This thesis is focused on the decadent form of Czech symbolist literature at the turn of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. The main task is to present a complex catalogue of motifs and images used by Czech decadents in their works and also to analyse the main methods and strategies they used - in particular interstatuality, also connected with the decadent effort to capture the uniqueness of each passing moment, and synaesthesia. The thesis also focuses on the radical individualism of decadent authors and its connection with both the motifs used and the symbolist style in itself - in the form of self-stylization of the decadent authors who tend to identify with their own works and become (even in real life) their own literal subjects. Because of the prominent visual aspect of decadent literature, the thesis also takes into consideration contemporary art works and the relations between words and images.

Version abrégée de Th. de doct. : Paris 4 : 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [457]-474) and index.

Today, unlike yesterday we talk about Moral Regeneration amongst the Vhavenḓa youth of today and throughout the whole world. Strategies of combating this monster that is snatching our youth are recommended in this study. The problem dealt with in this study is the issue of Moral degeneration amongst the youth which needs to be regenerated. There are many causes of moral degeneration amongst the youth discussed in this study which are accompanied by the remedial strategies. As a way forward in this study, observations of researchers and scholars on how to find the solution about moral degeneration that has impacted on the lives of Vhavenḓa youth and other youth of today around the globe were focused on. The literature review in this study was based more on issues that are linked to Indigenous Knowledge Systems as discussed by various scholars. This study used the qualitative research methodology though quantitative minimally. The sampling of data was more purposive though there were cases of convenience and snowballing so as to get more data. Data for this research study was collected through questionnaires and interviews from a host of interviewees. This data was analysed using open and axial coding. The findings were grouped or categorised into major themes in terms of selective coding. Reasons behind the findings were explained too. Finally, consequences, implications for further study and also recommendations were indicated. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African languages)

This essay examines possible subject positions offered to a female in relations to the decadence genre in the novel Berta Funcke (1885) by Stella Kleve, pseudonym for Mathilda Malling. The aim is to study how a female can be decadent. I analyze subject positions and examine how they enable decadent expressions of the female character. To understand subject positions in relations to the historical context I use Chris Weedon’s approach to feminist poststructuralism. I define decadence as a relative concept and understand it as a wider experience of decadence and dissolution in society. The methodological framework is based on hermeneutic reading. The result shows that the female protagonist is under the influence of many subjectivities simultaneously. Her decadence can be seen as both a source of emancipation and of constraint. From the analysis, I’ve been able to distinguish four characteristic subject positions: The Erotic, The Hermaphrodite, The Actress and The Hothouse Plant. The subject positions are bound to stereotypes of the time but also permits the female protagonist to transcend gender definitions. The result shows that the decadent aesthetics, expressions and vocabulary open up new ways of being for the female character.

My D.Phil, dissertation sheds new light on German literary decadence around 1900, its universal concepts, plurality of discourses and poetic transformations. The heuristic value of my dissertation is a refined differentiation of Dekadenz which reconstructs the literary history of the concept and for the first time proposes specific poetic constellations. In chapter 1, decadence is reviewed with its rich research heritage and introduced as a decisive concept and discourse of aesthetic modernism. Although much has been written on decadence, the concept is clearly in need of scholarly reconsideration. I argue that decadence is not only a vague epochal construct and an ensemble of motifs, but also encompasses discourses, universal concepts and a versatile literary style. In view of the stylistic eclecticism around 1900, I argue that decadence is a dynamic and malleable concept which can be combined with other aesthetic styles, movements and philosophical contexts depending on the specific author. Chapter 2 contextualizes Dekadenz from its etymology and central discourses to its universal concepts. Etymologically derived from the Latin verb de-cadere decadence signifies a downward movement and a figure of fragmentation. It evokes cultural and political decline especially that of the Roman Empire (décadence romaine) and undergoes various aesthetic transformations (1857-1894). After touching upon the precursors Baudelaire (1857), Bourget (1883) and Bahr (1889-1894), I dwell on Nietzsche to demonstrate the philosophically complex German double evaluation of decadence. I derive three universal concepts from Nietzsche (health vs. sickness, endings vs. new beginnings, fragmentation vs. wholeness) which are crucial to my literary analysis. My comprehensive literary analysis centers on three specific poetic constellations of decadence between late realism and aesthetic modernism. Chapter 3 illuminates Mann's spätrealistische Dekadenz (1894-1924) with his (Nietzschean) double evaluations. Transformations of decadence are shown in his early novellas, Buddenbrooks, Der Tod in Venedig and Der Zauberberg. Chapter 4 illustrates Hofmannsthal's ästhetizistische Dekadenz (1891-1902) in his early essays, his prose fragment Age of Innocence and Das Märchen der 672. Nacht. A significant transformation of decadence is illuminated in Ein Brief (1902), where Nietzschean decadence is concentrated and tentatively overturned. In chapter 5, Rilke's modernistische Dekadenz (1898-1910) is shown from his early fragment Ewald Tragy to his only novel Die Aufzeichnungen des Malte Laurids Brigge. His novel attempts a poetic 'revaluation of all values' and culminates in the emergence of a genuinely modernist decadence.

