The general argument of this thesis contends that the poetics of Dostoevsky and Nietzsche, in particular a comparison between The Brothers Karamazov and Thus Spoke Zarathustra, remain profitable for political theological ethics. I conduct this analysis in critical comparison with the political theology of Henri de Lubac, with a focus on the question of desire and the sacramental mediation of the divine as it is embodied politically. Following de Lubac, especially in The Drama of Atheist Humanism, I argue that both Dostoesvky and Nietzsche were both deeply attuned to the fundamental human desire for the transcendent in modernity, a desire which engenders the creation of new images of the divine in order to unify society as a whole, mediating new forms of political identity. More specifically, I examine the problem of retributive desire in the poetics of The Brothers Karamazov and Thus Spoke Zarathustra as it connects with the historical development of Western Christianity and modernism. I demonstrate how their poetic formulations of retribution relates to suffering and the desire for the transcendent. In particular, I compare the characters of Dostoevsky’s novel, especially Ivan Karamazov and the Grand Inquisitor with the antagonists in the narrative of Thus Spoke Zarathustra, the “dragon” of Christian valuation and the “cold monster” of the modernist state. Furthermore, I demonstrate that Dostoesvky, Nietzsche, and de Lubac espouse conceptions of sacramental mediation that reflect a desire for a higher social unity that circumvents imperialistic intention, stimulating new possibilities for posthumanist political community. I maintain that Zarathustra can be interpreted as the poetic embodiment of immanent Dionysian desire, mediating a conception of transcendence, expressed through the thought of eternal recurrence, which transvaluates retributively rooted Western Christianity and modernist morality. In Zarathustra, Nietzsche reimagines a politic of friendship, whereby adversarial oriented relationships spur healthier life-affirming forms of living, courageously confronting the sick, unhealthy values of Christianity and modernism. In The Brothers Karamazov, as reflected in the story of Alyosha Karamazov, Dostoevsky imagines the divine as a mystery that envelops the immanent, mediated through the Incarnation of Christ, freely embraced through the sacrifice of the self. Dionysian desire is transfigured through the power of Resurrection, generating a cruciform way of living, embodied in the active, commitment of neighbour-love and a forgiveness-oriented spirit. For de Lubac, what remains decisive is the recovery of the social meaning of the Eucharist, the sacramental self-offering of Christ mediated through the church. Like Dostoevsky, de Lubac argues for the necessity of an inner, transformative reception of the divine Word embodied socially, yet this possibility is mediated through the liturgical practice of Roman Catholicism. For the Russian Dostoevsky, the particular ecclesial form of community is less defined institutionally. His poetics accentuate the reality of an innate eucharistically oriented “social structure,” expressed as a prophetic hope for the possibility of a healthier, life-affirming politic in Western culture if incarnationally embraced by the peoples of the West. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Baylor University, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 147-152)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Catholic University of America, 1934. / At head of title: The Catholic University of America. Bibliography: p. 84-92.

Rituals of Diagnosis argues that nineteenth-century America’s literary representations of madness and its diagnosis respond to interdisciplinary efforts at cultivating a national psychology. Uniting theological and philosophical traditions with medical speculation, mental health reformers from Benjamin Rush to Dorothea Dix linked the expansion of democracy with new vulnerabilities for madness. Theories about insanity thus hypothesized relationships between freedom and responsibility. I examine how America’s first psychological fictions contributed to this rich field of discussion. Taking up novels by Charles Brockden Brown, Robert Montgomery Bird, and Oliver Wendell Holmes that pivot around the investigation of madness, I examine how literary works from the Revolutionary Era to the Civil War dramatize interpretive processes that classify transgressive behavior. I argue that the grotesque subjects at the center of these investigations—Anglo-Americans who are likened to demons, animals, and “savage” racial others—indicate the provisionality of the period’s theories of mental illness and register anxieties about affiliation and responsibility that accompanied their development. This inquiry contributes to contemporary conversations about authority, desire, and the role of violence in the American imaginary, and argues that scientific speculation and literary experimentation collaborated in constructing this imaginary. While many have acknowledged that discourses of mental health participated in codifying social and political norms, I draw explicit attention to literary form as a site for examining the motivations that fuel these discourses by showing how their narrative trajectories put medical knowledge into conversation with sentimental ideologies. Examining how these novels conjoin problems of interpretive confusion with affective confusion, I explore how these mysteries destabilize the disembodied rationality central to the perch of objectivity that sustained white supremacist interrogations of racial and gendered others. The struggle to situate the locus of social unrest into psychological and ethnic others betrays an archive of fears and fantasies contained by diagnostic procedures. / text

