Dissertations / Theses on the topic '1843-1916 Criticism and interpretation'

James's belief that "it is art that makes life" is essential to his own literary technique and to the reading experience within and in relation to his novels. The thesis seeks to posit the notion of reading as a fundamental concern in Henry James's fiction. Drawing largely on the phenomenological and anthropological approaches to the reading process of Wolfgang Iser, this thesis examines the Jamesian text as a performative event involving author, reader and character in creative and interpretative narrational struggles. Iser uses "play" as an integral term to describe the dynamic between author-reader-text which produces a literary work of art. In James's fiction the doubling of the author/reader and reader/character role within the text crucially structures a narrative form which is itself an inquiry into the human use of fiction. The Iserian conception of the act of reading as an engagement with the "gaps" within the play-space of the literary text can elucidate James's structural and thematic use of such sites of indeterminacy to foreground the enlivening necessity of an indeterminate "felt life" within human narrative structures. What Maisie Knew highlights the most important rule in the game -- the necessity for the reader to create meaning from the indeterminate aspects of the text. The shared exercise for author-reader-character is the attempt to access the child's unformulated inner reality to ascertain what Maisie knows. In the section on The Portrait of a Lady Iser's notion of reading as an ideational activity aids an inquiry into the human use of mental fictive picturing to compose reality. The Ambassadors demonstrates the "anthropological" need for the particular mode of consciousness brought about by the literary text when we engage in a world as real as but different to our own. Strether is the reader's ambassador in this world and his interpretative activity mirrors the reader's quest. In The Golden Bowl the bewildering multiplicity of readings made possible by the indeterminate aspects of the literary text instigates a contest for narrative forms in which the chosen fictions of the readers/characters must be actively willed into existence.

This thesis examines the structures guiding and informing reading intrinsic to James's "late" style. It seeks to explore James's analogy between reading as an ethical activity and his own and his characters' acts of storytelling. It looks first at the necessities of reading as they are presented through the character of Isabel Archer in The Portrait of a Lady, to find that reading for James is itself a form of storytelling. James's concept of "revision," which replaces the concept of "re-writing," unites the activities of reading and storytelling because both activities, to be free, must be guided by the contingencies of experience. James's emphasis on the determinations of experience, which yields changing apprehensions of the same material, at once makes reading a test of the reader's resources in dealing with unexpected and complex situations, and storytelling an act of improvisation if it is to be faithful to the demands of its subject. The second half of the thesis examines Maggie Verver's command of storytelling in The Golden Bowl. It finds that ethical storytellers must have the same faith in their subject matter as ethical readers must have in the texts they engage. Finally, the thesis unites the study of reading with storytelling by examining the ways in which stories are exemplary performances whose the most significant subject is the audience. It is the forms of judgement that a work of art elicits which are essential to establishing alternative conceptions of the good and new modes of valuation in a community.

The phenomenon of inner-biblical interpretation and inter-textual replication of scriptural material within the Old Testament is receiving significant attention in current scholarship. Two narratives which are repeated three times in the Hebrew Bible provide a particularly fruitful case study for this type of research: the Hezekiah narrative (2 Kgs 18-20; Isa 36-39; 2 Chr 29-32) and the account of the fall of Judah (2 Kgs 24-25; Jer 52; 2 Chr 36). This study extends the contributions of redaction-critical, literary-critical, and text-critical studies examining the narratives of 2 Kings 18-20//Isaiah 36-39 and 2 Kings 24:18-25:30//Jeremiah 52 and emphasizes their subsequent reception in Chronicles. In addition, this investigation advances the discussion of the Chronicler's reliance upon and method of incorporating material from the Latter Prophets. It is the conclusion of this thesis that the Chronicler was familiar with the versions of the Hezekiah narrative and the account of the fall of Judah in both 2 Kings and the Latter Prophets. His method of handling these alternative accounts reflects both direct quotation (particularly in the case of 2 Kings) and indirect allusion to themes and idioms (with regard to the Latter Prophets). The result is a re-telling of Judah's history which is infused with hope for restoration as articulated by the Latter Prophets. By portraying an idealized account of Israel's past history which corresponds to prophetic descriptions of the nation's restoration, Chronicles illustrates the accessible, utopic potential held out to every generation of faithful Israel.

