La thèse a pour objet d’étude les récits oniriques chinois de fiction des XVIIe-XVIIIe siècles. Le corpus puise dans quatre œuvres : le Liaozhai zhiyi 聊齋誌異 de Pu Songling 蒲松齡 [1640-1715], le Zibuyu 子不語 de Yuan Mei 袁枚 [1716-1797], le Yuewei caotang biji 閱微草堂筆記 de Ji Yun 紀昀 [1724-1805] et le Honglou meng 紅樓夢 de Cao Xueqin曹雪芹 [1715 ?/1724 ?-1763 ?/1764 ?] et Gao E 高鶚 [1738 ? - 1815 ?]. L’objet de la thèse est l’analyse des diverses formes d’expression de la subjectivité, dans le contexte de la modernité émergente de la période. La subjectivité se traduit par le langage et le désir, qui forment les deux piliers, linguistique et thématique, de notre étude. L’observation s’appuie tant sur les thèmes des récits que sur leurs aspects textuels et philologiques ; elle s’efforce de dresser des comparaisons pertinentes entre des motifs communs réinvestis et des narrations qui évoluent au cours des siècles. Nous nous intéressons dans un premier temps aux caractéristiques majeures de l’imaginaire onirique chinois, en abordant notamment les notions d’« âmes » (hun 魂 et po魄), de voyage de l’esprit (shenyou 神遊), ainsi que l’imaginaire du monde invisible – enfers, irruption de l’autre monde dans les espaces quotidiens… Nous examinons ensuite les récits oniriques d’origines taoïste et bouddhiste dont l’enjeu est la prise de conscience de la vacuité de la vie humaine. La présentation des textes anciens, qui vient expliquer pourquoi des récits similaires peuplent encore la littérature des Qing, complète une analyse de la façon dont cet imaginaire est repris et parfois réinventé ou réécrit aux XVIIe-XVIIIe siècles. La thèse s’intéresse ensuite aux formes textuelles, en analysant les outils sémantiques, narratifs et langagiers par lesquels se construisent les récits. Il s’agit tout d’abord d’analyser le vocabulaire qui permet de raconter le rêve, mais aussi les techniques narratives en jeu – ainsi celle, régulièrement usitée, qui consiste à révéler la nature onirique des faits après le rêve seulement. Il s’agit par ailleurs, dans un travail de comparaison intralinguale, d’analyser en détails les différences qui existent entre plusieurs versions d’une même histoire, et plus particulièrement entre des versions en langue classique et en langue vernaculaire. L’objectif est de montrer que la langue employée par l’auteur peut en elle-même impliquer un positionnement subjectif particulier, en ce qu’elle a partie liée à l’expression de l’intériorité du personnage rêvant. Dans un troisième temps, la thèse se concentre sur l’intention dissimulée derrière le récit du rêve. La tradition la plus ancienne implique que le rêve est nécessairement lié à une interprétation donnée a posteriori. Mais les auteurs des Qing tendent de plus en plus à subvertir cette ancienne visée, jusqu’à présenter des récits oniriques n’ayant d’autre but que leur originalité ou leur recherche esthétique – en somme, des « rêves pour le rêve ». La dernière partie de la thèse met les récits du corpus à l’épreuve des théories lacaniennes du désir, l’expression du désir devenant, au cours des XVIIe-XVIIIe siècles une composante désormais essentielle des récits oniriques. Par des éléments faisant écho de façon caractéristique au fonctionnement du désir tel que la psychanalyse le décrira plus tard, certains récits oniriques des Qing apparaissent comme particulièrement pertinents quant à la manière dont les auteurs construisent la subjectivité des personnages. Cette approche théorique permet de mettre en évidence la cohérence qui soutient la production des récits de rêve et leur signification dans l’époque de la première modernité chinoise. / This doctoral thesis studies Chinese fictional dream accounts during the 17th-18th centuries. It discusses four works : Liaozhai zhiyi 聊齋誌異 by Pu Songling 蒲松齡 [1640-1715], Zibuyu 子不語 by Yuan Mei 袁枚 [1716-1797], Yuewei caotang biji 閱微草堂筆記 by Ji Yun 紀昀 [1724-1805], Honglou meng 紅樓夢 by Cao Xueqin曹雪芹 [1715?/1724?-1763?/1764?] and Gao E 高鶚 [1738? - 1815?]. The objective is to analyze various forms of subjective expression in the context of the evolution of that period. Subjectivity is expressed by language and desire, which are thus the two main pillars – linguistic and thematic – of this study. This study draws on both thematic, and textual and philological aspects. It also makes comparisons between common reinvented motifs and narratives that evolved over the centuries.Firstly, this thesis explores the main characteristics of the Chinese dream culture, in particular the notions of “souls” (hun 魂 and po魄), spirit travelling (shenyou 神遊), as well as the imagination of the invisible world – multiple levels of hell and the irruption of the other world into the daily space. Then, the thesis examines dream accounts of Taoist and Buddhist origins, the subject of which is