This thesis seeks a portable and accessible model for centralising photographs in enquiry. I argue that photographs are potent sites of human value making but are typically relegated to illustrating word-based considerations, while the vast mass of ‘ordinary’ photographs are excluded from even this function. The context in which I develop and test the model is the heroic era of Antarctic exploration, a time and place that is dominated by an entrenched mythology, and where photographs have been assigned a merely pictorial role. In seeking to reactivate these objects and pictures I turn to Elizabeth Edwards’ notion of using photographs to think with, tracing the evolution of this idea through generations of thinking about photography, and emphasising recent writers such as Geoffrey Batchen, Margaret Olin and Joan Schwartz. My work confirms a resonance with Edwards’ thinking but also a need to emphasise photographic materiality and the photographic collective. Further, I demonstrate that this thinking also resonates with the work of Walter Benjamin and Roland Barthes, confirming a construction of photographs as generative anchoring points in networks of identification that are both culturalised and subjective. My model for thinking with photographs draws in Kenneth Burke’s pentad of dramatistic analysis, arguing a productive fit with his concern to filter the rhetorical detritus of human behaviour as an entrée to viewing core motivations. The pentad has not previously been used to think with photographs but it is able to be deployed successfully for this purpose by refreshing its operation in line with writers such as Robert Cathcart, James Chesebro and Gregory Clark. For Antarctica, thinking with photographs involves negotiating margins – depicted, physical, temporal and ideological, and in addressing the photographic mass this thesis argues a reactivation of margins as points of insight rather than barriers of exclusion. Recent writers such as Francis Spufford, Stephen Pyne, John Wylie and Kathryn Yusoff have found new ways to construct the performance of Antarctic exploration, and, in this spirit, the thesis enacts Burke’s pentad to think with the photograph collection of ‘second tier’ Antarctic explorer, Ernest Joyce. It shows Antarctic exploration to be also an intensely personal experience, with the power to overhaul mindsets but offering no guarantee that new expectations can be delivered on. In Joyce’s photographs it finds a nexus of contested narratives and contested photographies, and the seeds of a Benjaminian modernity that speak of the personal implications of the dissolution of meta-narratives.

This thesis presents a series of case studies of early medieval narratives about the non-Roman, non-biblical distant past. After an introduction that briefly outlines the context of Christian traditions of historiography in the same period, in chapter two, I examine the Gothic histories of Jordanes and Isidore, and show how they present different methods of reconciling notions of Gothic independence with the heritage of Rome. Chapter three looks at the Trojan origin narratives of the Franks in the Fredegar chronicle and the 'Liber historiae Francorum', and argues that this origin story, based on the model of the Roman foundation myth, was a means of making the Franks separate from Rome, but nevertheless comparable in the distinction of their origins. Chapter four studies Paul the Deacon’s 'Historia Langobardorum', and argues that although Paul drew more on oral sources than did the other histories examined, his text is equally not a record of ancient oral tradition, but presents a synthesis of a Roman, Christian, and of non-Roman and pagan or Arian heritages, and shows that there was actually little differentiation between them. Chapter five is an examination of 'Waltharius', a Latin epic drawing on Christian verse traditions, but also on oral vernacular traditions about the distant past; I suggest that it is evidence of the interpenetration between secular, oral, vernacular culture and ecclesiastical, written and Latin learning. 'Beowulf', the subject of chapter six, is similar evidence for such intercourse, though in this case to some extent in the other direction: while in 'Waltharius' Christian morality appears to have little of a role to play, in 'Beowulf' the distant past is explicitly problematised because it was pagan. In the final chapter, I examine the further evidence for oral vernacular secular historical traditions in the ninth and tenth centuries, and argue that the reason so little survives is because, when the distant past had no immediate political function—as origin narratives might—it was normally seen as suspect by the Church, which largely controlled the medium of writing.

