Ce mémoire porte sur le travail de l’intertextualité dans les quatre oeuvres que Jorge Semprun (1923-) a consacrées à ses souvenirs de déportation au camp de Buchenwald : Le grand voyage (1963), Quel beau dimanche! (1980), L’écriture ou la vie (1994) et Le mort qu’il faut (2001). Chaque oeuvre poursuit la recherche d’un langage approprié à la narration d’une expérience qui résiste obstinément à sa représentation. L’intertextualité, de même que les réminiscences musicales, filmiques ou picturales, composent chez Semprun une image complexe de l’expérience du déporté, faisant coexister l’ombre et la lumière, l’angoisse et la joie, le mal radical et la fraternité, loin de tout cliché manichéen. Il s’agira ici de lire ce témoignage magnifique sur les camps nazis comme un dialogue profond entre l’art et la barbarie, la création et la destruction, la mémoire culturelle et la mémoire traumatique. / This essay covers the issue of intertextuality in the four works that Jorge Semprun (1923-) wrote about his memories from Buchenwald : Le grand voyage (1963), Quel beau dimanche! (1980), L’écriture ou la vie (1994) and Le mort qu’il faut (2001). Each work stems from the search of an apropriate language for narrating an experience that poses a radical challenge to its représentation. Intertextuality, as well as memories of works of art, yield a complex image of the experience of a survivor, where shadow and light, anguish and joy, Radical Evil and fraternity coexist, far away from the traditional cliché. The objective here is to read Semprun’s wounderfull testimonies as a profound dialogue between art and the Holocaust, creation and destruction, cultural memory and traumatic memory.

This dissertation examines the trope of filiation in novels by three contemporary British writers: John Banville, Ian McEwan, and Kazuo Ishiguro. The trope of filiation and the related theme of inheritance has long been central to the concerns of the British novel, but it took on a new significance in the twentieth century, as the novel responded both thematically and formally to the aftermath of the two world wars. This study demonstrates the ways in which Banville, McEwan, and Ishiguro each situate their work in relation to this legacy, by means of an analogy between the inheritance structures figured within their novels and the inheritance performed by their engagement with the genre itself. This study relies on an instructive analogy to similar treatments of the larger problem of cultural filiation by the theorists Emmanuel Levinas and Jacques Derrida. Levinas exposes in his work the ethical and political problems of modernist temporality by critiquing modernity’s rejection of filiation, a rejection modeled also in the lost children, and barren and celibate men and women of modernist novels. Derrida meanwhile provides a way forward with his representation and performance of inheritance as a critical and transformative act, which is characterised on one hand by an ethical injunction, and on the other, by a filtering or a differentiation which changes the tradition even as it reaffirms it.

This dissertation examines the trope of filiation in novels by three contemporary British writers: John Banville, Ian McEwan, and Kazuo Ishiguro. The trope of filiation and the related theme of inheritance has long been central to the concerns of the British novel, but it took on a new significance in the twentieth century, as the novel responded both thematically and formally to the aftermath of the two world wars. This study demonstrates the ways in which Banville, McEwan, and Ishiguro each situate their work in relation to this legacy, by means of an analogy between the inheritance structures figured within their novels and the inheritance performed by their engagement with the genre itself. This study relies on an instructive analogy to similar treatments of the larger problem of cultural filiation by the theorists Emmanuel Levinas and Jacques Derrida. Levinas exposes in his work the ethical and political problems of modernist temporality by critiquing modernity’s rejection of filiation, a rejection modeled also in the lost children, and barren and celibate men and women of modernist novels. Derrida meanwhile provides a way forward with his representation and performance of inheritance as a critical and transformative act, which is characterised on one hand by an ethical injunction, and on the other, by a filtering or a differentiation which changes the tradition even as it reaffirms it.

