Modern understandings of nostalgia sharply distinguish it from memory and often construe its relationship to the past as reactionary, fanciful, or retrograde. This dissertation reconsiders that valuation by engaging the formative sources that contribute to philosophical understandings of nostalgia and provide resources for thinking it otherwise. It reexamines time and memory in continental philosophy and U.S. cinema to argue that nostalgia does important work often overlooked in present conceptions, work that repositions relations with the past to generative, animating effect. The project analyzes the temporal issues nostalgia elicits, highlights its affective contours, and repositions its power to mediate and rework memory. It maintains that the role nostalgia plays in human experience is more propulsive than regressive, making it more attuned to time’s tensions and demands than previously thought. Chapter one narrates the history of nostalgia, beginning with the work of Johannes Hofer. Origins in medical nosology establish a diagnostic frame of reference that grounds nostalgia’s reception as pathology while also revealing its persistent instabilities. Martin Heidegger and, especially, Jacques Derrida bring the temporal vectors of those instabilities into sharper focus. Chapter two shows how Heidegger’s work provides a useful understanding of time and moods, but ultimately remains tethered to a nostalgia for presence (nostos). Chapter three brings Derrida’s thinking on time and the trace into conversation with psychoanalysis to isolate a more capacious approach, one that indulges nostalgic desire but also frustrates it (algos). The remaining chapters turn to film and develop an understanding of the moving image based on its ability to capture passing time, the eminent object of modern nostalgic experience. Chapter four engages critical literature on the uses of nostalgia in film and reconsiders George Lucas’s American Graffiti (1973), a pivotal work often reproached by critics and scholars. Chapter five advances a close reading of Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life (2011) and his estranged relationship with philosophy. That relationship informs his work and often takes nostalgic recollection as an orienting concern. The film in question situates nostalgia as a propulsive screen affect that facilitates the work of mourning in the wake of loss and discontinuity. The dissertation concludes by sketching out horizons for future research and turning to insights contained in Augustine’s Confessions that further illustrate the form of nostalgia explored throughout.

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Pour respecter les droits d’auteur, la version électronique de ce mémoire a été dépouillée de certains documents visuels et audio-visuels. La version intégrale du mémoire a été déposée au Service de la gestion des documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal / Qu’est-ce que la poésie cinématographique? Telle est la question primordiale de ce mémoire de maitrise, qui tentera d’y répondre en analysant les oeuvres du cinéaste américain Terrence Malick. Inscrivant par divers moyens cette question dans les réalités de son cinéma, nous déboucherons forcément sur la réponse suivante : il y a poésie cinématographique chaque fois que les formes de la représentation sont ouvertes par une modalité de l’expression ; il y a poésie cinématographique chaque fois que le sensible n’est plus manifestation de l’intelligible, mais la matière et le mode de sa production dans le temps ou plutôt dans le devenir. Décrire cette poésie, ce ne sera possible qu’en décrivant l’expérience que nous avons du régime de sensations des images et des figures propres au cinéma de Malick. Il s’agit de faire venir le monde en présence en rendant justice aux noyaux de sens enfouis dans le visible, justice rendue par le partage d’une description du sensible. Nous verrons alors que, chez Malick, cette poésie se manifeste par une phénoménologie de la lumière et de la gravitation. Nous verrons également l’importance du sonore dans l’apparaitre de ce monde sensible qui, à travers les voix ouvertes, la matérialisation des bruits et la musique, forme une partition musicale totale faite de métamorphoses et de devenirs. Encore, cette poésie s’approche de la sensibilité des premiers romantiques allemands qui, par leur résistance au langage et à la raison absolue, déhiérarchisent le monde pour le redéfinir. Seront ainsi définis les éléments constitutifs du cinéma de poésie de Malick, soit la manifestation de la lumière et du mouvement, l’invisible habitant le visible (comme un ailleurs qui l’excède), la réinvention du langage, le système chaotique liant l’homme et la nature, ainsi que le monde duel (de l’ombre à la lumière et de la lumière à l’ombre). Ce mémoire propose donc une approche d’inspiration phénoménologique du cinéma de Malick, qui le présente comme « toujours en train de se faire », dans une immédiateté cherchant à penser dans, à travers, mais aussi au-delà du cinéma. / What is cinematic poetry? This is the fundamental question that this master’s thesis will attempt to answer by analyzing the works of American film-director Terrence Malick. By