Face aux incertitudes génériques liées à la perte des contours stricts entre les genres, qui se renforce dans les années 1950 avec les oeuvres du « Nouveau Théâtre », la théorisation de la comédie contemporaine et sa définition selon des critères génériques s'avèrent problématiques. Puisque les structures, les procédés d'écriture et les intentions des comédies divergent suivant les auteurs et leurs pratiques, dans une démarche descriptive et analytique, cette thèse propose un état des lieux de la situation de la comédie contemporaine française d'un point de vue générique. Trois manières d'écrire la comédie se dessinent. Les auteurs composent dans le genre, en pratiquant l'intertextualité, à partir des comédies classiques françaises, de la farce ou du vaudeville. Profitant d'un cadre structurel établi, ils s'approprient et radicalisent les procédés de ces genres issus de la tradition. Ils usent ensuite de techniques de composition coutumières du drame et de la tragédie pour créer des comédies catastrophiques qui superposent le comique et le tragique et jouent avec l'« horizon d'attente » de la comédie. Ils élaborent enfin des comédies scéniques à partir du plateau, en s'appuyant sur les formes comiques populaires. Malgré leur diversité, ces comédies présentent des éléments de poétique communs : elles maintiennent une ligne de fable, l'existence de personnages et la présence de dialogues, qui tendent à la conversation. Le comique reste l'élément essentiel du genre et se retrouve dans la vitalité des comédies burlesques, l'équivoque des comédies humoristiques et la critique des comédies satiriques. Forte de son hétérogénéité, puisant dans sa tradition qu'elle réinvente et osant l'inédit, la comédie contemporaine persiste en tant que genre. / Theorizing about contemporary comedy and defining it according to generic criteria has been getting harder and harder ever since the frontiers between literary genres became blurry, especially since the 1950s with the influence of the "Nouveau Théâtre". Since the structures, literary devices, and intentions of comedies vary according to their authors and the latter's practices, we will adopt a descriptive and analytical approach in assessing the situation of French contemporary comedy from a generic point of view. Three ways of writing comedy will emerge from our study. Some authors compose their texts from within the generic frame of comedy by building intertextual bridges with French classic comedy, farce or vaudeville and by exaggerating the traditional devices of the genre. Some choose to use composition techniques usually found in drama or tragedy in order to create comedies that end in disaster thus juxtaposing comedy and tragedy in a playful attitude with comedy's usual "horizon of expectation". Finally, others write comedies from the stage onwards and draw on popular comic conventions. Despite their diversity, these comedies share common poetic traits: they are all built around a storyline, characters and dialogues that verge on idle talk. The comic remains the essential element of the genre, be it in the vitality of burlesque comedies, the ambiguity of humorous comedies, or the criticism of satirical comedies. Contemporary comedy, buoyed by its heterogeneity and its ability to reinvent its own traditions, remains a relevant genre in today's theatrical landscape.

Cette thèse retrace l’histoire et les circonstances de la transmission manuscrite des satires politiques en vers attribuées au comte de Villamediana et propose une réflexion philologique sur la manière d’éditer cette œuvre. Elle présente une anthologie critique composée de quatre-vingt-quatorze poèmes écrits sous le règne de Philippe III et au début de celui de Philippe IV contre le valido et ses créatures, accompagnés d’un appareil critique qui contient les variantes textuelles et de nombreuses notes s’appuyant sur des sources historiques inédites. Cette anthologie critique fait l’objet d’une étude historique qui porte sur le contenu idéologique des satires et qui montre leur rôle dans l’opinion publique ainsi que d’une étude littéraire qui examine l’écriture poétique privilégiant l'épigramme, support de différentes variétés de conceptos, explore les sources de cette oeuvre, principalement la satire latine et la poésie espagnole du XVe siècle, et replace la satire politique dans l’œuvre de Villamediana. / This thesis recounts the story and the circumstances of the manuscript transmission of the political satires in verse attributed to the count of Villamediana and proposes a philological reflexion on the way of editing this work.It presents a critical anthology composed of ninety four poems written in the reign of Philip III and the beginning in the reign of Philip IV against the Valido and his factions,accompanied by a critical apparatus which contains textual variants and many notes relying on unpublished historical sources. This critical anthology offers a historical study of the ideological content of the satires, showing their role on public opinion. It is also a literary study of their poetics focusing more specifically on the epigram seen as the support of different varieties of conceptos, exploring the sources of this work - mainly the Latin satire and the Spanish poetry of the fifteenth century – and placing the political satire back in the work of Villamediana.

