This thesis centers on the question of how the representation of buildings opens up possibilities for investigating Can Xue's fiction as literature with universal concern about humanity. It explores the significance of Can Xue's employment of buildings in her works from three aspects. The first aspect regards buildings as the reflection of the structure of the soul. The second aspect situates buildings in their relationship with residents and explores the connection between the buildings/residents relationship and that of body and soul. The last aspect sees buildings as the microcosmic projection of Can Xue's fictional space. This study places textual constitution at the center of investigation through the approach of close textual analysis. It marks an attempt to reconsider the method of literary investigation in the field of modern Chinese literature which has been dominated by cultural and historical approaches.

abstract: The temple of the Sagrada Familia, by Gaudí, is nowadays one of the most emblematic buildings of Barcelona, and the most visited monument in Spain. Despite the high popularity surrounding the name of the architect, his great work, still unfinished, has divided public opinion in the city for decades and has starred since its inception in a complex and paradoxical cultural phenomenon. My object of study consists of four major novels of modern Spanish narrative (Antagonía [1973-81], by Luis Goytisolo, La ciudad de los prodigios [1986], by Eduardo Mendoza, Campo cerrado [1943], by Max Aub and El amante bilingüe [1990], by Juan Marsé): all of them stand out because of the interartistic dialogue they establish with the famous building, which is referred to more or less extensively in their plots. The study will prove that the textual references to the Sagrada Familia in each particular case contain important interpretive keys that illuminate the discursive characterization of the texts while at the same time opening a new avenue for reading them. To this end, I start by situating my object of interest within the studies on the literary city, a field where Barcelona has a unique tradition of reflecting on its novel. Then I trace the cultural reception of the Sagrada Familia as evidenced in literary testimonies of the early twentieth century, and continue by documenting the presence of the building in modern, post-Civil War narrative. After that, I explain the conceptual notions and terms on the phenomenon of the intersection between architecture and literature, which will guide the analysis of the texts. Finally, I carry out the literary analysis of the four aforementioned novels. The Sagrada Familia, as well as showing itself to be a versatile metafictional emblem at four different times in modern Spanish narrative, illustrates the possibilities of a literary analysis that takes into account the architectural component of the texts in order to illuminate their comprehension and their characterization. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Spanish 2015

Le travail de recherche vise à encadrer la figure de Lequeu dans le paysage culturel et architectural de la Révolution française, en proposant une prise de distance critique et une mise à part des célèbres dessins des Figures lascives, à lesquels la figure de l'architecte a été parfois grossièrement éclairée. Au contraire, notre analyse se concentre sur ce qui constitue le cœur de son œuvre graphique: les planches numérotées de l'Architecture civile, que Lequeu rédige à partir de 1778, et qui sont aujourd'hui, conservées au Cabinet des estampes de la Bibliothèque nationale de France. Visionnaire dans sa tentative de créer une nouvelle conception du dessin architectural, qu'il élabore conjointement au caractère de son architecture, les plus amères des contradictions du XVIIIe siècle se concentrent en lui inévitablement attiré par le moderne, il en a systématiquement horreur et tourne son regard vers un passé idéalisé, rêvé comme un port salvateur mais insaisissable. C'est dans cette juxtaposition d'éléments qui de la littérature chevaleresque aboutit aux traités théorico-pratiques de la Renaissance, redécouvre les mouvements humains et entre en contact, pour la première fois avec l’introspection psychologique, décrit donc le rôle de Lequeu, dans l'histoire de l'architecture européenne. Les planches de !"Architecture civile interprètent à la fois les angoisses d'un artiste aux prises avec l'ancien, et la modernité de la culture technique française du XVIIIe siècle. / The research aims to explore the figure of Lequeu in the cultural and architectural panorama of the French Revolution, proposing a critical distance from the famous drawings named Figures lascives. Our analysis focused on what constitutes the core of his graphic work: the numbered drawings of Architecture Civile, that Lequeu drafts from 1778 and now conserved at the Cabinet des estampes of Bibliothèque nationale de France (Paris). Visionary in its attempt to create a new conception of architectural drawing, Lequeu developed the character of its architecture, where the most of eighteenth century's contradictions are concentrated. lnevitably attracted to the modern, it has systematically horror oh that, and turns his eyes to an idealized past, dreamed but elusive port. lt is in this juxtaposition of elements, which of place of Lequeu: no architect before him has tried such a great mix of different interests and skills. The link with the art of his time, who discovers, for the first lime, the psychological introspection, describes the role of Lequeu in the history of European architecture. The drawings of Architecture Civile interpret both the anguish of an artist struggling with the old, and the modernity of the French technical culture of the eighteenth century.