No description available.

Li Mei-yee. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 101-106). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / 摘要 --- p.iii / Acknowledgements --- p.iv / Contents --- p.vi / Introduction: Questions about Reading --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Waiting for Godot and the Issue of Absurdity --- p.28 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- At the Hawk's Well and the Drama of the Interior --- p.59 / Conclusion --- p.90 / Note --- p.100 / Works Cited --- p.101

This dissertation articulates the relationship between literary form and unconscious affect in fictions by Cesare Pavese, Samuel Beckett and Alain Robbe-Grillet. Drawing from contemporary psychoanalytic object-relations theory, including the work of W.R. Bion and the Bionian school, it defines three paradigmatic forms of psychic work — reparation, containment and construction — that structure the intersubjective unconscious responses to specific formal challenges. It claims that the psychic work involved in meeting those challenges is both “historical” — in the sense that it reveals elements of each text’s historicity and political valence within their cultural setting — and “productive,” in the sense that it entails a degree of psychic growth for the reader. This dissertation bridges literary history, psychoanalytic theory and reader-response theory. It seeks to intervene in each discipline’s debates: in literary-historical terms, it argues that the psychic work of reading must be understood as constitutive of the texts’ expression of the context of the postwar and as part of their struggle to move beyond the aesthetic of modernism. In psychoanalytic terms, it joins in the lively discussion about the historical specificity of the mechanisms theorized by object-relations theory. Finally, at the level of literary theory, it seeks to affirm the value of Bion’s model of object-relations in theorizing reading as a transformative process characterized by intense unconscious, intersubjective activity. The dissertation is organized in three literary chapters, followed by a theoretical chapter. Taken together, the first three chapters represent the evidence for the need of a concept of psychic work in reading late modernist fiction and for the potential payoffs of formulating such a concept. Chapter 4 consists of four theoretical “notes,” addressing, in broad terms, the resonance of intersubjective notions of psychic work for reading, criticism and literary theory.

Cette thèse présente une étude théorique et épistémologique du concept de jeu -étude qui, tout en prenant ancrage dans la tradition sociologique, se fonde sur l'herméneutique de H.G. Gadamer ainsi que sur la dialectique hégélienne. Divisée en deux parties -respectivement intitulées Sociologie(s) du jeu et Herméneutique et dialectique du jeu -la thèse examine, dans un premier temps, les principaux textes fondateurs de la pensée sociologique sur le jeu, en suivant l'exigence formulée par l'herméneutique de Gadamer d'un dialogue avec autrui et d'une appropriation et d'une reconnaissance de la légitimité de son propos. Au travers de ce dialogue; les concepts et les représentations qui ont tissé la pensée sociologique du jeu sont identifiés et ressaisis. La première partie de la thèse compte trois chapitres correspondant chacun aux trois principales bases épistémologiques de la sociologie -le situationnisme ou interactionnisme, le monisme ou holisme et l'individualisme méthodologique -qui, elles-mêmes, renvoient à trois manières différentes de concevoir le jeu, c'est-à-dire, respectivement: le jeu comme métaphore de la socialité (Ch. 1), le jeu comme prisme de la civilisation (Ch. 2) et enfin, le jeu comme instrument d'analyse de l'action rationnelle (Ch. 3). Dans un deuxième temps, la thèse relit et relie les différentes études sociologiques sur le jeu en retournant au phénomène du jeu principalement le théâtre, mais aussi les échecs et le hockey -en compagnie de la dialectique hégélienne et du processus de suppression-conservation qui la structure. Se divisant également en trois chapitres, la deuxième partie de la thèse se présente comme un exposé des différentes médiations au travers desquelles le jeu se réalise progressivement. Dans son moment subjectif (Ch. 4), le jeu est travaillé par la médiation des émotions, de l'imagination et du style. L'intermédiation de la liberté, de la règle et de la mesure constitue, par ailleurs, le jeu dans son moment objectif (Ch. 5). Et enfin, dans son moment esthétique (Ch. 6), le jeu accède à la qualité de représentation, voire d'une belle représentation, et il se configure et se montre au travers de l'articulation dialectique de ses qualités musicales, plastiques et dramatiques. En somme, l'examen du devenir du jeu qui est ici mené « fait voir » et « voit-faire » le jeu en le voilant et en le dévoilant à la fois, et ce dans la mesure où la mise à jour des différentes médiations par lesquelles le jeu se constitue, se forme et se déploie sur le plan phénoménal dévoile et fait voir le jeu en tant que concept, mais au travers de son dévoilement, le concept jette en quelque sorte un voile sur le phénomène du jeu et le « fait-voir » et le « voit-faire » en sa qualité de symbole du symbolique, ainsi qu'en son activité de formation de soi, du social et du beau. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Jeu, Sociologie, Théâtre, Hockey, Jeu d'échecs, Gadamer, Hegel, Samuel Beckett.

