Tudo inicia com o verbete de um dicionário não convencional. A revista Documents, na qual se publicava o Dictionnaire Critique, era editada pelo escritor francês Georges Bataille quando ele escreveu sobre o informe: um termo que \"serve para desclassificar\"; um vocábulo que não existe para dar significado a determinadas coisas, mas para instigar \"tarefas\"; uma noção antagônica a toda \"sobrecasaca matemática\"; uma disrupção ao academicismo \"que geralmente demanda que cada coisa tenha sua forma\". Esta dissertação fundamenta-se na acepção batailliana, destrinchando nuances, revisitando múltiplas leituras feitas a posteriori, buscando compreender o verbete em meio a todo conjunto do Dicionário Crítico, e, por fim, aceitando a diversidade e as contradições da rede de relações que Bataille instituía. Alicerçado nesse verbete acerca do informe, estabeleço uma operação crítica de observação do mundo, a qual irradia uma série de questões para além daquelas enfrentadas à época pelo grupo surrealista da Documents. Informes, no plural, apresenta um campo de diálogo entre trabalhos artísticos, projetos arquitetônicos, obras literárias. A crise do ideal de forma não é unívoca. O informe lança uma ilimitada multiplicidade de questões; nesta dissertação, apresentam-se algumas delas em um labirinto que põe em contato o Partially Buried Woodshed de Robert Smithson, o Tent Pile do Formlessfinder, a Endless House de Frederick Kiesler, o apartamento de A Espuma dos Dias, o Gutter Corner Splash e as espirais de Richard Serra, a crise da arte como ciência europeia por Edmund Husserl, os Sacchi de Alberto Burri, o vão livre do Masp e o pré-artesanato nordestino pela ótica de Lina Bo Bardi, a Torsione de Giovanni Anselmo somada a tantos outros trabalhos da dita Arte Povera, o Monumento a Bataille de Thomas Hirschhorn, o Merzbau de Kurt Schwitters, o Vortex do Raumlabor, o empilhar de telhas de Wang Shu, a entropia que se ausenta em O ateliê vermelho de Henri Matisse, o estúdio de Rémy Zaugg projetado pelo Herzog & de Meuron, a Mesa de Nelson Felix, o Fun Palace de Cedric Price, o Granby Four Streets do Assemble, os inacabados prisioneiros de Michelangelo. Essa polifonia consubstancia-se nos dezenove ensaios que se seguem. Tal como uma entrada de dicionário, cada texto é autossuficiente; entretanto, suas questões ricocheteiam ao longo da dissertação. Inspirado no Dictionnaire Critique e no livro Formless: A User\'s Guide, de Yve-Alain Bois e Rosalind Krauss, faço um emaranhado de heterogêneas rela- ções a partir de diferentes autores, artistas, arquitetos. Não há uma mesma unidade nem métrica para os ensaios: as estruturas textuais são diversas, os tamanhos são distintos, e sua leitura também não se faz exigente em ordem sequencial.. Há uma metalinguagem entre o informe e o (não)formato deste Informes. O que se intenta é o enfrentamento às convenções, ao status quo, ao senso comum. Uma busca deste mestrando para não ver o mundo como conjunto de formas, as quais obrigatoriamente devamos nos enquadrar. Afinal, já dizia Bataille, \"o universo é algo como uma aranha ou um escarro\". / Everything begins with an entry of an unconventional dictionary. The magazine Documents, in which the Dictionnaire Critique was published, was edited by the French writer Georges Bataille when he wrote about the formless: a term that \"serves to bring things down\"; a word that does not exist to give meaning to certain things, but to instigate \"tasks\"; an antagonistic notion to any \"mathematical frock coat\"; a disruption to academicism that \"generally requiring that each thing have its form\". This dissertation is based on the bataillian sense of the formless, unraveling nuances, revisiting multiple readings made a posteriori, seeking to understand the entry in the midst of all set the Critical Dictionary, and, finally, accepting diversity and contradictions of the network of relationships that Bataille instituted. From this entry on the formless, I establish a critical operation for observing the world, which radiates a number of issues beyond those that the Surrealist group faced at the time of Documents magazine. Formlesses, in plural, present a field of dialogue between artistic works, architectural projects, literary writings. The crisis of the ideal of form is not univocal. Formless launches unlimited and multiple questions, which, on this dissertation, present themselves in a labyrinth that put in contact the Partially Buried Woodshed by Robert Smithson, the Tent Pile by Formlessfinder, the Endless House by Frederick Kiesler, the apartment of L\'Écume des Jours, the Gutter Corner Splash and the spirals by Richard Serra, the crisis of art as a European science by Edmund Husserl, the Sacchi by Alberto Burri, the great span of Masp and the northeastern pre-crafts from the perspective of Lina Bo Bardi, the Torsione by Giovanni Anselmo together with many other of the Arte Povera, the Monument to Bataille by Thomas Hirschhorn, the Merzbau by Kurt Schwitters, the Vortex by Raumlabor, the stacking of tiles of Wang Shu, the absence of entropy in The Red Studio by Henri Matisse, the atelier of Rémy Zaugg designed by Herzog & de Meuron, the Mesa by Nelson Felix, the Fun Palace by Cedric Price, the Granby Four Streets by Assemble, the unfinished prisoners of Michelangelo. This polyphony is embodied on the following nineteen essays. Like a dictionary entry, each text is self-sufficient; however, their issues ricochet throughout the dissertation. Inspired by the Dictionnaire Critique and the book Formless: A User\'s Guide, of Yve-Alain Bois and Rosalind Krauss, I make a tangle of heterogeneous relationships from different authors, artists, architects. There is neither unity nor metric on the essays: the textual structures are diverse, their sizes are different, and it is not necessary to read them in a sequential order. There is a metalanguage between the formless and the (non)format of this Formlesses. What I attempt is to confront the conventions, the status quo, the common sense. A search of this graduate student for not to see the world as a set of forms, in which we must necessarily fit in. After all, as Bataille had already said, \"the universe is something like a spider or spit\".

