No description available.

This thesis sets out to examine the thematic function of extraordinary children and animals (characters who possess a metamorphic nature, magical traits or supernatural powers) in the works of two Italian women writers of the twentieth century, Paola Masino and Anna Maria Ortese. Drawing on a range of theoretical and critical works (on the literary representation of childhood and the animal world, on women writers, on the fantastic), I argue that these characters, thanks to their Otherness, have both a constructive as well as disruptive function. On the one hand, they enable the authors to construct and develop themes, arguments, statements of poetics and references to other works and, on the other hand, they allow them to 'disrupt', challenge and unmask a society trapped in its perbenismo and dehumanising rules and ideals. Carrying out a literary reading in a historical context, the thesis explores thematic areas, such as the victimisation of weaker beings, the portrayal of a reality not perceivable by the senses, the conflicting relationship between mankind and nature and the hidden truths of modern society. The thesis will also highlight how these characters contribute to the building of a thick web of intertextual references, unconscious or voluntary echoes to other literary and artistic works, as well as of the folkloric tradition. Despite a rediscovery of Masino's writing, previous critical studies have not focused on the representation of childhood or the animal world. The more consistent critical apparatus on Ortese's oeuvre has also not looked at the contribution of extraordinary children and animals as a category, examining them individually and in isolation. This thesis is the first study to look at the two authors' extraordinary children and animals as an instrumental cohort of characters to build on themes, convey criticism and create a dialogical dimension with other works.

La tesis trata el desarrollo de la figura de Lope de Aguirre desde sus origenes en las cronicas historicas del siglo XVI hasta e inclusive su contexto literario en la literatura espanola del siglo XX. La tesis ha limitado su area de estudio a las primeras tres obras que desarrollan el tema de Lope de Aguirre, sin incursionar en la trayectoria que siguio esta figura en la literatura hispanoamericana. La tesis consta de dos partes. La primera se intitula "Lope de Aguirre en la historia". Esta pretende distinguir cuales eran las principales caracteristicas y cualidades que constituian la personalidad de este conquistador espanol mediante el estudio de los datos y descripciones que brindan las cronicas y fuentes historicas de su epoca. El analisis de los comentarios, cartas y acciones de Lope de Aguirre permite conocer, en lo posible, al hombre de carne y hueso al mismo tiempo que llegar a conocer el proceso que sufrio para devenir en una leyenda. / La segunda parte, "Lope de Aguirre en la literatura", analiza su personalidad desde la perspectiva literaria siguiendo su desarrollo en varias de las obras mas conocidas de la literatura espanola del siglo XX. Las obras literarias han sido estudiadas cronologicamente con el proposito de conocer paso a paso el desenvolvimiento de la figura de Lope de Aguirre en la literatura. De primera instancia se considera Las inquietudes de Shanti Andia (1910) de Pio Baroja por ser la primera novela escrita sobre Lope de Aguirre. Luego se incluye la obra Los maranones (1913) de Ciro Bayo debido a que fue la primera novela historica que utiliza a Lope de Aguirre como tema. Ademas se estudia la obra Tirano Banderas (1926) de Ramon del Valle Inclan, la cual da inicio al prototipo del caudillo en la literatura espanola. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-12, Section: A, page: 3705. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.

The problem of alienation is a serious one in most of our present societies and it has been studied in various aspects, from a sociological, psychological, as well as a philosophical viewpoint. The subject is still debatable and open to discussion. / This study focuses on the problem of alienation in colonized and decolonized societies in Africa. Through the analysis of some literary works written in French by African writers, we learn the cause and effect of the problem of alienation in African societies, occuring intensively during the colonization and also after the abolition of colonialism. / This thesis is divided into two parts. The first part consists of an introduction which presents the different concepts and theories of the word "alienation." The Introduction especially attempts to explain the sociological aspect of the term "alienation." The first chapter discusses the theory of alienation from a philosophical viewpoint, as introduced for the first time in the 19th century by Frederick Hegel. Chapter Two elaborates the theories of alienation formulated by Hegel's disciples, Ludwig Feuerbach and Karl Marx. Both discuss the problem of alienation in a bourgeois society. Contrary to Hegel's spiritual approach both Feuerbach and Marx explain this concept from a materialistic viewpoint. / The last two chapters of Part One treat respectively the concept of alienation of both Jean-Paul Sartre and Frantz Fanon. Sartre views the problem of alienation as the outcome of the bourgeoisie. Although he explains the concept of alienation from both a philosophical and a sociological viewpoint, his theory is, however, closer to Hegel's. Fanon on the other hand, studies the problem of alienation in colonized societies particularly from a psycho-sociological aspect. / In Part Two, we learn the cause and effect of the particular problem of alienation in African societies through the analysis of selected literary works. This part is divided into three chapters which analyze two novels and one play. The two novels, L'Enfant noir by Camara Laye and L'Aventure ambigue by Cheik Hamidou Kane present the cause and effect of the problem in African society during the colonization. . . . (Author's abstract exceeds stipulated maximum length. Discontinued here with permission of author.) UMI / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 44-03, Section: A, page: 0768. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1983.

