A creative dissertation consisting of two parts: a novel and a critical preface. The critical preface, titled “Novel without Falsehood” deals directly with David Shields’s Reality Hunger, touching on issues of reality as it pertains to truth, writing, fiction, and contemporary culture. The novel is entitled Down and Out and follows the fortunes of a small town in Arkansas before, during, and after its sole source of employment ceases to exist.

Informe de Seminario para optar al grado de Licenciado en Lengua y Literatura Inglesa

Generally acclaimed as the greatest philosopher of the Enlightenment, David Hume has been, nevertheless, a problem for Enlightenment historians. In terms of the Enlightenment's own standards of empiricism and demonstrable philosophical tenets, Hume's is by far the most "legitimate" philosophy of the age, yet it is almost diametrically opposed to the traditional historical characterization of the Enlightenment. Consequently, historians must re-assess the empirical character of the Enlightenment, acknowledging it as yet another Age of Faith rather than science (as Becker contends), or acknowledge Hume's as the most valid Enlightenment philosophy. Such a re-assessment and study of Hume's conclusions would dramatically alter Enlightenment histories and provide meaningful insights into the actual Enlightenment legacy regarding modern man and his society.

It is the purpose of this paper to demonstrate the nature of Thoreau's use of organic imagery by tracing recurrent symbols that represent key concepts and provide unity and coherence throughout Walden. By charting the patterns of imagery in Walden, one can observe Thoreau's movement from an initially pessimistic view of man's present state to one of transcendental optimism and hope for freedom in the future.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

Avec ses quatre témoins, le récit épique d’Anseÿs de Gascogne est l’un des succès du Moyen-Âge. C’est une conclusion du Cycle des Lorrains nettement en faveur des comtes du Nord, et Philippe le Bon en a naturellement commandé une mise en prose. La copie de David Aubert datée de 1465 nous est parvenue dans un luxueux manuscrit conservé à Bruxelles (KBR, 9), quatrième volume des Histoires de Charles Martel. La seconde partie du récit – à partir de la bataille en Santerre – sur laquelle s’appuie notre étude, ne peut être considérée comme un simple dérimage. En effet, elle révèle les goûts de la société bourguignonne du XVe siècle, s’organise en chapitres et modernise la langue, le vocabulaire et surtout les techniques littéraires. Nous sommes donc en présence d’un récit davantage ancré dans l’époque de la copie que dans celle de son modèle en vers. La présente édition réunit une description du manuscrit, une étude littéraire commentant la filiation de la prose et du vers, une analyse linguistique ainsi qu’un glossaire, un index des noms propres et une table des proverbes. / The epic tale Anseÿs de Gascogne, which is composed of four reference texts, is one of the best medieval literary achievements. It comes as a conclusion to the Lorraine cycle clearly paying tribute to the counts of the North of France and Philippe le Bon naturally ordered a copy of it in prose. David Aubert’s copy, dating back to 1465, is to be found in a luxurious manuscript kept in Brussels (KBR, 9) in the fourth volume of Histoires de Charles Martel. The second part of the tale – from the Battle of Santerre onwards – on which our study lies should not be considered as a mere conversion from poetry to prose. Indeed, not only does it throw light upon the tastes of the Bourguignon society of the XVth century but it also falls into chapters and modernises the language, the vocabulary and above all, the narrative techniques. The tale is really anchored in the prose tradition rather than in that of verse. This edition gathers a description of the manuscript, a literary study commenting on the connections between prose and verse, a linguistic analysis as well as a glossary, an index of proper nouns and a table of proverbs.

Trata-se de investigar a posição de Hume no debate travado no século XVIII acerca do problema do gosto. A questão do gosto encontra-se difusa em boa parte da obra do filósofo escocês, mas é no ensaio Do Padrão do Gosto (1757) que Hume se detém no estudo do modo pelo qual os homens elaboram padrões ao fazerem julgamentos estéticos. Neste ensaio - objeto central desta dissertação -, Hume assinala a extrema variedade de gostos que há no mundo e nota que tanto a beleza quanto a deformidade dependem de como cada um as sente. Assim, nada poderia ser dito feio ou belo, imperando o completo relativismo estético. A pesquisa pretende analisar as articulações por meio das quais Hume resolve essa ameaça cética que paira sobre a crítica do gosto. / The following dissertation is an investigation of the position of David Hume concerning the question of taste in the 18th century. The issue of taste is widespread in much of the Scottish philosopher\'s works, but particularly in his essay Of the Standard of Taste (1757) he studies the way in which people elaborate patterns to make aesthetic judgments. In the essay the object of this dissertation Hume notes the great variety of tastes which prevails in the world and he also notes that the concepts of beauty and deformity depend on how each of them is experienced. Therefore, nothing can be said to be ugly or beautiful, according to this aesthetic relativism. This paper will examine the arguments Hume articulates in addressing and resolving the threat this skepticism poses to the notion of taste and to the possibility of art criticism.

