Browsing by Author "Steinmeyer, Elke Gisela."

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Blessed or bloody? Antigone in Sylvain Bemba’s Noces Posthumes de Santigone.
(Association of French Studies in Southern Africa., 2010) Steinmeyer, Elke Gisela.
Dans sa pièce de théâtre Noces Posthumes de Santigone, l’écrivain congolais Sylvain Bemba a produit une adaptation africaine de la tragédie Antigone de Sophocle. Il se sert du mythe ancien pour illustrer la situation politique dans de nombreux pays d’Afrique pendant les années 1980. En utilisant un pays fictif, la République d’Amandla, il décrit le rêve et l’échec d’une utopie postcoloniale. Ses trois protagonistes, Melissa (Antigone), Titus Saint-Just Bund (Polynice/Hémon) et le conteur (Griot), vont préserver la mémoire de cette utopie. Melissa, comme Antigone, est chargée de l’enterrement et de la garde du tombeau du président Titus Saint-Just Bund, qui a été assassiné par ses ennemis, mais elle meurt dans un accident d’avion. Le conteur va préserver leur histoire pour le peuple. Il semble que dans cette pièce de théâtre Bemba voulait créer une mémoire éternelle pour le personnage historique Thomas Sankara, président du Burkina Faso, qui représente pour lui l’incarnation d’une vision africaine à la fois sainte et sanglante (blessée), exprimée par le nom de «Santigone».
Chanting the song of sorrow : threnody in Homer and Zakes Mda.
(Taylor & Francis., 2003) Steinmeyer, Elke Gisela.
This article examines the role of threnody in ancient Greece and contemporary South Africa. The main focus is on its representation in literature, in this case a passage from Homer's Iliad and the novel Ways of Dying (1995) by Zakes Mda, which are read in their respective historical contexts. The aim is to compare the different functions which threnody fulfills in different societies in different times with special emphasis on societies in crisis and transition.
Electra transformations.
(University of Otago., 2006) Steinmeyer, Elke Gisela.
No abstract available.
Few against many : the reception of the battle of Thermopylae in popular culture, South Africa and children's literature.
(2009) Murray, Jeffrey.; Steinmeyer, Elke Gisela.
The Battle of Thermopylae in 480 B.C. is an event of Greek history that has inspired numerous subsequent receptions. Many of these later ‘receptions’ of the battle have been studied in varying degrees of detail by scholars over the years, however certain periods, or modes of reception have been ignored or neglected in this scholarship. In this dissertation I examine some of these neglected areas of research. These areas include: the uses and abuses of the Battle of Thermopylae in contemporary popular culture. In this section I focus primarily on Frank Miller’s graphic novel 300 (1998/9), as well as Zack Snyder’s 2006 film of the same name. Secondly I focus on a ‘national’ response to the ‘Thermopylae theme’, in which I consider its use in South Africa. I narrow my focus to examine its use as a motif in the poetry of the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. Finally I explore how the Battle of Thermopylae was employed by writers of children’s literature in the Victorian period, where I delimit my discussion to Caroline Dale Snedeker’s The Coward of Thermopylae (1911), as well as Andrew Lang’s short story: ‘The Spartan Three Hundred’ in The True Story Book (1893). These categories cover films, graphic novels, poetry as well as fiction and non-fiction for children. Yet despite being disparate categories, each of these periods, places or genres maintains the ‘kernel’ of the story of Thermopylae: a few, brave Greeks who fought for freedom against the countless Persians invading their land. At the same time different elements of the story are exploited to highlight various issues important in the different contexts and periods. It is my hope that this thesis will not only play a role in researching these lesser known appropriations and adaptations of the Battle of Thermopylae, but that it will also ‘break boundaries’ in the field of reception studies within the discipline of Classics.
Girl guides : towards a model of female guides in ancient epic.
(2009) Nagy, Szerdi.; Steinmeyer, Elke Gisela.
