My dissertation examines the Russian influence on the critical writing, poetry, prose and philosophy of Mikhail Naimy (1889-1988), the world renowned figure in modern Arabic literature. Together with Jibran Khalil Jibran, Ameen al-Rihani, Ilia Abu Madi, Rachid Ayuub, and several other Arab-American men of letters he founded the Pen Association, a literary league in New York in 1920 that lifted Arabic literature from the quagmire of stagnation, imitation and old classicism. They also promoted the new generation of Arab writers and made it an active force in Arab nationalism. Numerous researchers have studied the impact of British, American and French cultures and literatures on the Pen Association's creative writings. Meanwhile it was Russian literature that had the most important impact on Naimy, as well as on some other members of this literary association (though less). This influence has still only been studied superficially aside from some Soviet era analyses. My dissertation makes a much-needed contribution to this blank spot, since the Russian literary critic Vissarion Belinskiī (1811-1848) and the towering figure of Leo Tolstoī (1828-1910) contributed greatly to the foundation of the modern Arabic literature. My dissertation traces Mikhail Naimy's Russian Orthodox heritage in Lebanon, his education in Poltava, Ukraine, and his readings of Belinskiī and Tolstoī to show how he incorporates critical social reform, anticlericalism and mysticism into his important Arabic language works. It also shows the influence of the Russian literary criticism on Naimy's critical articles. My dissertation sheds light on global literary processes, as Naimy was able to synthesize Russian, European and American literary traditions into his native Arabic heritage. This integration is an important part of the evolution of modern Arabic literature and an interesting phenomenon that emerged in the American melting pot of the early twentieth century. My research has significant methodological value, as it will identify the typology and significance of cultural contacts, based on the example of influence mentioned above. It will also contribute to an important topic of the renewed interest in the academy - Russian influences and impacts in the Middle East and in Arabic culture and literature.

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This dissertation presents an investigation into two so-called live art works – Ugly girl at the rugby (1998) and Chandelier (2001-2002) – by the contemporary South African artist Steven Cohen (1962-). These works are explored with reference to the manner in which Cohen (as self-declared queer Jewish freak) uses performance art as a form of activism in order to expose practices of marginalisation and suppression (oppression) of non-normative or so-called deviant subject positions in terms of gender, race and ethnicity. The analysis of artworks is guided by the discourse of the carnavalesque and performative conceptualisations of gender with particular emphasis on Cohen’s use of drag as contemporary form of masquerade in order to propose an alternative subject position. The argument is as follows: that Cohen, by setting up an extreme alternative to normative identity constructs, manages to destabilise existing hierarchies that are structured according to binaries as these exist in spaces (such as a rugby stadium and a squatter camp) in the South African context. This destabilising of binary hierarchies gives rise to the argument that the symbolically encoded nature of spaces known for associations of suppression, exclusion and marginalisation are wrought open so that alternative meanings can come into being by activating these spaces as multifaceted and chronotopic constructs. The conclusion is that Cohen contributes profoundly towards the destabilisation of identities and in this way also helps to propose invigorating and fresh views of gender, race and ethnicity in a contemporary South African situation. / Thesis (MA (History of Art))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

This dissertation presents an investigation into two so-called live art works – Ugly girl at the rugby (1998) and Chandelier (2001-2002) – by the contemporary South African artist Steven Cohen (1962-). These works are explored with reference to the manner in which Cohen (as self-declared queer Jewish freak) uses performance art as a form of activism in order to expose practices of marginalisation and suppression (oppression) of non-normative or so-called deviant subject positions in terms of gender, race and ethnicity. The analysis of artworks is guided by the discourse of the carnavalesque and performative conceptualisations of gender with particular emphasis on Cohen’s use of drag as contemporary form of masquerade in order to propose an alternative subject position. The argument is as follows: that Cohen, by setting up an extreme alternative to normative identity constructs, manages to destabilise existing hierarchies that are structured according to binaries as these exist in spaces (such as a rugby stadium and a squatter camp) in the South African context. This destabilising of binary hierarchies gives rise to the argument that the symbolically encoded nature of spaces known for associations of suppression, exclusion and marginalisation are wrought open so that alternative meanings can come into being by activating these spaces as multifaceted and chronotopic constructs. The conclusion is that Cohen contributes profoundly towards the destabilisation of identities and in this way also helps to propose invigorating and fresh views of gender, race and ethnicity in a contemporary South African situation. / Thesis (MA (History of Art))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2013.

