The focus of this essay is to examine and reconstruct one of Theodor Adorno's most enigmatic philosophical concepts – the notion of mimesis. Mimesis is a fundamental pole in language, relating to imitation and mimicry. It plays an important role in all of Adorno's writings, although it is rarely if ever defined rigorously as a concept. In this essay I will develop an analysis of the mimetic that traces Adornos use of the concept in two of his major works: The Dialectic of Enlightenment and Aesthetic Theory. Adorno relates the question of mimesis to the dichotomy of nature and culture, it manifests as a mediating link between the two. Mimesis is a central trait in all culture in the sense that it is the means by which humans explain their position in the world they inhabit. By mimicking the world around them, the dangers of this world becomes intelligible and, ultimately, exploitable in human affairs. In this sense the spheres of nature and culture are revealed as an interconnected whole within the mimetic logic of identification. This reading of mimesis marks in a broader sense the ontological status that Adorno ascribes to aesthetics: the mimetic is at the same time an element of linguistic ontology and a thoroughly aesthetical notion. This essay will explore this reading of mimesis and develop the notion within the framework of the nature/culture dichotomy, focusing on Adorno's theory of prehistoric mimesis in ancient society and modern mimesis in radical art. The mimetic pole is central to the workings of the new and the unknown in the aesthetic sphere and it is a crucial element in Adorno's theory of modern aesthetics. A study of Adorno's notion of mimesis has a potential to illustrate the significance he attributes to aesthetics overall. Through the mimetic element inherent in art, aesthetics becomes more than just a field of experience, it marks a central element in all human conduct.

abstract: This project will attempt to supplement the current registry of lesbian inquiry in literature by exploring a very specific topos important to the Modern era: woman and her intellect. Under this umbrella, the project will perform two tasks: First, it will argue that the Modern turn that accentuates what I call negative valence mimesis is a moment of change that enables the general public to perceive lesbianism in representations of women that before, perhaps, remained unacknowledged. And, second, that the intersection of thought and resistance to heteronormative structures, such as heterosexual desire/sex, childbirth, marriage, religion, feminine performance, generate topoi of lesbianism that lesbian studies should continuously critique in order to index the myriad and creative ways through which fictional representations of women have evaded their proper roles in society. The two tasks above will be performed amidst the backdrop of a crucial moment in history in which lesbianism jumped from fiction to fact through the publication and obscenity trial of Radclyffe Hall's novel, The Well of Loneliness. Deconstructive feminist and queer inquiry of under-researched novels by women from the UK and the US written within the decade surrounding the trial reveals the possibilities of lesbianism in novels where the protagonists' investment in heteronormativity has remained unquestioned. In those texts where the protagonists have been questioned, the analysis of lesbianism will be delved into more deeply in order to illustrate new ways of reading these texts. I will focus on women writers who, as Terry Castle suggests, "both usurped and deepened the [lesbian] genre" with the arrival of the new century (Literature 29). It is my attempt to combat heteronormativity through a more positive approach. As Michael Warner asserts, "heteronormativity can be overcome only by actively imagining a necessarily and desirably queer world" (xvi). This is not to say this study will be all roses and no thorns; a desirably queer world is not about a wish for an utopia. For this project, it is about rigorously engaging in the lesbianism of literature while acknowledging how a lesbian reading, a reading for lesbianism, can continue to both expand and enrich the critical tradition of a text and the customary interpretation of various characters. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. English 2012

Ce travail présente la manière dont William Faulkner réfléchit la fonction identitaire de la narration dans plusieurs de ses romans : The Sound and the Fury, As I lay Dying, Light in August, Absalom, Absalom! et Requiem for a Nun. L’appartenance des personnages du corpus au Sud des États-Unis exacerbe leur faille constitutive, qu’ils cherchent alors à compenser par la médiation du récit. Cette thèse étudie, à travers le prisme de la théorie de la mimèsis de Paul Ricœur, comment ces personnages configurent leur temps vécu et se projettent mimétiquement dans leur récit afin de procéder à une herméneutique de soi et atteindre ainsi l’appropriation de soi qu’ils recherchent. Cependant, les narrateurs sont tous saisis d’un élan déconstructeur qui met en lumière l’irrésolution du langage grâce auquel ils essayent de se créer une identité de substitution. Ils prennent alors conscience que le langage se dissémine et que la présence qu’ils tentent de faire advenir se dérobe dès qu’elle apparaît. / This dissertation studies the issue of identity in several of William Faulkner’s novels (The Sound and the Fury, As I Lay Dying, Light in August, Absalom, Absalom! and Requiem for a Nun) and how characters attempt to retrieve a sense of self through narration. The characters’ belonging to the American South exacerbates their inner gap, which they then try to fill thanks to their story-telling. This study examines, through the prism of Ricoeur’s theory of mimesis, how these characters configure their world of action and project themselves mimetically into their narratives so as to achieve self-understanding through a hermeneutical process. However, the narrators under study are overwhelmed with a deconstructive impetus which sheds light on the indecisiveness of the language thanks to which they are trying to create a substitute identity. They thus become aware that language disseminates itself and that the presence they are attempting to create gives way as soon as it appears.

