Arts and Humanities Commons^™

Le Chemin Détourné, Ailie Coffey

University Honors Theses

Le Chemin détourné is an original fairy tale in French about Melisende and Olivier Fournier. One day, Melisende disappears on her way home. Although her disappearance is a mystery, she was taken prisoner by the fairies as revenge against her mother. Her father Jehan and brother Olivier are very distressed, Jehan goes out after her immediately but, worried about Olivier’s safety, asks him not to go out after his sister. On the third night that she is gone, Olivier decides to go out to look for her anyways, and even though he is terrified to leave home, he sets out …

Le Gout Qui Reste: Cultural Identity And Belonging In Ook Chung's Kimchi, Taurean James Weber-Laurencio

Dissertations and Theses

The emphasis placed on the questioning of identity in Québécois society since the Quiet Revolution of the mid-twentieth century continues to this day. Whereas this search for a specifically Québécois identity was originally cast in terms of an Anglophone/Francophone divide, the influx of migrants from around the world to the province since the 1970s has rendered such a simplistic, binary discourse impossible. The population of Québéc in general and of Montréal in particular is now multicultural; visible minorities now constitute twenty-six percent of the Montréal populace. While most migrants in Québéc are able to find a niche in Montréal in …

Christine De Pizan's Passive Heroines: Recoding Feminine Identities In Le Livre De La Cité Des Dames And Le Ditié De Jehanne D'Arc, Evelyn Ives Mills

Dissertations and Theses

Over the course of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, Christine de Pizan has resurfaced in the academic and literary spheres as a paragon of proto-feminist thought. This modern fascination with the fifteenth-century writer is largely grounded in her surprisingly progressive views on a woman's right to receive an education, to govern and achieve financial freedom. More recently, scholars have lauded Christine's later works for their reinterpretation of what it meant to be a woman in fifteenth-century Europe. The present study examines this latter goal of Christine de Pizan's writing specifically in the context of the heroic feminine identity she constructs …

Anachronisme, Rebuts Et Survivances Dans Les Escaliers De Chambord Et Le Dernier Royaume De Pascal Quignard, Etienne Lussier

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis investigates the particular conception of time developed by Pascal Quignard in his series Dernier Royaume and his novel Les escaliers de Chambord. We argue that this conception of time, which Quignard refers to as Le Jadis, operates through an anachronistic method based on a semiotic apparatus of waste, or rejects. The argument is presented in three different chapters. The first chapter uses the work of Jacques Rancière and Georges Didi-Huberman to show the way in which the concept of anachronism embraces a temporality that blurs the lines between past, present, and future and creates openings to …

Language, Memory, And Exile In The Writing Of Milan Kundera, Christopher Michael Mccauley

Dissertations and Theses

During the twentieth century, the former Czechoslovakia was at the forefront of Communist takeover and control. Soviet influence regulated all aspects of life in the country. As a result, many well-known political figures, writers, and artists were forced to flee the country in order to evade imprisonment or death. One of the more notable examples is the writer Milan Kundera, who fled to France in 1975. Once in France, the notion of exile became a prominent theme in his writing as he sought to expose the political situation of his country to the western world--one of the main reasons why …

"Vitalité": Race Science And Jews In France 1850-1914, Kendra Beth Hendrickson

Dissertations and Theses

Race science is built on ideas of division and categorization. In the historian's quest to tell the story of race science, certain frameworks have been used that can greatly inhibit our understanding of this fraught topic. The impulse to study race science in the framework of the nation-state has led to certain misconceptions and lends itself to a historical narrative wherein racist concepts stop at artificially imposed borders. In addition, the national framework detracts from the individual's contributions and instead lumps these contributions together on the level of the nation-state, thus opening the door for judgments about whole nations being …

Le Développement Du Moi Et Le Procédé Thérapeutique Dans Les Œuvres De Chrétien De Troyes, Clément Guillaume

Dissertations and Theses

While we can easily acknowledge that many aspects the texts written by Chrétien de Troyes have been studied and discussed through the centuries, it is always possible to apply a new reading to the author's work. Like many authors of the same time period, the author of Le Conte du graal and LeChevalier de la charrette was not only writing for the audience of his time but was also openly targeting an audience set in a different century and social context. This timeless aspect of Chrétien's work is part of what makes his texts intricate and still relevant to this …

Truth And Memory In Two Works By Marguerite Duras, Rachel Deborah Hunter

Dissertations and Theses

Published in 1985, Marguerite Duras' La Douleur is a collection of six autobiographical and semi-autobiographical short stories written during and just after the German Occupation. Echoing the French national sentiment of the 1970s and 1980s, these stories examine Duras' own capacity for good and evil, for forgetting, repressing, and remembering. The first of these narratives, the eponymous "La douleur," is the only story in the collection to take the form of a diary, and it is this narrative, along with a posthumously published earlier draft of the same text, that will be the focus of this thesis. In both versions, …

