The present study elaborates a poetics of cross-cultural writing. Its primary theoretical reference is the ‘cross-cultural poetics’ (poétique de la relation) of Edouard Glissant: a set of poetic tropes and narrative structural strategies that he identifies in the mixed cultural setting of the Caribbean, in Le Discours antillais. My thesis argues that if these poetic strategies are indeed a response to specific social, cultural and political situations, then if analogous situations were considered elsewhere, we might expect an analogous poetics to arise. Taking North Africa as an example context, and specifically the novels of the Algerians Kateb Yacine, Assia Djebar, Mohammed Dib, and the Sudanese Tayeb Salih, I argue that these writers’ complex poetic strategies engage with – indeed, help to articulate – analogous socio-political concerns arising in their homelands. The formal poetical analysis of these authors is based on several key thematic tropes and structural strategies that Glissant advocates in his cross-cultural poetics. My five chapters consider roots and origins, living landscapes, silence and screams, literary opacity, and structural polyphony. They also develop a new critical vocabulary to describe how Glissant’s poetical strategies might take form at a close textual level; my analysis reveals a complex, and reciprocal, relationship between poetic expression and socio-political context. Glissant’s work is therefore shown to be more broadly relevant, but the founding tenets of his theory are also interrogated and questioned; the comparison with a North African setting entails a (re)assessment of the underlying conceptions of Glissant’s poetics – of the implicit logic by which he connects poetic form to social, cultural and political factors. These factors, for Glissant, also display a clear overlap with the (post)colonial; in studying cross-culturality, the postcolonial, and the poetics engendered by their overlapping, my thesis presents a specific critical focus for the postcolonial literary field.

This thesis undertakes a critical study of ethics in the postcolonial novel. Focusing on four authors, namely Amitav Ghosh, Chimamanda Adichie, Caryl Phillips, and Kazuo Ishiguro, I conduct a comparative analysis of the ethical engagement offered in a selection of their novels. I argue that the recognitions and related emotional responses of characters are integral to the unfolding of these novels’ ethical concerns. The ethics thus explored are often marked by the complexity and impurity characteristic of the tragic – an impurity which is productively thought together with Jacques Derrida’s understanding of “radical evil”. I arrive at this through deploying an approach to ethics in the postcolonial novel that is largely drawn from the work of Martha Nussbaum, David Scott, and Terence Cave. This approach is attentive to both the particular contexts in which the novels’ ethical concerns unfold, as well as the general ethical questions in relation to which these can be understood. Crucial to this is the concept of anagnorisis, that is, the recognition scene. Functioning as both a structural and a thematic element, it serves as a hinge between the general and the specific ethical considerations in a novel. There are three ethical themes that I consider across the thesis: the ethics of remembrance, the human, and religion. The works of these four authors cluster around these concerns to differing degrees and with differing perspectives. What emerges is that while each engagement is focused on the particular details that the novel represents, the range of perspectives can nevertheless be productively read alongside one another as interventions into these general concerns. Following from this I also conclude that as a suitable, if not privileged, form in which to engage questions of the ethical, the postcolonial novel hosts the ethical difficulty that I name as the tragic, and which is characterised by the term radical evil.

This thesis explores cosmopolitan and humanist literary interventions by Palestinian, Israeli, Indian and Pakistani writers to the rise of ‘ethnically’ defined cultural and political narratives of community. It uses a comparative framework to look at contemporary authors such as Amitav Ghosh, Raja Shehadeh, Kamila Shamsie, Uzma Aslam Khan and David Grossman, who deconstruct the biologically defined border as a repressive literary, cultural and political metaphor in favour of more open-ended categories of identity and community. I argue that in deconstructing the epistemology of the exclusive boundary through cosmopolitan and humanist philosophies, these international writers demonstrate the impossibility of shedding all borders in their own work. Their ‘borderless’ aesthetic that constantly conjures the border is thus indicative of the interrelated nature of cosmopolitan and sectarian identities in a globalized modernity. Moreover, it is suggestive of the ambivalent relationship between politically-conscious postcolonial texts (which draw political lines) and the emerging field of World literature that is coming to be defined by its ability to appeal to the 'universal'.

