Nicholas Roerich, the well-known Russian artist, writer and mystic from the early twentieth century is best known in the West for his theatrical design work, above all for the sets of the celebrated ballet The Rite of Springs. The goal of this thesis is to provide a fuller understanding of Roerich’s art and literary works within the historical context of his time. In particular, I have sought to illuminate Roerich’s focus on depiction of nature, especially mountains, in relation to his fascination with the mythical Shambhala. In the first chapter of this thesis I analyze Roerich’s early career, as well as his personal and professional relationship with the World of Art, the leading art group at the turn of the twentieth century in Russia. Roerich’s early interest in the history of ancient Russia, archeology and geology, which I discuss, was central to the meaning of his landscape depictions in both his stage designs and paintings. The second chapter of this work investigates how these interests evolved into the artist’s quest for Eastern wisdom and mystical revelations. Although Roerich is often treated as an oddity, his concerns with occult ideas were not unique in his time. The third chapter focuses on Roerich’s activities abroad and his international success as a promoter of ancient wisdom. I discuss the Russian émigré art scene in New York in the 1920s and Roerich’s place within it. I also offer an examination of the artist’s correspondence with his family and colleagues, which sheds light on Roerich’s beliefs in his mysterious “Teachers” and their role in leading him to the East. / text

The Roman Emperor Trajan, who ruled the Roman Empire from 98 CE – 117 CE has always been remembered as one of the good Emperors. The few ancient sources that mention Trajan, namely Pliny the Younger and Cassius Dio, compose a glowing portrait of the Emperor when describing his deeds and abilities. Part of the explanation for such a positive portrayal can surely be accounted for by the comparison of Trajan to one of his predecessors Domitian (who ruled from 51 CE – 96 CE). Domitian came to be memorialized as one of the most hated Emperor of the Principate, especially because of his scornful and suspicious attitude towards the Senate and his pillaging of the Roman provinces for the purpose of his own profit. In a time when the empire was expanding and expert diplomatic and strategic capability was necessary for an Emperor to possess, Domitian’s shortcomings were particularly harmful to Rome and her subjects. Thus when Trajan took control, many Romans must have looked to him to continue the improvements initiated by Domitian’s brief successor Nerva and repair the damage done to the empire. Pliny the younger, an influential and wealthy senatorial aristocrat, was one such Roman who looked to the new Emperor with hope and ambition for better times. During Pliny’s tenure as governor of the province of Bithynia and Pontus from roughly 110-112/3 CE, he exchanged many letters with Trajan which were subsequently collected and published as the tenth book of Pliny’s Letters. These letters generally take the form of advice sought by Pliny about the governance of the province, followed by a concise reply from the Emperor directing Pliny’s actions (or, at times, suggesting that Pliny himself choose the best way to proceed). Previous scholarship has primarily addressed the letters as a “self-fashioning text” (cf. Carlos Noreña and Philip Stadter, among others), but generally ignores the very active role Pliny plays in carefully constructing a particular representation of Trajan. Using this correspondence as a platform on which to create an image of the Princeps, Pliny expertly invents a particular portrait of Trajan that portrays the Emperor as a master at senatorial relations and management of the provinces. By allowing Trajan to perform this role, as is evidenced in the letters of Book 10, Pliny creates our most complete and compelling portrayal of this Emperor which serves both Pliny and Trajan’s interests for posterity. / text

This thesis explores the concepts of “voice” and “influence” through the case studies of two famous English-speaking Canadian women writers, Margaret Atwood and Carol Shields. The “voice” is multiple, ambiguous and influenced, but it is also apparently unique. How, therefore, is it constructed and where does it come from? I examine, work with and adapt Harold Bloom’s paradigmatic study of influence to a feminist context, exploring the idea that a literary voice can be developed and influenced by Atwood and Shields. I discuss how these writers searched for an appropriate literary role model, exemplified by nineteenth-century English-Canadian writer Susanna Moodie, at the moment when Canadian nationalism and feminism coincided. Atwood and Shields are now canonical writers themselves and important in both the nationalist and women’s tradition, but have they gone on to influence new Canadian women writers? I test the pleasures and the anxieties of Shields’ influence with regard to her creative writing students and her own daughter, Anne Giardini, who has published her first novel. I compare Shields with Atwood, who has achieved a high level of fame, and examine what kind of influence each exerts. I discuss whether literary influence is politically different for women than men and whether there is any jealousy or power struggles between the sexes. Rivalry and competition between writers are not purely caused by the aesthetic issues that Bloom discusses, therefore I contextualise his concept of influence using literary celebrity studies to consider the economic basis of cultural production. This is in order to show that tensions are determined by market conditions, just as much as the new poet’s desire to overthrow a literary precursor. Finally, I examine fan letters to Atwood and Shields as another important source of literary influence. I discuss how fans are constructed through a commercial relationship and how they can also provide an amateur literary voice. Atwood and Shields have helped to create a network of writers across the globe. I explore whether both authors can be role models who will inspire the next literary generation.

