George Sand made a profound impression on her literary world with her vast range of genres, styles and techniques. The feminists of the time wanted her support, while men often felt threatened by her work and life-style. The majority of these reactions were in response to the characters Sand portrayed in her novels, plays and nouvelles. We find, to no real surprise, that the predominant personages are women struggling in a society on the verge of change. These women are trying to find a place for themselves in a world where ideas about love and marriage, social equality and human relations are in flux. / While most of these themes appear to be favored topics of study in the larger body of Sand's work, as well as in her shorter works, this study will endeavor to bring to the fore some characteristics found in her Nouvelles that seem to have been overlooked in the critical arena. By applying an analytic examination concerning the psychological essence of Sand's characters, this dissertation aims to provide a new perspective on the characters in five of Sand's nouvelles: La Marquise, Lavinia, Metella, Mattea and Pauline. The basis of this analysis lies in Sand's use of negative and positive imagery as it is associated with mirror reflections. It is the contention of this investigation that, by examining the reflective techniques that appear in these nouvelles, the reader will be impressed with the depth of character that George Sand is able to provide with fleeting images that reveal souls. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 52-05, Section: A, page: 1735. / Major Professor: Azzurra Givens. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1991.

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The objective of this study is to test empirically for affective differences postulated to vary by reader gender in response to literary texts. Eighty participants, composed of equal numbers of male and female English- and Spanish-speakers, were randomly distributed into three experimental groups. Participants in two groups read emotionally-provocative text stimuli, and participants in a control group read an affectively-neutral text stimulus. The provocative text stimuli are excerpts from Cervantes's Persiles y Sigismunda, and the affectively-neutral text stimulus is from Quevedo's Buscon . Participants completed the Ambivalent Sexism Inventory (ASI) and Positive and Negative Affect Schedules (PANAS). A first PANAS measured current moods, and a second one measured moods in general. On completing the second PANAS, participants read the text stimuli. After reading the text stimuli, participants completed a third PANAS to measure their current moods relative to the texts they had just read. The results of this experiment reveal no significant differences between male and female readers, and thus do not support the hypothesis that affective reader-response to literature varies by gender. Implications for reader response-based literary theories are discussed, along with suggestions on how such theories may be refined or modified.

This study proposes to establish the influence of the French Naturalist writer Emile Zola in four of the Valencian novels of the Spanish writer Vicente Blasco Ibanez. In order to achieve the stated goal, an extensive outline of the salient characteristics of Zola's Naturalism in the four works of the Spanish author has been formulated. The outline is followed for each chapter, illustrating the ever-increasing influence of Zola in subsequent works in the series. The four Valencian novels analyzed in this study exemplify the characteristics of Zolian Naturalism presented in the outline, among them expressionist and impressionist description, the battle between many protagonists and their environment and the problems presented by the historical moment in which they live, the materialist/determinist vision of life, and the symbolic significance of the characters and settings, just to list a few. The four novels studied in this dissertation are Arroz y tartana, Flor de mayo, La barraca and Canas y barro. A comparative/historical approach is used in order to observe the characteristic style of Emie Zola as seen in several of his novels, among them L'Assommoir and Germinal.

This dissertation considers the discourse of love in Angel Gonzalez's poetry and the affinity that the poet's amorous verse has with a postmodern aesthetic. Beginning with his first collection and continuing through his last, the study focuses on how the amorous sentiments of the poet are manifested in his work. The evocation of love is quite varied throughout Gonzalez's poetic trajectory. In chapter one, the foundation of the study is set as the poetry of Aspero mundo (1956) is revealed to exhibit some early signs of a postmodern bent. The theoretical works of Julia Kristeva, Roland Barthes and Catherine Belsey are used in order to illustrate and support the relationship of the poetry with postmodernism. Chapter two examines Sin esperanza con convencimiento (1962) and Palabra sobre palabra (1965). Here, the manifestation of a markedly postmodern irony and the apparent fusion of love, language and poetic creation is studied. Among the critical references employed in this chapter are the ideas of Ihab Hassan, Jean Francois Lyotard, and others. Tratado de urbanismo (1967) is the focus of chapter three. Specifically, this chapter considers the use of intertextual elements and their manifestation in the love poetry of this work. The critical ideas of Kristeva, Barthes, Jonathan Culler and Mikhail Baktin form the theoretical underpinnings of this chapter. In addition, the revelation of the manner in which Gonzalez uses love poetry as a tool for social commentary is also explored as the poet assumes a more public voice within the discourse of love. Chapter four studies the next three books of the poet, Breves acotaciones (1967), Procedimientos narrativos (1972) and Muestra (1977). Here, the poet examines his ability to control the linguistic medium, parodies traditional love poetry and many times employs what Michael Riffaterre has termed "ungrammaticalities." In the fifth and final chapter of this dissertation, Prosemas o menos (1985) and Deixis en fantasma (1992) are studied. The importance of poetic ordering as well as the poet's retrospective views on his own mortality and the immortality of his amorous verse are investigated in these final works.