Today, unlike yesterday we talk about Moral Regeneration amongst the Vhavenḓa youth of today and throughout the whole world. Strategies of combating this monster that is snatching our youth are recommended in this study. The problem dealt with in this study is the issue of Moral degeneration amongst the youth which needs to be regenerated. There are many causes of moral degeneration amongst the youth discussed in this study which are accompanied by the remedial strategies. As a way forward in this study, observations of researchers and scholars on how to find the solution about moral degeneration that has impacted on the lives of Vhavenḓa youth and other youth of today around the globe were focused on. The literature review in this study was based more on issues that are linked to Indigenous Knowledge Systems as discussed by various scholars. This study used the qualitative research methodology though quantitative minimally. The sampling of data was more purposive though there were cases of convenience and snowballing so as to get more data. Data for this research study was collected through questionnaires and interviews from a host of interviewees. This data was analysed using open and axial coding. The findings were grouped or categorised into major themes in terms of selective coding. Reasons behind the findings were explained too. Finally, consequences, implications for further study and also recommendations were indicated. / African Languages / D. Litt. et Phil. (African languages)

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:32:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2010-09-30Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:02:22Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 souza_ep_dr_arafcl.pdf: 858715 bytes, checksum: 9cf1d9899b5f8b2bde4ff336dbbab08c (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / O presente estudo parte da narrativa arquetípica de Cervantes, Dom Quixote de la Mancha e por meio dela estabelece pontos de contato com dois romances brasileiros: O coronel e o lobisomem e Fogo morto. Tem em Dom Quixote o modelo do herói problemático, conforme definido por Lukács em Teoria do romance: um indivíduo em conflito com a sociedade. Dessa maneira, na visada cervantina, o herói deixa de representar o coletivo, como na epopeia, para revelar, no romance, sua solidão em um mundo decadente. Percorrendo algumas invariantes que definem o quixotesco no interior do perfil do herói problemático, estabelece, então, pontos de contato com os heróis da literatura brasileira. O tema do poder, universal, perpassa os dois romances do regionalismo brasileiro, particularizando-os e figurativizando-os nos espaços e nas performances dos protagonistas Ponciano e Vitorino. Os dois, como Dom Quixote, são tocados pela “loucura da vã presunção” - conforme tipologia de Foucault - que corresponde à relação imaginária que cada personagem estabelece consigo mesmo por meio de um delírio de autovalorização, atribuindo-se características irreais ou, pelo menos, que não estão em consonância com a realidade que os cerca. Tomados pela ideia fixa, criam uma espécie de redoma que os impede de traçar os limites da realidade e, a despeito de suas ações infundadas, continuam lutando para a concretização de seus respectivos projetos. Como consequência dessa dissonância entre ser e sociedade, instaura-se um conflito, uma ruptura insuperável. A loucura é a única forma encontrada para esses heróis sobreviverem na sociedade degradada que os cerca e, de alguma forma, cada herói, ao seu modo, afronta à ordem estabelecida. As ações desenvolvidas por eles são dissonantes com a realidade e, por meio de gestos e entoações exageradas, hiperbólicas, culminam em situações tragicômicas... / The present study starts with the archetypal Cervantes narrative Dom Quixote de la Mancha and by means of it establishes point of contact with two Brazilian novels O coronel e o lobisomen and Fogo morto. It exists in Dom Quixote the model of the problematic hero as it was defined by Lukács the Novel Theory: an individual in conflict with the society. In this way in the aimed of cervantina the hero stops representing the collective, like in epopee, to develop in the novel, his loneliness in a decadent world. Passing through some invariants that defined the quixotic inside the profile of the problematic hero, establishes, then points of contact with the heroes of the Brazilian literature. The theme of power, universal, goes through the two novels of the Brazilian regionalism, specifying them and making them figurative in the place and in the performing of the protagonists Ponciano and Vitorino. Both as Dom Quixote, are touched by-the “madness of vain conceit” – as Focault typology – that corresponds to the imaginary relationship that each character establishes with himself even, by means of a delusion of grandeur, attributing himself unreal characteristics or, at least, that are not in accordance with the reality that is around them. Taken by the fixed idea, they create a kind of bell-glass that prevents them from drawing the limits of the reality and, despite their unfounded actions, they keep on fighting for the specification of their respective projects. As a consequence of that dissonance between being and the society, it establishes a conflict, an insuperable break. The madness is the only way found by those heroes to survive in a degraded society that surrounds them and someway, each hero in his way, affronts the established order. The developed actions that they created are dissonant with the reality and by means of gestures and exaggerated intonation, hyperbolic, culminating... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

