Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The stereotypical figure of the femme fatale as irresistible seductress, who inevitably brings about death, is well known. This figure is nevertheless strangely absent from Afrikaans literature. This is what makes the appearance of the character of Nicolette in André Brink’s novel, The Ambassador (1963), so remarkable. Not only is she a complex femme fatale, she also adds a new dimension to the cliché. The striking similarities between Nicolette and Kathe, the female protagonist in Henri-Pierre Roché’s novel Jules et Jim (1953), justify a comparative study between these two novels. Although both of them bring about death, it seems that the presence of these femme fatale characters has positive rather than negative consequences. Contrary to the stereotypical evil temptress, Nicolette and Kathe are more natural, spontaneous and unpredictable – apparently free from the constricting qualities of the bloodthirsty femme fatale. In this comparative study, the image of the femme fatale is investigated through the close examination of its role and function in Jules et Jim and The Ambassador. By examining the philosopher René Girard’s theories on mimetic desire, violence and sacrifice as well as Georges Bataille’s ideas on eroticism and death, the nature of the femme fatale in these two novels is analysed in order to determine to what extent the image of the femme fatale as negative archetype could be reconsidered. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die stereotipiese figuur van die femme fatale as onweerstaanbare verleidster wat noodwendig die dood teweegbring, is alombekend. Tog blyk daar 'n opvallende afwesigheid van dié gevaarlike karakter in die Afrikaanse letterkunde te wees. Dit is waarom die verskyning van die karakter van Nicolette in André P. Brink se roman, Die Ambassadeur (1963), so merkwaardig is. Nie net is Nicolette 'n komplekse femme fatale karakter nie, maar bring sy ook 'n nuwe dimensie tot die geykte stereotipe. Dit is dan veral die treffende ooreenkoms tussen Nicolette en Kathe, die vroulike protagonis in Henri-Pierre Roché se roman Jules et Jim (1953), wat 'n vergelykende studie tussen hierdie twee romans regverdig. Alhoewel albei die dood teweegbring, blyk dit dat die teenwoordigheid van hierdie femme fatale karakters eerder positiewe as negatiewe gevolge het. Anders as die stereotipiese bose verleidster, is Nicolette en Kathe meer natuurlik, spontaan en onvoorspelbaar – oënskynlik vry van die beperkende eienskappe van die bloeddorstige femme fatale. In hierdie vergelykende studie word die beeld van die femme fatale ondersoek deur die rol en funksie daarvan in Jules et Jim en Die Ambassadeur in diepte te bestudeer. Deur die filosoof René Girard se teorieë oor mimetiese begeerte, geweld en offergawe asook Georges Bataille se idees oor erotisme en die dood te ondersoek, word die aard van die femme fatale in hierdie twee romans vergelykend ontleed om sodoende te bepaal tot watter mate die beeld van die femme fatale as negatiewe argetipe heroorweeg kan word. / RESUME: La figure stéréotypée de la femme fatale comme séductrice irrésistible et malfaisante qui entraîne inévitablement la mort, est bien connue. Néanmoins, nous constatons une absence frappante de cette figure dans la littérature de langue afrikaans. Voilà ce qui rend d’autant plus remarquable et surprenante l’apparence du personnage de Nicolette dans le roman L’Ambassadeur d’André Brink (1963). Non seulement est-elle une femme fatale complexe, mais Nicolette apporte aussi une nouvelle dimension à la figure rebattue. Ce sont surtout les similarités évidentes entre Nicolette et Kathe, la protagoniste féminine du roman Jules et Jim d’Henri-Pierre Roché (1953), qui justifient une étude comparée de ces deux romans. Bien que ces deux personnages féminins provoquent la mort d’un homme, il semblerait que la présence de ces femmes fatales ait des conséquences positives plutôt que négatives. Contrairement au stéréotype de la séductrice maléfique, les personnages de Kathe et de Nicolette sont plus naturels, spontanés et imprévisibles – apparemment libres de toute étiquette restrictive attribuée à la femme fatale assoiffée de sang. Dans cette étude comparée nous nous pencherons sur l’image de la femme fatale en examinant son rôle et sa fonction dans les romans Jules et Jim d’Henri-Pierre Roché et L’Ambassadeur d’André Brink. En considérant les théories sur le désir mimétique, la violence et le sacrifice que propose René Girard ainsi que les idées de Georges Bataille sur l’érotisme, nous essayons enfin d’établir dans quelle mesure on pourrait reconsidérer la définition étriquée de la femme fatale comme archétype négatif.

