In this thesis I will examine Marguerite Poland's two novels, Shades (1993) and Iron Love (1999) in terms of how they provide constructions of identity in a particular milieu and at a particular time. In order to do this; the thesis will focus on Poland's historical context and that of her fiction as represented in these two works. My primary aim is not to present a particular interpretation of colonial history, but rather to put into perspective personal, social and cultural identities that emerge from particular periods in South African history, especially as pertains to the Eastern Cape and Kwa-Zulu Natal, and particularly as illustrated in Poland's fiction. My approach would be to look at constructions of identity from a feminist as well as a Marxist perspective: "To Marx, man was a being whose identity and nature arose out of his purely practical attempts to make his livelihood in what amounts almost to a struggle with a hostile, physical environment" (Robertson 1985:204). This implies that socio-historical conditions are largely responsible for forming ideology and consciousness, which I will argue, is true for Poland's fiction under discussion. Poland's own position as a broadly liberal feminist will also be discussed. I have chosen the above-mentioned novels of Marguerite Poland not only because she is one of South Africa's leading contemporary writers of children's literature and adult fiction and has received numerous awards for her books and stories; but also because she is a most inspirational and perceptive writer meriting serious academic study. Her novel Shades (1993) - a matric setwork in 1998, 2001 and 2002 - proved highly successful as a setwork and was nominated for the MNet Fiction Award. Shades deals primarily with love, dispossession and identity, and the title itself refers to the spiritual manifestation of those gone before. Poland chose the title because she was writing about her own 'shades', her ancestors and the role they played in the small valley of the Mtwaku River in the Eastern Cape at the end of the nineteenth century (Poland 2000). Her core source was her great-grandmother's diaries, which related anecdotes about life at the St. Matthew's Mission. In 1999, Poland wrote Iron Love, again using her great-grandmother's diaries, but she insists that this book is not a sequel to Shades (Jacob 2002). Furthermore, the main character, Charlie Fraser, is a descendant of Poland's ancestors. In Iron Love (1999) Poland depicts the role of colonial private schools in indoctrinating young colonial leaders. The book \\ subtly questions the humanity inherent in a system teaching the suppression of emotions, sexuality, individuality, freedom"(Webster 2000:8). The thesis will open with an introduction outlining reasons for my choice of writer, her novels to be discussed, and the theoretical approaches I intend using. I will discuss the life and works of Marguerite Poland in an historical context and discuss the factors that influenced her in the writing of her novels. In this chapter I will also discuss identity construction in terms of feminist and Marxist ideology on patriarchy, religion, and capitalism. Chapter Two and Chapter Three will focus on a literary analysis of Shades (1993) and Iron Love (1999) respectively. Both novels demonstrate how identity is shaped by socio-historicaI forces, which I will analyse in depth in this thesis. Chapter Four will conclude my thesis further confirming the importance of socio-economic forces in determining ideology as manifested in Poland's fictional characters and in her own life. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Durban-Westville, 2003.

My thesis discusses male identity in contemporary culture in relation to work by Bret Easton Ellis and Chuck Palahniuk. Such work reflects the problems, anxieties, and dilemmas of the masculine subject in American culture. The characters in my six selected texts, namely, Ellis' Less Than Zero, American Psycho, and Glamorama, and Palahniuk's Fight Club, Survivor, and Choke, symbolize a generation with no discernible future. Each male protagonist finds himself in a place of no time and no meaning because image and illusion have supplanted essence. These characters combat culture-prevalent emptiness in the sense that each ironically re-asserts his so-called individuality against the dogmas of the establishment. Each, furthermore, is aware that his existence is not subject to a higher order or preset goal: traditional morality thereby has no meaning. My selected texts feature masculine subjects struggling with their own contingencies once stripped of given privileges (gender, class, race, and otherwise). To examine the notion of masculinity, I emphasize the role of power relations in gender construction. Bret Easton Ellis characterizes a world of appearance defined by particular styles. Chuck Palahniuk's males are empty--they do not have any definitive meaning. Judith Butler challenges the proposition of a fixed identity, or an essential permanent masculinity or femininity as structured and reified by social norms. Therefore, we should not view masculinity as a cohesive and homogeneous category. Following Foucault, I examine the relationship between masculine subjects and social practices. At stake here, is how the performative articulation of proper masculinity disempowers and imprisons the masculine subject in a material form over which he has no control. The body becomes the object of desire and thus the vehicle/preserve of the sense of powerlessness that the masculine subject experiences daily within a hegemonic culture. Power is exercised through a dominant presence. This presence structures as a binary classification serving to underscore differences and ensure particular privileged social positioning. The proposition of a fixed identity, or an essential permanent masculinity or femininity, is structured and reified by social norms. Masculinity as a cohesive and homogeneous category is historically represented as an unstable center from which all other identities are defined.

