Browsing by Subject "literature"
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- ItemOpen AccessAny human heart: life-writing in modern fiction & verse(2013) Wilson, Jean MoorcroftThis course is by Dr Jean Moorcroft Wilson, biographer, publisher and lecturer at Birkbeck College, University of London. For lovers of literature and students who want an overview of the lives and writing of Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, Wiliam Boys and Yevgeny Yevtuschenko. For lovers of literature and students who want an overview of the lives and writing of Virginia Woolf, Sylvia Plath, Wiliam Boys and Yevgeny Yevtuschenko.
- ItemOpen AccessExploring the novels of Zakes Mda(2012) Fincham, GailLecture series presented by Associate Professor Gail Fincham, Department of English, University of Cape Town. This lecture series, focusing on the novels of famous South African author Zakes Mda, will be of interest to students of African literature and lovers of literature more generally.
- ItemOpen AccessHomer's Epic, 'The Iliad': a world classic in a South African context(2013-02) Whitaker, RichardFor anyone interested in learning more about the interpretation and translation of Homer's epic in a South African context. A lecture series by Emeritus Professor Richard Whitaker, translator, writer, freelance travel writer. Homer’s epic poem, the Iliad, which tells the tale of Troy, has been continuously loved, read and translated for two and a half thousand years. This course will explain why the poem has achieved classic status, and then will explore the poem in a South African context. After an introduction to the archaic Greek world of Homer and the epic, it will look at the plot and major themes of the Iliad, analysing aspects such as the nature of the hero, heroic values and the representation of women. Translation is a vital part of the Iliad’s history, as most readers have always read the epic in translation. The course will compare selected passages in English translations by Alexander Pope (1720), Christopher Logue (War Music, 1959–2005) and the lecturer’s recent southern African version (2012) to show that every translation is an interpretation. Using the lecturer’s own translation, the course will demonstrate how the Iliad can be understood in the light of South Africa’s present and past. Similarities will be drawn between the world of the epic and aspects of South African society, such as the assessment of bride-price in cattle and poetic praise singing as a central way in which a person’s identity survives into the future in an oral culture. LECTURE TITLES: 1. Homer and the Iliad: Where? When? How?; 2. ‘Muse sing the anger of Achilles’: the plot of the Iliad; 3. Major themes of the epic: gods and heroes, life and death; 4. The Iliad in English: translation as interpretation; 5. Understanding the Iliad in a southern African context. Recommended reading: * Griffin, J. 1980. Homer on Life and Death. Oxford: Clarendon Press. * Steiner, G. 1996. Homer in English. London: Penguin. * Whitaker, R. 2012. The Iliad of Homer: a Southern African Translation. Cape Town: New Voices.
- ItemOpen AccessH i kinematics, mass distribution and star formation threshold in NGC 6822, using the SKA pathfinder KAT-7(2017) Namumba, B; Carignan, C; Passmoor, S; de Blok, W J GWe present high sensitivity H I observations of NGC 6822, obtained with the Karoo Array Telescope (KAT-7). We study the kinematics, the mass distribution and the star formation thresholds. The KAT-7 short baselines and low system temperature make it sensitive to large-scale, low surface brightness emission. The observations detected ∼ 23 per cent more flux than previous Australian Telescope Compact Array observations. We fit a tilted ring model to the H I velocity field to derive the rotation curve (RC). The KAT-7 observations allow the measurement of the rotation curve of NGC 6822 out to 5.8 kpc, ∼1 kpc further than existing measurements. NGC 6822 is seen to be dark matter dominated at all radii. The observationally motivated pseudo-isothermal dark matter (DM) halo model reproduces well the observed RC while the Navarro Frank-White DM model gives a poor fit to the data. We find the best-fitting mass-to-light ratio (M/L) of 0.12 ± 0.01 which is consistent with the literature. The modified Newtonian dynamics gives a poor fit to our data. We derive the star formation threshold in NGC 6822 using the H I and H α data. The critical gas densities were calculated for gravitational instabilities using the Toomre-Q criterion and the cloud-growth criterion. We found that in regions of star formation, the cloud-growth criterion explains star formation better than the Toomre-Q criterion. This shows that the local shear rate could be a key player in cloud formation for irregular galaxies such as NGC 6822.
- ItemOpen AccessThe life and art of Hans Christian Andersen(2013) Fernald, Karinby Karin Fernald, freelance writer, performer, speaker. For anyone interested in learning more about the life and art of this famous Danish storyteller.
- ItemOpen AccessLove and law in Verona: Romeo and Juliet(2013) Finn, StephenShakespeare's profound knowledge of Italy has generally been downplayed. This audio lecture discusses the historical, geographical and political aspects of this knowledge in the famous play 'Romeo and Juliet'. This resource is useful for high school and university students who would like a refreshing take on one of Shakespeare's most famous works.
- ItemOpen AccessMedicine and the Arts Week 1 - The heart of art and literature(2015-01-21) Anderson, PeterIn this video, the poet Peter Anderson discusses the heart from a literary perspective, in terms of metaphor and symbolism. He argues that the heart has been used as a metaphor for life in literature and art for centuries but that heart transplants challenge our traditional understanding of the heart as a symbol of the self. This is the fifth video in Week 1 of the Medicine and the Arts Massive Open Online Course.
- ItemOpen AccessMedicine and the Arts Week 5 - Insights into mental illness in art(2015-01-21) Reid, SteveIn this video, Steve Reid introduces the topic of mental illness and art and how it will be explored through dialogue with two artists, Finuala Downling and Sean Baumann. This is the first video in Week 5 of the Medicine and the Arts Massive Open Online Course.
- ItemOpen AccessMedicine and the Arts Week 5 - Seeing and living with dementia(2015-01-21) Dowling, FinualaIn this video, writer and poet Finuala Dowling introduces and read six short poems that are taken from her anthology ‘Notes from the Dementia Ward’. This is the second video in Week 5 of the Medicine and the Arts Massive Open Online Course.
- ItemOpen AccessThe monsters we deserve: vampires in selected literature & film(2013) Tiffin, JessicaVampires have been a staple of horror literature for decades, but recently have emerged strongly in popular culture and are represented in a range of different ways. This audio lecture series by Dr Jessica Tiffin, Student Development Officer, Faculty of Humanities Undergraduate Office, University of Cape Town explores the figure of the vampire in Western culture, from its folkloric roots to modern literature and film.
- ItemOpen AccessThe travelling salesman: A tribute to K Sello Duiker 1974-2005(2005) Raditlhalo, SamThe young South African writer K. Sello Duiker (1974-2005) committed suicide on 19 January 2005. He had been suffering from a bi-polar disorder. He had written two brilliant novels: 'Thirteen Cents' (2000) about child abuse in wealthy, sophisticated Cape Town) and 'The Quiet Violence of Dreams' (2001) about male sexual abuse and violence in present-day South Africa. This obituary pays tribute to his brief life and his greatness as a writer.
- ItemOpen AccessWriters reading: favourite books(2013) Heyns, Michiel; Dowling, Finuala; Coovadia, Imraan; Omotoso, Yewande; Rose-Innes, HenriettaWhat books do writers read for pleasure? This course will reveal which recent books five prominent South African writers - Finuala Dowling, Michiel Heyns, Yewande Omotoso, Henrietta Rose-Innes and Imraan Coovadia - are currently enjoying and why. For anyone interested in learning more about what prominent SA writers read for pleasure.