La forme humaine de la racine de la mandragore est sans doute à l’origine de la fascination que cette plante exerce depuis des millénaires. On lui attribue des qualités surnaturelles : entre autres, elle rendrait son propriétaire infiniment riche. Les détails lugubres se rapportant au mythe de la mandragore font d’elle un thème de prédilection pour la littérature fantastique. Le but de ce travail est d’analyser la légende de la mandragore dans trois œuvres de la littérature fantastique allemande (Isabelle d’Égypte (1812) d’Achim von Arnim, Petit Zacharie surnommé Cinabre (1819) d’E.T.A. Hoffmann et Mandragore (1911) de Hanns Heinz Ewers), dans lesquelles ce motif est combiné avec un thème aussi très prisé du genre fantastique : l’homme artificiel. Dans une perspective intertextuelle, j’analyserai comment chaque auteur s’approprie le mythe de la mandragore et représente le personnage-mandragore. Je me concentrerai ensuite sur les nouvelles qualités créées par son statut de créature artificielle et sur la relation de cette dernière avec son créateur. Puis, j’examinerai le rôle du personnage-mandragore dans chacune des œuvres dans son contexte historique. Ainsi, je montrerai que les personnages-mandragores possèdent bel et bien des caractéristiques qui se réfèrent à la légende de la mandragore, mais que leur nature de créature artificielle leur fait endosser dans leur récit un rôle d’antagoniste qui s’apparente à celui du trickster. Finalement, j’expliquerai comment les auteurs utilisent le motif de la mandragore et la littérature fantastique pour dénoncer la corruption, critiquer les partisans des Lumières et créer une atmosphère de décadence qui justifie l’utilisation du thème de la femme fatale. / The fascination with the mandrake for thousands of years originates, without a doubt, from the human form of the plant root. Many supernatural qualities are linked to the mandrake. It is believed, among other things, to be able to make its owner rich. The gloomy details surrounding the mandrake myth make it a theme of predilection for fantastic literature. The aim of this thesis is to analyse the legend of the mandrake in three works of German fantastic literature — Achim von Arnim’s Isabella of Egypt (1812), E.T.A. Hoffmann’s Little Zaches, Surnamed Zinnober (1819) and Hanns Heinz Ewers’ Alraune (1911). These authors also combine the mandrake motif with another theme, much appreciated by the fantastic genre: the artificial man. In an intertextual perspective, I will examine how each author adapts the mandrake myth and represents his mandrake character. Then, I will analyze the new qualities created by their artificial creature status and the relationship of the character with its creator. Finally, I will bring to light the role of the mandrake character in each work in regards to the historical context. It will be proven that the mandrake characters do own qualities that refer to the mandrake mythos, but that their nature as artificial creatures puts them, in their story, in the antagonist role that is similar to the trickster’s one. In the end, I will explain how the authors use the mandrake motif and the fantastic literature to respectively denounce corruption, criticize the Enlightenment advocates and create a decadent atmosphere that justifies the use of the femme fatale theme. / Die menschliche Form der Alraunenwurzel verursachte eine seit Jahrtausenden von dieser Pflanze ausgehende Faszination. Übernatürliche Eigenschaften werden mit ihr verbunden: Sie würde unter anderem ihren Besitzer sehr reich machen. Die unheimlichen Einzelheiten, die mit der Alraune assoziiert werden, machen es zu einem beliebten Thema der phantastischen Literatur. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit ist, die Alraunensage in drei Werken der deutschen phantastischen Literatur zu analysieren: Isabella von Ägypten (1812) von Achim von Arnim, Klein Zaches genannt Zinnober (1819) von E.T.A. Hoffmann und Alraune (1911) von Hanns Heinz Ewers, die dieses Motiv mit einem anderen sehr beliebten Thema des Phantastischen in Zusammenhang bringen: dem künstlichen Menschen. In einer intertextuellen Hinsicht analysiere ich, wie sich jeder Autor den Alraunenmythos zu eigen macht und seine Alraunenfigur darstellt. Ich untersuche außerdem die neuen Vorzüge, die ihre Natur künstlichen Menschen schaffen, und das Verhältnis der Alraunenfigur zu ihrem Schöpfer. Schließlich konzentriere ich mich auf ihre Rolle im geschichtlichen Kontext. Es wird dann gezeigt, dass die Alraunenfiguren tatsächlich Eigenschaften haben, die sich auf die Alraunensage beziehen. Zudem stellen sie wegen ihrer Erscheinung als künstliches Geschöpf einen Antagonisten, der dem Trickster ähnlich ist, in der Erzählung dar. Schließlich erkläre ich, wie die Autoren das Alraunenmotiv durch die phantastische Literatur verwenden, um die Korruption anzuprangern, die aufgeklärten Menschen zu kritisieren und eine dekadente Stimmung zu kreieren, die die Verwendung des Themas der femme fatale rechtfertigt.