An Ear for an Eye: Greek Tragedy on Radio examines the dramaturgical principles involved in the adaptation of Greek tragedies for production as radio dramas by considering the classical dramatic form’s representational ability through purely oral means and the effects of dramaturgical interventions. The inherent orality of these tragedies and Aristotle’s suggested limitation of spectacle (opsis) appears to make them eminently suitable for radio, a medium in which the visual dimension of plays is relegated entirely to the imagination through the agency of sound. Utilizing productions from Canadian and British national radio (where classical adaptations are both culturally mandated and technically practical) from the height of radio’s golden age to the present, this study demonstrates how producers adapted to the unique formal properties of radio. The appendices include annotated, chronological lists of 154 CBC and BBC productions that were identified in the course of research, providing a significant resource for future investigators. The dissertation first examines the proximate forces which shaped radio dramaturgy and radio listeners. Situating the emergence of radio in the context of modernity, Chapter One elucidates how audiences responded to radio’s return to orality within a visually-oriented culture. Chapter Two then analyses the specific perceptual and imaginative activity of individuals, considering how audiences experience acoustic space. I describe how the audience’s central position in the reception of radio drama is integral to the completion of the dramatic frame of radio. The second part of this dissertation addresses radiophonic dramaturgy and issues in representation. In Chapter Three, the didactic and nationalistic impetus for the adaptation of classics as radio plays is considered and the principles of radio adaptation are outlined. The final two chapters examine the formal properties of productions in adaptation through case studies to illustrate where the play’s inherent orality allows for ease in adaptation or where greater dramaturgical intervention is required. Chapter Four examines the construction of dramatic figures, music and song, the use of paratheatrical materials, and narrative strategies for the representation of action, space, and time. Chapter Five examines productions where greater dramaturgical intervention and innovation is in evidence, including the manipulation of perspective (in the CBC’s 2001 Medea), the use of music to modernize setting (in the 1998 CBC-BBC co-production of The Trojan Women), the use of experimental montage (in the BBC’s 1976 Ag), the introduction of flashback sequences (in the CBC’s 1987 Antigone), and solutions to the problem of what I term “dramaturgical erasure” (the inadvertent removal of silent figures from the perspectival field).

The author seeks to compare the Chinese and English editions of Wu Zhuoliu’s (1900-1976) Orphan of Asia (1956). Through the analysis of several characters and the political ambiguity within the text, the author first attempts to compare the two target translations of the original Japanese text. In addition to the close reading of the novel(s), the author employs paratextual analysis of the Chinese and English versions of the story in order to challenge the publishing practices of translation. The re-reading of translations thus includes an investigation of the content of the story as well as the packaging of the text. The objectives of this project include adding to the research completed on Wu’s canonical text, in translation studies, and in paratextual studies.

The author seeks to compare the Chinese and English editions of Wu Zhuoliu’s (1900-1976) Orphan of Asia (1956). Through the analysis of several characters and the political ambiguity within the text, the author first attempts to compare the two target translations of the original Japanese text. In addition to the close reading of the novel(s), the author employs paratextual analysis of the Chinese and English versions of the story in order to challenge the publishing practices of translation. The re-reading of translations thus includes an investigation of the content of the story as well as the packaging of the text. The objectives of this project include adding to the research completed on Wu’s canonical text, in translation studies, and in paratextual studies.