Made available in DSpace on 2017-07-10T18:26:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Douglas Meneghatti.pdf: 1037414 bytes, checksum: 6c34aede2731797a640b2396e89f86f6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-06-27 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Nietzsche and Socrates are considered watershed thinkers and carried opposite ideas of allegedly secure and gloomy times, they both knew how to detect the gaps, or better, the historical and cultural illness that they belonged to, and which they lived, grew up and made of their lives a continuous exercise of philosophizing. This proximity of both philosophers is torn for antagonistic project that reveals, at once, the hardest opposition and the most nearness between both thinkers. The so acute and staunch criticism that are drawn by Nietzsche against Socrates in works such as The birth or tragedy and Twilight of the idols, in which appears malign expressions as devil , dying and illness ; are eased by intermediate paintings that make a friendly scenery, in which rises the shining figure of Socrates that comes as free Spirit , "big rich irony in mystery" and as "Teacher Apollonian". Nietzsche brings Socrates in every work, sometimes with shocking criticism and sometimes by suddenly praises. Analyzing the Socrates images through the Nietzsche philosophy lights allow us to travel into the deepest subject that the Germany Philosopher dealt: the diversity of characters Socrates reveals the dynamic and even the Nietzsche diversity that shows a philosophy in contrast come-to-be (Werden), in a process that is flexible and bellicose at the same time, through the philosophy is built while effective (Wirklichkeit), in a continuous pursuit for overcoming oneself (Selbst), this requires an unconditional love for the life in its misfortune (Verhängniss). The whole work is a presentation of images of Socrates under Nietzsche views, in order to show the mainly traces that built the complex theoretical relationship between both thinkers, as well as the elements that give us the possibility of thinking in a overcoming of the man built by Socrates while theoretical man prototype. Nietzsche diagnostics in this human being the genesis of the decadence of the Western that develops itself under the eagis of the Socrates idea of fearlessness of death, thanks to the knowledge and to the dialectic procedure, that characterize the image of the dying Socrates, mainly aim of the Nietzsche attacks. Thus, first, through a mapping of the images of Socrates in his works and in the posthumous fragments of the German philosopher, will be possible to have a vision more specific of the Nietzschean thought. Then considering the work Ecce Homo, in which there are some central points of his works, it will seek for elements that distinguish Nietzsche and Socrates as an expression of the maximum western decadence. / Nietzsche e Sócrates são considerados pensadores divisores de água e, como antinomias de tempos pretensamente seguros e sóbrios, ambos souberam detectar as lacunas, ou melhor, o adoecimento histórico-cultural a que pertenciam, no qual viveram, cresceram e pelo qual fizeram de sua vida um contínuo exercício de filosofar. Essa proximidade entre ambos é dilacerada por projetos antagônicos que revelam, ao mesmo tempo, a mais dura antinomia e a mais branda proximidade entre os pensadores. As críticas tão agudas e ferrenhas que são desenhadas por Nietzsche contra Sócrates em obras como O Nascimento da tragédia e o Crepúsculo dos ídolos, nas quais surgem nefastas expressões como demônio , moribundo e doente , são amenizadas com pinturas intermediárias que compõem um cenário cordial, no qual emerge sútil complacência à luminosa figura de Sócrates que desponta como Espírito livre , grande irônico rico em mistérios e como Professor Apolíneo . Sócrates perpassa toda a obra nietzschiana, em meio às mais chocantes críticas e a repentinos elogios. Uma análise das imagens socráticas à luz da filosofia nietzschiana permite navegar nos temas mais profundos abordados pelo filósofo alemão: a diversidade das personagens Sócrates revela a dinamicidade e a própria diversidade de Nietzsche, que apresenta uma filosofia em constante vir-a-ser (Werden), num processo, conjuntamente, belicoso e flexível, pelo qual a filosofia é construída enquanto efetividade (Wirklichkeit), numa busca contínua pela superação de si-mesmo (Selbst), que requer um amor incondicional à vida em sua fatalidade (Verhängniss). O conjunto do trabalho é uma apresentação das imagens de Sócrates no corpus nietzschiano, para mostrar os traços principais que compõem a complexa relação teórica entre os pensadores, bem como os elementos a partir dos quais é possível pensar uma superação do homem socrático enquanto protótipo do homem teórico . Nietzsche diagnostica nesse homem a gênese da decadência ocidental, que se desenvolveu sob a égide do brasão socrático do destemor à morte, graças ao saber, e ao procedimento dialético, que caracterizam a imagem do Sócrates moribundo, principal alvo dos ataques nietzschianos. Desse modo, primeiramente, através de um mapeamento das imagens de Sócrates nas obras e nos fragmentos póstumos do filósofo alemão, poder-se-á ter uma visão mais específica do pensamento nietzschiano, em seguida, levando em consideração a obra Ecce homo, na qual aparecem os pontos centrais dos seus escritos, buscar-se-ão os elementos que distanciam Nietzsche de Sócrates enquanto expressão máxima da decadência ocidental.