Ce mémoire a pour objet d’étude les échanges épistolaires entre Robert Choquette et Louis Dantin, Alfred DesRochers et, dans une moindre mesure, Claude-Henri Grignon, Émile Coderre et Albert Pelletier. Les lettres en question, qui n'ont jamais été publiées, sont conservées pour l’essentiel dans le Fonds d'archives Robert-Choquette, qui n’est accessible aux chercheurs que depuis 2006. L'objectif de cette étude est de mesurer la voix et la part de Robert Choquette au sein des réseaux littéraires des années vingt et trente. La première partie du premier chapitre de ce mémoire est essentiellement théorique; la position de la lettre au sein de l'œuvre d'un écrivain, la constitution, par les lettres, d'un réseau littéraire ainsi que les rapports entre destinateur et destinataire y sont définis. Par la suite, les échanges épistolaires entre Choquette et ses correspondants sont examinés afin de mettre en lumière les rapports de force exploités dans ce réseau. Cette étude, qui se base sur un corpus de lettres rédigées entre 1927 et 1943, montre également l'évolution des ambitions poétiques du poète. Dans le but d'observer l'empreinte des correspondants de Choquette sur son projet littéraire, les deuxième et troisième chapitres du mémoire sont consacrés à l'analyse de ses recueils Metropolitan Museum et Suite marine. L'étude des échanges spécifiques portant sur ces deux œuvres expose une transformation quant au choix des images utilisées par Choquette pour se représenter, ainsi que l'évolution de ses attentes envers ses destinataires. / This thesis takes as its object the study of the correspondence between Robert Choquette and Louis Dantin, Alfred DesRochers and, to a lesser extent, Claude-Henri Grignon, Émile Coderre and Albert Pelletier. The letters in question were never published and are kept in the Robert-Choquette archival group, itself only made available to academics in 2006. The purpose of this study is to measure Robert Choquette's scope and influence as well as the role he played in literary circles during the 20s and 30s. The first part of the first chapter is essentially theoretical, and concerns itself with defining the importance of epistolary writing within the purview of a writer’s work, the constitution of a literary network by way of correspondence, and the relationship between sender and addressee. Then, the various letter exchanges between Choquette and his correspondents are examined so as to shed light on the interplay of influences within the network. The study, based on a corpus of letters written between 1927 and 1943, also displays the evolution of the author’s poetic ambitions. Aiming to highlight the impact Choquette’s correspondents had on his literary project, the second and third chapters of this thesis are dedicated to analyzing his collections of poems Metropolitan Museum and Suite marine. The study of specific exchanges bearing on these two books exhibits a transformation in the imagery Choquette employs to depict himself, as well as an evolution of the author’s expectations from his correspondents.