This dissertation attempts a Bakhtinian analysis of the polyphonic dialogue between Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now, Karel Schoeman's Na die Geliefde Land and Jason Xenopoulos' Promised Land. Specific Bakthinian concepts are employed to determine whether the films are "apt" adaptations of the literary texts; how the stylistically hybrid texts engage in conversation with different movements, genres and trends; how the polyphonic conversations between different texts and discourses, such as literature and film, or colonialism and postcolonialism, can provide insight into the variety of discourses, textual and ideological, of a postcolonial, post-apartheid South Africa; and how identity crises experienced by key characters can be explained using the notions of hybridity, "The Marginal Man" and liminality. All four texts have key characters that experience identity crises that spring from cultural hybridity; their cultural hybridity has the potential to either render them marginally stagnant or lead them to liminally active participation within their imagined communities. This dissertation argues that even though there are major differences between the films and the literary texts they are based upon, they are relevant to a specific target audience and therefore enrich the ur-texts. Salient characteristics of realism, symbolism, impressionism, modernism, postmodernism, postcolonialism and the apocalyptic dialogise one another within the four texts, thereby liberating the texts from one authorial reading. The dialogue between the discourses of literature and film supplement an understanding of the dialogue between war, imperialism, colonialism, postcolonialism and the Will to Power. / Thesis (M.A. (Applied Language and Literary Studies))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2006

The thesis explores how readings of two nineteenth century English novels, Little Dorrit and Middlemarch, can be enhanced by using key elements of Mikhail Bakhtin’s ‘prosaics’ as a lens through which to examine them. Additionally, the readings are used to provide a platform from which to explore the Bakhtinian notion that language is inextricably connected to selfhood. The Introduction (1.1.) offers a brief discussion on Bakhtin and, in particular, to his formulation of a ‘prosaics’, offered in opposition to traditional linguistics (or ‘poetics’) which, he feels, is unable adequately to do justice to the social, ethical and ideological complexity of a dialogised heteroglossia, such as is found in the novel. An explanation follows (1.2.) of why the ‘word’ should not be conceived of as static lexical element but rather as an ‘utterance’. Invested with both clear and distinct meanings as well as dialogic overtones, the word forms the basis of all human communication. As the primary means of expressing the ‘self’, it cannot be heard in isolation but is always responsive and dependent upon “another’s reaction, another’s word – the two ‘interpenetrating’ the single utterance, establishing, as a result, its specific locus of meaning” (Danow 22). Likewise, it follows that the ‘self’ cannot exist purely in and for the individual but is irrevocably linked to the ‘other’. Chapter Two begins with a discussion on the way in which ‘centripetal’ and ‘centrifugal’ forces work simultaneously to shape language (2.1.). It looks at the Bakhtinian idea that language cannot ever have been monologic and unmediated, being instead ever-changing and evolving as a result of numerous influences brought to bear on it such as context, ideology and the discourses of others. The nature of heteroglossia is discussed (with particular reference to ‘dialogized heteroglossia’), as is ‘hybridization’ in which, although a statement appears to emanate from one voice, another parodic or ironic voice will also be evident in refracted form. 2.2. and 2.3 engage in a detailed analysis of selected passages from Books I and II respectively of Little Dorrit with a view to exploring ways in which a Bakhtinian reading is able to provide heightened appreciation of the text. With particular regard to the overtly parodic style of Dickens, I aim to show how Bakhtin’s prosaics, which militates against privileging one ‘voice’ over