Esta disertacion es un estudio literario de las narratives publicadas en Vertice: Revista de la FET y de las JONS, con un enfasis en los anos 1937 a 1942. Considera "La novels de Vertice"--un fasciculo suplementario incluido en muchos de los numeros de la revista entre 1938 y 1942--como manifestacion ejemplar de la estetica narrative del fascismo espanol. Como ese suplemento no incluyo mas de un relato comico, las narratives humoristicas de Vertice no son tratadas en este estudio. Este trabajo comprende 82 cuentos, "novellas," ensayos v dramas, y sigue en eilas una lucha ideologica por la imaginacion nacional espanola. En esta contienda intervinieron fascistas, falangistas, pseudo-socialistas, catolicos nacionalistas, conservadores autoritarios y tambien mujeres tradicionalistas pero proto-feministas. Estos grupos, por influencia a inspiracion mutua, entablaron una vision milenaria y redentora de la identidad espanol, vision que cads uno intento proyectar segun su perspective. La narrative de Vertice se organizaba alrededor de cuatro formas o estructuras narratives: el cronotopo milenario, la redencion, la retorica viril y la colectividad nacional revolucionaria. Las obras exhiben un estilo colectivo ideologicamente y moralmente depurado. La novels espanola de oposicion se contrasts con esta estructura y estilo, sun invirtiendo estas cuatro estructuras narratives utilizadas en la estetica literaria falangista, nacional-catolica y franquista. Estas estructuras y su empleo proveen un metodo de analisis para la narrativa fascista espanola. Si le interesa, pronto este estudio estara disponible en la red electronica, sin costo para los investigadores.

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Research on women's testimonial accounts of the camps, which developed in the 1980s and 1990s in the UK and North America, following Joan Ringelheim's pioneer work, has yet to expand into France. The present MA thesis focuses on Charlotte Delbo's memoirs, entitled Auschwitz and After. Résistante and communist, Delbo (1913-1985) was sent to Auschwitz in January 1943 as a French political prisoner. She was freed by the Red Cross on 23rd April 1945 along with forty-eight other survivors from her convoy. Immediately upon her return, she began to write her memoirs, bearing the responsibility for carrying the word. Her testimony, which is composed from a distinctly feminine perspective, goes far beyond relating her own experience of the Lager and its aftermath. Indeed, Delbo re-counts and re-presents both the individual and collective experiences of women in the camp. Above all, the author wanted to make people see and feel, providing her readers with insight into trauma. Her trilogy, both poetic and strikingly beautiful, constitutes a reconstruction (or a re-creation) of memory and its fragments, and transcends boundaries of literary conventions, espousing a hybrid, a-chronological and fragmented form. In my MA thesis, I first address the ethical obligation binding survivors to remember and pass on their experiences. I then move on to analyse Delbo's portrayal of the camps and her treatment of language when faced with the unspeakable, thus highlighting the literary strategies used to counteract its limits and to convey her experience and trauma. Finally, I examine the subjective markers of a feminine perspective inscribed in her writing. / Intitulés Auschwitz et après, les mémoires de Charlotte Delbo (1913-1985), s'inscrivent dans une lignée d'écrits au féminin. Marqués par une sensibilité et des préoccupations féminines, ses écrits concentrationnaires, longtemps négligés par la critique de langue française, témoignent du souhait de l'auteure de « donner à voir » l'expérience à la fois personnelle et collective des détenues du camp. Concevant la prise de parole et la perpétuation du souvenir comme une véritable responsabilité, Delbo s'évertue à re-présenter l'univers du Lager, autrement dit, à rendre présentes la réalité du camp et la déshumanisation des détenu(e)s. Par l'entremise d'une écriture de la réminiscence poétique et intime, Delbo tente de réconcilier son passé de déportée avec sa vie d'après les camps et de reconstruire son identité à travers le temps et un passé qui « ne passe pas ». C'est ici que se rencontre dans son oeuvre une interrogation sur la nécessité d'un « devoir de mémoire », les limites du langage et les marques d'une présence féminine. La présente étude des écrits mémoriels de Delbo est constituée de trois volets. Dans un premier temps, nous abordons les enjeux relatifs à la mémoire et les conditions d'émergence de la figure sociale du témoin au sein de la société contemporaine française. Dans un deuxième temps, nous nous consacrons à l'étude des modalités de l'écriture delbotienne, tout particulièrement à la prégnance de l'indicible et du trauma. Enfin, nous examinons les traces d'une subjectivité féminine dans son écriture.