Le mot golem, un hapax biblique traduit de l’hébreu golmi, présent dans le Psaume CXXXIX,16, désigne la forme du premier homme avant son animation par le souffle divin. Le plus souvent traduit par « embryon » ou « masse informe », son sens a généré une exégèse considérable.De la tradition juive, le mot en arrivera à désigner un homme artificiel, et sa création sera attribuée à de pieux rabbins dans une perspective d’imitation Dei, selon une interprétation magique du Sefer Yetsirah ou « Livre de la Création » qui en contiendrait la clé. L’expérience doit prouver la puissance créatrice des lettres de l’alphabet hébraïque ou des lettres du Nom de Dieu, selon les maîtres de la Cabbale achkénase et européenne du Nord. Ils ont consigné les techniques de création : c’est un rituel en deux temps, façonnement de la forme humaine à partir des éléments puis animation de celle-ci grâce aux récitations de combinatoires de lettres. La réussite de l’expérience est considérée comme la pierre de touche de la perfection religieuse du créateur comme de sa puissance créatrice, à l’instar de celle des lettres de l’alphabet hébraïque.Le golem entre dans le domaine légendaire vers la fin du XVIIIe siècle et les débuts du XIXe siècle, pour prêter à de saints rabbins des pouvoirs démiurgiques. A une première légende d’origine polonaise centrée sur le Rabbin Elias Baalschem de Chelm, succède la légende pragoise un peu plus tardive qui prend le pas sur la première et attribue au Rabbin Judah Löw ben Bezalel, outre des pouvoirs surnaturels, la création d’un golem censé protéger la ville juive des accusations de crimes riruels historiques. Si c’est au créateur que nous avons choisi de nous intéresser plus particulièrement, nous n’avons manqué d’évoquer le mot « golem » lui-même, son origine ainsi que celle de la légende et en regard de parallèles anciens. Nous nous sommes appuyée sur les thèmes mis en avant itérativement par les auteurs et dans lesquels s’inscrit le thème : Cabbale juive et mystique des lettres et du Nom de Dieu ou Schem. Magie, alchimie nous ont amenée à évoquer avec les auteurs le thème de Faust puis de Frankenstein explicites dans les textes, pour souligner la création dans la création. Nous nous sommes servie du thème du Graal pour mettre l’accent, avec une interrogation sur le parallèle icône et idole, sur la littéralité du thème de la création, avant d’en arriver à mettre l’accent sur une poétique des commencements, création de l’homme artificiel et création littéraire en miroir. / The word golem, a biblical hapax which was translated from the Hebrew term “golim”, is to be found in Psalm CXXXIX,16. It refers to the shape of the first man before his being given life by the breath of God.Most of the time, translated by the word “embryo” or “shapeless mass”, its very meaning has given rise to considerable exegis.From the Jewish tradition, the word will consequently happen to describe an artificial man whose creation will be ascribed to devout rabbis who had in prospect an Imitatio Dei, according to the magic interpretation of the Sefer Yetsirah or “Book of Creation” which is supposed to hold the key of it. The experiment must prove the creative power of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet or the letters attributed to the Name of God, according to the Ashkenazi and Northern European masters of the Cabbala. They have consigned their techniques of creation; the ritual takes place in two stages: first of all, there is the building of the human shape from the elements, then its animation happens owing to the reciting and combined arrangement of letters. The success of the experiment is considered as the touchstone of the religious perfection of the maker as well as his creative power, just like that of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet.The golem became part of the legendary field between the end of the XVIIIth century and the beginning of the XIXth century, giving holy rabbis such powers as demiurges.The first legend brought to light has Polish origins and is centered on Reb Elias Baalschem of Chelm. Not long after it will give precedence to the legend born in Prague which tells the story of Rabbi Löw who, besides his supernatural powers, made a golem to protect the Jewish town accused of committing ritual historical crimes.Trought I decided to take a special interest in the maker’s function, actually I did mention the word golem, its origin as well as its legends, in connection with ancient parallels. I based my study on the iterated themes regularly brought to light by authors in whose works I might find the following themes: Jewish Cabbala, the mystic of the letters and the Name of God or Schem.Magic, alchemy would lead me to evoke the themes of Faust and Frankenstein and to underluie with their authors the theme of creation within creation.I called to mind the myth of the Holy Grail too, to wonder about the paralell between icon and idol, as well as about the literality of the poetic of all beginnings with the making of the artificial man and any literay creation, acting like a mirror writing

in English The Monument of the "Benes Letters"? (The Statue of the President Benes in Prague as a "Place of Memory") This dissertation shows the gallery of various moods of recollections the Czech politician Edvard Beneš (1884−1948) during the years 2002−2005, it means around the great easterly enlargement of the European Union. In these period many controversies were led internationally and bilaterally about the "Benes Letters" and about the displacement of Germans after the WW2, in the Czech Republic about the issue "Benes and communism", too. The introduction sketches the theoretical and methodological starting points of this dissertation, and then recapitulates the European context of the problems and the structure of this study. The second chapter looks into the research of E. Benes in the milieu of the Czech pro- Benes contemporary witnesses of him and their organizations, characterizes their narrative and shows their activities, which were done in direction to the celebration of this hero. The third chapter analyzes another one type of the Benes recollection in Czech − the example of one caricatural bust of Benes, artwork of artistic group Pode Bal, and shows the contemporary political context of this intervention. The fourth chapter analyzes the pictures of Benes in the Czech political...

