Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Novels'

Malgré la longue et riche histoire des bandes dessinées, leur définition continue de stimuler le débat parmi les experts. Ces derniers ne parviennent toujours pas à s’entendre sur la composition d’une bande dessinée, certains choisissant de mettre l’emphase sur l’usage de phylactères ou de lignes de mouvement, tandis que d’autres insistent plutôt sur la présence d’éléments à la fois graphiques et narratifs. Une définition impeccable est peut-être improbable, mais un problème mérite toutefois d’être adressé: il s’agit bien sûr de la constante exclusion des romans graphiques sans texte. Cette catégorie d’œuvres est parfois mentionnée, mais se révèle plus souvent ignorée par les experts. En effet les définitions courantes persistent à représenter les bandes dessinées comme un indéniable mélange de texte et d’images. Ce mémoire cherche donc à démontrer la nécessité de définitions plus inclusives, afin d’incorporer les romans graphiques sans texte. D’abord, en explorant l’histoire du médium et le rôle du texte dans la création et la lecture des romans graphiques, nous réfuterons les idées préconçues qui ont apporté à l’élément textuel de la bande dessinée une allure de nécessité. Puis, à travers l’analyse des romans graphiques sans texte The Arrival de Shaun Tan et The System de Peter Kuper, nous rendrons évidente la nature facultative du texte dans le processus de création d’une histoire de bande dessinée. Finalement, avec le support d’exemples provenant des romans graphiques The System de Peter Kuper et Asterios Polyp de David Mazzucchelli, nous analyserons le rôle de l’image dans le développement de la complexité narrative d’une histoire de bande dessinée, afin de prouver qu’une image n’est pas intrinsèquement plus simpliste qu’un extrait de texte. Les romans graphiques sans texte méritent tout autant l’attention académique reçue par les bandes dessinées avec texte, et devraient ainsi être reconnus dans les définitions courantes du médium.
In spite of comics’ long and rich history, their definition remains today a significant source of contention in the field. Scholars cannot seem to agree on what constitutes comics, with some of them stressing the importance of conventions such as speech balloons or motion lines, and others focusingon the pictorial and narrative elements of the form. A perfect definition may be impossible, but one issue that needs tobe addressed is the current exclusion of wordless graphic novels. While occasionally acknowledged, these works remain mainly ignored, as most working definitions present comics as a combination of text and image. This thesis intends to show that there is a need for more inclusive definitions of the medium, in order to incorporate wordless graphic novels. By first exploring the wordless ancestry of the medium and the role of text in creating and reading graphic novels, this thesis refutes the foundationally baseless assumptions about the form that have made text so widely accepted as a defining element. Then, through an analysis of Shaun Tan’s The Arrival and Peter Kuper’s The System, both of which are wordless graphic novels, this thesis demonstrates the superfluous nature of text when it comes to narrative in this medium. Finally, through readings of Peter Kuper’s The System and David Mazzucchelli’s Asterios Polyp, the thesis considers the contribution of the image to the complexity of graphic novels with and without text, in order to prove that images are not more simplistic in nature than text. The case is thereby made that wordless novels are as worthy of academic attention as graphic novels with text, and deserve acknowledgement in definitions of the medium.

