Academic literature on the topic '1811-1886 Criticism and interpretation'

Recognizing the fact that comprehension, analysis and transmission of reality are based on diversely structured socio-political contexts as well as on different categorical and essential postulates, offers a prospect of enrichment. Thus, this article presents an analysis and interpretation of one of the first Chinese theoreticians, working in the field of intercultural methodology. Although Zhang Dongsun (1886–1973) can be considered as one of the leading Chinese philosophers of the 20th Century, his criticism of Sinicized Marxist ideologies marked him as a political dissident and he was consequently consigned to oblivion for several decades; only recently has his work been rediscovered by a number of younger Chinese theorists, who have shown a growing interest in his ideas. Although he is still relatively unknown in the West, Zhang definitely deserves to be recognized for his contributions to Chinese and comparative philosophy. The present article focuses on his extraordinary ability to introduce Western thought in a way which was compatible with the specific methodology of traditional Chinese thought. According to such presumptions, culture is viewed as an entity composed of a number of specific discourses and relations. The article shows how the interweaving and interdependence of these discourses form different cultural backgrounds, which manifest themselves in the specific, culturally determined structures of language and logic. It also explains the role of traditional elements in his cultural epistemology.

AbstrakTulisan mengenai Sejarah Sosial Daerah Kabupaten Lebak menggambarkan kehidupan masyarakat yang mencakup aspek geografi, pemerintahan, penduduk, budaya sinkretisme dan masyarakat adat, budaya, dan pendidikan. Untuk merekontruksi kembali menggunakan metode sejarah yang meliputi empat tahap, yaitu: heuristik, kritik, interpretasi, dan historiogarfi. Lebak menjadi bagian dari wilayah Kesultanan Banten dan masyarakatnya menganut ajaran agama Islam. Pada abad ke-19 terjadilah perubahan politik di daerah tersebut. Perubahan itu seiring dengan semakin meluasnya kekuasaan Belanda di wilayah Banten yang ditandai oleh penghapusan Banten tahun 1808 oleh Daendels. Perkembangan selanjutnya pada masa pemerintahan Letnan Gubernur Jenderal Thomas Stamford Raffles (1811-1816), Banten dibagi menjadi empat daerah setingkat kabupaten, yaitu: Kabupaten Banten Lor, Banten Kulon, Banten Tengah, dan Banten Kidul. Setelah kekuasaan dipegang kembali oleh Belanda, maka wilayah Banten dibagi menjadi 3 kabupaten yaitu: Kabupaten Serang, Caringin, dan Lebak. Perubahan berikutnya terjadi pada tanggal 14 Agustus 1925, Lebak menjadi sebuah kabupaten otonom. Kemudian, pada tahun 1950 mengenai pembentukan daerah-daerah dalam lingkungan Provinsi Jawa Barat. Kabupaten Lebak dimasukkan ke dalam 25 Daerah Tingkat II di provinsi tersebut. Pada tahun 2003 Kabupaten Lebak menjadi bagian dari Provinsi Banten. Penduduk Kabupaten Lebak dari tahun ke tahun mengalami perkembangan yang signifikan, begitu pula di bidang sosial budaya dan pendidikan berkembang cukup dinamis.AbstractThis study illustrates aspects of community life in Kabupaten Lebak in the 19th century. Then, Lebak was part of the Sultanate of Banten and most of the people embraced Islam. In the 19th century Lebak faced a political change due to the expanding power of theDutch in Banten. Daendels eliminated the Sultanate of Banten in 1808. During the reign of Lieutenant Governor-General Thomas Stamford Raffles (1811-1816) Banten was divided into four districts: Banten Lor (Northern Banten), Banten Kulon (Western Banten), Banten Tengah (Central Banten), and Banten Kidul (Southern Banten). When the Dutch regained its power in Banten, the region was divided into three disctricts: Serang, Caringin, and Lebak. In August 14, 1925 Lebak became an autonomous district. In 1950 District of Lebak was part of 25 districts in the Province of West Java, and since 2005 the district became part of the Province of Banten. Today, the population of Lebak has been increasing significantly every year and the educational and socio-cultural life has been developed quite dynamically. To reconstruct this history the author conducted method in history: heuristic, criticism, interpretation, and historiography.

