Thèse numérisée par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

La poésie d’Auden (1907-1973) propose des formes inédites invitant le lecteur à repenser l’écriture de la cité. Fasciné par les villes, le poète n’a cessé de sonder divers modèles (Cité juste, Utopie, Cité de Dieu, etc.) pour renouveler sa création sans perdre l’espoir de voir advenir un « lieu bon » (« the Good Place »). Très tôt dans son œuvre, il rapproche la « civitas » de l’œuvre d’art permettant d’élever l’homme au-dessus de la nature. Cependant, ses textes mettent souvent en scène les tribulations de personnages perdus dans un contexte urbain (Bruxelles, Berlin, New York). Par ailleurs, le poète vit s’ébranler tous les repères de la cité avec la Grande Guerre avant d’assister à la montée du nazisme, et ses textes des années 1940 comptent parmi les premiers qui disent – ou tentent de dire – la réalité des camps de concentration dans un monde qui ne fait plus sens. Dans le sillage de The Waste Land d’Eliot, son œuvre soulève question même de la possibilité d’écrire la cité alors que son unité a éclaté en laissant régner les lois du mal. Ainsi, Auden s’inscrit en faux contre tous les grands chantres qui glorifient la ville moderne. Dans la veine de Baudelaire, il dit le monde désenchanté qui l’entoure, mais pour cela, il est prêt à user de tous les artifices de la langue. En temps de crise, seul le langage peut servir de refuge assurant la possibilité d’une « civitas ». Les autres tentatives de fuite vers un ailleurs joyeux (fêtes publiques ou privées) conduiront tout droit à une impasse. Ni philosophe, ni homme politique, Auden était poète, et c’est en tant que poète, c’est-à-dire en tant que créateur de formes, qu’il propose des « mondes secondaires » témoignant d’une vérité qui parfois s’approche de la Vérité retrouvée dans le silence de la Cité idéale, où plus rien ne divise la communauté des hommes, pas même les mots. / Auden’s poetry offers unprecedented forms inviting readers to reconsider the poetics of the city. The poet – who was fascinated by cityscapes – kept exploring models (the Just City, Utopia, the City of God, etc.) in order to renew his creation, while aiming at reaching what he called “the Good Place”. Very early in his career, he regarded the “civitas” as analogous to an artwork testifying to man’s superiority over nature. However, his poems often stage the labyrinthine wanderings of characters that have lost themselves somewhere in a city (Brussels, Berlin, New York). Moreover, during the First World War Auden saw all the bearings and landmarks of the City shattered; and in the early 1930s he witnessed the rise of Nazism. Actually, his long poems published in the 1940s count among the first literary works dealing with – or trying to do so – the reality of concentration camps in a world that doesn’t make any sense anymore. In the wake of Eliot’s Waste Land, his work questions the possibility of writing about the City whose unity has been broken while the laws of evil rule over the world.Thus, Auden makes a stand against the bards who glorify the modern city. Following Baudelaire, he describes the disenchanted world in which he lives; but to do so, he is ready to resort to all the artifices of language. Indeed, in times of crisis, only language may serve as a refuge allowing citizens to rebuild a “civitas”. Any other attempt at escaping towards some happy place (on the occasion of public or private parties) will inevitably come to a dead end. Auden was neither a philosopher nor a politician: he was a poet, i.e. a maker designing “secondary worlds” bearing witness to a truth that sometimes reaches the Truth, regained in the silence of the ideal City where nothing divides men, not even words.

1 Abstract The thesis analyzes three novels with utopian features written by African American authors: Sutton E. Griggs's Imperium in Imperio (1899), George S. Schuyler's Black Empire (1936-1937) and Toni Morrison's Paradise (1997). The novels and their description of alternative all-black spaces are analyzed on the background of Michel Foucault's theory of heterotopias. In the first part of the thesis, I provide the introduction to the genre of utopia and its brief history, and I state a definition of utopia for the purposes of the thesis. Next I discuss the specificity of American context and introduce the concept of heterotopias as opposed to traditional utopias. The crucial features are simultaneity, juxtaposition, mutual relationships and mirroring. In the latter part of the thesis, I proceed to the analysis of the novels themselves, stressing mainly their treatment of race and racism. In Griggs's Imperium in Imperio, I describe the parallels between the white and black world in their use of rhetoric and in the Imperium's inspiration by the American War of Independence. I also examine the role of Du Boisian double-consciousness and its working in the concept of heterotopia. In the analysis of Schuyler's Black Empire, I focus on the fascist rhetoric resembling that of Italy in Italo-Ethiopian War,...

