The problem is the investigation of the possibility of an alternative theory of literature that attempts to show literature's relation to human consciousness. A phenomenological theory of literature is presented as a comprehensive theory of literature as opposed to extrinsic theories that are not comprehensive. The basic assumption is that a comprehensive theory of literature must take into account literature's relationship to human consciousness. The shortcomings of traditional modes of literary theory are discussed in order to provide grounds for the proposed intrinsic alternative. The philosophical foundations for the proposed alternative are laid in the phenomenology of Husserl, Ingarden, Heidegger, and the French existentialists. These four positions are mediated through the introduction of the philosophy of Paul Ricoeur. Finally, the proposed alternative theory of literature is applied to the test case of Joseph Conrad's Lord Jim.

Vollst. zugl.: Zürich, Univ., Habil.-Schr., 2006

Thesis (doctoral)--Université Michel de Montaigne - Bordeaux III, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 367-382).

In the context of a renascent interest in the thought of Jean-Paul Sartre, this thesis proposes a close examination of one of his less studied texts, the study of Gustave Flaubert, L'Idiot de la famille (1971-72). The analysis focuses on theoretical developments that emerge from Sartre's biographical enquiry, pursuing an interdisciplinary approach combining a consideration of literary theory and literary history with the perspective of Sartre's philosophy of subjectivity. L'Idiot is situated amongst a wide variety of texts by Sartre, from Qu'est-ce que la littérature? (1948) to the Critique de la raison dialectique (1960), identifying theoretical innovations within Sartre's understanding of the subject (ch. 1), his social theory (ch. 2), his theory of the imaginary (ch. 3), of literary production (ch. 4) and of reading (ch. 5). Additionally, hitherto largely unexplored passages highlight Sartre's reflections on the situation of the late 1960s. Previous analyses of the philosophical innovations presented in L'Idiot have often focused on the strictly theoretical passages in the biography. The present thesis also concentrates on the 'imagined' scenes presented throughout the text. Read as an integral part of Sartre's method, it is suggested that the dramatization facilitated by the biographical format is an integral part of the theoretical enquiry. Despite the lack of explicit referencing provided by Sartre, the biography is explored in its open character, identifying a series of resonances and similarities with a diverse range of authors. The different chapters consider thinkers whose relationship with Sartre has received little or no attention (such as Pierre Bourdieu and Walter Benjamin), or whose work resonates with Sartre in ways that have so far gone unnoticed (Roland Barthes, Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Maurice Blanchot).

Myth and Argument in Plato's Phaedrus, Republic, and Phaedo investigates the role played by eschatological myth in the arguments of Plato's Phaedrus, Republic and Phaedo. It argues that a reconsideration of the agenda followed by Socrates in each of these dialogues brings into view the contribution made by the mythological narrative to their argumentative line. Each of the three chapters of my thesis analyses the nature of this contribution. The first chapter argues that the myth occupying the central pages of the Phaedrus contributes to developing one of the themes addressed in the dialogue, namely a link between the divine realm and the activities thought by Phaedrus to be unrelated to the religious sphere. By showing that Eros fosters imitation of the gods, the palinode makes an important contribution to this topic. The second chapter proposes that the myth of Er and passage 608c2-621d3 in which it is included are an essential part of the line of argument of the Republic. I analyse the aims Socrates sets in Book 2 for his investigation into justice, and show that they include the description of the positive consequences of justice along with the benefits it causes in and by itself. By listing the rewards just people will receive from other people and the gods, passage 608c2-621d3 gives a description of the positive consequences of justice. The third chapter argues that the argumentative line followed in the Phaedo finds its culmination in the eschatological myth. Socrates expresses a hope for post-mortem justice in his defence of the philosophical life. To render it plausible to his interlocutors he needs to show that the soul is both immortal and intrinsically intelligent. After vindicating these notions, Socrates presents in the concluding myth the image of an afterlife governed by ethical principles.

