Doctoral Degrees (Modern Foreign Languages)

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Browsing Doctoral Degrees (Modern Foreign Languages) by browse.metadata.advisor "Du Toit, Catherine"

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    Die uitbeelding van Afrika-woestyne in Afrikaanse, Engelse, Duitse en Franse fiksie
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2017-03) Jordaan, Doret; Du Toit, Catherine; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Modern Foreign Languages
    AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING : Die menslike verbeelding reduseer die aarde se verskeidenheid woestynlandskappe dikwels tot enkele, herhalende beelde wat een groot generiese woestyn vorm. Een doel van hierdie studie is om vas te stel hoe literêre uitbeeldings van woestynomgewings verband hou met die fisiese woestyne van Afrika – in die besonder wat fiksie geskryf in Afrikaans, Engels, Duits en Frans betref. Daarom word die uitbeelding van die Namib, Kalahari en Sahara bespreek binne die raamwerk van die ekokritiek, geokritiek en vergelykende letterkunde. Hierdie studie het verder ten doel om die gapings aan te spreek tussen die groot hoeveelheid literêre navorsing oor woestyne soos die Sahara aan die een kant en die Namib en die Kalahari aan die ander kant. Ook word gepoog om ʼn bydrae te maak wat die beperktheid van veeltalige navorsing binne die ekokritiek en geokritiek aanspreek – veral Afrikaans. ʼn Wye verskeidenheid tekste is by die ondersoek betrek. Benewens outobiografiese werke soos reisbeskrywings, behels die nie-fiksie ook werke uit die aardwetenskappe. Die fiksie behels romans, en tot ʼn mindere mate kortverhale, waarin die woestyn optree as woonplek, vestigingsplek en besoekplek. Die woestynuitbeeldings in die romans Anderkant die Stilte (2002) deur André P. Brink, Désert deur J.M.G. Le Clézio (1980), Der einzige Ort (2004) deur Thomas Stangl en The Sheltering Sky (1990 [1949]) deur Paul Bowles, word meer uitvoerig bespreek. Die groot verskeidenheid woestynbeelde, kan aan die hand van ʼn paar aspekte beskryf word, met die oog op die lees van die woestyn. Die woestynbeeld is eintlik ʼn opstapeling van uitbeeldings. Hierdie weergawes van die woestyn is beperk wat sintuiglike waarneming betref en is oorwegend visueel. Wanneer die woestynbeelde as ʼn versameling betrag word, blyk dit ʼn reeks paradokse wees. Hierdie kontrasterende beelde maak egter sin, indien die woestyn vanuit ʼn ekokritiese invalshoek bestudeer word. Wat Afrika se woestyne betref, kan duidelik onderskei word tussen uitbeeldings van die Sahara en uitbeeldings van die woestyne in Suidelike Afrika: die ekosisteme van die Namib en die Kalahari word met groter spesifiekheid uitgebeeld as dié van die Sahara. Die literêre woestynervaring kan dus verryk word deur die besonderse uitbeeldings van die Namib en die Kalahari saam met uitbeeldings van die Sahara te lees.
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    Reflets narcissiques dans l oeuvre de Jack-Alain Leger
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2014-12) Staebler, Marie-Anne; Du Toit, Catherine; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Department of Modern Foreign Languages.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Jack-Alain Léger committed suicide on 17 July 2013 at the age of 66, leaving behind him a large amount of work that has not formed the object of any academic study, not even partially. Many articles have been written about the author but none about his novels. Léger was especially known for his multitude of pseudonyms, his manic-depressive tendencies, his conflicts with all his editors, his homosexuality, the controversy linked to the alias Paul Smaïl or for his Islamophobia, his hatred towards his biological father and towards an alleged brother who died before his birth but also for his literary talent, his wide erudition and his brilliant and provocative mind. Underneath these characteristics hides an author whose work, that appears incoherent at first sight, reflects a profound reflection on the aesthetic, the essence and the ultimate purpose of art. Although Léger’s art involves the domain of aestheticism, it is also intended to subvert and oppose a society that limits imagination and individual potential by imposing a uniform identity. In this way, Léger illustrates in all his works the separation and alienation of the self through the dead child motive, emphasizing his refusal to acknowledge having been born as an alienated self. Lost in the ambiguity of an image that had not been received by society, Léger wanders in the infinite game of mirrors like Narcissus searching for an ideal self and an ideal beauty in the lake’s waters where he gazes upon his reflection. In this multidisciplinary research, I will study the entirety of Léger’s work in the light of the notion of narcissism and the multiple reflections that it includes. The narcissistic force that serves as a fermenting agent for the creation of Léger’s work is developed through a literary, sociological, psychoanalytical and philosophical interpretation. The final chapter discusses the elements these different perspectives have in common and they are drawn together in the concept of tertiary narcissism, as a mechanism of self-protection and self-recreation which is, however, not without danger as revealed in the tale of Narcissus.
