One of the few secular female writers of the Spanish Golden Age who received favorable criticism and was highly admired in her time was Ana Caro. However, even though critics and historians affirm that Ana Caro was a prolific writer only two of her plays are extant: Valor, agravio y mujer and El conde Partinuples. Today a few studies exist which treat the themes of Caro's play Valor, agravio y mujer, but there is no study of the versification or the internal structures of her work. Also, no comparative analysis has been made of the different editions found in various libraries. This study is divided into three chapters: the biography and literary production of Ana Caro; a critical analysis of the internal structures, and a separate chapter for the editions of Valor, agravio y mujer and El conde Partinuples with footnotes and bibliography. Chapter one traces the life of Ana Caro and calls attention to the accomplishments of this woman, in spite of an age which subordinated secular women to the narrow world of domestic life, she was able to rise above such limitations and create a work of art that in more than one way departed from the conventional forms of the Comedia of her time. The second chapter consists of a detailed investigation of the manuscripts and printed editions of the author's texts Valor, agravio y mujer and El conde Partinuples. This required the examination and comparison of all existing editions, the systematic ordering--from the earliest to the latest--and a study of the versification. This chapter also examines and discusses at length both Comedias. The last chapter consists of annotated editions of Valor, agravio y mujer and El conde Partinuples with proper emendations and the correct punctuation suggested. The dissertation concludes with an extensive appendix which includes a bibliography of the literary production of Ana Caro, versification charts of both plays, a summary of the graphic characteristics of the earliest manuscripts, and the diverse titles used in her play El conde de Partinuples. A list of the works cited closes the dissertation. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

This dissertation examines the dynamics of deceit, (dis)simulation and dualism in Francois de Rosset's poetry and prose. Both portraying and enacting simulacra, Rosset's texts and paratexts reveal a complex skein of intertextuality and allusion while embodying a critique of semiotic systems, particularly of language itself. His works manifest an obsession with the duality hegemony/marginality, while simultaneously exhibiting a yearning for an impossible unity and an attraction for figures of power. As the baroque yields to the preclassical during Rosset's lifetime (1570-1619), he conforms to Malherbian poetic principles, simulating the new esthetic by rewriting selections from his 1604 XII Beautez ... for publication in his 1618 Delices ..., a poetry anthology illustrating a politics of inclusion/exclusion. The Histoires tragiques exemplify the diabolical in action. As the epistemological shift that Foucault describes takes place, Rosset's works reflect tensions between a near-medieval world-view and an emergent but sporadic rationalism. Numerous intertextual modes create ambiguity, causing strain between elements of popular and high culture, and involving the simulation of an aristocratic narrative persona. Tromperie and transgression become a way of life and death, revealing an interplay of unstable and/or doubtful identities. Rosset's Counter-Reformational discourse dramatizes both crime and punishment. The criminal's execution effects sublimation of rampant violence, enacting a (Girardian) reconciliatory catharsis. While the Histoires tragiques stress the transgressive through sex and gore, the 1617 Histoires des amants volages present a homogeneous vision of courtly life in which inconstancy and duality become more cerebral. The ensuing critique of amorous language extends to all language, which, through iterability or miscuing, inevitably provokes tromperie. The linguistic performative lies dissimulated beneath the story line, often intervening to effect a peripeteia. Simulation here involves acting out conformity to social and linguistic codes, while dissimulation facilitates a private agenda at odds with appearances. Bridging the Renaissance and the seventeenth century, Rosset's works show a preoccupation with the arbitrariness and ambivalence of the sign, thus prefiguring the post-modern questioning of codes.