This study explores Scott's vision of historical progress and how its impact on various aspects of human life is reflected in his Scottish novels. Central to this study are civic and heroic virtues in the contexts of religion, family, nationalism, politics, economy, law and justice . It falls into an introduction, six chapters and a conclusion. The introduction sets these concerns in the context of Scottish philosophy and history and argues that Scott rejects Burke's absolutism but looks for a more flexible and rational evolution of the institutions and principles that make for social cohesion. The first chapter argues that Scott's historicism is not the product of a mixture of Romantic and Enlightenment attitudes, of sympathy or nostalgia and rationalism or progressivism. Rather it is derived from the so-called "philosophical" historians of the Scottish Enlightenment. For these writers the individualism of modern commercial society had been a problematic development, since unchecked individualism might ultimately undermine social cohesion necessary for all human flourishing. Scott is thus the inheritor of a rationalist, progressive philosophy of history, but one with well-defined reservations about progress and modernity. The second chapter questions the traditional reading of Waverley as a mixture of Romantic nostalgia and Enlightenment skepticism about "primitive" societies. Scott's Highlanders, I argue, function not simply as colourful quasi-Romantic primitives, but as the embodiment of civic and heroic virtues, which renders the novel a Scottish Enlightenment parable on the indispensability of "civic virtue". The third chapter deals with Old Mortality, a novel now often read as a sort of Hobbesian critique of the seventeenth-centut British civil wars. Indeed, the civic virtue of the parties involved in the conflict is displayed in such a light that selfIsh individualism might seem preferable. But on comparing the novel's treatment of the civil wars to that of David Hume's History of England, I show that Old Mortality is a profound meditation on the fundamentally social constitution of human nature, and that it defends rather than belittles public-spiritedness. In the fourth chapter I show how Scott undercuts the political conflict in Rob Roy by reducing it to a sort of clash of cullures which nevertheless share certain values. Using J.G.A. Pocock's seminal work, Virtue, Commerce, and History, I suggest that Scott calls for an updating of civic virtue. Chivalric Honour mutates into Credit to meet commercial needs, and to define social relationships. Also, Scott attempts a synthesis of the otherwise antagonist principles of Burke and Paine concerning family affairs. The virtue of paternal piety, as a cohesive force, is redefined as mutual understanding rather than dictatorship. Scott recognizes the law of inheritance but submits it to civil law. The fifth chapter deals with The Heart of Midlothian. The novel, I argue, gives civic virtue a religious dimension by making it providentially recognized. Skeptical of secular values in establishing the genuine civil society, the novel legitimizes a moral autonomy that derives from rational and progressive religion. Moral autonomy in this sense defines actions of mundane authority in whatever capacity, domestic, political, economical and judicial. Updating religion in one of its aspects, I show, aims at asserting Scottish national and cultural identity, given the fact that historically the Kirk has always been one of its crucial components. On the other hand, the novel attempts to define the tense relationship between Scotland and England within the Union in terms of moral values. Taken in the context of colonization, the novel focuses on vices infiltrating into English commercial society, which in a similar manner are transferred into Scottish society, and threaten the morality of the British nation at large. The sixth chapter on Redgauntlet focuses on Scott's treatment of loyalty as a civic virtue in more than one context. In the context of law and justice, loyalty is modified to operate under the rubric of personal integrity and civil courage. In the political context it is defined in terms of national consensus. In the economic context, it supports advancement as long as it operates within communal interest. The concluding chapter uses Guy Mannering, The Antiquary and The Bride of Lammermoor to support the thesis that Scott's fictional dealings with history in the "Scottish" novels is directed to an accommodation of ancient virtues with present forms of society and nationhood.

Graphic texts, or graphic novels, have spent many years on shelves with comic books about superheroes and adventurers. They officially gained notoriety in 1992 with Art Spiegelman’s Maus, and at this time, critics and scholars began to take notice. However, graphic novels have not been fully adapted by academia. Graphic novels have the ability to offer new levels of instruction and learning in upper-level classrooms.The following is a study in the multitude of uses of graphic text in academia. Chapter 1 looks at the history of graphic text to understand the present and future of graphic novels. Chapter 2 focuses on literacy issues to develop a basis for the use of graphic novels in the classroom. Chapter 3 offers a method of using graphic novels to broaden a students’ understanding of plays. Chapter 4 moves on to a study of graphic novels as works of literature. Through this look of historical data and an analysis and discussion of the modern form of graphic novels, we will come to the conclusion that graphic novels can be useful assets in the classroom when they are taken from the shelf of comic books and used to their full potential.

Comments made by Vladimir Nabokov concerning both his fiction and literature in general have helped determine the critical attitude of his most influential readers. The consensus among them is that his novels are meticulously self-contained artifacts that are meant to be "investigated" according to his precepts. As a result, his early novels have garnered relatively little critical attention because it is assumed that they were written at a time when he had not yet arrived at a full mastery of the principles that would inform his more carefully crafted art in later years. This thesis will show how three early novels actually benefit from the kind of close reading critics have reserved for later ones. In order to do this, however, it engages with the sort of theorists that Nabokovians, encouraged by the Master's dismissive comments, have tended to avoid.

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, 1981.
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Vårt examensarbete handlar om vad användare har för attityder till en Visual Novel med ordinlärning som huvudsyfte. För att undersöka detta så framställde vi en Visual Novel med ett ordinlärningsmoment från svenska till engelska, där spelaren instrueras att skriva in understrukna ord. Därefter utförde vi en kvalitativ studie på deltagare i åldrarna 18 år och uppåt där de fick testa vår Visual Novel, och sedan intervjuades. Resultaten från vår undersökning tyder på att det finns ett intresse för Visual Novels med ordinlärning som huvudsyfte. Deltagarna tyckte att att kopplingen mellan det visuella och glosorna i vår Visual Novel inte var en viktig del i hur väl de lyckades med att klara glosorna, och att storyn kan anpassas för att användarna ska få bättre förutsättningar att komma ihåg glosorna.

