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.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.28041 |
| Date | January 1997 |
| Creators | Basile, Paola. |
| Contributors | Tichoux, Alein (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 | Master of Arts (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: 001608942, proquestno: MQ43831, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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