Beyond Black and White: The grisaille exterior of the Netherlandish triptych

This thesis is a study of fifteenth- to mid sixteenth-century Netherlandish triptych exteriors, focusing on the so-called ‘grisaille’ technique. During this period, altarpieces produced in the Low Countries were typically constructed in a tripartite format with folding wings. This arrangement created the opportunity for pictorial representations on both sides of the hinged panels. Painters emphasized the distinction between the triptych’s two faces by executing the exteriors in a strikingly more subdued palette than the interiors. Particular iconographic subject matter was favoured for grisailles, which often depict the Annunciation or saints that reflect the triptych’s patronage or intended location. Jan van Eyck was notable for his emphasis on imitating stone statuary and created three important grisailles, one of which would influence triptych exteriors for years to come. Hieronymus Bosch, an artist working at the turn of the sixteenth century, also brought innovation to his grisailles, further expanding the potential of these reduced-palette paintings. This thesis examines the creative process involved in the production of grisailles and compares the underdrawings of triptych exteriors to those of the corresponding polychromatic interiors. In this study, grisailles are situated in their context as part of multifaceted artworks as well as within the broader church environment. New infrared reflectograms were generated using Queen’s OSIRIS infrared camera to document works in Belgium and the Netherlands. While some aspects of underdrawings could indicate that the figure was meant to imitate statuary, this distinction was not directly linked to triptych exteriors and was related instead to efforts at a trompe-l’oeil effect. Such attempts at mimicry can also be found on triptych interiors. Through a close examination of the underdrawing stage of these paintings it appears that this part of the creative process was not distinguished in any significant way from the underdrawings of triptych interiors.

Mad Men, The Sopranos and The American Way of Life. The history of the capital in two times

Don Draper (Mad Men, Matthew Weiner, AMC: 2007-2015) actively colaborates in the birth and consolidationof a model of consumer society without realizing the enormous lie he is telling himself. Tony Soprano(The Sopranos, David Chase, HBO: 1999-2007) desperately grasps the wreckage of that ideal imageof effort and self-improvement which is not only disappearing but was actually never coherent or real.This article does a comparative textual, sociological, and discursive analysis these two characters as arepresentation of the evolution of the discourse of capitalism in the second half of the 20th century, that is,the artificiality of the hegemonic discourse of “pursuit of happiness” as the main myth in post-war NorthAmerican neoliberalism.

Contemporary Transformations of the Relations between Politics, Culture and Religion in Western Europe. Some Notes on the Spanish Case

According to Tilly, two laws shaped the process of transformation undergone by Western European societies since the Peace of Westphalia until the end of the 20th century: their increasing inner homogenisation and their growing heterogeneity between them. Cultural inner homogenisation affected, fi rst, those ethnic groups living within the territories of the said states. The second phase of homogenisation impinged on those groups that immigrated after World War II. This process followed different models according to the country considered, but the 1973 oil crisis revealed their general lack of success. During the last quarter of the 20th century and onwards, these European societies have been altered by two progressive and contradictory global logics: a process of cultural homogenisation at the world level (rather than society level) and a process of cultural re-creation led by those groups with an immigrant background, who have reacted against their integration shortcomings by searching for new sources of social and personal esteem in their respective cultural and religious traditions. This paper seeks to clarify these processes from a social differentiation and political representation theory perspective. The latter becomes indispensable, as the said processes have happened in a context in which the structure of relations (i.e. communication) between civil society and the democratic political sphere have experienced a radical crisis. In this way, the complex relations that exist between civil society, culture, religion and politics in these Western European societies are depicted.