La tesi analizza il lirismo melanconico di Gianni Celati nella sua produzione narrative e documentaristica che spazia in un arco di temporale che va dagli anni Ottanta ai giorni nostri. In queste opere, di ambientazione prevalentemente padana, l’autore utilizza, con notevole maestria, immagini e brevi impressioni altamente evocative, in modo tale da lasciar trasparire le proprie emozioni. Con questa operazione egli aspira a ridurre al minimo l’affiorare della propria soggettività come dimostra il largo impiego di dettagliate descrizioni, in cui abbondano simboli e metafore, riconducibili a oggetti, paesaggi e persone che sono oggetto della sua osservazione. Nel primo capitolo si mostra come, fin dalle prime fasi della sua carriera di scrittore e di studioso, Celati si serve della scrittura come strumento terapeutico, al fine di alleviare l’inquietudine con cui convive da sempre. Del resto, lo conferma la presenza nelle sue opere di modalità espressive tipiche del genere della caricatura. Nell’ambito di questo discorso si fa riferimento al pensiero del filosofo e psicanalista americano James Hillman, come, ad esempio, alla sua idea di poiesis relativa alla tendenza della nostra mente a produrre immagini come avviene nell’atto narrativo e avente su di noi analoghi effetti terapeutici. Alla luce di ciò, sono state esaminate alcune delle traduzioni poetiche compiute da Celati, mettendole in parallelo ad una selezione di sue poesie e racconti. Il secondo capitolo è volto ad indagare le modalità con cui Celati ha trattato il tema tradizionale del viaggio. Si mostra come i suoi vagabondaggi e quelli dei suoi personaggi non siano altro che una metafora della vana ricerca del senso da attribuire alla loro esistenza. Nella trattazione di questo aspetto la narrativa celatiana viene messa a confronto con l’arte di Alberto Giacometti e di Mario Sironi, che hanno trattato i temi della solitudine e dello smarrimento esistenziale. Analogo è il senso di desolazione che affiora dai documentari girati da Celati, servendosi delle immagini per svolgere un’indagine su come percepiamo il modo esterno. Tale approccio è riconducibile all’influsso che la fotografia del suo amico Luigi Ghirri ha esercitato sull’opera celatiana. Quest’ultimo si è a sua volta ispirato a quella di Cesare Zavattini, che costituisce un punto di riferimento fondamentale anche per Celati. Questo aspetto è stato approfondito nell’ultima sezione del secondo ed ultimo capitolo, incentrata sull’analisi del racconto “Non c’è più paradiso”, da cui emerge l’importanza che Celati, come Zavattini, attribuisce all’immaginazione e alla narrazione come componenti essenziali alla nostra esistenza.

Master of Arts / Department of English / Michael L. Donnelly / Among the body of criticism on T.S. Eliot’s Four Quartets, critics such as Cleo McNelly Kearns and Alireza Farahbakhsh have recently interpreted the poet’s “intolerable wrestle / With words and meanings” (EC II) in light of deconstructionist theory. Although the poetry does recognize the difficulty of speaking about spiritual experience, it does not embrace the resulting linguistic miscommunication. In fact, the poems resist such a move, identifying the spiritual danger of such miscommunication; instead, they seek to overcome these difficulties and accurately communicate spiritual experience – an aim achieved in the context of biblical prophecy. Louis Martz argues that the Quartets are, in fact, not prophetic; however, he defines prophecy in terms of its social interests, rather than in terms of the interest in the human-divine relationship that characterizes both biblical tradition and Eliot’s poetry. I want to argue that reading the Quartets in the context of biblical prophecy, filtered through mystical tradition, explains their ability to transcend linguistic difficulty and explore spiritual experience in human language. In biblical tradition, the prophets overcome linguistic difficulty through a direct encounter with God, which purifies language of error and equips them to speak of divine reality. In Eliot’s Quartets, the poetry undergoes a similar purifying experience meant to replace linguistic error with a meaningful exploration of spiritual experience. For the Quartets, linguistic purification is accomplished by means of the mystical via negativa. Appropriating images associated with the via negativa, the poetry denies language tied to direct perception of spiritual reality and adopts instead a language that conveys such experience through unfamiliar words and images. In that language, the poetry is purified of its errors and made capable of exploring the human relationship with God. A poetry identified with the Incarnation, this solution communicates in human language the reality of spiritual experience. In this communication, the poetry at last explores spiritual experience in a way freed of miscommunication and meaningful for the audience, thereby fulfilling its prophetic aims.

