In Andre Gide's Les Caves du Vatican, an understanding of the narrative structures underlying the novel and of the symbolism attached to them necessitates using a method which acknowledges multiple levels of meaning within the work. Therefore, the present investigation utilizes the theories of Claude Levi-Strauss, a structural anthropologist. In his studies, Levi-Strauss discovered that the primary object of mythic narrative structures is the conciliation on a symbolic level of irreconcilable conflicts. Levi-Strauss' method for elucidating the deep structures of myths proves useful when applied to other narrative genres. In Gide's novel, the narrative structures evidence insurmountable conflicts at several levels which tend progressively toward resolution at the conclusion of the novel. / Our presentation contains a discussion of previous critical works on Les Caves du Vatican, followed by an elaboration of Levi-Strauss' theories and an explanation of methodology. In the third part, these theories are applied to the five orders or levels of meaning elicited from the novel: the familial, sociological, economic, intellectual, and ritual. Each of these orders is studied in terms of its apparent content or chronological sequences and also in terms of its latent content or non-manifest oppositional schemata so that we are able to bring to light its deeper symbolic meaning. In the final section, the five orders are compared and integrated so that conclusions concerning the mediation process are more clearly demonstrated. Levi-Strauss' formula for the description of mythic structure is employed as a generative and explicative base for the mediation process. / In the novel, the fundamental oppositions arising from the familial, sociological and economic orders are: amplification vs. diminution (the growth of the family as opposed to its dissolution), non-conformity vs. conformity (anti-establishment forces as opposed to the social establishment), and gain vs. loss (financial well-being as opposed to financial deprivation). In the global integration process these oppositions may be understood as transformations of the elementary opposition of freedom vs. constraint. Correspondingly, the basic oppositions which stem from the intellectual and ritual orders are demonstrable vs. intuitive (the rational and ordered as opposed to the irrational and indeterminate), and expected vs. surprising (the predictable as opposed to the unpredictable). Underlying these two oppositions is the latent opposition of order vs. chaos. / Establishment and anti-establishment forces clash at the outset of the novel. The mechanistic and systematizing base of an established order constrains and limits the characters of the novel. In conflict with the established order are vitalistic, liberating elements, forces which tend toward disruption, chaos, and disorder. For Lafcadio, who seeks an authentic mode of being, the gratuitous murder of Amedee does not in itself affirm his independence but rather engenders confusion and a crise de conscience. He is entrapped by Protos and enmeshed in family affairs by his action. Realizing that he cannot accept roles imposed on him by others, Lafcadio rejects the restraints of the system and awakens to a renewed, self-affirmation at the close of the novel. Thus, the conflict between order and chaos in Gide's novel is overcome by a self-determining freedom of action. / In Les Caves du Vatican, Gide satirically and farcically portrays fundamental conflicts which remain even today basic to the human condition. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 41-07, Section: A, page: 3129. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1980.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74224 |
| Contributors | FRANCHI, CAROL ANN., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 135 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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