another, enables the voice of a relatively neglected character, such as Fanny Dorrit, to be adequately heard. Although the emphasis in this chapter is on language, I broach the Bakhtinian notion that both the ‘word’ and the ‘self’ are inscribed through the ‘other’. In Chapter Three the focus shifts to Middlemarch and to Bakhtin’s notion that selfhood can only be properly located in its dialogic relations to ‘another’. The chapter is offered in four parts, beginning with a brief discussion on some similarities between Bakhtin’s and Eliot’s philosophical thinking, particularly in regard to the ethical nature of the self (3.1.). The next three parts provide detailed thematic analyses of selected passages from Middlemarch. Particular attention is paid to Rosamond Vincy and Tertius Lydgate, whose relationship is explored in some detail. In order adequately to chart their development in the novel I begin by situating each of these characters in his or her various ‘fields of action’, or, as Bakhtin would have it, ‘character zones’. Character zones take into account not only the characters’ direct discourses but also other aspects of their being, including their backgrounds, ideologies and the various attitudes held by both the narrator and other characters towards them (3.2.). The next section (3.3.) explores, in dialogical terms, the rise and fall of Rosamond’s and Lydgate’s difficult alliance and it is suggested that their relationship represents the antithesis of the Bakhtinian notion of ‘finding the self in and through the other’. In the final section (3.4.), Rosamond’s and Lydgate’s possibilities for ‘real becoming’ are canvassed when each enters into dialogic relation with Dorothea Brooke. The Conclusion (4) offers a brief discussion of some of the ways in which the novel, as a genre, is open-ended. As such, it affords ongoing discussion in which completeness and conclusiveness is replaced with unfinalizability because “the final word has not yet been spoken” in the ongoing search for meaning (EaN 30). / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2013.

當代英國作家伊恩麥克尤恩的《贖罪》是部揉雜獨特告白形式的小說。小說直到最終章才清楚指出，這不僅是伊恩麥克尤恩描述主角白昂妮贖罪的小說，更是書中主角白昂妮身為一位作家的告白及贖罪手段。游移在虛假與真實的邊界，此書的核心問題在於，小說家的寫作能否彌補現實生活犯下的過錯？而身為讀者的我們，又該如何解讀小說與告白的轉變？ 本文分成四個章節。第一章介紹《贖罪》的相關評論及理論架構。第二章先闡述巴赫汀的對話和複調理論，再剖析小說中的前三部份如何具體呈現這兩種特質，突顯白昂妮藉由多重敘述觀點，瓦解幼年時自我中心傾向並開啟與他者的對話。第三章聚焦於小說架構的告白轉折。長久以來，告白被視為一種賦予解放和完整自我的力量，傅柯則提出現代社會下的告白演變為自我規訓的機制。以傅柯的觀點來解讀小說結尾，白昂妮的告白在自我解放與治癒的表層下，其實隱含了快感和權力的螺旋結構，對真實及作者身份的延宕意味著她身為小說家權力的回歸。 / Ian McEwan's Atonement is a novel experimentally weaved with a peculiar confessional form. Not until the last part of the novel are readers informed the framed narrative structure: this is not merely McEwan's novel which depicts the heroine Briony's atonement, but more importantly, the grown-up novelist Briony's own confession crafted as a novel to make amends. This complicates our reading in retrospect as the ending reveals the central dilemma: how to judge the novelist's privilege to use confession to atone for the fault made in real life. This thesis consists of four chapters. The first chapter introduces the criticisms of Atonement, followed by my theoretical frameworks adopted to read this novel. The second chapter begins with the explications of Bakhtin's theory of dialogism and polyphony. By integrating these two concepts to scrutinize the first three parts of the novel, I attempt to analyze how Briony's self-reflexive writing and utilizations of multiple points of view expose her childhood monologic mentality and demonstrate her broadening of the self-other understandings. The third chapter discusses the ambivalent confessional twist in relation to the previous story Briony has mesmerized readers to believe. While the confession has been historically considered as a means of self-liberation, Foucault brings out another aspect that the institutionalization of the confession has turned itself into a mechanism of self-discipline. The novel eventually strikes the final note on the double impetus of Briony's narrative that her confession offers a consolation to suture with the past but meanwhile, upon close inspection, the overtones of her restoration of power as a novelist and the spirals of pleasure and power still lurk behind.

