Edition commerciale de thèse : Habilitationsschrift : Düsseldorf, Heinrich Heine-Universität : 2000. / Bibliogr. p. [445]-466. Index.

Thèse : Lettres : Paris : 1907-1908.

Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

Montaigne said it himself: "The titles of (his) chapters, embrace not always the matter" (Florio). In fact many of the 109 titles that comprise the three books of the Essais have nothing or little to do with the text they introduce. Why this lack of congruence? Where, when and how does it manifest itself? This study attempts to answer these questions in a diachronic and semiotic perspective. Starting with a typology of the various title functions--identificational, illocutionary, perlocutionary and contractual, the author proceeds to an analysis of the different title manifestations in the text and tries to demonstrate that the discrepancy between titles and contents originates from an evolving poetics that tends toward the absence of shape.

This study proposes an in-depth analysis of the concept of imagination in the Essais as it emerges through various occurrences of the words "imagination" and "fantasie" (synonymous in the XVIth century) and their numerous derivatives. By focusing on two fundamental characteristics of this faculty, its "autonomy" and "power of sensory representation", this dissertation argues that Montaigne's idea of imagination, intimately related to man's desire and presumptuousness, is based on an essential ambivalence by which it produces indifferently real or illusory images, representations of truth as well as falsehood. This work explores the actualisation of this paradoxical character of imagination in its relationship with nature and in its participation in the knowledge process. The study considers both Montaigne's own thinking and the act of writing through which it is realized, form and matter being inseparable for the essayist.

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Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

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Texte remanié de : Thèse doctorat : Littérature française : Poitiers : 2001. / Bibliogr. p. [303]-308. Notes bibliogr. Index.