La période comprise entre 1917 et 1937 marque le début de la littérature chinoise moderne. La littérature française a participé à la construction de cette nouvelle littérature, dont la modernité réside dans la négation des valeurs littéraires et sociales chinoises classiques, dans l’ouverture aux littératures étrangères et dans l’appel au respect de l’individualité. Des écrivains chinois novateurs contestent la nécessité de la société et mettent en avant la vie intérieure dans la littérature. Ils trouvent une signification à la vie dans l’amour et dans la beauté, chacun interprétant ces notions à sa manière. Cette époque est aussi celle, en Chine, de débats littéraires. Aux écrivains individualistes s’opposent des écrivains passéistes et des écrivains engagés à gauche. La confrontation entre différentes conceptions littéraires se reflète dans la réception de la littérature française. Dans les revues littéraires chinoises, des idées opposées sont formulées à propos de Ronsard, de Montaigne et de Malherbe. Des controverses agitent les milieux littéraires autour de Molière, de Rousseau ou de Baudelaire. Les divergences sur la compréhension de la littérature française résultent du fait que les critiques et les traducteurs chinois perçoivent de manière différente la relation entre l’homme et le temps, et la relation entre l’homme et la société. L’interprétation de la littérature française par les écrivains chinois s’appuie sur des réflexions sur l’homme et sur sa situation existentielle. / The period between 1917 and 1937 marks the beginning of modern Chinese literature. French literature has contributed to the construction of Chinese new literature, the modernity of which resides in the denial of traditional Chinese literary and social values, in the opening to foreign literatures, and in the call for respect of the individuality. Chinese writers with pioneering spirit contest the necessity of the society and highlight the internal life in literature. They all consider the pursuit of love and beauty as the signification of the life. However, they interpret those notions of love and beauty in different ways. This period in China is full of literary debates. Individualistic writers are opposed to backward-looking writers and left-wing writers. The confrontation between different literary conceptions is reflected in the reception of French literature in China. In Chinese literary magazines, opposed ideas are formulated on Ronsard, on Montaigne and on Malherbe. Debates concerning Molière, Rousseau and Baudelaire arose in literary circles. The difference of opinions on French literature results from the fact that Chinese critics and translators understand in different ways the relationship between mankind, the time and the society. The interpretation of French literature by Chinese writers is based on reflection on human beings and on their existential situation.

