M.A. - Languages and Literatures of Europe and the Americas (French)

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    The Fairy Tale and the Works of Améile Nothomb
    (University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2020) Harrison, Kevin it's; Hoffmann, Kathryn; French
    A man who photographs dead women, another who has trapped a woman on an island without mirrors, and the chance encounter between a hideous ornithologist and jewelry model; these are the subjects of the novels studied in this thesis. Written by Belgian author Amélie Nothomb, these novels (Barbe bleue, Mercure, and Riquet à la houppe), even though they are quite distinct from one another, have one common thread that runs through them: the fairy tale. Nothomb does not just rewrite the plots of fairy tales; she shows how objects affect the narrative of a tale. Through jewels, mirrors, eyeballs, and photographs, Nothomb crafts unique, sometimes hybrid fairy tales that demonstrate how the physical things that fill a story can be sites of female empowerment and community. This thesis, through a combination of literary and material cultural approaches, studies the objects that appear in Nothomb's novels and unravels their function in her narratives.
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    A Quest For Mā’ohi Literature And Mā’ohi Identity In Titaua Peu’s Representations Of France In Mutismes And Pina
    (University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2020) Courat, Romy Meggane Maeva; Ségeral, Nathalie; French
    In the wake of centuries of Euroamerican literature, fundamentally rooted in Western-centered visions of Polynesia, potent alternative perspectives have now become visible in the emerging literary practices of Tahitian and other Polynesian authors over the last decades. This thesis specifically seeks to illuminate Tahitian representations of Metropolitan France and particularly in Titaua Peu’s works. It argues that recent Tahitian fiction can be very useful in understanding the complicated relationship between French Polynesia and Metropolitan France and how this relationship has changed or not over time. This thesis concentrates on Titaua Peu’s Mutismes (2003) and Pina (2017) to examine how a Tahitian author is reframing Polynesia, and in this case Tahiti, and its people’s visions of Metropolitan France, to stand in contrast to familiar tropes of Pacific personhood from Bougainville to Loti to Gauguin into the twentieth or even twenty-first century. After centuries of French literature dealing with Tahiti, Mā’ohi writers are offering their own vision, in stark contrast to prior colonial perspectives. These authors problematize past representations, and foreground highly contemporary political issues. This thesis will analyze Peu’s works, through the lenses of language, expression and representations. Through textual analysis, this thesis will show how Metropolitan France is represented. In three chapters, it shows how Peu’s work can be classified as a Mā’ohi voice, how her representations of Metropolitan France are important to understand the Tahitian perspective and how her epilogues highlight questions on history and the French Polynesian political status and relationship with Metropolitan France.
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    From Marvel to Science Fiction Intellectual and Literary History of Insects
    (University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2018-05) Dutil, Matthieu B. P.; French
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    Sounds and Silence in Eugene Inoesco's Rhinoceros and Samuel Beckett's En Attendant Godot
    (University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2015-05) Zdybel, Haley
    Roars, hoofbeats and crashes resound in the 1960 play Rhinocéros by Eugène Ionesco, while silence, pause, and rhythmic play pique the ear in the 1953 play En attendant Godot by Samuel Beckett. Using R. Murray Schafer’s conception of “soundscapes,” this analysis discusses each play’s aural atmosphere, such as those of chaos, of uncertainty, and of spectacle. These ‘soundscapes’ are determined by analyzing the place, purpose and position of different sounds within the plays’ scripts, even the sound of silence. The twentieth century played host to new developments in artistic conceptions of sound, as classical music underwent fundamental fractures while becoming integrated with technological advances in sound and music production. In fact, Michel Philippot, the director of sound at the world premiere of Rhinocéros, was a composer of early electronic music, and brought artistry into dramatic sound production. En attendant Godot does not feature sound production besides that of the spoken or silent voice, therefore silence, pause, rhythm, repetitions, dynamic tones, and musical vociferations such as singing and humming are the focus of its analysis. The two plays differ acoustically, yet each uses sound effects in compelling and meaningful ways.
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    From the Real to the Surreal: Jacques Noel's Staging of Ionesco's Rhinoceros
    (University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2015-05) Desmoulins, Chloe
    Theater is not just text; it is a performance. It is literature balanced between the written word and the visual accent. It is alive, rooted from the author's consciousness flourishing on the stage. The project of this thesis is to read Ionesco's Rhinocéros, and simultaneously to study the set designs created by Jacques Noël for the 1960 performance at the Théâtre de l'Odéon. The thesis will aim to bridge the boundaries of image and text by treating images (set designs) and the play as one readable “text” that can create meaning together.
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    Identity creation as political subversion in the Memoires of Mademoiselle De Montpensier
    (University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2008) Hensley, Donna L.
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    The Personal Letters of Heloise and Abelard - Manifestations of Cultural Influences on Patterns of Love, Desire and Gender Inequality
    (University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2002-12) Chen, Hui-tzu Wendy; Garneau, Marie-Christine; Language and Literatures of Europe & the Americas (French)