This thesis investigates not so much the engineer as a character in fiction but the writer of fiction, the novelist, as a person who can have surprising insights into engineering principles without formal study or training in engineering. The engineer has featured in fiction novels significantly in the last century. The engineer as a protagonist in the novel on many occasions has been created by an author who is not an engineer. The same comment could well be made regarding the writers of science fiction who indeed are not necessarily scientists but write credibly about scientific inventions, usually set in the future. This thesis argues that there is a distinction between writing science fiction and writing about engineering, although the two are often combined in the one novel. This thesis distinguishes science fiction (Sci-Fi) from what is described as En-Fi or engineering fiction. Engineering fiction or En-Fi is based upon real life engineering feats, if one accepts that the definition of engineering is the “application” of science and technology. The specific hypothesis of this thesis is that credible engineering fiction (En- Fi) can be constructed by non-engineer trained authors. To support this hypothesis there is both a review of novels with the engineer as a central character and an examination of novels where engineering concepts used in developing a storyline are outlined in detail. Indeed, to support the above hypothesis a supplementary “En-Fi” novel has been created. This novel, titled, “Amber Reins Fall”, is used as the central device in addition to the literature review to prove that a writer untrained in engineering can write an En-Fi novel that has a high degree of credibility in engineering terms. The construction of this engineering fiction (En-Fi) novel is carried out in detail outlining the various engineering devices used to strengthen the storyline. Examples of engineering such as a light engineering factory of the 1950’s, operational aspects of the Panama Canal and the disposal of nuclear waste in the Australian desert are included in the novel. Three other novels by the author (of this thesis) are included as part of the argument supporting the hypothesis. They also demonstrate the combination of En-Fi and Sci-Fi. In the first novel “Greenwars” (d’ettut 1998) the overriding engineering component is AARDVARK (accelerated animal reasoning, decision making, voicing and reflective kinetics); the interactive voting video and dolphin scooters. The second novel “Pie Square” (d’ettut 2000) has as the major engineering component the interactive video games. The third novel, “Vampire Cities” (d’ettut 2000) has as the major engineering component a conductor’s baton (although this might be construed as science fiction). Two of the actual novels, “Greenwars” and “Pie Square” have been appended as part of the thesis presentation. They both deal with the central character “Adam Teforp”, also featured in “Amber Reins Fall”. “Vampire Cities” has not been appended as this critical character is not part of that novel. The literature review and the construction of ����Amber Reins Fall���� point to the validity of the hypothesis; that is that non-engineers can write convincing engineering orientated novels. Its also asserted that there is sufficient evidence to recognize a genre called En-Fi, different from the science fiction genre.

Thesis (M. Eng. (Hons.)) -- University of Western Sydney, 2007.
A thesis submitted to the University of Western Sydney, College of Health and Science, School of Engineering, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering (Hons.). Includes bibliographical references.

The Adult Experience Of Learning From NovelsNovel readers may not necessarily read with the primary intention of learning from their novels, but it is known that learning is frequently an outcome. Literature on novels describe their content as both factual and philosophical opportunities to learn but do not describe them in terms of adult learning theory. A study by Radway (1984) found that readers of formula romance have complex learning outcomes from their reading but this was related to literature on novels rather than adult learning theory.Conversely, although learning is a known outcome of novel reading, literature on adult learning theories and research have taken little notice of novel reading as an opportunity to learn. Yet reading novels is an activity in which millions engage. The nature of reading as a highly personal,self-directed activity, suggested a literature review of theory pertaining to self-directed learning, informal learning and how adults make meaning.The purpose of the research was to explore the experience of learning novels; how reading contributes to knowledge,understanding of environment, and social and self-understanding in the context of adult learning theory.The research problem asked what evidence novel readers provide for making meaning as a result of their reading and what they do with that learning outcome. Research was conducted with individual interviews of five regular novel readers which served as case studies. Analysis was done by coding each interview paying particular attention to relationships to personal history, types of learning suggested and their effects. Case studies were then cross coded to discover trends and patterns.Findings showed that respondents used novels to be entertained and escape from their daily responsibilities,but along the way they also experienced a variety of types of learning. They collected new information they found personally interesting or added to an existing knowledge base, challenged their perspectives to think abut themselves and others in new ways. There was also a variety of uses for what they had learned. Respondents reported believing they have a broader knowledge base, could more effective interact with others, arrive at greater self-awareness, and in a few instances change behavior.The experience of learning from novels is a remarkable combination of self-motivation and self-direction undertaken for pleasure, yet incidentally can result in a range of learning outcomes including building a more complex knowledge base, constructivist organization and interpretation of information, critical reflection about self and others, and transformation of understanding to result in change.
Ed. D.