In Alain Robbe-Grillet's La Jalousie and Marcel Proust's Sodome et Gomorrhe, semantic duality of "jealousy" makes it both a realistic objective architectural element (the shutter in the window) and an abstract subjective element (the feeling of jealousy). Architectural jealousy constitutes a metaphor of romantic jealousy, which is a formalization of jealous love in the text. The romantic environment makes jealous love appear a part of "natural" reality. Some techniques are used to colorize the decor according to an "interior universe." Fragmentation of space and the delineation of text into borders contribute to illustrate the paradoxical jealous space in which one can see the object of one's jealousy, but where one always meets only oneself. The closing of the text into borders allows displacement by way of analogy, description and understatement, processes that force the reader to explore the allegorical narrative and the jealous space, a textual space. In a metaphorical place, the distortion of the narrative instance's point of view brings on analogical displacement. In La Jalousie, the traces revealing the presence of the narrator in the narrative can be observed. The motifs reflect his own image, in a jealous space. The narrator of La Recherche displaces the object of his jealousy who is not Albertine but the text itself. The text is the jealous object. The characters, as per Bakhtin's theories, try to escape the dictatorial point of view of the jealous narrator; they hide in folds of text where there exist blind spots, shades and reflections. They use the romantic fallacy to represent to the narrator the image he wishes to see. The socio-semiotic paradigm illustrates the narrator's masculine voice, which only suggests the recipient of jealousy, the "she" object. Romanticism renders dictatorial jealousy obscure; it then appears as jealous love. Jealousy constitute a metaphor of the untold in the narrative.

This thesis examines the attitudes to wealth as depicted in two contrasting literary genres: didactic verse sermons and courtly verse romances. A preliminary chapter briefly outlines the historical background, its relationship with contemporary literature and with the prominence of wealth as a literary theme. Part One, devoted to the didactic works, begins with an appraisal of the sources of the Old French attitudes to wealth, and of their mode of expression. Consideration follows of the treatment of avarice in medieval verse sermons. Thereafter the relationship between man and wealth is studied from two standpoints. Firstly man is viewed as a moral type, usually the evil rich man. Chapters Three and Four resume the opinions of the didactic poets on wealth and on man as a social type in all his different roles. Part Two, centred upon the courtly works, examines avarice as a literary topic, and goes on to consider the more dominant theme of courtly liberality. This leads to a careful analysis of the gift theme wherein are demonstrated the complexity and significance of giving and accepting gifts in courtly romance. A critical survey of attitudes to wealth embraces also attitudes towards poverty, and a study of the ways of amassing wealth includes the approved courtly remedies for poverty. Wealth is overshadowed only by the theme of love in the romances. Accordingly the thesis ends with a study of the conflicting attitudes to wealth in relation to love found in courtly society and in its heroes. The General Conclusion assesses how far the two literary genres differ and coincide regarding attitudes to wealth, and seeks to establish why.

The eighteenth century was a period in which the whole aim of education was challenged: was it, as was generally accepted at the end of the seventeenth century, an institution to enable the individual to live more agreeably, both through the direct acquisition of scholastic knowledge, and, more important still, through the indirect acquisition of those qualities necessary to negotiate ones path through the complexities of 'le beau monde' or was its aim, on the other hand, more vast, embracing the whole of society? Was it not already tacitly accepted that men were being educated for the particular society existing in France at the time; could not more positive rules be formulated, for which perhaps the policies of ancient Crete, Greece, Rome and other states might prove an inspiration? How far was education a political matter, and to what extent did the current political situation in France impede the interaction of government and education? These were some of the important questions which little by little were asked as theorising on the aims, as opposed to the methods, of education developed and was gradually taken up by a wider circle of thinkers than simply those directly concerned in education. The present study is intended to demonstrate the evolution of educational theory from the exclusive education of the princes and ruling class - an education at once ill-suited for teaching the knowledge which could be of real service to those destined to govern and morally and scholastically ideally tailored to preserve the existing social structure - to a state organised educational system providing for the education of every citizen, as by natural right, in the recognition that such a general and public education would be for the common good of the French nation.