An Aristotelian theory of comedy is developed by extrapolating from Aristotle's formal definition of tragedy as found in his Poetics the various components which would serve to form such a theory. Some of these components which make up the theory of comedy are similar to those of tragedy while others are exact opposites. / The theory is then used as a canon by which three plays of Moliere are examined. These plays being L'Avare, Le Misanthrope and Le Malade Imaginaire. / The purpose of the dissertation is to examine the feasibility and value of the theory as an approach to literary criticism. It is shown that the theory does serve as an effective and functional hermeneu- tical tool. This is especially true in determining whether or not comedy is universal enough in scope to have a continuing or timeless relevance. / The significance of the theory to literary criticism is in that the theory is formal enough to require structural and aesthetic creativity yet flexible enough to allow a work to be described as Aristotelian and therefore remain serious and creative mimesis. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 47-03, Section: A, page: 0892. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1986.

Some of the greatest names in medieval literature, Chretien de Troyes, Jean de Meun, Brunetto Latini, and Chaucer, to name a few, proudly include their vernacular adaptations of popular Latin sources within the corpus of their literary work. Yet, as Peter Dembowski points out, critics have paid little attention to the actual mechanics involved in the vernacularization practices. While the common medieval literary processes of auctoritas, translatio, and conjointure linked by Karl D. Uitti to the development of courtly vernacular literature are known to function in the transference of source texts to the vernacular, the role of rhetoric, an aspect of the conjointure process, has as yet remained unexplored. / Taking as its study the popular Latin tale collection, the Disciplina clericalis which appeared as a common source in almost all the vernacular literatures of Western Europe and which enjoyed a tremendous popularity throughout the Middle Ages, this study analyzes how one French vernacularized tale collection, the anonymous thirteenth-century Chastoiement d'un pere a son fils and the Decameron recast through rhetorical manipulation three of the tales found in the Disciplina. / The two prologues of the vernacularizations reveal the outline of a specific rhetorical scheme employed by the vernacularizer in the "adaptation" of the individual tales. Each of the clerks chooses the rhetorical method of argumentation best suited to his purpose. The tales present themselves as the elaborations of one part of the particular rhetorical scheme chosen by the clerk. Thus, rhetorical training not only aides the medieval clerk in the embellishment of the material but also serves him in the "translation" of the material to the new audience. Just as the development of courtly literature depended on the scholastic practices of the interdependent literary processes of auctoritas, translatio, and conjointure, so too the establishment of "bourgeois" literature relied on these same procedures as exercised by the clerks of the courtly tradition. Through these processes and rhetorical techniques, the clerks produced works in the vernacular that took their place next to the source texts. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 54-08, Section: A, page: 3022. / Major Professor: Lori Walters. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1993.

Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 31-09, Section: A, page: 4766. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1970.

The study is based on a literary analysis and evaluation of the romantic features of the classical playwright: Jean Racine. / While discussing elements comprising the general definition of Romanticism such as Isolation, Love, Fate and Death, this work examines Racine's eleven tragedies according to the above criteria. At the same time, a comparative approach modeled on Ross Ridge's The Hero in French Romantic Literature presents the different aspects of the racinian classico-romantic hero. / The conclusion posits the basic aspects of the dichotomy: Classic-Romantic/Romantic-Classic from which emerges what the writer of this dissertation has called "the Racinian Fusion." / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-09, Section: A, page: 2678. / Major Professor: Azzurra B. Givens. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.

This study examines the theme of violence against women, in three novels of Emile Zola, representing respectively the bourgeoisie, the working class, and the peasant class: La Curee, L'Assommoir, and La Terre. Some of Rene Girard's ideas, as put forth in La Violence et le sacre, The Scapegoat, and Des Choses cachees depuis la fondation du monde, provide the theoretical basis for our analysis. / The suffering of the female characters, be it psychological or physical or both, strongly reflects the position of women as scapegoats, and thus transcends all classes. Also vital to the interpretation of this issue are the relationship between sexuality, violence, and original sin, as well as mythological forces at work in each of the novels, such as the Sphinx, the Still, and the Earth. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 49-09, Section: A, page: 2678. / Major Professor: Antoine Spacagna. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1988.

This thirteenth-century epic comes from the manuscript 2.0.1. of the Peterhouse College at the University of Cambridge. It has been written in an Old French dialect and contains 9608 verses which constitute 246 rimed laisses (two other manuscripts can be found; one at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, XIII$\sp{\rm th}$ century and the other at the Bibliotheque de la Faculte de Medecine of Montpellier, XIV$\sp{\rm th}$ century). This epic narrates the life of Maugis, knight, enchanter and soothsayer, who not only fights the Sarrasins before Toledo, Milan or Palermo, but also leads ruthless feudal battles against the emperor Charlemagne. The hero, instructed by an old magician Baudri, soon becomes a fearful conjurer due to his brilliant sense for artfulness. Throughout his numerous audacious feats of skill, the magician is helped by the "fairy-horse" Bayard as well as the famous sword Froberge. / The introduction of this bilingual translation analyzes the main characters, Maugis, Charlemagne, Espiet and the emir Vivien, through a variety of different themes such as the feudal relations between vassals and king, crusades against the pagans, conversions of muslims to christianity and of course, love between knights and sarrasin princesses. The "merveilleux" or supernatural, is the predominant characteristic of this work, and the growing influence of the "matiere de Bretagne" is here, subtilely combined with the traditional rhetoric of the epic. / In conclusion, this epic will be reinserted into the cycle to which it belongs, the rebel cycle, in order to understand better the frequent allusions to other epic heroes such as Girart de Roussillon, Renaut de Montauban ou les quatre fils Aymon. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 56-04, Section: A, page: 1347. / Major Professor: Joseph Allaire. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1995.