Thesis advisor: Stephanie Leone / Despite a surge of scholarly and public interest in the mid-twentieth century, Mannerism remains an ill-defined and problematic period label. The first goal of my thesis is to define the style in its chronology and stylistic attributes. Noting its artificiality and the influence of self-fashioning, I identify its clearest definition in Giorgio Vasari's writing and art. Second, I discuss the use of the sophisticated style by the artist and his patron, Cardinal Alessandro Farnese, as a means of social advancement and legitimization. Finally, I analyze the iconography and style of the Sala dei Cento Giorni in the Palazzo della Cancelleria, Rome as the collaborative apex of the self-fashioning of Vasari and Farnese. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2007. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Fine Arts. / Discipline: College Honors Program.

<p>The objective of this licentiate thesis is to investigatearchitectural experience and creation in virtual space and itsrepresentational problems. The thesis comprises three articlespublished during the years 2001-2003, and a website,www.arch.kth.se/~zimm.</p><p>The articles investigate architecture as a transgressivestate between the virtual worlds of imagination and thedomestic interior, introducing obsessive dreambuilding as amethod of negotiating material fictions in real space. The mainrepresentative of this kind of architectural activity is thefictional character Baron des Esseintes in Joris-KarlHuysmans´ novel À Rebours (1884). Together with thearchitectural transformations created by the architect Sir JohnSoane and the artists Kurt Schwitters and Gregor Schneider, theprojects share and develop the theme of extreme individualityand explore the architectural imagination at work in the mindof the obsessive dreambuilder. These architects of parallelrealities create operative fields of artificiality andimagination, where architectural space splits into differentontological states, providing fields for observation ofperceptional and representational problems.</p><p><b>Keywords:</b>Architecture, Against Nature/À Rebours,Artifice, Artificiality, Domestic interior, Dream, Experience,Fiction, Hypertext, Huysmans, Imagination, Individuality,Interactivity, Interface, Obsession, Obsessive dreambuilding,Perception, Representation, Schwitters, Schneider, Soane,Symbolism, Virtual Reality</p>

Cette étude aborde le thème de la quête de vérité menée par l’acteur. Partant du « paradoxe de l’acteur » qui met en lumière la tension qui se joue entre Forme et Spontanéité, ainsi que sa difficulté à être simultanément artiste et œuvre d’art. Or une recherche comparative sur le théâtre Occidental/Oriental, et d’autres sources telles que les pensées de Georges Gurdjieff et de François Delsarte nous ont conduit à considérer le travail du comédien d’un point de vue trinitaire, en prenant en compte les trois éléments essentiels que sont son corps, son émotion et son esprit. La quête de vérité que mène l’acteur tout au long de sa vie doit s’enraciner dans une compréhension de sa propre nature trinitaire et d’un éventuel manque d’harmonie qui peut résulter dans des comportements automatiques et stéréotypés. Cette vision nous a servi de base pour mener une étude de la pensée de certains grands réformateurs du théâtre du XXe siècle. Ainsi, les méthodes de Jerzy Grotowski et d’Etienne Decroux sont analysées à partir des approches de l’organicité et de l'artificialité selon la perspective de Grotowski. Notre but est de trouver une possible complémentarité entre les travaux de ces deux investigateurs, dans la quête de l’équilibre du trinôme corps-émotion-esprit. Finalement, l’acteur doit cultiver simultanément ses trois centres pour unifier le créateur, l’artisan et la matière de son œuvre, et retrouver ainsi sa vraie Présence sur scène. / This study begins with the actor’s quest for truth. Starting from the « actor’s paradox » which shines light on the tension that plays between Form and Spontaneity, and the difficulty of being simultaneously artist and work of art. A comparative research of Occidental/Oriental theatre, and other sources such as the thoughts of George Gurdjieff and François Delsarte led us to consider the work of the actor from the point of Trinitarian view, taking into account the three essential elements that are his body, his emotion and his mind. The quest for the truth that drives the actor has to begin with the comprehension of his own nature of this human trinity; before the understanding of its fragmentation, that is, the lack of harmony that can exist between these three principle functions and the danger of falling into automatic and stereotypic behaviors and reactions. This study allows us to observe the thought of certain great theatre reformers of the 20th century. Therefore, methods of Jerzy Grotowski and Etienne Decroux are analyzed using approaches of organicity and artificiality from the perspective of Grotowski. Our objective is to find a possible complementarity between the works of these two researchers in the quest for balance of the trinity body/emotion/intellect. Finally, the actor must simultaneously cultivate the three centers in order to unify the creator, the artisan and the matter of his work, and find his true presence on stage.