A presente dissertação tem como objetivo a edição semidiplomática justalinear à reprodução fac-similar de cartas de chamada manuscritas. O objeto de estudo pertence ao Arquivo do Memorial do Imigrante São Paulo e refere-se à parcela de imigrantes portugueses que chegou a São Paulo de 1911 a 1920. A edição será acompanhada dos índices remissivos antroponímico e toponímico com a finalidade de servir de base para estudos da história social e linguística de São Paulo. Para tanto, utilizaremos os princípios da crítica textual sumarizados por Spina (1977), Spaggiari (2004) e Cambraia (2005), sobretudo os relativos à função substantiva da Filologia; e para a elaboração dos índices remissivos, os fundamentos da onomástica. / This dissertation aims to a semidiplomatic line by line edition to the facsimile reproduction of handwritten letters of call. The object of study belongs to the Archives of Memorial do Imigrante - São Paulo and refer to the portion of Portuguese immigrants who arrived in São Paulo from 1911 to 1920. The edition will be accompanied by anthroponymy and toponimic indexes in order to serve as a basis for studies of social and linguistic history of São Paulo. For this purpose, we use the principles of textual criticism proposed by Spina (1977) and Cambraia (2005), especially those relating to the substantive function of philology, and for the preparation of indexes, the fundamentals of onomastics.

Dentre os vários instrumentos utilizados pelo governo federal - em parte, ligados às políticas neoliberais de administração pública -, o Exame Nacional de Cursos (ENC) surgiu, em 1995, com a finalidade de manter um certo controle sobre o sistema educacional superior. Na intenção de delimitarmos o produto, isto é, as filiações discursivas repassadas pelo mercado vinculado a esse tipo de formação, constituímos um corpus de pesquisa por meio da produção escrita do formando em Letras, alvo do ENC/2001, e realizamos uma análise fundamentada na teoria da(s) heterogeneidade(s) enunciativa(s) (Authier-Revuz, 1980 : 2004, 1982 : 2004, 1984 : 1990, 1998). Tal teoria nos auxilia a circunscrever o(s) outro(s) que surge(m) no discurso desse formando, futuro professor de língua materna, delimitando suas filiações discursivas. A partir da análise, concluímos que tais filiações emergentes do seu texto não se resumem somente àquelas vistas em sala de aula - como a Gramática Tradicional e a Lingüística, por exemplo -, mas também àquelas fornecidas pela própria questão do ENC/Letras/2001. A apropriação de elementos dados pela própria questão evidencia uma certa superficialidade no tratamento dos conteúdos, demonstrando uma tendência do formando a buscar informações de fácil apreensão, mas de pouca durabilidade. / Among the several instruments used by the federal government - partly, linked to the neoliberal politics of public administration -, the Exame Nacional de Cursos (ENC) appeared in 1995 with the purpose of maintaining a certain control on the higher education system. In the intention delimiting the product, that is, the discoursive filiations reviewed by the market linked to that formation type, we have constituted a research corpus through the written production of the forming in Letters, target of ENC/2001, and we have accomplished an analysis based in the theory of the enunciative heterogeneities (Authier-Revuz, 1980: 2004, 1982: 2004, 1984: 1990, 1998). Such theory aids us to bound the other(s) that appear(s) in the speech of that forming, future teacher of maternal language, delimiting his/her discoursive filiations. Starting from the analysis, we have concluded that such emerging filiations of his/her text are not only summarized to those views in classroom - as the Traditional Grammar and the Linguistics, for example - but also those supplied by the own subject of ENC/Letters/2001. The appropriation of elements given by the own subject evidences a certain superficiality in the treatment of the contents and demonstrates a tendency of the forming looking for information of easy apprehension but of little durability.