Not available / text

Often considered to be apolitical playwrights, Samuel Beckett and Tom Stoppard each dedicated dramatic works to dissident Czech playwright (and later President) Václav Havel in the late 1970s and early 1980s—during his imprisonment for his role in writing and distributing the dissident document Charter 77. These dramatic works, with a few others, collectively mark simultaneous, parallel shifts in Beckett’s and Stoppard’s careers toward uncharacteristically explicit political engagement. This report examines these works—Beckett’s Catastrophe and What Where, and Stoppard’s Every Good Boy Deserves Favor and Professional Foul—through the lens of Havel’s political philosophy, especially as expressed in his 1978 essay “The power of the powerless.” This report argues that Havel’s model of apolitical resistance to injustice, a model he calls “living in truth,” expresses humanist values that these playwrights had long affirmed in their art. Their shared moral vision, along with sympathy for Havel’s plight under a totalitarian regime that distorted language as a tool of oppression, was the catalyst for their new, direct involvement in political matters. The report establishes the historical context of the Soviet-dominated Communist regime in Czechoslovakia, along with relevant biographical and professional narratives for each figure. It then examines closely this selection of Beckett’s and Stoppard’s dramatic works and their shared thematic concerns, and demonstrates how they artistically embody and communicate Havel’s model of “living in truth.” / text

The thesis: "The easiest thing of all is to pass judgement on what has a solid substantial content; it is more difficult to grasp it and most of all difficult to do both together and produce the systematic exposition of it". (Hegel). Since at least 1960 there has been a considerable amount of critical attention paid to Beckett. Besides articles, reviews, chapters and paragraphs, by 1979 more, than sixty books had been published devoted exclusively to him. A lot of this critical work has been of the highest standard and certainly it is hard to imagine how a serious appreciation of Beckett could survive without it. But it is my opinion that at the heart of his writing there is an inescapable mass of involvement with the fundamental issues of existence that has yet to be dealt with adequately. In this thesis I intend to attack this central core of Beckett's work by associating it with the discipline which, by definition, operates in the same area - philosophy. This will provide a new "reading" of Beckett and at the same time show how far philosophical analogy can illuminate a writer.

Submitted by Fabiano Vassallo (fabianovassallo2127@gmail.com) on 2017-05-15T17:39:08Z No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertação Ana Paula experiência interior na obra narrativa de samuel beckett versao final 2.pdf: 1038395 bytes, checksum: 245a30783cab0781ca93b1d33e41e260 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Josimara Dias Brumatti (bcgdigital@ndc.uff.br) on 2017-05-18T13:07:46Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertação Ana Paula experiência interior na obra narrativa de samuel beckett versao final 2.pdf: 1038395 bytes, checksum: 245a30783cab0781ca93b1d33e41e260 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-05-18T13:07:46Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Dissertação Ana Paula experiência interior na obra narrativa de samuel beckett versao final 2.pdf: 1038395 bytes, checksum: 245a30783cab0781ca93b1d33e41e260 (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / O objetivo desta dissertação é analisar os aspectos da experiência beckettiana que se pode caracterizar como “interior” devido às suas implicações para a subjetividade, partindo da noção de experiência interior apresentada por Georges Bataille em seu livro homônimo de 1943. A discussão centra-se em torno da figura do sujeito beckettiano e a da forma como ele se inscreve na linguagem na novela O Calmante e nos Textos para nada. Este sujeito se apresenta como narrador-personagem de sua própria história e, ao encenar seu processo de escrita, demonstra a insuficiência do código face à diversidade do “eu” e do “mundo”. Através do desenvolvimento de seu caminho narrativo, que questiona e desconfia constantemente da linguagem, ele realiza sua experiência singular. Neste percurso abre-se a possibilidade de tensionamento dos limites da razão, da moral, da lógica, do “eu” e da linguagem / The aim of this dissertation is to analyze the Beckettian experience that can be characterized as “interior” because of its consequences for the subjectivity, starting from the notion of inner experience developed by Georges Bataille in his book of 1943. The discussion is centered around the figure of the subject that presents himself as the narrator-character of his own story and, by dramatizing his process of writing, demonstrates the insufficiency of the code regarding the diversity of the “I” and the “world”. Through the development of his narrative, that constantly questions and doubts the language, he realizes his singular experience. This process opens the possibility to tension the limits of reason, moral, logic, of the “I” and the language