La Chanson D'Yde Et Olive: A Parable Of A Medieval Self-Made Man, NoéMie Young-Studer

Dissertations and Theses

La chanson d'Yde et Olive, an early fourteenth-century epic poem from the Picard region, exemplifies the medieval custom of text renewal that seeks to adapt pagan materials to fit Christian doctrine. Largely based on the plot of the Ovidian fable Iphis and Ianthe from The Metamorphoses, its main character Yde undergoes a metaphorical transformation from a woman into a man. Moreover, much like the Ovide moralisé, a Christianized adaptation of the Latin original, Yde et Olive's message can be understood as a Christian parable for the purging of the sinful soul. To set up the poem's didactic message, the poet …

Divertir Et Instruire Dans Les Livres Pour Enfants D’Henri Bosco, Laurence Karine Graire

Dissertations and Theses

The theme of this thesis is the double focus of reading: pleasure and learning. Reading allows the readers, not only to identify themselves but also to escape from their everyday life. However, reading is more than a simple amusement, the cultural and personal enrichment it provides is especially valuable. Precisely because of the nature of the audience for children's literature, there is a deep desire from the author to teach the readers. The personality of the child is being formed and education with books is critical in laying a good foundation. Consequently, the writer, through the account he narrates, offers …

The Influence Of Cathar Philosophy, Thought And Everyday Life On The Works Of Selected Troubadour Poets, Marilyn Ann Lucas

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis presents an examination of the influence of Cathar philosophy, doctrine, and life style on selected works of troubadour poets. Whether Cathar ideology is revealed clearly, secretly, allegorically, symbolically, or not at all in the poetry of the troubadours, has been discussed and debated from a variety of angles by various scholars. There appears to be no completely convincing evidence either way. Some authors argue that the language of the troubadours was in fact the secret language of the Cathars. Others contend that the troubadours and the Cathars had very little to do with each other. Denis de Rougemont …

"Qui Vauroit Bon Vers Oïr": Voice, Text, And Social Insight In Aucassin Et Nicolette, Lonnie Tristan Renteria

Dissertations and Theses

Aucassin et Nicolette has stimulated much dialogue among scholars. Literary genres clearly express perceptions that are representative of an historical period and culture, and Aucassin et Nicolette's tendency to synthesize literary genres, namely poetry and prose, raises many points relative to the social sphere in which it came into existence. To best illuminate these characteristics in Aucassin et Nicolette, an eclectic approach to the text is in order.

The first chapter explores the manner in which the story is told, focusing on the voice as it is the artist's tool to transmit emphatic information. The poet is performer, …

Hiroshima Mon Amour And L'Annee Derniere A Marienbad: Meaning Conveyed Through Cinematic Organization, Ellen Leigh Agee

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examines how the cinematic organization of film is used to convey meaning. Hiroshima mon amour (1959) and L'Annee derniere a Marienbad (1961) I two films directed by Alain Resnais, are used as models for this purpose. This thesis argues for a new type of film criticism, one that recognizes the uniqueness of film by adding technical analysis to the literary methods that currently dominate. Traditionally, film criticism has followed two directions: firstly that of the "film reviewer" whose efforts bow to the economic needs of the industry, and secondly the academic or scholarly approach which is based in …

Influence De La Presence Et De L'Absence De La Mere Sur L'Education Des Jeunes Filles Au Xviie Siecle A Travers Des Pieces De Moliere, Morgane Jourdren

Dissertations and Theses

Au XVIIe siecle, le fondement theorique de toute societe de est la famille. Cette derniere repose sur l'autorite du pere, auteur des jours et de l'instruction. A cette epoque, l'influence maternelle sur l'education des jeunes filles est essentielle car la place et le role de la femme font alors l'objet d'un debat. L'education conventionnelle inculquee au couvent prepare la jeune fille a son triple role d'epouse, de mere et de gouvernante. L'institution matrimoniale impose la soumission de la femme et le respect de la hierarchie des sexes. Mais des voix se sont elevees contre cette education morale trop rigoriste, cette …

The Redemptive Role Of Chivalry In Old French Arthurian Romance (12th And 13th Centuries), Nora Jane Peacock