Made available in DSpace on 2015-09-25T12:19:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Zuila Kelly da Costa Couto Fernandes de Araujo.pdf: 656056 bytes, checksum: 7e7bc4993e742610ee31eca1cf91589d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-03-14 / The literary production of writer mining Adelia Prado has been circumscribe in the compass of national literature as a symbol of the confluence of the experiences of transcendence that manifested both in the making literary, how far religious ritual. The adelianos texts are endowed of representation deep of experiences with the sacred, departing of a strong influence of Catholicism, but extrapolating the this limits and instituting a new vision about the relationship with the numinous. The theological aspect perceived in his poetic establish an corporation to the spirit, which be collocate as an alternative of transcendence. Departing of such presupposed, this research, of nature qualitative and bibliographical, analyses the relationships between poetry and religion in the poems that make up the book Oráculos de maio reflecting on representations of god, of the body and poetry, and how this relationship be gives in aesthetic plane. The analysis of the poems seek to demonstrate the representation of the sacred through what we call of a poetics of rewiring, built by the author and that configure metaphorical a heterodox perspective of the Christian religion. To both, we chose to work with a theoretical construct that collaborates with this discussion in sense of to dialogue with the broadly perspective that we adopted in relation to literature and the sacred, in this effect were significant the contributions from Otto (2007), Eliade (2010), Magalhães (2009), among others. / A produção literária da escritora mineira Adélia Prado tem se circunscrito no âmbito da literatura nacional como um símbolo da confluência das experiências de transcendência que se manifestam tanto no fazer literário, quanto no ritual religioso. Os textos adelianos são dotados de profunda representação das experiências com o sagrado, partindo-se de uma forte influência do catolicismo, porém, extrapolando os limites deste e instituindo uma nova visão a respeito da relação com o numinoso. O aspecto teológico percebido em sua poética estabelece uma corporeidade ao espírito, que se coloca como alternativa de transcendência. Partindo de tais pressupostos, esta pesquisa, de natureza qualitativa e bibliográfica, analisa as relações entre poesia e religião nos poemas que compõem o livro Oráculos de maio refletindo sobre as representações de deus, do corpo e da poesia, e como esta relação se dá no plano estético. A análise dos poemas busca demonstrar a representação do sagrado através do que chamaremos de uma poética de religação, construída pela autora e que configura metaforicamente uma perspectiva heterodoxa da religião cirstã. Para tanto, optou-se por trabalhar com um constructo teórico que colabora com esta discussão no sentido de dialogar com a perspectiva abrangente que adotamos em relação à literatura e ao sagrado, neste sentido foram significativas as contribuições de Otto (2007), Eliade (2010), Magalhães (2009), dentre outros.

The thesis represents an attempt, within the broad field of religion and literature and of identity studies, to read the early unpublished fiction of Alan Paton, dating from approximately 1922 (the end of his student days) to 1935 (when he became Principal of Diepkloof Reformatory). It is pointed out that research into the interrelationship of literature and religion, while well-established in a number of countries, is lagging in South Africa, and it is believed that the present thesis is the first full-length work of its kind, at least as far as South African literature in English is concerned. The writer advances reasons for his explicitly religious and hermeneutic approach to questions of human identity, as found in Paton especially, and focuses these on two particular areas: narrative identity, as propounded in the later work of Paul Ricoeur, and relational identity (to the other human being and to the Other, God), as theorised by Emmanuel Levinas in his later writing. In order to contextualise the study in Africa and in South Africa, brief attention is accorded to writers such as Soyinka, Mbiti and Mbembe and to current debates regarding white identity in South Africa. To lend a sense of historical context, Paton's work is viewed against the backdrop of identity in colonial Natal. The overall approach adopted may be described as broadly, but critically, postmodernist. Paton's earliest, fragmentary novel, 'Ship of Truth' (1922-1923) is read in some detail; his second, and only complete early novel, 'Brother Death' (1930), is commented on in as much detail as its frequently rambling nature warrants. A chapter on shorter fiction discusses his short story 