This thesis analyzes two American novels as interventions in the cultural memory of slavery. By considering Toni Morrison's seminal novel Beloved (1987) and Nathan Harris's contemporary text The...Show moreThis thesis analyzes two American novels as interventions in the cultural memory of slavery. By considering Toni Morrison's seminal novel Beloved (1987) and Nathan Harris's contemporary text The Sweetness of Water (2021) as documents of cultural memory, this thesis argues that they contribute to an understanding of the history of slavery and reflect cultural changes in how it is remembered publicly.Show less
In this paper we construe a renovative dialogue by placing the conception of morality that follows from Imam Abu Hamid al- Ghazali’s metaphysics in conversation with equivalent ideas from Friedrich...Show moreIn this paper we construe a renovative dialogue by placing the conception of morality that follows from Imam Abu Hamid al- Ghazali’s metaphysics in conversation with equivalent ideas from Friedrich Nietzsche and Michel Foucault, who are both defining thinkers of the Postmodern current. The dialogue primarily serves to clarify how exactly ideas from the traditional religio- philosophical system of the reviver of the Islamic faith may contribute to the expansion of the Postmodern horizon, whilst keeping an eye on its invaluable insights which promise to advance and enrich traditional thought. The central proposition of this paper is that Imam al- Ghazali’s epistemology is expansive to Postmodern thought in providing the philosophical ground for positive and fruitful deliberations on moral truth by synthesizing the faculty of reason with immediate experience (dhawq) with reference to the spiritual heart (qalb) of humans, which is an epistemic faculty of immediate insight into the nature of reality. We argue that traditional Islamic thought is relevant in the context of Secularism, because it answers to the Western surrender of Metaphysics, offering an experientiably verifiable method by means of which to engage in valid metaphysical and moral inquiry. To achieve this end we give a detailed exposition of Imam al- Ghazali’s multi- faceted, life- oriented ethics, critically examine some of the central propositions of Postmodern thought in relation to morality and place them into a dynamic dialogue with the Imam’s religio- philosophical system. Furthermore we present personal considerations supported by and harmonious with the Imam’s writings which question the validity of the nihilistic claims of its interlocutor. It is the purpose of the present endeavor to capture and deliberate about sensitive ideas which shape contemporary secular ideology in a rigorous manner, whilst opening pathways to the consideration that there might be more to reality than matter and ideology.Show less
Bachelor thesis | Film- en literatuurwetenschap (BA)
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Studies show that literature is highly affected by the context in which it is written. Therefore, literature can be analyzed as a case study in order to identify the tendencies of thought in the...Show moreStudies show that literature is highly affected by the context in which it is written. Therefore, literature can be analyzed as a case study in order to identify the tendencies of thought in the time that a story is written. The purpose of this study was to "analyze" how the scientific discourse in (post)modern detective fiction can be related to the changing scientific and philosophical context of the twentieth century. Through an extensive textual analysis of a detective character’s methodology, a picture could be painted of their scientific beliefs. By going through this process for two detective characters, the Victorian Sherlock Holmes and the postmodern William of Baskerville, a comparison between the two may then reveal how the shifts in the philosophical field of science and theory could have affected their methods of theoretical thought that they utilize to interpret the world and subsequently solve cases. The study showed that Sherlock Holmes never questioned the objective and observable nature of evidence and universal causality, whereas in William of Baskerville’s methodology the elusiveness of any attempt to interpret the world was a major focus. Relating these findings to the philosophical ideas that were most dominant in the beginning and the end of the twentieth century showed that this shift correlates with the manner in which society’s confidence in the objectivity of science and knowledge has diminished.Show less
Masterthesis for Literature in Society track on the concepts of postmodernism and post-postmodernism in the work of Jonathan Franzen, more specifically an ecocritical study on what the presence of...Show moreMasterthesis for Literature in Society track on the concepts of postmodernism and post-postmodernism in the work of Jonathan Franzen, more specifically an ecocritical study on what the presence of particular characteristics of the latter literary movement in The Corrections (2001) and Freedom (2010) could mean for the idea of climate change and how serious that is taken in novels todayShow less
Bachelor thesis | Film- en literatuurwetenschap (BA)
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Central to this thesis are Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow and David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest. It is argued that both enforce an interactive reading process through circular motifs and...Show moreCentral to this thesis are Thomas Pynchon's Gravity's Rainbow and David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest. It is argued that both enforce an interactive reading process through circular motifs and narrative structures. These interactive, "circular" readings coincide with the novels' political and psychological themes, so form and content support each other, which contradicts some critical clichés surrounding postmodernist literature.Show less
Research master thesis | Literary Studies (research) (MA)
open access
This thesis focuses on haunting house tales - fictions which depict an active and malevolent house - through the lens of postmodernism. Using the theories of Brian McHale and Linda Hutcheon, the...Show moreThis thesis focuses on haunting house tales - fictions which depict an active and malevolent house - through the lens of postmodernism. Using the theories of Brian McHale and Linda Hutcheon, the thesis analyzes three American haunting house novels: Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House," King's "The Shining," and Danielewski's "House of Leaves." Especially the notions of history, knowledge, and science are of relevance in this context. As is claimed, the haunting house does away with the idea that knowledge about the house and its past is empowering, since the supernatural events are not caused by a gruesome crime of the past.Show less