Real Benoit (1916-1972), a native of Sainte-Therese-de-Blainville, studied at Sainte-Therese Seminary and at Sainte-Croix College. His early career in journalism involved writing for "Le Soleil", "Le Petit Journal", "La Presse", "Horizons", "Le Jour" and "Regards". In the latter publication his first fiction appeared. In 1945 his anthology of fiction, Nezon, was well-received by the critics. Later, Benoit became news editor and music programmer for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. After a trip to Brazil, he founded Benoit- de Tonnancour Films, a concern which ended in 1959. In 1960, Benoit became supervisor of network films for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. From then until his demise in 1972, Benoit, profoundly affected by his long-time companionship with Andree Lariviere and by his second marriage to Francine Laurendeau, became a prolific writer: he published Rhum soda (trip novel), Mes Voisins (short novel), Quelqu'un pour m'ecouter (novel which obtained in 1965 The Grand Prix de la Ville de Montreal), and the dramas Le Marin d'Athenes and La Nuit de la Saint-Theodore, adapted for television by Jean-Paul Fugere. The drama Le Chant des grenouilles apres la pluie was published posthumously in 1973 by La Cercle du livre de France. Benoit's work was coloured by numerous personal sorrows, not the least of which were the breakup of his first marriage to Marthe Lafontaine, and the accidental death of his first son.

The poetry of John Ciardi, a versatile and prolific man of letters, has not received adequate critical attention. Through an examination of his poetic canon, using traditional elements of poetry, this dissertation establishes his unique poetic voice. Attention is focused on his Selected Poems, but representative poems from his full canon are examined.Chapter One reviews critical writings relevant to establishing Ciardi's poetic voice, introduces texts to be examined, and sets forth criteria for analyzing his poetry.Chapter Two identifies Ciardi's poetics and places him as a poet in the realistic tradition. His poetics stress four elements essential to good poetry: rhythm, diction, imagery, and form (wholeness). Much of his analysis is orthodox; however, as subsequent chapters demonstrate, some analytical terms are used in a special sense by Ciardi.Chapter Three positions Ciardi as a personal poet, dependent on family experiences for his subjects and settings. Ciardi's poems tend to succeed when autobiography plays a large role. Chapter Six also considers the relationship of imagery to common themes.Chapters Four through Seven deal with techniques of poetry. Chapter Four on rhythm shows how Ciardi successfully creates a vernacular language by manipulating a basic iambic line by using metrical and non-metrical devices.Chapter Five analyzes how diction is affected by grammar, sound devices, and etymology. Effective diction is precise, appropriate, resonant, and authentic.Chapter Six categorizes frequently-used images into four groups: nature, family, war, and religion/art. This chapter demonstrates the close relationship between imagery and his persistent themes: depersonalization of twentieth-century people and salvation in interpersonal relationships and art. Ciardi's most successful poems use fresh images from "unimportant" experiences, from which humanistic values are derived.Chapter Seven addresses the wholeness of the poem, including the "sympathetic contract." The poems tend toward a formal ending, frequently following what Ciardi calls a "fulcrum." Ciardi's composite voice is rich with unexpected images, flowing in a rhythm reminiscent of iambic speech. Ciardi's vision is expressed in a unique poetic voice that deserves to be included in the canon of contemporary poetry.3
Department of English