L’espace, le lieu et le paysage imprègnent le parcours héroïque dans les œuvres de Sylvie Germain au point de bouleverser le héros dans son rapport à l’extériorité. L’aspect protéiforme du décor héroïque engage l’analyse vers une distinction liminaire entre un espace primitif d’une part, et, d’autre part, un lieu transformé. L’étude se propose de révéler les espaces fantasmagoriques nés des lieux et des espaces fortement connotés. Les paysages imaginaires, qui constituent le second volet de notre étude assimilent de nombreux référents mythologiques qui participent à la réussite narrative. Les espaces imaginaires, spécifiés par leur charge intertextuelle, ouvrent de manière complexe et fortement référentielle la création de l’espace germainien. Cette complexité se retrouve dans les parcours physiques et intellectuels des héros. Par ce biais, l’auteure crée paradoxalement son propre espace textuel, auquel elle accorde une place significative dans l’économie des œuvres. Enfin, l’examen aborde le mouvement, qui caractérise l’esthétique germainienne, et qui propose une singularité narrative. C’est aux espaces textuels que l’on est conduit. Le questionnement final interroge sur la disparition du référent géographique lorsque le lieu s’avère de moins en moins accompagné d’une histoire, d’une localisation ou d’un nom. Les espaces traversés, étudiés, fantasmés, urbains, naturels, invitent la réflexion à entreprendre une taxinomie topographique en lien et en tension avec la stratification du parcours héroïque. Si le lieu, l’espace ou le paysage traités dans nos recherches se situent au cœur du processus d’écriture d’une auteure versée dans l’imagerie du terroir aux espaces enracinés, l’errance narrative, marquée par l’abandon de précisions spatiales dans les derniers récits, interroge l’auteure sur son rapport actuel à l’espace et rétrospectivement sur sa fonction dans sa création antérieure. / The space, the place and the landscape permeate the heroic journey in the works of Sylvie Germain to the point of upsetting the hero in his relation to exteriority. The protean aspect of the heroic environment engages the analysis towards a preliminary distinction between a primitive space on the one hand and a transformed place on the other. The study proposes to reveal the phantasmagoric spaces born of places and spaces strongly connoted. The imaginary landscapes, which constitute the second part of our study, assimilate many mythological references which participate in the narrative success. The imaginary spaces, specified by their intertextual charge, open in a complex and highly referential way the creation of Sylvie Germain’s spaces. This complexity is reflected in the physical and intellectual paths of heroes. In this way, the author paradoxically creates her own textual space, to which she gives a significant place in the novels. Finally, the examination emphasizes the movement, which characterizes the aesthetic of Germain, and which proposes a narrative singularity. It is to the textual spaces that we are led. The final interrogation questions the disappearance of the geographic referent when the place is less and less accompanied by a history, a location or a name. The spaces traversed, studied, fantasized, urban, natural, invite reflection to undertake a topographic taxonomy in tie and tension with the stratification of the heroic journey. If the place, the space or the landscape treated in our research are at the heart of a author’s writing process in the imagery of the soil to the rooted spaces, the narrative wandering, marked by the abandonment of spatial precisions in the last stories, interrogates the author about its present relation to space and retrospectively on its function in previous creation.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-08T16:52:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DissertacaoMelissa.pdf: 1068920 bytes, checksum: 8ff878a2da62e4b5d5625d415bff953d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-04-16 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / This study proposes to bring in relation properties and themes of heroic mythology and the theatrical career, in the para-theatrical approach, of the Polish director Jerzy Grotowski. The first part of this work explains cultural, social and theoretical sources of Grotowski´s thought and practice, and demonstrates the relationship between his individual searches and his theatrical career. The second one puts in discussion modes to interpret myths in Grotowski´s work, its function, its significance and its influence on different kinds of artistic process: choice and treatment of texts, audience parts, actor´s work on character composition and actor ´s training. Theoretical references about mythical and symbolic questions are extracted from symbolic hermeneutic theory. In terms of conclusion, this dissertation puts in relief similarities between actions in the heroic mythology and Grotowski´s work, fundamentally, sacrificial acts as an way to consolidate an spiritual dimension / Este estudo se propõe articular as relações entre as características e os temas da mitologia heróica e o percurso teatral, além do teatro , do encenador polonês Jerzy Grotowski. Na primeira parte deste volume, são expostas as origens culturais, sociais e teóricas do pensamento e da prática de Grotowski, demonstrando, assim, a relação entre as suas buscas pessoais e o seu percurso teatral. Na segunda parte do trabalho, são discutidas as formas de tratamento do mito no trabalho de Grotowski, sua função, sua importância e a sua influência nos vários campos do processo artístico, como a escolha e o tratamento dos textos, o papel do público, o trabalho com o ator na construção da personagem e as técnicas de preparação de ator. O referencial teórico utilizado para a abordagem das questões míticas e simbólicas provém da hermenêutica simbólica. Em termos conclusivos, são destacadas as semelhanças entre as ações da mitologia heróica e o trabalho de Grotowski, no que diz respeito, principalmente, ao ato sacrificial como forma de consolidação da dimensão espiritual