positing this question in different ways within the realities of his films, one will inevitably reach the following conclusions: cinematic poetry occurs where the forms of representation are opened by a modality of expression; cinematic poetry occurs when the sentient is no longer a sign of the intelligible, but of the matter and of the mode of its production over time, that is, in its evolution. Describing this poetry will only be possible by describing one’s experience of the sensation-cluster of images and of figures proper to Malick’s films. This involves making the world come into existence by doing justice to the core of meanings buried in the visible, a justice rendered by the sharing of a description of the sentient. It will be argued that, in Malick, this poetry manifests itself through a phenomenology of light and gravitation. Also shown, the importance of sound in the emergence of the sentient world, which, through open voices, through materialization of noises, and through music, develops into a total musical score consisting of metamorphoses and destinies. Furthermore, this poetry resembles the sensibility of early German romantics who, through their resistance to language and to absolute reason, destroy the hierarchy of the world in order to redefine it. The constituents of Malick’s cinema of poetry, namely the expression of light and movement, the invisible inhabiting the visible (like an elsewhere that exceeds it), the reinvention of language, the chaotic system linking mankind and nature, as well as the dual world (from darkness to light and from light to darkness) will thus be defined. This master’s thesis therefore suggests an approach of Malick’s cinema inspired by phenomenology, which presents it as being “always underway”, in an immediacy seeking to think within, through, but also beyond cinema.

M.A. University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Humanities, 2012. / Humanity’s relationship with nature has, in recent years, undoubtedly been one of contention and turmoil, an issue whose drama is gaining popularity in popular culture and, especially, film. In this dissertation I examine how these challenging human-nature relationships play out in Terrence Malick’s The New World, Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man and Encounters at the End of the World, Sean Penn’s Into the Wild, and the Jon Krakauer book, of the same title, upon which Penn’s film is based. As one’s views on nature (like all else) are mediated through language, using ecocritical principles slanted towards filmic, as opposed to written, texts, I provide a close examination of the ways in which these artists portray the relationship between language and nature, and the impact this has on our cultural and individual identities. I will also show how these primary texts make use of centuries-old Romantic aesthetics in order to humanise nature for moral ends. The primary texts agree that a large part of the problem in the poor relationship between humanity and nature is due to inadequate metaphors with which humanity views the earth. Thus, each artist promotes a certain kind of anthropomorphic understanding of nature which he believes is pivotal in encouraging better interconnections between humanity and nature. As a result, I provide a critique of the kinds of metaphors used by each respective artist, where some metaphors of nature may support or contradict a certain artist’s aims in his portrayal of human-nature relationships.

Die Dissertation untersucht die Entwicklung des Gesamtkunstwerk-Konzeptes und seine Aktualität, Möglichkeit und Notwendigkeit in Bezug auf ein modernes filmisches Gesamtkunstwerk. Ausgegangen wird von der ästhetischen Theorie und Praxis der deutschen Frühromantik, in der das Konzept wurzelt. In einer umfassenden Betrachtung und Analyse der ästhetischen und gesellschaftspolitischen Dimension des Konzeptes in den Schriften und dem Werk Richard Wagners sollen wesentliche Strukturmerkmale erkundet und soll ein Maßstab für ein ‚positives‘ zeit-genössisches Gesamtkunstwerk gebildet werden, das sich von seinem ideologischen Missbrauch befreit. Erforscht wird, inwiefern der Farb- und Tonspielfilm ein geeignetes Kunstmedium für die Anwendung des Konzeptes darstellt und wie sich die Frage seiner gesellschaftspolitischen Dimension in der globalen Epoche übersetzen lässt. / The dissertation explores the evolution of the concept of the Total Work of Art (ʹGesamtkunstwerkʹ) as well as its actuality, feasibility and necessity in the form of a modern cinematic Gesamtkunstwerk. Starting point is the aesthetic theory and praxis of the Early German Romanticism, in which the concept is rooted. An extensive consideration and analysis of the concept in both its aesthetic and socio-political dimension as developed in the writings and works of Richard Wagner aims to define its essential structural features and to set the standard for a ʹpositiveʹ contemporary Gesamtkunstwerk beyond its ideological abuse. Key is the examination of how and to what extend the sound and colour feature film constitutes a legit artistic medium for the application of the concept as well as how its sociopolitical facet translates within the global era.