Eugène Ionesco's plays are often thought of only as absurd. This thesis explores another possible interpretation of his plays, including Rhinocèros, Le Roi se meurt, Jeux de massacre, Les Chaises, Victimes du devoir, La Jeune fille à marier, and La Leçon. These plays are investigated with the help of anthropologist René Girard's theory on ritual, violence, and sacrifice. Since these elements are recurring themes in Ionesco's plays, Girard's theory is a useful key to unlocking what may seem at times to be nothing but nonsense, but is full of meaning. In the first chapter, the rituals and repetitions that abound in Ionesco's plays are discussed in the light of Girardian theory, illustrating the negative effects of ritual without substance. Chapter two analyses the violent and sacrificial nature of these plays, and their contagious qualities. The third chapter discusses where redemption can be found amidst the violence. This thesis also debates the possible Christian aspects within Ionesco's works relating to the themes of ritual, violence, and redemption.

The paper examines Othello as metapoetry. Throughout the play, key points of comparison between Iago and Shakespeare's methodologies for employing allegory, symbolism, and mimetic plot and character construction shed light upon Shakespeare's self-reflexive use of poetry as an art of imitation. More specifically, the contrast between Shakespeare and Iago's poetry delineates between dynamic and reductive uses of allegory, emphasizes an Aristotelian model of mimesis that makes reason integral to plot and character formation, and underscores an ethical function to poetry generally. In consequence of the division between Iago and Shakespeare as unethical and ethical poets respectively, critical contention concerning the play's representation of race and gender receive commentary. While Iago authors reductive narratives that lead to stereotypes, Shakespeare's narrative critiques and condemns the works of his villain to argue against common opinion and customs which deny justice by replacing individuality with generalizations about groups of people. Moreover, as he demonstrates Iago's conscious, manipulative creation of such reductive narratives for his own purposes, Shakespeare draws attention to the construction of narratives both within and without poetry, and, in so doing, he defends poetry against the Puritan condemnations from his day by showing that these condemnations cannot be restricted to poetry alone. Ultimately, reading the play as metapoetry offers a perspective on Iago's characterization which blurs the typical classifications made by modern critics, challenges the notion of a reason/ imagination dichotomy wherein reason stands outside of or even in opposition to poetic imagination, and exposes the shortcoming of the critical view that Iago represents reason and the play Shakespeare's own concerns about its limitations.

Metaphor and Mimesis in an Animal Soundscape serves as a supplementary document for two pieces of contemporary concert music; HOWL, for viola, saxophone and fixed media, and Pastorale for viola and fixed media. Both works quote the second movement of Antonio Vivaldi's violin concerto, La Primavera. This quotation is used to support a musical program which explores the larger topic of metaphor in music. In addition, both pieces play with contemporary trends in music including, but not limited to, acoustic ecology and spectralism.

This paper examines the relationship between memoir and truth, and the implications of that relationship for the rhetorical work that memoirs do. It uses the grounding example of Tara Westover's 2018 memoir Educated and looks at how the recreation of events within her life works both in conjunction with the way she portrays them in the text and juxtaposed against other competing narratives, such as her mother's 2020 memoir Educating. This essay continues the work done by literary theorists such as Phillipe LeJeune, applies the critical framework developed by Katherine Mack and Johnathan Alexander in their article "The Ethic of Memoir," and encourages the reader to consider the ways in which memoirs are rhetorically acting upon the culture at large through their narrative and emotional aspects. / Master of Arts / This paper looks at the relationship between memoir and truth in memoirs. Using rhetoric as its basis, it examines memoirs in their contexts using Tara Westover's 2020 memoir Educated as a case study. It looks at the way that memory is used to build narratives, and more specifically, the way that lived personal experiences are represented in the form of the memoir genre. In considering these ideas, this paper explores questions of objective "truth" and how lived experiences can be affected by internal emotional narrative, and by extension, how that emotional narrative is depicted in memoir.