The aim of this dissertation is to study postmodern historical novels, which are labeled &ldquo
historiographic metafictions&rdquo
(Hutcheon 1989: 92), in terms of their allowing for different voices and alternative, plural histories by subverting the historical documents and events that they refer to. The study analyzes texts from feminist and postcolonial literature, Jeanette Winterson&rsquo
s The Passion and Sexing the Cherry, and Salman Rushdie&rsquo
s Midnight&rsquo
s Children and Shame as examples in which the transgression of boundaries between fact and fiction is achieved. Basing its arguments on postmodern understanding of history, the thesis puts forward that historiography not only represents past events but it also gives meaning to them, as it is a signifying system, and turns historical events into historical facts. Historiography, while constructing historical facts, singles out certain past events while omitting others, for ideological reasons. This inevitably leads to the fact that marginalized groups are denied an official voice by hegemonic ideologies. Therefore, history is regarded as monologic, representing the dominant discourse. The thesis will analyze four novels by Winterson and Rushdie as double-voiced discourses where the dominant voice of history is refracted through subversion and gives way to other voices that have been suppressed. While analyzing the novels themselves, the thesis will look for the metafictional elements of the texts, stressing self-reflexivity, non-linear narrative, and parodic intention to pinpoint the refraction and the co-existence of plural voices. As a result, historiographic metafiction is proved to be a liberating genre, for feminist and postcolonial writers, that enables other histories to be verbalized.