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    Une histoire d’esclavage : la representation du devenir creole dans une selection de romans mauriciens contemporains
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2021-12) Dewoo, Nerisha Yanee; Du Toit, Catherine; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Dept. of Modern Foreign Languages.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The present study falls within the scope of literature and identity. It examines the integration of Creole history and identity as presented in a contemporary Mauritian literary corpus published from the 2000s onwards: Histoire d’Ashok et d’autres personnages de moindre importance (Amal Sewtohul, 2001), Soupir (Ananda Devi, 2002), Terre d’Orages (Serge Ng Tat Chung, 2003), Le silence des Chagos (Shenaz Patel : 2005), Ève de ses décombres (Ananda Devi, 2006), Journey into the past (Ranjita Bunwaree, 2014), and Rivage de la colère (Catherine Laurent, 2020). The novelists selected for this project have created works of fiction that provide a wider access to the closed world of Creoles hitherto marginalised in Mauritian society, a fact that is repeated in Mauritian literary narratives. The tendency of Mauritians to insist on their cultural diversity derives from a sense of belonging elsewhere, and thus from a residual belonging to Mauritius. However, this 'founding myth' does not contain the possibility of constructing or homogenising a national identity. Mauritians always relate to the geographical spaces from which their ancestors came (India/China/Africa). They are never purely Mauritians, but Indo-Mauritians, Sino-Mauritians, Afro-Mauritians, etc., making Mauritius an in-between place, and belonging a notion that remains attached to an imagined or dreamed past. The writers in our corpus are interested in the difficulty of belonging that characterizes Creole communities. They speak of the difficulty of constructing and agreeing on a definition of an identity that cannot be formalized because its criteria are in constant flux. Creoles are at the same time rooted in a colonial/slavery past that makes being Creole synonymous with being Afro-Mauritian, as Julia Waters argues in The Mauritian Novel. Fictions of Belonging (Waters 2018: 3). The discussion around Creoles is further complicated when some are described as partially Afro-Mauritian milat (mulatto). For some Creoles, identity is further influenced by a floating memory due to an unfamiliar past, a modern political/social system governed by ancient traditions, and by how other Mauritian communities or even Creole communities themselves view what can and cannot be Creole in present-day Mauritius. The writers in our corpus show that Creole identity remains elusive and fluid, although it is surrounded by certain rigid preconceived notions. We can imagine that the works in our corpus represent the voice of these Creole characters who do not necessarily have an easy time speaking. However, the re-appropriation of Creole history and experience in our contemporary Mauritian narratives is always done through the third-party gaze of the writer who may find it difficult to reconcile the fictional and the factual. What do we really know about the Creoles apart from what is said about them in our corpus or in Mauritian society? Their history, which has long been ignored, remains unclear until now, despite the efforts of some contemporary academics to fill the historical gaps. Fiction and history are inseparable in this study. In order to develop the different notions of memory, history and fiction that underlie this thesis, numerous works devoted to historical and fictional studies accompany our literary journey. Moreover, the work of the French philosopher, Paul Ricoeur, in La mémoire, l'histoire, l'oubli (2000a), has greatly contributed to the analysis of our novels. As the question of representation is closely linked to interpretation, we rely on a hermeneutical approach to study the staging of Creole communities in our corpus. This theory of interpretation allows us to see how the sense of belonging of these groups is articulated around historical, mnemonic, political and social axes. Is Creole identity therefore decided by others, even in texts that claim unconditional tolerance of hybridity?