NCube/papyrus huggingface dataset:
Les romans de Milan Kundera : problèmes de traduction et de réception

While many studies have been dedicated to the analysis of the form of Milan Kundera's novelistic work and its meaning through a thematic, hermeneutic or sociocritical approach, this thesis examines this work from another angle, precisely the one related to translation and reception. The linguistic, stylistic, semantic and formal analysis to measure the gap between the french translations makes it possible to assess the reception of the work and to take a new look at the misunderstandings that surrounded it.  Mainly devoted to the analysis of the reception, this thesis aims to determine the role of the critics, and more particularly the media, in the reception of Milan Kundera's novels. The study of the criticism reserved for the various novels raises a questioning about the gap between the keen interest following the publication of the first translated novels and the discord aroused by the latters, following the transition to french.

Keyphrases: Milan Kundera, Lecture, Translation, Retranslation, Reading
Dancing on the Edge of the Word : Ursula K. Le Guin and Metaphor

Summary:  This project is a discussion of the way in which the science fiction of Ursula K. Le Guin highlights the role of consent in metaphor, an act that decenters the experiential relationship with the world as source of metaphorical interactions, and highlights the role of metaphor in accessing the unmeasurable, and the unknown.  A combination of Le Guin’s complex system of metaphor and Paul Ricoeur’s work in both metaphor and the composition of acts of will delineates the structures and resultant uses of metaphor both in literature and the world.  Within the structures outlined in this work, metaphor falls into four categories determined by where, when, and by whom consent is offered: living metaphor, metaphorized words, effaced metaphor, and determinative metaphor.  These structures indicate the uses and misuses of metaphor within social and political dynamics, as well as offering an illustration of how metaphor allows for the expansion into the unknown.  The following text is constructed in four chapters, each of which address four different interactions using four of Le Guin’s science fiction novels and one of her novellas.  The chapters and subjects are as follows: the unknown in The Left Hand of Darkness; governance in The Dispossessed; the Other in The Eye of the Heron, “A Woman’s Liberation,” and The Left Hand of Darkness; creation in The Telling.  Le Guin’s relationship with respectful interaction places the author in a position that allows for a clear conception of how consent is productive in metaphor through each of four styles of metaphor – living, metaphorized word, effaced, and determinative – interactions with those varieties of consent: informed, historical, borrowed, or manufactured.  As well, Le Guin’s work follows through to suggest the results of the use of each of the different styles of metaphor in either an expansion of the world of the recipient or the repression of referent of the metaphor.

Keyphrases: Consent, Effaced, Determinative, Ursula K. Le Guin, Paul Ricoeur, Science Fiction, Unknown, Immeasurable, Metaphor
Noisy and haptic interventions in the feminist codex : daring refusals by H. D., Lisa Robertson, Rachel Zolf, and Erín Moure

Noisy and Haptic Interventions in the Feminist Codex: Daring Refusals by H. D., Lisa Robertson, Rachel Zolf, and Erín Moure proposes a genealogy of innovative women’s writing that establishes a wide-spanning community (over space and time) of radically dissimilar individuals. In the poetry and prose of Lisa Robertson, her contemporary Canadian peers Erín Moure and Rachel Zolf, and their modernist neighbour H. D., re-visionary women’s writing announces itself as a communal force capable of disrupting the singular, phallocratic self so consistently celebrated in literary canons. The feminine/feminist voice in these texts is an ambiguous and ambivalent one, and the communities she assembles and disassembles (e.g. her alliances with the politics of feminism) are uneasy ones. The solitary woman writer emerges from the feminist codex not in order to assume the role of male genius but to disrupt our binary understanding of self/other and singular/communal. The material page on which she writes — the feminist codex — is never a static figure, but a figuring. It is not the inscription of history, but the pulsating re-visioning and dynamic embodiment of literature’s noisy history.  My dissertation examines the feminist codex’s impact on the sensory aggregate: the cycles of ruin and renewal sustained by the haptic and olfactory senses in H. D.’s Trilogy; the disassembled “audio archive” of Lisa Robertson’s R’s Boat; the whirr in the air of H. D.’s Helen in Egypt; the noisy and material disruptions in Rachel Zolf’s Janey’s Arcadia; the resounding phonotext of H. D.’s only audio recordings; and the visibly worn bodies in Erín Moure’s citizen trilogy. I do not conduct these investigations in chronological order, for it is not a narrative of progress I pursue. Instead I encourage a rhizomatic re-reading: a form of feminist time travel permitted by the sensuous ways of knowing shared by these difficult texts.   By inviting temporal rupture, and by investigating a theoretical space wherein women writers discover the communal ties necessary to write into the world, I illustrate the ways in which H. D., Robertson, Zolf, and Moure provide multiple openings for a non-linear and radical genealogy of feminist poetics. From our stance over their thrumming texts, we see the writing, we hear the voices, we smell the dust accumulating upon unread pages or the fire of new ideas rapidly turning, we touch the material binding, and we might, even, dare to taste the pulp.