The objective of this licentiate thesis is to investigatearchitectural experience and creation in virtual space and itsrepresentational problems. The thesis comprises three articlespublished during the years 2001-2003, and a website,www.arch.kth.se/~zimm. The articles investigate architecture as a transgressivestate between the virtual worlds of imagination and thedomestic interior, introducing obsessive dreambuilding as amethod of negotiating material fictions in real space. The mainrepresentative of this kind of architectural activity is thefictional character Baron des Esseintes in Joris-KarlHuysmans´ novel À Rebours (1884). Together with thearchitectural transformations created by the architect Sir JohnSoane and the artists Kurt Schwitters and Gregor Schneider, theprojects share and develop the theme of extreme individualityand explore the architectural imagination at work in the mindof the obsessive dreambuilder. These architects of parallelrealities create operative fields of artificiality andimagination, where architectural space splits into differentontological states, providing fields for observation ofperceptional and representational problems. <b>Keywords:</b>Architecture, Against Nature/À Rebours,Artifice, Artificiality, Domestic interior, Dream, Experience,Fiction, Hypertext, Huysmans, Imagination, Individuality,Interactivity, Interface, Obsession, Obsessive dreambuilding,Perception, Representation, Schwitters, Schneider, Soane,Symbolism, Virtual Reality / NR 20140805

Cette thèse de doctorat se donne pour objet d’analyser la notion de réalité dans l’oeuvre d’Ilse Aichinger, née en 1921 à Vienne. Cette recherche s’attache à la réflexion théorique de l’auteure sur les relations entre littérature et réalité, ainsi qu’aux différents aspects textuels de l’écriture de cette réalité. Il s’agit également de replacer la production d’Aichinger dans le contexte de la littérature d’après 1945, au sein de laquelle la réflexion sur la transmission du réel et sur la fonction cognitive de l’écrivain occupe une place essentielle. La première partie de ce travail traite de la place de la fiction dans l’oeuvre et la pensée d’Ilse Aichinger, à travers les notions de fictivité et fictionalité. Cette analyse est complétée par une réflexion sur le statut de la fiction dans le contexte de la production et de la réception des textes littéraires de cette auteure. Le savoir constitue la seconde approche de ce travail sur la notion de réalité. Nous caractérisons dans cette partie le statut du savoir au fil de l’oeuvre d’Aichinger, pour ensuite nous intéresser à ses mises en oeuvre spécifiques, telles que le savoir subjectif ou l’intuition. Pour finir, cette recherche se consacre à l’étude de deux articulations de la réalité plus spécifiques à la littérature. Il s’agit d’une part de traiter la notion d’artificialité textuelle,ce qui aboutit à une réflexion sur l’authenticité et le statut de l’imaginaire chez cette auteure. Une étude de l’évolution des structures narratives dans l’oeuvre d’Aichinger vient conclure cette thèse. / This doctoral research analyzes the statute of the reality notion within Ilse Aichinger’s literature. It focuses on her theoretical cogitation about the connection between literature and reality and on the different textual aspects of her writing about reality. We also tried to set Aichinger’s production back in the context of literature after 1945, in which cogitation about transmission of reality and about the cognitive function of writers plays a great part.The approach of the first part is the importance of fiction through the concepts of fictivity and fictionality. This analysis is completed by a cogitation about fiction in the context of literature production and reception. Knowledge is the second approach of this research about reality. In this part, we first characterize the status of knowledge in Aichinger’s literature and secondly describe some particular examples which are characteristic for Aichinger’s writing, as subjective knowledge or intuition. We finally analyze two different ways of writing about reality in literature. The study on the artificiality of the literature text leads to a reflection about the meaning of authenticity and imagination by this author. We conclude this research by analyzing the changing of narrative structures in Ilse Aichinger’s literature.