Travel, back and forth, to the myth. Cinema´s contribution to the formation of the tourist iconography of Mallorca

Mallorca, the largest of the Balearic Islands, is a well-known summer holidays destination; an ideal place to relax and enjoy the sun and the sea. That tourist gaze reflected on postcards results from advertising campaigns, where cinema played an important role with documentaries and fiction films. The origins of that iconography started in the decades of the 1920’s and 1930’s, reflecting the so-called myth of the “island of calm”. On the other hand, the films of the 1950’s and 1960’s created new stereotypes related to the mass tourism boom. Busy beaches and the white bodies of tourists replaced white sandy beaches, mountains and landscapes shown up in the movies of the early decades of the 20th century. Besides, hotels and nightclubs also replaced monuments, rural landscapes and folk exhibitions. These tourist images mirror the social and spatial transformations of Mallorca, under standardization processes like other seaside mass tourist destinations. The identity was rebuilt on the foundations of "modernity". Although "balearization" has not ceased, nowadays filmmaking about Mallorca is advertising again a stereotype close to that one of the 1920s and 1930s, glorifying the myth of the "island of calm". This singular identity makes the island more profitable for capital that searches socio-spatial differentiation in post-fordist times.

Negative Archaeology. The Archaeological Borders of the Present

Nowadays, archaeology is trying to redefine its relation with objects. This change is taking place at the same time as the West is breaking once and for all with the generation who did the rural exodus in the mid of the twentieth century. The present paper proposes a revision of the conditions that allow us to both define this rupture and at the same time determine our affinity with materiality. This is done through a reconsideration of the relation between the past and the present and the dynamics marking this difference. We are situated in a moment when the experience of time is shifting and thus so is the integrity of archaeological objects. Under the name of Negative Archaeology, the border between past and present is explored. This border determines the creation of the past in a present which intends to homogenise changes. Archaeology is a unique discipline which could prevent this process, or at least bear witness to the dynamics to which objects seem to be subjected. Obscolescence is introduced as a concept in an attempt to name the aforementioned problem.

Global impacts of the 1980s regime shift

Despite evidence from a number of Earth systems that abrupt temporal changes known as regime shifts are important, their nature, scale and mechanisms remain poorly documented and understood. Applying principal component analysis, change-point analysis and a sequential t-test analysis of regime shifts to 72 time series, we confirm that the 1980s regime shift represented a major change in the Earth's biophysical systems from the upper atmosphere to the depths of the ocean and from the Arctic to the Antarctic, and occurred at slightly different times around the world. Using historical climate model simulations from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) and statistical modelling of historical temperatures, we then demonstrate that this event was triggered by rapid global warming from anthropogenic plus natural forcing, the latter associated with the recovery from the El Chichón volcanic eruption. The shift in temperature that occurred at this time is hypothesized as the main forcing for a cascade of abrupt environmental changes. Within the context of the last century or more, the 1980s event was unique in terms of its global scope and scale; our observed consequences imply that if unavoidable natural events such as major volcanic eruptions interact with anthropogenic warming unforeseen multiplier effects may occur.

Global impacts of the 1980s regime shift

Despite evidence from a number of Earth systems that abrupt temporal changes known as regime shifts are important, their nature, scale and mechanisms remain poorly documented and understood. Applying principal component analysis, change-point analysis and a sequential t-test analysis of regime shifts to 72 time series, we confirm that the 1980s regime shift represented a major change in the Earth's biophysical systems from the upper atmosphere to the depths of the ocean and from the Arctic to the Antarctic, and occurred at slightly different times around the world. Using historical climate model simulations from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) and statistical modelling of historical temperatures, we then demonstrate that this event was triggered by rapid global warming from anthropogenic plus natural forcing, the latter associated with the recovery from the El Chichón volcanic eruption. The shift in temperature that occurred at this time is hypothesized as the main forcing for a cascade of abrupt environmental changes. Within the context of the last century or more, the 1980s event was unique in terms of its global scope and scale; our observed consequences imply that if unavoidable natural events such as major volcanic eruptions interact with anthropogenic warming unforeseen multiplier effects may occur.

The denarius of L. Vinicius (RRC 436). The complexities of political relations just before the beginning of the Second Civil War.

