A Thesis: Two Ways
May 9, 2013鈥擜s a double major in and , Kylie Sago (C鈥�13) wrote not one but two honors theses.
Next year, Sago is bound for Harvard University鈥檚 doctoral program in French literature, but she found her foundation as a researcher in her majors at Georgetown. 鈥淲orking as a researcher on these two projects really affirmed my career goal of going on to graduate studies in French literature,鈥� Sago said.
Each thesis addresses the 19th-century French poet Charles Baudelaire. 鈥淚 think the subjects are fairly different. They both deal with the figuration of the woman, but in very different ways,鈥� she continued.
In her French thesis, Sago analyzes three poems from Baudelaire鈥檚 collection of poetry, Les Fleurs du Mal (The Flowers of Evil). In each of the three poems鈥斺�淟a Beaut茅,鈥� 鈥淟e Masque,鈥� and 鈥淎 Une Madonne鈥濃�攖he woman is represented as a sculpture. 鈥淚 was looking at the reaction that the spectator poet has when he looks on these women as art. A lot of times there鈥檚 this element of shock, surprise, or even violence that shows up in the poems,鈥� she said.
According to Sago, these shocks represent depictions of trauma in poetry, which led to the focus of her thesis. 鈥淭here鈥檚 this idea that trauma is unrepresentable to the self. But what I wanted to look at in my thesis was the way that these three poems affirm poetry鈥檚 ability to represent and depict trauma,鈥� she explained. In 鈥淟a Beaut茅,鈥� the poet discovers the shock that language is insufficient to capture certain ideas and emotions. In 鈥淟e Masque,鈥� she found the idea that life itself is a trauma, and in the third poem, a poet experiences trauma through a divided self.
鈥淚n 鈥楢 Une Madonne,鈥� the poet becomes a sculptor of a metaphoric statute, creating a grotto-like space deep within himself and adorning the Madonna with his verses, jealousy, suspicion, tears, and respect鈥攂efore plunging seven knives into her bleeding heart,鈥� she said.
The poem explores the idea of a divided self鈥斺�渟elf that contains at once self and other鈥濃�� so the pain the sculptor poet inflicts upon the statute, he also inflicts upon himself. 鈥淥ne of the things I talk about in my thesis is the way that depicting trauma in poetry creates a network of witnesses and testimonies to the trauma,鈥� she explained. 鈥淚 think that by depicting a statute, the poet is creating another witness to his trauma. The statute can also be that on which the poet projects his trauma to express it.鈥�
For her English thesis, Sago wanted to do a project that closely compared two authors, 鈥渨ith a particular interest in presentations of the woman coming back from the grave and fetishes,鈥� she explained.
Comparing Baudelaire鈥檚 poems with short stories by Poe was a natural fit. 鈥淏audelaire actually translated Edgar Allan Poe into French. He was the one who introduced France to Poe so the literary heritage was already established between the two,鈥� she explained.
Although both research projects looked at works by Baudelaire, her English thesis examined the control that a male poet has over representations of women in his work, in light of theories by Freud, Nietzsche, and Simone de Beauvoir and theories of poetic language.
鈥淚 created this interplay of theories to show that even though the poet exerts this enormous amount of control over the figure of the woman in his writing, his attempt to possess the woman in poetic language is doomed to fail,鈥� she said. However, she finds that this futile chase to possess the woman is fulfilling enough for the poet to come back to subject 鈥渁gain and again鈥� in his writing.
Sago cautions readers to view these emotionally charged poems and stories with an understanding that they represent only a portion of the author鈥檚 overall work. 鈥淭he woman is a tool of the poet or author to evoke certain feelings of himself,鈥� she explained. 鈥淵ou have to nuance arguments. You can鈥檛 characterize one author鈥檚 treatment of the woman under one description.鈥�
Sago鈥檚 thesis projects have not only been a culminating experience of her studies at Georgetown but also placed her a path for after graduation.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 tell you how much intellectual growth has come from these projects for me. I found it to be an incredibly creative and fulfilling process, where I鈥檓 working toward my intellectual potential and that is the most amazing feeling in the world.鈥�
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