Fleeming Jenkin's swamping argument (1867) is re-examined in relation to subsequent criticisms of its assumptions. Jenkin's original argument purported to show that, under blending inheritance, natural selection could not operate on ‘sports’ or ‘single variations’. A serious flaw in Jenkin's model was exposed in a forgotten paper in 1871. Darwin accepted Jenkin's ‘flawed’ conclusion, though he did not fully understand the argument. Both Jenkin and Darwin regarded the swamping argument as a barrier to evolution within a single lineage. A completely different interpretation of the phrase ‘swamping argument’, first put forward by Romanes in 1886, identified it with the problem of the role of free intercrossing in preventing speciation. The latter problem also underlies current debate about the possibility of sympatric speciation and is as serious under particulate as under blending inheritance. Jenkin's argument depended on the assumption of blending inheritance; when modified to remove the ‘flaw’ in his model, it ceased to present a barrier to the operation of natural selection within a lineage, provided that the mutation rate was high enough to maintain adequate genetic variability under blending.

Двенадцать романсов ор. 60, посвященных императрице Марии Федоровне (1886), являются наиболее многосоставным камерно-вокальным опусом П. И. Чайковского. Особое место принадлежит в нем романсу № 5 «Простые слова». С одной стороны, он относится к группе сочинений, написанных Чайковским на свой собственный текст, и уже необычным названием привлекает к себе внимание. С другой - является редко исполняемым, малоизученным. При этом в научной литературе он получил разноречивые оценки: от острокритических до недоуменных. В сравнении с общеизвестными шедеврами этого опуса он блекнет, производя впечатление некого «вставного номера». Тем не менее он порождает ряд вопросов. К кому обращается «лирический герой»? От кого исходит обращение? Какова вообще его «тема»? Автор статьи предлагает свое прочтение. Аналитические наблюдения над словесным и музыкальным рядом заставляют предположить, что композитор работал в жанре музыкального портрета и изобразил императора Александра III. Это может дать ключ к новому пониманию не только данного романса, но и всего цикла ор. 60 как музыковедами, так и исполнителями. В приложении впервые публикуется авторизованная копия романса «Простые слова» из собрания Научной библиотеки Государственного Эрмитажа. Twelve Romances, Op. 60 dedicated to Empress Maria Feodorovna (1886), is P. I. Tchaikovsky’s most multipart chamber vocal opus. No. 5 Simple Words occupies a special place in it. On the one hand, it belongs to a group of songs, for which Tchaikovsky used his own texts and is singled out by its unusual title. On the other, it is understudied and rarely performed. Furthermore, researchers assess it very differently: they either criticize it or find it perplexing. It pales in comparison with the famous masterpieces of this opus, making the impression of an inset piece. Nevertheless, it raises a number of questions. Who does the protagonist address? From whom does the appeal come? What is its subject? The author of this paper offers his own interpretation. His analysis of the text and the music suggests that in Simple Words Tchaikovsky depicted Emperor Alexander III in the genre of a musical portrait. This may provide clues to a new understanding of this song and of the entire Op. 60 cycle. An authorized copy of Simple Words from the collection of the State Hermitage Scientific Library is published in the Appendix for the first time.

