This dissertation is devoted to an exploration of Baudelaire's correspondence from the sociopoetic perspective. Elements of form or style in the poet's letters, their unique pragmatics and social dimensions, are primary targets of inquiry. For Baudelaire, as for any epistolier, the writing of letters rests on the author's specific education, the traditions of his time, his philosophy, imagination and economic situation. As it is only through these different "filters" that Baudelaire's particular letter writing can be understood, the first part of this dissertation summarizes the main aspects of the socio-cultural history of epistolary practice in the nineteenth century. The second part focuses on the commerce of letters, what can be called the "economy" of Baudelaire's correspondence, wherein the letter is considered as an object of discourse. This section, which aims throughout to study how Baudelaire understood, considered and managed his own correspondence, also permits a close examination of the characteristic brevity of many of his letters. Without the self-indulgence of a diary, Baudelaire's correspondence is nevertheless related to this genre by the level of introspection it contains. Throughout his letters, for himself and the "Other", Baudelaire was preoccupied with defining his identity; increasingly this effort was concentrated on the creation of a persona, that of the Poet. The third and last part of this dissertation explores the staging and textualization of this ideal self.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.35701 |
| Date | January 1998 |
| Creators | Fisher, Martine. |
| Contributors | Everett, Jane (advisor) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | French |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Département de langue et littérature françaises.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001655387, proquestno: NQ50161, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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