The 1812 version of Dominique Vivant Denon's libertine tale Point de lendemain is generally considered to be the second edition of his 1777 original. It is the most frequently published version, cited as the more accomplished one, without particular consideration of the differences between the two versions. However, in 1812 Denon rewrote the tale in an entirely different social, historical and political context, and its significance is thus completely distinct. Furthermore, Denon modified certain aspects of the text, and these changes prove to be significant when analyzed in light of the new historical context. This thesis examines both versions and analyzes the changes made to Point de lendemain by its author in 1812 in order to show that they reveal a change in his perspective on the Ancien Régime and his desire to present a toned-down and less cynical image of this period to the future generations. / La version de 1812 du conte libertin Point de lendemain de Dominique Vivant Denon est généralement considérée comme une réédition de la version écrite en 1777. Elle est le plus souvent éditée et citée comme la version la plus achevée du texte, sans égard particulier pour les différences entre les deux versions. Or, Denon réécrit son conte dans un contexte social, historique et politique entièrement différent lorsqu'il reprend Point de lendemain en 1812, et la portée en est donc distincte. De plus, l'auteur apporte un certain nombre de changements à son texte, qui deviennent significatifs lorsqu'analysés à la lumière du changement de contexte historique. Ce mémoire étudie les deux versions et examine les variantes apportées au texte par l'auteur en 1812 afin de démontrer qu'elles témoignent d'un regard nouveau sur l'Ancien Régime et d'un souci d'en laisser une image adoucie et moins cynique aux générations à venir.

What is madness? What is literature? What relationship does madness and literature have with each other? Presumptuous ones pretend to answer these questions without embarrassment. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, men of letters believed to achieve it. Better, they made a category, that of fous littéraires. The thesis tries to trace the history of this particular category, from his first promoters in the nineteenth century, Charles Nodier and Octave Delepierre, to its main agitators in the following century, Raymond Queneau and André Blavier. The aim is to pose an historical and sociological point of view on specific madness and literature discourses taken together, that fous littéraires are basically liable to their category by the absence of anthumous and posthumous reception encountered. In view of the fact that this history is not unrelated with the multiple metamorphoses and migrations that literature and madness has taken in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the present study also traces the origins of this rapprochement between madness and literature among specialists in the field of madness themselves, the alienists, and the singular works they have at their disposal in their offices / reading rooms, that are not unconnected with what was later known in some circles as art brut and écrits bruts. By examining with a fine-tooth comb the works of these men of letters and of mind, moreover by analysing the works of the fous littéraires themselves contained in it, it seems clear that the madness which grip these illustrious unknowns may not be just a matter of reception. / Qu'est-ce que la folie ? Qu'est-ce que la littérature ? Quels rapports entretiennent folie et littérature ? Bien présomptueux celui qui prétendrait répondre à ces questions sans embarras. Aux XIXe et XXe siècles, des hommes de lettres ont cru y parvenir. Mieux, ils en ont fait une catégorie, celle des fous littéraires. La présente thèse cherche à tracer l'histoire de cette catégorie particulière, depuis ses premiers instigateurs au XIXe siècle, Charles Nodier et Octave Delepierre, à ses principaux agitateurs au siècle suivant, Raymond Queneau et André Blavier. La visée est de poser ainsi un regard historique et sociologique sur cette mise en discours singulière de la folie et de la littérature pris tout d'un bloc, selon laquelle les fous littéraires sont essentiellement redevables de la catégorie qu'ils occupent par l'absence de réception anthume et posthume qu'ils rencontrent. Considérant que cette histoire n'est pas sans rapport avec les multiples métamorphoses et migrations que littérature et folie empruntent aux XIXe et XXe siècles de la littérature à la psychiatrie, la présente étude retrace également les origines de ce rapprochement entre folie et littérature chez les spécialistes de la folie eux-mêmes, les aliénistes, et les œuvres singulières dont ils disposent dans leurs cabinets, qui ne sont pas sans lien avec ce que l'on appellera plus tard au XXe siècle dans certains milieux l'art brut et les écrits bruts. En passant au peigne fin les œuvres de ces hommes de lettres et de raison, qui plus est en analysant les œuvres des fous littéraires eux-mêmes y figurant, on se rend à l'évidence que la folie qui étreint ces illustres inconnus n'est peut-être pas qu'une affaire de réception.