Numerous ancient epics and their heroes share certain characteristics. Lord Raglan and Joseph Campbell, among others, developed these characteristics into hero models. In their models, it is mentioned that many heroes undergo a katabasis or a figurative death and resurrection. The presence of a female guide in the hero’s descent into the Underworld has been largely neglected in Classical scholarship, despite the fact that the study of epic has been for some time a largely saturated field. It will be this aspect of the epic that I intend to examine. I will be examining a selection of female guides and will create a model consisting of their similarities loosely based on those models of Raglan and Campbell. I will be examining the role of female guides in various epics; namely, the Gilgamesh Epic (Siduri), the Odyssey (Circe), and the Aeneid (the Sibyl) and in a later chapter, those in the Argonautica (Medea) and the Pharsalia (Erichtho). In addition to these guides, I shall be examining one guide that does not come from epic, Ariadne. The female guides I shall be examining appear in two forms, either as a literal guide who descends with the hero into the Underworld, or as a figurative guide who provides assistance from a distance through advice or instruction. One of the reasons why I feel that this topic is of importance is the socio-historical context in which these texts were written, times and places when women played a largely inferior and subservient role to men. The fictional literary guides seem to be representing strong and independent women. I find this to be remarkable considering the times that these texts were written in. The analysis of these female guides will conclude with a compilation of the similarities they share that shall form the basis for my own female guide model. My model will be established in two consecutive steps: first the female guides Siduri, Circe and the Sibyl will be examined and a preliminary model established. In addition, I will try and prove a common ancestry for them. Secondly, I will test my preliminary model on Medea, Erichtho and Ariadne. As a result, I will propose a final model comprising all the female guides dealt with in my dissertation. This model will be my contribution to scholarship on epic literature from a Comparative approach.
The parent-child relationship and the Homeric hero in the Iliad and Odyssey.
(2010) Briggs, Elizabeth Anne.; Sharland, Suzanne Jane.; Steinmeyer, Elke Gisela.
This dissertation examines the depiction of the parent-child relationship in the Iliad and the Odyssey. In this examination, I focus on the representation of this phenomenon as it applies to Achilles and Hector, as the respective protagonist and antagonist of the former poem, and to Odysseus, the protagonist of the latter. The parent-child relationship has been selected as the subject of investigation on the grounds of the fundamental nature and extensive presence of this phenomenon in human life, and, consequently, in literature. The primary reason for the selection of the Iliad and the Odyssey for this study of the literary representation of this phenomenon is the status that these poems enjoy as the earliest extant works in Western literature, whose reputation and influence have endured through the centuries to modern times. The other reason is that they provide a rich source of the literary representation of the parent-child relationship. The inclusion of both Homeric poems in the investigation offers a broader spectrum of parent-child relationships and a wider range of parent-child related situations, issues, and outcomes. In each poem, the poet concentrates on the biological parent-child relationships of the heroes, although other supplementary relationships also feature. Assisted by narratological analysis, I examine the three heroes’ parent-child relationships in terms of their triadic structure of father-mother-son, and of the dyadic relationships encompassed by this triad, namely, father-son, mother-son, and father/husband-mother/wife. Each hero is depicted as both a son and a father; hence the triads to be examined are, for Achilles, the Peleus-Thetis-Achilles natal triad and the Achilles-[Deidamia]-Neoptolemus procreative triad (represented in the poem only by the father-son relationship), for Hector, the Priam-Hecuba-Hector natal triad and the Hector-Andromache-Astyanax procreative triad, and for Odysseus, the Laertes-Anticleia-Odysseus natal triad and the Odysseus-Penelope-Telemachus procreative triad. A significant feature to emerge from the examination of each of these triads and associated dyads is the poet’s use of the affective dimension of the parent-child relationship to make the epic hero more accessible, and the epic situations and events more meaningful to the audience. In addition to exploiting the universal appeal of the affective dimension, the examination of the representation of this relationship in the poems provides insights into socio-culturally determined aspects of the society depicted. On the structural thematic level the parent-child relationships of Achilles and Hector in the Iliad, and of Odysseus in the Odyssey provide a thematic thread woven into the central theme of each poem. Thus we see that these heroic epics tell stories that are not only about heroic warriors, but also about the other participants in their natal and procreative triads: their parents, wives, and sons.
Plaintive nightingale or strident swan? : the reception of the Electra myth from 1960-2005.
(2007) Steinmeyer, Elke Gisela.; Sharland, Suzanne Jane.; Gosling, Anne.; Hilton, John Laurence.; Mackay, Anne.