Ce n’est guère le mouvement jeune-hégélien qui vient immédiatement à l’espritlorsque sont évoqués les noms de Bakounine, d'Engels, de Marx ou même deStirner. Le premier et le dernier sont généralement associés à l’anarchisme,les deux autres, plus indubitablement encore, au marxisme. L'histoire de cespersonnages et le devenir de leurs œuvres n'ont pu que faire de l'ombre à leurappartenance commune et concomitante, trente ans avant que ne se cristallisentlesdits courants politiques, à ce qui a parfois été apparenté à une écolephilosophiqueLa présente thèse propose une lecture immanente, laquelle ne s'efforce pasmoins de restituer un contexte, des principaux écrits rédigés par ces auteursentre 1842 et 1843. La pensée de chacun d'entre eux est présentée dans sesinterrogations et ses enjeux propres, en s'intéressant aux emprunts et auxinnovations conceptuelles réalisées pour y répondre et tout en maintenantd’incessants aller-retours avec le champ problématique relatif au mouvementdans lequel elle prend corps et s’introduit.Il ne s'agit pas, par là, de procéder à une simple mise au point en matièred'histoire des idées. L'un des intérêts majeurs des textes abordés réside dansce qu'ils nous disent, dans une perspective post-hégélienne, de la philosophie.Les descriptions du présent que l'on trouve dans ces textes concordent, eneffet, quant à l'impossibilité d'établir l'unité du rationnel et de l'effectif.Tout reste encore à faire pour qui ne renonce pas à la réalisation de laliberté dans l'histoire. À suivre Hegel, pourtant, la philosophie doit secontenter de décrire ledit procès ou ses résultats. Doit-on se résoudre à ceque la philosophie ne puisse concourir à un destin dont elle a donné la clé ?N'est-il pas possible de la renouveler ? Et comment ? S'agit-il plutôt d'ensortir et d'imaginer d'autres formes d'intervention théoriques et pratiques ?Et qu'en est-il alors de ce qui reste de philosophique ? / The names of Bakunin, Engels, Marx, or Stirner are hardly ever associated withthe Young Hegelian movement. Bakunin and Stirner are generally associated withanarchism and Marx and Engels with marxism. Their lives and the fate of theirworks could do no more than obliterate the mutual and concomitant contributionsof these authors to what has sometimes been described as a philosophicalschool. This participation, in any case, occured thirty years before thecristallisation of the aforesaid political movements.This research proposes an immanent, and at the same time contextual, reading ofthe main texts written by these authors between 1842 and 1843. The theories ofeach of them are presented in accordance with their own questions and issues,focusing on the conceptual borrowings and innovations realised as aconsequence. They are expounded through a perpetual to and fro between theproblematic field related to the movement from which they were born and inwhich they participated.Nevertheless this study cannot be reduced to a mere contribution to the historyof ideas. One of the key interests of the analysed texts lies in what they tellus, from a post-hegelian perspective, about philosophy. When they describetheir epoch, they all conclude that there is no identity of the rational andthe real. There is still much to do for those who do not abandon the idea of therealisation of freedom in history. However, according to Hegel, philosophy canonly describe the process or the results of this realisation. Cannot philosophycontribute to the destiny it revealed? And if not, is it possible to renewphilosophy? How? Would an exit from philosophy be preferable? Other forms oftheoretical and practical intervention could be invented. But then, what aboutthe "philosophical" that remains?