Keyphrases: H. D., Lisa Robertson, Rachel Zolf, Erín Moure, feminist poetics, noise, material, difficult writing, modernist poetry, contemporary poetry
La figure d’Ulysse au XXe siècle : une mise en scène du rapport de force entre affect et raison

This thesis examines the omnipresence of the Odysseus figure in twentieth century self-consciousness throughout its many literary and philosophical rewritings. Noting the unprecedented proliferation of the Odysseus figure in this period’s literature, the thesis seeks to convey the ways in which it embodies and sets in motion thinking at the core of the most important problems of the century. Odysseus’s literary and critical fortune in the twentieth century is explained by the modalities of thought which it conveys, modalities that are themselves clarified by the definition of Odysseus as a figure of the mediation between extremes. This thought of and between extremes embodied by Odysseus is defined as a manifestation of the mind proper to the literary, that is, as specifically literary thought, which is irreducible to conceptual thought. From the study of diverse literary texts of the twentieth century in which the Odysseus figure appears, I demonstrate that this particular form of thought concerns the balance of power between affect and reason within the mind, the way in which reason propels itself on the basis of affects only to become overwhelmed by them, in a perpetual movement that is exemplified by the peregrinations of Odysseus in his quest for an impossible return. This power struggle between affect and reason becomes a thematic element in the form of Odysseus’s depiction, or “mise en scène,” of the power struggle between the Hellenic and Judeo-Christian origins of Western civilization, between reason and revelation, knowledge and faith, Athens and Jerusalem.

Keyphrases: Odysseus, Figure, Literary, Reason, Affect, Mediation, Athens, Jerusalem
Performativité de l'être-en-ligne : pour une phénoménologie de la présence numérique

Around the fundamental question of presence, I draw on interdisciplinary literature whose contributions from the fields of anthropology and social geography, theatre and cinema theory, performance studies, psychoanalysis and sociology are articulated from the perspective of phenomenology and information and communication sciences. Our way of inhabiting the world has changed: online-being is the new fundamental existential condition. Our space is a performative space, because it is produced through our actions, our gestures, eminently reflexive photographic gestures, which create our digital mise en scène. This space has become the space which links together all of our active and social spaces. Here, I single out live and recorded performativity, the performativity of do-ing, the performativity of algorithms and of questions, of emojis and of all that which “fait visage”. After a socio-semiotic analysis of digital gestures, screens, the graphics of social networks and presence protocols, I describe presence as always being a mediation effect. This mediation is at once disjuntion and fiction, because it works as a difference and as the fiction of hypermediality. Presence exists where  there is play (jeu) as in the french expression “il y a du jeu”, refering to space, and in its fictional sense of play-acting. As with Sartre’s café waiter, we play act in order to create reality and consciousness through fiction.

Keyphrases: jeu, fiction, Presence, Mediation, Gestures, Screens, Play
Rendre compte de soi au seuil de l'exposition : entre l'impératif promotionnel et le projet éthique

In this thesis, written between several disciplines (literary studies, art history and art criticism), I aim to examine the relationship of compatibility between the promotional imperative artists are compelled to adopt in order to publicize their work via institutions, artists’ response to this imperative, and the resulting ethical consequences. My analysis focuses on this response as articulated by artists whose practices are characterized by criticality and reflexivity, and who have been classified under the rubric of institutional critique. Through a series of case studies, I cover a period spanning the late 1960s to early 1990s, with a focus on the work of Marcel Broodthaers, Louise Lawler, Christopher D’Arcangelo and Andrea Fraser. I aim to address this lacuna by way of a broad-based methodological approach, drawing from discourse analysis, art history and art criticism. Using a referential framework that encompasses Michel Foucault’s later research on ethics and critique, Judith Butler’s work on ethics and performativity, the pragmatic analyses of Mieke Bal, and Pierre Bourdieu’s sociological examination, I propose a rereading of several literary and visual objects that, while produced in a promotional context, are characterized by a certain ambivalence of status and function, combining as they do critique and promotion in such a way as that both modes remain operative. In this sense, I hope to demonstrate that the sometimes abrasive nature of critique can be maintained within the ostensibly unsuitable space of promotion, and that this critique is fundamentally ethical in nature. In sum, I will show how the articulation of ethical critique has bearing on the ethos of both the artist and the academic.