L. Vinicius issue a coin series in the late fifties of the first century BC, shortly before the outbreak of war between Julio Caesar (cos. I 59 BC) and the Senate, led by Cn. Pompey Magnus (cos. I 70 BC), that tries, by its iconography, seek harmony bet-ween the two leaders.

A visual and contextual comparative study of the work of Picasso and Chanel towards an understanding of the overlaps between Modern Art and Fashion.

From the beginning of the twentieth century, ``Modernism`` impacted and transformed art and clothing. Pablo Picasso and Gabrielle ``Coco`` Chanel were two of the most central characters in Modernism working simultaneously in their disciplines. Picasso`s innovations, particularly in abstract art and Chanel`s fashion designs, that dramatically departed from the previous corseted and highly deco-rative styles, were so significant that they have left an influence on contemporary art and fashion. This study will compare their visual works and documented evidence of their motivations, within the context of their cultural backgrounds, to reveal meaning in the occurrences of overlaps. This approach has ex-amined the historical, cultural background of the artist and designer`s environment from different per-spectives, adding to previous research in this area. Through this research, outcomes of the analysis have shown similarities and divergences in the wider genres of art and fashion and the practice of the artist and fashion designer. The reference list to this text, used in the survey, gives a comprehensive overview of pertinent publications disseminating Picasso and Chanel`s visual works, oral perspectives and cultural impact.

King of the Renaissance: Art and Politics at the Neapolitan Court of Ferrante I, 1458-1494

In the second half of the fifteenth century, King Ferrante I of Naples (r. 1458-1494) dominated the political and cultural life of the Mediterranean world. His court was home to artists, writers, musicians, and ambassadors from England to Egypt and everywhere in between. Yet, despite its historical importance, Ferrante’s court has been neglected in the scholarship. This dissertation provides a long-overdue analysis of Ferrante’s artistic patronage and attempts to explicate the king’s specific role in the process of art production at the Neapolitan court, as well as the experiences of artists employed therein. By situating Ferrante and the material culture of his court within the broader discourse of Early Modern art history for the first time, my project broadens our understanding of the function of art in Early Modern Europe. I demonstrate that, contrary to traditional assumptions, King Ferrante was a sophisticated patron of the visual arts whose political circumstances and shifting alliances were the most influential factors contributing to his artistic patronage. Unlike his father, Alfonso the Magnanimous, whose court was dominated by artists and courtiers from Spain, France, and elsewhere, Ferrante differentiated himself as a truly Neapolitan king. Yet Ferrante’s court was by no means provincial. His residence, the Castel Nuovo in Naples, became the physical embodiment of his commercial and political network, revealing the accretion of local and foreign visual vocabularies that characterizes Neapolitan visual culture.

"Je ne vous dirai point, mon très cher fils" Correspondance de Catherine de Charrière de Sévery 1780-1783

This dissertation examines the principles of education imbued in a three year correspondence between an eighteenth century woman and her teenage son from the French speaking region of Vaud, current day Switzerland. Despite her great respect for the literature and ideas of the new pedagogues of the Enlightenment, especially J.J. Rousseau and Mme de Genlis, Catherine de Charrière de Sévery maintained the traditional perspective of education of the Ancien Régime. To explore the concepts of education and instruction through the epistolary practice, this research is based on the corpus of 107 letters that Mme de Sévery wrote to her son Vilhelm between 1780 and 1783. Additional documents - among them Mme de Sévery’s diaries - from the particularly rich archival holdings of this aristocratic family have been used to complement her correspondence. Most previous studies on family correspondence have dealt with mothers to daughters, or fathers to sons, whereas this research is centered on letters between a mother and her son. The location of this family – Lausanne and the Pays de Vaud – provides a particular regional perspective due to two factors: immersion into a region uniformly Protestant, and the dual-influence of Germanic and French cultures. The study analyzes the educational principles that appear throughout Mme de Sévery’s letters by comparison with three literary works of the 18th century: a familiar correspondence, the Lettres du Lord Chesterfield à son fils (1776); the fundamental education treatise by J.J. Rousseau, Émile, ou de l’Éducation (1762); and a pedagogical treatise written by Mme de Genlis as an epistolary novel, Adèle et Théodore, ou lettres sur l’éducation. Using letters as the main tool to guide her son’s upbringing, Mme de Sévery highlights the moral and family values that are most important to her and leads him to find his place in society.

