Author's Thesis (doctoral)--Université Bordeaux III, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [382]-413) and index.

This thesis analyses a growing metropolitan British fascination with northern Scandinavia and Scotland towards the end of the eighteenth century. These two northern regions underwent a dramatic transformation, from being places people avoided to being realms writers considered worthy of visiting, observing and narrating. This thesis examines the importance of the primitivist discourse of northern noble savagery in that transformation. While encounters with the ‘noble savage’ were largely associated with the extra-European world, the fascination with the north was in observing Europe’s very own native examples of the breed. The Highlanders and Islanders of Scotland and the northern Scandinavians, the Sami people in particular, were often romanticised in this context. Despite the Sami being celebrated in British fiction and natural-history works at the time, there has been, in contrast with Scandinavia’s ‘Vikings’, little scholarly attention given to them in a British context. The origin and function of the northern-noble-savage discourse is anchorerd in naturalhistory texts. This study emphasises the importance of the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778), who travelled in Lapland in 1732, in constructing idealised depictions of the Sami. Linnaeus also provided a model of domestic exploration in which naturalists produced inventories of regions and their inhabitants previously relatively unmapped by the state. Although the image of the northern savage often bore little resemblance to reality, it had real application and effect. Such imagery allowed allegedly backward regions to be incorporated into the national narrative, and through this the national community sought to benefit from these peripheries and their communities. The thesis also studies the consequences of actual encounters between metropolitan observers and the local populations of these northern regions. The travelogues of the celebrated natural historian and traveller Edward Daniel Clarke (1769-1822), who sojourned in Scotland and Scandinavia in 1797-1799, is the focus of the investigation. In a comparative analysis of his Scottish and Scandinavian accounts, this study presents Clarke as an ambivalent primitivist who both praised and condemned the Highlanders and Sami. Clarke was, for example, critical of what he regarded as the superstitious beliefs of both peoples. His narrative on the Highlanders was, however, far more positive than that on the Sami because of Clarke's adherence to racial classifications, which paradoxically Linnaeus had instigated, which demoted the Sami to mere savages. After Clarke’s death in 1822, attitudes towards the Highlanders and Sami continued to diverge against a backdrop of increased racialisation in British thought. While the Highlander became firmly integrated into a British narrative, the Sami was displaced by growing interest in a Scandinavian invader of Britain, the Viking, whose image went on to provide a robust challenge to the romanticisation of the Celtic Highlander in the century that followed. Meanwhile, the optimism over the Highlands’ economic prospects that had permeated the Linnaean project of exploration in Scotland was now gone. Whereas the idealised gaze of the eighteenth-century explorer had surveyed Highland history in order to chart a course to the future, the focus of the nineteenth-century tourist tended to be firmly on the past.

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Historical notions of Noble Savagery have been contemporarily translated and massified in popular culture so that traits that “Indigenous People” are believed to possess, are conflated with those of the Noble Savage of lore and taken for granted as truth. The Noble Savage is the embodiment of the tourist’s notion of the authentic; the more traits Indigenous people are assumed to share with the western notion of the Noble Savage the more authentic they are deemed, and the more attractive they are to the visiting tourist. In Saraguro tourism and incanismo mutually validate and reinforce each other. Tourists valorize their own preconceived notions of indigenous culture, and in turn validate incanismo through participation in Incaic cultural performances. Neo-Incans are objectifying and consuming their own dreams though the tourist gaze, and the resultant cultural commodification and the (re)appropriation of a nobler past has led to cultural revalorization of an indigenous elite. / viii, 213 leaves; 29 cm

The purpose of this work is to measure the influence of the Dialogues of Lahontan (1702--3) on contemporary thought relative to the myth of the Noble Savage. The text is divided into two parts: (1) Lahontan and the idea of the "noble savage" at the beginning of the 18th century in which we deal with the life of Lahontan, the historical and cultural background in New-France and in Europe at the turn of the 18th century, the Indian tribes of Northeastern America, and finally the Dialogues of Mr le Baron de Lahontan et d'un Sauvage, which consist in a comparison between two ways of life: the "civilized" i.e., European and the "savage" i.e., Amerindian. (2) The idea of the "noble savage" in the XXth century: a study of four representative authors. This part is divided in four chapters relative to the authors chosen. In chronological order: Charles Eastman who published his works at the beginning of the century, Sun Bear in the 70s, Georges Sioui and Jean Pictet after 1970. Each author's ideas are compared with those of Lahontan and, where it applies, with those of the other authors. / The conclusion underlines the fact that the ideas expressed in the four contemporary texts, having of course characteristics marking them as belonging to their specific historical milieu, borrow much from Lahontan and finally go back to a trend of thought that originated in Antiquity.

