Paul Flandrin (1811-1902), un nuovo sguardo sul paesaggio dell'Ottocento

Questa ricerca ha l’obiettivo di dare nuovi contributi alla conoscenza della pittura di paesaggio francese nell’Ottocento attraverso lo studio dell’opera di Paul Flandrin (1811-1902). Flandrin si colloca al crocevia di esperienze fondamentali nella ricerca artistica di metà Ottocento: l’eredità di Camille Corot, l’insegnamento di Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres, la pratica del lavoro en plein air, la tradizione del paesaggio neoclassico. Il corpus di opere del pittore lionese Paul Flandrin (1811-1902) ricostruito in questa tesi è frutto di una sistematica operazione di ricerca sul campo e viene in seguito analizzato alla luce dei recenti studi sulla pittura di paesaggio neoclassico in Francia nel XIX secolo. La ricerca si fonda su una grande quantità di materiale inedito: dipinti, disegni, taccuini di studio en plein air, corrispondenza con colleghi e amici. Da questa ricerca la fisionomia artistica di Paul Flandrin emerge ben individuata singolarmente e al tempo stesso ancorata al contesto storico-artistico attraverso le relazioni con i colleghi, l’utilizzo di determinate tecniche, la frequentazione di mete comuni ai paesaggisti suoi contemporanei, la decisa presa di posizione a favore del paesaggio neoclassico.

Traces de terre, traces d'encre... La rappresentazione dello spazio nella letteratura caraibica. (Francofona e Anglofona)

This study concerns the representation of space in Caribbean literature, both francophone and Anglophone and, in particular, but not only, in the martinican literature, in the works of the authors born in the island. The analysis focus on the second half of the last century, a period in which the martinican production of novels and romances increased considerably, and where the representation and the rule of space had a relevant place. So, the thesis explores the literary modalities of this representation. The work is constituted of 5 chapters and the critical and methodological approaches are both of an analytical and comparative type. The first chapter “The caribbean space: geography, history and society” presents the geographic context, through an analysis of the historical and political major events occurred in the Caribbean archipelago, in particular of the French Antilles, from the first colonization until the départementalisation. The first paragraph “The colonized space: historical-political excursus” the explores the history of the European colonization that marked forever the theatre of the relationship between Europe, Africa and the New World. This social situation take a long and complex process of “Re-appropriation and renegotiation of the space”, (second paragraph) always the space of the Other, that interest both the Antillean society and the writers’ universe. So, a series of questions take place in the third paragraph “Landscape and identity”: what is the function of space in the process of identity construction? What are the literary forms and representations of space in the Caribbean context? Could the writing be a tool of cultural identity definition, both individual and collective? The second chapter “The literary representation of the Antillean space” is a methodological analysis of the notions of literary space and descriptive gender. The first paragraph “The literary space of and in the novel” is an excursus of the theory of such critics like Blanchot, Bachelard, Genette and Greimas, and in particular the recent innovation of the 20th century; the second one “Space of the Antilles, space of the writing” is an attempt to apply this theory to the Antillean literary space. Finally the last paragraph “Signs on the page: the symbolic places of the antillean novel landscape” presents an inventory of the most recurrent antillean places (mornes, ravines, traces, cachots, En-ville,…), symbols of the history and the past, described in literary works, but according to new modalities of representation. The third chapter, the core of the thesis, “Re-drawing the map of the French Antilles” focused the study of space representation on francophone literature, in particular on a selected works of four martinican writers, like Roland Brival, Édouard Glissant, Patrick Chamoiseau and Raphaël Confiant. Through this section, a spatial evolution comes out step by step, from the first to the second paragraph, whose titles are linked together “The novel space evolution: from the forest of the morne… to the jungle of the ville”. The virgin and uncontaminated space of the Antilles, prior to the colonisation, where the Indios lived in harmony with the nature, find a representation in both works of Brival (Le sang du roucou, Le dernier des Aloukous) and of Glissant (Le Quatrième siècle, Ormerod). The arrival of the European colonizer brings a violent and sudden metamorphosis of the originary space and landscape, together with the traditions and culture of the Caraïbes population. These radical changes are visible in the works of Chamoiseau (Chronique des sept misères, Texaco, L’esclave vieil homme et le molosse, Livret des villes du deuxième monde, Un dimanche au cachot) and Confiant (Le Nègre et l’Amiral, Eau de Café, Ravines du devant-jour, Nègre marron) that explore the urban space of the creole En-ville. The fourth chapter represents the “2nd step: the Anglophone novel space” in the exploration of literary representation of space, through an analytical study of the works of three Anglophone writers, the 19th century Lafcadio Hearn (A Midsummer Trip To the West Indies, Two Years in the French West Indies, Youma) and the contemporary authors Derek Walcott (Omeros, Map of the New World, What the Twilight says) and Edward Kamau Brathwaite (The Arrivants: A New World Trilogy). The Anglophone voice of the Caribbean archipelago brings a very interesting contribution to the critical idea of a spatial evolution in the literary representation of space, started with francophone production: “The spatial evolution goes on: from the Martiniques Sketches of Hearn… to the modern bards of Caribbean archipelago” is the new linked title of the two paragraphs. The fifth chapter “Extended look, space shared: the Caribbean archipelago” is a comparative analysis of the results achieved in the prior sections, through a dialogue between all the texts in the first paragraph “Francophone and Anglophone representation of space compared: differences and analogies”. The last paragraph instead is an attempt of re-negotiate the conventional notions of space and place, from a geographical and physical meaning, to the new concept of “commonplace”, not synonym of prejudice, but “common place” of sharing and dialogue. The question sets in the last paragraph “The “commonplaces” of the physical and mental map of the Caribbean archipelago: toward a non-place?” contains the critical idea of the entire thesis.

