Dissertations / Theses on the topic '1712-1778 Criticism and interpretation'

This dissertation is a study of the first three plays that Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote for the operatic stage: Iphis and La Decouverte du nouveau monde, both examples of the genre tragedie lyrique, and Les Muses galantes, an opera-ballet. Semiotic and poetic analyses bring to light striking resemblances between the dramatic situations depicted in the operas and the personal drama of the young Rousseau in love. As a whole, the operas reveal two distinct portraits of the self in love. The first, painted in colours of passion, reveals a self implicated in triangular relationships that are resolved through the abnegation of desire; the second, brushed in shades of contentment, devotion, and fidelity, celebrate the delights of requited love. These two portraits are studied in the light of Rousseau's principal writings in order to demonstrate how the early operatic works reflect true images of an ever evolving self in love.

This thesis is a comparative analysis of Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Reveries du promeneur solitaire and Gabrielle Roy's autobiography (La Detresse et l'Enchantement and Le temps qui m'a manque) and establishes that these two works are testamentary autobiographies, that is, autobiographies written with the awareness of approaching death. We first show that both Rousseau and Roy link their ultimate autobiographical desire to the imminence of their own death. We then show that their autobiographical activity is not only motivated by death, but, moreover, that it allows them in a certain sense to live it already, since what this activity allows them to do is, for them, similar to what they long to do in the afterlife. We suggest, finally, that this activity, which allows them to bequeath an ideal picture of themselves that will survive them, gives them a hold on their immortality.

Were it necessary to choose two words that could capture the philosophy of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, these two words would have to be truth and nature for, in his works, this philosopher does more than assert that he, and he alone, possesses truth in its entirety. He equally maintains that his sole desire lies in sharing this truth with human kind, that we might rediscover our true nature, one that we have long ago forgotten. In fact, these very words adorn his tomb in the Pantheon where he was finally brought to rest: "Ici repose l'homme de la nature et de la verite." However, upon closer examination of two of his major works, Emile or on Education and The Social Contract, both published in 1762, a surprising contradiction is brought to light. In these treatises, he makes the child and the people believe that they are free when he is merely using rhetoric to manipulate them. For example, in Emile he gives the following advice to tutors: "Take the opposite course with your pupil; let him always think he is master while you are really master. There is no subjection so complete as that which preserves the forms of freedom; it is thus that the will itself is taken captive." While in The Social Contract he recommends using divine intervention to assure that the people "obey freely, and bear with docility the yoke of public happiness." Is Rousseau simply a gifted sophist who, by hiding the rhetoric he uses, can present himself as a man of truth in order to better form the child and the people to do his bidding? Or, is there a justification for his duplicity? Could it be possible that in some instances duplicity must be used if truth is ever to be attained by all human beings? By examining the rhetoric Rousseau uses in Emile and The Social Contract, this thesis attempts to shed some light on this somewhat troubling contradiction.

Is there a relationship between science and happiness and, if so, what is it? Clearly, since the Enlightenment, science has increased life expectancy and bodily comfort. Is this happiness, or do humans long for something more? To examine these questions, I investigate the works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Specifically, I focus on the Discourses and the Emile, as he states in the Confessions that these works form a whole statement concerning the natural goodness of man. I agree with the literature that finds happiness, for Rousseau, is a sentiment one experiences when their faculties correspond to their desires, as this produces wholeness. In this dissertation, I find a form of modern science is necessary for humans to experience higher forms of happiness. This form of science is rooted in utility of the individual. To fully explain this finding, I begin with Rousseau's concept of being. By nature, our being experiences a low form of wholeness. I show Rousseau's investigation of being exposes a catch-22 situation for developing it to experience higher forms of wholeness. While freedom allows us to develop reason and judgment, we need reason and judgment to properly direct our freedom to perfect our individual being. I then show how three different types of tutors and educators, which include a scientific education, are directed by the single goal of maintaining wholeness in Emile's being so he can achieve the happiness of romantic love. Finally, I find that Emile's scientific education is an elaboration of the First Discourse and that his relationship with science, even from birth, plays a critical role for achieving romantic love in the future.