“Cinematic Theatricality” is the combination of conventionally “cinematic” and “theatrical” styles. It occurs on both screen and stage, and in intermedial performances. Despite their entwined histories, cinema and theater often define their aesthetics against each other. This dissertation posits that “cinematic theatricality,” in combining these allegedly “oppositional” aesthetic codes, actually intensifies the effects of both media. It is a dynamic that prompts explorations of relationship between intellectual and affective spectatorship in each medium. My definition of “cinematic theatricality” moves beyond dominant Brechtian conceptions of theatricality in cinema, and incorporates theater and performance scholarship that develops different understandings of theatricality as dynamic and affective. These other definitions of theatricality enable more sympathetic and mutually enhancing dialogues with cinema. I locate this cinematic theatricality in the work of four queer directors—Luchino Visconti, Patrice Chéreau, Werner Schroeter and Ivo van Hove—who were active in both European film and theater from the 1950s to the present. These directors’ works are often dismissed as “excessive” because they go “over-the-top” of realist aesthetic norms. The plenitude arising from the combination of cinematic and theatrical effects produces these aesthetic “excess,” styles of surplus that foreground the links between intellectual and emotional experiences of a medium. Different theatricalities produce different variants of excesses, each of which has its own aims and is rooted in these directors’ theatrical careers and their participation in the Regietheater (Director’s Theater) movement in post-war European theater. Nietzsche’s characterization of the “gestural,” decadentist excesses of Wagner’s theater suggests how editing can theatricalize the norms of cinematic continuity editing, creating simultaneous narcotic absorption in and critical distance from historical narratives. Opera’s tension between mimetic representation and “over-the-top” bodily and vocal expressivity leads to rhythmic, melodramatic relationships between the moving camera and the expressive performing body in the transmission of meaning. The queer traditions of camp theatricality, combining both ironic theatrical references and the sincerity and sensual intensity of performances, tie the signifying and sensorial aspects of cinematic spectatorship. In contemporary theater, screen-to-stage adaptations and productions with video and projection are often dismissed as overblown spectacles, too distracting to be meaningful or valuable. Cinematic theatricality on the stage makes video and projection intentional distractions. It forces the spectator to choose where to (not) look, to experience complex phenomena of intermedial “absence” and “presence,” in ways that challenge the norms and ethics of different mediated modes of showing and not showing. Cinema and theater have long expanded their senses of themselves beyond strict ontological characteristics, and our contemporary mediascape further encourages more dynamic understandings of both the cinematic and the theatrical. Cinematic theatricality, in its doubled entwinings, opens a way to combine formalist with affective readings of each medium, thus providing a richer understanding of each medium’s powers and effects. Cinematic theatricality’s permutations—the decadent, operatic, camp, and spectacular—suggest new ways of taxonomizing the “aesthetic categories” of contemporary intermediality’s ardor for excessive aesthetics, and its embrace of excess as a mode suitable for asking serious questions about history, politics, and identity.