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- ItemLe paradoxe de la mécanisation : l'héritage de Descartes dans la culture française du XVIIe siècle(2024) Castellón, Alexandra Miranda; Sedley, David Louis, 1968-This senior essay examines a paradox that emerges from René Descartes' conceptualization of "the method" in relation to the development of classical mechanics in the 17th century.
- ItemÉcrire l'immortalité : La nature et la transcendance chez Colette et Hannah Arendt(2021) Coleman, Jacob; Corbin, Kathryne; Brust, ImkeIn my thesis (text in French), I work primarily with Hannah Arendt's conception of immortality and eternity as proposed in The Human Condition (1958) to widely interpret depictions of "time" and "nature" in two works by Colette, Les Heures longues (1917) and Le blé en herbe (1923). I propose a definition of a "natural time" inspired by Arendt's immortal cycle, and extend this definition to the homeostatic processes within the human body, simultaneously speculating on the relationship between literature and immortality. In the final chapter, I examine Julia Kristeva's commentary of Colette, critiquing Kristeva's use of the Freudian "death drive" as not wholly applicable to Colette. I suggest an alternative view of a creative death, inspired by Simone Weil's mystic theology.
- ItemImagining Africa: Négritude and Primitivism in Corps perdu(2020) Kerper, Alyssa; Anyinefa, Koffi, 1959-; McKee, C. C.My thesis explores the way Pablo Picasso and Aimé Césaire claim Africa as a source of inspiration in their jointly-published book Corps perdu , an illustrated volume of poetry released in Paris in 1950. I look at the way Négritude, Césaire's guiding philosophy, and primitivism, an art movement popularized by Picasso, rely on a vision of Africa as both the romanticized home of "primitive," pre-colonized culture and as the site of horrific violence and exploitation. Using both text and image as evidence, I argue that the book mobilizes this conception of Africa in order to amplify the black voice in twentieth-century European culture
- ItemPost-mémoire dans l'Algérie post-coloniale : Représentations du traumatisme intergénérationnel et de l'identité chez Samir Toumi et Leïla Sebbar(2019) Soto-Canetti, Gabriela; Anyinefa, Koffi, 1959-L’histoire violente de l’Algérie a toujours été une source de traumatisme chez les générations qui ont vu le jour après l’indépendance du pays en 1962. On peut en trouver l'évidence dans les textes publiés après cette date aussi bien en Algérie qu'en France. Les représentations du traumatisme dans ces textes dépendent de la manière dont les protagonistes ont gardé la mémoire de cette histoire. Cette thèse offre une étude détaillée de deux textes, L’Effacement de Samir Toumi et Parle mon fils parle à ta mère de Leïla Sebbar, pour explorer les effets du traumatisme chez la deuxième génération de l’Algérie post-coloniale. Ces représentations révèlent que c’est à travers les récits des parents, qui ont vécu les événements traumatiques, que le traumatisme est transféré aux enfants qui vont, à leur tour, le porter en eux. C'est ce que j'appelle post-mémoire à la suite de Marianne Hirsch.
- ItemPerformance of "Apnée ou le Dernier des militants"(2019) Medansky, Kevin; Anyinefa, Koffi, 1959-; Swanson, LailaFor my thesis, I researched the history and development of Yves Reynaud’s monologue, Apnée ou le Dernier des militants, translated the script French to English, and performed the play in the original French, with English surtitles, on April 27, 2019. The text explores the life of Paul Kleinmann, who attempts to woo his neighbor by quitting smoking and staging an anti-tobacco presidential campaign, all from the confines of his apartment. Amid serious dope sickness, he must reconcile his profound hope for political change with the dangerous manifestations of power he witnesses in the news, before undergoing what he conceives of as a biological transformation into a natural leader. Although Apnée remains a comical critique of contemporary French politics, it ultimately focuses on Paul Kleinmann’s lifelong search for social connection and meaning.