Grundtvig's Relations with Luther and the Lutheran TraditionBy Leif GraneGrundtvig’s relations with Luther and the Lutheran tradition are essential in nearly the whole of Grundtvig’s lifetime. The key position that he attributed to Luther in connection with his religious crisis 1810-11, remained with the Reformer until the very last, though there were changes on the way in his evaluation of the Reformation.The source material is overwhelming. It comprises all Grundtvig’s historical and church historical works, but also a large number of his theological writings, besides a number of his poems and hymns. Prior to Grundtvig’s lifelong occupation with Luther there had been a rejection of tradition as he had met with it in the Conservative supranaturalism. After the Romantic awakening at Egeløkke and the subsequent »Asarus« (the- ecstatic immersion in Nordic mythology), over the religious crisis 1810-1811, when Grundtvig thought he was »returning« to Luther, it was a different Luther from the one he had left a few years before. Though Grundtvig emphasizes the infallibility of the Bible, it is wrong to describe him as »Lutheran-Orthodox« in the traditional sense. In Grundtvig’s interpretation, Luther is above all the guarantee of the view of history he had acquired in his Romantic period, but given his own personal stamp, as it appeared in slightly different ways in the World Chronicles of 1812 and 1817. There already he turns against the theologization of the message of the Reformation that set in with the confessional writings. Ever since he maintained the view of the Reformation that he expounds in the two World Chronicles, though the evaluation of it changed somewhat, especially after 1825.The church view that Grundtvig presented for the first time in »Kirkens Gienmæle« (The Rejoinder of the Church), and which he explained in detail in »Om den sande Christendom« (About True Christianity) and »Om Christendommens Sandhed« (About the Truth of Christianity), was bound to lead to a conflict (as it did) with the Protestant »Scripturalism«, and thus to clarity about the disagreement with Luther. This conflict attained a greater degree of precision with the distinctions between church and state, and church and school, as they were presented in »Skal den lutherske Reformation virkelig fortsættes?« (Should the Lutheran Reformation Really Be Continued? 1830), but it was not really until the publication of the third part of »Haandbog I Verdens-Historien« (Handbook in World History) that the view of church history and of Luther’s place in it, inspired by the congregational letters in the Apocalypse, was presented, in order to be more closely developed, partly in poetical form in »Christenhedens Syvstjeme« (The Seven Star of Christendom), partly in lectures in »Kirke-Spejl« (Church Mirror).Grundtvig had to reject orthodoxy since the genuineness of Baptism and Eucharist depended on their originating from Christ Himself. Nothing of universal validity could therefore have come into existence in the 16th century.Thus the evaluation of Luther and Lutheranism must depend on how far Lutheranism corresponded to what all Christians have in common. Luther is praised for the discovery that only the Word and the Spirit must reign in the church. It is understandable therefore that Luther had to break down the false idea of the church that had prevailed since Cyprian, and Grundtvig remained unswervingly loyal to him. But he cannot avoid the question why Luther’s work crumbled after his death. The answer is that it crumbled because of »Scripturalism« which Grundtvig considers a spurious inheritance from Alexandrian theology. We must maintain Luther’s faith which centres on all that is fundamentally Christian, but not his theological method.Grundtvig believes that with his criticism of Luther he is really closer to him than those who are cringing admirers of him. Grundtvig confesses himself to having committed the mistake of confusing the Bible with Christianity, and he cannot exempt Luther from a great responsibility for this aberration. All the same, in Luther’s case the wrong Yet Luther was induced to want to make his own experiences universally valid since he did not understand that his own use of the Scriptures could not possibly be right for every man. Here Grundtvig is on the track of the individualism which to him is an inevitable consequence of Scripturalism: everybody reads as he knows best. It was not in school, but in church that he saw Luther’s great and imperishable achievement.So while Grundtvig cannot exempt Luther from some responsibility for an unfortunate development in the relation between church and school, he is very anxious to exempt him from any responsibility for the assumption of power in the church by the princes, which is due, in his opinion, to a conspiracy between the princes and the theologians with a view to tying the peoples to the symbolical books.In the development of Grundtvig’s view of church history it turns out that the interest in the national, cultural and civic significance of the Reformation has not decreased after he has given up fighting for a Christian culture. The Reformation must, as must church history on the whole, be seen in the context of the histories of the peoples. Therefore, if it is not to be pure witchcraft, it must have its foundation deep in the Middle Ages.Grundtvig points to what he calls »the new Christendom«: from the English and the Germans to the North. Viewed in that light, the Reformation is a struggle for a Christian life, a folkelig life of the people, and enlightenment.Though the 17th century wrenched all life out of what was bom in the 16th, and the 18th century abandoned both Christianity and folkelig life altogether, it was of great significance for culture and enlightenment that the people was made familiar with Luther’s catechism, Bible and hymn book. What was fundamentally Christian survived, while folkelig life lay dormant.The Reformation was unfinished, and its completion must wait until the end of time. But compulsion is approaching the end, and the force of the Reformation in relation to mother tongue and folkelig life manifests itself more strongly than ever before, Gmndtvig believes. What is fundamentally Christian in Luther must be maintained and carried onwards, while the Christian enlightenment, i.e. theology, depends on the time in question.Life is the same, but the light is historically determined. With this concept of freedom, which distinguishes between the faith in Christ as permanent and the freedom of the Holy Ghost that liberates us from being tied to the theology of the old, Gmndtvig may convincingly claim that it is he who – with his criticism - is loyal to Luther, i.e. to »the most excellent Father in Christ since the days of the Apostles«.