在過去大多數文學史的論述中，王闓運由於摹擬漢魏六朝文學的復古主張而被視為是晚清保守派人物，其文學思想的價值意義及其背後的現實關懷都被輕易忽略，沒有得到足夠的重視。在學界逐漸承認古典文學與現代文學並非截然斷裂、古典文學更是現代文學在草創階段重要的借鑒資源時，對於王氏文學思想似乎也可以提出新的評價。通過對王闓運文學思想的剖析，可以發現，他的文學除了是與當時眾多文學話語的對話之外，還包含他的經學思想和現實關懷，在晚清文化轉型時期的大背景下，王氏看似復古守舊的取態，實際上在對文學與個人、文學與政治關係的思考上體現了一定的超越性，甚至可以與五四以後的現代文人達成相似的共識契合。全文共分六章。第一章為緒論，交代研究動機及思路。第二章在說明王闓運對駢散之爭的取態之外，同時探討其學術思想與文論之間的關聯，指出王氏通經自治的思想迥異於當時的致用思潮，同時也反映在他的文論之中。第三章以王氏的「文情說」為主線，探討他與鄧輔綸和袁枚的詩學對話，由此還原王氏文情說的建構過程及闡釋其內涵意義，說明王氏對創作的關注聚焦於如何處理文學藝術和個人情感的關係。第四章通過比較王氏與道咸宋詩派的詩學異同，由此說明王氏試圖將宋明理學的道德詩學排除在他的文學思想之外，視詩歌為個人陶冶性情的藝術。第五章由王氏在學術和文學思想上提出的「為己為人」之辨展開，由此了解其文學思想背後批評文學為政治服務、士人追求名利等現實關懷，而他在肯定文學的獨立價值，以及批評道德及政治文學的取態上與五四文人也有一定程度的契合。第六章為結論。Abstract Wang Kaiyun has been labeled as a 槍conservative" for his literary acclamation in most research of literary history. Therefore, his literary concern on the problems of society has not been attended much in the relevant studies. This dissertation focuses on the theme of Tradition and Modernity, uncovering his literary thought in the cultural transitional era on the one hand, and on the other, giving efforts to explain his transcendental consciousness over the relation between individuality and literature, literature and politics. In his literary dialogue with other literary contexts, his seemingly conservative acclamation is in fact thought-provoking for the contemporary as well as the following May-Fourth cultural movement. This dissertation consists of six chapters. The first chapter introduces research motive and methodology. The second chapter focuses the relation between Wang Kaiyun's literary theory and thoughts apart from his attitude toward the two literary types of prose and essay. The third chapter explores his poetic dialogue with Deng Fulun and Yuan Mei by tracing his Wen Qing Shuo(theory on the literary sentiments), in order to restore the process of theoretical formation as well as the connotation interpretation. The following chapter compares and contrasts Wang's poetic theory with the School of Song Poetry in Dao, and confirms his acclamation on the function of poetry as way of feeling expression. Wang Kaiyun rejects the authority of Song-Ming Confucianism in poetry, and insists that poetry be the art for cultivating human mind. Chapter five focuses on Wang's philosophical idea of Wei Ji versus Wei Ren(for self-versus for others), uncovering the value of his humanity concern for the following May-Fourth cultural movement. The last chapter is the concluding part.

This thesis is a study of rebellious child protagonists in Victorian bildungsroman. It discusses five novels ??? Jane Eyre, The Mill on the Floss, What Maisie Knew, Vanity Fair and Kim ??? that feature ???radical child??? protagonists who use indirect methods of narrative control to resist conservative models of character development. It argues that these novels form a subset of subversive English bildungsromane, which threaten the genre???s traditionally liberal values. Theories of narrative desire, reader seduction and discursive manipulation are used to reveal how the radical child in the Victorian bildungsroman takes command of the reader???s sympathy and gains power over the realist text, despite its physical and social powerlessness. Especially important is the presence of a fantasy counterplot, which coexists with, and ultimately undermines, the bildungsroman???s realistic surface narrative of successful socialisation. The counterplot allows radical child protagonists to develop in a non-linear manner that contradicts bourgeois ideals of stable progress. Focusing instead on sites of rupture between the individual and society, subversive bildungsromane resist both the dialectical model of character, which aims to harmoniously unite the protagonist with the realist world, and the dialogic model of interaction, which requires the restriction of personal liberty for the common good. This rebellious child in the Victorian bildungsroman thus represents an assault on the genre???s democratic ideals. Rejecting compromise, the radical child replaces the bildungsroman???s central ethic of interpersonal responsibility with an individualistic ethic of domination. Indeed, the thesis argues that the appeal of such child protagonistslies in their rejection of the obligatory, but anticlimactic, exchange of freedom for security that underpins the realist bildungsroman???s social contract, a rejection attractive to the reader precisely because it is unrealisable in reality. Finally, the thesis compares this radical child with the Gothic monster. While the monster is punished for its subversion, the radical child???s counterplot enables it to enact most of its subversive desires unpunished. The conservative English bildungsroman thus becomes a more effective way of representing asocial energies than the more obviously radical Gothic genre, which openly displays its anti-democratic sentiments.

