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

No description available.

“‘King Hereafter’” posits Shakespearean theater as a gateway between Reformation England’s suppressed desire to rid itself of monarchy and that desire’s expression in the 1649 execution of King Charles I. Specifically, I argue that Macbeth darkly manifests a latent Protestant fantasy in which the kings of the earth are toppled in a millenarian coup. Revolution- and Restoration-era writers John Milton and William Davenant attempt to liberate or further repress Macbeth’s apocalyptic republicanism when they invoke the play for their respective causes. Shakespeare’s text resists appropriation, however, pointing up the blind spots in whatever form of sovereignty it is enlisted to support. I first analyze Macbeth (1606) in its original historical context to show how it offers an immanent critique of James I’s prophetic persona. Macbeth’s tragic foreknowledge of his own supersession by Banquo’s heirs mirrors James’s paradoxical effort to ground his kingship on apocalyptic promises of the demise of earthly sovereignty. Shakespeare’s regicidal fantasy would be largely repressed into the English political unconscious during the pre-war years, until John Milton drew out the play’s antimonarchical subtext in The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates (1649). Yet the specter of an undead King Charles, I argue in chapter two, haunts Milton just as Banquo’s ghost vexes Macbeth because Milton’s populist theory of legitimate rule continues to define sovereignty as the right to arbitrary violence. In chapter three, I show how Sir William Davenant’s Restoration revision of Macbeth (c.1664) reclaims the play for the Stuart regime by dramatizing Hobbes’s critique of prophetic enthusiasm. In enlarging upon Macduff’s insurgency against the tyrant Macbeth, however, Davenant merely displaces the rebellious potential of the rogue prophet onto the deciding sovereign citizen. Finally, my fourth chapter argues for Milton’s late-career embrace of Shakespearean equivocation as a tool of liberty in Samson Agonistes (1671). Samson’s death “self-killed” and “immixed” among his foes in a scene of apocalyptic destruction challenges the Hobbesian emphasis on self-preservation and the hierarchical structures on which sovereignty itself depends for coherence. Milton’s mature eschatological vision of the end of sovereignty coincides with his artistic acceptance of the semantic and generic ambiguities of Shakespearean drama. / text

The question “How does Revelation interact with the Roman Empire?” weaves its way through the past 125 years of scholarly research on the Apocalypse. Yet, flawed methodologies, false assumptions, and limited trajectories have led to poor conclusions that posture Revelation as nothing more than a vitriolic attack on the Roman Empire that intends to incite, reveal, and/or remind Christians of imperial evil. This thesis challenges this academic narrative of the Apocalypse through the development and implementation of the Alter-Imperial paradigm. Repositioning the theoretical background of the imperial inquiry around Empire Studies, the Alter-Imperial paradigm applies insights from Postcolonial criticism and “examinations of dominance” to engage the complexities of the relationship between the sovereign(s) and subject(s) of a society—a dynamic far more intricate than either rebellion or acquiescence. From this disposition, various forms of Roman propaganda (from Augustus to Domitian) are explored to surface the Sovereign Narrative saturating the public transcript and immersing the subjects in key messages of absolute dominance, divine favor, and imperial benevolence. The date of Revelation’s composition, then, is established to isolate the socio-historical analysis to the Flavian dynasty, paying particular attention to the viewpoint of the oppressed and the question of “persecution.” The Flavian dynasty’s essential development of an anti-Jewish environment (intensified in Domitian’s reign) offers not only a contentious context for Christian communities—still viewed as indistinguishable from Jewish communities by Roman elite—but also indelible images of imperial propaganda through which subject texts, like Revelation, can interact with the empire. From this vantage point, the Alter-Imperial paradigm offers fresh interpretative possibilities for familiar (and even forgotten) texts, such as Revelation 20:7-10. This enigmatic passage depicts the release of Satan from a 1,000 year imprisonment at a climactic moment in the Apocalypse, and yet, this text is widely neglected in Revelation scholarship. Parallels to Roman triumphal processions (a central element in Flavian propaganda), however, demonstrate that Revelation 20:7- 10 depicts Satan as the bound enemy leader marching in God’s triumphal procession. Nevertheless, the Alter-Imperial paradigm does not stagnate at intriguing textual parallels. Indeed, this interpretation of Revelation 20:7-10 postures the interpreter to poignantly address the question: “How does Revelation interact [not merely subvert] the empire?” Specifically, the use of Roman imagery in the subject text does not necessitate an “anti-imperial” intent, but may simply be the grammar with which the subject text constructs their Alter-Empire. In fact, the Alter-Imperial paradigm suggests that to reduce Revelation to an anti-Roman document intent on the empire’s destruction is to over-exaggerate Rome’s significance in the subject text and, then, to miss its true target—the construction of the Alter-Empire through the destruction of the true enemy, Satan.

