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This thesis deals with Girolamo Savonarola and with his place in the imagination and collective memory of Italians from the early nineteenth century to the present. It examines the works of a variety of Italian fictional authors who turned to Savonarola in the belief that he could help them pursue objectives which, in their opinion, Italy and Italians should strive to achieve. At first, he was called upon by nationalist writers of the Risorgimento to inspire a people and convince it of the need for a free, united Italy. Later, as the new nation began to consolidate and Italians came to realize that unification had not delivered all that it had promised, Savonarola was employed in a negative way to show that military action and force were necessary to ensure Italy's progress to the status of great power. As Italians became more aware of the grave social issues facing their nation, he was called upon, once again, to help change social policy and to remind the people of its civic responsibility to the less fortunate members of society. The extent of Savonarola's adaptability is also explored through the analysis of his manipulation by the writers of Fascist Italy. Remarkably, he was used to highlight to Italians their duty to stand by Mussolini and the Fascist Regime during their struggle with the Catholic Church and the Pope. At the same time, however, one writer daringly used Savonarola's apostolate to condemn the Regime and the people's blind adherence to its philosophies. As Fascism fell and Italy began to rebuild after the Second World War, there was no longer a need for Savonarola to be used for political or militaristic ends. In recent times, emphasis has been placed on the human side of the Friar and he has been employed solely to guide Italians in a civic, moral and spiritual sense. From the Risorgimento to the present, the various changes in Italian history have been foreshadowed in the treatment of Savonarola by Italian fictional authors who turned to him in difficult times to help define what it is to be Italian.

Pierre-Edouard Blondin fait son entrée sur la scène politique fédérale en 1908 à titre de député conservateur de la circonscription de Champlain. Cet événement est le point de départ d'une carrière politique fort tourmentée car très tôt Blondin l'oriente dans une avenue peu conventionnelle. Cette attitude est directement liée à l'évolution de son nationalisme qui passe d'une tendance dite "nationaliste" à une autre plus "impérialiste". Ces deux courants pourtant bien différents dans leur contenu vont marquer de façon indéniable la carrière politique de Blondin. Le premier courant auquel Blondin donne son appui s'inspire largement des idées du mouvement nationaliste de Henri Bourassa qui défend, entre autres, une plus grande autonomie du Canada dans ses relations avec l'Angleterre, le respect des droits des minorités et surtout réclame des hommes au-dessus des partis. Fidèle partisan de Bourassa, Blondin gagne de la popularité au Québec et par le fait même, s'éloigne peu à peu de la ligne de conduite de son propre parti, le parti conservateur. Puis en 1911, année qui marque l'arrivée au pouvoir du parti conservateur dirigé par Robert Laird Borden, Blondin réintègre graduellement les rangs de ce parti et, au surplus, adopte les principes défendus par Borden. Blondin devient ainsi le porte-parole d'une idéologie plus "impérialiste" davantage axée sur l'importance d'entretenir des liens plus étroits avec l'Angleterre, seul moyen d'accroître le statut du Canada dans le caroussel des nations. Blondin aura fort à faire pour convaincre ses compatriotes de la justesse de ses nouvelles idées qui restent fort impopulaires au Québec. Une tâche rendue d'autant plus difficile en raison d'un contexte défavorable et du fait que le Québec n'oubliera jamais l'adhésion de Blondin au mouvement nationaliste de Bourassa. Un tel changement d'orientation, par son caractère inusité, oblige à la réflexion. Si les titres et les honneurs s'accumulent au fur et à mesure que Blondin s'acharne à défendre les idées de Borden, l'opportunisme seul ne suffit pas à expliquer entièrement l'attitude de Blondin. En effet, il semble que ses prises de position soient guidées par une nouvelle perception de la nation canadienne. Sincère ou non dans son attitude, Blondin aura le cran de défendre ses idées jusqu'au bout, c'est à dire jusqu'à sa perte. / Québec Université Laval, Bibliothèque 2013

Dante Alighieri is, undoubtedly, an enduring feature of the cultural memory of generations of Italians. His influence is such that the mere mention of a ‘dark wood’ or ‘life’s journey’ recalls the poet and his most celebrated work, the Divina Commedia. This study, however, seeks to examine the construction of the medieval Florentine poet, exemplified by the above assertion, as a potent symbol of the Italian nation. From the creation of the idea of the Italian nation during the Risorgimento, to the Liberal ruling elite’s efforts after 1861 to legitimise the new Italian nation state, and more importantly to ‘make Italians’, to the rise of a more imperialist conception of nationalism in the early twentieth century and its most extreme expression under the Fascist regime, Dante was made to play a significant role in defining, justifying and glorifying the Italian nation. Such an exploration of the utilisation of Dante in the construction of Italian national identity during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries aids considerably in an understanding of the conceptualisation of the Italian nation, of the issues engendered by the establishment of the Italian nation state, and the evolution of these processes throughout the period in question. The various images of Dante revealed by this investigation of his instrumentalisation in the Italian process of nation-building bear only a fleeting resemblance to what is known of the poet in his medieval reality. Dante was born in 1265 to a family of modest means and standing in Florence, at that time the economic centre of Europe, and one of the most important cities of the Italian peninsula. His writings disclosed, however, that he was little impressed by his city’s prestige and wealth, being instead greatly disturbed by its political discord and instability, of which he became an unfortunate victim. The violent partisan conflict in Florence and the turbulent political condition of the Italian peninsula in the late thirteenth century had a decisive influence on Dante’s life and literary endeavours.