Pour respecter les droits d’auteur, la version électronique de ce mémoire a été dépouillée de ses documents visuels et audio‐visuels. La version intégrale du mémoire a été déposée au Service de la gestion des documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal. / Ce mémoire de maîtrise étudie le traitement de l’espace dans les films Badlands (1973) et Days of Heaven (1978), du cinéaste américain Terrence Malick. Je m’intéresse dans un premier temps à montrer comment le traitement spatial de ces œuvres se démarque des conventions cinématographiques classiques en développant autour de la multitude de procédés et stratégies mis en œuvre par Malick pour rendre sensible et réflexif l’espace - sonore et visuel – des deux films, lequel est conçu pour être littéralement «habité» par les personnages mais également par les spectateurs. J’observe ensuite les implications (esthétiques, narratives, iconologiques, philosophiques, poétiques, etc.) de ce traitement singulier de l’espace filmique en montrant comment le cinéaste parvient à créer différents types de sensations et construire son discours par et à travers l’espace de ses œuvres. Le mémoire porte une attention particulière à la notion de «paysage filmique» et se structure en trois chapitres, lesquels étudient respectivement l’espace chez Malick en termes de «sensations» (sensibilité de l’espace, «mise en vue» du paysage au sein des deux films), de «relations» (relations entre les différents espaces et relations entre les personnages et l’espace) et de «mémoire» (densité «iconologique» du paysage). Aussi, j’aborde d’autres questions importantes au cours du projet et je reviens à plusieurs endroits sur la dimension «poétique» du cinéma de Malick et sur la «réflexivité spatiale» de ses films (réflexivité et aspect «attractionnel» du paysage, réflexivité de la voix-off, réflexivité de l’organisation et de la structure spatiales du récit, réflexivité du «tissage spectral»). Enfin, il est question de montrer au fil du mémoire que Malick parvient à édifier avec le cinéma, et par là avec l’espace et le paysage, un véritable espace de pensée qui «déborde» du cadre filmique. / This Master’s thesis studies the treatment of space in Terrence Malick’s films Badlands (1973) and Days of Heaven (1978). First I apply myself to show how the treatment of space in these films distinguishes itself from classical cinematographic conventions, developing on the multitude of strategies used by Malick to make space (both visual and sound) sensitive and reflexive in the two films. Space here is created to be literally «inhabited» by the characters as well as the spectators. I then observe and comment on the implications (esthetical, narrative, iconological, philosophical, poetical, etc.) of this peculiar treatment of film space by showing how the filmmaker creates different types of sensations and constructs his discourse with and through space of his films. The thesis pays special attention to the concept of «film landscape» and structures itself in three chapters, which respectively study space in Malick’s work in terms of «sensation» (space sensitivity, «mise en vue» of the landscape in both films studied), of «relationship» (relationships between the different spaces and relationships between characters and space), and of «memory» («iconological» density of the landscape). In the project I also touch other important questions, coming back several times on the «poetical» dimension of Malick’s cinema and on the «space reflexivity» of his films (reflexivity and «attractional» aspect of the landscape, reflexivity of the voice-over, reflexivity of the organization and space structure of the story, iconological reflexivity). Finally, throughout the thesis I try to show that through filmmaking, and therefore through space and landscape, Malick creates a true space of thoughts that goes «beyond» his films.