Utopia in The Diary of Christopher Columbus At first, we meet with the context of era of 15th century in Spain, as well as we come to know complicated journey of Christopher Columbus. The first chapter describes the most important moments of his life together with the Renaissance rebirth of thinking. The second chapter is concerned with the birth of hispanoamerican literature based on anal ysis o f Columbus's marine diary and his messages. All the content and formal part of diary confirm value of Columbus who enrich spanish vocabulary. The main part of this thesis is dedicated to utopia and th e et ymological meaning of the word. We know definition of the utopia but more important is to see the utopia as a literary genre. New literary and mental phenomenon is represented, it's the Utopia of America. The m yth is actual again, we comeback to the Beginning. Also we know differences between utopia and m yt h and we confirm that it is almoust impossible to separate them. The trust, hope and the return to the biblical Paradise are transformed to the isolated place and time, the literature plays the role of creative force which intensifies and spreads these hopes. We aplicate teorical work of Mircea Eliade to Columbus's Diary. Thanks to Eliade we know how the example act was born and his teories are...

N.P. van Wyk Louw redefined the context-bound Afrikaans literature and criticism in the thirties to establish a new ‘national’ creative and critical discourse in Afrikaans. The central premise of this study is the correlation between Louw’s conceptualisation of a ‘national’ literature and Paul Ricoeur’s interpretation of utopia. In the essay collections Berigte te velde and Lojale verset (1939) Louw offers a new and confrontational grasp on the established Afrikaans literature and criticism (social and literary) within the context of Afrikaans nationalism. Louw formulates his directives for literature and society in a system of oppositional concepts. The central dualism in as well as the intellectual and structural foundation of his innovative ideas is the conceptualisation of a ‘national’ and ‘colonial’ literature. In accordance with Ricoeur’s oppositional analysis of utopia and ideology (1978a, 1981b, 1986), Louw’s distinction between a ‘national’ and ‘colonial’ literature is investigated in this study as a binary opposition based on the dualism utopia/ideology. The exploration of the ‘national’ literature as utopia and the ‘colonial’ as ideology includes the role of subordinate oppositions, among which are individual/nation and individual/national identity, in the sustaining of this polar structure. The unavoidable conflict between and exclusion of opposing elements are demonstrated by an analysis of the breaks in the reconciliation which Louw tries to effect between the ‘national’ and ‘colonial’ literatures. With reference to Ricoeur and Thompson (1984) the function of power as the common factor in utopia/ideology and the ‘national’/’colonial’ literature is investigated, and the realisation of an element of power in Louw’s critical discourse is explored. Key words: N.P. van Wyk Louw, Paul Ricoeur, binary opposition, Afrikaner nationalism, national literature, utopia, ideology, identity, power

La Méditerranée est une riche matière mythique dans l’œuvre et l’imaginaire du premier Camus. Elle essaime notamment dans ses écrits de jeunesse de manière à prendre les allures d’un mythe primordial et fondateur où se consacrent les noces de l’homme avec le monde. Signe d’un accord profond mais ambivalent, le mythe méditerranéen tel qu’il se déploie dans l’œuvre du premier Camus se nourrit d’une part d’un imaginaire solaire et radieux ; d’autre part, il repose sur des tensions permanentes avec des notions corollaires comme l’Histoire et l’utopie. A contre-courant du mouvement destructeur et meurtrier de l’Histoire en marche, Camus brosse au cœur des années 1930 un mythe idyllique de la colonie, sorte d’utopie qui se désintéresse des tensions raciales et communautaires du moment. Si l’œuvre naissante chante avec des accents ivres les joies prodiguées par les rivages heureux de la terre originelle, l’Algérie, certains textes de l’auteur laissent entrevoir la menace grandissante qui plane sur l’avenir de cette patrie de l’âme et le frémissement de l’auteur à l’idée de la perdre irrémédiablement. D’où le déchirement et l’oscillation de Camus entre le rêve méditerranéen auquel il se laisse aller, à maints endroits de son œuvre, et l’exigence de lucidité quant à la réalité coloniale du pays natal. / The Mediterranean is a rich mythical subject in the imagination of the first Camus. It spreads in particular in his youthful writings so as to take on the appearance of a primordial and founding myth. Sign of a deep but ambivalent agreement, the Mediterranean myth as it unfolds in the works of the first Camus feeds on the one hand from a solar and radiant imagination; on the other hand, it is based on permanent tensions with corollary notions such as history and utopia. A counter-current of the destructive movement of history, Camus brushes in 1930 years an idyllic myth of the colony, a kind of utopia that is losing interest in racial and community tensions of the moment. If his works sing the joys lavished by the happy shores of the original land, Algeria, some texts of the author suggest the growing threat to the future of this homeland and the thrill of the author at the thought of losing it irremediably