Bioinformatics analysis of the Pedobacter sp. NL19 genome

The last decades of the 20th century defined the genetic engineering advent, climaxing in the development of techniques, such as PCR and Sanger sequencing. This, permitted the appearance of new techniques to sequencing whole genomes, identified as next-generation sequencing. One of the many applications of these techniques is the in silico search for new secondary metabolites, synthesized by microorganisms exhibiting antimicrobial properties. The peptide antibiotics compounds can be classified in two classes, according to their biosynthesis, in ribosomal or nonribosomal peptides. Lanthipeptides are the most studied ribosomal peptides and are characterized by the presence of lanthionine and methylanthionine that result from posttranslational modifications. Lanthipeptides are divided in four classes, depending on their biosynthetic machinery. In class I, a LanB enzyme dehydrate serine and threonine residues in the C-terminus precursor peptide. Then, these residues undergo a cyclization step performed by a LanC enzyme, forming the lanthionine rings. The cleavage and the transport of the peptide is achieved by the LanP and LanT enzymes, respectively. Although, in class II only one enzyme, LanM, is responsible for the dehydration and cyclization steps and also only one enzyme performs the cleavage and transport, LanT. Pedobacter sp. NL19 is a Gram-negative bacterium, isolated from sludge of an abandon uranium mine, in Viseu (Portugal). Antibacterial activity in vitro was detected against several Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Sequencing and in silico analysis of NL19 genome revealed the presence of 21 biosynthetic clusters for secondary metabolites, including nonribosomal and ribosomal peptides biosynthetic clusters. Four lanthipeptides clusters were predicted, comprising the precursor peptides, the modifying enzymes (LanB and LanC), and also a bifunctional LanT. This result revealed the hybrid nature of the clusters, comprising characteristics from two distinct classes, which are poorly described in literature. The phylogenetic analysis of their enzymes showed that they clustered within the bacteroidetes clade. Furthermore, hybrid gene clusters were also found in other species of this phylum, revealing that it is a common characteristic in this group. Finally, the analysis of NL19 colonies by MALDI-TOF MS allowed the identification of a 3180 Da mass that corresponds to the predicted mass of a lanthipeptide encoded in one of the clusters. However, this result is not fully conclusive and further experiments are needed to understand the full potential of the compounds encoded in this type of clusters. In conclusion, it was determined that NL19 strain has the potential to produce diverse secondary metabolites, including lanthipeptides that were not functionally characterized so far.

An investigation of the clinical utility of preoperative cardiopulmonary exercise testing in patients undergoing major pancreatic surgery