Throughout the course of this thesis, I argue that the prose of David Foster Wallace, specifically his posthumously published novel The Pale King, inhabits a middle ground between universal sincerity and the particularized authenticity of postmodern irony. I examine Lionel Trilling's definitions of sincerity and authenticity before moving toward an examination of the diverging critical response to Wallace's work, which, I argue, suggests that because so many critics have read his work as either inherently sincere or inherently authentic, his work inhabits a communal middle ground somewhere in between. To explain, I analyze Wallace's so-called manifesto of sincerity, "E Unibus Pluram: Television and U.S. Fiction," as well as other instances in interviews and conversations to develop a clearer understanding of what this middle ground consists of. Further, I analyze two passages in The Pale King in which characters seek to communicate moments of profound revelation. Though these characters finally fail to truly communicate these revelations, I argue that it is the communication itself that allows both communicator and listener, and thus both reader and writer, to experience a moment of, as Wallace puts it in The Pale King, "value for both sides, both people in the relation" (227). / Graduation date: 2012

Brutalist architecture, popularized in Britain in the late 1950s and heralded as a progressive form of Modernism in the United States until the 1970s, now presents a conundrum to preservationists as it ages. Once critically acclaimed, many Brutalist buildings have lost their appeal over time. The unpolished materials have proven unpopular with many who live and work in these structures, and key examples of the style are now facing demolition. Though “Brutalism” has become a nebulous architectural designation in the preservation community, this paper focuses on a specific subset of late Modernist architecture that primarily utilizes unfinished concrete to promote the philosophy of material truth and unapologetic permanence. While artistry of form and overall functionality affect preservation of Brutalist buildings in the United States, an important factor in the decision to demolish is often overlooked: the interplay of public opinion with critical acclaim, both in the past and within current architectural climates. This project examines the Brutalist approach to architecture and chronicles the shifts in critical and public perspective of several key case studies, focusing on university structures (the Yale Art and Architecture Building, Harry Ransom Center, and the University of Texas School of Nursing), theaters (Morris Mechanic Theater and Alley Theater), and civic buildings (Orange County Government Center, Boston City Hall, and Prentice Women’s Hospital). Understanding how and why shifts in opinion took place is critical in making informed preservation decisions about Brutalist architecture. / text