O propósito principal desta pesquisa é mostrar, pelo viés da perspectiva bakhtiniana de enunciado, o uso de estruturas frasais fragmentadas em textos publicitários escritos como uma transgressão deliberada de regras de pontuação – pautadas eminentemente pela sintaxe –, constituindo-se em estratégia enunciativa cujos efeitos de sentido visam a atrair mais a atenção do interlocutor (consumidor), buscando sua adesão. Procuramos mostrar que os termos “frase” e “enunciado” são recorrentes em diversos estudos linguísticos, o que demonstra a importância que têm esses termos na metalinguagem desses estudos, embora eles sejam empregados para indicar uma diversidade de concepções. Tratamos do enunciado em uma perspectiva mais específica, a suscitada pelos pressupostos teóricos advindos de reflexões de e sobre Bakhtin. Reiterando o papel essencial que o autor atribui à entonação na construção do enunciado e considerando que, na escrita, ela está intimamente ligada à pontuação, esta é mostrada como manifestação eminentemente enunciativa, concentrando-nos no ponto, dito final. Tomando a noção bakhtiniana de gêneros como tipos relativamente estáveis de enunciados, trazemos questões decorrentes de pesquisas feitas essencialmente por estudiosos da área da publicidade, as quais procuram ilustrar aspectos relativos a textos publicitários, visando a situarmo-nos quanto a esse gênero textual, ao qual pertencem os recortes enunciativos que são objeto de análise. Apresentamos as análises que empreendemos, considerando recortes enunciativos em que aparecem estruturas frasais fragmentadas e em que o sinal empregado é o ponto, dito final. Consideramos que o que importa em tais situações não é a fronteira gramatical, da frase, mas a do enunciado, resultante da alternância entre os interlocutores. Levamos em conta a entonação como expressão de atitude do locutor para com o objeto da enunciação. Em todos os textos que analisamos, percebe-se claramente o acabamento específico do enunciado: os enunciadores escreveram tudo o que queriam dizer em cada situação, de modo a alcançarem uma atitude responsiva ativa de seus interlocutores. / The main purpose of this research is to show, from Bakhtin's perspective of the utterance, that the use of fragmented sentence structures in advertising texts can work out as a sort of deliberate transgression against punctuation rules – as these are eminently set by syntax –, thus constituting an utterance-making strategy whose effects in terms of meaning will aim at increasing the consumer's attention in order to win him or her over to what is being offered. Terms such as “sentence” and “utterance” are showed to have been used in various linguistic studies, which demonstrates the metalinguistic importance that those terms have for these studies, although they have quite often indicated a diversity of conceptions. Here, we have attempted to pinpoint the utterance in a much more specific perspective, such as this concept is found in works of and about Mikhail Bakhtin. By reiterating the essential role that Bakhtin ascribes to the intonation in the construction of the utterance, and by considering that, in written form, intonation can intimately be linked to punctuation, we have showed that punctuation (and mostly the “full stop”, on which we have focused) can be said to be an eminent uttering manifestation. From Bakhtin's understanding of genres as types of relatively stable utterances, we have brought into consideration some issues which essentially come from researches done on publicity and which try to illustrate aspects of texts used in advertising. Our attempt has thus been to have a clear vision of that textual genre, since the examples under our analysis here should all belong to it. Utterances are then analysed in which fragmented sentential structures are rounded off by a full stop. We believe now to be in such a position to demonstrate that what is most relevant in terms of communication is not so much the grammatical frontier, i.e. the sentence, but rather the utterance boundaries, which will come into play as a result of the alternation of turns between interlocutors. Intonation has also been taken into account, as it expresses the speaker's attitude towards the object of the utterance. In all the texts we have analysed, the specific finalisation of the utterance is clearly identifiable: in each and every situation, the enunciators have written all they wanted to say in order to obtain a responsive attitude from those who their utterances were intended to reach.