Pancreaticoduodenectomy with or without adjuvant chemotherapy remains the only modality of possible cure in patients with cancer involving the head of the pancreas and the periampullary region. While mortality rates after pancreaticoduodenectomy have improved considerably over the course of the last century, morbidity remains high. Patient selection is of paramount importance in ensuring that major surgery is offered to individuals who will most benefit from a pancreaticoduodenectomy. Moreover, identifying preoperative risk factors provides potential targets for prehabilitation and optimisation of the patient's physiology before undertaking surgery. In addition to this, early identification of patients who are likely to develop postoperative complications allows for better allocation of critical care resources and more aggressive management high risk patients. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing is becoming an increasingly popular tool in the preoperative risk assessment of the surgical patient. However, very little work has been done to investigate the role of cardiopulmonary exercise testing in predicting complications after pancreaticoduodenectomy. The impact of jaundice, systemic inflammation and other preoperative clinicopathological characteristics on cardiopulmonary exercise physiology has not been studied in detail before in this cohort of patients. The overall aim of the thesis was to examine the relationships between preoperative clinico-pathological characteristics including cardiopulmonary exercise physiology, obstructive jaundice, body composition and systemic inflammation and complications and the post-surgical systemic inflammatory response in patients undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy. Chapter 1 reviews the existing literature on preoperative cardiopulmonary exercise testing, the impact of obstructive jaundice, perioperative systemic inflammation and the importance of body composition in determining outcomes in patients undergoing major surgery with particular reference to pancreatic surgery. Chapter 2 reports on the role of cardiopulmonary exercise testing in predicting postoperative complications after pancreaticoduodenectomy. The results demonstrate that patients with V˙O2AT less than 10 ml/kg/min are more likely to develop a postoperative pancreatic fistula, stay longer in hospital and less likely to receive adjuvant therapy. These results emphasise the importance of aerobic fitness to recover from the operative stress of major surgery without significant morbidity. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing may prove useful in selecting patients for intensive prehabilitation programmes as well as for other optimisation measures to prepare them for major surgery. Chapter 3 evaluates the relationship between cardiopulmonary exercise physiology and other clinicopathological characteristics of the patient. A detailed analysis of cardiopulmonary exercise test parameters in jaundiced versus non-jaundiced patients demonstrates that obstructive jaundice does not impair cardiopulmonary exercise physiology. This further supports emerging evidence in contemporary literature that jaundiced patients can proceed directly to surgery without preoperative biliary drainage. The results of this study also show an interesting inverse relationship between body mass index and anaerobic threshold which is analysed in more detail in Chapter 4. Chapter 4 examines the relationship between preoperative cardiopulmonary exercise physiology and body composition in depth. All parameters measured at cardiopulmonary exercise test are compared against body composition and body mass index. The results of this chapter report that the current method of reporting V˙O2, both at peak exercise and anaerobic threshold, is biased against obese subjects and advises caution in the interpretation of cardiopulmonary exercise test results in patients with a high BMI. This is particularly important as current evidence in literature suggests that postoperative outcomes in obese subjects are comparable to non-obese subjects while cardiopulmonary exercise test results are also abnormally low in this very same cohort of patients. Chapter 5 analyses the relationship between preoperative clinico-pathological characteristics including systemic inflammation and the magnitude of the postoperative systemic inflammatory response. Obstructive jaundice appears to have an immunosuppressive effect while elevated preoperative CRP and hypoalbuminemia appear to have opposite effects with hypoalbuminemia resulting in a lower response while elevated CRP in the absence of hypoalbuminemia resulted in a greater postoperative systemic inflammatory response. Chapter 6 evaluates the role of the early postoperative systemic inflammatory response in predicting complications after pancreaticoduodenectomy and aims to establish clinically relevant thresholds for C-Reactive Protein for the prediction of complications. The results of this chapter demonstrate that CRP levels as early as the second postoperative day are associated with complications. While post-operative CRP was useful in the prediction of infective complications, this was the case only in patients who did not develop a post-operative pancreatic fistula. The predictive ability of inflammatory markers for infectious complications was blunted in patients with a pancreatic fistula. Chapter 7 summarises the findings of this thesis, their place in current literature and future directions. The results of this thesis add to the current knowledge regarding the complex pathophysiological abnormalities in patients undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy, with specific emphasis on the interaction between cardiopulmonary exercise physiology, obstructive jaundice, systemic inflammation and postoperative outcomes. The work presented in this thesis lays the foundations for further studies aimed at improving outcomes after pancreaticoduodenectomy through the development of individualised, goal-directed therapies that are initiated well before this morbid yet necessary operation is performed.