This thesis examines John Napier of Merchiston’s 1593 commentary on the Book of Revelation within the context of sixteenth century apocalyptic thought in Scotland and England. Napier is usually remembered as a mathematician and this study aims to contribute to a more complete understanding of the man. Its most important contribution to scholarship is its discussion of Napier’s identification of himself as a conduit for divine revelation, chosen by God to expose the mysteries of scripture in the final age of human history. This placed him in the tradition of reformers like Knox but he differed from them in two crucial ways. Firstly, he broke from the texts that had influenced him by controversially predicting the approximate date of the apocalypse. Some of these works, and responses to Napier’s conclusions, are considered. Secondly, he did not regard a call to ministry as a facet of his prophetic status. Instead, he saw his biblical commentary as the expression of an intellectual gift from God. He employed grandiose eschatological themes to appeal to the highest echelons of society in an attempt to affect religious change. His dedicatory epistle to James VI was a direct correspondence that revealed shared knowledge and experiences. Napier’s approaches to the apocalypse and alchemy stemmed from a worldview that presented him as belonging to an intellectual and moral elite, preordained by God to receive and disseminate hidden knowledge at appointed times. The impact of historical events on the content of his work, including the Spanish Armada, Scottish Reformation and resulting sense of unity between Scotland and England, are assessed. The current biographical understanding of Napier is critiqued. The unique aspects of the Plaine Discovery, including the explicit chronology of salvation history that framed its conclusions, are discussed in detail.

Cormac McCarthy's The Road and Dante's the Inferno contain textual and thematic comparisons. While the Inferno creates a world that exhibits the worst fears of the medieval Catholic subconscious of Dante's time, The Road paints a world of the darkest fears of the current American subconscious. Both texts reflect a critical dystopia that speculates on human spirituality and offers a critique of society through a tour of sin and suffering in a desolate setting.

Dante's Inferno defined hell in Western literature for centuries; it was a physical place for sinners, they were subjected to physical torments, and it was in the afterlife. Dante’s depiction was firmly rooted in Christian theology. However, as fears and morals change, ideas of hell evolve as well. With the popularity of the zombie and other apocalypse narratives, these ideas return to the notion of physical torment and earthly places. In poetry, novels, theater, television, and film, writers examine different interpretations of hell, punishment, and redemption as metaphors for modern sins. In Sartre’s Huis clos, hell is a windowless room, and the tortures are inflicted psychologically by other people. In Romero’s Living Dead films, hell comes to earth, and the torments are both physical and psychological. Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer shows how hellish the common experiences of high school and growing up can be. Cormac McCarthy’s The Road examines hell as a lack of place, a relentless journey without end. In these and other works, the concept of hell is reinvented and replaced by new ideas, but the influence of the past iterations shapes the new landscapes.