Gumersindo de Azcárate (León, 1840— Madrid, 1917) fue uno de los más influyentes catedráticos de derecho y políticos de la España contemporánea. Fue un miembro activo del denominado movimiento krausista que desempeñó un importante papel en la cultura y política española tras la revolución de 1868. Desde diferentes revistas y desde la propia Universidad defendió los principios liberales y democráticos que conducían al establecimiento de su ideal: Estado de derecho. En ese contexto apoyó la nueva constitución de 1869, que Azcárate considerará siempre un referente y el mejor código fundamental de la España moderna. Con la Restauración en 1874 de la Monarquía inspirada en el doctrinarismo francés Azcárate se mostró muy crítico y propuso dirigir la mirada hacia la constitución de Inglaterra como el modelo jurídico-político a tener en cuenta. A su juicio el sistema constitucional inglés se articulaba en torno al principio del self-goverment o soberanía de la sociedad a partir del cual se construía un régimen parlamentario democrático con una administración descentralizada, un poder judicial independiente y una opinión pública que actuaba a la vez como fuente, guía y límite de los distintos poderes del Estado. Entre 1886 y 1916 Azcárate fue Diputado en el Congreso de los Diputados por el partido republicano y se implicó activamente, como presidente del Instituto de Reformas Sociales (1903), en la mejora de las condiciones de vida las clases obreras.Gumersindo de Azcárate (León, 1840— Madrid, 1917) was one the most influential Law professor and politician in Contemporary Spain. He was an active member of the so-call krausist movement that played a major role in Spanish culture and politics after the revolution of 1868. From both, journals and University he defended the liberal and democratic principles that lead to his ideal: a rule of law. In that context he supported the new constitution of 1869, regarded by Azcárate for the rest of his life as the best one in Spanish modern history. When the Restoration took place in 1874 and a constitutional Monarchy inspired in French doctinaires’ political theory was set up, Azcárate criticised it proposing to look over the Constitution of England as a model. According to his interpretation of English constitutional system, the principle of self-government or the sovereignty of society was the key principle for building a true democratic parliamentary government based on the free association of individuals, a decentralized administration, an independent judicial power and public opinion as the very source, guide and limit of all the powers of the State. From 1886 up to 1916 Azcárate became Member of the Parliament as representative of the republican party and was actively involve in the Intitute for Social Reforms (1903) that tried to improve the condition of the working classes.