La thèse analyse les conceptions pré-modernes du laid en confrontant les traités philosophiques, rhétoriques, poétiques et artistiques italiens et français de la Renaissance à la première moitié du dix-septième siècle. En tant que difformité physique, le laid est considéré comme une transgression des normes du corps : il met en question la conception de la mimésis comme imitation idéalisante et permet de repenser la nature de la représentation. Le laid est en outre conçu comme le signe du vice : l’étude cherche à reconstituer le paradigme physiognomonique qui sous-tend cette interprétation traditionnelle du corps et s’interroge sur ses limites en examinant le paradoxe de la laideur de Socrate. Les interprétations morales de la difformité mettent en jeu différentes fonctions sémiotiques de la représentation. Dans la topique héritée de la scolastique, la mimésis du laid vise à stigmatiser les défauts moraux, comme le montrent les allégories des vices et les satires ; de son côté, la difformité paradoxale donne lieu à une herméneutique du texte et de l’image. Enfin, le laid tient à son effet sur le destinataire. Si le laid est traditionnellement appréhendé comme un objet repoussant, sa représentation vise à susciter l’effet inverse, selon les poétiques et les traités d’art inspirés d’Aristote. L’analyse de ce plaisir paradoxal met en lumière les qualités cognitives et esthétiques de la mimésis. Au seuil de la modernité, la question du laid est à la croisée des problématiques morales héritées de l’Antiquité, et des réflexions esthétiques qui se développeront pleinement du dix-huitième siècle à nos jours, notamment dans les théories de la fiction. / Through cross-analysis of French and Italian philosophical, rhetorical, poetic, and artistic treatises from the Renaissance to the first half of the seventeenth century, this study seeks to understand what the early modern period conceived of the ugly. In terms of physical deformity, the ugly is considered as a transgression of the norms of the body: it questions the concept of mimesis as an idealised imitation and allows a reconsideration of the nature of representation. Furthermore, the ugly is seen as the sign of vice: this study looks to reconstruct the physiognomical paradigm which underlies this traditional interpretation of the body and to question its limits through examining Socrates’ paradoxical ugliness. Moral interpretations of deformity bring different semiotic functions of representation into play. In the topic inherited from scholasticism, mimesis of the ugly aims to stigmatise moral defects, as they are represented in allegories about vice and satire. Paradoxical deformity, for its part, gives rise to hermeneutics of text and image. Finally, the ugly is concerned with its effect on its recipient. If the ugly is traditionally understood as a repellent object, its representation aims to arouse the inverse effect, according to the poetics and treatises on art inspired by Aristotle. Analysis of this paradoxical pleasure highlights the aesthetic and cognitive qualities of mimesis. At the brink of modernity, the question of the ugly is at the crossroads of moral issues that stem from the Antiquity, and of aesthetic reflections which develop more fully from the eighteenth century to the present day, notably in theories on fiction.

Les Epigrammes de John Owen (1564 ?-1622) constituent un ensemble unique dans la production néo-latine, tant par le nombre de pièces qui le composent, environ mille cinq cent, que par le niveau d’excellence atteint par le « Martial anglais » (gallois, plutôt) qui fit du monodistique l’instrument privilégié de son génie. Le recueil du poète, qui connut pendant plus d’un siècle un véritable rayonnement européen, reflète son époque de composition en bien des points : la préférence accordée à l’inspiration satirique et morale, le culte de la brièveté ingénieuse, la recherche du bon mot et le plaisir du jeu verbal étaient en effet à même de satisfaire les zélateurs de l’esprit nouveau qui s’affirmait alors en Angleterre, vers la fin de l’ère élisabéthaine. L’épigramme owenienne est donc d’abord un exercice de subtilité, et l’étude du recueil, qui se présente au lecteur dans un savant désordre, révèle aussi la subtilité des liens qui régissent son organisation. Celle-ci ne dit pas seulement le soin apporté par le poète à son texte, qui témoigne d’une ambition certaine, mais souligne encore l’extraordinaire variété des sujets qui répond à une caractéristique du genre et à la volonté affirmée d’Owen de faire feu de tout bois. De cet ensemble kaléidoscopique, riche de ses propres échos et où le second degré apparaît souvent comme un témoignage de respect à l’égard de la tradition sur laquelle l’œuvre s’est construite (celle de la poésie morale et gnomique), il faut, enfin, souligner la modernité et la beauté qui sont les secrets du grand œuvre ; en cela, John Owen est bien l’héritier légitime de Martial / John Owen’s Epigrams represent an exceptional contribution in the neo-latin production, not only by the number of the poems, but also by the near perfection reached by the « English Martial » (welsh, actually) who made the elegiac couplet the prime instrument of his personal genius. Owen’s collection was met immediately with tremendous success in Great Britain as well as on the continent ; this success should last for more than a century, especially on the continent. The collection reflects his age of composition in many ways : the preference given to the satirical and moral inspiration, the cult of wity brevity and the passion for different types of puns were able to please the devotees of the new wit which spread then in England towards the end of elizabethan era. Thus, Owen’s epigram is above all an exercise of subtlety, and the study of the ten books, which are built on an artistic disorder, show as well the subtlety of the links! which rule their organisation. This organisation not only show the care given by the author to his work, which is a sign of ambition, but emphasize the remarkable variety of the subject which is certainly the rule for this special type of poetry, but also tell us Owen’s will for major eclecticism. Finally, we have to insist on the tradition to which the Epigrams are linked, that of moral poetry, and on the ironic treatment that the poet apply to commonplaces of gnomic sayings (or ordinary ones), inexhaustible source of inspiration for the witty epigrammatist who found there a way to surprise the reader. John Owen Latin epigrams are probably the wittiest and most pointed that have ever been produced in that tongue

