The dissertation centres on representations of disobedience in four defining Venetian novels published between 1753 and 1769: La filosofessa italiana; L’avventuriere, L’omicida irreprensibile and I zingani. The research sees disobedience as embodying cultural changes that occurred in Venetian society during the eighteenth century, in particular among the élite. Disobedience is understood as any behaviour demonstrated against figures of secular authority (as in the parent-child relationship). It is, however, instrumental to interpretation of the text at multiple levels. First, it functions as a narratological device that triggers the development of the plot; second, it informs the didactic aims of the novel, by giving examples of behaviour performed by figures of authority, or subordinates. Third, it embodies changes experienced by readers in their contemporary life, offering a way to mediate conflicts through fiction. The dissertation investigates this function in relation to the élite, a heterogeneous group of high-income individuals from different classes. This group is identified as a privileged addressee of the novel. The dissertation investigates the centrality of Venetian élites from two different angles. In the first part, the analysis focuses on publishing activities, cultural consumption, and the development of the Venetian book market. It shows how the emergence of the novel is closely related to the economic transformation of the market, and the role played by the urban élite, that had become a target audience for new cultural products such as the novel. The relationship between literary representation and Venetian élites is further demonstrated through the analysis of the four novels. Alongside the analysis of disobedience from a literary perspective, the thesis adopts the topos to highlight cultural and social issues involving Venetian élites, such as the clash between generations; the reshaping of education; and the shift in social attitudes which transfers value from status to to wealth. The research argues that, through the representation of disobedience, novels set limits of acceptable behaviours, mediating between individual needs and social requirements, and suggesting possible solutions to existing conflicts. The dissertation stands at the crossroads of history (in particular Venetian history), literary criticism, and history of the book. This interdisciplinary approach makes an original contribution to the literary debate on the eighteenth century Italian novel and offers an innovative perspective from which to look at the emergence and development of this genre in the eighteenth century.

Pendant la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle, en Europe, le désir d’une lecture totale des corps, qu’ils soient sains ou malades, devient presque obsessionnel. Un désir qui, naissant en plein Positivisme, suppose une lecture selon des principes toujours plus ‘scientifiques’ et selon une méthode – la méthode expérimentale – qui garantisse rigueur et sérieux. Un désir qui trouve sa justification au moment même où la folie et son ample spectre phénoménologique de névroses, hystéries et épilepsies devient la « figure de proue » du XIXe siècle et est lue comme une maladie propre à la société moderne. L’intérêt qui a toujours entouré le discours sur l’esprit humain grandit alors démesurément, sort des systèmes théoriques des sciences médicales et « investit » les artistes et écrivains ainsi que leurs productions. C’est dans ce climat que s’insèrent de façon impétueuse et prépondérante la figure et l’œuvre de Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909). L’objectif de cette étude a été de mettre en lumière l’influence et la portée des théories de Cesare Lombroso et des sciences médicales en général sur la littérature italienne contemporaine et, en même temps, le rôle et la fonction de cette dernière sur celles-ci. Plus particulièrement, l’accent a été mis sur les ‘imbrications’ scientifico-littéraires opérées des deux côtés, mais aussi sur la fonction cognitive, outre qu’épistémologique, née de ces liens étroits allant presque jusqu’à l’osmose entre des disciplines aussi éloignées entre elles : la science à travers la figure de Cesare Lombroso d’un côté, et, la littérature à travers la figure de Carlo Dossi (1849-1910) et de quelques autres écrivains de la même période de l’autre côté. L’objectif a été également de comprendre si dans cet échange d’idées et de compétences, les disciplines en cause se sont entraidées ou si elles ont plutôt revêtu un rôle « ancillaire » les unes envers les autres / In Europe in the second half of the XIXth century, the wish to apprehend the human body and its multiple aspects, be it healthy or sick, became almost an obsession. With Positivism at its height, the perception and reading of the body required the use of a scientific approach – the experimental method – as a guarantee of accuracy and seriousness. This trend emerged at the very moment when madness (and its wide phenomenological spectrum of neurosis, hysterias and epilepsies) becomes a XIXth century emblem, and is perceived as a typical disease of the modern society. The already strong interest for the discourse on human mind thus intensifies and spreads out of the field of the theoretical systems of medical sciences to invest the world of artists, writers and their productions. As products of this intellectual background, the figure and the works of Cesare Lombroso (1835-1909) stand out and impose their presence. The purpose of this study is to highlight the influence and impact of medical sciences and of Cesare Lombroso’s theories on the XIXth century Italian literature and, conversely, the role and the function of literature on medical sciences. More particularly, this study focuses on the ‘commingling’ operating between sciences and literature, but also on the cognitive and epistemological functions arising from these close links that almost lead to osmosis, even though the two spheres seem distant from each other: sciences, through Cesare Lombroso on the one hand, and literature, through Carlo Dossi (1849-1910) and other writers of the same period on the other hand. The aim of this study is also to wonder whether, through this exchange of ideas and skills, science and literature feed each other or are finally limited to satellites roles