the realization of the emptiness of human life. Comparisons are drawn with ancient texts so as to explain why specific motifs still appeared in Qing literature, and underline how these motifs were reinvented or rewritten in the 17th-18th centuries. Textual forms are studied by analyzing semantic, narrative, and linguistic tools with which the accounts are constructed. This thesis analyzes the vocabulary and narrative techniques regularly used to reveal the oneiric nature of the tale only after the dream. It also consists of intralingual comparisons that highlight the differences between several versions of a same story, particularly that between classical Chinese and vernacular versions. This demonstrates that the language chosen by the author may imply a subjective stance reflective of the dreamer’s inner self.Thirdly, this thesis focuses on the hidden intention behind dream accounts. Ancient Chinese dream accounts imply that the dream is necessarily linked to an interpretation that is given retrospectively. But Qing authors increasingly tended to subvert this traditional objective, and sometimes even produced dream accounts that had no purpose other than their own originality or a esthetic research – in other words, these were “dreams for dream’s sake”.The last part of this dissertation puts the dream accounts to the test of Lacanian theories of desire, since over the course of the 17th-18th centuries, the expression of desire became an essential component of oneiric accounts. Through elements evocative of characteristic mechanisms of desire as psychoanalysis would describe in the 20th century, some of the Qing oneiric accounts appear to be particularly relevant with respect to how authors constructed subjective fictional characters. This theoretical approach highlights the underlying coherence in the production of dream accounts and its significance in the early modern Chinese era.

Modern scholarship has generated several works on ancient Greco-Roman, Jewish or biblical oneirology, whereas it has never resulted in a book or monograph devoted solely to the study of patristic oneirology. Although many articles discuss the dreams in patristic texts, most of their authors do not analyse these dreams correctly in their doctrinal context, a context from which virtually all patristic dream narratives or discourses emerged. This thesis endeavours to remedy the deficiency in the construction of patristic views of dreams by a corresponding analytic approach. Numerous early Christian writers attempted to formulate a Christian dream theory, conceptualise dream phenomena, or interpret their own dreams or the dreams of prominent figures. This thesis argues that from their perspective, the nature of human-inspired dreams can be conceived of as creations of the soul, as indicators of the dreamer’s state and as moral reflection (Ch.1 to 3), that of demon-inspired dreams as demonic assault, temptation and deception (Ch.4) and finally that of divinely-inspired dreams as a site of epiphany, as divine messages and as the dynamic of faith reinforcement (Ch.5 to 7). In addition to investigating their thoughts on dreams, additional discussions of Greco-Roman, Jewish and biblical dream traditions will be provided as helpful references for readers to understand the background in which patristic oneirology was shaped and cultivated (Appendixes). Moreover, unlike pagan authors, these Christian writers did not elucidate dreams for oneirological, physiological or psychological purposes. Rather, their real agenda was to promulgate Christian doctrines, including the doctrines of man, asceticism, sin, demonology, God, Christology, revelation and eschatology. When they encountered dreams, they not only interpreted but doctrinalised them, just as they did to many other aspects of human life. Methodologically, they dogmatically expounded dreams so as to facilitate their dissemination of the doctrines. The making of patristic oneirology was essentially the propagation of dogmatics. Hermeneutically, they integrated doctrinal tenets into their explication of dreams. The doctrines defined the essence of dreams and even orientated their mission outside the dream world. Accordingly, their oneirological and doctrinal conceptions were intertwined and serve each other. This doctrinalised oneirology marked the birth of a new ideology of dreams in late antiquity. Hence, in each chapter the methodological and hermeneutical relationships between dreams and the related doctrine in patristic texts will be demonstrated. Due to these relationships, this thesis contends that the task of penetrating patristic views of dreams cannot be accomplished without analysing them in their doctrinal context; meanwhile, the doctrines cannot be fully represented without undertaking that task.