Starting from the premise that form and content are one, and seeing interpretation as the elucidation of their unity, this thesis attempts to interpret the novels of Mordecai Richler. Taking form to be that which forms the world of the novel, and to be that world as an organized whole—form as process and as product, this study examines the nature of the worlds of Richler's novels, how their nature reflects particularly in character, setting and plot, and, finally, how the literary forms Richler uses bear upon the worlds he depicts. The Introduction describes theoretically the basis and nature of this interpretive approach, and defines its scope and discipline. Chapter One deals with Richler's first three novels, The Acrobats, set in a war-weary Spain, both realistically treats Andre Bennett's search for definition and dramatizes symbolically how evil, as a constant force in man's life because it is a permanent part of his nature, takes its toll in Andre's death. Son of _a Smaller Hero, Richler's most formally realistic novel, describes Noah Adler's search for definition within a particular and tightly-knit social context, and explores how the fundamental tension between man's need for passion and his passionate need for security, which results in him suppressing his passions in order to gain security, complicates this search. A Choice of Enemiest the most bitterly pessimistic of the first three novels, projects a world which overwhelms any attempt to find meaning and value in it, and in which, as the title suggests, a choice of enemies is the only kind of choice the characters can make. Chapter Two discusses The Apprenticeship of Duddv Kravitz. focussing on how this novel marks a departure from the novels which precede it, how Richler's controlled use of the picaresque and comic forms affects the world he projects, and how this world in its ambiguity and corruptness reflects itself in Duddy, who is undoubtedly Richler's most successful character. It is the argument of Chapter Two that Duddv Kravitz is not a comic novel, and that the point at which Duddy's world absorbs him marks where the novel's overriding pessimism absorbs the comic. Chapter Three concerns itself with The Incomparable Atuk and Cocksure, and seeks to demonstrate how the pessimism of the previous novels intensifies and darkens as Richler moves from a predominant mode of verisimilitude to the caricature, grotesquerie, and fantasy of satire and black humour. The point at which the satire turns into black humour is the point at which the malevolence Richler depicts establishes its predominance, its power and significance beyond satire's ability to diminish it by ridicule. For it subsumes the moral norm satire needs to make its ridicule effective. Because Richler incorporates so much from his previous novels into St. Urbain's Horseman, Chapter Four treats it both as a work unto itself and as a kind of summing up. Seen from the perspective of the latter, it serves well as the basis for a conclusion about Richler's work thus far. . Controlling this conclusion is the contention that the return to a mode of verisimilitude in St. Urbain's Horseman is integral to its accommodation of the growing pessimism of the previous novels. Rather than being clearly affirmative, this accommodation-—Jake's ability to find some meaning and value in the world, is qualified by the unabated continuance of the sources of Richler's pessimism. The tension here, paradoxically, is the synthesis of Richler's pessimism and a new partial resolve. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

Tableau d’honneur de la Faculté des études supérieures et postdoctorales, 2012-2013. / La présente étude porte sur la manière dont est abordée la réalité québécoise et nord-américaine dans les traductions française et québécoise du roman The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, de l'auteur montréalais anglophone Mordecai Richler, en réponse aux critiques parfois virulentes que sont faites au Québec des traductions françaises des oeuvres de Richler. Pour ce faire, nous faisons une analyse comparative et descriptive du traitement des références culturelles relevées dans le corpus, après avoir établi une typologie des références culturelles et une typologie des procédés de traduction. Cette analyse, fondée notamment sur la théorie du polysystème, le fonctionnalisme et la stylistique comparée, nous permet de dégager les grandes tendances des deux traductions et, par le fait même, d'approfondir et de nuancer la réflexion sur la traduction en français des oeuvres anglo-québécoises, ainsi que sur la culture et l'identité québécoises, en remettant en perspective la réalité culturelle présentée dans le roman. This study examines the treatment of Québec and North-American cultural realities in the translations made in France and in Québec of The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz by English-speaking Montreal writer Mordecai Richler. Its starting point is the often harsh criticism expressed by French-speaking Québécois regarding the French translations of Richler's novels. The research is done by way of a comparative, descriptive analysis of the treatment of cultural-specific items (CSI) identified in the corpus, according to pre-established typologies for CSI and translation strategies. Based on theories like polysystem theory, functionalism, and comparative stylistics, this analysis identifies general patterns in both translations and thus contributes to the debate concerning French translations of English-language Québec novels, as well as Québec culture and identity, by shedding a new light on the cultural reality depicted in the novel.

Ce mémoire explore le rôle de la satire dans les quatre romans canadiens suivants : The apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1959) et Barney's version (1997) de Mordecai Richler ainsi que Why rock the boat (1961) et The underdogs (1979) de William Weintraub. Ayant pour objectif de démontrer que ces deux auteurs, qui se servent des approches satiriques contrastantes, sont des innovateurs dans la tradition satirique canadienne à cause de leur regard sur des préoccupations urbaines et minoritaires, cette étude examine dans un premier temps les aspects de la société montréalaise qui sont des objets de satire dans Why rock the boat et The apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. Ensuite, ce mémoire étudie la façon dont ces auteurs mitigent leurs réponses au nationalisme québécois dans The underdogs et Barney's version afin de produire une vision satirique qui critique le mouvement souverainiste, mais s'avère sympathique à la langue et la culture des franco-québécois.

La première partie de ce mémoire, L’ossature de l’existence, est un récit de voyage dans lequel le narrateur entreprend une recherche identitaire en parcourant les États-Unis et le Canada. Le récit, qui s’approche parfois de l’essai, explore certains thèmes très présents dans la littérature québécoise, tels que l’errance, le déracinement, l’autochtonie, et le rapport du Québec francophone avec l’Amérique. S’y faufilent aussi des réflexions sur les ruptures; sur l’immuabilité du passé, la fragilité et l’éphémérité du présent, et les incertitudes de l’avenir. La seconde partie, « La rupture identitaire chez Richler et MacLennan », propose une analyse de la relation amoureuse entre francophones et anglophones dans The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz et Two Solitudes. Le texte étudie la façon dont sont représentés les rapports de pouvoirs entre les deux groupes culturels dans les romans, mais aussi comment ils sont alimentés par des déterminants identitaires et par une certaine philosophie libérale, qui s’incarne entre autres dans le « rêve américain » et la primauté de l’individu sur le collectif.