The academic analysis of drama often tends to privilege the written word over those sensory elements that are such critical aspects of live theatre. Rhythm, music, dialect, and silence – all these auditory features contribute significantly to the impact and meaning of a play, and they allow playwrights – together with the actors and stage directors who realize their dramatic visions – to convey political messages and address specific political issues without having to necessarily state them overtly within the dialogue. As Augusto Boal stated in his Theatre of the Oppressed, drama is a weapon to fight against oppressive regimes. Thus this dissertation analyzes the role of the senses – especially those related to hearing – in developing the themes and intentions of political plays from Latin America and Spain. The aim is to explore how this has – or has not – changed throughout the centuries, with the ultimate objective of finding common musical and sensory elements, as well as possible affinities in the use of auditory features, to further enable a deeper understanding of how theatre is different from other literary genres. To facilitate the analysis, this dissertation explores a total of six dramas: three Latin American political plays written in the second half of the 20th century and three Early Modern Spanish comedias that depict political scenes or themes. These plays are treated by pairs in each chapter and analyzed according to their use of auditory features in concert with written stage directions and dialogue as a means to reflect or denounce social problems pertaining to the different historical periods in which the plays were initially staged. Specifically, the dramatic pairings are as follows: Chapter 1: Death and the Maiden by Ariel Dorfman (1991) The Mayor of Zalamea by Pedro Calderón de la Barca (ca.1640) Chapter 2: Information for Foreigners, by Griselda Gambaro (1971) Fuenteovejuna, by Lope de Vega (ca.1610) Chapter 3: The Extentionist, by Felipe Santander (1978) Cruelty for Honour, by Juan Ruiz de Alarcón (ca.1621-22). Each play is analyzed according to the theoretical frames that better serve its specific needs and particularities. However, the theories of Giorgio Agamben, Augusto Boal, José Antonio Maravall, Angel Rama, Walter Ong, and especially Bertolt Brecht, form the spinal chord that sustain this study and tie the three chapters to one another. The attention given to each one of these critics and their theories is explained in each chapter’s introduction. As the conclusions show, these plays rely on sensory, linguistic and musical elements to denounce social and political problems of their time, and to try to move their different audiences towards reflection or action, in order to improve the society in which they lived.

Cette thèse a pour objet l'adaptation théâtrale du roman 'Tirano Banderas' (1926) de l'écrivain espagnol Ramón María del Valle-Inclán. À cette fin, une recherche sur la dramaturgie centrée sur le processus de transduction a été réalisée, concrètement sur l'interprétation et sur la transformation du texte original de Valle-Inclán, qui a donné lieu à un relevé mise en scène, comprenant le script et les principaux éléments de la représentation de la pièce "Tirano Banderas". En annexe sont joints le DC de la musique, les esquisses du décor et du maquillage, les partitions ainsi qu'un document audiovisuel de plusieurs scènes pilotes. / The goal of this thesis is a stage adaptation of the novel 'Tirano Banderas' (1926) by Spanish writer Ramón María del Valle-Inclán. Dramaturgical research into the process of transduction, that is, the interpretation and transformation of the original text by Valle-Inclán, has led to the creation of a director's notebook, a document that unites the objectives of the "Tirano Banderas" performance, focusing on the primary elements of the representation. Sketches of the set, makeup, a CD with music, the musical score, and an audiovisual document of varios pilot scenes have been added to the Appendix. / El objeto de esta tesis es la adaptación escénica de la novela 'Tirano Banderas' (1926) del escritor español Ramón María del Valle-Inclán. Con ese fin se ha llevado a cabo una investigación dramatúrgica focalizada en el proceso de transducción, es decir, de interpretación y de transformación del texto original de Valle, que ha desembocado en un cuaderno de dirección, documento que recoge la propuesta de espectáculo "Tirano Banderas", centrándose en los elementos principales de la representación. En anexo se adjuntan los bocetos del decorado, del maquillaje, un CD-audio con la música, las partituras y un documento audiovisual de varias escenas piloto.