This thesis is a critical, creative and part-biographical study of Francis Ponge's increasing self-consciousness around the spoken word, from his early prose poems through to his art criticism, and how his obsession with verbal inadequacy serves to undermine his stated ambition to 'side with things' and write from the object's point of view. My reading of Ponge is based primarily on observations of his neuroses involving speech, noting his first experience of being mute during a University oral exam as significant, and then exploring how his awareness of verbal inadequacy intensifies throughout his creative and critical texts and disturbs his intended phenomenological approach to things. In the thesis, Ponge's oeuvre is mainly read as a diaristic account of his relationship with spoken expression, his difficulties changing and repeating themselves according to his choice of each object, and notably his decision to work within and against the prose poem. His writing is interpreted as being about the object giving Ponge a voice - or a host of voices according to the problems he encounters through each object rather than about a poet who endows each object with a rhetoric of its own. I also explore where this 'crisis of speech' has parallels in the work of his contemporaries. The present thesis draws new conclusions about the prominence of the spoken word in his writing and his development of the prose poem in Twentieth-century French Literature, based on a combined study of his life, his writing and fundamentally neurotic and obsessive relationship with the spoken word. At the same time, the thesis recognises Ponge as the motivation behind the collection of prose poems that make up the last part of the dissertation, where themes and objects from Ponge's texts resurface. Hie collection itself starts from a similar situation to that of Ponge in which objects and language conflate with the human subject's helplessness before various manifestations of the spoken word.

No description available.

This thesis examines five French tragedies dealing with the same legendary character, Dido, throughout a century: Etienne Jodelle's Didon se sacrifiant (cI558), Alexandre Hardy's Didon se sacrifiaht (1624), Georges de Scudéry's Didon (1637), François de Boisrobert's La Vraye Didon (1643) and Antoine Jacob Montfleury's L'Ambigii comique (1673). The interest of this study lies in the fact that, if Dido is a recurrent character, yet she is one of a very rare breed of female characters on the French stage: ruling queens. The tragedies and, in particular, the character of Dido are examined in relation to the evolution of literary trends and the historical and socio-political context in which they were produced. The playwrights and their works are first looked at specifically with an aim to put them in context: the authors are considered in relation to literary and socio-political history, while each play is put in context within the complete works of the author. Dido is a ruling queen, which is rare on stage and a reflection of the rarity of women ruling over Early Modem France, it is therefore important to consider the contemporary institutions, practices and discourses on women, with specific references to the moralist controversy. The analysis of women in power over the time period covered by this study, including Catherine de Medici, Maria de Medici and Anne of Austria, provides the reader with the essential background and issues relating to the representation of female power on stage. To complete the contextualisation of the five tragedies, a detailed analysis of the other rare instances of ruling queens in French tragedy helps establish patterns of representation for women in power, such as the key use of men, the 'people' and queens themselves as crucial threats to the integrity of the realm. The analysis of Dido tragedies focuses on two axis: first a linguistic approach to the definition of gender and power deals with gendered rhetoric, the gender specific approach to furor, that is to say the loss of power, and the expression of guilt and innocence. The second axis of the analysis focuses on material representations of power on stage: firstly, the references to and/or use of symbolic objects such as crowns, thrones, sceptres, swords or jewels help identify the characters which are truly powerful. Finally, the analysis of the references to and/or use names and titles on stage to identify the protagonists is also used to reveal the actual power dynamic created by the playwrights. The conclusion looks at the mixed success of the plays in Early Modem France and their absence from literary canons in modem France while keeping in mind the issues on gender and power.

This study is concerned with the ways the Inter-War theatre of Jean-Jacques Bernard and Henry-Rene Lenormand illustrates the paradox of the relative impotence of words as instruments of communication on the one hand as compared with their potency in other respects. The first two chapters are devoted to Bernard's exploitation and demonstration of the inadequacy of words as vehicles of meaning, the complex and correspondingly confusing nature of dialogue and miscellaneous factors which generally aggravate the communication process. Chapter 4 is given over to an examination of the most important failing of verbal symbols as illustrated in Lenormand's metaphysically oriented drama, and Chapter 5 treats of the other ways in which Lenormand's theatre complements Bernard’s by highlighting the fundamental inefficiency of words as communication tools and certain factors which further undermine dialogue and personal relations. Chapters 3 and 6 review how the plays of Bernard and Lenormand also bring into relief the extraordinary and sometimes dangerous effectiveness words can have, notably as provocative triggers and psychological catalysts. A substantial Introduction puts Chapters 1-6 into a historical perspective, explains the choice of playwrights, discusses the way their work has been critically evaluated, classified and analysed in the past and accounts for this study’s particular approach to their drama between 1919 and 1945.