The objective of this thesis comes from a desire to ponder on the role played by Benito Perez Galdos' novels. As a prolific Spanish journalist, novelist and "historian," his work offers a deep insight into the second half of the nineteenth-century society for it depicts historical situations of that particular moment. Through the evolution of the author's artistic representation, we will assess the values he seeks to impart. Moreover, in conjunction with this artistic evolution, there is our perception of the various political changes and turmoils, that is, we shall try to understand these historial events, not so much in a rational manner, but rather according to the author's philosophical perception.

This study addresses the ideological properties of the two main modal strains in fictional representation of romance and realism in order to provide an antidote to the currently extremely negative view of the representational function of fiction. In the course of the discussion, three received positions in traditional literary criticism are challenged. Firstly, the view of literary form as ideology-free is undermined by demonstrating the ideological properties of the two modes. Secondly, the realism/romance binary opposition regarding the mode of fictional representation is critiqued by both uncovering the misconception of the former's competence for transparent representation and evincing the two modes' ideologically interactive relation. Lastly, the categorization of Henry James as an aesthete is problematized by historicizing and socializing his three texts.

The main purpose of this paper is to compare the Opera Goyescas with the Goyescas Piano Suite in order to demonstrate how the composer used the pre-existant materials, and to what extent. The Opera Goyescas will be compared measure-by-measure with the sources from which Granados extracted materials. Scores for the two pieces of the Goyescas Piano Suite which are quoted directly and completely (El fandango de candil and El amor y la muerte) and the respective commensurate sections from the Opera Goyescas are included at the end of this document for study and comparison. A discussion of the operatic treatment of the pianistic materials is provided, demonstrating the techniques with which the composer worked in the recomposition of the Goyescas Piano Suite. Also included is a study of the individual pieces of the Goyescas Piano Suite (Books I and II), with emphasis on the fifth piece, El amor y la muerte. The developmental characteristics of that piece (which makes extensive use of motives and themes from the earlier four Suite pieces), will be discussed

