My dissertation focuses on the poetic production of three criollas —the offspring of Spaniards in the Americas— in dialogic relation with prominent male writers across the Atlantic. The works studied, Clarinda’s Discurso en loor de la Poesía (1608); Epístola a Belardo (1621) by Amarilis; and Sor Juana’s Primero sueño (1692) and La Respuesta (1691), span the entirety of the 17th century, in both the Viceroyalty of Perú and New Spain. Important interventions in Latin American colonial culture have noted criollos’ ambivalence towards the culture inherited from Spain as well as the need to assert their cultural agency through writing. The poets at the center of my study participate in this preoccupation with the added complication of being women, whose works are habitually read in isolation, as exceptions. My dissertation defines a feminine criolla poetics dialogically negotiated with western tradition, be it Spanish gongorismo or Italian humanism, while highlighting the tension between inserting themselves in the canon and critiquing it. In place of readings that emphasize the transfer of discourse and knowledge from the center to the periphery, from the metropole to the colonies, I demonstrate that the writings of these women challenge, or even reverse, this logic. My study analyzes rhetorical and intertextual strategies by which criollas, twice removed from power due to their birthplace and gender, negotiated a space in the canon. My analysis reveals the acute consciousness of gender that informs each woman’s writing; however, I also participate in recent movements in criticism and theory that interrogate conventional notions of power, space and the directionality of colonial exchange. This dissertation examines the processes of cultural appropriation as it defines a feminine criolla poetics dialogically negotiated with western tradition, one that also opens up a space to critique this tradition through parody, irony and textual transformation. This dissertation is written in Spanish.

Des origines de l'Histoire au lieu commun qu'il est aujourd'hui devenu, le mythe de l'Âge d'Or occupe une place singulière dans l'imaginaire collectif. Sans héros ni intrigue, synonyme d'une existence idéalisée, d'un état de plénitude, tout à la fois ancré dans le passé et l'avenir, il fournit à la littérature, à la poésie, à la philosophie, la possibilité de maintes réflexions sur l'humaine condition. Pourtant, dans le domaine des arts figurés, rares en sont les expressions avant les premiers soubresauts de la pensée moderne. La Renaissance – dont la dénomination même prend alors tout son sens – s'attachera à fixer des codes iconographiques toujours en vigueur. Les représentations d'une humanité insouciante, s'égayant par la nature ou festoyant, n'en recèlent pas moins toute la richesse de leurs pendants littéraires, de Virgile et d'Ovide notamment. Ainsi, l'Âge d'Or mis en images, sous couvert d'apparente simplicité, renvoie à des significations souvent mêlées qui ont trait à la politique, à la religion et à la morale. Considérées dans la sphère européenne, entre le XVème et le XVIIIème siècle, ces interprétations révèlent cependant des approches quelque peu différentes, qui reflètent peut-être des dissensions plus profondes. / From the origins of history to the commonplaces it has become today, the myth of the Golden Age takes up a peculiar place in the collective psyche. Without a hero or a plot ; synonymous with an idealized life and a plenitude state, deep-rooted in the past and the future at the same time, it provides literature, poetry and philosophy with umpteen thoughts about the Human Condition. Yet in the field of the figurative arts, the expressions of the first starts of the modern thought are scarce. The Renaissance – whose very denomination make sense then – will pay a particular attention to set iconographic codes which are still in force. The representations of a cheering up or entertaining careless mankind show all the richness of their literary counterparts, from Virgil to Ovid in particular. Thus, under the cover of a conspicuous easiness, the pictured Golden Age send back to often mixed significations wich refer to politicics, religion and morals. However, if considered in the European sphere between 15th and the 18th century, these interpretations show some slightly different approaches which may reflect some deeper dissentions.

The work focuses on the study of Spanish pastoral novels presenting their two fundamentally different aspects. On the one hand, the thesis describes the idealised world of shephards living in harmony with nature, singing about their unrequited love. On the other, the work points out, that these novels also include some realistic elements, corrupting the mentioned idealism. It aims to answer the question, to what extent these elements appeare in the studied novels, and what is their function. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

Among the works of theater of the Spanish Golden Age which feature a mujer varonil, Luis Vélez de Guevara's play, La serrana de la Vera (1613), is particularly provocative. The intensity and ambiguity of the dual nature of its female protagonist, Gila, has been the subject of much recent scholarly investigation. The staging of the play lends itself to a Levinian reading, a new approach to this particular text and theater of the Golden Age in general. Emmanuel Levinas moves beyond metaphysics, phenomenology and intentionality to posit ethics as first philosophy. Levinas explains that the face of the Other is a revelation before which my own presence is an epiphany and summons me into an ethical relationship before I am aware of my own being. A correct ethical relationship is maintained only when the Other is allowed her absolute alterity, otherwise the Other is subsumed into the matrix of the Self and the result is suffering. A Levinian reading of La serrana de la Vera moves beyond exploring systems of class and gender and discovers that the suffering in the play can be traced to face-to-face encounters in which individuals are unable or unwilling to truly see the face of the Other.