Associant l’analyse du discours esthétique des auteurs comme Müller, Bond et Barker, à l’étude dramaturgique de leurs réécritures respectives de Shakespeare, cette thèse a pour but de s’interroger sur l’émergence d’une nouvelle forme dramatique – la dystopie théâtrale. En faisant appel à l’instrumentalisation de la catastrophe, à la fois shakespearienne et historique, les dramaturges s’empressent à écrire des pièces qui partagent presque la même vision sur l’avenir du monde et de l’homme. L’apocalypse du roi Lear et la vision cauchemardesque qu’Hamlet porte sur le monde sont greffées, par les dramaturges, sur des tissus dramatiques étayés déjà sur les traces des barbaries du XXe et XXIe siècles. En tant qu'écritures résolument catastrophistes, les « dystopies théâtrales » s’opposent, à première vue, à toute fonction utopique. Néanmoins, le ton apocalyptique (au sens derridien du terme) qui les caractérise, cache des fonctions esthétiques qui questionnent à nouveau la catharsis et la nature même du théâtre. En analysant ces fonctions, nous tentons de démontrer que ces formes dramatiques peuvent être vues aussi comme des dramaturgies censées provoquer l’éveil des consciences et ressusciter ainsi la pulsion utopique que l’Humanité semble avoir perdue. En plus d’une épuration émotionnelle (qui elle-même est remise en question), la dystopie théâtrale est aussi caractérisée par une catharsis inversée, dans le sens d’une surcharge intellective et d’une rétention émotionnelle qui touche souvent le paroxysme. Quel lien entre l’Utopie et la « dystopie théâtrale » ? / This thesis emphasizes the emergence of a new dramaturgical form – the theatrical dystopia. The study analyses the aesthetical discourse of authors such as Heiner Müller, Edward Bond and Howard Barker, as well as their contemporary rewritings of some of Shakespeare’s plays. Through their conceptualization of the Catastrophe, both Shakespearian and historical, these authors seem to have the same vision of the future of the world and the humans. King Lear’s apocalypse and the nightmarish “Hamletian” vision of the world are grafted on modern literary “tissues”, which are already imbued with the traces of the catastrophes from twentieth and the twenty-first century. Theatrical dystopias seem opposed to every utopian function. Nevertheless, le ton apocalyptique (Derrida) which characterizes them hides aesthetical functions, which cast new meanings to the catharsis notion and the nature of the theatre. By analyzing these functions by and large, this study shows that these new dramaturgical forms are to be seen as writings that highlight awareness and resuscitate the utopian impulse that the Humanity seems to have lost. Despite a strong emotional discharge (which also acquires new functions), theatrical dystopias are also characterized by inverse catharsis – a cerebral and emotional retention which often touches paroxysm. What is thus the connection between Utopia and theatrical dystopia?

Cette recherche sur deux romans d'Emile Zola et Michel Houellebecq est conduite dans une perspective comparatiste, en raison des préoccupations communes qui animent les deux écrivains. Les deux romans traitent en des termes diamétralement opposés de l'utopie et de la dystopie, mais l’intérêt pour la science constitue un point de convergence. Au XIXe siècle la science et la technologie ont fait d'énormes progrès. La Troisième République a réaffirmé les valeurs de la liberté, de l’égalité et de la fraternité qui a inspiré les idéaux de la Révolution française ; l’État et la religion ont été séparés en 1905. Mais peu après, à la suite des deux guerres mondiales, le rêve d'établir un monde utopique s’est effondré. Par la suite,le concept utopique a été déformé, et on l’a défini en termes libéraux comme un résultat de la croissance économique. Cent ans après,Houellebecq dénonce l'existence de ce monde utopique rêvé. Pour Houellebecq, le libéralisme est devenu synonyme de violence, d'inégalité et de débauche. Emile Zola et Michel Houellebecq examinent différemment le rôle de la science dans le développement social. Zola, déçu par le rôle de la religion, croit en la réalisation d'un monde meilleur fondé sur le progrès scientifique et technologique. En revanche, Houellebecq s’oppose à l'idée de progrès par la science dans laquelle il voit une forme de destruction de l'humanité. En travaillant sur Travail de Zola et La possibilité d'une île de Houellebecq, nous avons choisi une approche originale qui consiste à analyser la notion du roman utopique/dystopique ainsi que la place de l'utopie et dystopie dans la fiction chez les deux auteurs. / This doctoral research on the works of Emile Zola and Michel Houellebecq is constituted in a comparative perspective because they share common concerns. While both novels deal with diagonally opposite terms of utopia and dystopia, science remains the common link. In the nineteenth century science and technology made huge progress. The rise of the Third Republic reaffirmed the values of liberty, equality, fraternity that inspired the ideals of the French Revolution; also State and religion were separated in 1905. But soon after, with two World Wars the dream of establishing utopia fell apart. Thereafter, the utopian concept was distorted per convenience and it came to be defined in liberal terms as an outcome of the rise of market economy. Hundred years after, Houellebecq denounces the existence of utopian world. For Houellebecq, liberalism has become a synonym of violence, inequality and debauch. Emile Zola and Michel Houellebecq look differently at the role of science in social development. On one hand, Zola disillusioned by the role of religion, believed in the achievement of a better world based on scientific and technological progress. In contrast, Houellebecq opposes the idea of progress through science and advocates it as a mean of destruction of the humanity. In quest to work on the novels Travail of Zola and The possibility of an island of Houellebecq, we’ve selected an original approach that will analyze the poetics of the notion of utopian/dystopian novel and the question of utopia and dystopia in the selected works of both authors.