This study explores the construction of the Gothic female body in three films by the director Tim Burton, specifically Batman Returns (1992), Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007) and Dark Shadows (2012). Through a deployment of Julia Kristeva’s theory of abjection, the intention is to indicate the degree to which Burton crafts his leading female characters as abject Others and embodiments of Barbara Creed’s ‘monstrous-feminine’. In this Gothic portrayal, the director consistently draws on the essentialised stereotypes of Woman as either ‘virgin’ or ‘whore’ as he shapes his Gothic heroines and femmes fatales. While a gendered duality is established, this is destabilised to an extent, as Burton permits his female characters varying degrees of agency as they acquire monstrous traits. This construction of Woman as monster, this study will show, is founded on a certain fear of femaleness, so reinstating the ideology of Woman as Other. / English Studies / M.A. (English Studies)

Pin-up images have played an important role in American culture, in both their illustrated and photographic configurations. The pin-up is viewed as a significant representational cultural artifact of idealistic and aspirational femininity and of consumerism and material wealth, especially reflective of the mid-twentieth century period in America spanning the 1930s to the 1960s. These images not only reflect great shifts in social mores and women’s social status, but also affected changes in both areas in turn. Furthermore, pin-up images internationally circulated in magazines, advertising and promotional material, contributed to the manner in which America was idealized in Europe and beyond. Crucially, they influenced how an eroticized and glamorous, yet unrealistic, example of femininity came to be generalized as a desirous model of femininity. In recent years there has been vital, though limited, scholarly research into the cultural and social impact of pin-up imagery, to which this thesis adds to. This thesis takes a genealogical approach, charting the development of popular female-centric “pin-up” imagery in America since the 1860s and up to the 1960s, and its resurgence since the 1980s onwards. In doing so this thesis aims to provide a social, political and cultural context to the emergence of a specific archetypal sexualized femininity, with the aim of challenging the tendency to dismiss sexualized imagery as “anti-feminist” or as trivial. Toward that end, I examine the complexity of intentions behind the production of “pin-up” images. In taking this revisionist approach I am better able to conclusively analyze the reasons for the resurgence and reappropriation of pin-up imagery in late-twentieth- and early-twenty-first-century popular culture, and consider what the gendered cultural implications may be.

In Günter Grass's Danzig Trilogy and novella, Im Krebsgang, an antagonistic female type makes a repeated appearance. She appears in the guise of Susi Kater and Luzie Rennwand in Die Blechtrommel, and as Tulla Pokriefke in the other works, Katz und Maus, Hundejahre, and Im Krebsgang. This antagonistic female type is not like other women in these works. A review of Le Deuxième Sexe by feminist Simone de Beauvoir reveals several crucial components contributing to woman's position in society. Most essentially, a woman's natural attributes and (dis)abilities and the conventions of society have enforced her historical submission to man. This thesis analyzes how the antagonistic female type, or villain, compares and contrasts with other female figures in these works by Grass, according to a paradigm derived from Beauvoir's description of woman. From this analysis, a better understanding of the female villain's nature emerges. Indeed, such a comparison demonstrates that certain female figures in the works of Grass transcend their historically oppressed or subdued status by refusing to submit to those natural handicaps and societal restrictions identified by Beauvoir, and thus become a threat to man's status or security as an antagonistic female type, or villain. However, the villain figure is not always inherently evil, but possesses the capacity to change. The villain and victim can reconcile their differences and may even form a friendly relationship. This evolving villain-victim duality becomes most clear in Grass's work, Im Krebsgang, and suggests the possibility of assuaging contemporary conflicts as educators sympathize with the experiences of both extremist groups and victimized parties and help them come to terms with their differences.

The intention of this thesis is to identify and analyze the cat woman archetype as a contemporary extension of the transgressive witch archetype, which rampantly appears over the course of cinema history, working as a signifier of a patriarchal society's fear of autonomous and subversive women. The character of Catwoman is the ultimate representation for this archetype on grounds of her visibility, longevity, and ability to return again and again. More importantly, Catwoman and her sisterhood of cat women work against male creators as a means of female empowerment through trickery. Within this thesis, key films of varying genres are drawn from throughout cinema history and analyzed in order to demonstrate the intertextual network of characters that make up the cat woman archetype, and the importance of the Catwoman character in her many forms.

Univ., Diss.--Zugl.: Zürich. / Erscheint vorauss. Oktober 2008.