The late imperial architecture of Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach presents works (Entwurf einer historischen Architektur, Karlskirche and Hofbibliothek; 1712-1722) in which the intentions manifested are expressions of the political programs of the emperor Karl VI. In this imperial rhetoric, the accent is placed on the confirmation, through time, of the authority. Allegory appears as confirmation, through time, of the authority. Allegory appears as a proper means to convey the public manifestations of this propaganda. Whether at an urban scale, with Karlskirche, or at a more private, smaller scale, as in the Entwurf, Fischer is shown to master the integration of these programs, while maintaining a genuine interest in architectural tradition's history. In fact, the articulation of these two domains will lead to the production of a highly original architecture, which still fascinates today. Three aspects will be especially developed: the initiation of Karlskirche; the imperial promenade through the Hofbibliothek; and the fifth book of the Entwurf, on monumental vases and urns. Through these, it is the importance of constructed-ness, as seen in Fischer's praxis of history, that will emerge.

This thesis is the first extensive study devoted to the generic originality of Iurii Tynianov’s representation of Pushkin in his two historical novels, Pushkin (1935-1943) and the abandoned The Gannibals (1932). Chapter 1 contextualises Tynianov’s contribution to the current debates on the novel’s demise, ‘large’ form and the worthy protagonist. The conditions giving rise to contemporary interest in the genres of biography and the historical novel are delineated and the critical issues surrounding these are examined; Tynianov’s concern to secularise the rigid monolith of an all but sanctified ‘state-sponsored Pushkin’ and the difficulties of the task are also reviewed. Chapter 2 shifts the examination of Pushkin as a historical novel to its study within the generic framework of the Bildungs, Erziehungs and Künstlerromane with their particular problematics which allowed Tynianov to grapple with a cluster of moral, philosophical and educational issues, and to explore the formative influences on the protagonist’s identity as a poet. Chapter 3 explores the concept of history underlying Tynianov’s interpretation of the characters and events and the historiographical practices he employed in his analyses of the factors that shaped Pushkin’s own historical thinking. Chapter 4 investigates Tynianov’s scepticism about Abram Gannibal’s and A. Pushkin’s mythopoeia which reveals itself in Tynianov’s subversively ironical and playful use of myth in both novels. The Conclusion assesses Tynianov’s contribution to the 20th century fictional Pushkiniana and reflects on his innovative transgeneric historical novel which broke the normative restrictions of the genre, elevated it to the level of ‘serious’ literature and made it conducive to stylistic experimentation.

The analysis of Arne's six keyboard concertos uses the 1981 Oxford University Press edition of the musical scores. This edition relies totally a set of separate printed on parts that was published by Harrison & Company of London in 1793, and is the earliest known extant material for the concertos; the autograph MSS scores of Arne's concertos are not extant. The analysis first deals with Arne's general structural process, then examines the formal structure of the works in more detail, with particular attention given to the utilization of ritornello format and the influence from the Torelli-Vivaldi tradition. A discussion of the concertos' residual Baroque characteristics as well as several galant traits is included. Considerable attention is given to Arne's excellence in melodic writing, as well as to his fondness for the interval of an octave and to a particular rhythmic kernel. Also included is an analysis of a discarded movement from Concerto No. 1.The analysis of Arne's four symphonies uses the 1973 Oxford University Press edition of the musical scores. This edition relies totally on the set of printed parts from the 1767 John Johnston [London] edition, and is the earliest known extant material for the symphonies; the autograph MSS scores of Arne's symphonies are likewise lost or destroyed. As with the concertos, the analysis of the symphonies first looks at Arne's general structural procedures, then treats individual musical forms, with significant attention given to sonata form. An examination of Arne's remnant Baroque characteristics is included. As with the concertos, a substantial portion of the analysis is given to Arne's melodic writing.A short biography of Arne is included. This chapter discusses other instrumental works of Arne, as well as his more important vocal works.
School of Music