The Young Grundtvig and NorwayBy Gustav AlbeckThis article is a revised and extended version of the lecture given by Professor Albeck on April 30th 1984 at the annual general meeting of the Grundtvig Society in Oslo. It describes Grundtvig’s close relationship to a number of Norwegian friends he made during his residence at the Walkendorf hostel in Copenhagen in the years 1808-11; this circle of friends lasted and widened to include other Norwegians in his later life.Grundtvig was 67 before he set foot on Norwegian soil, but from his early youth he had familiarised himself with the Norwegian landscape and history through Norwegian literature. His feeling of kinship with the spirit and history of Norway was for a time stronger than his consciousness of being Danish. In his youth Norway and the Norwegians played a major role in opinion-making in Denmark, and in this respect Grundtvig was no different from his contemporary Danes. But the idea of Norway’s future continued to concern him long after his youth was over. The lecture, however, confines itself to the way certain Norwegians regarded Grundtvig between 1808 and 1811.When Grundtvig returned to Copenhagen from Langeland in 1808 he had no friends in the capital. But at the Walkendorf hostel he met first and foremost Svend B. Hersleb, a Norwegian theologian, to whom he addressed a jocular poem in the same year, revealing that Grundtvig now felt himself young again and among young people following his unrequited passion for Constance Leth. Otherwise we have only a few witnesses to this first period of happiness, with Grundtvig gaining a foothold on the Danish parnassus through his first Norse Mythology and Scenes from Heroic Life in the North.The fullest accounts of Grundtvig’s relationship to the Norwegians in the period following his nervous breakdown and religious breakthrough in 1810 come from the journals of the Norwegian-Danish dean and poet, Frederik Schmidt, made during various trips to Denmark. These journals were published in extenso between 1966 and 1985 in three volumes, the last of which includes a commentary by the editors and a postscript by Gustav Albeck. Many of the valuable notes about Grundtvig are repeated in the lecture. Frederik Schmidt was the son of a Norwegian bishop; he became a rural dean and later a member of the first National Assembly at Eids voll in 1814. He was a Norwegian patriot but loyal to the Danes and in fact returned to Denmark in 1820. His descriptions of Grundtvig’s conversations with Niels Treschow, the Norwegian-born Professor of Philosophy at Copenhagen University, give an authentic and concentrated picture of Grundtvig’s reflections on his conversion to a strict Lutheran faith, which for a time threatened to hinder his development as a secular writer. Schmidt found their way of presenting their differing views “very interesting and human”, and Grundtvig’s Christian faith “warm, intense and sincere”. “In the animated features of his dark eyes and pale face there is something passionate yet also gentle”. When Schmidt himself talked to Grundtvig about a current paper which stated that in early Christianity there was a fusion between Greek thought and oriental feeling, Grundtvig exclaimed, “Yet another Christianity without Christ!” A draft of a reply to one of Schmidt’s articles shows that at that point, April 1811, Grundtvig did not believe in the working of “the living word” in its secular meaning. The draft was not printed and Grundtvig does not appear to have discussed it with Schmidt. There is a very precise description of Grundtvig’s appearance: “There is... something confused in his eyes; he sometimes closes them after a tiring conversation, as if he wants to pull his thoughts together again.” Schmidt in no way agrees with Grundtvig’s point of view, which he partly puts down to “disappointed hopes, humbled pride and the persecution... he has been subjected to...” But he does find another important explanation in Grundtvig’s “need for reassuring knowledge” and his conviction “that the misery of the age can only be helped by true religious feeling”.There are also descriptions of Grundtvig in a more jovial mood, for example together with Professor George Sverdrup, where Grundtvig repeated some rather unflattering accounts of the playwright Holberg’s behaviour towards a couple of professors who were colleagues. The same evening he and Schmidt set about attacking Napoleon while Treschow and Sverdrup defended him. Schmidt considered Grundtvig’s little book, New Year’s Eve, “devout to the point of pietist sentiment”, but thought the error lay rather in Grundtvig’s head than his heart. Lovely is the Clear Blue Night (Dejlig er den himmel blaa), published in April 1811 was even read aloud by Schmidt to a woman poet; but he criticised The Anholt-Campaign.After 1814 Schmidt adopted a somewhat cooler tone towards Grundtvig’s books. He was unable to go along with Grundtvig’s talk of a united Denmark- Norway as his fatherland. He criticised the poems Grundtvig published in his periodical, Danevirke, including even The Easter Lily for its “vulgar language”, which Grundtvig appeared to confuse with a true “language of power”. It is impossible to prove any close relationship between Schmidt and Grundtvig, but he was an attentive observer when they met in Copenhagen in 1811.With the opening of the Royal Frederik University in