Parfois posées en héritières du fantastique du dix-neuvième siècle, les écritures singulières des auteurs postcoloniaux exploitant les ressorts du surnaturel sont souvent cataloguées sous l’étiquette homogénéisante de « réalisme magique ». L'intérêt du rappro­chement des œuvres de René Depestre, Rachid Boudjedra et Ben Okri est de pouvoir interroger ces filiations à partir de leur textualisation de la figure du double. Ces littératures, adoptant une posture nouvelle face à son traitement et à son évolution, s'éloignent des écritures fantastiques occidentales. Elles s'en distinguent par l’exploitation de personnages hybrides, dont la posture face au double est conditionnée par cette hybridité-même, une conséquence inéluctable de l'Histoire. Ces auteurs postcoloniaux explorent des ethnoscapes inédits et développent une écriture résolument moderne fondée sur une hybridation générique qui contribue à revivifier le roman à l'occidentale. Leurs poétiques hybrides génèrent ainsi un genre original où le double, loin d’être une simple figure, est une clé pour aborder ces textes aux imaginaires multiples qui jettent de nouvelles bases pour une herméneutique littéraire. / The postcolonial authors who use the supernatural have sometimes been qualified as the heirs of Nineteenth Century fantastic literature, and are often categorized under the homogenizing label of “magical realism”. The relevance of the parallels between the works of René Depestre, Rachid Boudjedra and Ben Okri is apparent when interrogating these filiations through their textualisation of the figure of the Double. This writing confronts the figure's appearance and evolution with a novel posture, and has developed a varied approach different from that of Western fantastic literature. They set themselves apart by their usage of hybrid characters, whose attitude when facing the Double is conditioned by their hybridity; an inescapable consequence of history. The authors explore original ethnoscapes and have developed a thoroughly modern writing built on a generic hybridity, contributing to the revitalization of the Western novel. These hybrid poetics have generated an original genre in which the double, far from it’s basic characterization, represents a key when approaching the multi-facetted imaginations of these works, laying new groundwork for literary interpretation.

Os estudos que registram a Amazônia na passagem dos séculos XIX-XX representam um significativo material documental linguístico-antropológico, por sua motivação de registrar os costumes e os valores dos povos indígenas por meio da construção literária, nesta Língua Geral ou Nheengatu, à época deixando de ser a mais falada na região. Carregados de informações científicas, de espaço e de memória, esses textos influenciaram a partir de uma literatura de informação a construção de uma literatura nacional, que corroborou na constituição de uma intencional identidade brasileira. Literatura esta que amplia o universo dos ideais românticos e contribui para o entendimento de um processo de contato de forças e culturas diversas. Busca-se, assim, tratar esse registro documental a partir de questionamentos e comparações acerca do percurso e presentificação da memória, individual e coletiva, dessas sociedades indígenas, por meio dos mitos e narrativas com os ritos e toda sua simbologia do passado integrada à do presente que remetem tanto a diferentes esferas da verdade quanto a diversas concepções de tempo-espaço, e quanto à própria formação da identidade. As narrativas aqui representam esse ciclo em que rupturas e reconfigurações são interpretadas como a formação de uma nova humanidade, porém sem a descontinuidade da ancestralidade a partir da memória. Buscamos traçar um pouco de uma ruptura, a chegada da civilização e suas consequências, a povos milenares por meio de um arcabouço literário construído por intermediários, ou seja, autores que concretizaram a passagem de uma tradição, baseados quase completamente em fontes anteriores, produzindo pesquisas contemporâneas, manuais, dicionários que apresentavam informações dos saberes e cultura dos povos amazônicos. / The studies that register the Amazon in the transition from the 19th to the 20th century represent an expressive linguistic and anthropological material due to the intention of register the habits and values of the indigenous people by the literary construction in Língua Geral (General Language) or Nheengatu, that no longer was the most spoken language in the period. Loaded of memories, landscapes and scientific information, these texts have influenced the construction of a national literature, though the perspective of the literature of information, that corroborated the construction of Brazilian identity formation. This literature expands the universe of romantic ideals and contributes to the understanding of a contact process of various forces and cultures. Therefore, the intention of this documentary record through questions and comparisons about the course and presentification of memory, individual and collective, of indigenous societies, through the myths and narratives that reveal the rites and all symbolism of the past integrated to the present referring to different perspectives of true as to different conceptions of time and space, and the own identity formation. The narratives here represent this cycle where ruptures and reconfigurations are interpreted as the formation of a new humanity, but without the discontinuity of ancestry from memory. We search to draw a rupture, the arrival of civilization and its consequences, to the ancient people through a literary framework constructed by intermediaries, i.e. authors who realized the passage of a tradition, based almost entirely on ancient sources, producing research contemporary, manuals, dictionaries presenting information of the knowledge and culture from Amazon peoples.