No description available.

This thesis combines, in a philosophical approach, two great tendencies in Proust studies which, on the one hand look upon the novel as a conclusion to the nineteenth century and, on the other as a first step toward the perception of the world that developed in the twentieth century. It examines the way the narrator’s experiences and art bring these together in to one vision of the world which includes the possibility of Identity whilst recognizing the value of difference. The first two chapters consider those of the narrator’s experiences which bring relief from his usual anxiety and open access to the sphere of Identity.  The first group of such experiences consists of his ‘privileged moments’ while the second I term ‘liminal states of consciousness’. I interpret these on the basis of Schelling’s concept of intellectual intuition and Merleau-Ponty’s ‘flesh of the world’. Chapter three addresses the problem of difference and argues that it is through the narrator’s relationship to the Other than the world appears as an agglomerate of differences and irreducible multiplicity.  I draw out the interrelatedness of the two problems of difference and the Other through a reading in philosophical terms elaborated by Buber, Sartre, Levinas, Deleuze and Derrida. The concluding chapter analyses the way the two apparently incompatible approaches to the world prove complementary. I show that the narrator’s understanding of the nature of imagination plays a fundamental role in his attitude toward the world and art.  I read the Proustian emancipation of the imagination and simulacra in the light of the critique of the <i>logos</i> by Nietzsche, Deleuze, and Derrida, and conclude that the <i>Recherche</i> stages of dynamism of thought they call for, but without it determining the validity of the foundational experience of Identity.

No description available.

This critical edition of the rhymed Anglo-Norman translation of the Vitas Patrum is based on the two extant MSS., Bibliotheque Nationale, ff. 24862, copied c. 1250, and British Museum, Harley 2253, copied c. 1300. The Introduction starts with a description of the MSS., a study of the poet's verse technique and an examination of his language, concentrating on the phonological and morphological features attested in rhyme but also mentioning syntactic traits revealed by comparison of the passages common to both I»1SS. Lin¬ guistic considerations are followed by a discussion of the authorship of the work, with reference to Henri d'Arci, the Templar to whom it was dedicated and who was formerly considered to have composed it, and to Temple Bruer, where it was written, and of the probable date of composition, deduced from historical and linguistic evidence. The literary background includes a de¬ scription of the Latin Vitae Patrum and of the other Old French texts derived from it. The Anglo-Norman translation is shown to be the only surviving work exclusively devoted to the Sayings of the Fathers and the relationship of the verba preserved in the two MSS. to the contents of the Latin Verba Seniorum is presented in tabular form. The Introduction ends with a statement of the reasons governing the choice of base MS. and the principles adopted in transcribing the text. The text is accompanied by footnoted details of scribal corrections, rejected, readings and editorial emendations, as well as by all variants from the base MS. whore these exist. It is followed by Critical Notes providing information about the people and places named in it, explaining editorial decisions and commenting on unusual or dubious lexical, morphological and syntactic features. The Glossary includes all the orthographical forms and meanings of all words occurring in the text, with the exception of those that have survived unchanged and are in com¬ mon use in Modern French, and the edition terminates with an Index of the proper names encountered in the text.

This thesis examines Victor Hugo's relationship to biblical and postbiblical Judaism as well as to Hebrew thought and language. We shall show that Hugo had an abiding interest in the Jew as a human and an historical phenomenon. An examination of some of his works which are controversial from a Jewish point of view will, moreover, indicate that he had considerable insight into the Jewish condition. Hugo's interest in the Jew extended to Jewish life and tradition, and a host of examples will be given of such an interest. Denis Saurat has claimed that Hugo was not only interested in but influenced by the Cabalah and that Alexandre Weill was his cabalistic mentor. These claims of Saurat's will be critically examined, as will be the work of Weill. The relationship between Weill and Hugo will be reassessed and their fundamental ideas compared. Claudius Grillet has proved Hugo's thorough acquaintance with the Bible. He maintains, however, that Hugo used Hebrew words and names for their sound only with no regard to meaning. This assertion will be critically examined. The many references and allusions to Jewish rites and customs in Hugo's work will be examined in detail and traced to their source. Apart from his interest in Jews and Jewish tradition, Hugo's thought and imagination, it will be suggested, had a deep affinity with the Hebrew mind. This affinity will be shown to be manifest above all in his concept and treatment of the Word, and in his concern for the nature and power of the Word and its component parts, the letters. Finally, it will be suggested that Hugo's doctrine of the Word, so akin to the Hebrew, also enshrines his 'art poetique'. It holds the secret to the process and the state of creation, to the perfect balance, between content and form, spirit and letter. It is the guarantor of lasting renewal.

No description available.