Uma das mais influentes figuras da literatura irlandesa, o escritor W. B. Yeats conta com uma vasta obra em diversos gêneros (poesia, prosa ficcional, ensaios, teatro, autobiografias) e que se estende por uma longa carreira, do final dos anos 1880 até sua morte, em 1939. Durante todos esses anos de intensa atividade, Yeats acumulou uma profícua correspondência, da qual quase oito mil cartas sobrevivem. Parte de um esforço de décadas, vêm sendo publicados volumes das Collected Letters of W. B. Yeats, um projeto de edição crítica completa da correspondência ativa do autor sob edição-geral de John Kelly para a Oxford University Press. Partindo de uma análise do histórico de publicação das cartas do escritor até o presente momento da edição de John Kelly, esta tese contextualiza as diferentes formas como o rico material das cartas foi utilizado pela crítica do autor e propõe uma exploração das epístolas que Yeats envia a periódicos de língua inglesa para publicação nas seções de Cartas ao Editor, ao final do século XIX. O recorte proposto e a abordagem adotada baseiam-se em um entendimento da correspondência de escritores como um campo de estudo distinto, regido por preocupações que remetem a características específicas do gênero carta. Ancorando-se em diversos outros estudos sobre a escrita epistolar, sejam eles de cunho mais teórico (como DIAZ, 2002), sejam aplicados a escritores específicos (como STANLEY, 2011), a presente pesquisa explora a correspondência aberta do jovem Yeats para ressaltar os usos políticos que ele faz desse tipo de texto. Considerando-se diferentes temas e controvérsias nas quais ele se envolve, partese de uma contextualização do conteúdo referencial das cartas para uma análise das formas como o escritor busca engajar-se com o leitor com o intuito de convencêlo. O estudo revelou que o período escolhido é rico em material sobre a relação entre a literatura e a construção da identidade seja a identidade pessoal e artística do próprio poeta, que busca definir-se em relação à tradição, seja a identidade de toda uma literatura nacional. Para o poeta, definir o cânone nacional irlandês era uma condição essencial para a independência política, uma antiga reinvidicação de parcelas do povo irlandês e que volta a ter grande relevância com os movimentos nacionalistas dos séculos XIX e XX. A análise das estratégias utilizadas por Yeats nas cartas abertas revela uma crescente sofisticação de técnicas e no uso das potencialidades dialógicas e performativas da escrita epistolar e demonstra, concomitantemente, seu amadurecimento como escritor. / One of the most influential figures in Irish literature, the writer W. B. Yeats has produced a vast oeuvre spanning many genres (poetry, prose fiction, essays, theater, autobiographies) and extending over a long career, from the late 1880s until his death in 1939. During all these years of intense activity, Yeats accumulated a fruitful correspondence, of which nearly eight thousand letters survive. Part of an effort of decades that have been published as The Collected Letters of W. B. Yeats, an ongoing critical edition of the authors correspondence under the general editorship of John Kelly for the Oxford University Press. From an analysis of the history of publication of the writers correspondence until John Kellys edition, this thesis contextualizes the different ways in which this rich material has been used by Yeats criticism and proposes an exploration of the letters Yeats sends to periodicals for publication in the Letters to the Editor section during the end of the nineteenth century. The proposed focus and approach are based on an understanding of the writers correspondence as a distinct field of study, governed by concerns that refer back to the specific characteristics of the letter genre. Anchored by several other studies on epistolary writing, both from a more theoretical nature (as DIAZ, 2002) or applied to specific writers (as STANLEY, 2011), this research explores the open correspondence of the young Yeats to highlight the political uses of this kind of text. Considering different issues and controversies in which he engages, the study includes a contextualization of the content of the letters and an analysis of the ways in which the writer seeks to engage with readers in order to convince them. The research found that the chosen period is rich in material dealing with the relationship between literature and the construction of identity be it the personal and artistic identity of the poet, who tries to define himself in relation to tradition, or the identity of a national literature. For the poet, defining Irish national canon was an essential condition for political independence a centuries-long aspiration of the Irish people that once again achieves great relevance among the nationalist movements in the nineteenth and twentieth century. The analysis of the strategies used by Yeats in open letters reveals a growing sophistication in terms of the techniques and his use of the dialogical and performative potentials of the epistolary writing, concomitantly revealing how he matures as a writer.

