Arts and Humanities Commons^™

A Father At 1.5 Metres: Poems Of Pandemic And Fatherhood, Edward J. Leeming

Theses : Honours

'A Father at 1.5 Metres: Poems of Pandemic and Fatherhood' is a 36 poem collection with a connecting theme of uncertainty informed by John Keats‟ concept of negative capability. Negative capability, a term introduced by Keats in 1817, suggests that a writer is benefitted by a refusal of the formation of concrete ideas, that being in uncertainty without needlessly chasing after truth allows for a better understanding of the world, and of more perspectives in their writing. The negatively capable writer is more open to possibilities and of exploring new ideas; this allows them to pursue what Keats calls “beauty”, …

Aletheia: The Orphic Ouroboros, Glen Mcknight

Theses : Honours

This thesis shows how The Orphic Hymns function as a katábasis, a descent to the underworld, representing a process of becoming and psychological rebirth. I begin with the Greek concept of sparagmόs, a dismemberment or deconstruction, as a necessary precursor in that it emphasises at once both primordial unity and yet also the incipient tensions within the Orphic initiates on this path to katabasis. The argument herein extends beyond literary explication to consider how the Orphics sought to enact this process in Greek society itself.

The thesis then establishes the connections between the Hymns and the thinking of …

‘Bloodwood’ And ‘Liminal Spaces, Timeless Places: Abjection, Liminality And Landscape In Australian Gothic Fiction’, Karleah Olson

Theses : Honours

This creative honours project comprises a work of fiction titled ‘Bloodwood’ and an accompanying exegetical essay, exploring the concept of liminal space within the Australian landscape. It investigates the anxieties and consequences of past trauma that linger within the landscape of modern Australia, exploring themes such as time, connection to nature, trauma and grief. Using Julia Kristeva’s abjection theory, particularly her ideas on liminal space, this work addresses the contentious issue of postcolonial theory within the field of literary studies, as well as the concept of grief as a liminal process. These ideas are explored through the storylines of three …

Embracing The Abject: Explored Through Kristeva’S Theory Of The Maternal And The Abject In The Creative Work “Listening”, Michelle Symes

Theses : Honours

Kristeva and Jung are both concerned with marginalization. For Jung, it is marginalization of the hidden unconscious (Hauke, 2000). For Kristeva, it is marginalization of the hidden physical realm of women and the “feminine” (Hauke, 2000, p127). Using Kristeva as my primary theorist, I will compare her subject-inprocess theory of the maternal and abject to Jung’s static unitary theory of individuation and the Shadow. Because of the parameters of this project, I have not been able to focus on the nature of Jung’s central feminine principle. By comparing Kristeva to Jung, women’s shame, as represented by patriarchy’s rejection of the …

Somewhat Damaged And Interrogating The Incubus : Sleep Paralysis Explored In The Young Adult Novel, 'Somewhat Damaged', Lauren Payne

Theses : Honours

This thesis, comprising an excerpt from my young adult paranormal novel ‘Somewhat Damaged’ and an essay, examines the mythic potential of sleep paralysis, a paralytic transitory state between sleep and consciousness during which frightening hallucinations are projected onto the waking environment. While the neurophysiology is generally agreed upon, further investigation is warranted on the anomalous phenomena that manifests during sleep paralysis hallucinations. Within the theoretical framework of psychoanalysis, particularly Carl Jung’s collective unconscious theory (1959), I will imaginatively explore the recurring figure of the ‘incubus’ of sleep paralysis that has provoked ubiquitous fear and ambiguity. The essay will describe the …

Mourning Eros: Hieroglyphic Love And Loss In H.D.'S Helen In Egypt, Shauna Karine Dorotich

Theses : Honours

H.D. and Lacan both articulate a philosophy of love that exists beyond the sexual relationship. This thesis highlights the concordance between their later writings on love, with a specific focus on Lacan's Book xx; On Feminine Sexuality, the Limits of Love and Knowledge, 1972 - 1973 (Encore), and H.D.'s Helen in Egypt. Initially, I address the paradox of erotic love to explicate the way fantasy results in the death of the woman within the sexual relationship. I then argue that a subject must experience a phase of mourning the fantasy of erotic love in order to progress to …

Dancing On The Edge Of Silence : Steps Towards Articulating The Experience Of Childhood Rape, Brenda Joy Downing

Theses : Honours

The experience and aftermath of male sexual violence is a lived reality for many girls and women. This qualitative study explores the subjective experience of childhood rape and its long-term impact focusing in particular on the implications of the silencing that continues to surround what is a deeply-felt and traumatic experience with profound life-altering consequences. The study thematically and theoretically reads the subjective experience of childhood rape within current feminist understandings of rape as a crime of violence and form of social control through the use of evocative autoethnographic writing and an exegesis.

Misconceptions: Loss And Melancholia In Poetry Of Miscarriage, Stillbirth And Abortion, Donna Yannakis

Theses : Honours

This thesis argues that cultural and discursive attitudes towards miscarriage, stillbirth and abortion attribute maternal blame to these losses and silence the expression of grief over them. It further argues that, following pregnancy loss, this silence and blame, coupled with the veneration and discursive production of motherhood as a woman's biological and psychical destiny, produce 'symptoms' that, according to Freud, are a sign of a pathological melancholia. I suggest, however, that these symptoms - self-reproach and impoverishment of the ego as responses to pregnancy loss, do not necessarily indicate a woman's pathological failure to resolve loss but reflect the social …

Visions Must Be Re-Visioned : Gender Politics In Earthsea, Audrey Barton

Theses : Honours

This thesis analyses Ursula Le Guin's interpretation of gender and genre in her Earthsea novels, A Wizarf of Earthsea (1968) and Teha1111 (1990). Examining Le Guin's assertion for the need to "re-vision" her former work with the latter, I interrogate the ways in which she attempts to "break free" from the ideologies that impose themselves upon her work. Part one explores the mode of the hero quest used in A Wizard of Earthsea and examines the significance of this in terms of "gendering" the text. Part two examines the revisioned text Tehanu and the ways in which the …

Voices From A Reliquary, Donna Jean Mazza

Theses : Honours

"Voices from a Reliquary" is a series of six short stories drawn from genealogical research. The stories explore historical events and issues which affected the family. Two main thematical bases of the stories are the power of the historical relic and the life transforming effect of journeys. Major theoretical issues considered within the work are the relationship between historical-biographical narrative and the cognitive processes of memory. My narrative style seeks to imitate these cognitive processes, mainly through the use of what Bakhtin termed “polyphonic" narrative. Research for the stories was gathered from letters and interviews with surviving family members. Photographs, …

El Aspecto Humanitario De La Obra Literaria De Camilo Jose Cela, Jean T.A. Page

Theses : Honours

The aim of this study is to demonstrate a particular aspect of Camilo Jose Cela’s writing, that is, his sympathy and concern for the underprivileged and those people alienated from the mainstream of society. It will thereby endeavour to reveal Cela’s deep understanding of the human condition. This thesis analyses four of Cela’s works, namely, La familia de Pascual, La calmena, Viole a la Alcarria and San Camilo 36 and compares two of them, La calmeno and San Camilo 36. The study concludes with a detailed look Cela's treatment of humanitarian issues, a literary quality that explains why this author …