Esta dissertação analisa duas obras não ficcionais de Jack London: O povo do abismo (publicada em 1903) e O cruzeiro do Snark (publicada em 1911). Escritas em um período cuja construção da etnografia não havia sido ainda sistematicamente pensada, buscamos interpretar nessas obras algumas características de narrativas etnográficas, a partir da antropologia interpretativa. São observados, como suporte teórico, os preceitos do exercício etnográfico, segundo autores como Clifford Geertz, James Clifford, Franz Boas, Bronislaw Malinowski e Roberto DaMatta. Para que contextualizemos esta pesquisa, são abordadas as realidades socioculturais dos Estados Unidos durante o período de vida de Jack London (1876 – 1916), assim como as características da antropologia no final do século XIX e início do século XX.
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This dissertation analyses two non-fiction books written by Jack London: The people of the abyss (published in 1903) and The cruise of the Snark (published in 1911). Written over a period during which ethnography’s construction hadn’t been systematically elaborated yet, we aim to interpret these books as having some characteristics of ethnographic narratives, according to the interpretative anthropology. As theoretical support, the precepts of ethnographic exercise are observed, according to authors like Clifford Geertz, James Clifford, Franz Boas, Bronislaw Malinowski and Roberto DaMatta. To establish the context of this research, we analyze the socio-cultural realities of the USA during the life of Jack London (1876 – 1916), as well as the characteristics of anthropology at the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this project, contextual readings of four works by Arnold van Wyk are developed. They are the Symphony No. 1 in A Minor, the First String Quartet, the Duo Concertante and the Missa in illo tempore. These readings are grounded in richly detailed descriptions of the compositional processes, drawing on material such as sketches, autographs, diaries, correspondence and reception documents, as well as in structural analyses of Van Wyk’s music and of certain peer compositions. Each reading is set in a separate theoretical frame, resulting in a multi-perspectival consideration of Arnold van Wyk’s music that partakes in a range of current disciplinary discourses. The First Symphony is discussed in the discursive context of English Sibelianism, and Arnold van Wyk’s dialogue with Sibelius’s symphonic works is investigated through comparisons of Van Wyk’s and Sibelius’s applications of two-dimensional sonata form and tragic reversed sonata form. The reading so developed sheds new musical light on the difficulties of Van Wyk’s position as a colonial composer residing in the centre of a crumbling Empire. The compositional process of Van Wyk’s First String Quartet is described in juxtaposition with the compositional process of Bartók’s Sixth String Quartet, and the similarities and differences of the two narratives and the two compositions highlight a second aspect of Van Wyk’s colonial identity, namely the ambiguity of his return to South Africa from England, neither of which place could signify “home”. The reading of the Duo Concertante focuses on the Elegia from that work, interpreting the piece as part of a network of intertextual connections, including Van Wyk’s model for this piece, Martin Peerson’s (1580-1650) The Fall of the Leafe, Gerald Finzi’s Elegy for Orchestra Op. 20, entitled The Fall of the Leaf, as well as Van Wyk’s own theme for the Rondo of the Duo, to which he made various musical references in the Elegia which are associated with the concept of “prophecy”. This intertextual reading considers Van Wyk’s continuing problematic identification with the English musical culture and tradition, compounded by his uncomfortable place in the stifling cultural establishment of apartheid South Africa. Van Wyk’s Missa in illo tempore is interpreted in a post-apartheid context. The work purports to react to the conditions in London in 1945 at the end of the Second World War (when Van