Decorative tiles between Brazil and Europe: the case of the Santa Catharina factory

Abstract It was in the first decade of the twentieth century that the first white china Factory was implemented in Brazil. Fruit of the association between the Sao Paulo Aristocracy and the Italian Romeo Ranzini, this factory was responsible for producing significant amounts of crockery in industrial moulds in sao Paulo, Brazil. It was also the first factory to produce decorative tiles that would be part of the architecture of the public buildings built between 1919 and 1922 in Commemoration of the Centennial of the Brazilian Independence. Known as The Santa Catharina Factory, this factory was inaugurated in 1913 with the participation of Italian immigrants and German technologies for the development of its first manufacturing activities. As a result of a number of economic, political and social matters that started in the previous century in the city of Sao Paulo, The Santa Catharina factory played an important role in industrial development as regards the production of national white china and was used as a model for the construction of new ceramic factories in Sao Paulo. After acquired by Matarazzo industries in 1927, had closed their activities in 1937. This research is based on the identification and analysis of the first tiles produced in Brazil by the Santa Catharina Factory, which were part of the architectural decorations of the buildings built in Sao Paulo to the celebration of the Centennial of the Brazilian Independence. Designed by Victor Dubugras, The Largo da Memoria (located in the city of Sao Paulo) and the buildings located in the "Paths of the Sea" road marked the beginning of Brazilian industrialization and the emergence of Neocolonial Movement in architecture of Sao Paulo. Studies of the first national patterns of decorative tiles approach a subject poorly researched by experts in tiled studies in Brazil, although in this case these tiles have represented not only an important milestone in the national industrialization, but also have demarcated the significant changes in architectural and decorative practices in the country in the early twentieth century; RESUMÈ: C'est durant la premiere decennie du XXe siecle que la premiere usine de porcelaine blanche fut implant& au Bresil. Elle fut le fruit de l'association entre l'aristocratie de Sao Paulo et l'italien Romeo Ranzini. L'usine produisait une quantite signifiante de porcelaine sur le territoire industriel de Sao Paulo. Ce fut egalement la premiere usine a produire des carreaux decoratifs qui sont aujourd'hui visibles dans l'architecture des batiments publics construit entre 1919 et 1922, pour la commemoration du centenaire de l'independance bresilienne. Connue sous le nom de Santa Catharina, cette usine fut inaugure en 1912. Elle fut construite par des émigrés Italiens, et utilisa pour la technologie allemande pour so production. En tant que resultat d'un certain nombre de questions economiques, politiques et sociales qui ont &butes durant le siecle precedent dans la ville de Sao Paulo, l'usine Santa Catharina a joue un role important dans le developpement industriel de la production de porcelaine blanche nationale et a ete utilise comme modele pour la construction de nouvelles usines de ceramique a Sao Paulo. Apres avoir ete achete par l'industrie Matarazzo en 1927, elle cessa ses activites en 1937. Cette recherche est basee sur l'identification et l'analyse des premiers carreaux decoratifs fabriques au Bresil par l'usine Santa Catharina, qui etait une partie des decorations architecturales des batiments construits a Sao Paulo pour la celebration du centenaire de l'Independance Bresilienne. Connue par Victor Dubugras, le "Largo da Memoria" (situe dans la ville de Sao Paulo), et les batiments situes sur le "Path of the Sea", ont marque le debut de l'industrialisation bresilienne et l'emergence d'un mouvement neocolonialiste dans l'architecture de Sao Paolo. L'etude des premiers modeles nationaux de carreaux decoratifs est un sujet peut etudie par les experts bresiliens, bien qu'ils furent un jalon importante pour l'industrialisation nationale. Its ont egalement entrains des changements importants dans les pratiques architecturales, et decoratives au sein du pays au XXe siecle. Mots-cles: Ceramique - carreaux decoratifs — L'usine Santa Catharina, Bresil - Production de carreaux; RIASSUNTO: Nel primo decennio del Novecento vide luce la prima fabbrica di ceramica di porcellana in Brasile. Frutto dell'associazione tra l'aristocrazia Paulista e l'italiano Romeo Ranzini, questa fabbrica fu responsabile della produzione di notevoli quantita di ceramica di porcellana mediante stampi industriali nella citta di San Paolo, Brasile. Fu anche la prima fabbrica a produrre azulejos che avrebbero poi fatto parte dell'architettura degli edifici pubblici costruiti tra it 1919 ed it 1922, per la commemorazione del Centenario dell'indipendenza Brasiliana. Conosciuta come Fabbrica di Santa Catharina, questa fu inaugurata nel 1913, con la partecipazione di immigrati italiani e con l'impiego di tecnologie tedesche per lo sviluppo delle sue prime attivita produttive. Risultato di una serie di cambiamenti economici, politici e sociali, che ebbero inizio nel secolo precedente nella citta di San Paolo, la Fabbrica di Santa Catharina svolse un ruolo importante nello sviluppo industriale per quanto riguarda la produzione di ceramica di porcellana nazionale e fu adottata come modello per la costruzione di nuove fabbriche a San Paolo. Successivamente, fu acquisita dalle industrie Matarazzo nel 1927, vedendo poi chiudersi le sue attivita nel 1937. Questa ricerca si basa sull'identificazione e l'analisi dei primi azulejos prodotti in Brasile dalla Fabbrica di Santa Catharina che fecero parte delle decorazioni architettoniche degli edifici costruiti a San Paolo per la commemorazione del Centenario dell'indipendenza Brasiliana. Progettati da Victor Dubugras, it Largo da Mem(Via (situato nella citta di San Paolo) e gli edifici che si trovano nei Caminhos do Mar marcarono l'inizio dell'industrializzazione brasiliana e la nascita del Movimento Neocolonial dell'architettura Paulista. Gli studi dei primi modelli di azulejos nazionali affrontano un argomento poco studiato dagli esperti in azulejaria in Brasile, nonostante rappresentino un importante avvenimento dell'industrializzazione nazionale, ma segnano anche i cambiamenti di significative pratiche architettoniche e decorative nel Paese nel primo Novecento. Parole chiave: Ceramica - porcellana - La fabbrica di Santa Catharina - Produzione di ceramica .

