationes, aristiai, similies lead us to the same idea of “crusade” ante litteram, following an heroic and mythologic line).

My doctoral dissertation examines the relationship between the sacred and literature, explores how the Bible has influenced the literary production of Antonia Pozzi, Cristina Campo, and Margherita Guidacci, and reveals that each author had a distinctive way of dealing with the Sacred Book. In the first chapter I retrace the studies on the topic of Bible and Literature, and I show how literary critics only recently have begun to work intensively on them (in the past the "historical school" founded by De Sanctis and followed by Croce devoted few studies to the subject of the sacred and even so, only to those periods where the influence of the Scriptures was clear and indeed obvious, such as the Middle Ages and the Counter-Reformation). In the same chapter I explain my reason for deciding to study Pozzi, Campo, and Guidacci. These three authors share analogous biographical experiences and episodes that deeply influenced their lives (the presence of an authoritarian father, family losses, and sad love experiences). Moreover, their studies (specifically, European writers and philosophers) were of the same nature. I demonstrate that, although contemporary Italian literature is heterogeneous and varied, these three women astonishingly shared the same background that explains their concentration on the sacred. In the following chapter I consider the writers individually, in order to examine the path that led them to a dialogue with the religious and the sacred. In Pozzi, the sacred is something that lies beyond human understanding and, for all her attempts to reach it, she always fails due to her incapacity to fully free helself from human passions. In Campo and in Guidacci on the other hand, the sacred search is always consistent and, notwithstanding some missteps and second thoughts, they are able to basically fulfill their task. After the study of their ideas, in the last chapter I move to the poetical language used by these writers. It has been very interesting to see what is essentially the same vocabulary appearing again and again in our poets. As it is known, the biblical language is based on symbols that evoke a union between the contingent and the Absolute. Pozzi, Campo, and Guidacci were not only able to interpret the biblical symbology but they also used some of those terms in their poems; specifically I focused my attention on the recurrence of five words-symbols: assenza, deserto, nulla, fiore, luce (absence, desert, emptiness, flower, light). It is really significant that the writers in question use the same biblical symbols as poetical words: it is a vocabulary that ties together literary and religious experience. Their connection is also strengthened by the reference and the predilection for same specific books of the Bible, such as Job and The Lamentations of Jeremiah the Prophet for Pozzi, and the Gospels, Psalms, and The Song of Songs for Campo and Guidacci. In my analysis I show that already in the desert we can see the first signs of Pozzi's weakness: In this solitary place, where the soul must deal with herself to reach the emptying of earthly passions, Pozzi got lost and fell into the error of looking backwards, to the beloved she had left. On the other hand, Campo and Guidacci were able to reach the spiritual light, so their journey through biblical symbolism can be finally considered complete. In other words, Pozzi's path towards the Scripture is fulfilled piecemeal and never ends in it, while in Campo and Guidacci the Scripture becomes an integral part of their lives, so they are constantly enlightened by the Word of God, while Pozzi misses this Light and sinks into the darkness of death. Finally, considering the fact that they have been relatively isolated from the literary world until recently, I do not believe they were rejected by a misogynist society, but rather by the fact that those years were demanding an active social participation. The women treated here never made that choice, instead they dedicated themselves to the search for the sacred, an issue not "present" in the years in which they lived. So I think that it was this combination of poetic themes and lifestyle choices that excluded them. In conclusion my work, which could have considered many other poets, confirms the point of view from which I started: the theme of the sacred in the twentieth century literature does not seem to present itself as a school or current, but is characterized by its inevitable uniqueness so that each poetic experience is described for its extraordinary authenticity and uniqueness. If anything, we can talk about similarities and links between these poets based on common readings that provide the basis on which to develop their own religious experiences.

Thesis (MA (Afrikaans and Dutch))--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / In fulfilment of the degree of Magister in Creative Writing: Afrikaans, a novel titled Kielhaal (Keelhaul) is presented in which the main character figures as an abject hero. It is accompanied by a formal essay titled “Die abjekte held in Steppenwolf, Fight Club en A Whistling Woman” (“The abject hero in Steppenwolf, Fight Club and A Whistling Woman”). The essay researches the application of the abject hero in literary texts.

Many accounts, both ancient and modern, have maintained that the Julio- Claudian women had unprecedented influence in their spheres. This dissertation attempts to determine the degree of autonomy and influence that the Julio-Claudian women had and to examine the factors that may have contributed to their exceptional influence. In trying to establish the extent and nature of the influence of the Julio- Claudian women, the ancient sources (literary, documentary and iconographic), in conjunction with modern scholarly views, were critically examined throughout. In attempting to determine the factors that influenced such weight and autonomy as these women had, the dissertation looks at the influences on women of earlier times, in particular the late Roman Republic, from a legal and a socio-historical angle. Whether the Julio-Claudian women could be considered, for example, to have been part of a “super-elite” in comparison with aristocratic women of earlier, and even later, times, was discussed and evaluated. On the surface the Julio-Claudian women did seem to enjoy a wider range of freedoms, power and influence than their counterparts, or the Roman women before or after them. Yet it is clear from the sources that these women also had restrictions laid upon them and that the patriarchal framework still curtailed their influence. When they over-stepped the accepted bounds, they were invariably vilified by the ancient historians, and often came to be negatively portrayed by subsequent generations. Whether these women truly deserved their vilification, or whether it can simply be ascribed to the bias of the ancient writers, was also explored throughout. / Classics & World Languages / M.A. (Classical Studies)