Como sabemos, as reflexões do filósofo político e contratualista Jean-Jacques Rousseau tornaram-se referência para muitos escritores que o sucederam, principalmente no que concerne às suas considerações a propósito da vida em sociedade, ambiente vil que degenera o homem, ser bom e piedoso por natureza. Tratase do célebre conceito rousseauniano do bom selvagem, teoria cuja repercussão pode ser encontrada em obras de muitos autores do período oitocentista, entre as quais podemos destacar a do romancista francês Honoré de Balzac e a do ficcionista português Camilo Castelo Branco. Isto porque, a partir de um estudo comparativo realizado entre volumes balzaquianos e camilianos, levantou-se a hipótese de que estes escritores, ao tecerem suas críticas sociais, dialogam com a mencionada teoria de Rousseau, muito embora cada um o faça a seu modo e finde por concatenar mundividências literárias distintas, únicas e inovadoras, que particularizam, de forma marcante, ambos os cânones ficcionais. Assim posto, e levando em consideração a ausência de estudos críticos a esse respeito, nosso intento é o de analisar uma questão inédita no que concerne à comparação entre a ficção balzaquiana e a camiliana: a diferente concepção que os respectivos narradores apresentam acerca dos efeitos sociais no homem, a partir de um diálogo estabelecido por ambos com o conceito rousseauniano do bom selvagem. Vale ressaltar que o estudo comparativo aqui proposto seguirá alguns pressupostos básicos da Literatura Comparada, sendo o principal deles a busca pelas particularidades de cada literatura (Cf. ABDALA Jr., 2003). / As we know, the reflections of the political and contractualist philosopher Jean- Jacques Rousseau became reference for many writers who succeeded him, mainly as concerns the considerations regarding the life in society, a vile ambience that degenerates man, a good and pious living being by nature. This is the renowned Rousseaunian concept of the noble savage, theory that can be found reverberated in many works of 19th century authors, among which we can highlight the one of the French novelist Honoré de Balzac and the one of the Portuguese fictionist Camilo Castelo Branco. That is because, from a comparative study realized between Balzacian and Camilian works, we hypothesized that these writers dialogue, as they construct their social criticisms, with the mentioned Rousseaus theory, although each one does it in his own way and ends by concatenating distinct literary worldviews, unique and innovative, that particularize, markedly, both of the fictional canons. Therefore, and taking into consideration the absence of critical studies regarding this, our intent is to analyze an unprecedented issue concerning the comparison between Balzacian and Camilian fiction: the different conception the narrators present about the social effects in man, through a dialogue established by both of them with the Rousseaunian concept of the noble savage. It is worth to stress that the comparative study proposed here will follow some basic assumptions of Comparative Literature, the main one being the research for the particularities of each literature. (Cf. ABDALA Jr., 2003).

Como sabemos, as reflexões do filósofo político e contratualista Jean-Jacques Rousseau tornaram-se referência para muitos escritores que o sucederam, principalmente no que concerne às suas considerações a propósito da vida em sociedade, ambiente vil que degenera o homem, ser bom e piedoso por natureza. Tratase do célebre conceito rousseauniano do bom selvagem, teoria cuja repercussão pode ser encontrada em obras de muitos autores do período oitocentista, entre as quais podemos destacar a do romancista francês Honoré de Balzac e a do ficcionista português Camilo Castelo Branco. Isto porque, a partir de um estudo comparativo realizado entre volumes balzaquianos e camilianos, levantou-se a hipótese de que estes escritores, ao tecerem suas críticas sociais, dialogam com a mencionada teoria de Rousseau, muito embora cada um o faça a seu modo e finde por concatenar mundividências literárias distintas, únicas e inovadoras, que particularizam, de forma marcante, ambos os cânones ficcionais. Assim posto, e levando em consideração a ausência de estudos críticos a esse respeito, nosso intento é o de analisar uma questão inédita no que concerne à comparação entre a ficção balzaquiana e a camiliana: a diferente concepção que os respectivos narradores apresentam acerca dos efeitos sociais no homem, a partir de um diálogo estabelecido por ambos com o conceito rousseauniano do bom selvagem. Vale ressaltar que o estudo comparativo aqui proposto seguirá alguns pressupostos básicos da Literatura Comparada, sendo o principal deles a busca pelas particularidades de cada literatura (Cf. ABDALA Jr., 2003). / As we know, the reflections of the political and contractualist philosopher Jean- Jacques Rousseau became reference for many writers who succeeded him, mainly as concerns the considerations regarding the life in society, a vile ambience that degenerates man, a good and pious living being by nature. This is the renowned Rousseaunian concept of the noble savage, theory that can be found reverberated in many works of 19th century authors, among which we can highlight the one of the French novelist Honoré de Balzac and the one of the Portuguese fictionist Camilo Castelo Branco. That is because, from a comparative study realized between Balzacian and Camilian works, we hypothesized that these writers dialogue, as they construct their social criticisms, with the mentioned Rousseaus theory, although each one does it in his own way and ends by concatenating distinct literary worldviews, unique and innovative, that particularize, markedly, both of the fictional canons. Therefore, and taking into consideration the absence of critical studies regarding this, our intent is to analyze an unprecedented issue concerning the comparison between Balzacian and Camilian fiction: the different conception the narrators present about the social effects in man, through a dialogue established by both of them with the Rousseaunian concept of the noble savage. It is worth to stress that the comparative study proposed here will follow some basic assumptions of Comparative Literature, the main one being the research for the particularities of each literature. (Cf. ABDALA Jr., 2003).