The art of theatre has been classified and critiqued as being a mimetic art which is different from architecture. The mimetic arts, such as the performing arts, occur in performance spaces concealed in the physical architecture of a theater building. This fixed location of the theatre has led to the elements of the theatre to be hidden and contained within the box of the architecture. These elements could be referred to as the "troupes of theatre" in the tradition of a group of thespians being considered a troupe. The performing arts have been traditionally confined as temporary entertainment whose lasting value is situated by virtue of existing only while being on stage within the building. Architecture, on the other hand, holds tectonic value by being present as a real, physical addition to the built environment and the world, yet it also performs as a mimetic art. This creates disconnect and discrimination against theatre, as a mimetic art, which is evident through the neglect and concealment of these troupes of theatre within architecture. This is present in contemporary architecture by the location of the portions of theatre's performances spaces being hidden and concealed within. There is a disconnect between the physical theater and the physical architecture of the building that houses it. The question then arises, could these parts of the theatre, the troupes of theatre, participate in the design of the whole building? In this thesis, the troupes of theatre are celebrated and brought into the same light as the rest of the building that normally confines them to be revealed to the world. Those troupes of the theatre that typically are contained within the box of architecture, are expressed to influence the form of the building. This thesis project seeks to reveal these troupes of theatre that are typically hidden. The troupes that are usually concealed are revealed; the stage rigging, the repetition of the level changes of the seating within a proscenium theater, the curvature of the upper levels of seating, the form of the fly space for stage rigging, the form of the house of the theatre, and the support spaces necessarily for a theatre to properly operate. They become visual design features of the building, and directly influence the architecture by being incorporated into the design. Highlighting these troupes of the theatre allow them to provide didactic information to the public through the architecture. The public is allowed to experience these troupes of the theater, regardless if they are fortunate enough to see a performance or not. Typically, contemporary theatre invites the public into the theatre to have a dialogue within and on the stage of the theatre, within the architecture. But through the troupes of theatre being directly incorporated into the design of the architecture, they invite all to participate. Contemporary theatre acts a public space in its urban framework. It invites and welcomes people of all backgrounds to move throughout, congregate, and experience the troupes of theatre in the city. This theatre encourages and welcomes the public to gather and utilize a previously, uninviting and restricted site along the waterfront in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. This dialogue and direct connection between the theatre and architecture allows for endless variations in the design of a physical theater with interpretation left open intentionally to unrestricted creativity. Rather than, the design of a theatre as a simple, concealing container for the mimetic arts to create and display this dialogue only on the stage and behind closed walls, it is through expressing the troupes of the theater mimetically and tectonically that clearly identifies the typology of the building to the public and encourages all to be included. / Master of Architecture / This thesis explores the design a proscenium style theatre with all of its necessary support spaces. The proscenium theatre requires dressing rooms, rehearsal rooms, storage, lobby, box office, event space, conference rooms, meeting rooms, a scene shop, crew rooms, offices, and many other support spaces in order for the theatre to perform properly. Typically, many of these support spaces and the actual theatre, where performances occur on stage and the audiences gathers, are hidden or concealed within the architecture of the building. The typology of the building is unknown to the public because of these support spaces are hidden in the shadows. This thesis seeks to celebrate all aspects of the theatre and have them directly influence the design of theatre building, itself. There is more of a connection between the theatre and its support spaces and the architecture of the building. The architecture takes influence from these elements of the theatre. The word “troupes” is used as a pun in reference to a group of thespians, called a troupe, to refer to the elements of the theatre that make a theatre. These troupes of theatre are clearly expressed and celebrated throughout the design of architecture for all, regardless of financial situation, to view these troupes of theatre and gain an understanding of how a theatre actually performs. The design of the physical theatre then because mimetic, imitates, learns, and celebrates, the troupes clearly and outwardly to all. This clearly identifies the typology of the building and is inclusive to all.

Denna uppsats utforskar vikten av att läsa Platon inte bara som en filosof men också som en poet med utgångspunkt i dialogformen och genom begreppet mimesis.

La version intégrale de cette thèse est disponible uniquement pour consultation individuelle à la Bibliothèque de l'Université de Montréal (www.bib.umontreal.ca/MU). / Cette thèse portant sur le potentiel musical des analyses sonores consiste en une recherche créative et artistique portant sur des propriétés caractéristiques du comportement sonore mis en lumière via divers types d'analyses et susceptibles d'assister la composition musicale. Ce travail présente l'élaboration des outils d'analyses programmés et utilisés à cette fin, en plus d'un corpus de 6 oeuvres dont l'ordre de présentation correspond à leur chronologie d'écriture, et dont la conception et l'analyse musicales sont inégalement exposées (du bref aperçu au survol exhaustif). Au fur et à mesure de la recherche, le répertoire ci-développé intègre, par élargissement conceptuel, des considérations analytiques pour d'autres phénomènes vibratoires (comme la lumière ou l'harmonie des sphères) et, esthétiquement, toute cette démarche est fondée sur le concept aristotélicien de la mimesis, où l'idéal artistique consiste en la sublimation de la nature. / This thesis about the musical potential of sound analysis consists in an artistic and creative research on characteristic properties of sound behavior revealed by various types of analysis and likely to assist musical composing. This work presents the elaboration of analysis tools programmed and used on purpose, in addition of a corpus of six works which the order of presentation corresponds to their chronology of writing, and which both conception and musical analysis are unevenly exposed (from brief to exhaustive overviews). As the research occurs, the featured repertory integrates, by a conceptual enlargement, some analytic considerations for other vibratory phenomena (as light or the harmony of the spheres) and, aesthetically, all that approach is founded on the aristotelician concept of mimesis, in which the artistic ideal consists in the sublimation of nature.