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This thesis sets out to show that the close intellectual affinity revealed in the correspondence between Flaubert and Turgenev has its roots and explanation in the parallels that can be established in their intellectual development as writers, in their literary aesthetic, and in the treatment of certain themes and ideas in their works. Questions of parallels in personality, temperament and literary aesthetic are dealt with in Chapter I. Chapters II, III and IV deal with the various forces that influenced the early development of the two writers; the common literary influences of Byron, Goethe, Shakespeare and Cervantes; the evolution of an attitude towards nature, and experience of love and the quest for happiness. Chapter V examines parallels in the political attitudes of Flaubert and Turgenev, as revealed in their works and correspondences. Chapter VI deals with the role and significance of dreams and the supernatural in the work of the two writers. Chapter VII examines their treatment of a common theme: the subject of the 'Temptation of Saint Anthony'. Chapters VIII and IX aim at a more wide-ranging view. The contribution of the elements mentioned above to the formation of a pessimistic philosophy on the part of Flaubert and Turgenev, and the expression of this view in their novels, is dealt with in Chapter VIII. Chapter IX explores the two writers' attitude to work as a possible means of alleviating a pessimistic view of life. The concluding chapter draws these threads together into an overall picture of the closeness of the experience and ideas of Flaubert and Turgenev concerning life and art.

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This thesis examines the influence on Proust of nineteenth-century racialist and anti-Semitic writers, and of natural scientists such as Darwin, Haeckel or Lamarck, in order to understand the concept of race in Proust's novel, with a particular focus on the representation of Jewishness and homosexuality.

With the publication of L'Horizon in 2010, Patrick Modiano introduces a new perspective in his writings. The title alone indicates a fresh direction, a projection into a realm of possibility and potential, marking a significant departure from the apparent retrospection of his preceding texts (Dans le café de la jeunesse perdue, Du plus loin de l'oubli, Vestiaire de l'enfance….). Informed and enlightened by Nietzschean philosophy, this thesis traces a narrative of liberation in Modiano's writing and investigates the subtle development in his philosophical outlook which has led to this new perspective. Following a trajectory towards what Nietzsche termed Dionysian or tragic wisdom, it identifies three stages of liberation undergone by Modiano's protagonists throughout the course of his oeuvre; namely the dissolution of their values, their ensuing disorientation, and their affirmation of the eternal return. In doing so, this thesis reveals a gradual process of revaluation whereby suffering, in the form of uncertainty and ignorance comes to be both valued and relished. In the course of its examination, this thesis reveals a complementarity between the output of Nietzsche and that of Modiano. While Nietzsche offers a theoretical account of the beneficial and liberating qualities of dissolution, disorientation and the eternal return, Modiano's writings immerse the reader in the confusing and often terrifying experience of these events. Although Modiano is often described as a philosophical writer, the philosophical nature of his work is hitherto underexplored. This reading of Modiano through a Nietzschean lens addresses this lacuna in Modiano studies.

This thesis examines the concept of dwelling space in works written between 1957 and 1978. Our study emphasises a concern for the problematics of 'place'. By inscribing our reading within the parameters of the 'housing question' and economic modernisation in post-war France, we draw attention to the role ofthe habitable in transforming everyday private experience. The final chapter addresses four recent works (1985-1999) that draw together these concerns. Our readings proceed chronologically, beginning with Albert Camus's 'Jonas' (L 'Exil et Ie Royaume, 1957) in Chapter One. This is followed by Philippe Sollers's Le Parc (1961) and three works of Georges Perec: Les Choses (1965), Un Homme qui dort (1967) and La Vie mode d'emploi (1978). In the final chapter, our readings of Jean- Philippe Toussaint's La Salle de bain (1985), Jean Echenoz's ~ 'Occupation des sols (1988), Christian Oster's Mon GrandAppartement (1999), and Eric Chevillard's Au Pla/ond (1997) summarise our discussion ofdwelling space. Our study's theoretical framework is comprised oftwo lines ofinquiry. The first is grounded in the phenomenological tradition of Gaston Bachelard and Martin Heidegger; the second has recourse to the field ofHuman Geography, via the theoretical contributions ofHenri Lefebvre, David Harvey, and others. The originality ofthe thesis resides in its consideration of habitable space in the literature studied, as well as in the context ofthe socio-economic and demographic transformations ofthe Fourth and Fifth Republics. Our framework allows for an investigation of 'place' that reveals the spatial dynamics of an individual's role in his environment. As such, wee identify the ways in whic\1 everyday experience can be underpinned by sensations of familiarity or estrangement, at home and in the city. In the works studied, the travails experienced by individuals in their negotiation of personal space are seen to speak to the ambivalent status of modem dwelling.