The nineteenth century presents a great increase in publications of guitar methods. Most authors of the time published several versions of their works. Fernando Sor, perhaps the most prominent guitar composers of the time—whose Méthode is regarded today as the most important of the period—only published one edition. However, Napoleon Coste took on the task to do a second account. The literature reviewed shows substantial existing information regarding background, type of text, tone, and contents of Sor's work, but comparisons to date are not substantial. Therefore, there is a need to compare these two texts side by side to yield a complete view of their pairing. The existing negative views of Coste's edition hinder the importance of Coste's work as reference to Segovia's publication of Sor studies, and as a clearer pedagogical application of many of Sor's concepts which are sidetracked by his response to criticism and his elaborations in matters beyond his main subject matter. I provide a comprehensive review of Sor's method, an outline and a consideration of his concepts. Then I offer a complete English translation of Coste's method which is inexistent until now. The comparison follows pointing at differences and similarities. Results show that Coste clarifies and complements many of the principles in less text and simpler language. He modifies certain others either to approach Sor's practice or to depart to a newer standard. He offers his own lessons and sections to apply Sor's concepts. Coste's text heads towards a pedagogical synthesis of Sor's method, but it is incomplete because he omits some concepts without leading the readers to consult Sor. Coste's pedagogical and practical relevance is fundamental for modern standard techniques.

La mise au jour de la specificite de la pensee de rousseau semble devoir passer par l'examen des sources auxquelles il a puise pour nourrir une pensee toujours en quete de l'origine. C'est la source platonicienne, en particulier, qui est analysee ici, afin de comprendre quel traitement elle a subi. L'examen de la source platonicienne chez rousseau a porte essentiellement sur la region que nous noumons aujourd'hui culture. C'est donc sur les chemins de l'anthropologie, de l'economie, de la politique et de l'education que nous avons suivi rousseau, chez qui le dualisme entre nature et culture est toujours tres vif. Si le platonisme de rousseau est patent, c'est toutefois son sens qu'il convient d'eclair : rousseau sensibilise ce que platon isolait dans la sphere de l'ideal, il introduit le temps au coeur meme de la reflexion ontologique. Par consequent, si la nature originelle joue, chez rousseau, un role similaire au monde platonicien des idees, c'est cependant un dualisme plus irreductible et plus definitif qui est a l'oeuvre chez lui, et qui rejette la pure nature originelle dans un passe mis irremediablement a distance, et dont le pathos est le lot de l'homme moderne, devenu incapable d'en avoir une vision autre que sensible
The updating of the specificity of rousseau's thought seems to have to go through the examination of the sources from which he drew to fill out a throught always in pursuit of the origin. It is platonic source, in particular, which is analized here, so as to understand which process it underwent. The examination of the platonic source in rousseau's writing concerned mainly the aera that we, today, call culture. It is on the ways to anthropology, economics, politics and education that we followed rousseau for whom the dualism between nature and culture is always very deep. If rousseau's platonism is obvious, it is nonetheless its meaning that one should explain: rousseau heightens what platon used to isolate within the sphere of ideal, he indroduces time to the heart of the ontological thought. Therefore if in rousseau the original nature plays a role similar to the platonic world of ideas, it is yet a dualism altogether more irreductible and more definitive which is at work in his writing, and which pushes the pure original nature back into a past forever kept in a distance, and the pathos of which is the fate of the modern man, who has become unable to have a vision other than sensitive

