This thesis illustrates and analyses the appeal of folly to writers of, principally, the late- Soviet era (1960s-1980s). This appeal expressed itself not only in numerous portrayals of evidently foolish characters, but also in the widespread use of first-person narrative in which various masks of folly are worn by narrators to assert their detachment from societal norms and from the scholarly and 'objective' discourse which Soviet culture sought to promote. These tendencies towards folly and subjectivity are examined in their various historical, religious and philosophical implications. Parallels are sought both in the Russian literarycultural heritage, which has accorded exceptional importance to various models of folly, and in West-European literary traditions, especially that established by Erasmus. It is argued that, while the Russian paradigm of holy foolery (yurodstvo) has undoubtedly retained its importance as a literary theme and code, loose analogies with yurodstvo may lead to misleading or simplistic interpretations. In the Introduction I outline further my aims and methodology, while also providing an account of the cultural and literary background to the topic, before and after 1917. In Chapter One I discuss fiction by Vladimir Voinovich, Vasily Shukshin and Venedikt Erofeev, in order to indicate aspects of the general shape of my topic in the given period: how the 'praise of folly' developed and gained in complexity at the end of the 1960s. The bulk of the thesis (Chapters Two to Five) is devoted to more detailed casestudies of the work of three significant, but critically neglected, writers: Yuz Aleshkovsky, Yury Mamleev and the philosopher, Dmitry Galkovsky. The varied 'fool narratives' of each of these writers manifests, in contrasting ways, a profound and paradoxical engagement with the mind, wisdom and learning. If Aleshkovskian folly develops in a sharply drawn historical context (Stalinism and its aftermath) and bears a markedly Christian flavour, Mamleev seeks to exclude Soviet and Christian thematics entirely, seeking deliverance from thought and reason. Dmitry Galkovsky, meanwhile, assesses the entire history of the Russian intelligentsia's love affair with folly from his own radically subjective and unreliable perspective in his 'philosophical novel' Beskonechnyi tupik. The Epilogue is devoted to Viktor Erofeev's highly cynical interpretation of Russia's 'praise of folly', before concluding with examples of the renewal of its traditions in post- Soviet prose.

Chapter 1 considers Barclay's 'Ship of Fools' in relation to other folly literature in English, particularly Lydgate's 'Order of Fools', Skelton's 'Bowge of Courte', and 'Cocke Lorrel's Bote'. Motifs, allegories and the woodcuts of the text are discussed and some are included in an Illustrations section. Chapter 2 discusses Erasmian folly looking back to the Neoplatonic writings of Nicholas of Cusa, and to the debt Erasmian exegeses owe to Origen. Erasmus' own philosophical and theological views are examined, particularly as they are found in his 'Enchiridion', and in the influence of Thomas à Kempis' 'Imitation of Christ'. A close textual analysis of the 'Moriae Encomium' is undertaken in this light. Chapter 3 defines the lateral boundaries of folly, where it blends into madness. In the context of Renaissance psychology sixteenth century medical works are analysed, including Boorde's 'Breviary of Healthe', Barrough's 'Method of Physicke' and Elyot's 'Castel of Helth'. Blurring between madness and sin, the negative judgments on the mad as demon-possessed, and the biblical models from which such judgments largely arose give alternative perspectives on madness and its relation to folly. Chapters 4-6 look at three Shakespearean comedies showing the development of a primarily Erasmian view of folly. This moves from overt references in 'Love's Labour's Lost' to natural folly, the folly of love and theological folly, through carnivalesque aspects of folly and madness in 'Twelfth Night', to an embedded notion of folly which influences and affects the darker comedy of 'Measure for Measure'. Chapter 7 considers satires of Hall, Marston and Guilpin, and looks at Jonson's Humour plays in this context. 'Volpone' and 'Epicoene', and 'The Alchemist' and 'Bartholomew Fair' are discussed in pairs, showing the softening of Jonson's attitude to folly, and his increasing representation of Erasmian folly reaching its full expression in 'Bartholomew Fair'.

Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal. / Dans un élan collectif, les écrivaines des années 1970 et 1980, en Europe et en Amérique, s'approprient le thème de la folie jusque-là exploité par les écrivains masculins. Pourquoi? Nous appuyant sur la pensée de Michel Foucault et de Roland Jaccard selon laquelle la folie est une construction sociale, nous suggérons que les romancières, influencées par le mouvement anti-psychiatrique, la crise du sujet humaniste, les théoriciennes féministes françaises et américaines ont l'audace d'inventer un sujet féminin qui devient fou en réponse à des situations sociales ou historiques oppressantes pour les femmes. Pour ce faire, les romancières mettent de l'avant des stratégies d'écriture qui participent à une prise de conscience féministe. Le chapitre I porte sur la place du sujet féminin et de sa folie dans l'histoire littéraire. Les chapitres II, III et IV sont consacrés à l'étude de stratégies romanesques, telles que la déconstruction de l'histoire ou de figures mythiques, la critique de l'institution familiale et la démystification du personnage de la mère dans la relation mère-fille. Ainsi, nous étudions la représentation de la folie combinée à ces stratégies dans cinq romans mettant en scène des héroïnes issues de cultures et de sociétés différentes. Ce sont Songs My Mother Taught Me d'Audrey Thomas (Canada anglais), Les Enfants du sabbat d'Anne Hébert et Les Jardins de cristal de Nadia Ghalem (Québec), The Woman Warrior : Memoirs of a Girlhood Among Ghosts de Maxine Hong Kingston et The Bluest Eye de Toni Morrison (États-Unis). La méthode utilisée est celle de l'analyse des discours, laquelle fait appel à plusieurs champs du savoir, celui de l'histoire littéraire, de la philosophie, de la littérature, de la psychanalyse, de la psychiatrie, de certaines études de pratiques culturelles (cultural studies) et du féminisme. Le thème de la folie aura permis aux écrivaines étudiées d'exprimer la réalité des femmes largement ignorée dans les romans et de dénoncer des conditions de vie encouragées par des systèmes répressifs. Le thème de la folie aura également rendu possible un nouvel imaginaire et une écriture qui, repoussant les limites imposées par la logique, est libre et puissante.