Humans seem to have a cognitive predisposition for perceiving different concepts in terms of opposite extremes, which in turn fosters an either / or mentality where only two contrary views are possible - tertium non datur. This tendency is also reflected in Don Quixote, where the arrangement of multiple and diverse elements through dualistic patterns is so prevalent, and represent such an essential structural characteristic, that it becomes Cervantes’s own ars poetica. However, once readers look beyond the apparent dichotomies, a higher degree of complexity emerges. We can debate whether Don Quixote is either crazy or sane using the Aristotelian aut / aut logic, but a different possibility would also be enlightening - tertium datur. This dissertation offers an alternative critical framework which combines cognitive theories of categorization and perception with the ideas of Heraclitus, Abelard’s Sic et Non, and Bart Kosko’s Fuzzy Thinking based on Lofti Zadeh’s Fuzzy Logic. Through the new fuzzy and (ambi)valent logic Don Quixote can be perceived simultaneously as crazy and sane - sic et non - since both possibilities are valid at the same time. This new approach reveals that Cervantes employs dualities - equal and opposing elements - not to simplify but rather to make us reflect and deepen our knowledge of the human condition. Thus, Don Quixote functions as a mirror (speculum) in numerous levels, since the text’s self-reflexive structure can in turn provoke reflections and interpretations ad infinitum. Chapter 1 of the dissertation explores the long tradition surrounding the use of dualities from classical antiquity to the Early Modern period from a binary perspective. Chapter 2 establishes a theoretical framework based on a fuzzy and (ambi)valent cognitive categorization and perception. That framework is then applied in chapter 3 to the dichotomies explored in chapter 1, and then, in chapter 4, to the dualistic categories and schemata in Don Quixote. Chapter 5 analyzes the interconnectedness of cognitive entities which are typically studied separately: the author (Cervantes), the text (Don Quixote), and the readers (the critics), along with their respective contexts. Thus, this is both a critical / analytical study as much as a meta-analytical / meta-critical endeavor.

Uppsatsens syfte är att studera porträtteringen av nationell identitet i Don DeLillos Falling Man och Amy Waldmans The Submission i förhållande till efterverkningarna av 9/11. Studien utgörs av undersökande och jämförande analyser av romanerna utifrån ett litteratursociologiskt samt postkolonialt perspektiv med fokus på nationalism, religion och commemoration.   Studien har presenterat hur amerikansk identitet har ifrågasatts och problematiserats i romanerna Falling Man och The Submission, och visat hur religion, commemoration och nationalism hänger samman med den amerikanska identiteten. En identitet som visat sig föränderlig och problematisk i efterverkningarna av 9/11. Studien har också kunnat visa att böckerna inte ämnar att lyfta fram en gestaltning av identitet som något allenarådande eller fast, utan att de istället visar hur identitet ständigt förändras och skiljer sig från karaktär till karaktär, genom problematiserandet kring tillhörighet, trygghet och trauma.

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The problem with which this study is concerned is that of determining the role of war and social revolution in Afro-American poetry of the 1960's. For this study, four major poets were selected: Gwendolyn Brooks, Nikki Giovanni, LeRoi Jones, and Don L. Lee.

Thèse numérisée par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Master's thesis Don Juan as the character in French literature from 1850 until 1950 is dedicated to the research on the change of Don Juan's character in the selected works of this period. Author concentrated on the sources of inspiration and on contribution of individual authors in relation to previous works with Don Juan's theme. In his work he uses mainly the comparative method. He divides works into three groups. In the first group, there are the works whose authors found inspiration for Don Juan's character above all in the works of Molière and Tirso de Molina. In the second part, there are works that follow the romantic concept by Prosper Mérimée. In the third part, there are atypical works, in which does not prevail any of the previous models. Author concentrates on new elements with which Don Juan's myth was enriched.

Informe de Seminario para optar al grado de Licenciado en Lengua y Literatura Hispánica mención Literatura. / Seminario de grado: Desde la escritura: imágenes y representaciones del Islam y los musulmanes / En La ‘mancha’ de don Quijote: el trasfondo islámico, se intentará poner de manifiesto una posibilidad de lectura, en donde el texto cervantino se nos presenta como un corpus empapado de tópicos, motivos y problemáticas árabes e islámicas luego de la expulsión de los moros de la Península, además de postular una nueva interpretación basada en la identificación de esos elementos orientales en el juego ficcional interno de la obra. Este ensayo intenta de-velar lo que la crítica tradicional occidental ha omitido, ignorado o negado de El Quijote, respecto a la influencia musulmana y/o árabe que, durante la convivencia con cristianos en España, debió de introducir a la literatura medieval y posterior. Así, en este trabajo veremos cómo, incluso entrado ya el siglo XVII, los residuos de la cultura islámica se dejan ver en la literatura española con una voz más potente y determinante de lo que muchos podrían esperar o querer.