The main aim of this thesis is to demonstrate how interdisciplinary research into the cultural background of Senegalese women writers can impact upon the strategies of the translator of their works into English. It also proposes to illustrate how Translation Studies theories can be applied to the practice of translation, by analysing previously translated works as well as examples from texts that have not been translated before. In this way, the thesis tests the hypothesis that a broad knowledge of Senegalese history, languages and modern day realities is essential in the translation of Francophone Senegalese women’s literature. Literature and culture are analysed under four key themes – Change, Power, Mediation and Orature, drawing upon issues of language and gender where appropriate, and using extracts from texts and translations to support arguments. Theoretical material is analysed from a number of different disciplines, some of which was collated whilst studying at the Université Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar. Interviews with writers and academics supplied rare insight into Senegalese literature and society, and time spent living with Senegalese families provided first-hand experience of local cultures, as well as an opportunity to learn Wolof for the purpose of textual analysis. This thesis contributes knowledge to a number of different fields of study due to its multidisciplinary approach. It also redresses the gender and geographical bias of much previous research into postcolonial African translation, as well as expanding critical work on Senegalese writers. By analysing a range of text types, this thesis progresses many previous studies of Senegalese women’s literature that only focus on novels, and it uniquely analyses the influence of the native language upon Francophone African translation. This thesis supports the hypothesis that cultural research can amend the way a translator works, but progresses beyond previous strategies for cultural translation by promoting complete submersion in source text languages and cultures. And through analytical debate it demonstrates how previously translated texts may be rewritten differently today due to changing theories of translation.

This study sets out to explain the importance of Emmanuel Mounier (1905-1950), taking it to be ideological, that is, operating simultaneously on a social and a conceptual level. It therefore stresses economic, social, political and cultural forces in addition to personal and philosophical ones. It attempts to show the processes involved in the creation of an ideology and an ideologist, and the factors governing their relationship. Chapter one examines Mounier's formation as a member of the catholic intellectual élite, tracing his early studies, experiences and patrons in Grenoble and Paris. Chapter two analyses the situation and events which led to the foundation of the review Esprit, which Mounier directed until his death, his first attempts to formulate a political ideology and his response to the political and social crises of the 1930's. Chapter three traces the philosophical roots and evolution of Mounier's personalism, showing its function as an intellectual matrix and method of analysis. Chapter four shows Mounier's reactions to the war, his activities under the Vichy regime and his place in the Resistance, emphasising the importance of this period for his later ideological position. Chapter five studies Mounier's initial aspirations to establish personalism as a major political ideology of liberated France, and traces the erosion and eventual collapse of his hopes to the point where his political position became scarcely tenable. Chapter six examines Mounier's confrontations with existentialism and Marxism in his attempts to maintain and extend the ideological power of personalism and, with it, catholicism. It also critically assesses Mounier's main post-war philosophical works. The conclusion analyses the contradictions implicit in Mounier's work and his relative success and failure as an ideologist. The bibliography includes a full list of Mounier's known works.

There is a pervasive tendency, in Machaut scholarship, to read his poetry as having value only insofar as it speaks to our postmodern age: either it is fragmented and riven with ambiguities, or it celebrates eroticism and the things of this world for their own sake; in any case, it resists religious and moral orthodoxy. Such readings, while often valuable in themselves, fail to take sufficient account of the influence which Boethian and Neoplatonic ideas had upon Machaut, and thus misunderstand his work on a fundamental level. By paying attention to the Boethian content in the narrative dits, and by analysing Machaut's verse more thoroughly than has been done before, my thesis demonstrates not only this author's moral orthodoxy, but also his extremely sophisticated didactic methods. I begin with the Confort d'ami, Machaut's most overtly moral work. The Confort engages with the supposed 'worldly' perspective of its imprisoned addressee, adapting biblical and classical exempla in order to coax Charles of Navarre towards a deeper understanding of worldly fortune. In Chapter 2 I show how, in the Prologue and the Dit du vergier, the ambiguity so beloved of critics can serve as a moral commentary on the carnality and self-absorption of the erotic and artistic points of view. Having established, in the preceding chapters, that this author's approach to his subject is ambiguous and critical, in Chapter 3 I explore the extremes of his pessimism, and show how his love poetry can incorporate sophisticated philosophical ideas, through my analysis of the Jugement du roy de Behaigne. The thesis culminates in a detailed reading of the Remede de Fortune. Through his deliberately idealised statements about education, through his application of these views to the art of courtly love, through his composition (and setting to music) of a sequence of virtuoso lyrics, and through his explicit invocations of and borrowings from Boethius, Machaut develops an empathic but ultimately, as I argue, deeply sceptical vision of earthly love.