Desde sua primeira obra, David Hume anuncia ao leitor o projeto de constituição de uma ciência da natureza humana. O principal objetivo deste trabalho consiste em examinar os argumentos utilizados por Hume para construir as condições de possibilidade desse saber. / Since his first work David Hume announces his intentions to constitute a science of human nature. The main target of this thesis is to examine the arguments used by Hume to build the conditions of possibility of this field of knowledge.

Podemos afirmar que o tratamento dado por Hume à relação entre a Divindade e o mal moral no final da seção 8 da Investigação sobre o Entendimento Humano (EHU) tem seu desenvolvimento mais profundo e sofisticado nos Diálogos sobre a Religião Natural. Embora Hume também trate desse tópico na seção 11 da EHU, a ampla e profunda crítica feita às pretensões levantadas pelo argumento do desígnio nos Diálogos oferece um efetivo desdobramento da questão abordada por Hume em EHU 8. O abandono em EHU 8 de uma inquirição mais detalhada do problema acerca da relação entre o mal e a Divindade é compreensível. Com efeito, Hume pretendia ali, entre outras coisas, argumentar em favor de uma instância de destinação dos juízos de responsabilidade moral, a saber, o caráter. Daí ser aceitável a sua afirmação de que não é possível explicar precisamente como a Divindade pode ser a causa mediata de todas as ações dos homens sem ser a autora do pecado e da torpeza moral. Esses são mistérios que a simples razão natural e desassistida não está nem um pouco preparada para enfrentar, e seja qual for o sistema que ela adote, encontrar-se-á envolvida em inextrincáveis dificuldades (EHU 8 § 36). Certamente Hume não resolveu cabalmente essas dificuldades nos Diálogos, mas tentou enfrentá-las na medida em que uma razão desassistida, isto é, sem apoio em dogmas religiosos, pode fazê-lo. A partir desse aspecto da crítica de Hume empreendida nos Diálogos, minha intenção é examinar em que medida o argumento do desígnio se vê comprometido com o reconhecimento do mal no mundo. Para tanto, devo percorrer um longo caminho examinando as duas provas em favor da existência de Deus discutidas nos Diálogos. / It is stated that the treatment given by Hume to the relationship between God and moral evil at the end of section 8 of An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding (EHU) has its deeper and more sophisticated development in the Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. Although Hume also treats this topic in section 11 of EHU, the wide and deep criticism regarding the assumptions raised by the design argument in Dialogues offers an effective development on the issue examined by Hume in EHU 8. The abandonment, in EHU 8, of a more detailed examination concerning the problem of the relationship between evil and divinity is understandable. Among other things, Hume intended to argue on that section in favour of an instance of destination to judgments of moral responsibility, namely, the character. Thus, it is acceptable his assertion that it is impossible to explain distinctly, how the Deity can be the mediate cause of all the actions of men without being the author of sin and moral turpitude. These are mysteries, which mere natural and unassisted reason is very unfit to handle; and whatever system she embraces, she must find herself involved in inextricable difficulties(8 EHU § 36). Hume certainly did not solve these difficulties in its totality in the Dialogues, but he tried to confront them to the extent that as \"unassisted reason\" can do so, that is, without the support of the religious dogma. From this aspect of Hume\'s criticism undertaken in the Dialogues, my intention is to examine in what extent the design argument is endangered by the recognition of evil in the world. Before that, I must walk a long path examining the two proofs of Gods existence discussed in the Dialogues.

As Aventuras de David Simple, primeiro romance de Sarah Fielding publicado em 1744, foi redescoberto pela crítica anglo-saxã nos anos 60 através da adoção de perspectivas que buscavam questionar as abordagens canônicas no que se refere ao romance moderno como gênero. Neste trabalho, procuramos compreender a contribuição, dentro da história do romance, dos principais estudos acerca de David Simple, e propor uma análise crítica que, aproximando-se do material narrativo, visa a expor como se formulam, no nível da fatura, algumas das questões fundamentais da vida socioeconômica e literária da Inglaterra neste período / The Adventures of David Simple, Sarah Fielding\'s first novel published in 1744, was rediscovered by Anglo Saxon critics in the 1960\'s who employed new perspectives that aimed at questioning earlier canonical assumptions regarding the modern novel as a genre. The aim of this research is to understand the contributions, to the history of the novel, of the main studies concerning David Simple, and also to propose a critical analysis that, approaching the narrative material, aims at exposing how the novel formulates, in the managing of its structure and themes, some of the fundamental issues in socioeconomic and literary English life in this period