Apartheid may have ended formally in 1994, but its legacy endures in many aspects of South African society and in the lives of individual South Africans. One of the difficulties which post-apartheid South Africa has had to contend with is the question of justice for the victims of atrocities committed during the apartheid years, and the possibility of redress. The Truth and Reconciliation Committee (TRC) was established in order to formalise a process whereby victims could tell their stories and have their pain recognized, and to grant perpetrators an opportunity to provide information and acknowledge their wrongdoing. This thesis explores the possibility of forgiveness in relation to the complexities of guilt and victimhood. Forgiveness is posited as a powerful and viable response, which has the potential to free both the perpetrators and the injured parties from the stranglehold of the past. The thesis draws on studies which approach the question of forgiveness from a moral and philosophical perspective. These include the work of historians and theorists such as Simon Wiesenthal, Hannah Arendt, Jacques Derrida and Paul Ricoeur. It then goes on to consider the ways in which a number of seminal post-apartheid texts, works of fiction and non-fiction, have dealt with forgiveness and its potential to heal. One chapter focuses specifically on texts which deal with the TRC and its aftermath, especially Antjie Krog’s Country of My Skull (1999) and Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela’s A Human Being Died That Night (2003). This is followed by an analysis of three important novels which foreground and problematise the issue of forgiveness: J. M. Coetzee’s Disgrace (1999), Marlene van Niekerk’s Agaat (published initially in Afrikaans in 2004, and then in an English translation in 2006), and Mark Behr’s Kings of the Water (2009). Nelson Mandela will not go down in history for the 27 consecutive years that he lived imprisoned without ever renouncing his ideas. He will go down in history because he was able to draw from his soul all the poison accumulated by such an unjust punishment. He will be remembered for his generosity and for his wisdom at the time of an already uncontainable victory, when he knew how to lead so brilliantly his self-sacrificing and heroic people, aware that the new South Africa would never be built on foundations of hatred and revenge. / Thesis (DLitt)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / English / unrestricted

Si les héros peuplant la mythologie grecque sont particulièrement connus, les héros historiques, eux, le sont beaucoup moins. Pourtant le phénomène dit d'héroïsation concerna de nombreux personnages. Cette étude propose de se pencher sur ces personnages à l'existence historique avérée, qui se virent reconnaître le statut de héros et qui accédant ainsi à la sphère divine bénéficièrent d'honneurs mais également de cultes. Cette étude se propose également de comprendre l'ensemble de ces rites en rapport avec les héros et l'héroïsation. Elle présente aussi l'évolution que connu ce phénomène pendant toute la période allant de l'époque archaïque au IIIe siècle ap. J. -C. mais également met en lumière les différences et les points communs entre les différentes régions et cités qui composèrent l'ensemble du monde grec. Cette étude tente également d'en apprendre plus sur l'identité de ces personnages qui pour nombre d'entre eux restent inconnus de la « grande Histoire ». Pourtant ces personnages méritent une attention toute particulière car leur étude éclaire singulièrement et permet une bien meilleure compréhension de la vie religieuse des Grecs de l'Antiquité. / If the heroes of Greek mythology are particularly well known historical figures themselves, are much less. Yet the phenomenon known as heroization concerned many characters. This study proposes to examine these characters for whom the historical existence is proven, and who had been assigned the status of heroes and thus accessing to the divine sphere benefited honors but also cults. This study also aims to understand all of these rites in connection with the hero and heroization. It also presents the evolution knew by this phenomenon during the period from the Archaic period to the third century AD. But also highlights the differences and similarities between the different regions and cities that composed the entire Greek world. This study also tries to learn more about the identity of these characters, who, for many of them remain unknown of the "great history." Yet these characters deserve special attention because their study singularly clarifies and provides a much better understanding of the religious life of the ancient Greeks.

