Issued also as thesis, Bonn. / Bibliography: p. 7-22.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Issued also as thesis, Bonn. / Bibliography: p. 7-22.

Inaug.-diss.--Zürich. / Vita.

Thèse--Upsala. / "Textes dépouillés": p. [136]-139.

No description available.

Inaug.-Dis.--Basel. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Syphilis caused unprecedented terror as it rapidly spread through Western Europe at the onset of the sixteenth century. In France, a flourish of literary production specifically about syphilis provides an important record of various reactions to what constituted the first known experience of deadly disease, sexually transmitted. This dissertation examines three types of literary representations of syphilis in texts dating from 1500-1550, by authors as familiar as Rabelais and Jean LeMaire de Belges, in addition to many that remain anonymous. With a foundation of anthropological theories of sickness as danger and pollution, psychoanalytic theory is employed to elucidate the thought processes that led to the pervasive blaming and scapegoating of women, the most common social reaction to syphilis seen in this literature. Organization of texts on the same subject into separate units was achieved by considering the tone with which they deal with syphilis. Chapter One presents and analyses Le Triomphe de Treshaulte et Puissante Dame Verolle, the only known Renaissance compilation of texts about syphilis. Reliance on allegory and myth to explain the origins and causes of syphilis make this text a prime example of socially sanctioned literary reaction to the disease, clearly the most polite discourse found to date. Chapter Two examines the cornucopian representations of syphilis found in Rabelais. As a monk, physician and writer, Rabelais had a unique and varied perspective on the disease. His text imitates, reverses or mocks most common reactions to syphilis while advancing the important message of 'temperance in all things' that forms and informs his works. Twelve popular poems, mostly anonymous, are presented in Chapter Three. Analysis of vivid, realistic descriptions of loss associated with syphilis and a discourse of warning whose foundation rests on the denigration of women demonstrate that these texts were both cathartic and didactic. A compilation and translation of the works discussed in chapters one and three appear as special appendices, so that these cultural artifacts may be considered in future studies of social reaction to deadly, sexually transmitted disease in Renaissance France.

This study aims to explore how the Alexander Romance entered the Persian literary tradition and to understand precisely its influence. The main question addressed is whether the Alexander Romance was part of the pre-Islamic Persian tradition and, if so, what its key characteristics were. Because of the dearth of pre-Islamic Persian sources, this thesis is necessarily mostly based on early Arabic and Persian sources written in the early Islamic period, some of which were derived from pre-Islamic traditions. Aside from the Shāhnāma of Firdawsī, the Arabic histories (Ṭabarī, Dinawarī, the anonymous Nihāyat al-‘arab, the Ghurar al-Sayr of Thaʻālibī) included Alexander in their chapters on the Kayānid kings, presenting him as the half-brother of Dārā (Darius III). My examination of these histories largely focuses on their understanding of the Persian descent of Alexander, which is derived from the Sasanian Khudāynāmag. Most scholars have looked askance at the presence of a positive perspective on Alexander in the Persian world because the Zoroastrian tradition usually presented him as a cursed figure and one of Persia’s worst enemies. Perhaps one of the original contributions of this thesis will thus be its demonstration of the existence of a very positive view of Alexander in the classical Arabic and Persian sources that is not just the result of biases derived from the Islamic era, but which also reflects the viewpoint of numerous pre-Islamic Persian sources on Alexander. Current research in the field also focuses on the influence of the Alexander Romance on Persian epics, romances and storytelling. In this respect, I have focused mainly on the two key literary genres: the popular romances, mainly in prose, and the epics, mainly in verse. Of great interest to this study are the Dārābnāma of Ṭarsūsī (twelfth century), the epic of the Shāhnāma of Firdawsī (tenth–eleventh century), besides the Iskandarnāma of Niẓāmī (twelfth century). These works all preserve stories about Alexander the Great from the pre-Islamic Persian tradition.

This study proposes to show that Pirandellian echos abound in Samuel Beckett's dramatic works, especially in En Attendant Godot and Fin de partie. Pirandello and Beckett both explore a new consciousness concerning the relationship of man to life. Their works embody the fundamental theme of human suffering. / Three aspects of Pirandellism are analyzed: reality of the unreal, comedy of surface appearance, and paradox of alienation. These elements constitute respectively the three chapters of this study. To illustrate the Pirandellian dimension, Enrico IV and Sei personaggi in cerca d'autore are analyzed for details that emphasize the aspects of Pirandellism in Beckett. / Chapter One shows how in the works of both Pirandello and Beckett the mind is seen in multiple form thereby making it difficult for man to distinguish between the real and the unreal. The chapter also explores the playwrights' universe of chaos, and the collapse of absolutes, and disintegration of the self. / Chapter Two presents man in his comic incongruity and examines the tedium of existence which lies beneath the surface appearance, namely: human incommunicability, suffering, loneliness, and isolation. The last Chapter discusses the dialectics of alienation emphasizing that within the framework of deep pessimism a basic mitigating if grudging optimism can and does emerge. / In addition to a detailed analysis of Pirandellism in Beckett's works, this study deals with the theatrical links between the two playwrights. These links will be explained in terms of the thinning of the line between the stage and the auditorium, the interplay of illusion and reality, the crystalization of life and form, and above all, the fabrication of mental realities to make life less agonizing. / The thesis aims neither to force comparison nor to study a line of influences. It rather hopes to provide new interest and focus for studying and understanding Beckett. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-08, Section: A, page: 2693. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.