INFORMATION TO USERS This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter free, while others may be from any type of computer printer. The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Oversize materials (e g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book. Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6” x 9” black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Information Company 300 North Zed) Road, Ann Arbor NO 48106-1346 USA 313/761-4700 800/521-0600 A MAZING OF THE TEXT: THE SEARCH FOR SIGNIFICATION IN THE LABYRINTH OF FRENCH POETICS DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Margaret M. Bolovan, B.A., M.A. The Ohio State University 1997 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Professor Charles D. Minahen, Advisor Professor Karlis Racevskis Advisor Professor Charles G. S. Williams Department of French and Italian UMI Number: 9721075 Copyright 1997 by Boloveui, Margaret Mary All rights reserved. UMI Microform 9721075 Copyright 1997, by UMI Company. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 Copyri^t By Margaret M. Bolovan 1997 ABSTRACT The labyrinth has enormous potential as a mythic symbol, potential which has been exploited by numerous writers over the centuries. In French poetics, the labyrinth has been used to signify many, often contradictory, concepts at once: the human condition, the poetic text, a prison, a tomb, an entrance to the underworld, a search for the ineffable, an initiation, or the renewal of life. The term is constantly being rearticulated to express new meanings. Given the wide range of significations associated with the labyrinth, there is great diversity in the way labyrinthine themes are manifest in various poetic texts. The circuitous nature of poetic discourse, including the reflective capacity of metaphor and the pluri-dimensional quality of mythic signification, is discussed in the introduction. In the ensuing chapters, this understanding of language is then applied to specific texts by Joachim Du Bellay, Théophile de Viau, Saint-Amant, Thomas Corneille, Jean Racine, Stéphane Mallarmé, and Marguerite Yourcenar. Poetry which employs images and structures of the labyrinth simultaneously tends to involve the poet’s contemplative wanderings, or deeper descents into self in a search for meaning. The labyrinth invariably involves a quest for truth, self-knowledge, or love, and an internal journey is generally inherent in the labyrinthine text. Such a quest can range from Saint-Amant’s spiritual wanderings to Phèdre’s descent into the labyrinth of self in Yourcenaris Feux. At the same time, as a mythic symbol, the labyrinth extends outside of any Individual work, and Intertextual analysis becomes an essential component of the search for signification. This search Is never easy, given the multifaceted nature of the labyrinth. This dissertation seeks to unravel the labyrinthine threads left In the “mille longs détours” of poetic discourse, primarily certain French poetic texts of the sixteenth to the twentieth century. Several of these texts contain explicit references to the labyrinth; others reveal mere traces of the Cretan myth but are structurally and/or symbolically labyrinthine In their own respect. The seminal threads uniting all these poetic endeavors resides both In the reconceptualizations of the labyrinth and In the labyrinthine search for signification which the writer and the reader undertake In approaching the text. Ill ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I express sincere appreciation to Professor Karlis Racevskis and Professor Charles G. S. Williams for their insights into the revisions of this dissertation. Special thanks are due to Professor Charles D. Minahen for his close and critical readings of the text. I would also like to acknowledge my mother Bridgette McHale Bolovan and my father Dr. Daniel T. Bolovan whose encouragement has seen me through all these years of education. Most especially, I would like to thank Ernie Bond whose support and inspiration have guided me in the successful completion of the dissertation. IV VITA December 22, 1965 ...........................................................Bom-Toledo, Ohio Spring 1988.........................................................................Edward Han/ey Prize for Excellence in French Literature, Kenyon College Gambler, Ohio June 20, 1988.................................................................... Baccalaureate Speaker Kenyon College 1988...................................................................................... B.A., cum laude, French Literature Kenyon College 1988-1990............................................................................Graduate Teaching Associate Graduate Research Associate, French Department of French and Italian The Ohio State University (CSU) 1990.......................................................................................M.A., French, CSU 1990-199 1............................................................................English Teaching Assistant Lycée Champolllon, Grenoble, France Summer 1991..................................................................... French Instructor, Upward Bound, Mercer University, Macon, Georgia 1991-199 6............................................................................Graduate Teaching and Research Associate, French, CSU 1992-199 3............................................................................Graduate Student Representative, Graduate Studies Committee, Department of French and Italian, CSU 1992-1996............................................................................Graduate French Proficiency Examination Coordinator, CSU 1996-1997............................................................................Lecturer, French, CSU FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: French and Italian Studies In: Dutch - Professor Harry Vredeveld Romanian - Professor Rodica Botoman TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract. ........................................................................................................ ii Acknowledgements ..................................................................................... iv Vita ................................................................................................................. V List of Figures................................................................................................ vii List of Abbreviations ...................................................................................... viii Introduction: Enter the Labyrinth............................................................ 1 Chapter 1 : Longing for the Ineffable: The Icarian Flight In Du Bellay’s L’Olive........................ 30 Chapter 2: The Contemplative Wanderings of Théophile de Vlau and Salnt-Amant .............................. 76 Chapter 3: Guidance and Error In Affairs of Love: Ariane, Bajazet, and the Knotted Thread ...................... 112 Chapter 4: Absence and Poetic Creation: Reflguring the Labyrinth In Mallarmé’s Mythe Moderne........................................... 141 Chapter 5: Deviations of the Heart in the Labyrinth of the World In Marguerite Yourcenaris Feux. .......................................174 Conclusion .................................................................................... 198 Appendix: Figures ..........................................................................................203 Bibliography ..........................................................................................208 VI Illustrations Figure 1 Labyrinth at Chartres Cathedral ...............................................203 Figure 2 Multicursal labyrinth ...................................................................204 Figure 3 Barthes’ diagram of signification in language and myth 204 Figure 4 Pinwheel labyrinth at Chantilly Gardens ................................. 205 Figure 5 Sef/rof emanating from the first sefirah ....................................206 Figure 6 Charting of the ten sefirot.......................................................... 207 VII Abbreviations BEL: Maurice Blanchot, L ’Espace littéraire. BM: Samuel Borton, Six Modes o f Sensibility. BR: Roland Barthes, Sur Racine. CEA: Jean-Claude Carron, Discours de l'errance amoureuse. Cl: Stéphane Mallarmé, Correspondance i. CM Robert Greer Cohn, Maiiarmé: igitur. CR Robert T. Corum