Dissertations and Theses

Many medieval authors used religious imagery to influence their religiousminded audiences. Old French Arthurian romances are laden with religious images and allegoric undertones drawn from contemporary religious beliefs. The purpose of the present study is to examine the changes in redemptive imagery as represented through certain characters in the romances studied and to demonstrate how the religious views of the Middle Ages were assimilated into this body of Arthurian literature. Two main themes arise from this study: the dynamic quality of the religious images and the functions and purpose of redemption in regards to the final spiritual quest in the …

Images Of Women In Abdelhak Serhane's Le Soliel Des Obscurs, Wendy Grace Cook

Dissertations and Theses

Current trends in North African francophone literature include a movement towards the exploration of alienation and exile, most often in the form of novels written about Maghrebian immigrants in Europe. Yet this alienation exists within the North African context as well, and it is possible to feel alienated and exiled, as well as marginalized, within one's homeland. This question is explored by Moroccan francophone author Abdelhak Serhane in his novel, Le Soleil des obscurs, which is the focus of this study.

The purpose of the research is to examine the four principle female characters in the novel and relate …

Le "Devenir Féminin" Dans La Sociéte Moderne Occidentale À Travers Les Deux Romans De Virginie Despentes, Nadia Louar

Dissertations and Theses

Les deux premiers romans de Virginie Despentes, Baise-moi (1995) et les Chiennes Savantes (1996), attestent de la mutation socio-culturelle qui affecte la societe contemporaine. Son style insolent, son langage corrosif et volontairement Prosaïque confirme et signe I 'évolution dans le monde occidental des valeurs, des désirs et aspirations de 1'homme, et plus crucialement de la femme des années 90. Plus qu'une révolution des moeurs, on assiste dans ses deux premières oeuvres á une véritable mutation culturelle qui bouleverse les rôles et modéles traditionnels des individus dans la société. Ce bouleversement qui s'exprime dans la vie banale, mais définitivement violente de …

Les Passions D'Annie Ernaux : De La Biographie A L'Âecriture, Nathalie Cox

Dissertations and Theses

Dans les livres d'Emaux la quete de la liberte joue un role important et en suivant l'histoire, on decouvre une tragedie dans la vie des personnages. Cette these va examiner les rapports familiaux et le langage d 'Annie Emaux. Par I' autobiographie les romans revelent I' angoisse dans le present de la narratrice qui existe dans le texte par le courant de conscience et coincide avec l'histoire. Les experiences et le vecu sont retransmis par I' ecriture qui recree la realite du temps de sa jeunesse. On pourra demontrer que Annie Emaux a reussit a relier les images au vivant, …

La Representation De La Femme Aristocrate En Periode Post-Revolutionnaire: Balzac Moraliste Chretien Et Apologiste De La Passion, Isabelle Marie Renard

Dissertations and Theses

Honore de Balzac appartient a cette generation de geants du romantisme flamboyant: politiquement et socialement, il est honorable bourgeois, se souvient des deceptions de l'epoque dechue et prone par consequent le culte du souvenir imperial, ainsi que celui de la passion. C'est pourquoi nous trouvons de constantes ambivalences dans la representation de la femme du monde ainsi que des contradictions deroutantes quant a leur droit d'aimer. Balzac peint des etres d'exception, mais, malgre la place et le role tres important qu'il leur accorde, ces femmes subissent le droit de jugement ultime de l'auteur quand elles s'abandonnent a la passion; leur …

Medieval Christocentric Imagery In Selected Novels By Georges Bernanos, Catherine Ann Elia

Dissertations and Theses

In the fictional world of the twentieth century author, Georges Bernanos, a medieval spirituality is reflected through Christocentric imagery. This study highlights the Christocentric focus of medieval spirituality found in three bernanosian characters: Donissan in Sous le Soleil de Satan, Chantal in La Joie, and le cure d'Ambricourt in Journal d'un cure de campagne. Two medieval images, the Mirror and the Way, provided a backdrop for considering common thematic characteristics. This study is divided into two parts. Part One comprises two chapters which present background for textual analysis in Bernanos' three novels. Chapter one explores formative elements in medieval spirituality. …

Bridging The Generation Gap In The Works Of Gabrielle Roy, Camille G. Dean

Dissertations and Theses

Gabrielle Roy's novels are filled with images of childhood and aging, of family, of rural and urban French-Canadian settings, and of Roy's experiences as a young, impressionable teacher. The generation gaps present themselves in many human relationships and thread themselves throughout Roy's works. For this thesis, the generation gaps will be studied in three important relationships.