Survey on the spirilar flora of Lagomorphs

Members of the genera Campylobacter and Helicobacter have been in the spotlight in recent decades because of their status as animals and/or humans pathogens, both confirmed and emerging, and because of their association with food-borne and zoonotic diseases. First observations of spiral shaped bacteria or Campylobacter-like organisms (CLO) date back to the end of the 19th century, however the lack of adequate isolation methods hampered further research. With the introduction of methods such as selective media and a filtration procedure during the 1970s led to a renewed interest in Campylobacter, especially as this enabled elucidation of their role in human hosts. On the other hand the classification and identification of these bacteria was troublesome, mainly because of the biochemical inertness and fastidious growth requirements. In 1991, the taxonomy of Campylobacter and related organisms was thoroughly revised, since this revision several new Campylobacter and Helicobacter species have been described. Moreover, thanks to the introduction of a polyphasic taxonomic practice, the classification of these novel species is well-founded. Indeed, a polyphasic approach was here followed for characterizing eight isolates obtained from rabbits epidemiologically not correlated and as a result a new Campylobacter species was proposed: Campylobacter cuniculorum (Chapter 1). Furthermore, there is a paucity of data regarding the occurrence of spiral shaped enteric flora in leporids. In order to define the prevalence both of this new species and other CLO in leporids (chapter 2), a total of 85 whole intestinal tracts of rabbits reared in 32 farms and 29 capture hares, epidemiologically not correlated, were collected just after evisceration at the slaughterhouse or during necroscopy. Examination and isolation methods were varied in order to increase the sensibility level of detection, and 100% of rabbit farms resulted positive for C. cuniculorum in high concentrations. Moreover, in 3.53% of the total rabbits examined, a Helicobacter species was detected. Nevertheless, all hares resulted negative both for Campylobacter or Helicobacter species. High prevalence of C. cuniculorum were found in rabbits, and in order to understand if this new species could play a pathological role, a study on some virulence determinants of C. cuniculorum was conducted (Chapter 3). Although this new species were able to adhere and invade, exert cytolethal distending toxin-like effects although at a low titre, a cdtB was not detected. There was no clear relationship between source of isolation or disease manifestation and possession of statistically significantly levels of particular virulence-associated factors although, cell adhesion and invasion occurred. Furthermore, antibiotic susceptibility was studied (chapter 4) in Campylobacter and in Escherichia coli strains, isolated from rabbits. It was possible to find acquired resistance of C. cuniculorum to enrofloxacin, ciprofloxacin and erytromycin. C. coli isolate was susceptible to all antimicrobial tested and moreover it is considered as a wild-type strain. Moreover, E. coli was found at low caecal concentration in rabbits and 30 phenotypes of antibiotic resistance were founded as well as the high rate of resistances to at least one antibiotic (98.1%). The majority of resistances were found from strains belonging to intensive farming system. In conclusion, in the course of the present study a new species isolated from rabbits was described, C. cuniculorum, and its high prevalence was established. Nevertheless, in hare samples no Campylobacter and Helicobacter species were detected. Some virulence determinants were further analyzed, however further studied are needed to understand the potential pathogenicity of this new species. On the other hand, antimicrobial susceptibility was monitored both in C. cuniculorum and indicator bacteria and acquired resistance was observed towards some antibiotics, indicating a possible role of rabbitries in the diffusion of antibiotic resistance. Further studies are necessary to describe and evaluate the eventual zoonotic role of Campylobacter cuniculorum.

La vision d'Athenes et de Constantinople dans les recits de voyage du XIXᵉ siecle

Le sujet de cette recherche est la perception chez les voyageurs occidentaux et grecs du XIXᵉ siècle de zones de la Méditerranée depuis toujours point d’intersections culturelles : les villes d’Athènes et de Constantinople. L’objectif de la recherche est de reconstruire la contribution des hommes de lettres, français et grecs, à la constitution de l’identité nationale selon le schéma mis en évidence par Benedict Anderson dans « Communautés Imaginées » On a tenté en se référant au corpus d’identifier dans la littérature de voyage du XIXᵉ siècle, dans le sillage de « Orientalismo » de Edward Said, comment Philhellénisme et Exotisme orientalisant, tous deux d’empreinte romantique, ont contribué à inventer pour Athènes une identité occidentale et pour Istanbul une identité orientale, ignorant presque l’existence entre les deux villes d’une commune matrice byzantine–ottomane ou mieux, l’appartenance commune à l’ensemble géopolitique de la Région Intermédiaire identifiée par Dimitri Kitsikis.