L’étude des textes du philosophe genevois, et en particulier de ses écrits politiques, nous a conduit à interroger la possibilité de voir dans le rousseauisme une théorie critique de la démocratie. Les principes politiques majeurs posés dans le Contrat social, approfondis dans les Lettres écrites de la montagne et rapportés à des cas pratiques dans le Projet de constitution pour la Corse et les Considérations pour le gouvernement de la Pologne, peuvent en fournir les critères d’analyse et de jugement, permettant une mise en perspective sur notre modernité démocratique. Il s’agit premièrement de montrer que les principes de sa pensée politique lui permettent de critiquer, dans les Lettres écrites de la montagne, la dérive oligarchique de la République de Genève de son temps (d’une démocratie au XVe siècle à une oligarchie au XVIIIe siècle) et l’usurpation de la souveraineté par le gouvernement ; deuxièmement de mettre en exergue sa critique des formes de démocratie (représentative, directe et délibérative) ; troisièmement de recenser les interventions critiques que le rousseauisme permet sur la démocratie contemporaine (représentative et libérale) ; quatrièmement de souligner que sa théorie politique permet une prise de conscience du caractère démocratique restreint de la politique contemporaine. En tant que théorie critique de la démocratie, le rousseauisme politique permet de détromper sur ce qu’est une démocratie véritable, tout en en révélant en filigrane une définition spécifique, celle de la souveraineté effective du peuple, d’un pouvoir commun de tous ; une conception de la démocratie que sa théorie du gouvernement, accordant une préférence à un gouvernement de type aristocratique reposant sur la vertu politique en acte et révélant que la forme de cette magistrature n’est pas un critère de démocratie (république), contribue à éclairer. Les différentes interventions critiques (« faibles » : rendre légitime la démocratie représentative ; « fortes » : envisager une transformation des sociétés politiques) du rousseauisme sur la démocratie mettent ainsi en lumière des principes politiques et des moyens, qui interrogent la nature et le fonctionnement des démocraties représentatives contemporaines (suprématie du pouvoir exécutif, dépossession de fait de la souveraineté du peuple). La pensée politique du Genevois invite à rechercher les moyens d’une expression réelle de la souveraineté du peuple dans le cadre de sa définition forte d’une démocratie participative absolue, au sens où elle commande la participation effective de tous les citoyens au législatif, condition de dégagement de la volonté générale. Une démocratie véritable doit garantir un pouvoir de critique et de contrôle réel de l’action de l’exécutif par le pouvoir législatif. Le rousseauisme politique peut alors prendre la forme d’une prophylaxie de la dérive oligarchique de la démocratie, l’actualisation de la vertu politique agissant alors comme l’expédient privilégié. De là mesure-t-on l’importance de penser les moyens de la réalisation de cette vertu, les moyens préventifs d’une neutralisation des ferments oligarchiques de toute société politique qui rendent impossible l’expression de la volonté générale
Studies of the Genevan philosopher’s writings, and particularly his politic ones, leads us to question the possibility of seeing a critical theory about democracy in rousseauism. The major political principles set in Contrat social, refined in Lettres écrites de la montagne and applied to practical cases in Considérations pour le gouvernement de la Pologne and Projet de constitution pour la Corse, can provide the analysis standard sand judgment that allows to put into perspective our democratic modernity. Firstly, it is about showing that the principles of his political thinking, in Lettres écrites de la montagne, allow him to criticize the oligarchical drift of Geneva’s Republic (from a democracy in the XVst century to an oligarchy in the XVIIIst century) and government’s usurpation of sovereignty. Secondly, it is about highlighting his criticism of democracy’s forms (representative, direct, deliberative). Thirdly, it is about identifying critical comments that Rousseauism makes possible towards contemporary democracy (representative and liberal). Fourthly, it is about emphasizing his political theory as a meaning to raise awareness of the fact that democracy is restricted in the contemporary policy. As a critical theory of democracy, political Rousseauism clarifies what is a true democracy or not and, in the same time, it unveils a specific definition of a common power, the people’s effective sovereignty. This is a conception of democracy that his theory about government contributes to enlighten - preferring an aristocratic government leaning on an active political virtue and revealing that the form of this legal authority is not a criteria for democracy (republic). Different critical interventions of Rousseauism about democracy (“weak”: legitimating representative democracy, “strong”: considering a transformation of politic societies) highlight political principles and means that question the nature and operation of contemporary representative democracies (supremacy of the executive power, and hence dispossession of the people’s sovereignty). The political thinking of the Genevan philosopher invites to look for the means of a true expression of people’s sovereignty in the context of his definition of absolute participative democracy, in the way that it commands the effective participation of all citizens to legislative, condition for a retrieval of general will. A true democracy must ensure an ability of criticism and an actual control of executive power’s actions through the legislative power. Thus, political Rousseauism can appear as a prophylaxis of the democracy’s oligarchical drift, the update of political virtue hence act as the privileged expedient. From there we can assess the importance of thinking the means of achieving this virtue, the preventive means of a neutralisation of the oligarchical ferments of any political society that make impossible general will’s expression