Ce mémoire de maîtrise étudie le traitement de l’espace dans les films Badlands (1973) et Days of Heaven (1978), du cinéaste américain Terrence Malick. Je m’intéresse dans un premier temps à montrer comment le traitement spatial de ces œuvres se démarque des conventions cinématographiques classiques en développant autour de la multitude de procédés et stratégies mis en œuvre par Malick pour rendre sensible et réflexif l’espace - sonore et visuel – des deux films, lequel est conçu pour être littéralement «habité» par les personnages mais également par les spectateurs. J’observe ensuite les implications (esthétiques, narratives, iconologiques, philosophiques, poétiques, etc.) de ce traitement singulier de l’espace filmique en montrant comment le cinéaste parvient à créer différents types de sensations et construire son discours par et à travers l’espace de ses œuvres. Le mémoire porte une attention particulière à la notion de «paysage filmique» et se structure en trois chapitres, lesquels étudient respectivement l’espace chez Malick en termes de «sensations» (sensibilité de l’espace, «mise en vue» du paysage au sein des deux films), de «relations» (relations entre les différents espaces et relations entre les personnages et l’espace) et de «mémoire» (densité «iconologique» du paysage). Aussi, j’aborde d’autres questions importantes au cours du projet et je reviens à plusieurs endroits sur la dimension «poétique» du cinéma de Malick et sur la «réflexivité spatiale» de ses films (réflexivité et aspect «attractionnel» du paysage, réflexivité de la voix-off, réflexivité de l’organisation et de la structure spatiales du récit, réflexivité du «tissage spectral»). Enfin, il est question de montrer au fil du mémoire que Malick parvient à édifier avec le cinéma, et par là avec l’espace et le paysage, un véritable espace de pensée qui «déborde» du cadre filmique. / This Master’s thesis studies the treatment of space in Terrence Malick’s films Badlands (1973) and Days of Heaven (1978). First I apply myself to show how the treatment of space in these films distinguishes itself from classical cinematographic conventions, developing on the multitude of strategies used by Malick to make space (both visual and sound) sensitive and reflexive in the two films. Space here is created to be literally «inhabited» by the characters as well as the spectators. I then observe and comment on the implications (esthetical, narrative, iconological, philosophical, poetical, etc.) of this peculiar treatment of film space by showing how the filmmaker creates different types of sensations and constructs his discourse with and through space of his films. The thesis pays special attention to the concept of «film landscape» and structures itself in three chapters, which respectively study space in Malick’s work in terms of «sensation» (space sensitivity, «mise en vue» of the landscape in both films studied), of «relationship» (relationships between the different spaces and relationships between characters and space), and of «memory» («iconological» density of the landscape). In the project I also touch other important questions, coming back several times on the «poetical» dimension of Malick’s cinema and on the «space reflexivity» of his films (reflexivity and «attractional» aspect of the landscape, reflexivity of the voice-over, reflexivity of the organization and space structure of the story, iconological reflexivity). Finally, throughout the thesis I try to show that through filmmaking, and therefore through space and landscape, Malick creates a true space of thoughts that goes «beyond» his films. / Pour respecter les droits d’auteur, la version électronique de ce mémoire a été dépouillée de ses documents visuels et audio‐visuels. La version intégrale du mémoire a été déposée au Service de la gestion des documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

This study proposes an answer to the question of what the contemporary relevance of the writings of GK Chesterton (1874-1936) may be to the field of visual culture studies in general and to discourse on visual hermeneutics in particular. It contends that Chesterton’s distinctive hermeneutic strategy is dramatology: an approach rooted in the idea that being, which is disclosed to itself via language, has a dramatic, storied structure. It is this dramatology that acts as an answer to any philosophical outlook that would seek to de-dramatise the hermeneutic experience. The structure of Chesterton’s dramatology is unpacked via three clear questions, namely the question of what philosophical foundation describes his horizon of understanding, the question of what the task or goal of his interpretive process is and, finally, the question of what tools or elements shape his hermeneutic outlook. The first question is answered via an examination of his cosmology, epistemology and ontology; the second question is answered by the proposal that Chesterton’s chief aim is to uphold human dignity through his defenses of the common man, common sense and democracy; and the third question is answered through a discussion of the three principles that underpin his rhetoric, namely analogy, paradox and defamiliarisation. After proposing the structure of Chesterton’s dramatology via these considerations, the study offers one application of this dramatology to Terrence Malick’s film 'The tree of life' (2011). This is sustained in terms of the incarnational paradox between mystery and revelation that acts as the primary tension and hermeneutic key in Chesterton’s work. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Visual Arts / unrestricted