This study retraces the steps of the 17th century architect and engineer Salomon de Caus through his written and built works, in an attempt to understand the relationship between what he made and the model by which his world was comprehended. The central questions examined with regard to his works are: what correspondence do they reveal between language as a means of conveying knowledge, the world as the source of knowledge, and God the divine creator; and whether "meaning" resides within or without this relation. The interpretation of De Caus' works reveals an epistemological model of a world balancing on the threshold of the modern era of scientific discovery and technological progress. His texts and constructions appear as a means of conveying knowledge with the aim of making the Divine appear as mystery in the human world. De Caus is known to operate two principal layers of meaning in his works. One "mathematical" which addresses the intrinsic meaning of the order of the cosmos and the Divine; the other "narrative", "melodie" or "ornamental", addressing the mediation of situational meaning through matter. Human experience and action was a third factor in the process of mediation. Through the intense experience of the moment of performance, whether architectural, theatrical or musical, man could embody the immaterial knowledge of God. The human artefact was a "poetic instrument" guiding man through life. Today, when living in a world where the dominating paradigm reduces understanding to symbolic logic and God has long since been declared dead, De Caus' poetic model remains highly significant.

Marvelous Realism is a continuous source of debate in the world of research. Restricted to latino-american literature for ones, open to all literatures for others, this style suffers from a lack of unanimity. This is the reason why I have chosen to begin my thesis with a panoramic view of this style and identify its founders. Subsequently, I will try to establish the distinctions between Magic and Marvelous Realism through the thesis of Charles Scheel and Ook Chung. / Those precisions made, I shall analyse the presence of Marvelous Realism in Ferron's Contes with the stylistic and/or structural traits of Mary-Ellen Ross, Charles Scheel, Cecilia Ponte and Irlemar Chiampi among others. / The second part of my thesis is composed of short stories that will enlightened, by the events, or by the narration, certain aspects of Marvelous Realism.

This thesis attempts to demonstrate the importance of the "autobiography of childhood" in Gabrielle Roy's first-person narratives through a narratological analysis of the most representative of these texts--the pseudo-autobiographical Rue Deschambault and La Route d'Altamont as well as the autobiographical texts La Detresse et l'Enchantement, "Ma petite rue qui m'a menee autour du monde", "Mes etudes a Saint-Boniface", "Souvenirs du Manitoba" and "Mon heritage du Manitoba". Our purpose is to identify recurrent structures and to interpret the similarities and differences in the light of contemporary theories on the autobiographical genre. This allows us in turn to examine the functioning and meaning of childhood writing in Gabrielle Roy's first-person narratives.

This thesis explores the foundations of the complex and multifaceted work of Leonardo da Vinci as a whole. What underscores the universality of his research and transcends the artificial divisions of his vast body of work into modern categories of specialization, is the operation of analogy, which is grounded in a mimetic imagination. Leonardo's search is ultimately one of understanding the underlying causes that animate the universe and through analogy, his work and his world hold together. Central to my investigation of the continuity of Leonardo's analogical mode of thinking and making, are questions pertaining to the body, architecture and representation. I put forth that only by appreciating the analogical nature of Leonardo's (re)search, can one access the meaning and value of his efforts and contribution.

In this thesis, we will try to approach Cioran's work using the fragmentary theory. The different types of fragments (anecdotes, maxims, aphorisms, bio-moments, short essays...) that constitute Cioran's work and that mark its variations, appear to result from sloughing (multiple passages and displacement), so that the one who "sloughes" is never the same but does not fundamentally change. / In this perspective, the writing of the fragment may not be a deficiency, a collapsing or a fetichism of the part, but rather a matter of instinct, of experimentation that (re)totalizes as it is been written...like a victory over time and death, like a moment of eternity, like a fragment-trophy.

This thesis re-evaluates Inhumanism, the philosophy of twentieth-century American poet Robinson Jeffers, in light of the Christian eremitic tradition. Inhumanism continues to create controversy around Jeffers' life and work; charges of misanthropy and anti-Americanism have pushed him to the margins of American literature. My first chapter looks at how critics have tried to understand Inhumanism's influences and motives by contextualizing Jeffers' philosophy in many cultural, psychological, literary, and spiritual traditions. Chapter Two explores the main tenets of the eremitic ideal, as expressed in the lives and writings of hermits from the fourth to the twentieth centuries. Chapters Three, Four, and Five then situate Inhumamsm's themes, imagery, and purpose---as set down in Jeffers' poetry from 1903 to 1962---in this eremitic tradition. Looking at Jeffers' early work shows that Inhumanism is not politically-motivated, as many critics claim, but rather is a deep-rooted spiritual orientation, carried in his heart from boyhood. Recontextualizing Jeffers' work in the eremitic tradition shows Inhumanism to be, not an exceptional or dangerous philosophy, but part of the core of western spirituality.

In this study I attempt to provide a critical-exegetic reading of Giovanni Boccaccio's Filocolo: critical, because my point of departure is a problem---the insistent, puzzling repetition, on the part of the various characters, of the same story, the story of Florio and Biancifiore; exegetic, because my purpose is to arrive at a global interpretation of the work. / It is my contention that, first, every version of the story appears to be dictated by the purpose of informing the 'ignorant'---namely those unaware of how events truly unfolded---in order to complete a narrative that, from beginning to end "interamente si contenga;" second, that this repetition ensures the unity of the work as a whole. Moreover, the gradual process leading to full information runs parallel, I believe, to the gradual process of Florio's coming of age, from his fallacious "imagining" to his acquisition of "real knowledge." With my interpretation I wish to shed light on one aspect of Boccaccio's poetics, that is, the way he opposes his full, well-founded and consistent account to the "fabulosi parlari degli ignoranti." / On a quite different level, the repetition of the same story can be linked to Boccaccio's penchant for experimenting with the art of storytelling. / I have followed throughout the text of the Filocolo leaving aside, however, Book I, which concerns the parents of the two lovers and is essentially just a premise to the story. The division of my dissertation in four chapters reflects the two distinct phases that, in my opinion, characterize the narration: the 'outward journey' (Chapters I--III) and the 'return journey' (Chapter IV). In Chapter II I deal with the much discussed episode of the Questioni d'amore, that takes place in Naples during a pause in the outward journey. In the Appendix I analyze the phenomenology of death, both actual and 'verbal,' which allows me to explore further the character and personality of Florio and Biancifiore.

This is a study of popular festive laughter in Sean O'Casey's drama. It argues that O'Casey's use of the strategies of laughter is an integral part of his political vision. The concept of festive laughter is derived from the theory of Mikhail Bakhtin, and is related, in this thesis, to the culture of low life in O'Casey's Dublin. Through a detailed analysis of O'Casey's plays, this study shows how the forms of laughter function to interrogate the hegemonic political, economic, and cultural discourses of the Irish society of his time. The Dublin trilogy counters the nationalist ideology and its constructions of history, while the later comedies focus on the issues of cultural domination and religious authoritarianism. This negative critique of the dominant order is accompanied, in these plays, by a celebration of the rich energy of popular, collective life, and its capacity to resist domination and to create an alternative society. The study concludes by focusing on the festive nature of O'Casey's theatre.

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