Cette thèse est le fruit d’une étude comparative de la peinture et de la poésie des XVIe et XVIIe siècles. Dans ce document, la poésie et la peinture se répondent, s’entrecroisent, s’éclairent à tour de rôle, grâce à une analyse comparée des similitudes et différences qu’elles expriment sur le même thème, qui est le portrait satirique baroque. Notre étude est ancrée dans une approche esthétique de l’univers visuel baroque, et met l’accent sur la réception des œuvres d’art par le spectateur. Quant à la poésie, nous nous éloignerons du modèle classique de la satire, pour pénétrer la littérature satirique, riche d’une langue imagée, et bien souvent obscène. Notre thèse est composée de cinq chapitres. Nous donnerons tout d’abord une définition du portrait en poésie et en peinture. Dans un deuxième temps, nous montrerons qu’en représentant un individu, l’artiste dévoile également son âme, et que, dans cette époque tourmentée, l’âme apparaît à travers laideur et difformité dans les portraits sociaux et misogynes. Le troisième chapitre sera consacré à la notion d’esthétique paradoxale, qui montre l’homme et l’univers de façon renversée, comme un écho au monde bouleversé du tournant de XVIème siècle, avec les conséquences que cela implique sur le récepteur de l’œuvre d’art. Nous analyserons ensuite plus particulièrement la poésie misogyne de Sigogne, avant de conclure notre travail sur l’étude du monde fantastique et surnaturel qui s’empare de sa poésie, et de la poésie baroque de manière générale. / This thesis results of a comparative study of painting and poetry of the XVIth and XVIIth centuries. In this document, painting and poetry throw light on each other, thanks to an analysis of discrepancies and similarities about a same theme, which is the baroque satirical portrait. Our study sets out an aesthetical approach of the baroque visual universe, while it puts an emphasis on the reception of the work of art. The poetry we are about to analyse is straying from classical satire as it is to be found in satirical writing, which uses a colourful and often obsene language. Our thesis is divided into five chapters. First, we will give a definition of the portrait in painting and poetry. We will then show that depicting a human being also means revealing his soul, and that, in these tormented times, the souls appear through ugliness and deformity in social and misogynist portraits. The third chapter will be dedicated to the notion of paradoxical aesthetic, that is to say showing the man and the universe in a reversed way- like an echo to the shattered world at the turn on the XVIth century- with the consequences it implies on the reader. We will then analyse more deeply the misogynist poetry of Sigogne, before ending with the study of the fantasy world of his poetry and of the baroque poetry in general.

This thesis presents a the satire of Jonathan Swift's writings framed within the context of the historical events and conditions as they existed during his lifetime.

This lively poem, one of several hundred collected in Mombasa at the end of the nineteenth century by W.E T AYLOR thanks to Mwalimu SIKUJUWA bin ABDALLAH ai-BAIAWI (Frankl, 1993), is preserved in Volume Ill of the Taylor Papers, now in the library of the School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS) in London.. lt consists of two versions - both in Arabic script (SOAS MS 47754); the first (Section X, page 4) is probably in the hand of ABDALLAH bin RASHID and has fifteen stanzas, while the second (Section Z, page 161) is in the hand of Mwalimu SIKUJUWA (one of T AYLOR\''s two Swahili teachers) and has twenty-one stanzas .. The entire text of version X is to be found in Z, although not in the same order. Version Z has thus six additional stanzas, and we have had no hesitation in selecting it as the text for this article (the manuscript having been most probably commissioned by TAYLOR).

No description available.