In Swift's works, both heroes and madmen are characterized by supra-normal aspiration, imagination, individuality, and pride, and the mad hero becomes an effective emblem for the chaos arising when individual vision challenges traditional authority in religion, politics, and literature. Swift's view of madness as the willful perversion of reason tends to be traditional, though his sense of its pervasiveness creates a subversive skepticism. Consistently throughout his works, Swift posits conscience as the only safeguard against the madness of pride. Swift views the traditional hero as subversive, typically portraying him as mad while presenting the sane man as unheroic. As the Tale-teller argues, the traditonal hero is a successful madman. Swift's later works demonstrate that madness and heroism often coincide because of the mutually reinforcing relationship between power and ego, and he asserts that the will to power, manifested in the heroic imposition of one's will upon others, is a form of madness. As an alternative to the asocial and amoral traditional hero, Swift promotes a moderate hero in the figures of the Church of England Man, the Examiner, and the Drapier: the one just man, motivated by Roman and Christian virtue, in a mad society. But even the vir bonus remains susceptible to challenges of authority, for in a mad and corrupt society his singular vision cannot appeal to common sense. Moreover, if he becomes powerful, he risks madness, and if he retreats from madness, he becomes impotent. As a consequence of this double bind, the satirist himself suffers a profound alienation. Swift recognizes that by engaging in the controversies of his age, he himself becomes liable to charges of the madness of pride. Even as he harangues the world, his recognition of the heroic conceit in establishing himself as satirist is evident in the self-satire of A Modest Proposal and the verses on his death. Similarly, the self-portraits in his poetry and Gulliver's Travels demonstrate his conscience at work as he satirizes his own indignation and reforming urges, striving thereby to maintain a modicum of humility and thus sanity, and, in laughing with the reader, striving to maintain common sense as well.

This dissertation discusses the complicated relationship (known as the comitatus) of kings and followers as presented in the heroic poetry of the Anglo-Saxons. The anonymous poets of the age celebrated the ideals of their culture but consistently portrayed the real behavior of the characters within their works. Other studies have examined the ideals of the comitatus in general terms while referring to the poetry as a body of work, or they have discussed them in particular terms while referring to one or two poems in detail. This study is both broader and deeper in scope than are the earlier works. In a number of poems I have identified the heroic ideals and examined the poetic treatment of those ideals. In order to establish the necessary background, Chapter I reviews the historical sources, such as Tacitus, Bede, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and the work of modern historians. Chapter II discusses such attributes of the king as wisdom, courage, and generosity. Chapter III examines the role of aristocratic women within the society. Chapter IV describes the proper behavior of followers, primarily their loyalty in return for treasures earlier bestowed. Chapter V discusses perversions and failures of the ideal. The dissertation concludes that, contrary to the view that Anglo-Saxon literature idealized the culture, the poets presented a reasonably realistic picture of their age. Anglo-Saxon heroic poetry celebrates ideals of behavior which, even when they can be attained, are not successful in the real world of political life.

As a young man of twenty-one in 1886, William Butler Yeats announced his ambition to unify Ireland through heroic poetry. But this prophetic urge lacked structure. Yeats had only some callow notions about needing self-possession and appropriate control of his imagery. As a result, his search for essential knowledge and experience soon led him into occult and symbolist vagueness. Yeats' mind grew flaccid, and his art languished in preciosity for over a decade. Lotos-eating had replaced prophetic fervor. However, early in the new century, as Yeats neared middle age and permanent mediocrity, he recovered his early zeal and finally found the means to give it artistic shape. Through daily theatre work he had discovered tragedy. And through personal trials he had developed a tragic sense. Hence, an entire tragic perspective was born, one that would dominate Yeats' mind and art the rest of his life. Locating the contours of Yeats' shift in-viewpoint, then, provides the key to understanding the man and his mature work. The present study does just that, tracing the origin, development, and elaboration of Yeats' tragic perspective, from its theoretical underpinnings to its poetic triumphs. Above all, this study supplies the basic context of Yeats* careers why he took the path he did, and how he wove all that he found along the way into a remarkable fabric.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2005. / Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center; full text release delayed at author's request until 2010 Jun 1.