Orientador: Luiz Carlos da Silva Dantas / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-06T10:21:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Simpson_Pablo_D.pdf: 3276436 bytes, checksum: 7ec16bd178106ff7cbf957e7dd06ad95 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Resumo: Yves Bonnefoy é um dos poetas franceses mais importantes da segunda metade do século XX. Sua obra poética, que se inicia em 1946 com Traité du pianiste e Le Coeur-espace, pode ser situada, num primeiro momento, a partir do diálogo com o surrealismo, de que se afastaria em 1947, mas cuja noção de sonho retomaria em suas narrativas publicadas a partir dos anos 1970: L¿Arrière-pays e Rue Traversière. Pode ser situada, além disso, diante do existencialismo de Jean Wahl. Leitor de Plotino, Kierkegaard e Léon Chestov, importante crítico de arte e da obra de Baudelaire, além de tradutor de Shakespeare, Yves Bonnefoy traz, desde os ensaios de L¿Improbable de 1959, uma preocupação com o que chamaria de ¿presença¿, fundamental para a compreensão de seu projeto poético. Ela designaria, muitas vezes, uma oposição ao conceito filosófico e à linguagem. Traria um apelo a uma ¿realidade obscura¿, enigmática. Nesse sentido, a poesia pretenderia uma intuição do absoluto, uma esperança investida de uma vocação ontológica não sem relação com o questionamento heideggeriano. Este estudo pretende investigar as relações entre poesia e tempo. Há nos poemas de Anti-Platon e Du Mouvement et de l¿immobilité de Douve, tanto quanto em L¿Improbable, segundo Patrick Née, a condenação de um inteligível abstrato, em virtude do esquecimento do tempo. A poesia repercutiria uma tensão entre interioridade conceitual e exterioridade. As palavras do poema evocariam um apagamento: rastro, presença ausente. A perda se torna a origem da linguagem poética. Através da leitura dos poemas de Du Mouvement et de l¿immobilité de Douve, Hier régnant désert, Pierre écrite, Dans le leurre du seuil, Ce qui fut sans lumière e Les Planches courbes, e das narrativas L¿Arrière-pays, Rue Traversière e Lê Théâtre des enfants, este estudo buscará compreender a poesia de Yves Bonnefoy a partir das noções de rastro, hesitação e memória. Dividido em cinco capítulos principais, trata-se da tentativa de situar a sua poesia, a um só tempo, como expressão e reflexão de cada um desses lugares. Este estudo traz em anexo a tradução do livro de poemas Les Planches courbes (2001), da narrativa ¿L¿Égypte¿ do livro Rue Traversière (1977) e do ensaio ¿Les tombeaux de Ravenne¿ de L¿Improbable (1959) / Resumé: Cette étude concernant l¿oeuvre poétique d¿Yves Bonnefoy cherche à établir des rapports entre poésie et temps. À travers de lectures critiques interrogeant les poèmes de Du Mouvement et de l¿immobilité de Douve, Hier régnant désert, Pierre écrite, Dans le leurre du seuil, Ce qui fut sans lumière et Les Planches courbes, aussi bien que les récits L¿Arrière-pays, Rue Traversière et Le Théâtre des enfants, une trajectoire se dessine qui tente d¿aborder la pensée poétique d¿Yves Bonnefoy d¿après les notions de ¿trace¿, d¿¿hésitation¿ et de ¿mémoire¿. Le poème repose sur la tension qu¿il manifeste entre une intériorité conceptuelle et une extériorité que le poète appellerait ¿présence¿. Les mots du poème sont ce qui demeure de ce qui a disparu, ils gardent la ¿trace¿ de cette présence absente. Il y a dans les poèmes de l¿Anti-Platon et dans l¿essai ¿Les tombeaux de Ravenne¿, sélon Patrick Née, une reproche d¿un intelligible abstrait au nom de l¿oubli du temps. La perte devient l¿origine du langage poétique. Elle nous rappelle l¿abîme de l¿exil, de la séparation. Néanmoins, la poésie d¿Yves Bonnefoy veut apporter une intuition de l¿absolu, un espoir investi d¿une vocation ontologique non sans rapport avec le questionnement ontologique de Heidegger, de