Part One presents largely the relationships within the microcosm of the family. It explores the gap between mothers and daughters. La Rue Deschambault, La Route d'Altamont, and Bonheur d'Occasion are included. The relationship between the father and child in La Rue Deschambault …

Lettres D'Une Peruvienne: An Enlightenment Utopian Novel, Susan Leigh Weir

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examines Francoise de Graffigny's eighteenthcentury novel, Lettres d'une Peruvienne. focusing on the aspects that demonstrate its consideration as a utopian work, or moreover, as a feminist utopian work. The first chapter is developed from the premise about utopian fiction that the author's life must be considered since it is out of his or her "lived social experience" that utopian visions are born. Utopias, many have argued, are born out of reactions to social inequities and injustices. This chapter thus presents and analyzes, Graffigny's life especially where it shows needs for a future utopia. The second chapter explores definitions …

In Search Of Roots: A Study Of Camus' Autobiographical Le Premier Homme, Judy Ann Davis

Dissertations and Theses

Albert Camus' posthumously published novel, Le Premier Homme, shows a new facet of this great twentieth-century writer's art. Intensely personal, the novel speaks of the coming of age of a "pied-noir" (French Algerian) boy and his search for roots as an adult. Simultaneously, Camus endeavors to tell the story of his ancestors, the French Algerians. The purpose of this thesis is to examine protagonist Jacques Cormery's search for roots by: 1) discussing the formative elements of his identity uncovered in the nostalgic voyage in time through an anecdotal construction of his childhood and the history of his ancestors, 2) linking …

The Feminine Poetic Voice In The Rymes Of Pernette Du Guillet, Darcy Renee Murphey

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examines Pernette du Guillet's Rymes, focusing of her feminine poetic voice and her merit as a Neoplatonist Renaissance poet. In a time when literary endeavors were almost exclusively the domain of men, women presenting themselves as writers were often judged on the appropriateness of women writing as well as the quality of their work. Women had to forge their own identity as writers and find their own voice within a patriarchal society and literary community.

The Introduction provides a social and literary framework for Pernette's work and presents pertinent ideas on using feminist literary criticism in the …

The Complexities Of Translation: Theories And Practicalities, Alice Ferguson

Dissertations and Theses

What are the difficulties involved in transferring a work of literature from one language to another, and what contributions might an analysis of the translation of a literary work make to the field of translation studies? These questions are explored in this thesis through the exploration of translation theories in general, and the analysis of one particular case with consideration of the theoretical implications it presents. The case study involves the comparison of the novel Gouverneurs de la rosée, written in 1944 by Haitian author Jacques Roumain, with Masters of the Dew, the translation by Mercer Cook and Langston …

Within And Beyond Boundaries In Henri Bosco's Le Mas ThéOtime, Barbara Marguerite Schaff

Dissertations and Theses

Spiritual, mystic and natural boundaries haunt the writings of Henri Bosco. Critics such as Bachelard have studied Bosco's interpretation of the natural elements and noted his sensitive portrayal of the protagonists with a focus on their unconscious desires by the use of this device. In Le Mas Theotime Bosco has unleashed his artistic and poetic creativity in addition to his passion for nature. Indeed, of all of Bosco's novels, perhaps this one exemplifies the quintessential harmony of man with nature. As suggested by Jean-Claude Godin: " ... il n'y a que dans Le Mas Theotime oil elles soient veritablement au …

L'Être Et Le Paraître À Travers Cinq Romans De Raymond Queneau, Mireille J. Balland

Dissertations and Theses

The writings of Raymond Queneau span a period of more than forty years and reflect the multiplicity of his approaches: essays, songs, poems, scenarios for the cinema, translations (from English to French), journal, and novels.

My study focuses mainly on five novels: Le Chiendent (The Bark Tree), Les Fleurs bleues (Between Blue and Blue), Le Dimanche de la vie (The Sunday of Life), Pierrot mon ami (Pierrot) and Zazie dans le métro (Zazie in the Metro), the one that made him known to a wide reading audience. Queneau contributed to the very rich philosophical and literary scene in France sandwiched …

The Quest According To Julien Gracq : A Study Of The Search For The Beyond In Gracq's Three Novels And His Play Le Roi PêCheur, Mary Joanne Johnson Wolter

Dissertations and Theses

Julien Gracq' s quest for the "au-delà" is similar in many ways to the Surrealists' attempts to get in touch with the Beyond and to find that mythical and ideal point where binary oppositions are no longer contradictory but complementary. However, he differs greatly from the Surrealists in that his writing is anything but "automatic". Whereas he acknowledges being influenced by the Surrealists' ideas and by the works of certain authors, notably Goethe, Wagner, and Edgar Allen Poe, his works are a unique and carefully constructed web of style techniques, double-entendres, intertextual references, poetic devices, and a deliberate blurring of …