This dissertation examines the five biographies or memoirs written about the renowned South African writer Herman Charles Bosman. The main aim of the study is to show how different, and often contradictory, the views of him are as presented in the biographies. I also investigate different theories of biography as expounded by Leon Edel, Ira Bruce Nadel and Ray Monk and explore to what extent each of the biographies conforms, or does not conform to the theory. It is the contention of this dissertation that though the existing theories are useful and do shed light on each biographer’s approach and practice, they are also limited in accounting fully for the diverse and often discrepant accounts of Bosman’s life. The dissertation opens with an explication of several different theories regarding biography, and gives a brief overview of the life story of Herman Charles Bosman. Some of the main elements of biography (including different forms of narration, language and myth) are discussed and how they might be used in biography. The subsequent chapters focus on and offers detailed analyses of the biographies of Bosman, beginning with Herman Bosman As I Knew Him by Bernard Sachs and My Friend Herman Charles Bosman by Aegidius Jean Blignaut. Thereafter Sunflower to the Sun by Valerie Rosenberg and Life Sentence by Stephen Gray are analysed. Finally, there is an analysis of several reminiscences of those who knew Bosman, including Lionel Abrahams’s important memoir. The strengths and limitations of the various biographies are analysed, thereby shedding light not only on the practice of biography itself, but also on the complex and enigmatic figure of Herman Charles Bosman. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2014. / English / MA (English Studies) / Unrestricted

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This dissertation examines the representation of foreign language in nineteenth-century American travel writing, analyzing how authors conceptualize the act of translation as they address the multilingualism encountered abroad. The three major figures in this study--James Fenimore Cooper, Herman Melville, and Mark Twain--all use moments of cross-cultural contact and transference to theorize the permeability of the language barrier, seeking a mean between the oversimplification of the translator's task and a capitulation to the utter incomprehensibility of the Other. These moments of translation contribute to a complex interplay of not only linguistic but also cultural and economic exchange. Charting the changes in American travel to both the "civilized" world of Europe and the "savage" lands of the Southern and Eastern hemispheres, this project will examine the attitudes of cosmopolitanism and colonialism that distinguished Western from non-Western travel at the beginning of the century and then demonstrate how the once distinct representations of European and non-European languages converge by the century's end, with the result that all kinds of linguistic difference are viewed as either too easily translatable or utterly incomprehensible. Integrating the histories of cosmopolitanism and imperialism, my study of the representation of foreign language in travel writing demonstrates that both the compulsion to translate and a capitulation to incomprehensibility prove equally antagonistic to cultural difference. By mapping the changing conventions of translation through the representative narratives of three canonical figures, "Transnational Translation" traces a shift in American attitudes toward the foreign as the cosmopolitanism of Cooper and Melville transforms into Twain's attitude of both cultural and linguistic nationalism. / English

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These documents supplement the previously deposited Murray and Tillett working paper: “Cataloging Theory in Search of Graph Theory and Other Ivory Towers. Object: Cultural Heritage Resource Description Networks.” http://hdl.handle.net/10150/136270. A different version of Fig 8, “FRBR Paper Tool Diagram Elements And Graphs” is included. Documents not referenced in the paper include: “Modeling The Superwork Issue,” which models the concept of a Work composed of other Works two ways; “Progressive Disaggregation,” which demonstrates the recursive process by which simple resource and descriptions composed of other descriptions are resolved to elementary graph structures; and “Serial Publication,” which highlights the pedagogical and IT system guidance role that FRBR resource description diagrams can play with respect to complex publishing phenomena. A “Find & Navigate” diagram element has been introduced in the serial publication diagram as a theoretical necessity with practical implications. The elements provide a consistent means for depicting the linking functions provided by identifiers, name and subject authority records, and prescribed and arbitrary relationships. The tables and legends found on the right side of the diagram suggest how diagram components may be expressed as “triple” style statements for implementation-minded readers.

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Este trabalho é de natureza teórica e estuda a obra Moby-Dick, de Herman Melville, à luz da filosofia antimetafísica de Friedrich Nietzsche, mais especificamente como está concretizada em Sobre verdade e mentira em sentido extramoral e Crepúsculo dos ídolos. Demonstra-se que as indagações de fundo ontológico presentes na obra de Melville encontram resposta parcial na noção de impossibilidade metafísica do pensador alemão. Para tal demonstração, recorre-se, em primeiro lugar, a uma sistematização do pensamento de Nietzsche e, em segundo, a uma abordagem interpretativa e compreensiva do texto de Melville, acentuada por meio do diálogo com a filosofia do próprio Nietzsche e, alternativamente, de Heidegger. Em conformidade com Iser, a compreensão dos sentidos do texto literário aqui estudado é realizada pelo trabalho de interpretação e estabelecimento de sentidos perpetrado pelo leitor, seja na fixação do que está claramente dado no texto, seja na busca dos sentidos lacunares, não claramente formulados e verbalizados. / This is a theoretical work on Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick and its relation with the anti-metaphysical philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche as found especially in Twilight of the Idols and On Truth and Lie in an Extramoral Sense. It is shown that the ontological nature of Moby-Dick, the novel, finds a partial answer in the notion of metaphysical impossibility developed by the German philosopher. In order to accomplish this goal, a systematization of Nietzsche’s thought was made, so that an interpretative approach of the literary text could be carried out emphasizing a dialogue with his philosophy, and, alternatively, Heidegger’s. In compliance with Iser, this study takes into consideration the fact that comprehension is achieved through interpretation and what the reader is able to perceive in the literary text, either reinforcing what is already given there, or searching for what is unformulated and non-verbalized in it.

The study of social allies in the field of American Civil Rights and Liberties History is largely an underappreciated aspect of this historical era. This work argues that social allies and their stories are worthwhile histories that are beneficial to the study of American Civil Rights and Liberties using Louisiana lawyer Herman Lazard Midlo as a case study. Midlo worked as a Louisiana lawyer from the 1930s to 1960s and fought tirelessly for the religious liberties of the Jehovah’s Witness community in the state. His story shows how beneficial and consequential the actions of social allies have had and can have on the protection and expansion of civil rights and religious liberties.

This paper investigates Herman Melville’s quest for spiritual stability and certainty in his novel Moby-Dick. The analysis establishes a philosophical tradition of doubt towards the Bible, outlining the philosophies of Thomas Hobbes, Benedict de Spinoza, David Hume, Thomas Paine and John Henry Newman. This historical survey of spiritual uncertainty establishes the issue of uncertainty that Melville writes about in the nineteenth century. Having assessed the issue of doubt, I then analyze Melville’s use of metaphorical charts, which his characters use to resolve this issue. Finally, I present Melville’s philosophical findings as he expresses them through the metaphor of whaling. Here, I also scrutinize Melville’s depiction of nature, as well as his presentation of the dichotomy between contemplative and active questing, as represented by the characters Ishmael and Ahab.