The ancient myth of Electra has a rich history of reception through the ages, which is well documented in scholarship. The scholarly debate, however, ceases when it comes to the reception of the myth after 1960, especially after 1970. Very few scholars have critically engaged with the adaptations of the Electra myth in the last three decades. In my thesis I intend to fill in this gap in scholarship by presenting eight adaptations of the Electra myth between 1960 and 2005 covering a span of three continents, three (or four) languages and three media (drama, comic series, film). The common factor between all of these adaptations consists in the fact that they have strong political and societal connotations. I selected them in order to illustrate my underlying argument in this thesis that the Electra myth survives from antiquity until today because it appeals to the creative imagination of authors and playwrights from different historical backgrounds, who use this specific myth as a vehicle in order to engage with their political and societal situation in their respective countries at their respective time. This selection also serves the purpose of illustrating a new trend in the reception of antiquity in modem times, a shift from more traditional high culture adaptations to the more unconventional popular mass media. With my thesis I would like to make a contribution to Reception Studies, a subdiscipline of Classics which has recently emerged from the long-standing field of Classical Tradition, by combing the methodologies of traditional Classical Philology and modern Literary Theory into one single comparative study. It is also an attempt to make some rather lesser known yet not less rewarding plays accessible to a wider audience. I hope that this attempt will prove to be fruitful and that my thesis will be the starting point for further research on more recent adaptations of the Electra myth.
Post-traumatic and post-modern : a South African "Electra".
(University of Stellenbosch., 2009) Steinmeyer, Elke Gisela.
The ancient myth of Electra seems to be of particular interest to South African writers and playwrights. This article focuses on the adaptation by Mervyn McMurtry, entitled Electra, which was produced in Durban in 2000. The underlying theme of his adaptation, which is based on the four Greek “Electra” tragedies by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, is the question of truth. This question — an important post-modern one — was of particular relevance for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in South Africa as it tried to deal with the legacy of the former apartheid regime. McMurtry’s play begins with a prologue six days after the matricide, while the actual play is performed as a sort of flashback. All the characters suffer from various symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. The chorus consists exclusively of women who all have been victims / survivors of male violence. This article proposes that McMurtry uses the ancient Electra myth to reflect on the situation of contemporary South African society (and particularly women), as it struggles to come to terms with a traumatic past.
Rider Haggard, classics, and great Zimbabwe : constructing lost cities in King Solomon's mines, and Elissa.
(2016) Carrick-Tappeiner, Liliana Sheena.; Steinmeyer, Elke Gisela.
The British novelist Sir Henry Rider Haggard, who is arguably best known for his swashbuckling African adventure stories, wrote a considerable number of works concerned with the presence of ancient white cities in southern Africa. These narratives appear to have been inspired by nineteenth century theories surrounding the Ruins of Great Zimbabwe which came to the public‘s attention after their (re)discovery in 1871 by the German explorer Karl Mauch. Reluctant to attribute such accomplishments to local African ingenuity, laymen and archaeologists developed theories that the ruins could have been built only by an ancient white race. This motif appears in two of Haggard‘s lost city novels, King Solomon’s Mines (1885) and She (1887), and a work of historical fiction, Elissa; or The Doom of Great Zimbabwe (1900). In addition to this archaeological influence, a significant amount of Classical material has also contributed to these narratives in various ways. The aim of this dissertation is to establish the role of Great Zimbabwe and Classics in Haggard‘s composition of these works. Chapter One provides a discussion of Haggard‘s background and takes aspects such his education and connection to the Ruins of Great Zimbabwe into account so as to establish his familiarity with the two topics which dominate this study. Chapter Two explores Haggard‘s initial venture into the lost city genre with King Solomon’s Mines and demonstrates the parallels between the ruins and his narrative. The second half of the discussion is concerned with the contribution of Classics in his description of landscape, people and events. Chapter Three looks at Haggard‘s treatment of the lost city genre and his engagement with Classics and ancient civilizations in She. The chapter focuses on aspects such the myth of Atlantis, the contribution of Egyptology and the role of Classical females in Haggard‘s portrayal of in novel‘s eponymous character. Chapter Four is concerned with the influence of nineteenth century Zimbabwean archaeology and two ancient accounts of the Carthaginian queen Dido in Haggard‘s construction of Elissa‘s plot.