The thesis provides a reading of Umberto Eco's three novels, The Name of the Rose, Foucault's Pendulum, and The Island of the Day Before, that, while it acknowledges the importance of the Italian literary tradition in which they stand, also seeks to explain why their author appeals so frequently to literary models outside Italy, and in particular the Anglo-American detective genre. Chapter One explains Eco's relationship to the development of Italian literature through his lifetime. It is noted that Eco is beginning, both in his semiotics and his fiction, from a position where post-structuralism has been extensively explored by neo-avant-gardew riters. Eco positions himself alongsides uchw riters as Italo Calvino and Jorge Luis Borges, who wish to explore the ludic possibilities of working within structures, while all the time acknowledging the epistemological limitations of so doing. Eco's chosen structure, more often than not, is the highly defined genre of the detective story. From here, the following chapters engage in close readings of the three novels, with particular emphasis on The Name of the Rose and Foucault's Pendulum, demonstrating that they explore problems of interpretation central to the detective narrative. In doing this, they display an intimate knowledge of generic developments within the detective tradition, and of the philosophical and aesthetic uses made of the genre by other writers. The embedding of intertextual references to other detective narratives within Eco's novels is an important factor, as they come together to form a narrative of epistemological inquiry that itself follows Eco's philosophical progress through the years. In short, the novels, inter alia, map a systematic inquiry into the possibility of systematic inquiry. They reserve the space to engage in such an ironic and self-referential project precisely through their fictionality.

This thesis re-examines selected works by Dante Gabriel Rossetti in the light of a specific engagement with Victorian spiritualism, which is characterised by an interest in the esoteric writings of the eighteenth-century mystic Emanuel Swedenborg. It locates Rossetti’s use of Swedenborgian imagery and ideas in his written and artistic work, contextualising it within his engagement with spiritualism, and with reference to his interest in a visionary tradition of literature. The thesis therefore furthers what has begun in embryo in both Rossetti and Victorian scholarship; drawing together two hitherto separate areas of research, to formulate new and detailed inter-disciplinary readings of Rossetti’s poetry, fine art and design. The critical approach is twofold, combining historical scholarship with textual analysis. A cultural context is re-established which uncovers a network of Swedenborgian and spiritualist circles, and through original research, Rossetti’s connections to these are revealed. The specific approach of these groups, which this thesis calls ‘Swedenborgian-spiritualism’ (thereby naming a new term), is characterised by an intellectual, literary interest in Swedenborg, coupled with a practical engagement with spiritualism, and a fascination with the mesmeric trance state. In addressing three major works, ‘The Blessed Damozel’ (1850), Beata Beatrix (c.1863-71) and The House of Life (1881), the thesis traces Rossetti’s engagement with Swedenborgian-spiritualism through three distinct phases in his career, the result of which facilitates a greater understanding of the development of his poetics and artistry. In addition, the thesis returns to earlier critical sources, which show a response to Rossetti in this light, and questions long rooted assumptions which persist in Rossetti scholarship. Thus, it adds to the body of critical literature on Rossetti by reestablishing context and readings which are needed in order to fully understand his work, and reinstating a critical engagement with Rossetti that has become sidelined, or forgotten.