Keyphrases: institutional critique, ephemera, ethics, ethos, exhibition, performativity, self-narrative, reflexivity, Marcel Broodthaers, Christopher D'Arcangelo, Andrea Fraser, Louise Lawler
L’autonomie relationnelle des femmes victimes de violence conjugale : une analyse de leur réseau social

This thesis fills a knowledge gap regarding the social network of victims of domestic violence. It also addresses concerns raised by intervention workers in the field, who want to develop network-based interventions but report challenges stemming from a lack of training and information on the matter. Based on the idea that women’s autonomy is a product of their global relational context, the main objective of the thesis is to understand the process by which autonomy is constructed. Five specific objectives are pursued: 1) To highlight the actions performed by members of these networks, organized according to a timeline 2) To describe the changes in the women’s network 3) To understand the network’s influence on the aforementioned actions 4) Conversely, to understand the influence of the actions themselves on the social networks 5) To identify the influence of shelters on the evolution of the women’s social networks. In order to achieve these objectives, analyses were conducted using the concept of relational autonomy, defined as the freedom to choose among an array of options. A mixed methods research design is employed, combining social network analysis and qualitative analysis. Thirty interviews were completed, through which four stages of social network transformations emerged for women who had experienced intimate partner violence: the violent relationship stage, the break-up stage, shelter interventions, and post-shelter life. The women’s autonomy increases with their break-up and as they access a shelter. However, a major challenge awaits for the post-shelter life: that of the decline of relational options. This result has to be understood in light of the women’s network members’ actions, which can certainly support their autonomy by taking their share of the problem, but can also contribute to their constraint by refusing to get involved or by taking complete charge of the situation. When they have access to a context that includes multiple options, the constraints imposed by people are less effective. As women adjust and undertake actions in order to preserve their autonomy, having access to a range of relevant options allows them to regain global control over their life. The results are discussed in terms of network-based interventions with victims of domestic violence.

Keyphrases: intervention, social network, social network analysis, personal network, intimate partner violence, personal network analysis, domestic violence, intervention, shelter
Résoudre des crimes et des énigmes au sein du Reddit Bureau of Investigation : une analyse sociomatérielle de la constitution d'un collectif en contexte numérique

This thesis investigates the websleuthing practices undertaken by “amateurs” or “vigilantes” in a sociohistorical context where criminal investigations are understood as being exclusive to security professionals. We specifically examine the case of the Reddit Bureau of Investigation (RBI), an online forum that is composed of approximately 70 000 members and whose aim is to solve crimes and mysteries. Overall, the objective of this study is to analyze the processes through which the RBI is constituted and organized, as well as to understand how such a collective contributes to mutations in contemporary policing. We develop a two-fold conceptual framework that draws from the sociomaterial turn in organizational studies. Firstly, we mobilize the CCO perspective to underline the constitutive nature of communication (and discourse) in the emergence of collectives, as well as the ventriloquist theory to understand how the development of discursive practices rely on the intervention of human and nonhuman actors (users, norms, images, objects, and, more importantly, figures) that generate certain effects (like identifying the collective’s goal, defining its identity and the roles of its members, reinforcing its rules, etc.). Secondly, we draw from studies on social media affordances to understand how Reddit’s platform materializes such discursive practices online. This study answers four research questions: 1) What are the main discursive practices that are developed by RBI members?; 2) How do Reddit’s affordances contribute to materializing such practices?; 3) How do these practices (fail to) constitute and perform the collective?; and 4) In what ways does the RBI contribute to mutations in terms of contemporary policing? To do so, we mobilize observational tools from online ethnography, documentary research, and organizational discourse analysis. This methodological apparatus is then used to analyze a corpus of posts that was extracted from the RBI over a period of three months between 2014 and 2015. Our results show that invoking the figures of the police and of vigilantism, as well as their antagonistic configuration played a significant part in the constitution of the RBI. Indeed, to dissociate from vigilantism allows members to identify what they cannot be and what they cannot do in the name of the collective. Inversely, RBI members maintain a certain ambiguity toward the police. To that effect, our results underline how the RBI’s legitimacy is negotiated daily between the recognition of the police’s own legitimacy, the limits of this institution (whether real or perceived), and the rejection of any identification with vigilantism.

