This dissertation studies the supernatural elements in Cervantes' comedies. There have been studies in the past, like the dissertation of Linton Lomas Barrett and the dissertation of Mary Lewis Dewey Weaver, that deal with some themes similar to this dissertation. The dissertati…
This thesis focuses upon the representation of Ukraine and the Ukrainian Cossacks in nineteenth-century French culture. It examines how different representations motivated by either aesthetic or ideological questions informed French readers about the existence of Ukraine and its…
The purpose of this dissertation is to examine two Spanish Golden Age picaresque novels, the Lazarillo de Tormes (anonymous, 1554) and Mateo Aleman's Guzman de Alfarache (1599, 1604), in order to explore their philosophical dimension. My underlying hypothesis is the notion that …
The early-modern period witnessed the slow demise of the old medieval order dominated by the dual authority of emperor and pope. The Age of the Crusades was also past. Princes like François I began to engage in economic and military alliances with the traditional enemy, the Musl…
In this dissertation I focus on the tension between dogma and subversion, compliance and resistance, in narratives that deal with captivity in Hispanic literatures during the period of 1551–1661. Using an eclectic approach, my thesis engages several theoretical issues oriented t…
This dissertation questions the notion of miscellany as it is applied to compilations from the high Middle Ages. My intention is twofold: to show how the interpretation of a medieval text can change when it is studied in conjunction with other texts bound in the same manuscript …
Contemporary women's literature has expanded its horizons in the last few decades. The contribution of North African women writers has successfully broadened the public's level of consciousness as it pertains to women in the literary world. Les Jeudis de Charles et de Lula (1993…
This thesis examines how medieval Byzantium is represented in French epics, romances, and chronicles of the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries within a discursive triangle formed by Exoticism/Orientalism/Otherness. Despite their geographical proximity with the Muslim world, …
The Novellino of Masuccio Salernitano has long been known for its author's predilection for particularly gruesome scenes of violent humor and horror. Nevertheless, the precise targets of Masuccio's satire have often been overlooked and his specific style of grotesque narration h…
Antonio de Nebrija (1444-1522) was one of the most important humanist scholars of his day. His role in the development of linguistic study and lexicography in Spain, though widely acknowledged on a superficial level, was largely left unstudied until the latter half of this centu…
Mamlük equestrian expertise in Egypt and Syria from mid-thirteenth to early sixteenth century reflects skills derived from a variety of sources incorporated artfully into their military institution, and which exerted influence beyond the period and the region with which it is di…
Love at first sight has been a favorite theme of love poets through the ages. This ancient topic receives a new emphasis in the poetry of late medieval Europe, where the sight of the beloved is described by poets in increasingly technical terms. In particular, poets begin to emp…
In this dissertation I present the thesis that Albert Camus' philosophic and literary work represents an important and robust contribution to the general problem of fallibility in human thought and action. I argue that Camus' work is a study in ethical fallibilism. That is, Camu…
One of the poorest nations in the western hemisphere, Nicaragua went through a process of struggle to rid itself of the oppression of the dictator Anastasio Somoza, whose rule lasted more than twenty years. In 1979, most Nicaraguans, led by the Sandinista National Liberation Fro…
This study analyses the traits which link and contrast Loti, Gide, Camus and Le Clezio in their uses of the Maghrebi site in their works. It also considers how their respective views are a product of their times and how these views have evolved. More generally, it is concerned w…
The newspaper La Nacion began publishing collaborations and chronicles of Dona Emilia (1851-1921) from 1879 and continued until she died in 1921. Chapter I presents a brief explanation of the chronicles as a genre, the most important events in Dona Emilia's life: her prolific jo…
Comparatists are often asked what they compare. A reply of "French, Chinese and Arabic" usually elicits a puzzled look and another question: "How do you bring such different things together?" The only possible reply is that these "different" literatures have already been brought…
My doctoral thesis examines the theme of wandering in contemporary French and Francophone literature as that theme is exemplified in the works of five authors: Marie Redonnet, Marie NDiaye, Tahar Ben Jelloun, Antoine Volodine, and Patrick Deville. My hypothesis is that each of t…