En retraçant le développement des théories de la comédie dans la philosophie occidentale, cette thèse avance que des préjugés l’ont empêchée d’être reconnue comme un genre littéraire sérieux. Il est montré que la place donnée à la comédie comme genre mineur pendant plus de deux mille ans correspond à un modèle éthique qui affirme, en distinguant le réel de l'Idéal, une vision néo-platonicienne de l'existence. Partant de l’analyse d’un phénomène théâtral précis dans l’Europe de l’après-guerre et à travers de nombreux exemples choisis parmi des pièces de cinq dramaturges différents, cette thèse propose trois principaux critères de la comédie : le statut ontologique des personnages comiques, la relation paradoxale de la comédie au monde des apparences, et son aptitude à permettre l'impossible. Opérant ainsi un renversement total des systèmes de valeurs et remettant en question une vision binaire, la comédie brouille les clivages entre l’abstrait et le concret, le mécanique et l’organique, et au bout du compte entre la vie et la mort. Il est démontré comment ce renversement s’accomplit de manière linguistique, métaphorique ou encore dramaturgique. L’étude conclut que la comédie bouleverse l'ordre socio-symbolique qui repose sur la logique du possible. / By tracing the development of theories of comedy within Western philosophy, this thesis claims that anti-comic prejudices prevented comedy from being recognized as a serious genre. Comedy’s inferior status for over two thousand years is shown to correspond to an ethical model that distinguishes the real from the Ideal and affirms a Neo-Platonic vision of existence. Through numerous examples taken from a particular phenomenon of post-war European theatre comprising five different playwrights, this thesis proposes three primary characteristics of comedy: the ontological instability of comic characters, comedy’s paradoxical relation to the world of appearances, and comedy’s willingness to accommodate the impossible. By throwing binaries into question and promoting a complete reversal of dominant value systems, comedy blurs the lines of distinction between the abstract and the concrete, the mechanical and the organic and, ultimately, between life and death. Demonstrating how this reversal is accomplished linguistically, metaphorically, or dramaturgically, this study concludes that comedy subverts the socio-symbolic order that relies upon the logic of possibility.

This dissertation examines Samuel Beckett's powerful legacy and influence on contemporary theater (on plays written and produced since 1980), and it defines this influence in both text and performance as gestures of emptiness and impotence. The plays selected for analysis here have been categorized at times as belonging to a tradition and legacy of the so-called "Theater of the Absurd," but, finding this category to be at once too restrictive and too loose, their relationship to the absurd is defined by their explicit use of and inspiration taken from Beckett's theater. Beckett's intentional and innovative use of emptiness and impotence, both spatially and textually, is decisively paradoxical: while emphasizing blank spaces and powerlessness, his plays find meaning in emptiness and unexpected control in what he called the "exploitation of impotence." In each of the plays analyzed in this dissertation, (Dans la solitude des champs de coton, Koltès; La secreta obscenidad de cada día, de la Parra; Blasted, Kane; and Laughing Wild, Durang), the explicit use of both emptiness and powerlessness are examined, and at the same time, I define what it is about each of these gestures that renders them particularly Beckettian as they relate to these works. In all of the plays examined here, gestures of emptiness and impotence become their opposites: significance and power. Four of Samuel Beckett's plays (Fragment de théâtre I, En attendant Godot, Fin de partie, and Happy Days) are compared and contrasted with the work of Koltès, de la Parra, Kane and Durang respectively. The parallels revealed, made both intentionally and unintentionally by their playwrights, demonstrate not only the certainty of Beckett's continued influence, but also reflect his persistent, widespread impact. What is shown, with broader implications for future study, is that Beckett's use of emptiness and impotence as theatrical, literary and artistic gestures have led to a new kind of hopefulness, and a new kind of artistic inspiration that is unique to our time. / text