Christiania in 1813 Grundtvig became separated from his Norwegian friends, as Hersleb, Treschow and Sverdrup were all appointed to the new Norwegian university. They were keen for Grundtvig to join them as Professor of History. Sverdrup in particular was captivated by his personality, and in a letter dated April 21st 1812 he informed Grundtvig that he was among the candidates for the post proposed by the commission to the King. But Grundtvig himself hesitated; he felt “calm and quietly happy” in Udby “as minister for simple Christians”. To his friend, the Norwegian-born Poul Dons, he wrote, “... something in me draws me up there, something keeps me down here.” The fact that he never got the job was in many ways his own fault. His World Chronicle (1812) could not but offend scholars of a rationalist approach, in particular the prediction at the end of the book about the new university’s effect. It is linked to Grundtvig’s interpretation (1810) of the letters to the seven churches in Revelation, which are seen as a prediction of the seven great churches in the historical advance of Christianity.“It was an idea,” says Albeck, “which in spite of its obvious irrationality never left Grundtvig, and as late as 1860 it found poetic form in the great poem, The Pleiades of Christendom (Christenhedens Syvstjerne).” Grundtvig “was in no doubt that the sixth church was the Nordic, and that it would grow out of the Norwegian university, the new Wittenberg.” In 1810 Grundtvig felt himself “chosen to be the forerunner of a new reformer, a new Johan Huss before a new Luther.” From a scholarly point of view there is no reason to reproach the Danish selection panel for the negative judgment they reached regarding Grundtvig’s qualifications as a historian. His name was not even mentioned in the appointments for the new professorships. He had caused quite a stir not long before by writing a birthday poem for the King in which he directly expressed his wish that the new university might become a Wittenberg. The poem took the form of a series of accusations against Norway and the Norwegians, and in particular against Nicolai Wergeland, who in a prize-winning essay on the Norwegian university entitled Mnemosyne had stuck a few needles into Denmark and the Danes. Grundtvig accused the Norwegians of ingratitude to Denmark and unchristian pride. Even his good friend Hersleb reacted to such an attack.From the diaries of the Norwegian, Claus Pavels, we know how the Norwegian poet, Jonas Rein, wrote and told Grundtvig that “a greater meekness towards people with a different opinion would be more fitting for a teacher of Christianity.” Grundtvig replied that he had had to speak the truth loud and clear in a degenerate age. The Bishop of Bergen, Nordal Brun, also considered Grundtvig’s views as expressed to the King “misplaced and insulting”. He was particularly hurt that Norway “should have to thank Denmark for its Christianity and protestantism”. When Grundtvig printed the poem in Little Songs (Kv.dlinger) in 1815, Nicolai Wergeland was moved to write Denmark’s Political Crimes against the Kingdom of Norway, published in 1816.For Grundtvig’s Norwegian friends it was a matter of regret that he did not come to Norway, not least for Stener Stenersen, who in 1814 became a lecturer and in 1818 a professor of theology at the Norwegian university. His correspondence with Grundtvig from 1813 is now regarded as a valuable source for Grundtvig’s view of Christianity at that time. In his diary entry for August 27th 1813 Pavels notes that Stenersen had proposed that the Society for the Wellbeing of Norway should use all its influence to get Grundtvig to Norway. In his proposition Stenersen asked who possessed such unity and purity of thought as to be able to understand fully the importance of scholarship; he himself had only one candidate - Grundtvig. From a contemporary standpoint he had won his way to the Christian faith. But the rationalist Pavels, the source of our information, was far from convinced that “no man in the whole of Norway” possessed these abilities in equal measure to Grundtvig”. He therefore had misgivings about “requesting him as Norway’s last and only deliverer”.When Grundtvig heard of Stenersen’s proposition he sought an audience with the King on September 8th at which he clearly expressed his desire to become Professor of History at the Norwegian University. Two Danish professors, Børge Thorlacius and Laurids Engelsto. found it strange, however, that Treschow, Sverdrup and Hersleb could “deify Grundtvig”. And his great wish was never fulfilled. Nonetheless he did not give up. On November 15th he saw that the post of curate was being advertised at Aggers church near Christiania and applied for the job. From his book Roskilde Rhymes (published on February 1st 1814) it is clear that he believed that it was there that his great work was to be accomplished. But in those very days Frederik VI was signing the peace of Kiel which would separate Norway from Denmark, and Grundtvig from his wish.In the preface to Danevirke (dated May 1817) he realised that he had deserved the scorn of the Norwegians, for he had expected too much of them. But he never forgot his Norwegian friends. He named one of his sons after Svend Hersleb, and another son married Stenersen’s daughter. When he himself visited Norway in 1851 he was welcomed like a prince.