Kierkegaard, de Jean Wahl. Plutôt que d¿en brosser le sens philosophique, tout en veillant à ne pas confondre une approche conceptuelle du temps et sa ¿mise en intrigue¿ (muthos), selon Paul Ricoeur, cinq chapitres repèrent cet itinéraire. Les trois premiers, consacrés à la notion de trace, rejoindrent une affirmation du poète dans L¿Improbable: ¿Le fugace, l¿irrémédiablement emporté, sont le degré poétique de l¿univers¿. Il s¿agit de placer cette catégorie de l¿éphémère sous le signe de la recherche proustienne d¿un ¿équivalent spirituel¿ dans le chapitre ¿Marcel Proust & Yves Bonnefoy: inscription, présence¿. Dans le deuxième chapitre, l¿interpretation c¿est qu¿il y a un pari de la mort, de l¿absence, trace d¿un éloignement des dieux, où s¿affirme l¿importance de la perception dans les mots de leur composante sonore. Sous le signe des idées de ¿symbole¿ et ¿allégorie¿, on essaye d¿interroger les lectures d¿Yves Bonnefoy des oeuvres de Baudelaire et les poèmes ¿Vrai corps¿ et ¿Le lieu de la salamandre¿ du livre Du Mouvement et de l¿immobilité de Douve. Le troisième chapitre mène à la définition de la notion de ¿témoignage¿ en accord avec des idées d¿échange, de partage, selon la perspective du texte offert, de l¿amour d¿après Rimbaud et des images de la pierre et de la voix, celle-ci dans le poème ¿À la voix de Kathleen Ferrier¿ de Hier régnant désert. On situe ce questionnement à partir de la lecture d¿Emmanuel Lévinas et de l¿établissement des rapports entre poésie, temps et éthique. Le quatrième chapitre, ¿L¿Arrière-pays, Rue Traversière & Dans le leurre du seuil: rêve, hésitation et labirynthe¿, évoque l¿ambivalence du temps dans ce qu¿Yves Bonnefoy désigne comme ¿une hésitation profonde qui est en nous, dans l¿existence vécue et quant à la façon de la vivre¿. Le poète est celui qui hésite, à la fois, entre deux degrés d¿intensité ontologique, l¿existence et l¿écriture, l¿éveil et le rêve. L¿inquiétude aux carrefours de L¿Arrière-pays est la représentation même de cette interruption de l¿action, hantise d¿une terre au-delà de l¿horizon, insituable. Il s¿agit d¿une dialectique de la indécision et de la décision, de la ¿morne incuriosité¿ de Perceval chez le Roi Pêcheur et des questions qu¿il lui fallait poser. Autrement dit, l¿écriture engage une tension entre la gnose et l¿ici de la finitude, entre le rêve et le récit. Il fallait, selon le poète, ¿quelque chose comme une foi pour persister dans les mots¿. Finalement, le cinquième chapitre est consacré à la notion de ¿mémoire¿ dans les livres Ce qui fut sans lumière et Les Planches courbes, questionnement qui revient au vers ¿je ne me souviens¿ du livre Le Coeur-espace, publié en 1946. Il y a dans la série de poèmes de ¿La maison natale¿ de Les Planches courbes un rétour à l¿enfance et aux mythes. Les images de l¿enfance, dès la publication de ¿L¿Égypte¿ ou à la fin de L¿Arrière-pays, celle de Moïse sauvé des eaux, les mythes de Cérès, de Marsyas, la quête d¿une origine y témoignent la nécessité d¿établir des rapports entre poésie et mémoire. La poésie ¿garde mémoire¿. Elle est ¿la mémoire qui se maintient en nous, qui parlons, des instants de présence que nous avons vécu¿. Quête de l¿origine, de l¿origine de la poésie, d¿où l¿apparition d¿Ulysse dans le poème ¿Dans le leurre des mots¿. On placerait cette tension sous le double signe du ¿fait humain toujours prêt à recommencer¿ de Léon Chestov, à partir de l¿opposition entre mort et réssurrection, et d¿une ¿mémoire appaisée, voire d¿un oubli heureux¿ de Paul Ricoeur. Cette étude a pour annexe la traduction du livre de poèmes d¿Yves Bonnefoy Les Planches courbes (2001), du récit ¿L¿Égypte¿ du livre Rue Traversière (1977) et de l¿essai ¿Les tombeaux de Ravenne¿ publié dans L¿Improbable (1959) / Doutorado / Literatura Geral e Comparada / Doutor em Teoria e História Literária