During the 1970s the plays of Pieter-Dirk Uys became causes celebres. In the 1980s he was, commercially and artistically, arguably the most successful South African satirist. By 1990 he had gained recognition in the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands and Germany. Yet relatively little research has been undertaken or published which evaluates his contribution to South African theatre as a playwright and performer of political satire. This dissertation aims to document and assess the satiric work of Uys and that of his precursors and contemporaries. The first chapter identifies certain characteristic features and purposes of satire as a creative method which cannot be defined in purely literary terms. The views of local practitioners and references to its manifestation in various non-literary and indigenous forms are included to support the descriptive approach to satire in performance adopted in later chapters. Of necessity to a study of Uys's lampoons, Chapter 2 discusses the origins of lampoon and the theatrical presentation of actual persons by Aristophanes (the first extant Western playwright to do so). Both the textual and visual ridicule of Socrates, Euripides, Cleon and Lamachus are considered, to argue that Aristophanes employed the nominal character as a factional type to exemplify a concept for humorous rather than meliorative purposes. Part One of Chapter 3 is a necessarily selective survey of the diversity, style and censorship of satire in South Africa in various theatrical, literary and journalistic forms. Part Two describes the use of satire by Adam Leslie, Jeremy Taylor, Robert Kirby and, more recently, Paul Slabolepszy, Mark Banks, Ian Fraser, Eric Miyeni and the 'alternative' Afrikaners in plays and in revue, cabaret and stand-up comedy. Chapter 4 examines the principal themes of Uys's plays to date, the 1981-1992 revues as entertainment and as a reflection of certain social and political issues, the similarities between his theatrical praxis and that of Aristophanes, and his satiric strategies in performance: his preparatory and visual signifiers, his concern with proxemics, and his mastery of kinesics, paralanguage and chronemics in depicting a spectrum of fictional and non-fictional personae, including Evita Bezuidenhout, P.W. Botha and the Uys-persona. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1993.

<p>This study examines the representation of "conscience" in English literature, theology, and political theory from the late fourteenth century to the late seventeenth. In doing so it links up some prominent conceptual history of the term, from Aquinas to Hobbes, with its imaginative life in English narrative. In particular, beginning with William Langland's <italic>Piers Plowman</italic> and moving through texts in the "<italic>Piers Plowman</italic> tradition" and on to John Bunyan's allegories and polemics, I explore what I call the "satiric" dimensions of conscience in an allegorical tradition that spans a long and varied period of reform in England, medieval and early modern. As I argue, conscience in this tradition is linked up with the jolts of irony as with the solidarities of mutual recognition. Indeed, the ironies of conscience depend precisely on settled dispositions, shared practices, common moral sources and intellectual traditions, and relationships across time. As such, far from simply being a form of individualist self-assurance, conscience presupposes and advocates a social body, a vision of communal life. Accordingly, this study tracks continuities and transformations in the imagined communities in which the judgment that is conscience is articulated, and so too in the capacities of prominent medieval literary forms to go on speaking for others in the face of dramatic cultural upheaval.</p><p>After an introductory essay that examines the relationship between conscience, irony, and literary form, I set out in chapter one with a study of Langland's <italic>Piers Plowman</italic> (ca. 1388 in its final version), an ambitious, highly dialectical poem that gives a figure called Conscience a central role in its account of church and society in late medieval England. While Langland draws deeply on scholastic accounts of <italic>conscientia</italic>--an act of practical reason, as Aquinas says, that is binding as your best judgment and yet vexing in its capacity for error and need for formation in the virtues--he dramatizes error in terms of imagined practice, pressing the limits of theory. A long, recursive meditation on how one's socially embodied life constitutes distinctive forms of both blindness and vision, Langland's poem searches out the forms of recognition and mutuality that he takes a truth-seeking irony of conscience to require in his contemporary moment. My reading sets the figure of Conscience in <italic>Piers Plowman</italic> alongside the figure of Holy Church to explore some of these themes, and so also to address why the beginning of Langland's poem matters for its ending. In chapter two I turn to an anonymous early fifteenth-century poem of political complaint called <italic>Mum and the Sothsegger</italic> (ca. 1409) that was written in response to new legislation introducing capital punishment for heresy in England. In Mum I show how an early "<italic>Piers Plowman</italic> tradition" gets taken up into a rhetoric of royal counsel and so subtly, but decisively, revises aspects of Langland's political and ecclesial vision. In a final chapter moving across several of John Bunyan's works from the 1670s and 1680s, I show how Bunyan conceptualizes coercion in terms of the state and the market, and so defends a "liberty" of conscience that resists both Hobbesian assimilations of moral judgment to the legal structures of territorial sovereignty and an emergent market nominalism, in which exchange value trumps all moral reflection. In part two of Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, Bunyan draws surprisingly on medieval sources to display the forms of mutuality that he thinks are required to resist "consent" to such unjust forms of coercion.</p> / Dissertation