In this thesis I intend to analyse a selection of novels written between circa 1945 and 1965, which take the Fascist milieu as their subject. My aim is to investigate how the national past was revisited and reconstructed from the perspective of the newborn Italian Republic. The choices adopted by the selected writers in featuring a relatively 'new' kind of character, the 'Fascist', not only reveal the position of a single author in dealing with Fascism, but are linked to a wider process of manipulation, transmission and sometimes creation of a precise stereotype. The latter, even though revisited differently by each author, shows comparable features and recurrent themes and reveals a complex combination of continuity and reaction in the writers' relationship with the national past. A comparative approach aims to show how the representation of Fascism which emerges from the novels under examination, is related to and/or distant from other readings of the regime (namely political, psychoanalytical, sociological) in the first years after its fall, and it will lead to an analysis of the relationship of the writers with ideology and commitment in general. The thesis focuses on the presence of Fascist characters associated with and described through sexuality and erotic power relations, and the relationship between mass and the individual, which constitute a recurring and not yet fully explored theme in Italian post-war fiction. The thesis is structured in four parts. Part one explores the phase of transition from the regime to the Republic and the relationship between Fascism and fiction during and after the regime. It goes on to explore the representation of the figure of the Duce in literature and some works which combine sexuality and the representation of the regime, such as some novels by Carlo Emilio Gadda and Corrado Alvaro. Part two analyses the novel, Il conformista, by Alberto Moravia and some aspects of his relationship with Fascism. It investigates his representation of Fascism through homosexuality, the negative depiction of anti-Fascism, and the use of psychoanalysis as a key to understanding Fascism. Part three analyses Vitaliano Brancati's work, with a focus on his novel Il bell'Antonio, and the ironic connection between Fascism and gallismo. The chapter investigates the relationship between eros and passivity in the framework of the will to power of Fascism. Part four explores the work of Vasco Pratolini and it is divided in two sections. The first section focuses on the character of 'La signora' in Cronache di poveri amanti, an old lesbian woman who, according to many scholars, symbolizes the Duce. The second section of this chapter examines Un eroe del nostro tempo, a novel in which the character of the 'young Fascist' is represented in the context of post-1945 Italy. It deals with the problem of transition to post-Fascism of a generation who grew up under Fascism and is unprepared to face the new social and political system. This research into the representation of Fascism aims to offer new perspectives into the socio-cultural transformation and transmission of ideas as well as to reveal new affinities and diversities between some major Italian writers. Moreover, this thesis aims to contribute to the understanding of a delicate and controversial historical period, such as that of post-'45 Italy, and to the history of the rhetorical tropes that underlie representations of the Italian national self in contemporary literature.

This thesis examines the shape and significance of different narrative and discursive treatments of the couple in contemporary French and Francophone Women’s Writing. It undertakes an imbricated reading of literary texts, sociological discourse and the feminist scholarship which emerged in the 1960s and 70s and has continued to develop since. This was a moment in which the institution of the heterosexual couple was challenged, in France, both by the women's and the gay and lesbian liberation movements. The aim of this thesis is to understand how literary texts written by women both question and work with the norm that is the couple, texts which draw attention to a female (or homosexual, or transsexual) perspective and texts which tell the story of couples who do not conform to the norm. The analysis which follows is divided into five chapters, which examine: (1) narrative perspective and the myth of the ‘modern’ woman (La Femme gelée (1981) by Annie Ernaux, and Insurrections ! en territoire sexuel (2009) by Wendy Delorme); (2) the lexical and narrative inscription of male violence against women (Le Noir est une couleur (1974) by Grisélidis Réal and Apocalypse bébé (2010) by Virginie Despentes); (3) écriture féminine and its contemporary reinterpretations (La Maladie de la mort (1982) by Marguerite Duras and Pornocratie (2001) by Catherine Breillat); (4) the uses of stereotype (Les Mouflettes d’Atropos (2000) by Chloé Delaume and Boys, boys, boys (2005) by Joy Sorman) and (5) the significance of grammatical issues and masculine/feminine genders in the narrative of the couple (Sphinx (1986) by Anne Garréta and Les Adolescents troglodytes (2007) by Emmanuelle Pagano).