Richard Wagner is one of the most important and influential composers for scholars of film music. His concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk or "total art work," which combined music, visuals and storytelling, played an indelible role in the creation of film aesthetics, especially with regard to music and sound design. Yet, Wagner's actual music has its own curious legacy in film history, in terms of how it is used to interact with a story that often bears no relation to those of Wagner's operas. This is particularly interesting with regard to the Der Ring des Nibelungen (aka "the Ring Cycle"). The Ring is his most ambitious and influential, and densest work, and perhaps the one with the greatest lingering legacy in popular culture. For example, "Ride of the Valkyries," an excerpt from Die Walküre made famous by Looney Tunes shorts and Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now, is still a frequent presence in film, television and advertising that want to evoke sounds of war and conquest--associations created more from its use in those contexts than the original opera. This thesis will examine films and television series of the last half-century that have used musical examples from the Ring in their soundtracks. Works given particular focus will include Apocalypse Now (1979), the Japanese anime series Princess Tutu (2002-2003) and Terrence Malick's historical romance The New World (2006). The examination will discern both how film media has influenced modern cultural perceptions of the original operas--and of Wagner's legacy in general--and also how said film media is itself a reflection of modern attitudes about Wagner and his masterwork.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-27T13:48:27Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 CLEIDE LAZARIN.pdf: 4331080 bytes, checksum: 74b692e74b6b33f537e8dde9da913b4c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-11-22 / This research aims to reflect on the apocalyptic in the Old and New Testament in its context, with the object of particular attention is the meaning and symbolism of life and water particularly in Ap 22.1 to 5. The water of life, theme proposed in Ap 22.1 aims to bring hope, encouragement and comfort to communities persecuted by the Roman Empire in the late first century AD. Cherish the dream of justice and law as a raging river running through the land, bringing life to all parts of the planet. Water is a symbol of life in the process of reconstruction of the life and history in a context of persecution and death. It is a symbol of life when it comes to establish certainty and expectation of a new heaven and a new earth. It Presents a new paradise critically, creatively fruitful and eschatological hope and strength in new times and places in which they want to build relationships of equity, peace and abundance. Water is a symbol of death when it shelters the beasts, beasts and comes as avalanche chase ruining the lives of communities. / Esta investigação se propõe a refletir sobre a apocalíptica no Antigo e no Novo Testamento em seu contexto, tendo como objeto de peculiar atenção o significado e a simbologia da vida e da água de modo particular em Ap 22,1-5. A água da vida, tema proposto em Ap 22,1 tem por finalidade levar esperança, ânimo e conforto às comunidades perseguidas pelo Império Romano, no final do século I dC. Acalentar o sonho da justiça e do direito correndo como um rio caudaloso pela terra, levando vida a todas as partes do planeta. A água é símbolo de vida no processo de reconstrução da vida e da história em um contexto de perseguição e mortes. É símbolo de vida quando se trata de firmar a certeza e a expectativa de um novo céu e uma nova terra. Apresenta um novo paraíso de maneira crítica, criativa, fecunda e escatológica para a esperança e a resistência em novos tempos e lugares nos quais se quer construir relações de equidade, paz e abundância. A agua é símbolo de morte quando abriga as bestas, as feras e vem como avalanche de perseguição arruinando a vida das comunidades.

The tension inherent in the Anthropocene is the tension between what is rendered (in)visible, and what attempts to be made visible. It is, in this sense, a conflict of ontology and aesthetics: ghosts flutter around us, in and out of our dimension (Bourriaud, 2016; Morton, 2013), and, as Poe would say, “man” is being driven mad by the heartbeats heard through the floorboards. This study addresses two main ideas: (a) that it is the modern subject that is the anthropos of the Anthropocene, and (b) that we must further conceptualise claims about the ‘end of the world’ (Morton, 2013). Ultimately, however, both these claims are intimately linked: the ‘subject’ and the ‘world’ in modernity cannot be separated from each other, and are indeed part of the same process (Mbembe, 2003). Thus, the central argument herein is that the Anthropocene should be viewed as a threshold (Clark, 2016; Haraway, 2015) to an epoch (namely, modernity) rather than the start of a new one. To this end, what is at its ‘end’ or threshold then, is the modern subject, and the ‘world’ that it inhabited. We are faced with the utter abyss of the negative (Sinnerbrink, 2016). The sixth extinction is imminent, and a whole host of morbid repercussions of making-world (Mbembe, 2003) are creeping towards us (Morton, 2013). Ultimately, we must reckon with absence. But what does this mean? How are we to perceive and think about this lack? This study aims to address this problem, arguing that we now face the presence of absence, rather than the absence of presence. Indeed, we must seek a new aesthetics of absence. / Graduate