Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
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Videogame scholar James Paul Gee has wondered on numerous occasions whether videogames have the capacity to inspire “a sort of embodied empathy for complex systems.” In this thesis I take that...Show moreVideogame scholar James Paul Gee has wondered on numerous occasions whether videogames have the capacity to inspire “a sort of embodied empathy for complex systems.” In this thesis I take that question one step further and ask whether they can do so for virtual ecosystems. In other words this thesis explores whether what makes up the environmental orientation of videogames, among other things, is a sense of embodied empathy for the ecosystems they simulate, and from what procedural, narrative, and visual conditions this sense of empathy may be derived. In order to provide a more substantial theoretical ground from which to launch my inquiry, I develop Gee’s understanding of embodiment according to Gordon Calleja’s concept of “incorporation,” which helps me clarify how videogames involve players in ecosystems in ways that are medium-specific. Additionally, I reconceptualize the notion of empathy according to Robert Pogue Harrison’s “garden of care,” from which I distil a particular kind of emotional and ethical response to the environment, one that I conclude features differently in each of the games I single out for analysis: Fate of the World, Waking Mars, and Stardew Valley. This response, which is founded on responsibility and engagement plays an important role in their environmental orientation by establishing a relationship of care between the player and the game environment. The nature of this relationship however, is different in each encounter, depending on the way the game environment manifests itself, and how openly it solicits care.Show less
Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
open access
The tale of Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie (1860–1937) has found its way to a children's audience despite the tensions it elicits around the idea of childhood. After the novel "The Little White Bird" ...Show moreThe tale of Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie (1860–1937) has found its way to a children's audience despite the tensions it elicits around the idea of childhood. After the novel "The Little White Bird" (1902), where Peter appears for the first time, and its stage adaptation "Peter Pan" (1904), both explicitly intended for adults, Barrie arrived at his final version for children published in 1911, the novel "Peter and Wendy", through a tormented history of reworkings. My research aims at exploring the significance of Barrie’s constant reshaping of the Peter Pan materials in order to recast the story for a young audience. Moreover, I will investigate as to what extent the ambiguity and instability of the Peter Pan fictions have been tamed in its school and cinema adaptations. These adaptations have deployed strategies to counter Barrie’s rebellious attitude against the didacticism and pedagogic expectations which are conventionally associated with children’s literature. As will become clear in the following, Barrie challenged the traditional barriers between adults and children on many points. Nevertheless, Peter Pan has been singled out to become a cultural icon of children’s literature – hence, my central questions: How, exactly, did Peter Pan grow up into a children’s story? What conflicting discourses and ideologies concerning childhood may be seen to inform Barrie’s different versions of the Peter Pan story?Show less
Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
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La Bible des sept éstaz du monde de Geufroi de Paris fait partie d’une série de « Bibles intégrales », dont l’édition est l’objet des études de l’Équipe de Leyde’, formée en 1962 par Jean-Robert...Show moreLa Bible des sept éstaz du monde de Geufroi de Paris fait partie d’une série de « Bibles intégrales », dont l’édition est l’objet des études de l’Équipe de Leyde’, formée en 1962 par Jean-Robert Smeets † et continuée par Julia C. Szirmai. Dans ce mémoire de master, nous présenterons une édition du texte du Ms. BnF Fr. 1526 fol. 179r-182v, partie du Ms. mentionné par quelques auteurs, qui n’a pas été édité en entier jusqu’ici. Cette sixième partie de la Bible contient une description de l’Antéchrist, traitant la conversion des Juifs et la mort de Antéchrist, ainsi que le Jugement dernier, l’enfer et le paradis. Dans la deuxième partie de notre mémoire, nous essayerons d’apporter quelque lumière sur les sources possibles de cette partie du texte de Geufroi de Paris.Show less
Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
open access
2018-06-01T00:00:00Z
In this paper I approach the novel Distant Star (1996) by Roberto Bolaño (Chile, 1953-2003) with the goal of rendering visible the reflection and articulation that it undertakes of the fields of...Show moreIn this paper I approach the novel Distant Star (1996) by Roberto Bolaño (Chile, 1953-2003) with the goal of rendering visible the reflection and articulation that it undertakes of the fields of literature/poetics and life/politics. By means of the development of a theoretical and methodological framework mainly influenced by Mieke Bal and Jacques Rancière, I reach the conclusion that the novel offers an original contribution to the problem of political commitment in the Latin American intellectuals of the 20th century. I introduce the concepts of "poetics of juego", "doubling/mirroring" and "menardism".Show less
Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
open access
When Sir Thomas Malory wrote Le Morte d’Arthur in the late fifteenth century, he used various sources of Arthurian sources from English and French medieval literature to create his own literary...Show moreWhen Sir Thomas Malory wrote Le Morte d’Arthur in the late fifteenth century, he used various sources of Arthurian sources from English and French medieval literature to create his own literary masterpiece. His work became one of the most well-known works of Arthurian literature, a high chivalric romance full of courtly love, high moral lessons and honourable knightly values. However, this work also contains unexpected passages of comedy and humour unusual for the genre of medieval chivalric romance. In this thesis, I will be analysing this unconventional aspect of Le Morte d’Arthur to discover what function the comedy serves within this literary work. I will provide a close reading of all relevant passages of the original Middle English Text. Then I will be comparing the original text to two modern translations by Dorsay Armstrong and Keith Baines, to discover how this unique element of comedy is rendered in the modern adaptations.Show less
Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
closed access
This thesis explores the way in which governmental and non-governmental political entities legitimize and deligitimize the use of violence by means of historiography. Through the analysis of...Show moreThis thesis explores the way in which governmental and non-governmental political entities legitimize and deligitimize the use of violence by means of historiography. Through the analysis of various politically motivated violent actions and campaigns this thesis investigates the way in which the use of politically motivated violence can be retroactively (de)legitimized through the use of historical narrative.Show less