À partir d'une étude philologique attentive de l'Esprit géométrique, je montre l'évolution épistémologique de Pascal qui, découvrant la corruption naturelle d'un langage humain impuissant à assurer ses propres fondements, quitte ses positions cartésiennes. Par contrecoup, la prétention de la raison à formuler des principes universels est anéantie : toute connaissance rationnelle se fonde sur un socle autoritaire. Je souligne alors l'importance actuelle de l'œuvre mathématique pascalienne par sa mise en perspective dans la crise moderne des fondements. En lui appliquant les méthodes de la poétique aristotélicienne, je la caractérise par sa sensibilité figurative, qui s'étend à l'œuvre non scientifique et en révèle l'unité esthétique. Je montre ensuite l'originalité philosophique de Pascal qui sort du scepticisme en recherchant de nouveaux usages de la langue propres à communiquer la certitude. Je reprends le débat sur le chantier des Pensées pour en distinguer les éditions objectives, qui restituent le seul classement dont nous disposons effectivement, des éditions apologétiques qui le recomposent à partir de certaines des indications laissées par l'auteur. La grande originalité des Pensées classées est de proposer une recherche du bonheur sans a priori religieux. Elles établissent les contrariétés de la condition humaine, que philosophies et sciences humaines sont impuissantes à décrire ou résoudre car elles refusent, par principe, la contradiction. L'Écriture chrétienne entre alors en scène pour présenter le seul langage capable de faire aboutir la recherche, parce qu'acceptant et faisant signifier la contradiction. La double nouveauté est ici d'introduire la Bible dans le champ de l'existence par nécessité, et comme un simple livre, dont il s'agit de décrire le pouvoir cognitif. Structuré par la narration et par la figure (typologique), ce modèle biblique élargit la connaissance rationnelle et son référentiel spatio-temporel restreint. Il ouvre ainsi à son lecteur un horizon d'existence et lui montre un chemin pour réparer ses ses contrariétés. On voit là chez Pascal un profond renouveau de la pensée figurative et de l'approche littéraire de la Bible. / A thorough philological study of l'Esprit géométrique shows an evolution in Pascal's epistemology. Discovering a form of natural corruption in the incapacity of self foundation of the human langage, he leaves his former Cartesian positions. As a consequence, Reason's pretention to formulate universal principles is erased : every rational knowledge is based on a form of authority. This reveals the importance of Pascal's scientific work as regards to the crisis of fundation in modern Science. Using Aristotle's Poetic's methods, I show that Augustinian notion of figuration both applies to mathematics and Biblic litterature, and gives the aesthetic unity of the whole Pascal’s work . Its originality in philosophy is to get rid of scepticism by searching new languages capable of certitude. I reopen a long debate on the unaccomplished Pensées. I propose to distinguish between objective and apologetic editions. The latter are based on some of the author's indications on his intentions, the former use the only classification available. The thorough originality of what I call Les Pensées classées is to propose a quest for happiness with no religious a priori. After having established the contrarieties of humain condition which no philosophy or human science can describe or resolve because they reject contradiction, as a principle, this classification introduces the Christian Scripture as it carries the only language capable of accepting contradiction and giving a meaning to it. There are two new approaches here : introducing the Bible in the field of existence by necessity, and as a simple book with cognitive power. Structured by narration and figuration (typology), this Biblical model extends rational knowledge by extending its restricted space-time referential. It enlarges the horizon of existence of the reader and shows a path for repairing their contrarieties. Pascal deeply renews the classic figurative thought and the poetic approach of the Bible.

Au lendemain de la guerre au Liban [1975-1990], de jeunes cinéastes refusent de faire l’impasse sur le passé et œuvrent par le biais de leurs films à rendre la mémoire salutaire. La présente recherche étudie les nouvelles configurations cinématographiques de ce nouveau cinéma d’après-guerre, caractérisé par une rétrospective mémorielle et comptable au sein d’une époque révolue. En s’appuyant sur un corpus filmique d’une vingtaine de films, analysés comme des traces matérielles et symboliques, les différentes parties de cette recherche explorent les convergences et les problématiques qui posent la dialectique Mémoire-Histoire à travers la représentation. L’étude scrute également les traces de la mémoire en parcourant les processus relatifs au conflit, au travail de deuil et à l’oubli, en s’interrogeant sur les capacités du cinéma libanais, émergeant d’une société au pluralisme identitaire, à calibrer son potentiel d’expression et son aptitude à problématiser les déboires d’une société meurtrie. Les pistes d’analyse se déclinent autour de la figuration de Beyrouth, comme ville anthropomorphique et emblématique. En dernière partie l’étude aborde les manifestations et les profils d’un sujet symptomatique en quête de son identité au sortir de la guerre au Liban. / After the war in Lebanon [1975-1990 ], young film-makers refuse to ignore the past and work by means of their movies to restore a wholesome memory. The present research studies the new films configurations of the post-war Lebanese cinema, characterized by a memorial and countable retrospective within bygone days. By leaning on a cinematic corpus of about twenty movies, analyzed as material and symbolic tracks, the various parts of this research investigate the convergences and the problems which put the dialectic Memory - history through the representation. The study also scrutinizes the tracks of the memory by going through the processes relative to the conflict, to the work of mourning and the oblivion by questioning the capacities of the Lebanese cinema, to calibrate its potential of expression and its capacity to analyze the setbacks of a bruised society. The paths of this research will also examine the representation of Beirut, as anthropomorphic and symbolic city. In last part, the study approaches the profiles of a symptomatic subject in search of its identity at the end of the war in Lebanon.