Predominantemente representados a partir de imagens estereotipadas difundidas pelas grandes mídias internacionais, os povos árabes são sempre associados ao contexto de guerras, terrorismo e fundamentalismo religioso. Muito embora detenham uma cultura literária vastíssima, são pouco lidos através da produção de seus grandes escritores, tendo sua identidade cultural construída a partir do que se diz nas manchetes jornalísticas. Considerando o potencial que a tradução tem de formar identidades culturais nas comunidades receptoras e constituir-se uma forma de resistência, inovação e mudança cultural, no presente trabalho, propomos a tradução de excertos do romance Innah London ya azz, da escritora libanesa Hanan Al-Shaykh. Temos por objetivo realizar uma tradução que reconheça e evidencie traços da alteridade e receba o Outro enquanto Outro. Embora também defendamos que nenhum texto é capaz de transmitir uma visão geral de outra cultura, mas, pelo contrário, provê elementos que, de certa forma, somam-se às imagens que representam uma cultura, de modo a manifestar elementos para autodefinição. Disto decorre que o texto traduzido nunca compreende completamente um gênero existente em uma certa cultura, mas contribui para o processo dinâmico do diálogo no sistema literário. Além disso, o texto traduzido não transmite o mesmo significado produzido na língua de partida, pois as interpretações possíveis são concebidas baseadas nos recursos e limitações presentes na língua, no imaginário social, e sistema literário da comunidade de recepção. Portanto, os efeitos produzidos através de um texto traduzido no sistema literário não podem ser previstos, embora funcione como uma força de representação da alteridade e de autorrepresentação. / Predominantly represented by stereotyped images spread by the international media, Arab peoples have always been related to the context of war, terrorism, and religious fundamentalism. Although they possess a vast literary culture, they are hardly read through the production of their great writers, having their cultural identity constructed based on what is said about them in the journalistic headlines. Thus, we propose to present the translation of excerpts from the novel Innah London ya azz (2001), written by the Lebanese writer Hanan Al-Shaykh, considering the potential of the translation in shaping cultural identities in host communities. We aim to perform a translation which recognizes, and evidences traces of otherness receives the other as Other. Although, we also defend that no translated text is able to convey a full survey of another culture, but provides elements, which somehow add to the images of culture and as such provides material for self-definition. Hence translated text never comprehend totally an existent genre in a certain culture; instead, it contributes to the dynamical process of dialogue into the literary system. Besides that, no translated text conveys the same meaning produced in source-language; for the possible interpretations are conceived based on the limitations and resources present in the target language, the social imaginary, and the literary system of the target-community. Therefore, the effects produced by a translated text into the receptor literary system cannot be foreseen, although it certainly will function as a force of representation of others and self-definition.