In 1970, the Hungarian publishing firm Editio Musica Budapest began a long term project, ending in 2005, that endeavored to compile and publish all Liszt's works in a complete edition titled, The New Liszt Edition (NLE). Through the efforts of this firm, Liszt's Technical Studies were published in the way that he had originally intended for the first time in 1983. Yet, although the eminent Liszt-scholar Michael Saffle has stated that 'Pedagogy is one of the most thoroughly-mined veins of Liszt material ever uncovered', academic discussions on Liszt's Technical Studies (Walker, 2005), his definitive pedagogical work for piano, are scarce. What it was that Liszt set out as being fundamental to the acquisition of pianistic virtuosity in the Technical Studies and the nature of its trajectory is generally unknown. Through an examination of the didactic instruction Liszt supplied in the Preface of the autograph manuscript to the Technical Studies and specific technical commentaries written by Mme. Auguste Boissier in her Liszt pedagogue, I will argue that the Technical Studies are built on six artistic and mechanical principles, exemplified by Liszt in the exercises, written to help the pianist acquire technical virtuosity. The methodical divisions of the work into sections that deal with specific mechanical objectives are illustrated with musical examples and their technical trajectory defined.

Through his exceptional creative and performing abilities, Franz Liszt was able to transform compositions of many kinds into unified, intelligible, and pleasing arrangements for piano. Nineteenth-century definitions of "arrangement" and "Klavierauszug," which focus on the process of reworking a composition for a different medium, do not adequately describe Liszt's work in this area. His piano transcriptions of Schubert's songs, Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique and the symphonies of Beethoven are not note-for-note transcriptions; rather, they reinterpret the originals in recasting them as compositions for solo piano. Writing about Liszt's versions of Schubert's songs, a Viennese critic identified as "Carlo" heralded Liszt as the creator of a new genre and declared him to have made Schubert's songs the property of cultured pianists. Moreover, Liszt himself designated his work with Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique and the symphonies of Beethoven "Partitions de piano": literally, piano scores. As is well known, concepts of genre in general create problems for musicologists; musical arrangements add a new dimension of difficulty to the problem. Whereas Carl Dahlhaus identifies genre as a tool for interpreting composers' responses to the social dimension of music in the fabric of individual compositions, Jeffrey Kallberg perceives it as a "social phenomenon shared by composers and listeners alike." The latter concept provides a more suitable framework for discussing the genre of transcriptions, for their importance derives in large part from relationships between the original and the derivative works, both as constructed by Liszt and perceived by critics and audiences. During the nineteenth and early twentieth century's, Liszt's transcriptions of songs and symphonies were construed as both compositions for pianists and subsets of the originals. Consequently, these compositions should be studied for their own musical value as well as for the light that they shed on the original works. Liszt's transcriptions are derivative and at the same time created distinct genres.

Tomás Segovia and Angelina Muñiz Huberman belong to a group of writers known as «Hispanomexicanos». Most approaches to this generation have been towards the role that exile plays in their early work, paying almost no attention to its role after that initial stage. These approaches have been limited to the first years of their work, in the belief that those writers subsequently moved on to deal with issues which are different from those in which their experience of exile is clearly the central topic. However, through an analysis of the poetry of Muñiz and Segovia, this thesis aims to show that exile continues to play a central role beyond that first stage. It argues that their exile is transformed into a series of symbols that come to constitute a shared style and, more importantly, it proposes that their experience of exile is transformed into a feeling of existential displacement which impels a search for meaning and belonging to the world. Consequently, the conclusion presented in this thesis is that exile plays a central role in their poetry, in the sense that it expresses the ways in which these two writers search and transmit meaning and attempt to feel part of the world. Ultimately, this thesis aims to set an example of approach which could be productively taken to study the work of other writers from this generation.

This thesis deals with the storytelling art of Tanizaki Jun'ichirō. An esthete par excellence, this prolific writer produced for over half a century a string of works that are essentially dedicated to the glorification of art and beauty. This glorification in turn enhances the quality of life which, also in the author's view, is both a dream and a game. Art and beauty, dreams and games are virtually the building blocks of Tanizaki's fictional universe in which illusion and reality are meant to be complementary rather than opposing forces that govern human existence. Transplanting this fabulous world into the reader's heart is the result of Tanizaki's special skill in storytelling. An analysis of his four major works will hopefully bring this skill into full view. Chapter One examines Tanizaki's early short story "Shisei" that marks his brilliant debut. Though marred by technical flaws, "Shisei" succeeds remarkably in luring the reader into a fairy-tale atmosphere where art and beauty are the only raison d'être. A sensuous style characterizes this lively tale and between the lines flows a life force that will become Tanizaki's trademark. The theme of art and beauty is brought to a climax in "Shunkinshō" which is analysed in Chapter Two. The simple perspective of "Shisei" is now abandoned, giving way to a maze of multiple viewpoints that are there for the single purpose of hypnotizing the reader. The ultimate goal is to make the reader share the passion and devotion of an artist in the pursuit of the Ideal. The monogatari style is a feature of this novella and helps generate the ambiguity needed for the narrative. Chapter Three deals with "Yume no ukihashi," a tale of dream and sensuality. Man's ambition to create and perpetuate dreams is given full treatment in this story in which illusions are the name of the game. Incest is also a thorny issue but Tanizaki seems to consciously skirt the problem with various devices. Fùten rōjin nikki, Tanizaki's crowning novel, is the subject of Chapter Four. Everything that the author stands for in his writing is now brought into focus. Using the casual form of a diary, art motifs and erotic scenes are placed at well-calculated points so that structural balance is maintained throughout the story. A game-playing spirit and the overwhelming life force which starts with "Shisei" embody this last tour-de-force that proudly consolidates the author's fame. This thesis, through the four works that are examined, can be considered an attempt to shed some light on the question of why and how Tanizaki fascinates the reader.
Arts, Faculty of
Asian Studies, Department of
Graduate