Das Verständnis vom Wohnen in seiner baulichen, lebensweltlichen und existentialen Bedeutung als Grundlage für das Entwerfen von Wohnarchitektur am Beispiel des Werkes von Josef Frank. - (Die Dissertation ist veröffentlicht im Shaker Verlag GmbH, Postfach 101818, 52018 Aachen, Deutschland, http://www.shaker.de, ISBN: 978-3-8322-7938-7)

Five years ago at the age of 14, Rutendo Chaibva was double-orphaned by AIDS. A "Family Post Bereavement Property and Responsibilities Disbursement Committee" assigned her uncle Eric Gara as "replacement parent". Rutendo and her " replacement mother" Gerlinda were co-participants in the Participatory Action Research Study. It started in a therapeutic relationship after the family experienced some difficulties in integrating Rutendo into the reconstituted family. Both the therapy and research conversations explored and identified several pastoral and other challenges that militated against the integration process. Rutendo and Gerlinda's road was littered with, among others, minefields of silence and tears, secrecy, multiple losses, unresolved bereavement, unfinished business, anger, fear, and groping for Christian fellowship. It was concluded that personal, family, pastoral and other challenges, and, HIV/AIDS related complexities had militated against the integration process. At the end, Rutendo and Gerlinda acknowledged that therapy and the research processes had impacted positively on the integration process that improved significantly. / Practical Theology / M. Div. (Pastoral therapy)

The aim of this qualitative study was to explore and describe the experiences and needs of mothers of sexually abused children. A conceptual framework outlined the theoretical underpinnings of this study which focused on the core theoretical concepts of Gestalt therapy theory and the field of child sexual abuse with particular focus on the impact that the child’s trauma has on the mother. Semi–structured interviews were conducted with a sample of five mothers in order to gain rich data from their phenomenological experience. These interviews were transcribed into text and analysed. Several themes and categories emerged and were explored with the use of a literature control. These themes included the mother’s phenomenological experience of the sequence of disclosure, their awareness of the impact of their child’s sexual abuse on their holistic sense of self, their intra and interpersonal contact making styles, their need to facilitate a healthy sense of self and lastly their phenomenological knowledge gained through their field experience. The disclosure of their child’s sexual abuse signifies the start of the secondary trauma experienced by mothers, and the start of the cycle of a new experience that they struggle to bring to closure. This knowledge that their child has been sexually abused has an immediate negative impact on the mother’s field and their sense of self. Their process of healthy self–regulation is hindered due to the strong negative polarities in the self being formed and the self–blame that the mothers experience. This study therefore concluded and strongly recommended that mothers of sexually abused children receive support in the form of therapeutic intervention and education while their child receives therapy. / Thesis (M.A. (MW))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

The aim of this qualitative study was to explore and describe the experiences and needs of mothers of sexually abused children. A conceptual framework outlined the theoretical underpinnings of this study which focused on the core theoretical concepts of Gestalt therapy theory and the field of child sexual abuse with particular focus on the impact that the child’s trauma has on the mother. Semi–structured interviews were conducted with a sample of five mothers in order to gain rich data from their phenomenological experience. These interviews were transcribed into text and analysed. Several themes and categories emerged and were explored with the use of a literature control. These themes included the mother’s phenomenological experience of the sequence of disclosure, their awareness of the impact of their child’s sexual abuse on their holistic sense of self, their intra and interpersonal contact making styles, their need to facilitate a healthy sense of self and lastly their phenomenological knowledge gained through their field experience. The disclosure of their child’s sexual abuse signifies the start of the secondary trauma experienced by mothers, and the start of the cycle of a new experience that they struggle to bring to closure. This knowledge that their child has been sexually abused has an immediate negative impact on the mother’s field and their sense of self. Their process of healthy self–regulation is hindered due to the strong negative polarities in the self being formed and the self–blame that the mothers experience. This study therefore concluded and strongly recommended that mothers of sexually abused children receive support in the form of therapeutic intervention and education while their child receives therapy. / Thesis (M.A. (MW))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2012.

Five years ago at the age of 14, Rutendo Chaibva was double-orphaned by AIDS. A "Family Post Bereavement Property and Responsibilities Disbursement Committee" assigned her uncle Eric Gara as "replacement parent". Rutendo and her " replacement mother" Gerlinda were co-participants in the Participatory Action Research Study. It started in a therapeutic relationship after the family experienced some difficulties in integrating Rutendo into the reconstituted family. Both the therapy and research conversations explored and identified several pastoral and other challenges that militated against the integration process. Rutendo and Gerlinda's road was littered with, among others, minefields of silence and tears, secrecy, multiple losses, unresolved bereavement, unfinished business, anger, fear, and groping for Christian fellowship. It was concluded that personal, family, pastoral and other challenges, and, HIV/AIDS related complexities had militated against the integration process. At the end, Rutendo and Gerlinda acknowledged that therapy and the research processes had impacted positively on the integration process that improved significantly. / Philosophy, Practical and Systematic Theology / M. Div. (Pastoral therapy)