The subject of this thesis is the contemporary literature written by the sons and daughters of North African immigrant families in France. Its main area of investigation is the place of this literature in the French literary field, in the Bourdieusian sense of the term, and the discursive features which motivate the ethnic based label of “Beur literature”. The study has a double approach in investigating both the argument for the socio-ethnic categorisation, and the reception of this literature in the French press. The literary corpus consists of twenty works from 2005 and 2006 by eighteen Beur writers. Thirteen of these works are subject to literary analysis. These are novels by Akli Tadjer, Zahia Rahmani, Faïza Guène, Mabrouck Rachedi, El Driss, Mohamed Razane, Houda Rouane, Nora Hamdi, Nor Eddine Boudjedia and Touhami Moualek, and three autobiographical narratives written by Razika Zitouni, Abel El Quandili and Aziz Senni. The press corpus from the corresponding period covers 14 titles of French national and regional daily papers, 8 titles of weekly general press and 6 titles of periodicals of literary and social debate. According to my hypothesis, the Beur fiction and the autobiographical narratives of my corpus are based on a common discourse that is expressed through certain literary means. A frequent strategy found in the novels is the subversion of French classics. Another feature is the constant referral to the French republican values. The novels share the latter of these two strategies with the autobiographical stories. This can be interpreted as resulting from a communication between a literary discourse and a social discourse which points toward a common ideological foundation. It also reveals the specific “Frenchness” of a literature that is often classified as “francophone” rather than “French” literature. The study of the journalistic reception confirms this aspect by the frequent referral of its authors to their ethnic and social origins.

This study is concerned with subject formation in the fiction of contemporary postcolonial authors Abdulrazak Gurnah, Yvonne Vera, and David Dabydeen. In contextualised readings of a total of nine works – Gurnah’s Admiring Silence (1996), By the Sea (2001), and Desertion (2005); Vera’s Without a Name (1996), Butterfly Burning (1998), and The Stone Virgins (2002); Dabydeen’s Disappearance (1993), Turner (1994), and A Harlot’s Progress (1999) – it explores thematic and formal aspects of the subject’s constitution in the texts. Investigating the representation of material and discursive traces that constitute the individual, this study has a double aim. First, it describes the particular historical formations that mould the individual in the different texts. Second, it investigates the tactics used to imaginatively upset these formations in order to present new and more enabling modes of being. Gurnah’s fiction depicts the intricate meshwork of social codes, emotions, and narratives that shape subjectivity in a highly unstable and cosmopolitan social reality. His novels repeatedly thematise cultural disorientation, migration, and the efforts of establishing a minimum of social and narrative stability in the form of a home. The chapter reads Gurnah’s fiction against a background of Zanzibari history and diaspora and suggests that various forms of “entanglements” paradoxically provide the means to pull the subject out of states of anxiety and alienation into more viable states of being. Vera’s novels engage a powerful Zimbabwean discourse on history, and the psychic and bodily wounds that result from its violent impact on the subject. Set at moments of special and contested historical importance, her novels address the exclusions and silences of this discourse in order both to assess its effects and the possibilities of imagining alternative versions that would allow other modes of subjectivity. These possibilities are manifested, thematically and textually, through an improvisational form of “movement,” geographical, linguistic, and musical. Dabydeen’s fiction investigates the textual dimensions of identity and its connections to larger cultural archives of tropes and languages. Focusing on the constraining yet constitutive impact of various modes of colonial and racial rhetoric, his literary texts display a manipulation of textual elements from these archives that approaches a re-conception of the subject. To describe this manipulation of English and Caribbean sources, thematised and dramatically staged in his fiction, I am using Dabydeen’s own phrase, “creative amnesia.”