While much has been written on the Yiddish poet Moyshe-Leyb Halpern, there is a paucity of critical material which deals with the issue of persona in his poetry. This is unfortunate since the use of persona takes centre stage in Halpern's oeuvre. This work will discuss the issue of persona in Halpern's poems, and will focus specifically on one of Halpern's personae: "Moyshe-Leyb." I will begin with an overview of the relevant literary criticism on Halpern, and a discussion of the major themes found in his poetry. Furthermore, I will discuss Halpern's connection to literary modernism, and this movement's paradigm of persona. Finally, I will examine Halpern's possible motivations for choosing a persona with his own name, and the themes and issues found in these poems.

This dissertation explores Fanny Fern's literary position and her role as a social critic of American lives and attitudes in the nineteenth-century. A reexamination of Fern's literary and non-literary works sheds light on her firm stand for the betterment of all mankind. The diversity and multiplicity of Fern's social criticism and her social reform attitudes, evident in Ruth Hall. Rose Clark, and in voluminous newspaper articles, not only prove her concern for society's well-being, but also reflect her development of and commitment to her writing career.

In the canon of twentieth century American poetry, "long poems" or "anti-epics" or epic poems represent a formidable genre. Defining epic poetry has proved difficult in our modern era, and the possibility that women might write epics is not often considered. This study includes a review of the literature that may define the epic genre and of the literature that contributes to our understanding of a tradition of women's poetry in American literature. The review of both issues--possible epic poetry and women's poetic tradition--is a necessary prerequisite for considering the argument that H.D.'s iielen in Eavpt and Gwendolyn Brooks's In the Mecca are twentieth century epics. With the focus on a female heroine, on personal and interpersonal values, and on a reconsideration of cultural lieroism, these poems are important literary contributions in addition to being "revised" epics.A revision of the epic signifies that the poet has found a way to accomplish individual expression in this familiar genre, a genre characterized by narration, cultural themes that may be didactic, and multiple voices for the poet. H.D. and Brooks have revised the genre of epic poetry in unusual ways. H.D. has taken a legendary figure, Helen of Troy, and made her the primary speaker and the seeker of truth. Instead of the classical glorification of war, Helen's quest includes a renunciation of war and a reconsideration of the ways we know ourselves and our history. Brooks has made an "unknown" black woman the center of her urban epic. Mrs. Sallie's quest, initiated by the real search for a missing daughter, becomes a quest for the meaning of family, community, and selfhood.Revising the genre was a unique process for both H.D. and Brooks, and studying Helen and Mecca together emphasizes the diverse traditions--literary and nonliterary--that may elucidate our understanding of each poem. Moreover, only refers to a "a genre revised" by H.D. and Brooks not only refers to a revision of epic poetry but to poetry as a whole. Each woman created her own blend of "traditions and individual talent" in order to produce Helen in Egypt and In the Mecca.
Department of English

The article proposes a discussion of Dostoyevsky reception by German expressionist writer Gottfried Benn (1886–1956). Benn’s reception is strongly influenced by Dostoyevsky’s critics such as Merezhkovsky, Berdyaev and Thomas Mann. The most important influence was Berdyaev’s Dostoyevsky: An Interpretation («Миросозерцание Достоевского »). Benn has read a German translation of the work and possessed a copy of it where he had left multiple notes. In a letter to a friend, Friedrich Oelze, Benn quoted Notes from Underground. Most likely, he quoted not the original, but Berdyaev’s quotation. The exact words he quoted, “Leid is die einzige Ursache des Bewusstseins, suffering is the sole origin of consciousness”, are not to be found in current German translations of Dostoyevsky. However, in one of his essays, Benn coined the term Dostojewskidunkel (“Dostoyevsky’s darkness”) which could be seen as a reference to German translations of 1921–1922 under the title Aus dem Dunkel der Grosstadt (From Big City Darkness). Berdyaev also speaks about Dostoyesky expressing “darkness of Russian people”. The main traits of Berdyaev’s Dunkel which lured Benn are irrationalism, labeling of Dostoyevsky’s art as Dionysian, lack of traditional novel-like psychologism and concept of suffering as the main source of art.