Thesis (DLitt)--University of Stellenbosch, 2002.
207 leaves printed single pages, preliminary pages i-xiii and numbered pages 1-195. Includes bibliography.
Digitized at 600 dpi grayscale to pdf format (OCR), using a Bizhub 250 Konica Minolta Scanner.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The object of this study is to examine the expression of tragedy in randomly selected Sesotho novels in two major periods, namely the early period (1925 to 1970s) and the later period (1970s to 1990s). Five Sesotho novels will be discussed in each period and give an indication of tragic expression in that period. It is however not the main emphasis in this work to compare and contrast between the two periods but mainly to observe patterns of tragedy and tragic expressions in Sesotho novels. Chapter One orientates the reader by indicating aspects such as the problem identification, aim of the research, the approach or modus operandi, the scope as well as the organisation of the study, that is, a brief arrangement of chapters and presentation of what would be contained in subsequent chapters. Chapter Two presents the theoretical framework within which the research will be based. As the theoretical framework in this work, aspects of tragedy, namely, character, plot and theme will be discussed. Chapter Three focuses on the early Sesotho tragedies within the literary period 1925 to 1970s. As already indicated, five novels, namely, Chaka, Mphatlalatsane, Moiketsi, Mosali a nkhola, and Leshala Ie tswala molora will be discussed in terms of the theoretical principles suggested in Chapter Two. At the end of the chapter, an analysis of the findings and conclusions will be drawn on tragic expressions in these novels. These novels distinguish themselves as largely classical tragedies (there are modern ones also) in terms of the nature of tragic characters available. Chapter Four examines the later Sesotho tragedies ranging between the period 1970s to 1990s. As in early Sesotho novels, five novels will be discussed with a view to highlight tragic expressions in this period. Peo ena ejetswe ke wena, Mehaladitwe ha e eketheha, Nna ke mang, Ke lesheleshele leo a iphehletseng lona and Lehlaba la lephako will be the novels we analyse. Analysis of the findings will be made and conclusions drawn at the end of the chapter in how tragedy is expressed in all these novels. These novels distinguish themselves as largely modern tragedies in terms of the tragic characters portrayed in them. Chapter Five presents the general conclusions on all the novels discussed in the two periods. A comparison will be made as to how tragic expression differs from one period to another particularly in terms of the three aspects of tragedy. Each novel will be given the individual attention and focussed exclusively as to how it presents tragedy and how perhaps it differs from others.
SESOTHO ABSTRACT: Ka mosebetsi ona wa diphuputso re hlahloba ka moo mahlomola a totobatswang ka teng dingolweng tse kgethilweng dinakong tsena tsa bongodi, e leng ho tloha selemong sa 1925 ho isa selemong sa 1970 le tse hlahlamang esita le nako ya morao e qalang selemong sa 1970 ho isa dilemong tsa 1990 le tse hlahlamang. Re tla hlahloba dipale tse hlano mokgahlelong 0 mong le 0 mong wa nako e le ho totobatsa ka moo mahlomola a hlahiswang ka teng dipaleng tsa Sesotho. Ha se sepheo se seholo sa mosebetsi ona ho bapisa totobatso ya mahlomola mekgahlelong ena ya nako empa sepheo se seholo ke ho bontsha ka moo mahlomola a hlahiswang ka teng dipaleng tsa Sesotho. Kgaolong ya Pele re tla nyenyeletsa mrnadi diphuputsong tsena ka ho mo tsebisa dintlha tsa bohlokwa malebana Ie mosebetsi ona tse kang totobatso ya qaka, sepheo sa phuputso ena, mokgwa oo phuputso e tla etswa ka ona, dintlha tse tla fuputswa esita le tlhophiso ya mosebetsi ona. Ka tlhophiso ya mosebetsi ona re bolela tatelano ya dikgaolo esita le tlhahiso ya kgaolo ka nngwe, ho tse tla latela. Kgaolong ya Bobedi re hlahisa teori kapa moralo wa tsebo 0 tla sebediswa bakeng sa phuputso ena. Tse ding tsa dikarolwana tsa moralo ona wa tsebo e tla ba dikarolo tsa bohlokwa tsa pale ya mahlomola, mme ka hona mosebetsi 0 tla totobatsa mophetwa, moralo wa kgohlano (poloto) le mookotaba. Dintlha tsena tsa moralo wa tsebo di tla sebediswa dipaleng tsa Sesotho tse tla hlahlojwa dikgaolong tse tla latela. Kgaolong ya Boraro re hlahloba dipale tsa Sesotho tse ngotsweng mokgahlelong wa pele wa nako mme e le nako e qalang selemong sa 1925 ho isa selemong sa 1970 le tse mmalwa tse latelang. Jwalo ka ha re se re hlalositse, re tla hlahloba dipale tse hlano e leng Chaka, Mphatlalatsane, Moiketsi, Mosali a nkhola le Leshala le tswala rnolora ho latela dintlha tseo re buileng ka tsona kgaolong ya bobedi. Qetellong ya kgaolo ena re tla hlahloba diqeto tseo re di etsang ho latela tseo re di lemohileng dipaleng tsena malebana Ie tlhahiso ya mahlomola. Dipale tsena ke dipale tsa tlelaseki tse tshwanang le tsa.S ekgerike (le hoja ho ntse ho na le dipale tsa sejwalejwale) ho latela semelo sa mophetwa wa mahlomola. Kgaolong ya Bone re hlahloba dipale tsa mahlomola tsa mokgahlelo wa sejwalejwale mme e le dipale tse ngotsweng nakong ya selemo sa 1970 ho tla tihla dilemong tsa 1990 le tse hlahlamang. Jwalo ka ha re ile ra etsa dipaleng tsa kgale, re tla hlahloba dipale tse hlano e le ho bontsha ka moo mahlomola a totobatswang ka teng paleng tsa Sesotho. Dipale tseo re tla di hlahloba ke Pea ena ejetswe ke wena, Mehaladitwe ha e eketheha, Nna ke mang, Ke lesheleshele lea a iphehletseng lana Ie Lehlaba la lephaka. Ha re se re hlahlobile dipale tsena re tla fana ka diqeto tseo re di tihleletseng mabapi le ka moo mahlomola a hlahiswang ka teng paleng tsena. Dipale tsena di ka tsejwa e le dipale tsa sejwalejwale ho latela mofuta wa mophetwa wa mahlomola ya fumanwang ho tsona. Kgaolong ya Bohlano re fana ka diqeto tse akaretsang malebana Ie dipale tsohle tseo re di hlahlobileng mekgahlelong ena e mmedi ya nako. Re tla bapisa ka moo tlhahiso ya mahlomola e fapaneng ka teng ka lebaka la tshwaetso ya semelo sa mophetwa, diketsahalo kapa moralo esita Ie mookotaba kapa molaetsa. Re tla lekola pale ka nngwe mme re hlahlobe ka moo e hlahisang mahlomola ka teng le ka moo e fapanang le dipale tse ding ka teng.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie studie is om die voorkoms van die tragedie in geselekteerde Suid-Soetoe romans gedurende hoofsaaklik twee periodes, naamlik, die vroeere periode (1925 tot die 1970's) en die latere periode (1970 tot die 1990's) te ondersoek. Vyf Suid-Soetoe romans sal bespreek word rakende elke periode en sal 'n aanduiding gee van die tragedie gedurende die betrokke periode. Dit is egter nie die hoofdoel van die werk om vergelykings en onderskeidinge tussen die twee periodes te tref nie, maar eerder om tragedie en tragiese elemente binne Suid-Soetoe romans te bespreek. Hoofstuk Een se doel sal wees om die leser te orienteer aangesien dit aspekte soos die probleem identifikasie, die doel van die studie, die omvang en die voorlopige navorsing gemaak in terme van ander navorsingswerke rakende die onderwerp bevat, naamlik, vorige studies rakende die karakter in Suid-Soetoe romans met spesifieke verwysing na tragiese karakters. Die hoofstuk sal ook die uiteensetting van die studie, soos die uitleg van die hoofstukke en inhoud van daaropvolgende hoofstukke bevat, bespreek. Hoofstuk Twee stel die teoretiese raamwerk bekend waarop die navorsing gebasseer is. As deel van die raamwerk, sal aspekte van die tragedie soos karakter, intrige en tema bespreek word. Hierdie teoretiese aspekte sal dan toegepas word op Suid-Soetoe romans in opvolgende hoofstukke. Hoofstuk Drie fokus op die vroeere Suid-Soetoe tragedies binne die literere periode 1925 tot 1970s. Vyf romans, naamlik Chaka, Mphatlalatsane, Moiketsi, Mosali a nkhola en Leshala Ie tswala rnolora sal bespreek word in terme van teoretiese beginsels genoem in Hoofstuk Twee. Aan die einde van die hoofstuk sal 'n analise gemaak word van die bevindinge en gevolgtrekkings rakende die tragedie se voorkoms in hierdie romans. Hierdie romans onderskei hulself grootliks as klassieke tragedies in terme van die tragiese karakters se voorkoms. Hoofstuk Vier ondersoek die latere Suid-Soetoe tragedies gedurende die tydperk 1970 tot 1990. Soos in die vroeere tydperk, sal vyf romans bespreek word met die doel om die aspekte van tragedie te aksentueer. Peo ena e jetswe ke wena, Mehaladitwe ha e eketheha, Nna ke mang, Ke lesheleshele leo a iphehletseng lona en Lehlaba la lephako sal romans wees waarop gefokus word. 'n Analise van die bevindinge en gevolgtrekkings sal gemaak word aan die einde van die hoofstuk en sal die voorkoms van die tragedie in al die romans beskryf. Hierdie romans onderskei hulself hoofsaaklik as moderne tragedies in terme van die tragiese karakters se voorkoms. Hoofstuk Vyf verskaf algemene gevolgtrekkings waartoe gekom is in die voorafgaande bespreking van die genoemde twee periodes. 'n Vergelyking sal gemaak word oor hoe die voorkoms van die tragedie verskil van een periode na die ander, rakende die tragiese figuur. Elke roman sal individuele aandag kry en klem sal gele word op hoe dit verskil van ander romans.

