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Cette thèse porte sur la valeur philosophique des représentations de la science et de la mythologie dans la science-fiction postmoderne, selon une étude du cycle du Pont d’Élisabeth Vonarburg. L’ensemble des mondes possibles présentés à travers ces œuvres se prête à une lecture épistémologique. Ces mondes, dépourvus de lien significateur avec une réalité sous-entendue, sont autosuffisants ; l’abord de ce type de texte pose ainsi un défi à la connaissance. La codification des œuvres de Vonarburg s’érige selon la constitution d’une <em>xéno</em>encyclopédie. La xénoencyclopédie s’exprime surtout à travers des métaphores, qui occupent par la représentation figurée une fonction épistémologique. Le tout s’assemble en structure cohérente par moyen d’un processus cognitif de projection cartographique effectué par le lecteur. Dans les œuvres du cycle du Pont, la science et la mythologie sont décortiquées pour révéler leurs imprécisions inhérentes. Ces systèmes sont tous les deux enracinés dans le langage, ce qui entraîne une représentation fragmentée et incomplète de la réalité qu’ils veulent figurer. Les représentations de la science et la mythologie, suscitent une investigation empirique qui tente d’élucider leur capacité de soutenir l’apprentissage. L’exposition des contraintes représentatives propres à la science et à la mythologie se manifeste à travers la juxtaposition et la superposition des mondes du cycle du Pont. Nous soulèverons une question finale : des limitations des systèmes de codification, découle-t-il un épuisement potentiel de l’imaginaire ? Pour y répondre, nous invoquerons l’apport de la métafiction, qui relève de l’interaction du lecteur avec le récit. / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>This thesis employs Mikhail Bakhtin’s notion of architectonics to examine the poetry of Nima Yushij, the father of “New Persian Poetry.” The architectonic structure of Nima’s poems presupposes an authorial position situated outside the whole of the work. Outsideness provides the author with the distance that is necessary for consummating the hero and all other elements inside the work’s environment in determinate spatial and temporal boundaries. As Bakhtin puts it, only in this way can the author acquire a surplus of seeing that is required for adopting a valuational stance in relation the hero and the work as a whole. To Bakhtin, the author’s valuational stance toward the hero is the essence of the aesthetic product. This valuational position vis-à-vis the other, which generates what Michael Holquist calls the “structure of authoring,” is enacted on multiple levels in Nima’s poems as the hero, and sometimes the narrator, also perform the authorial function vis-à-vis other characters inside the poem, i.e., fixing them in determinate spatial and temporal boundaries. Of course, from the author’s perspective, the hero and the narrator are also situated inside the poem and occupy specific horizons in its environment. In this sense, their authoring activity is not a precisely aesthetic activity. Nevertheless, Nima utilizes the hero and the narrator’ activity to foreground the structure of authoring inside the poem, to make its dynamics “viewable.” This is a point that I will try to elucidate fully in the course of this study.</p> / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The Onmyōji series has had an incredible impact on Japanese fiction. It has created an entire genre of material called onmyōjimono and sold 5 million copies counting only the novel series. Despite this, it has been woefully understudied by both Japanese and English speaking scholars. The Japanese scholars that do acknowledge it use it as a springboard to launch a survey of Abe no Seimei in written and performed media throughout history, and the English speaking scholars have limited their analyses to the form that oni take in the narrative. My research has revealed that Yumemakura Baku utilizes a complex set of mechanisms to combine disparate narratives into a cohesive whole, integrating elements of genre and modern literary aesthetics to make old narratives agreeable to modern tastes. In the process he creates a dark and threatening world through which the Heian courtiers must navigate. Abe no Seimei acts as their guide and mediator. Despite holding an official rank within the court he is as otherworldly as the world, filled with supernatural beasts and formless creatures, in which they live. Using the mechanism of Abe no Seimei, Yumemakura Baku reveals to the reader their own tendencies toward prejudice, while constructing a vast world through centuries of written material.

This thesis represents a partial translation of the short story collection Omedetō by Kawakami Hiromi. Published in 2000, the collection contains twelve short stories, each narrating an intimate relationship between two people. It was favorably received by the literary world and was republished twice, in 2003 and 2007. My critical introduction provides context to Omedetō by discussing Kawakami’s biography and writing style, and the book’s reception in Japan. I also make note of my translation methods, domestication and dynamic equivalence, and provide examples of how I translated onomatopoeia. Finally, I give historical background to Japanese intimacy at the turn of the millennium and argue that each story serves as a commentary on Japanese modern intimacy, which Kawakami defines as a combination of physical and emotional closeness or a yearning for such.

The childbirth metaphor adopts imagery from female bodies carrying and delivering children to describe the effort and relationship of a poet to his/her poem. This was a commonly used trope in the renaissance, particularly by male authors. This thesis examines the way early modern woman poet, Aemilia Lanyer uses the childbirth metaphor in her poem, Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum. Lanyer ultimately considers not only the physical realities of childbirth in her use of the metaphor, but also the emotional, social, and theological consequences. By doing so, I argue that Lanyer reclaims the metaphor from her male contemporaries in order to justify women's participation in literature and theology. Lanyer adopts a position analogous to the Virgin Mary as she "births” her poem. As she situates all women as powerful procreators, she claims a poetic priesthood through motherhood.