Thesis (M.A.)--Florida State University, 2006. / Advisor: Gretchen Sunderman, Florida State University, College of Arts and Sciences, Dept. of Modern Languages and Linguistics. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed June 13, 2006). Document formatted into pages; contains viii, 65 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Inaug.-diss.--Strasburg.

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Simone de Beauvoir, a major figure in French intellectual life of the Twentieth Century, decided at a young age to be a creative writer. She did not publish her first work until the age of thirty five. During the years between 1929, when her academic studies were completed, and 1939 when she was engaged in writing L'invitée, a novel of whose value she was confident, she served in a conscious and determined manner a literary apprenticeship. Literature was to remain the dominant source of material, being more significant to her throughout most of this period than experience or imagination. Non-fiction informed about what was felt to be the 'real' world and fiction supplied literary models. During these years she wrote much, often in styles derived from current reading. In spite of the fact that she had received from family and school a thorough grounding in the literature of her own country, she ultimately rejected many of the examples or lessons which French texts proposed. It is possible that a dislike for literature by writers deemed 'bourgeois' was motivated by her repugnance for the values of her family and class. As a child Simone de Beauvoir had responded wholeheartedly to certain foreign books which offered possibilities of identification with heroines and situations. Throughout her apprentice years the same process of recognition was to be essential before she could derive sustenance from her reading. Much contemporary literature from abroad was published in French translation and it was to texts investigating new methods of narration or techniques of representing consciousness which she turned. By the time Simone de Beauvoir began L'invitée she had absorbed much from certain French authors, from detective fiction, from English novelists, from Kafka, but particularly from current American writers. She had assimilated the lessons derived from her literary preparation and was strong enough to write at last with a personal and independent voice.

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Morocco was under French protectorate between 1912 and 1956 when it gained its independence. This colonization left traces in literature, notably the beginnings of a Moroccan literature written in French. However, while written in French these works include specifically Moroccan features that reflect the diversity and complexity of that nation. I argue that the works written by Moroccan authors such as Abdellatif Laâbi, Mohammed Khaïr-Eddine, Mohammed Choukri, Mohammed Leftah, Ahmed Sefrioui and Tahar Ben Jelloun, post-independence, have significantly contributed to building a decolonized identity for Moroccans. By focusing on the literary tools deployed by these authors the research highlights aspects previously overshadowed when concentrating on the post-colonial context in which they were written. My dissertation research briefly overviews the historical and sociolinguistic context in which Post-independence literature was written. The first chapter presents the process undergone by authors in Morocco, after the independence, to rebuild a literary discourse free of colonial influence. It highlights the role of the journal Souffles, created by Abdellatif Laâbi, in paving the way for future authors. The second chapter details the authorial strategies deployed to renew styles of writing. These strategies include translation, the use of folklore and oral cultural heritage. Drawing from these sources has allowed Moroccan authors to create original works that are hard to categorize following western literary genres and disrupt western rhythms of writing. The final chapter illustrates the subversive nature of these works, in part because they present an alternative image of Morocco. By focusing on the literary attributes of Moroccan works the research highlights its significance for Morocco, as well as for research in the Post-colonial field in general. This focus draws light upon the importance of Amazigh culture and oral literature in making Moroccan literature a decolonized literature. It also draws attention to the importance of understanding Moroccan works as deeply marked by intertextuality. This work explores the role literature has played in stimulating a political conversation about national identity and cultural future, thus addressing the trauma of colonial occupation in a cathartic way. This work opens avenues of studies that move away from the Post-colonial paradigm to concentrate on the cultural project countries such as Morocco envisioned for themselves.