The genre of the "picaresque" (romances of roguery), which were popular in sixteenth-century Spain, contain the literary type of the "picaro" or rogue, which can appear at times as a "student." The current work presents the historical context of the Spanish university and of the student's life as well as the representation of the "student" in several picaresque novels, namely, Mateo Aleman's El Guzman de Alfarache, Vicente Espinel's Marcos de Obregâon, Jerâonimo de Alcalâa y Yâanez's El donoso hablador, and Francisco de Quevedo's El Buscâon, in order to contrast the social reality of the student and its literary representation. The literary character of the "student" does not depart only from its reality. Its characteristics are based on the student stories from the oral medieval tradition, a residual cultural elements, as described by Maxime Chevalier, as well as the emerging picaresque narratives. / by Javier Fernândez del Pâramo. / Abstract in Engllsh. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2008. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2008. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

O tema da presente dissertação consiste na análise da construção da identidade e da subjetividade femininas da personagem Clara, narradora-protagonista da obra Duas iguais, de Cíntia Moscovich. Nesse sentido, observa-se como ocorre o processo de afirmação identitária do sujeito feminino representado na obra, considerando-se o contexto sócio-histórico-cultural em que está inserido: uma comunidade regional judaica, à época da ditadura militar brasileira (1964-1985). Para tanto, são discutidos aspectos como memória, região cultural, judaísmo, patriarcalismo, homossexualidade, preconceito, amor, subjetividade e identidade. Servem como aporte teórico a este trabalho os estudos culturais de gênero e a crítica literária feminista, bem como estudos acerca de cultura, identidade e regionalidade. / Submitted by Ana Guimarães Pereira (agpereir@ucs.br) on 2015-02-09T11:55:35Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Manuela Matté.pdf: 2308167 bytes, checksum: 040b4dc6a0a32f6ebd59c3f16cf317bd (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-02-09T11:55:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao Manuela Matté.pdf: 2308167 bytes, checksum: 040b4dc6a0a32f6ebd59c3f16cf317bd (MD5) / The subject of this dissertation consists of analyzing the female identity and subjectivity construction of the character Clara, protagonist-narrator of the novel Duas iguais, by Cíntia Moscovich. Therefore, it is observed how the process of identity affirmation of the female subject represented in the novel occurs, considering the social, historical and cultural context in which this subject is inserted: a Jewish regional community, during Brazilian military dictatorship years (1964-1985). Aspects regarding memory, cultural region, Judaism, patriarchy, homosexuality, prejudice, love, subjectivity and identity are discussed. Gender studies and feminist critics, studies about culture, identity and regionality are used as theoretical support for this work.

O tema da presente dissertação consiste na análise da construção da identidade e da subjetividade femininas da personagem Clara, narradora-protagonista da obra Duas iguais, de Cíntia Moscovich. Nesse sentido, observa-se como ocorre o processo de afirmação identitária do sujeito feminino representado na obra, considerando-se o contexto sócio-histórico-cultural em que está inserido: uma comunidade regional judaica, à época da ditadura militar brasileira (1964-1985). Para tanto, são discutidos aspectos como memória, região cultural, judaísmo, patriarcalismo, homossexualidade, preconceito, amor, subjetividade e identidade. Servem como aporte teórico a este trabalho os estudos culturais de gênero e a crítica literária feminista, bem como estudos acerca de cultura, identidade e regionalidade. / The subject of this dissertation consists of analyzing the female identity and subjectivity construction of the character Clara, protagonist-narrator of the novel Duas iguais, by Cíntia Moscovich. Therefore, it is observed how the process of identity affirmation of the female subject represented in the novel occurs, considering the social, historical and cultural context in which this subject is inserted: a Jewish regional community, during Brazilian military dictatorship years (1964-1985). Aspects regarding memory, cultural region, Judaism, patriarchy, homosexuality, prejudice, love, subjectivity and identity are discussed. Gender studies and feminist critics, studies about culture, identity and regionality are used as theoretical support for this work.