The present dissertation outlines the main phases of the development of exoticism: its evolution from the discovery of Tahiti and its basic manifestations and transformations in French and Czech literature from the end of the eighteenth century to the 1930's. It focuses on the birth of the myth of Tahiti as a heavenly place (Bougainville), on its immediate philosophical interpretation in the period of Enlightenment (Diderot) and on its transposition to literature in a broader shape. At times, the island of Tahiti was gradually vanishing from the exotic myth behind another, more indefinite, exotic and ideal place, culture etc., while at other times, the presence of Tahiti was absolutely crucial. In the first half of the nineteenth century, the myth of the exotic paradise renewed literature and enriched it with new themes and motives (Chateaubriand, Romanticism), which, however, led progressively to the creation of simplified schemes and clichés. These, due to their repetitive nature, degraded the image of the myth (Loti). Although the superficial and unsophisticated adaptation of exoticism lasted until the twentieth century (Havlasa, Novák), in the meantime, from the second half of the nineteenth century, the myth of Tahiti was being radically reassessed and transposed to literature in a new way....

The overall objective of this study is, to understand how the prehistoric individual experienced her “being in the world”. This is done by examining the spatial relationships of prehistoric remains in order to understand hierarchies. The foundation of the thesis is constructed by using data from the prehistoric settlement of Letolo in Samoa (Independent State of Samoa) in West-Polynesia and Hanga Ho´onu on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in East-Polynesia. These data are stored and analysed in a Geographical Information System (GIS). In the Samoan case the intention is to make previously unpublished surveys available. An aim is to develop a method to interpret social information from the spatial relations of built structures. It is questioned if it is possible to interpret the degree of hierarchy in a prehistoric society only from the spatial relations of features. It is concluded that such an inquiry needs to be paired with preunderstanding and analogies, such as ethnohistorical data, since it otherwise is problematic to ascribe meaning to different built structures. The thesis uses ethnohistory for preunderstanding and analogy. The thesis further examines the worldviews and structures that are shown in the repeated practice of groups in the two settlements. / Det övergripande syftet med föreliggande studie är att komma närmare den förhistoriska människans upplevelse av varat, att komma närmare hennes upplevelse av att finnas till i världen. Detta görs genom att undersöka fornlämningars spatiala relationer för att förstå  hierarkier. I uppsatsen redovisas två databaser och Geografiska Informationssystem som har konstruerats utifrån fornlämningsdata från förhistoriska bosättningar på Samoa i västpolynesien och Rapa Nui i östpolynesien. På Samoa är det Letolodalen på ön Savai´i som undersöks, och på Rapa Nui är det Hanga Ho´onu vid La Pérouse-bukten som undersöks. Uppsatsen ämnar tillgängliggöra opublicerade inventeringar av Letolo på Samoa. En intention är att utarbeta specifika kriterier för att utläsa social information från den spatiala utbredningen av fornlämningar. Arbetet ifrågasätter om det är möjligt att läsa ut graden av hierarki i ett förhistoriskt samhälle utifrån de spatiala relationerna mellan fornlämningar. Svaret är att det går om analogier och förförståelse används då det annars är problematiskt att tillskriva mening till fornlämningar. Eftersom Polynesien är väl dokumenterat utifrån ett etnohistoriskt perspektiv används analogier och förförståelse från dessa berättelser. I uppsatsen undersöks vidare mentala världar och strukturer som visar sig i gruppers upprepade praktiker i de två bosättningarna.