Wyk first started to work on it) as well as the conditions in apartheid South Africa in 1977-1979 (when he completed the work as a commission for the Stellenbosch Tercentenary Festival). The reading considers the ethics of art that intends to respond to situations of suffering, drawing on post-Holocaust art scholarship as a theoretical frame. In developing interpretations of compositions that have never been studied in such detail or with such theoretical rigour before, the thesis makes a significant contribution to Arnold van Wyk studies, and in its application of a range of methodological tools in order to construct poetic hermeneutic readings that are grounded in musical and contextual materials, it also represents a meaningful methodological innovation.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In hierdie projek word kontekstuele lesings van vier werke deur Arnold van Wyk ontwikkel. Hulle is die Simfonie Nr. 1 in A Mineur, die Eerste Strykkwartet, die Duo Concertante en die Missa in illo tempore. Hierdie lesings is gegrond in ryk-gedetailleerde beskrywings van die komposisieproses, waarby materiaal soos sketse, outograwe, dagboeke, korrespondensie en resepsiedokumente gebruik word, asook in strukturele analises van Van Wyk se musiek en van sekere eweknie-komposisies. Elke lesing word in ʼn afsonderlike teoretiese raamwerk gestel, sodat ʼn veelperspektiewelike oorweging van Arnold van Wyk se musiek resulteer wat deelneem aan ʼn verskeidenheid hedendaagse dissiplinêre diskoerse. Die Eerste Simfonie word bespreek in die diskursiewe konteks van Sibelianisme in Engeland, en Arnold van Wyk se dialoog met Sibelius se simfoniese werke word ondersoek deur vergelykings van Van Wyk en Sibelius se toepassings van twee-dimensionele sonatevorm en tragies-omgekeerde sonatevorm. Die lesing wat sodoende ontwikkel word, werp nuwe musikale lig op die moeilikhede van Van Wyk se posisie as koloniale komponis woonagtig in die sentrum van ʼn verkrummelende Ryk. Die komposisieproses van Van Wyk se Eerste Strykkwartet word beskryf in jukstaposisie met die komposisieproses van Bartók se Sesde Strykkwartet, en die ooreenkomste en verskille van die twee narratiewe en die twee komposisies belig ʼn tweede aspek van Van Wyk se koloniale identiteit, naamlik die dubbelsinnigheid van sy terugkeer na Suid-Afrika uit Engeland, twee plekke waarvan geeneen die betekenis van sy “tuiste” kon dra nie. Die lesing van die Duo Concertante fokus op die Elegia uit daardie werk, en dit interpreteer die stuk as deel van ʼn netwerk van intertekstuele verbindings, insluitende Van Wyk se model vir hierdie stuk, Martin Peerson (1580-1650) se The Fall of the Leafe, Gerald Finzi se Elegie vir Orkes Op. 20, getiteld The Fall of the Leaf, asook Van Wyk se eie tema vir die Rondo van die Duo, waarna hy verskeie musikale verwysings in die Elegia gemaak het wat geassosieer word met die konsep van “profesie”. Hierdie intertekstuele lesing beskou Van Wyk se aangaande problematiese identifisering met Engelse musiekkultuur en –tradisie, vererger deur sy ongemaklike plek in die verstikkende kulturele establishment van apartheid Suid-Afrika. Van Wyk se Missa in illo tempore word in ʼn post-apartheid konteks geïnterpreteer. Die werk stel sigself voor as reaksie op die toestande in Londen in 1945 teen die einde van die Tweede Wêreldoorlog (toe Van Wyk die eerste keer daaraan begin werk het) asook die toestande in apartheid Suid-Afrika in 1977-1979 (toe hy die werk voltooi het as ʼn opdrag vir die Stellenbosch Drie-Eeue Fees). Die lesing oorweeg die etiek van kuns wat ten doel het om te reageer op situasies van lyding en gebruik post-Holocaust kunsstudies as teoretiese raam. In sy ontwikkeling van interpretasies van komposisies wat nog nooit in soveel besonderhede of só teoreties nougeset bestudeer is nie, maak die tesis ʼn beduidende bydrae tot Arnold van Wyk studies, en in sy toepassing van ʼn verskeidenheid metodologiese hulpmiddels om poëtiese hermeneutiese lesings te konstrueer wat gegrond is in musikale en kontekstuele materiale, verteenwoordig dit ook ʼn betekenisvolle metodologiese vernuwing.