Orientador: Jose Oscar de Almeida Marques / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Filosofia e Ciencias Humanas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-08T10:37:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Freire_CarloCurvelano_M.pdf: 793382 bytes, checksum: ff29a4faa0e2668d358a2f68cf823fe6 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Resumo: Os objetivos do presente estudo são, além de apontar na obra de Rousseau princípios de moral e de gosto que podem servir para esclarecer a gênese de seu famoso romance, mostrar que o autor, com sua Nova Heloísa, já antecipava para seus leitores alguns dos princípios de sua pedagogia, compilados sobretudo no Emílio, e demonstrava estar bem avançado no desenvolvimento de alguns dos princípios de sua teoria política, organizados de forma mais exaustiva sobretudo no Contrato Social. / Abstract: The objectives of the present study are, besides pointing in the work of Rousseau principles of moral and taste that may serve to elucidate the genesis of his famous romance, to show that the author, with his La nouvelle Heloise, already anticipated for his readers some of the principles of his pedagogy, compiled above all in the Emile, and has shown himself to be very advanced in the development of some principles of his political theory, organized in a exhaustive way chiefly in the Social Contract. / Mestrado / Historia da Filosofia Moderna / Mestre em Filosofia

Orientador: Fabio Akcelrud Durão / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-25T20:00:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Botton_AlexandreMariotto_D.pdf: 872229 bytes, checksum: eaeaef82860697552ce7a592654026b1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Resumo: Esta tese analisa a maneira como Theodor W. Adorno procede em sua crítica literária praticada nos ensaios reunidos sob o título de Notas de literatura. Inicialmente discutiu-se a peculiar situação que o autor e seus ensaios ocupam no meio no rol da Teoria literário, sobretudo no que diz respeito à questão do método. Neste sentido procurou-se demonstrar em que consiste o proceder "metodicamente sem método" anunciado no final do "Ensaio como forma" como uma espécie de modus operandi da ensaística de Adorno. Num segundo momento, vinculou-se tal proceder ao modelo de leitura imanente desenvolvida nos textos "Palestra sobre lírica e sociedade" e "Parataxis". Por fim, discutiu-se a importância da literatura e da crítica realizadas por Marcel Proust e Paul Valéry para o pensamento de Adorno, mais especificamente sobre sua noção de experiência / Abstract: This dissertation explores how Adorno proceeds in his literary criticism in the essays collected under the title Notes to literature. Initially we discuss the peculiar situation that the author and his essays occupy in the literary theory scenario, particularly regarding the question of method. In this sense, we try to show what it means to proceed "methodically without method" as it is announced in the end of "the Essay as form" as a kind of modus operandi of Adorno¿s essays. Secondly we tie such proceeding to the immanent reading model developed in the texts "Lecture on lyrical and society" and "Parataxis". Finally, we discuss the importance of literature and criticism made by Marcel Proust and Paul Valéry to Adorno¿s thought, more specifically on his notion of experience / Doutorado / Teoria e Critica Literaria / Doutor em Teoria e História Literária