The mid-Victorian novelist George Eliot had a keen interest and expertise in mathematics, which she studied throughout her life, and this had a profound influence on her work as a novelist. Not only does mathematics appear overtly in several of her novels, and particularly in the first two, but her mathematical way of thinking also informs the way in which she structures her novels and her arguments. In the first novel, the eponymous hero, Adam Bede, is a mathematically-minded carpenter and his thoughts about mathematics recur throughout the novel. This novel and Eliot’s second novel, The Mill on the Floss, include discussions of mathematics education that demonstrate the author’s awareness of curricular and pedagogical issues. Eliot’s imagery frequently makes use of mathematics and mathematical physics, which she offers the reader with the deftness and clarity of an expert. Her logical mathematical thinking helps her to structure her novels, and the epigraphs in her last two novels, which contribute to this structuring, frequently have a mathematical basis. Eliot’s narrators continually philosophise, and the arguments they offer the reader are repeatedly informed by mathematical and logical thinking. This is particularly true of Eliot’s philosophising about gender, and about the way in which women are frequently seen as different from men, particularly in the context of education. Eliot has a notorious concern for truth, and mathematical argument enables her to distinguish the certain from the uncertain, and to mock absurd presuppositions. Eliot was aware of current mathematical controversies regarding the teaching of mathematics and regarding non-Euclidean geometry; these appear in the novels. Mathematicians are often characterised as having a narrow and unimaginative view of the world – this view is counteracted by Eliot’s novels, which demonstrate how it is possible to use mathematics to engage our sympathy.