'Little Barbee' (1928?), his short story 'Calvin Doone' (1930), his third novel, 'John Henry Dane' (1934), and a novel or novella, 'Secret for Seven' (1934). From all these readings it emerges that the Paton of his early fiction is markedly different from the Paton generally known: his concepts of human identity, of God and of religion, though earnest, are unformed and frequently ambivalent; his characterisation often stereotyped and wooden; his political views usually prejudiced and his stylistic and other techniques, though adequate in a young writer, highly repetitive. Various suggestions are made for future research: into South African literature from a religious perspective, into other aspects of Paton's works, and so forth. / Thesis (Ph.D. (English))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Thesis (Ph.D. (English))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

The thesis represents an attempt, within the broad field of religion and literature and of identity studies, to read the early unpublished fiction of Alan Paton, dating from approximately 1922 (the end of his student days) to 1935 (when he became Principal of Diepkloof Reformatory). It is pointed out that research into the interrelationship of literature and religion, while well-established in a number of countries, is lagging in South Africa, and it is believed that the present thesis is the first full-length work of its kind, at least as far as South African literature in English is concerned. The writer advances reasons for his explicitly religious and hermeneutic approach to questions of human identity, as found in Paton especially, and focuses these on two particular areas: narrative identity, as propounded in the later work of Paul Ricoeur, and relational identity (to the other human being and to the Other, God), as theorised by Emmanuel Levinas in his later writing. In order to contextualise the study in Africa and in South Africa, brief attention is accorded to writers such as Soyinka, Mbiti and Mbembe and to current debates regarding white identity in South Africa. To lend a sense of historical context, Paton's work is viewed against the backdrop of identity in colonial Natal. The overall approach adopted may be described as broadly, but critically, postmodernist. Paton's earliest, fragmentary novel, 'Ship of Truth' (1922-1923) is read in some detail; his second, and only complete early novel, 'Brother Death' (1930), is commented on in as much detail as its frequently rambling nature warrants. A chapter on shorter fiction discusses his short story 'Little Barbee' (1928?), his short story 'Calvin Doone' (1930), his third novel, 'John Henry Dane' (1934), and a novel or novella, 'Secret for Seven' (1934). From all these readings it emerges that the Paton of his early fiction is markedly different from the Paton generally known: his concepts of human identity, of God and of religion, though earnest, are unformed and frequently ambivalent; his characterisation often stereotyped and wooden; his political views usually prejudiced and his stylistic and other techniques, though adequate in a young writer, highly repetitive. Various suggestions are made for future research: into South African literature from a religious perspective, into other aspects of Paton's works, and so forth. / Thesis (Ph.D. (English))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007.

Né d’une réaction à la sécularisation apportée par la Révolution française, le « renouveau catholique » ou la « renaissance catholique » est un mouvement d’artistes et d’intellectuels catholiques particulièrement actif entre 1885 et 1935. Dans la droite ligne du catholicisme intransigeant dont il procède, il entend œuvrer à remplacer la société moderne par une société chrétienne, en rendant à Dieu sa place dans l’art et la pensée. De sa conversion en 1886 jusqu’à son abandon de la littérature pour l’exégèse au cours des années trente, Claudel, catholique intransigeant et écrivain, appartient à ce mouvement. Pourtant, il s’en tient à distance, ne collaborant que de façon irrégulière et précaire à ses différentes initiatives et ne nouant que d’incertaines ou de mauvaises relations avec la plupart des autres écrivains catholiques. Comment le comprendre ? Il faut voir que, loin de lui être particulière, la situation est emblématique de l’histoire du mouvement : la répression antimoderniste qui a provoqué la naissance de l’écrivain catholique et orienté l’action littéraire catholique vers la défense de l’Église, trace aussi les limites à ne pas dépasser. Or la tentative d’art chrétien, désireuse de montrer la présence du surnaturel dans le monde des hommes, apparaît bien souvent comme un naturalisme, c’est-à-dire une réduction du surnaturel à l’humain. C’est ce naturalisme que Claudel reproche à la plupart des membres du renouveau, pourtant engagés comme lui dans le même projet de réconcilier le monde moderne avec le catholicisme. / Appeared in reaction to post-revolutionary secularization, the Catholic Revival is a French movement uniting catholic artists and intellectuals, particularly active between 1885 and 1935. Rooted in intransigent Catholicism, it aims at replacing modern society with a Christian one, in which God would be given back his place in art and mind. From his conversion in 1886, until he abandoned literature for biblical exegesis