Esta tese versa sobre a prática de escrita de cartas na época moderna, sobretudo no século XVIII, incluindo-se a carta como objeto de estudo, ao se considerar seu sentido, produção, marca de sociabilidade, aspecto materiais, espaço de trocas de sensibilidades e dispositivo da prática de governar. Para isso, analisamos alguns manuais modernos de escrita de carta e de secretário, especialmente, o de Francisco José Freire, O secretario portuguez (1745). Ao se estudar a prática epistolar, criou-se o conceito de sensação de fala e sensação de escuta, para pensar a carta enquanto portadora da voz do remetente, despertando no destinatário a audição, ativada pela conexão entre os sentidos questão que também considerou a circularidade da carta entre os espaços de sociabilidade e manifestação do sensível. Assim, depois de pensar a carta em categorias teóricas, estudamos a correspondência de D. Luís de Almeida, o 2º marquês do Lavradio. Cartas produzidas por este português no período no qual deixou Lisboa para servir ao rei como governador da Bahia e depois como vice-rei do Brasil, permanecendo na América de 1768 a 1779. As instituições que abrigam a correspondência que formou o principal corpus da tese são: em Portugal, Biblioteca Nacional, Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino e Academia de Ciência de Lisboa; no Brasil, Arquivo Nacional e Biblioteca Nacional. O corpus foi estudado pormenorizadamente reunindo informações quantitativas e qualitativas, considerando a materialidade da carta e sua trajetória de composição e preservação. Por fim, o terceiro momento do estudo analisou o conteúdo das cartas, para pensar o governo colonial regido através delas, refletindo sobre os diferentes papéis sociais ocupados por D. Luís de Almeida, a atuação do vice-rei e suas problemáticas de governo; e as estratégias utilizadas para impedir a má reputação social diante da perda do território. Contudo, esta tese une sentir, escrever e governar, para pensar a prática epistolar e as cartas de D. Luís de Almeida / This thesis studies the practice of writing letters in modern times, mainly in the 18th century, including letters as object of study, considering its sense, production, mark of sociability, material aspects, space of sensibility trades and practice of governments device. Thereunto, we analyze some modern manuals of letters and secretary writing, specially Francisco José Freires, O secretario portuguez (1745). When studying the epistolary practice, the concept of the sensation of speech and the sensation of listening was created, to think letters as voice carrier of the sender, awaking in the addressee the audition, activated by the connection between the senses issue that also considered the circulation of letter between the spaces of sociability and manifestation of the sensible. So, after thinking letter in theoretical categories, we studied D. Luís de Almeidas correspondence, the 2nd marquis of Lavradio. Letters produced by this portuguese in the period in which he left Lisboa to serve the king as governor of Bahia and later as viceroy of Brazil, staying in America from 1768 until 1779. The institutions that house the correspondence that formed the main corpus of this thesis are: in Portugal, Biblioteca Nacional (National Library), Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino (Overseas Historical Archive) and Academia de Ciência de Lisboa (Science Academy of Lisbon); in Brazil, Arquivo Nacional (National Archive) and Biblioteca Nacional (National Library). The corpus was studied particularly gathering quantitative and qualitative information, considering the materiality of letter and its trajectory of composition and preservation. Finally, the third moment of the study examined the letters content, to think the colonial government ruled through them, reflecting about the different social roles occupied by D. Luís de Almeida, the performance of the viceroy and its governments problematics; and the strategies used to prevent the bad social reputation facing the loss of the territory. However, this thesis unites feeling, writing and government, to think the epistolary practice and the D. Luís de Almeidas letters.