Forms of the Postmodern Historical Novel : Christoph Ransmayr, Daniel Kehlmann, Wolfgang Hildesheimer

L’émergence du postmodernisme aux Etats-unis, mouvement esthétique rejetant les dogmes modernistes, date des années 1960. En s’imposant, durant les dernières décennies du 20ème siècle, comme le paradigme esthétique de l’architecture, des arts et de la littérature, le postmodernisme a également créé les conditions propres à une renaissance du roman historique. Cependant, la fiction historique postmoderne constitue maintenant une nouvelle forme du genre basée sur la parodie, l’ironie et le scepticisme envers les discours dominants. Cette nouvelle forme ne se limite plus à la présentation des récits dans un cadre historique réaliste. Elle remet plutôt en question la validité et par conséquent la nature même du discours historique, problématisant et mettant ainsi à l’avant le processus d’interprétation et de reconstruction du passé. Dans cette optique, la fiction historique contemporaine reflète les débats actuels sur les formes de l’historiographie, débats lancés par Hayden White. Dans les années 1980, la fiction historique a de nouveau fleuri dans l'espace culturel allemand tout comme ailleurs. Le présent mémoire analyse des formes postmodernes de la fiction historique en se basant sur trois romans historiques de langue allemande parus entre 1981 et 2005: Die Schrecken des Eises und der Finsternis de Christoph Ransmayr, Die Vermessung der Welt de Daniel Kehlmann et Marbot : Eine Biographie de Wolfgang Hildesheimer. L’analyse s'appuie sur divers modèles de la fiction postmoderne, en particulier sur le schéma de catégorisation du roman historique élaboré par Ansgar Nünning. Le mémoire montre dans quelle mesure ces romans appliquent des moyens stylistiques typiques pour le postmodernisme et portent un regard critique ou comique sur l’histoire et la culture allemande et autrichienne.