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My dissertation examines the role played by the surrealist object in the avant-garde strategies of the French surrealist group, in the difficult political circumstances of the 1930s. In my reading, the surrealist object is located in a critical relation to modern art; it depends on the invention of collage for its own realization, but it also attempts to supersede modernism through an act of desublimation, the return of art to its sexual origins. A n understanding of this critical relation is established through Peter Burger's Theory of the Avant-Garde, through the use of psychoanalytic theory, and through an understanding of the difference between Kantian and Hegelian aesthetics. The object's invention in 1931 is then related to the cultural debates occurring on the revolutionary left in France and the Soviet Union. The surrealists wish to achieve an alliance with the Parti Communiste Francais, but avoid the politicization of the cultural field undertaken by the Communists in both countries. They answer the demand for the politicization of art with the supersession of art, for which the object provides a model. In the 1930s, the surrealists develop the notion of a revolutionary science that would forge a relation between action and interpretation. They attempt to indicate such a relation in a number of experimental texts, taking unconscious thought as the object of their investigation. As a central category of their reflection in this period, the surrealist objects are often given as extra-aesthetic examples of such thought in physical form. The rise of the Popular Front and the move of the P.C.F. towards a reformist politics presented a crisis for the surrealist movement. A number of surrealists, like Tristan Tzara, Rene Char and Roger Caillois, split with their group in order to work with the Popular Front, while the larger part of the surrealist group broke with the P.C.F. and the Soviet Union. The break with Stalinism led the surrealists to the point of an alliance with the modern art they had once claimed to supersede; from now on, interpretation would be preserved, at the expense of action. The surrealist object, which had exemplified the relation between action and interpretation, begins to recede from view after 1936, as the avant-garde project that had brought it into being became increasingly difficult to sustain.

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Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal

It is the purpose of this thesis to examine the development of the concepts of abstraction and formalism in the art theory of Paul Klee and their consequent effect on his artistic production. The major impetus suggested for this development are the writings of Wilhelm Worringer, although the aesthetics of the Munich avant garde must also be credited. I have traced the evolution of Klee's thought through an examination of his diaries, letters and other documents of the period. It is clear that a demonstrable change occurs in Klee's concept of art as a result of his exposure to Worringer and the Blaue Reiter. This evolution is visible in his creative production.

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This thesis explores the thought of a prominent Indian Muslim thinker, Asghar Ali Engineer, on liberation theology and the status of women in Islam. In his elaboration of liberation theology, Engineer demonstrates that from its inception, Islam has sided with the oppressed and the weak. If it is interpreted from its theological as well as sociological context, he argues, Islam makes it clear that it promotes justice and equality. The juxtaposition of theological and sociological perspectives is crucial to any understanding of Engineer's thought on liberation theology. Such perspectives also inform Engineer's view of the status of women in Islam. Our discussion is limited to two of the topics addressed by Engineer: polygamy and the veil. The key to understand these issues, Engineer maintains, is by distinguishing between the 'normative' and 'contextual' statements of the Qur'anic text. The point of this distinction is to differentiate between those principles of the Qur'an which are universal in nature, i.e. values, which transcend beyond time and space, and the contextual ones which are only valid in particular situations and circumstances. / In conclusion, Engineer's thought on liberation theology and women's issues are found to be liberal, critical and emancipative, successfully demonstrating that Islam sides with the weak and promotes justice and equality.