This thesis proposes an anachronistic, imagined production of Francisco de Rojas Zorrilla´s Golden Age play, Lo que quería ver el marqués de Villena. Using the story of a mujer varonil, I intend to address a problematic aspect of Brigham Young University´s (BYU) culture—specifically the pressure that women at the university face to choose between a family life and continuing their education. The imagined production utilizes seventeenth-century-style costumes and set contrasted with a General English dialogue to provide the theoretical audience a better emotional, physical and intellectual understanding of the mujer varonil protagonist whose story reflects an issue that many women at BYU face. This thesis begins with an introduction explaining a problematic aspect of BYU´s culture and the reason that this production of Lo que quería ver el marqués de Villena could assist students and faculty at the university in addressing said issue. Following the introduction, each chapter will provide both an analysis of the theatrical element and a description of the theatrical element in the proposed production.

The first half of the 19th century is considered the Golden Age of Danish art. It was a period with economic problems for the country and for many people. As a result new values and ideals became important with emphasis on family and work. The middle classes gained more influence and also became more interested in art. The period was not called a golden age until the end of the century, when the artistic value of the works was more recognized. Nowadays Golden Age portraits and landscape paintings are especially admired.  In this essay I have investigated three family portraits painted 1829-1830 in order to find out who the sitters were, how they were depicted and in what settings. In my view the portraits tell stories of the sitters and the way families adhered to the ideals of family life and diligence. There was a division between male and female spheres and also between private and public parts of family life. As a result he family portraits do not only show what the persons and their homes looked like, the contents of the painting becomes a story presenting them to viewers, although, perhaps, in an idealized version of reality.

No description available.

No description available.

The present research consists of a comparative study of Brigham Young University's Golden Age Comedia (GAC) and Golden Age Theater Production (GATP) courses. The two courses cover much of the same academic material, but one of the differences between the two approaches to the teaching of Golden Age literature is that the GATP course incorporates a theater production and outreach component. Although this outreach program has been seen as intuitively and anecdotally effective, there has been no prior attempt to document student motivation for choosing this course over the traditionally taught course (GAC), nor to discover any of the outcomes experienced by university students who participate in it. Similarly, there have been no studies conducted to compare the educational outcomes of the two approaches. Therefore, the present empirical study was conducted with the goal of determining student motivation and expectations for course selection, academic outcomes of each approach, and whether any additional intellectual or personal growth was experienced by students in the GATP course. This study revealed that there indeed are differences in the motives and expectations behind students' decision to enroll in the GAC course rather than the GATP course, and vice versa, and that each course yields different outcomes for those students. Students receiving instruction through the GATP Outreach program appear to be able to attain a similar mastery of the course material as those in the GAC course. Furthermore, through the inclusion of the outreach program, students are able to acquire additional skills and enriched attitudes that have the potential to prepare them for future studies and life experiences. For universities interested in implementing a similar production and outreach program, this study provides evidence that such a course can indeed provide an alternative path to the teaching of Golden Age literature at the university level and that it proves to be an attractive alternative to certain students that is worth their time and effort.

The study departs from a technical examination of the panel painting Polyxena is Sacrificed in the Stockholm University Collection of Art, establishing the artistic process, level of ambition, and material choices by means of multispectral imaging techniques and elemental analysis. The artist, Jacob de Wet I, was both a well-reputed Haarlem-painter who specialized in small scale history paintings and headed a mass-producing workshop which supplied the low-end art markets of Haarlem and Amsterdam. The study places this artwork within the artist’s broad range of production. Further, the social and cultural contexts of the painting are investigated by comparing it to other artist’s versions of the subject, by means of an iconographical analysis of the image, and by examining its prominent theatrical features in relation to Dutch theatre traditions. By combining the technical, social, and cultural findings, the study aims to establish – and to delimit – a specific place in the art market and to suggest a possible type of customer for the painting. Confirming the work’s originality and authenticity, the results show an intuitive, thus likely time-consuming artistic process, a wide palette including expensive pigments – all indicative of a high level of ambition. In combination with the subject matter, these results suggest the painting to be a commissioned work. Further, the image and its social and cultural context, indicate the commissioner to be a person of some formal power within the Amsterdam society, seeking to communicate high erudition and to express liberal political views.  De Wet effectively expresses his message using a combination of painterly effects, including the materiality of the paint.