The detailed history of Rousseau's reputation in France in the nineteenth century is gradually being written. The general outline provided by Albert Schinz(1) and Raymond Trousson(2) is being filled in. F.G. Healey opened the way with his Rousseau et Napoleon in 1957(3). Jean Roussel has followed in 1972 with his Rousseau en France apres la Revolution, 1795-1830. (4) The aim of this thesis is to provide a further contribution to the history of "Rousseauism". In our Introduction, we draw on secondary sources to give an outline of Rousseau's reputation in France prior to 1848. We then proceed to examine in detail the attitudes of six writers of 1848 regarding Rousseau. This constitutes the body of our thesis.1848 marks a watershed. Soon after Louis Philippe's accession to the throne in 1830, the inactivity and corruption of his regime began to provoke general dissatisfaction among the population at large. The question of social justice was discussed everywhere in France. Writers were to be found who not only drew attention to the social evils of the time but who put forward suggestions for reform; some even argued in favour of a return to the Republic. Prominent among such (1) Cf. Etat, present des travaux sur J.-J. Rousseau, Paris,Societe Les Belles Lettres and New York, Modem Language Association of America, 1941.(2) Cf. Rousseau et sa fortune litteraire, Bordeaux, Ducros, 1971. (3) Geneve, Librairie Droz et Paris, Librairie Minard. (4) Paris, Librairie Armand Colin. Writers were Alphonse de Lamartine, Pierre Leroux, Jules Michelet, George Sand, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and Louis Blanc. These were the "men of 1848". Indeed, when the Revolution broke out in February, 1848, Lamartine, who was made Minister of Foreign Affairs, virtually headed the Provisional Government while aiding the eighty-one year- old President, Dupont de l'Eure; and Blanc became President of the Luxembourg Commission after having first served as one of the three Secretaries to the Government. We have chosen to study these six figures because they reflect the spirit of change which characterizes 1848 and because for all of them Rousseau had great significance. This, in spite of the fact that, as R. Trousson has indicated (1), the period of the 1848 Revolution, unlike the period of the 1789 Revolution, is generally unfavourable to Rousseau: on the right, Lamartine's intense anti-Rousseauism is matched by Proudhon's on the left; Leroux, Michelet, G. Sand and Blanc stand out as declared disciples; yet, as will be seen for the first time in our detailed study, they too in many respects belong to their age in their fundamental misunderstanding of Rousseau's philosophical and political ideas.

This thesis comprises: (i) A bibliography of all works, literary and medical, known to be by Jacques Grevin (1533-1570), or attributed to him. This bibliography incorporates texts and editions discovered by the present author. (ii) A biography, bringing up to date the previous most extensive biography by Lucien Pinvert (1899). This includes an evaluation of works attributed to Jacques Grevin, notably the verse Epistre au Tigre (1561) and the Temple de Ronsard (1563), in an attempt to resolve the question of authorship. (iii) A detailed study of every reference to contemporary religious controversy found in Grevin's writings, and also of comments made by his contemporaries about his convictions, in an attempt to evaluate his religious allegiance. (iv) A discussion of Grevin's literary relationships with the most prominent contemporary poets: successive chapters are devoted to Ronsard, Du Bellay and the other poets of the Pleiade. An attempt has been made to note every significant source of inspiration found by Grevin in the Pleiade poets and to assess the extent and the manner of his borrowing from these poets. In the case of Ronsard and Du Bellay, Grevin's personal relationship with them is also analysed. (v) An annotated edition of Grevin's Preceptes de Plutarnue monstrant la maniere comme il faut se gouverner en mariage (1558). This translation of Plutarch was done while Grevin was still at school and was soon afterwards prepared for publication. In the introduction and notes of the present edition Grevin's text is compared with the Greek original, in the form in which it was known to him and his contemporaries, and with contemporary Latin and French translations (by La Boetie, Amyot, Jean Lode, Jehan de Marconville, Speroni degli Alvarotti and Jacques de la Tapie) in order to analyse his working methods. (vi) A bibliography of relevant works.

Much recent writing on the 'fortuna' of Machiavelli deals with predictable authors (mainly of historical treatises and popular political pamphlets) who have long been associated with Machiavelli. This thesis aims to set the discussion in a wider context by taking into account those poets and dramatists who can be shown to have had first hand knowledge of Machiavelli. Examination of classical and Biblical sources has helped to determine the precise influence of the Italian author. This method has revealed that sixteenth century writers, when unimpeded by political loyalties, were able to form an impartial and reasoned opinion of his works, and has extended considerably documentation of the range of passages in Machiavelli known to the sixteenth century. As well as examining their poetry, I have discussed, where applicable these authors' prose treatises which confirm their preoccupation with Machiavelli and which often provide a key to the correct interpretation of their poetry and drama. Study of the ambivalent attitude of many of these writers towards Machiavelli helps to deepen our appreciation of the complexity and subtlety of the fiction of the period. With the exception of Ronsard, there is a short biography of each of the authors considered---Pierre Matthieu, Estienne Jodelle, Jean de La Jessee, Louis Des Masures, Agrippa D'Aubigne, Alexandre de Pont-Aymery, Robert Garnier and the La Taille brothers. In some cases, this is the first time such biographies have been established and they have called, attention to lesser known works which are nevertheless of historical value. This study concludes that Machiavelli's ideas held an enduring interest and fascination for the major French poets and dramatists of the Renaissance.

