The Politics and Poetics of Ekphrasis in Nineteenth-Century French Art Novels
of a dissertation at the University of Miami. Dissertation supervised by Professor David Ellison. No. of pages in text. (227) This dissertation explores how literary descriptions of visual artworks affect the narrative and descriptive fabric of a text. The novels I examine operate on three textual levels: the painter's creative struggles, his amorous entanglements with his model and/or the painted women of his canvas, and his aesthetic claims to revolutionize painting. My project argues that ekphrasis is a translational mode that takes two forms: the traditional, "contained" description of a visual artwork; and a mode of writing that pervades the entire text and emulates the characteristics of painting. For example, Balzac's "Le Chef d'œuvre inconnu" and the Goncourts' Manette Salomon successfully adopt the ekphrastic mode of writing, transforming the narrative into a canvas where the boundaries between the media are blurred. On the other hand, Zola's L'Œuvre exploits ekphrasis in order to advance the superiority of literature over painting. At the heart of these Realist and Naturalist texts, the fundamental adherence to the mimetic principle of art is confronted with the nonfigurative experiments of their fictional painters. The female body, as the embodiment of Art and the manifestation of the artist's desire, becomes the symptom of his incursion into abstract painting and the site of the resistance to ekphrasis. Acknowledgment I owe many thanks to my committee members, family, and friends, without whom this dissertation would not have been possible. I would like first and foremost to thank my dissertation director, Dr. David Ellison, for having been a dedicated mentor and advisor throughout my years at the University of Miami. His careful readings, timely feedback, and his intellectual guidance have been invaluable to the completion of this work. I would like to thank Dr. Ralph Heyndels for his continued support. From classes taken with him to informal and formal discussions about this work, Dr. Heyndels’ ability to ask the right questions, point to the gist of the matter, and see beyond the words on the page have been an inspiration. My most sincere thanks go to Dr. Barbara Woshinsky, a careful, attentive, and enthusiastic reader of this dissertation, who helped me edit and refine my arguments. I am also most grateful to Dr. Rebecca Brienen for agreeing to work with me on this project. Her intellectual rigor was challenging and she raised important questions that pushed me to think outside my box. All the faculty and staff at the University of Miami have been kind and generous, helping with administrative and intellectual matters; in particular Directors of Graduate Studies Dr. Gema Perez-Sanchez and Dr. Elena Grau-Lleveria, as well as Keyla Medina. I would also like to acknowledge Dr. Jan Hokenson, my mentor and advisor at Florida Atlantic University. Her support and encouragement during my M.A. years gave me the confidence I needed as a student and her love for literature and literary analysis inspire me to this day.
Alias Olympia: A Woman's Search for Manet's Notorious Model and Her Own Desire
A biography, memoir and detective story, this is an account of the life of Victorine Meurent, Edouard Manet's favourite model. Her defiant gaze from the canvas of such famous - and scandalous - paintings as "Olympia" and "Le Dejeuner sur l'Herbe" provoked a riot. But was she, as her contemporaries testified, simply a drunkard and a courtesan? Or was she an accomplished artist in her own right? Eunice Lipton's narrative aims to recreate Victorine Meurent in every particular. Drawing on numerous sources, she interweaves this account with the story of the life, career and background that shaped her own responses to Victorine; coming face to face with her own obsessions, fears and desires. She is also the author of studies of Degas and Picasso.
The Millennial of Castile (1943): the historical culture of Spanish Fascism
Abstract The creation of new symbols and historical myths were common practices of nationalist politics, especially in Fascist regimes. In 1943 the Franco regime organized the most impressive historical commemoration celebrated in post-war Spain: the Milenario of Castile. With its heterogeneous mixture of history and spectacle, the Milenario of Castile was by far the greatest historical commemoration promoted by the State during the 1940s. Taking the commemoration of the Milenario as a case study, this article examines the historical culture of Spanish Fascism, as well as the attempts of the Falangist intellectual elite to impose a concrete national narrative in post-war Spain. At the same time, the article analyses the historical discourses and aesthetics displayed throughout the commemoration, underlining its Fascist character, and consequently the transnational dimension of the Fascist politics of the past. Finally, the article reflects on the scope and limits of the process of Fascistisation in Franco's dictatorship, especially in its commemorative culture.