Text in Afrikaans
This study investigates postcolonial aspects of the prose oeuvre of André P. Brink, with specific reference to his historiographical texts `n Oomblik in die wind, Houd-den-Bek, Die eerste lewe van Adamastor, Inteendeel, Sandkastele and Donkermaan. The texts can be described as links in a textual history of South Africa: a history corresponding to the official version, revisioning it in an imaginative way. The texts also criticize political (mal)practices, and the pre-colonial, colonial and postcolonial social contexts of the country are critically scrutinized. The texts offer suggestions for a new political dispensation. Since the seventies the Brink oeuvre has developed a multi-dimensional postcolonial approach. Aspects of post-colonialism, post-structuralism, magical realism and feminism as articulated in the texts, are analyzed and interpreted. Brink's investigation of problems concerning historiography, and the relation between history and fiction, comprised an important aspect of the research leading to this report.
Afrikaans & Theory of Literature
D.Litt. et Phil

Text in Afrikaans
Die doel van die verhandeling is om vas te stel in hoe 'n mate vyftien geselekteerde studies van Fernando Sor uit die Yepes- en Segovia-uitgawes van mekaar verskil deur die studies te vergelyk. Albei uitgawes is ook met die faksimilee-uitgawe vergelyk om die korrektheid van die Yepes- en Segoviauitgawes te bepaal. Seide Yepes en Segovia het heelwat veranderings aangebring. Die kenmerkendste van hierdie verskille word nie net uitgewys nie, maar daar word ook na moontlike redes gekyk waarom sulke verskille in die twee uitgawes aangebring is. Die gevolgtrekking is dat Yepes en Segovia duidelike redes gehad het waarom hulle verskil het van die faksimilee-uitgawe. Yepes en Segovia het verskillende tegniese benaderings wat bydra tot die uniekheid van die twee uitgawes wat vir die kitaarspeler 'n rykdom van moontlikhede bied in die uitvoering van hierdie studies.
The aim of the dissertation is to determine the differences between the Yepes and Segovia editions by comparing selected studies. In order to determine the correctness of the Yepes and Segovia editions both are compared to the facsimile edition as well. Yepes and Segovia both introduced a number of changes. The most typical of these are indicated and possible reasons for their inclusion in the two editions are discussed. The conclusion is that Yepes as well as Segovia had very definite reasons for including alterations to the facsimile edition in their own editions. Both have in their own editions an individual and highly personal approach which leaves us with the unique gifts of the two editions, and the guitar student with a variety of possibilities in the performance of these studies.
Department of Musicology
M.Mus. (Department of Musicology)

Text in French with abstracts in French and English. Translated title in English
La recherche montre Voltaire comme un auteur très connu du « Siècle des Lumières ». Voltaire a pu démontrer la véritable situation de la femme à l’époque. Les romans de Voltaire bien que courts, sont pleins d’esprit et lui ont valu jusqu’à aujourd’hui la plus grande part de sa gloire dans la littérature. Les propres expériences de Voltaire avec les femmes qu’il a rencontrées dans sa vie sont dépeintes dans ses romans. Il a mis l’accent sur l’exploitation des femmes dans les années 1800 à travers ses romans. Il dépeint la sensualité des femmes qui a longtemps été un sujet qu’il aimait exprimer dans ses œuvres. Voltaire critique et ridiculise la sensualité des femmes. Pour comprendre l’’attitude paradoxale de Voltaire envers la femme dans ses œuvres, il est important de connaître les relations qu’il a partagées avec les femmes tout au long de sa vie. Son attitude sceptique est dépeinte dans beaucoup de ses romans.
This research shows Voltaire as a well-known author of the “Enlightenment Age”. Voltaire has been able to demonstrate the true situation of woman at that time. Voltaire’s novels though short are full of spirit and have earned him until today the greater share to his glory in literature. Voltaire’s own experiences with women he met in his life are portrayed in his novels. He emphasized the exploitation of females in the 1800’s through his novels. He portrays the sensuality of women that has long been a subject that he liked to express in his works. Voltaire criticizes and ridicules the sensuality of women. To understand Voltaire’s paradoxical attitude towards woman in his works, it is important to know the relationships he shared with women throughout his life. His skeptical attitude is portrayed in many of his novels.
Classics and World Languages
M.A. (French)