La Fontaine's literary and intellectual evolution is characterized by a hesitant and conscientious exploring of side-tracks which require to be analysed in order to appreciate the complex realities behind the poet s literary creation. His life which spanned three quarters of a century is divided in this study into six broad stages, corresponding more or less to the major events and influences on his career: childhood education, the search for literary models, the creation of intellectual poetry, the approach to maturity, intellectual maturity, old age and decline. These stages are considered as a series of intellectual experiences culminating in the formation of La Fontaine's personality as a literary artist and an epicurean moralist. The poet became an intellectual after undergoing various experiences from the world around him. His curious and eclectic temperament made him highly susceptible to all sorts of influences as well as kept his mind constantly on the move, from one literary genre to another, from literature to philosophy, philosophy to science, science to history and thence back to literature. This intellectual mobility drew inspiration from various sources, both ancient and modern, to which La Fontaine was exposed. Thus the formation of his mind and art owes a lot to the complex and interacting influences of such ancient writers and thinkers as Plato, Homer, Epicurus, Horace, Lucretius, Ovid, Apuleius, Virgil, Seneca, and nearer home, Montaigne, Marot, Malherbe, Gassendi, Malebranche, Spinoza, Leibniz and others. La Fontaine took something from each of these thinkers for the building of his own intellectual personality. It mattered little to him whether their influences were of the past or of his own generation; he submitted to them in his own particular manner so long as they represented his ideal and conception of life. La Fontaine was generously endowed with the innate powers of imagination, observation and sensitivity which, coupled with his amiable disposition, won him numerous admirers, friends and influential patrons who aided his intellectual growth. This growth, the subject of our study, is reflected in the mature reaction of the poet's particular genius to the problems posed by his age.

The thesis examines the theme of reverie in the work of Stendhal, seeking to illustrate, firstly, its significance in the context of his work as a whole, and, secondly, its function in the major novels. Part I considers the occurrence, of reverie throughout the Stendhalian corpus. A comparative study of adjuncts to reverie in Stendhal and Rousseau is undertaken in Chapter One, emphasising the similar sensibility and, at the same time, the individuality of the two authors. Chapter Two deals with the personal and environmental factors conditioning the onset of reverie. Certain adjuncts to reverie are discussed in Chapters Three and Four, in order to underline the very personal nature of Stendhal's reaction, firstly, to nature and, secondly, to the arts. An analysis of categories of reverie undertaken in Chapter Five demonstrates the richness and complexity of the theme and examines some of the synonyms involved. Part II investigates the role of reverie in the fictional work of Stendhal. Chapter Six examines its function in the characterization, structure and denouement of Armance. The rather differen. part played by reverie in the structure and denouement of Le Rouge et le Noir is shown in Chapter Seven, while Chapter Eight suggests reasons why the role of reverie in Lucien Leuwen is less important than in the other major novels. Chapter Nine concentrates on the structural function of reverie in La Chartreuse de Panne and on its contribution to the elegiac atmosphere of the work. The significance of reverie in what we possess of Larniel is assessed in Chapter Ten. In the Conclusion, the main findings from the investigation are discussed. Reverie is seen to be an important theme in the fictional works of Stendhal. By stamping the term with his peculiar brand of irony, Stendhal gives his own dimension to the word reverie. The most significant result to arise from an approach to the novels via reverie concerns structure: a definite pattern emerges in the novels and the term is recurrent in Stendhal's thought, to the extent of forming a vertebral column in his work. Indeed, Stendhalian literary creation is found to be an escape into, and at the same time a development from, reverie. The thesis shows that each of Stendhal's novels closes on an optimistic note, with the triumph, despite the bleakness of the world outside, of the dream itself, surely the most complete and the most perfect experience of reverie.