This thesis focuses upon literary representations of a familiar yet imprecise figure: the medieval Saracen. Through close analysis of a broad corpus of texts ranging from roughly 1150 to 1350, including epic, romance and miracle tales and treating both Old French and Occitan materials, it highlights the impossibility of generalising about the Saracen and his role. It argues instead that the malleability of Saracen identity was often acknowledged and even exploited in literature. A study of the ways in which such a figure may be defined is used to bring race into dialogue with other aspects of identity such as gender, and to explore in particular the relationship between religion and race. Drawing upon theories of performativity and cross-dressing, Lacanian logical time, communitas in religious experience, and lastly of speech acts, it argues that medieval racial identity – as seen through the body, belief and speech of the Saracen – was far from universally understood and could be constructed by narrative processes and stylistic technique as well as social conventions.

The thesis sets out to examine cultural transfer from Neapolitan dialect into English, in the translations of plays by the contemporary Neapolitan playwright Eduardo De Filippo (1900-1984). It involves a comparative textual analysis of English translations of a selection of De Filippo’s plays in order to identify the translation strategies employed by each translator to represent Neapolitan cultural identity. Eduardo De Filippo can be defined as one of the most prominent contemporary Italian playwrights who employed dialect to portray characters who trespassed the boundaries of both Neapolitan and Italian society and to address social issues which were comprehensible to a vast public. In fact, his innovative contribution resided in the ability to bring vernacular theatre to national and international level. Thus the objective of the study is to bring to light the universality of De Filippo’s message albeit the limited linguistic medium and to show how his theatre is represented in the Anglo-Saxon milieu. The aim of previous critical studies on the matter has been to focus on the stage representations of De Filippo’s oeuvres, without particular emphasis on the analysis of the dialect. Drawing on a variety of theatre as well as translational frameworks (critical work on translation and in particular on theatre translation, the polysystem theory, the descriptive approach, anthropology, and sociolinguistics) I argue that dialect theatre represents an autonomous genre, separate from standard Italian theatre, which needs to be accounted for in translation, and in particular that the domestication of the language reduces the cultural impact of the original plays. The thesis is the first study to suggest that lexicological issues reflect the interpretation of the Neapolitan society in the translated texts and to provide evidence of the appropriation of Neapolitan culture by the receiving theatrical system through the linguistic choices made in translation.

My parallel reading of two seventeenth-century romances by two women, one English, one French, aims to illumine the early modern mapping of womanhood from a female perspective. Part one examines the discourse of virtuous women in the patriarchal societies of Urania and Clélie. Adopting an approach based on close stylistic analysis, I explore, on the one hand, the extent to which the marriage topos endows or does not endow these women with speech and power, and on the other the extent to which the marriage topos enables the utterance of a protofeminist discourse. While the marriage topos initially allows us to visualise these women as daughters, sisters, mothers and wives, it gradually unveils women not only as the apologists of true love, but also as androgynous heroines in the male-authored domain of politics. Having discussed the discourse (mostly oral) of Uranian and Scuderian heroines in the context of a society functioning on the basis of political alliances, I move on to analyse ‘The loci of the feminine’, i.e. the configuration of female spaces in two texts. This analysis is developed in parts two and three of this thesis. The first part begins by examining the cultural milieux of Mary Wroth and Madeleine de Scudéry, and explores some of the evidence regarding the possible existence of an early modern English equivalent of French ‘salons’. This chapter measures the extent to which Urania and Clélie might be constructed as illustrations of the highly intense activities of Wroth’s and Scudéry’s literary circles. The next chapter focusses on the Uranian and Scuderian fictionalisation of a predominantly female community. Part three assesses the ways in which these texts seem to inscribe themselves within a protofeminist project of re-evaluating female legacy and authorship in the realm of letters, and proceeds to explore more specifically the representation of literary creativity in Urania’s and Clélie’s female retreats. My final part examines the subject of the thesis in its literal sense, by analysing Wroth’s and Scudéry’s representations of the female body, and relates- where appropriate- images of women in Urania and Clélie to those found in the visual arts of the early modern period, such as emblems, engravings, paintings and masques.