The goal of this study is to understand the role that honor represents for warriors through certain conflicts from the XIIIth to XVth century. The Christian ethic was in opposition to the Feudal ethic, and the opposition between the two provoked several changes in the way honor was perceived in warfare throughout the centuries. The notion of honor depends on the thoughts and the context into which individuals or groups belong. It implies reciprocity; measured by norms often recognized by an other entity. The chivalrous ideology was born out of the social rise of the milites and through the simultaneous dissemination of the aristocratic and chivalrous ideology of royal origins, which advocated for protecting the weak and the downcast. This cultural event confirmed the solid status of the dominant class, which allowed it to dominate the lower ones with ease through the knights and nobles at the helm. During battles such as Bouvines, duels between knights occurred often surrounded by troops who were forbidden to intervene. Settling differences was a business conducted amongst gentlemen even if the footmen around could have altered the course of the fight. These knights challenged each other on the battlefield without trying to kill one another because these soldiers of high birth during that time fought as if they were jousting. The battle of Crécy brings back into question what was considered an honorable fight. The honor code followed by knights rejected the use of bowmen. Those troops were not used against nobles. The British however, had many archers and used a new technology with devastating effect: the « longbow ». That technological breakthrough impacted the battlefield in ways never seen before. It changed everything on the ethical, tactical but also the military aspect of warfare. The knights place was redefined as well as war itself. The old code of chivalry got lost little by little. Military Strategists managed to adapt to the enemy thanks to technological advances and new ethical principals. An openness of mind expanded the space for critical thinking, which allowed combatants to be more flexible. The nature of conflicts change but mens aptitude to adapt to their environment does not.

Édouard Glissant (1928-2011) is a world famous poet and novelist from French Island Martinique who, following the footsteps of Aimé Césaire, tried to heal the traumatic disruption and resolve the identity crisis of Creole people after the abominations of slavery and colonization by poetic sublimation and engaged thoughts. How is Glissant a philosopher? How does he articu-late poetry and philosophy together? What does he understand by Relation, why is it central in his thought and how does the articulation of all his concepts around it make a philosophical en-semble? How original and cohesive is this ensemble? Also, as we know that many of his concepts come from Deleuze and Guattari, and we will notice that most of his other concepts have been abundantly used by contemporary thinkers (like Heidegger, Levinas, Nancy, Morin), what is the specificity of their articulation? We will see how Glissant has a very specific way of putting things together because of this Caribbean and Creole culture and that he has the ambition of recreating a new philosophy and a new History that will be more considerate with the legacy of minorities, especially the Cre-ole people. Explicitly relating his philosophy to his life in a very poetic way, he believes the ex-ample of the Antilles constitutes a perfect model for the world we live in and as such its quest of identity can be extended as a model for mankind. He therefore ambitions to move the pre-Socratic debate from the archipelago of Greece to the archipelago of Antilles based on different answers, especially recusing Plato and his rejection of poetry as a way to knowledge. From this new foundation, he ambitions on creating a new History and hopes to renew the arts and politics. However, in what does his prevention against totalitarian regimes and system of thoughts suc-cessful? How can his thought of the Whole World (Tout-Monde) be exempted from it? What are his relationships with thinkers considered totalitarian like Plato and Hegel?

"Avis de Recherche: Valentine Penrose, vie et uvre dune artiste surréaliste" presents a new appreciation of the work of French artist, poet and novelist Valentine Penrose associated with the Surrealist Movement. This research offers the first detailed and accurate version of Valentine Penroses biography, which shows her relationship with artists and writers of her time, and her engagement during the Spanish Civil War and WWII. It compiles and publishes for the first time all her unpublished and forgotten works with accompanying analyses for each piece. It demonstrates through the recording of her life and the exploration of her poetry how she exceeded different concepts such as that of the Unconscious, automatic writing, and the use of dreams established by André Breton in his Manifeste du Surréalisme, and how her deep interest for Eastern Philosophies modified her understanding of life, love and the artists way of creation. Because of the diversity and quality of her literary production poetry, collages, historical novel / essay, short story, epistolary novel and theater play this work aims to give to Valentine Penrose a place that has been for too long denied: a place in the History of French Literature.