This dissertation focuses on the migrant performance genre isicathamiya, a genre which was popular amongst migrant workers in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng in the nineteen thirties and forties. It explores contemporary isicathamiya and asks whether there have been paradigmatic shifts in its content in post-apartheid South African society. By way of introduction, the origins and development as well as some of the themes and features of isicathamiya are highlighted. Hereafter scholarly accounts of migrant performance genres are discussed in conjunction with the cultural re-orientation of migrants in urban centers. The introduction is intended to contextualise the genre by alluding to the politics and aesthetics of isicathamiya performances. Leading on from the introduction, the first chapter of this body of research is a reflection upon the characteristics of oral literature; from the point of view of a literary scholar, I also discuss the problems of interpretation I experienced in this study of mediated isicathamiya lyrics. I propose that isicathamiya performances and texts are elements of oral literature and begin to define them as such. My intention in chapter two is to explore how local performances have influenced global culture. I ask if oral literature from South Africa has contributed to the global market. I ask what Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the internationally acclaimed isicathamiya choir, has invested in "First World culture" and suggest that there is in existence a transcultural flow of energy between the "so-called centre" and "so-called periphery". In chapter three I suggest that the local and global are in a state of dialogue. I hope to establish a dialogue between local isicathamiya choirs and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. In essence, Ladysmith Black Mambazo has exported a musical form that has its foundations in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. This chapter takes readers back to the source of the genre. I take into consideration Veit Erimann's scholarly studies of isicathamiya in Nightsong: Performance, Power and Practice in South Africa. Focus falls upon the paradigm of rural/ urban migration in isicathamiya song and the importance of "home" in sustaining migrants in the city. The notion of "homeliness" as a trope in isicathamiya performances is discussed. By extension, in chapter four, I ask whether the notion of "home" emphasized by Veit Erlmann is of significance in contemporary isicathamiya performance. Consequently, I adopt a comparative approach and set out to identify the changes and continuities in contemporary isicathamiya performances in response to transformations within postapartheid society. I ask why isicathamiya is significant in post-apartheid South African society. What is its importance for personal and collective identity? What is being articulated within contemporary performances? Does isicathamiya provide a cultural space, a forum in which public debate (regarding leaders, policies and concerns) can be staged? Most importantly, is the thematic paradigm between the rural and urban world still visible in contemporary isicathamiya? Is contemporary isicathamiya still grounded on the notion of "homeliness", or have new thematic paradigms emerged in contemporary isicathamiya performances? I propose that South Africa in the present, is itself the site of multiple cultures and fragmented histories. The country and its people are searching for a new unitary meaning in the post-apartheid era. My argument is that isicathamiya texts are elements of postcolonial and post-apartheid literature. I suggest that language, through isicathamiya performance, can show a way back into reinterpreting the past and stitching together a different present. Isicathamiya texts give hints of journeys and point to identities, shared histories and cultural landscapes. Isicathamiya makes possible the sharing of knowledge and knowledge systems, and is an opportunity to hear un-erased histories and un-silenced voices. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2001.

This dissertation is an examination of public culture and memory sites in post-apartheid South Africa, in relation to their narrativisation in the fiction of the South African writer Ivan Vladislavić, who evinces a creolized, ludic style. The carnivalesque elements at play in his writing and his use of “minoritised” English constitute a radical aesthetic. With reference to poststructuralist theories of language, representation and history, I examine short stories and a novel by Vladislavić. I then turn a grammar developed from this aesthetic to an examination of one of post-apartheid South Africa’s most symbolically rich memory sites: Constitution Hill in Johannesburg. Official spaces in this country and in this era have tended to be built and curated in the interests of establishing a national imaginary based on a teleological understanding of apartheid history. This can be problematic, as I show in a brief discussion of the Apartheid Museum, a site that offers an instructive comparison with Constitution Hill. I argue that Vladislavić’s radical aesthetic provides a way to interrogate the more totalizing discourses of nationhood and citizenship of the post-Rainbow Nation. Vladislavić’s refusal to allow an authentic history and his radical aesthetics of representation constitute an iconoclasm that can be brought to bear on the more totalizing aspects of Constitution Hill’s design. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.