Keyphrases: affordance, amateur, figure, Internet, police, Reddit, discourse analysis, investigation, sociomateriality, vigilantism
Propriétés mécaniques et nanotribologiques de monocouches auto-assemblées de microgels de poly(NIPAM) cationique en milieux aqueux

The aim of this project is to advance the knowledge and understanding of lubricating systems, whether synthetic or biological, in aqueous media. For this purpose, we develop self-assembled monolayer 2D-arrays of cationic pNIPAM thermosensitive microgels in order to study their mechanical and nanotribological properties. We establish several synthetic routes to modulate the microgel rigidity and study its effect on the tribological behaviour. We also look at the effect of the grafting nature of microgels on the substrate, by developing an innovative chemical coupling method, to compare the properties of physisorbed and chemisorbed monolayers. We probe the mechanical properties of the microgel layers in aqueous environment while varying the temperature, the nature of the grafting and the salts added to the system, primarily by using a Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation monitoring (QCM-D). The core of our study is performed using a modified Surface Forces Apparatus (SFA) which allows for tribological measurements, the results of which will be treated in two parts. First, we characterise the normal surface forces when compressing two surfaces decorated with the microgel layers. Second, we study the behaviour of these surfaces under compression and shear. We explore their lubricant properties and observe the appearance of a shear-induced velocity-dependent lift force, whose origin we seek to determine. We thus discovered a mechanism specific to a compliant substrate, decorated with discrete particles presenting a repulsive contact without friction at long range.

Keyphrases: Hydrogels, Microgels, Surfaces, Nanotribologie, pNIPAM, Nanotribology
Synthesis of constrained nucleosides

In its basic form, antisense technology involves binding of a short oligonucleotide sequence to a complementary messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA), which can ultimately result in prevention of genetic diseases prevention by stopping the production of pathogenic proteins. Oligonucleotides composed of natural nucleic acids are capable of high-affinity binding recognition to complementary RNA and DNA sequences; however, they rapidly undergo intracellular digestion through the action of nucleases and are thus unsuitable for antisense-based therapeutics. The present thesis reports and details the synthesis of four new nucleic acid analogues that can be used as potential antisense agents and in related therapeutic applications.   Based on a double-constrain strategy, chapter three explores the synthesis of TriNA 2, a nucleoside analog that extends the bicyclic structure of LNA into a tricyclic core, restricting rotation around torsion angle γ.  In chapter four, two synthetic routes towards the synthesis of a bicyclic piperidino nucleoside analog are discussed; one based on a nucleoside as starting point and the second one being a carbohydrate-based synthesis.  In chapter five the conception and synthesis of a novel oxabicyclic nucleoside phosphonate analog is discussed. The design of this nucleoside features a perhydrofuropyran core which restricts rotation around angles ɣ, δ and ε of a natural nucleoside.  The last chapter describes different approaches toward the synthesis of macrocyclic backbone constrained nucleotides based on phosphonate linked units. Our first strategy used diastereopure H-phosphonates and their corresponding stereoretentive alkylation for the construction of the first 11-membered ring macrocyclic trinucleotide. A complementary phosphoramidite approach provided a complementary route for the synthesis of the 11-membered ring macrocycle and showed a valuable tool for the synthesis of different size macrocyles.

Keyphrases: Restriction conformationelle, Antisense therapy, Tricyclic nucleic acids, Bicyclic nucleic acids, Locked nucleic acids, Conformational restriction, Oligonucleotides, Nucleic acids, Duplex thermal stability
Association des composés quinonoïdes: conception de nouveaux solides cristallins pour l’électronique organique

In supramolecular chemistry, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts: a material’s characteristics are not always defined by the attributes of isolated molecules and may only emerge from their collectivity. Properties then depend on molecular organization. The difficulty of predicting it from molecular identity alone prevents the design of materials with predefined properties. Few methods allow modulation of organization, and the necessary molecular fragments are often not relevant to the targeted properties. Therefore, useful organizations are often reached at the expense of molecular properties. For those reasons, we have chosen to examine molecular association in families of molecules relevant to organic electronic and to study how the molecular fragments defining the attractive properties can also be exploited to direct molecular association. We have chosen to focus on structurally related compounds that combine three essential characteristics: (1) the presence of an extended π system; (2) the ability to engage in various intermolecular interactions, and (3) an electron-poor nature that promotes either charge transfer or redox reactions.    The first part of the thesis details the association of a series of aromatic thiadiazoles. These units are widely used in many optoelectronic materials and are particularly valuable as components of the active layers of organic solar cells. To ensure that our structural analyses are relevant to studies in which the typical components of molecular thin-film devices must be properly organized, we have also examined co-crystallizations of thiadiazole derivatives with the fullerenes C60 and C70, which define a class of compounds widely used as electron acceptors in solar cells. This section is followed by a chapter describing problems in synthesis encountered during the preparation of the thiadiazoles and our efforts to overcome them. The second part of the thesis turns to derivatives of triptycenes containing quinone and hydroquinone units and on how their association and their redox properties can be used in concert in the solid state.

Keyphrases: thiadiazole, quinone, hydroquinone, supramolecular chemistry, molecular association, quinonoid compound, triptycene, crystallography