L'étude de l'éthique, de la vision du monde, telle qu'elle est analysée à travers les romans de Mrs Gaskell, constitue la substance de ce travail. Les romans étudiés sont Mary Barton, Cranford, North and South, Ruth, Sylvia's lovers, Wives and daughters. C'est une étude qui est basée sur l'analyse des réactions des victoriens face aux différentes transformations qui avaient lieu à l'époque. La première partie présente la scène socio-économique de Manchester ou Mrs Gaskell a vécu de longues années. Il s'agit d'une analyse des répercussions des changements engendrés par le phénomène d'urbanisation et d'industrialisation sur l'aspect socio-économique de leur vie. La seconde partie décrit la scène intellectuelle en analysant les diverses réactions des personnages face à l'éducation et à la science, à l'industrie et au commerce. A la région, à la politique, et à d'autres sujets liés à des problèmes moraux. La troisième partie se veut être une synthèse, une espèce d'évaluation des deux parties précédentes. Elle définit certains moyens mis en œuvre par la romancière pour peser sur ses lecteurs, pour les influencer sur sa propre position vis-à-vis des problèmes moraux de son âge
The study of ethics, of world vision, as it is seen through Mrs Gaskell’s novels, is the gist of the present work. The corpus of the study is made up of Mary Barton, Cranford, North and South, Ruth, Sylvia's lovers wives and daughters. This study rests on the analysis of the victorians' reactions when faced with the ongoing transformations. The first part offers a picture of the socio-economic scene of Manchester where Mrs Gaskell spent most of her lifetime. It analyses the repercussions of the changes brought about by urbanization and industrialization on the socio-economic side of the nancunians' lives. The second part describes the intellectual scene through an analysis of the various reactions of the characters towards education and science, business and trade, religion, politics, and other questions linked to moral problems. The third part attempts a synthesis, a kind of evaluation of the previous two parts. It analyses some means implemented by the novelist to weigh on her readers, to influence them as regards her own stance towards the moral problems of the period

Adult literacy teachers search for effective, engaging and distinctly 'adult' ways to develop adult emergent reading. Reading circles are used in adult English Language Teaching to develop a range of reading and other linguistic skills, and for at least the past two hundred years adults have formed themselves into reading circles to read and discuss novels on a weekly or monthly basis. Why then are reading circles rarely used in formal adult literacy provision? This thesis uses a case study of a reading circle within a London adult literacy workshop to investigate what a reading circle approach can offer adult emergent reading development, as well as what adult literacy learners can tell us about novel reading and the reading circle experience. A qualitative analysis of individual interviews, focus groups and taped reading circle sessions produces six themes for exploration: reading as five acts, reading identity, the nature of knowing words, how a novel is 'built up' by the reader, the relationship between fiction, truth and learning and why it may be 'nice' to read in a group. Areas for discussion include reading as a communal cognitive process (as well'as a communal practice), reading circles as self- and peer-differentiation, and novel reading as a political act. Implications are discussed for both the teaching and learning of adult emergent reading and for our understanding of novel reading processes and practices.