This dissertation critically appraises some ofChauke's literary works within a semiotic approach especially in terms of colours of the spectrwn. In this study the spectrum is reganled as a replica or symbol of man's various filcets of Jife. Analyses of the representations of "Life is a Spectrum" have been made in tenns of psychological and symbolic &.cets. Cbauke's narrative s1yle in delineating characters and milieus sketching received attention in the discussion. The cunent scenario in education and politics as well as socio-economic issues have also been dealt with. This study has revealed that Chauke is an author who dmws readers very close to his works that serve as mirrors of their lives. It bas been established that Chauke is an outstanding writer who uses real situations and events that are relevant to people•s life in this contempotaty situation. / African Languages / M.A. (African Languages)

The aim of the study is to survey the usage of closure as it is reflected in Northern Sotho Narratives. Chapter one This chapter introduces the objectives of the research and definition of the concepts narrative and closure. Reference is made to different scholars to substantiate the argument. Chapter two Plot serves as the basis of the study of closure in a novel. The interconnectedness of the elements of plot expressed by the presence of different closural patterns supports this. Major mutual relationships are distinguished, namely between author and reader as well as between author, reader and text. Chapter three The principles of brevity and single effect which differentiate a short story from other narratives play a major role in the study of closure. The five signals of closure and the mode of approaching the end also influence how closure is approached in this genre. Chapter four The study of folktales is divided into traditional and modern approaches. Despite their difference, opening and closing are commonly based on the syntactical position occupied by the opening and closing phrases. In the traditional approach the position is fixed while in the modern approach it is controlled by the presence of motifemes. This chapter embarks on the usage of closure in narrative poetry. The ending is doubly determined, based on structural elements and linguistic principles. Repetition and cessation of the idea expressed in a verse llne, are major poetic devises to illustrate closure. Chapter six This chapter summarizes the findings of the previous chapters and proposals for future research. / African Languages / D.Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)

Based on Noam Chomsky’s argument that the faculty of language is primarily a tool of thought whose purpose is to interpret the world, this dissertation argues that reading literature provides a cognitive experience like John Gardner’s “Fictive Dream” that mimics our interpretive experience of the world. Literary experience exploits language as an epistemological faculty that makes aspects of the external world intelligible. Yet the faculty of language is also capable of evoking entirely mental worlds that do not reflect the mindexternal world. Because the literary experience is entirely mindinternal, even the cultural knowledge we bring into play for its understanding still relies on innate features of language. Thus, during the act of reading, we hold this cultural knowledge in abeyance, allowing the text to structure how we bring it to bear on the experience as a whole. A scientific approach to literature can help uncover principles to further elucidate the literaryepistemological experience. Whereas much literary criticism assumes that a critic’s purpose is to mine a text for its deeper meaning, this dissertation argues for a Cognitive Formalist approach in which criticism serves not simply to explain the experience evoked by any particular text according to linguisticepistemological principles, but also to evaluate the moral implications of that specific textual experience. As a means of demonstrating potential implications of a scientific cognitive approach to literary criticism based on linguisticepistemological understanding, the current study offers sample passages from J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. These passages allow us to offer first approximations of some explanatory principles of the literaryepistemological experience, such as the importance of fictive time and fictional event sequences, which in turn gives us greater insight into how, for example, verb tense and aspect contribute to the evocation of the action of fiction in the reader’s mind. Ultimately, the fictive vantage point constructed by the text allows the reader access to a complex moral framework in which fictive characters are understood to make choices that will in turn set the stage for the reader’s own ethical reception of the text and the experience it offers. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2017. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Marie Corelli was arguably the most popular British novelist of the early 1900s, yet few today even know her name. Though she is not the only author to lose popularity, her enormous influence during her lifetime deserves consideration. What people liked about Marie Corelli can shed light on why the rise of modernism is seen as such a break from the popular in literature. This paper examines two of her bestsellers, A Romance of Two Worlds and The Sorrows of Satan, in light of the fin de siáecle, as well as the critical response to her work from both modernist and postmodern perspectives. Corelli is of interest today because her popular female characters are women who affirm traditional femininity yet also pursue and wield great power. The question I raise is whether Corelli's work is best seen as illustrative of theories about popular literature or as contradictory to them. / by Doris Moss. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2011. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2011. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

While literary critics acknowledge Mary Elizabeth Braddon's Lady Audley's Secret and Wilkie Collins's No Name as sensation novels that were considered popular literature during the 1860s, many critics often fail to recognize the social and political implications embedded within these texts. In No Name, for instance, Collins's use of a heroine that is disinherited and deemed illegitimate by the law emphasizes the overpowering force of patriarchy. In response to patriarchal law, therefore, the heroines of Lady Audley's Secret and No Name attempt to improve their social positions in a society that is economically dependent upon men. Braddon's Lady Audley and Collins's Magdalen Vanstone are fictional representations of women who internalize the inequality of patriarchy and strive to contest male domination. By centering their novels on heroines who endeavor to defy Victorian social norms, Braddon and Collins highlight the problem of the female in a male-dominated society. / by Rebecca Ann Smith. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.