University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 5-2010 L’humour féminin subtil et raffiné dans le théâtre de Yasmina Reza Sandra Daniela Da Silva Esteves Soares UTK - MFLL, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss Recommended Citation Da Silva Esteves Soares, Sandra Daniela, "L’humour féminin subtil et raffiné dans le théâtre de Yasmina Reza. " PhD diss., University of Tennessee, 2010. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_graddiss/686 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Sandra Daniela Da Silva Esteves Soares entitled "L’humour féminin subtil et raffiné dans le théâtre de Yasmina Reza." I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Modern Foreign Languages. Les Essif, Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Mary McAlpin, Euridice Silva-Filho, Stanton B. Garner Jr. Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a dissertation written by Sandra Daniela da Silva Esteves Soares entitled ―L‘humour féminin subtil et raffiné dans le théâtre de Yasmina Reza.‖ I have examined the final electronic copy of this dissertation for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, with a major in Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures. Les Essif , Major Professor We have read this dissertation and recommend its acceptance: Mary McAlpin Euridice Silva Stanton Garner Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School L’humour féminin subtil et raffiné dans le théâtre de Yasmina Reza A Dissertation Presented for the Doctor of philosophy Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Sandra Daniela da Silva Esteves Soares May 2010 ii Copyright © 2010 by Sandra Daniela da Silva Esteves Soares All rights reserved. iii Dedication To Lara and Levi, who patiently endured this journey with me, constantly showing me love and without losing their wonderful sense of humor. It is a privilege to be your mom! To my parents, Daniel and Edite, I am grateful for your constant support, unconditional love and encouragement in pursuing my dreams. iv Acknowledgments I feel privileged to have been inspired and encouraged by so many people that crossed my path as my interest for French language, literature, theatre and culture took sail. I‘d like to acknowledge the Alliance Française for seeding this love in my heart. To all my professors at the Faculdade de letras de Lisboa at the University in Portugal my sincere thank you for guiding me to finish my undergraduate degree. I must also show my gratitude to all the teenagers that were my students throughout my years of teaching in Portugal. You helped me to discover my true passion: to teach French. Now on American soil, I must start by acknowledging Dr. Van Grit at Southern Adventist University for setting the vision for me. My sincere gratitude also goes to the entire department of Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures at the University of Tennessee. I would like to mention in particular my gratitude to Ingrid McMillen, Doug Canfield and Sumarni Kemala for your constant encouragement and tremendous help. To Asmaa Alaouii, Claire Niedzwiedzki and Pauline Beauruel my sincere gratitude for editing this text in French. To all of the French faculty, your inspiration and contribution to my development as a French student was imeasurable. I must mention in particular Dr. Karen Levy, Dr. John Romeiser, Dr. Mary McAlpin and Dr. Euridice Silva: your classes were stimulating and an invaluable experience. Professor Patrice Pavis, thank you for the gift of your insight on my project. Dr. Stanton Garner, it was an honor to have worked with you on this project. To all of my committee members, thank you for your willingness to read my text in French, for your constructive criticism and for guiding this dissertation to its completion. Dr. Les Essif, I enjoyed all the classes I took with you. For your patience, time and invaluable direction in this project I am forever grateful. Thank you to the University of Tennessee at Knoxville for granting me the opportunity of teaching while completing my studies. It was enriching to improve my teaching skills with Dr. Peggy Beauvois and Dr. Sébastien Dubreil. I am also grateful for the scholarships awarded to me: the Women‘s Ministries of SDA Student Aid Fund and the Elsie L.Crenshaw Student Aid Fund. This list would not be complete without thanking: Roger Esteves, Nichole Jordan and Olga Almeida, Cristina and John Grys for our many stimulating and thought provoking conversations and for your constant interest in the progress of this work. Christine Senior, and many other friends, thank you for your incredible sense of humor and continuous support. To all my family, I extend a grateful heart for your constant encouragement and always believing in me. Above all I thank God for giving me the privilege, strength, encouragement and all the resources to grow intellectually, to learn about humor and for the opportunity to share my love for Yasmina Reza‘s work with others. v Abstract Yasmina Reza is a contemporary French playwright who is not indifferent to the richness of humor. Her award-winning plays are portfolios of humorous situations that have attracted the attention of crowds composed of the general public and of academics. Reza turns discussions of art, parenting, existentialism, solitude and tragedy into comedies that distill a feminine humor. The public loves it, laughs and applauds. Inspired by Hélène Cixous‘s call to laugh as ‗medusas‘ (« A feminine text cannot fail to. break up the truth with laughter », and « laughs at the very idea of pronouncing the word silence »), I elaborate on the subtle presence of a feminine voice in Reza‘s humor. I also consider the fact that Reza has inherited a Jewish humor. The combination of this ancient humor with a feminine voice contributes to Reza‘s original imprint upon French theater. Applying selected theories of humor (mainly Bergson and Freud), to the textual analysis of five of her plays, I provide examples of how Reza‘s humor transcends the old dichotomies of masculine/feminine and superior/inferior to inscribe a laughter that is particularly feminine. This project is organized in three chapters. The first chapter provides an introduction to the discussion of feminine humor, setting forth Cixous‘s, among others, theoretical framework. Selected passages from the play « Art » provide examples of specific strategies of Reza‘s feminine humor. The second chapter analyzes passages from the plays Le dieu du carnage and Trois versions de la vie. In the third chapter, the discussion is enlarged to include a short study of Jewish humor and its traces in the plays La traversée de l‘hiver and Conversations après un enterrement. The conclusion takes a brief look at how the play L‘homme du hazard also contributes to Reza‘s feminine manifestation of humor. Reza‘s theater is a fun, thought provoking, reenergizing experience that can shed new light on our daily struggles in life and in relationships. Reza‘s feminine humor introduces a new way of relating to reality. This project reflects my desire to share this with the readers. Have fun! vi Préambule Sur le choix du thème J‘ai fait la connaissance du théâtre de Yasmina Reza il y a sept ans. Dans la classe de théâtre français que je suivais à ce moment-là on a discuté la pièce « Art », de Reza. La lecture de cette pièce m‘a plongée dans des heures de rire et de réflexion d‘une façon tout à fait nouvelle. Quand le moment de choisir le thème de cette dissertation est alors arrivé, je n‘ai eu aucun doute sur qui je voulais écrire. Le choix d‘étudier l‘humour de Reza a, ainsi, correspondu à mon intérêt de comprendre un peu mieux pourquoi l‘humour de cet auteur m‘avait parlé d‘une façon si intime. J‘ai eu l‘impression très forte que le théâtre de Yasmina Reza révèle un humour particulièrement féminin. Je remercie les professeurs membres de mon jury pour le privilège de pouvoir ancrer ce travail dans ma passion pour l‘humour de Yasmina Reza, révélé dans son théâtre. A partir de l‘analyse textuelle de passages sélectionnés de cinq des pièces de Reza, j‘ai exploré les stratégies de l‘auteur à produire un humour qui reflète une sensibilité féminine. Au fur et à mesure que j‘avançais dans la recherche pour ce travail, je me suis rendue compte que cette dissertation me ramenait souvent dans un monde dit ‗subjectif‘. On comprend facilement que traiter l‘humour c‘est, encore de nos jours, rentrer dans un domaine assez subjectif, dans la mesure où ce domaine demeure encore mystérieux et, en plus, vu que l‘humour touche plutôt la dimension émotionnelle. Dans sa base et, en dépit de la profusion de recherches sur l‘humour, il y a encore une certaine difficulté à arriver à une définition de ce terme.