during the thirties, Claudel, as a writer and intransigent Catholic, belongs to that movement. He nevertheless remains on the fringe of it, participating only occasionally for limited works to its several initiatives. He builds only uncertain or bad relations with most of the other Catholic writers. How can we understand this? Far from being Claudel’s particularity, this situation symbolizes the history of the Catholic Revival, which was simultaneously guided and controlled by anti-modernism repression. Yet the attempt of a Christian art, eager to show the presence of the supernatural in men’s world, often appears as a form of naturalism, in others words as a reduction of supernatural to human stage. Claudel reproaches the most part of the Revival members for this naturalism, even if they are involved, just as he is, in the common project of reconciliation between Catholicism and modern world.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T19:21:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Emmanuel Goncalves Guimaraes Lisboa.pdf: 228461 bytes, checksum: 7e3294fe4617c0127fbd8025112d7957 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-05-27 / The following work treats about God's images in the contemporary poetry. Thereunto, we have selected Glauco Mattoso, a native of São Paulo poet who passes through several faces of the recent brazilian poetry. Of his vast production, we analyze, in this work, only the sonnets, without a cutting of composition or phase - we worry about the presence of God in his sonnets collection. To do so, we have read, written up and cataloged three thousand sonnets, and twenty-nine of them found the presence of God with real meaning to the content. However, we have analyzed carefully only a small part of these sonnets. For the analysis, we have anchored on the concepts of literary criticism coming from Iumna Maria Simon and Vinicius Dantas, the reflections of Hugo Friederich, and on sociological relationships of men with God studies, by Roger Bastide. The work is divided into three chapters. The first, "Um exercício de história" (A History Exercise), tries to situate the contemporary Brazilian poetry and insert Glauco Mattoso in this scenario. Also in this chapter, relevant and influential artists appear in Glauco's literary education and in the formation of pornographic and accursed tradition of portuguese language. The second chapter, "De onde vem e como vemos" (Whence it comes and how we see it), is the theoretical framework we use to read Glauco's poetry. Initially, we present Iumna Maria Simon's and Vinícius Dantas's theories, and then Hugo Friederich's. After that, these concepts are applied separately in some Glauco's poems with a distinct theme from the one we have investigated. Finally, we discuss the sociological categories defined by Roger Bastide. In the last chapter, the poems are analyzed following four different categories, but similar with regard to the theme. We ascertain the poems in it's interpretation about the divine figure, the poems in which God acts, or is claimed to act in the political, egocentric, and reversal horizons. Throughout the work, we try to understand the ways how the divine figure is treated in Glauco's poetry, and by extension, we try to point out the relations of man and God in today's society / O trabalho que ora se apresenta versa sobre a presença das imagens de Deus na poesia contemporânea. Para tanto selecionamos Glauco Mattoso, poeta paulistano que passa por diversas fases da recente poesia brasileira. Em sua vasta produção analisamos neste trabalho apenas os sonetos, sem um recorte de obra, ou de fase preocupamo-nos com a presença de Deus em seu sonetário. Para tanto, foram lidos, fichados e catalogados três mil sonetos e em vinte e nove deles encontramos a presença de Deus com real significado para o conteúdo. Porém analisamos com cuidado apenas uma pequena parte desses sonetos. Para a análise, nos ancoramos sobre os conceitos de crítica literária oriundos de Iumna Maria Simon e Vinícius Dantas e das reflexões de Hugo Friederich. E sobre os estudos acerca das relações sociológicas do homem com Deus de Roger Bastide. O trabalho esta dividido em três capítulos. No primeiro Um exercício de história tentamos situar a poesia contemporânea brasileira e inserir Glauco Mattoso nesse cenário. Aparecem, também, nesse capítulo artistas influentes e relevantes na formação literária de Glauco e da tradição maldita e pornográfica em língua portuguesa. O segundo capítulo De onde vem, e como vemos trata do arcabouço teórico que utilizamos para ler a poesia de Glauco. Inicialmente são apresentadas as teorias de Iumna Maria Simon e de Vinícius Dantas e depois as de Hugo Friederich. Na sequência esses conceitos são aplicados separadamente em poemas de Glauco com temática distinta da que investigamos. Por fim tratamos das categorias sociológicas definidas por Roger Bastide. No último capítulo analisamos os poemas seguindo quatro categorias distintas, mas próximas na temática. Averiguamos os poemas em sua Interpretação acerca da figura divina, os poemas em que Deus age, ou é clamado a agir no horizonte político, os egocêntricos e os inversivos. Ao longo do trabalho buscamos compreender as formas como a figura divina é tratada na poética de Glauco e por extensão tentamos apontar as relações do homem e Deus na sociedade atual