Catherine Clément, in The Newly Born Woman, regards 'magic, spectacle and illness' as the performance of the feminine. In studying the narratives of masquerading and miming women, these are the images which I locate: the magic of the sorceress, the spectacle of the transvestites or the illness of the hysteric. Within this thesis, I study instances of masquerade or mimicry, and their influence upon gender identity, in a selection of texts by nineteenth century women written for a particularly feminine audience: Belinda (1801) by Maria Edgeworth, Lady Audley's Secret (1861) by Mary Elizabeth Braddon, The Chase, Or, A Long Fatal Love Chase (1866) by Louisa Alcott, Through One Administration (1883) and The Secret Garden (1913), both by Frances Hodgson Burnett. My approach is neither historical nor chronological. Moving away from historicising the masquerade, I mirror the fate of the masked occasion in history: its attenuation and sublimation inside the domestic. Rather than focusing on contextuality, I concentrate on textuality. The interiorised nature of that performance demands that my approach becomes theoretical, and in particular, psychoanalytic, given that both the masquerade and psychoanalysis deals with gender as construction and representation. By resisting chronology, I can express a reluctance to assume a progression towards a 'truth' or 'reality' and allow the masquerade to remain complex. Primarily I am interested in examining the 'theatrical' representation of the various female bodies written into the narratives. However, I am also concerned with textual masquerade/mime: whether the novels studied operate within a system of masquerade or mimicry and whether the discursive impulse is one of the capitulation or subversion. As I read femininity as performance, or as spectacle, constructed by a masculine audience, and represented by the feminine, I question the area 'behind-the-mask', and what lies there - indeed, whether it is possible to articulate it.

Adaptation of novels and other source texts into theatre has proven to be a recurring and popular form of writing through the ages. This study argues that as the theoretical discourse has moved on from outmoded notions of fidelity to original sources, the practice of adaptation is a method of re-invigorating theatre forms and inventing new ones. This practice-led research employed a tripartite methodology comprised of the writing of two play adaptations, participation by the author/researcher in their productions, and exegetical components focused on the development and deployment of analytical tools. These tools were derived from theoretical literature and a creative practice based on acquired professional artistry "learnt by doing" over a longstanding professional career as actor, director and writer. A suite of analytical tools was developed through the three phases of the first project, the adaptation of Nick Earls’ novel Perfect Skin. The tools draw on Cardwell’s "comparative analysis", which encompasses close consideration of generic context, authorial context and medium-specific context; and on Stam’s "mechanics of narrative": order, duration, frequency, the narrator and point of view. A third analytical lens was developed from an awareness of the significance of the commissioning brief and ethical considerations and obligations to the source text and its author and audience. The tripartite methodology provided an adaptation template that was applied to the writing and production of the second play Red Cap, which used factual and anecdotal sources. The second play’s exegesis (Chapter 10) analyses the effectiveness of the suite of analytical tools and the reception of the production in order to conclude the study with a workable model for use in the practice of adapting existing texts, both factual and fictional, for the theatre.

It is becoming increasing important that teachers educate students about social studies in such a way so that students are interested and motivated by what they read. So often the curriculum is bombarded with physically heavy, incomprehensible, and traditional textbooks. Based upon the need for extensions to the social studies textbooks, my goal to establish a guideline for selecting quality graphic novels fitted for elementary social studies instruction. Therefore, my study will attempt to answer the question: What is an effective means of determining quality graphic novels? Following my adaptation and creation of rubrics established for determining the needs and qualities of graphic novels, I was able to establish and analyze several social studies content related graphic novels appropriate for the elementary social studies curriculum. This investigation into social studies graphic novels provided 18 graphic novels for possible use in the elementary social studies curriculum, 5 of which were deemed quality via the established rubrics. Furthermore, the investigation proved that the books deemed quality provided more than what was established as necessary within the rubrics. The additional information found within those texts was referred to as a postlude. One strong conclusion from this study is the large void of graphic novels that teachers might link with the social studies curriculum so as to enhance elementary social studies instruction.
B.S.
Bachelors
Education
Elementary Education

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Maryland, College Park, 2009.
Thesis research directed by: Dept. of English. Title from t.p. of PDF. Includes bibliographical references. Published by UMI Dissertation Services, Ann Arbor, Mich. Also available in paper.

The aim of this essay is to point out how Chinua Achebe uses different features of Igbo and Nigerian Pidgin English (NPE) in four of his novels. Firstly, there will be an explanation of the terms code switching and proverb, followed by an overview of Pidgin Languages and Nigerian Pidgin English. This study will then deal with two aspects of code-switching in Achebe’s novels: semantic, which includes intertwined Igbo vocabulary and proverbs; and syntactic, which is a study of Nigerian Pidgin English verb phrase constructions. The study will examine how the Igbo lexicon and proverbs function in the text and if/how it is possible to understand the meaning of the Igbo vocabulary. Further, it will examine how the verb constructions of the NPE dialogues are used and if they follow the norm set up by other linguists, or if Achebe alters their usage according to his own style.