Foi estudada interdisciplinarmente a autoria coletiva, em ambiente informatizado na Web, de professores em formação (graduação e extensão) da língua inglesa como língua estrangeira. O estudo foi vinculado às linhas de pesquisa “Interfaces Digitais em Educação: Arte, Linguagem e Cognição”, do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Informática na Educação, da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, e ao grupo de estudos da interação dialógica e as tecnologias, do Laboratório de Estudos em Linguagem, Interação e Cognição, LELIC, com base em teorias da filosofia da linguagem de Mikhail Bakhtin. O EquiText, ferramenta de escrita colaborativa na Web e/ou ambiente virtual de aprendizagem, desenvolvido nesta universidade, proporcionou três experimentos: dois, na Instituição de Ensino Superior 1, IES 1, com estudantes voluntários da Licenciatura em Língua Inglesa; e um terceiro, na IES 2, com professores de inglês em serviço. Além do objetivo geral de verificar as possibilidades de autoria coletiva no EquiText, os objetivos específicos analisaram as relações dialógicas que os participantes da pesquisa estabeleceram: i) com o EquiText, em referência a manifestações procedurais-simbólicas; ii) entre si (com o outro), em referência a manifestações interacionais; e, iii) com o texto, em referência a manifestações na construção textual independente da proficiência na língua inglesa. Os pressupostos teóricos foram os conceitoschave: o enunciado, as relações dialógicas, o texto, conforme Bakhtin; e a presencialidade, conforme Axt. Os textos foram analisados em três planos: das ações nas relações dialógicas procedurais, interacionais e textuais. Os resultados apontam para as possibilidades de constituição de um autêntico espaço-tempo de produção de autoria coletiva, a partir da conjunção feliz de, pelo menos, duas condições: um espaço-tempo tecnológico de escrita colaborativa (o EquiText); um espaço-tempo pedagógico constituído pelos princípios da interação dialógica, simultanemente atualizável, nos três planos das manifestações procedurais, das interações entre os participantes, e das relações com o próprio texto colaborativo em construção. O plano da tese abarcou cinco seções: da apresentação (1); da língua inglesa, a língua inglesa escrita, e a língua inglesa e as tecnologias de informação e comunicação (2); da apresentação do autor principal, teoria de referência e conceitos básicos utilizados (3); da metodologia da pesquisa, procedimentos e análises (4); e das considerações finais (5). / On a web-based computerized environment collective authorship was interdisciplinarily researched on teachers who were studying (graduate or extension) English as a foreign language. This study was linked to research lines “Digital Interfaces in Education, Art, Language and Cognition” of Post Graduate Programme in Computer Science in Education of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, and to dialogical interaction and technologies group of studies at the Language, Interaction and Cognition Studies Laboratory, LELIC, based on Mikhail Bakhtin’s philosophy of language. EquiText, a tool for collaborative writing on the web and/or a virtual learning environment developed in this University, provided three experiments: two at the Institution of Higher Education 1, IES 1, with voluntary students from a Languages course – focus on the English language teaching; and a third one at IES 2 with English teachers. Besides the general objective to examine authorship using EquiText, specific objectives analysed dialogical relationships established by research participants: i) with EquiText, i.e., procedural-symbolic manifestations; ii) between themselves (with the other); and, iii) with the text, in textual construction independent from English language proficiency. The theoretical presuppositions were these key-concepts: statement, dialogical relationships, and text, as in Bakhtin (2000); and presentiality, as in Axt (2006). Texts were analysed in three dialogic action plans: procedural, interactional and textual. Results point out to possibilities of the establishment of a collective authorship space-time production due to a satisfying conjunction of at least two conditions: a collaborative writing technological spacetime (the EquiText); and a pedagogic space-time, reinforced by dialogic interaction principles, simultaneously refreshable by participants in relation to the collaborative text under construction, in three manifestation plans. They are: procedural, or the relations between the “I” and the technology; interactional, or the encounter of the “I” and the other; and textual, the “I” and the written text under collective production. The thesis plan comprises five chapters: the presentation (1); the English language, written, supported by technologies (2); the presentation of main author, key concepts used, and a construct to analyses (3); the methodology, procedures, and analyses (4); and, final considerations (5).