Il est très délicat de parler « d’identité » cubaine sans la problématiser, la nuancer ou la circonstancier. Cuba est pourtant une île fouettée par des courants venus de tous les horizons, un creuset où se sont mêlées les cultures qui semblent définir son caractère propre. Le cas du théâtre est un exemple incontestable. Le théâtre cubain est un art plus ou moins sinistré à l’intérieur même de ses frontières. Mais après la révolution il commence à renaître. Le théâtre cubain a accompagné l’histoire de la révolution cubaine au milieu d’un siècle de grandes guerres et de mouvement de libération nationale. L’éclosion des années 1960 paraît ainsi être l’apogée de l’écriture dramatique cubaine, et la représentation dans le pays, de ce fait, le théâtre cubain rencontre une spécificité propre à l’intérieur et en dehors de l’île. Les dramaturges cubains représentent dans leurs œuvres la thématique cubaine dans et en dehors de l’île, intimement lié à la circonstance politique révolutionnaire et à ses conséquences dans la famille cubaine et l’individu. Tout ceci participe du « cubain », autant d’exemples qui montrent la difficulté de parler d’un théâtre cubain. Il n’y pas qu’une seule façon de faire du cubain, car chaque auteur, chaque histoire est différente et implique différentes manières de percevoir « la cubania », que ce soit dans l’aspect comique, tragique, réaliste, « absurdiste » ou politique, la spécificité de l’île est bien là. / It is difficult to talk about Cuban "identity" without making an issue of, qualifying or detailing it. Yet Cuba is an island lashed by currents from every direction, a melting pot of cultures which seem to define its own character. Theatre is a case in point. Cuban theatre is an art which is more less confined to the interior of its borders. But after the revolution, it has begun to be reborn. Cuban theatre has gone hand in hand with the story of the Cuban revolution in the middle of a century of great wars and the national liberation movement. The dawn of the 60s thus seems to be the peak of dramatic Cuban literature and, because of this, Cuban theatre, in the way that it is performed, encounters a specificity both on as well as off the island.". Cuban playwrights represent in their work the Cuban theme in and outside the island, intimately linked to the revolutionary political circumstances and to their consequences on Cuban families and individuals. All of this makes up what it is to be "Cuban", so many examples which demonstrate the difficulty of talking about Cuban theatre. There is not only one way to 'do' Cuban, since every author, every story is different and requires different ways to perceive "la cubania", whether it is in a comic, tragic, realist, "absurdist" or political way, the specificity of the island is always there.

A dissertação de mestrado procura mostrar como a literatura dialoga com a história para além das questões temáticas. O recorte se dá em torno de Quarup (1967), Bar Don Juan (1971), Reflexos do Baile (1976) e Sempreviva (1981), quatro romances de Antonio Callado que retomam o período histórico compreendido entre a eleição de Getúlio Vargas em 1950 até fins dos anos de 1970. O foco é o Golpe Militar de 1964, sua preparação e consequências para a sociedade brasileira. A intenção é mostrar como a crise da utopia das esquerdas é tecida esteticamente, por meio da construção dos personagens, do espaço, do tempo e da própria estrutura narrativa. Para tanto, a reflexão sobre as obras parte da tipologia descrita por George Lukács na Teoria do romance, tendo como eixo as análises da trajetória dos protagonistas e da forma romanesca / La tesi si propone di mostrare come la letteratura dialoga con la storia al di là delle questioni tematiche. Lo sguardo si fa intorno a Quarup (1967), Bar Don Juan (1971), Reflexos do Baile (1976) e Sempreviva (1981), quattro romanzi di Antonio Callado che riproducono il periodo storico tra l\'elezione di Getúlio Vargas nel 1950 fino alla fine del 1970. Il centro dei romanzi è il colpo di stato militare del 1964 e le sue conseguenze per la società brasiliana. L\'intenzione è quella di illuminare come la crisi dell\'utopia di sinistra è tessuta esteticamente, attraverso la costruzione di personaggi, dello spazio, del tempo e della struttura narrativa stessa. Per fare ciò, la riflerissione viene fatta dalla Teoria del romanzo, di George Lukács, cercando di analizzare la traiettoria dei protagonisti e la forma romanzesca delle quarto opere