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation sets out from the assumption that there is a phenomenon one can call literature of impasse. By this is meant that there is a body of literature that can be defined as a literature of impasse because of the specific time of writing or of its setting. The definition used in this exploration is based upon the historical, social, political and psychological forces that shape literature of impasse. Broadly speaking the term refers to works of literature of which the authors are considered to be fully aware that what they were describing, analysing and exploring was the impasse which the Western individual had to navigate in order to arrive at any coherent sense of self. The authors in this study – Joseph Roth (1894-1939), Giorgio Bassani (1916-2000) and Henri Fauconnier (1879-1973) – can be regarded as three such authors, and the aim of this dissertation is to demonstrate in what way they are indeed authors of impasse in the works under discussion and what the devices are that they have employed to convey their vision. Far from being a vision that (myopically) sees no resolution, the authors demonstrate a need to identify the impasse itself and its causes and consequences in a narrative style. As part of the acknowledgement of impasse, the description of the ontological impasse of the protagonists is also explored as is the central discussion of modernity and Modernism and how modernity appears to exacerbate the sense of impasse. The position of the protagonists in these works leads in turn to the exploration of individual attempts to overcome the impasse and, in so doing, the study inevitably has to explore the philosophical attributes reflected in each of the works. The comparative nature of this analysis, straddling three languages and literary traditions, and the complex contexts of “impasse”, necessitates studies in other disciplines. The works of Ernest Gellner (1925-1995) seemed particularly suited to this exploration as an analytical springboard inasmuch as his works examine the anthropological and philosophical aspects which have determined the historical forces and milieux with which the three novelists have to contend in the formulation of their respective visions. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie proefskrif berus op die veronderstelling dat daar ‘n fenomeen bestaan wat letterkunde van impasse oftewel van die dooie punt genoem kan word. Dit beteken dat daar ‘n korpus van letterkundige werke is wat gedefinieer kan word as letterkunde van impasse op grond van die spesifieke tydperk waarin dit tot stand gekom het of die narratiewe agtergrond daarvan. Die definisie wat in hierdie studie gebruik word is gegrond op die geskiedkundige, sosiale, politiese en sielkundige kragte waardeur letterkunde van impasse gevorm word. Die term verwys in die breë na werke wat geskep word deur skrywers wat ten volle daarvan bewus is dat dit wat hulle beskryf, ontleed en verken die dooie punt is waardeur die Westerse individu moet beweeg om enige koherente sin van die self te bereik. Die skrywers in hierdie studie – Joseph Roth (1894-1939), Giorgio Bassani (1916-2000) en Henri Fauconnier (1879-1973) – kan beskou word as drie sodanige skrywers en die doel van hierdie proefskrif is om aan te toon waarom hulle inderdaad skrywers van impasse is in die werke wat bespreek word en op watter maniere hulle hierdie persepsie oordra. Dit handel hoegenaamd nie oor ‘n persepsie wat stiksienig geen uitkoms sien nie en die skrywers toon veral ‘n behoefte om die impasse, sowel as die oorsake en gevolge daarvan, in ‘n narratiewe styl te identifiseer. As deel van die erkenning van impasse, word die beskrywing van die ontologiese impasse van die protagoniste ook ondersoek sowel as die sentrale bespreking van moderniteit en Modernisme en die wyse waarop moderniteit die gevoel van impasse blyk te vererger. Die posisie van die protagoniste in hierdie werke lei weer na die verkenning van individuele pogings om die dooie punt te oorkom en gevolglik moet die studie noodwendig ook die filosofiese standpunte ondersoek wat in die werke gereflekteer word. Die vergelykende aard van hierdie ontleding wat strek oor drie tale en literêre tradisies en die komplekse konteks van “impasse” maak verwysing na ander dissiplines noodsaaklik. Die werke van Ernest Gellner (1925-1995) het besonder geskik voorgekom vir hierdie verkenning as analitiese wegspringplek aangesien sy werk die antropologiese en filosofiese aspekte ondersoek van die geskiedkundige kragte en omgewings waarmee hierdie drie romanskrywers te kampe gehad het in die formulering van hulle onderskeie sienings.

This thesis articulates the resonances between J.M. Coetzee's lifelong engagement with mathematics and his practice as a novelist, critic, and poet. Though the critical discourse surrounding Coetzee's literary work continues to flourish, and though the basic details of his background in mathematics are now widely acknowledged, his inheritance from that background has not yet been the subject of a comprehensive and mathematically- literate account. In providing such an account, I propose that these two strands of his intellectual trajectory not only developed in parallel, but together engendered several of the characteristic qualities of his finest work. The structure of the thesis is essentially thematic, but is also broadly chronological. Chapter 1 focuses on Coetzee's poetry, charting the increasing involvement of mathematical concepts and methods in his practice and poetics between 1958 and 1979. Chapter 2 situates his master's thesis alongside archival materials from the early stages of his academic career, and thus traces the development of his philosophical interest in the migration of quantificatory metaphors into other conceptual domains. Concentrating on his doctoral thesis and a series of contemporaneous reviews, essays, and lecture notes, Chapter 3 details the calculated ambivalence with which he therein articulates, adopts, and challenges various statistical methods designed to disclose objective truth. Chapter 4 explores the thematisation of several mathematical concepts in Dusklands and In the Heart of the Country. Chapter Five considers Waiting for the Barbarians and Foe in the context provided by Coetzee's interest in the attempts of Isaac Newton to bridge the gap between natural language and the supposedly transparent language of mathematics. Finally, Chapter 6 locates in Elizabeth Costello and Diary of a Bad Year a cognitive approach to the use of mathematical concepts in ethics, politics, and aesthetics, and, by analogy, a central aspect of the challenge Coetzee's late fiction poses to the contemporary literary landscape.