Walker Percy differs from other American novelists in that he started writing fiction relatively late in life, after being trained as a physician and after considerable reading and writing in philosophy. Although critics have appreciated Percy's skills as a writer, they have seen Percy above all as a novelist of ideas, and, accordingly, the majority of critical articles and books about Percy has dealt with his themes, especially his philosophical themes, as well as with his philosophical sources. This study explores, therefore, the critical response to philosophical ideas in Percy's five novels to date, as evidenced first by reviews, then by the later articles and books. The critical response developed gradually as critics became aware of Percy's aims and pointed out his use of Christian existentialism and his attacks upon Cartesianism, Stoicism, and modern secular gnosticism. These critical evaluations of Percy's philosophical concerns have sometimes overshadowed interest in his more purely artistic concerns. However, the more a reader understands the underlying philosophical concepts that inform Percy's novels, the more he may understand what Percy is trying to say and the more he may appreciate Percy's accomplishment in expressing his philosophical ideas so skillfully in fictional form. Critics and readers may enjoy Percy's novels without knowing much about his philosophical ideas, but they cannot fully understand them. Thus this study concludes that the critical response to philosophical ideas in Percy's novels has done both Percy and Percy's readers a service.

Odilon Redon, The Visual Poet of Edgar Allan Poe: A Study of the Lithographic Album A Edgar Poe argues that the album A Edgar Poe, published in 1882, fundamentally alters Redon's artistic career. The thesis advocates the importance of Poe's writing to Redon's development, contending that the lithographic album confirms nineteenth-century literary and artistic interest in Poe. The thesis maintains that, while Redon subsequently attempted to disassociate himself from the American writer, his art was recognized and admired for its Poe-esque visions. Chapter One examines Edgar Allan Poe's influence on the nineteenth-century French artistic and literary avant-garde. The chapter argues that the artistic and spiritual resemblance between Poe and Redon facilitates the design the lithographic album A Edgar Poe, a work Redon uses to promote his own standing as an artist. Through examination of the original plates of the lithographic album A Edgar Poe at The Art Institute of Chicago, Chapter Two illustrates Poe's centrality to the evolution of Redon's art. Chapter Three argues for the importance of A Edgar Poe in Redon's oeuvre, contending that subsequent albums and commissions show the important role of literary art in Redon's artistic growth. The chapter demonstrates the significance of Redon's work to the Symbolist avant-garde of Brussels. Utilizing Andre Mellerio's notes, essays, collected letters and writings in the Ryerson & Burnham Library at the Art Institute of Chicago, the thesis argues that the album A Edgar Poe represents a pivotal stage in Redon's career through its dedication to a literary artist and the unification of art and poetry. Contending that the album develops themes prevalent in the noirs, the thesis illustrates the artistic resemblance and relationship between Poe and Redon and emphasizes the crucial role of Poe's work in Redon's progression and acceptance as an artist.

This thesis examines the meanings and uses of the impression in the essays and late novels of Henry James. While James found fault with impressionism in French painting and literature, he repeatedly called the novel an ‘impression of life’, and used the term to figure important moments of perception and action for his protagonists. This thesis offers the first full-length study of the impression on its own terms, rather than through the lens of a wider artistic or philosophical movement, the most obvious example being impressionism. It locates James’s impression within an intertextual history comprising British empiricist philosophy (Locke and Hume), empiricist psychology (William James), British aestheticism (Pater and Wilde), and, looking forwards, twentieth-century theories of the performative (Austin, Derrida, de Man, Butler). It offers a series of close readings of James’s non-fictional and fictional treatments of the impression in his early criticism and travel writing (1872-88), his prefaces to the New York edition (1907-09), and the three novels of his major phase, The Ambassadors (1903), The Wings of the Dove (1902), and The Golden Bowl (1904). This exploration does not produce any unified definition of the impression in the work of James. It finds, rather, that the impression crystallizes one of James’s main themes, the struggle between art and life, a consequence of the competing empiricist and aesthetic tendencies that the thesis distinguishes within accounts of the impression available to James. The thesis goes on to show that impressions in James may be made as well as received, and so introduces a further distinction, between ‘performative’ and ‘cognitive’ impressions. It argues that what James does with these competing impressions – empiricist and aesthetic, cognitive and performative – is to make them the narrative focus of his late novels and their drama of consciousness.

This study examines the ideas and values of late nineteenth century American society through the popular art form of dime novel literature. The works of Prentiss Ingraham, one of the most prolific dime novel authors, with over 600 novels to his credit, and one of the most popular, with-at least one reprint of each title, served as the focus of this study. A reading and analysis of 75 of his novels provided insight into the social ideas of his time.The results of this study show nineteenth century America's perceptions of the ideal society and the romanticization of nineteenth century American beliefs. This ideal society was based on a democratic foundation and thrived on a balance between the ruggedness of the frontier and the refinement of Eastern civilization. Likewise, the ideal American hero possessed the same blending of these characteristics.
Department of History

Since its publication in 1898, The Turn of the Screw has been the focus of diverse critical interpretation. It has reflected shifts in critical theory that include the Freudian, psychoanalytic, mythological, structuralist, reader-response, linguistic, and new-historical schools. The majority of critical interpretations have focused on the governess's narrative and have excluded the prologue, or frame narrative, that begins the novella. The critics who did examine the prologue overlooked James's departure from the traditional use of frame narration and the importance of the structure of the frame in creating a text of insoluble ambiguity. James departed from traditional frame narration in four ways. By using only an opening frame, the reader is forced to rely on the prologue in order to determine narrative reliability. By creating a condition of reciprocal authority between the unnamed narrator and Douglas, the opening frame denies the possibility of using either character to substantiate the reliability of the other. The condition of reciprocal authority is constructed through a dialogue pattern in which the narrator and Douglas interpret each other's gestures and comments and finish each other's sentences. It is the use of the pattern in the prologue that prepares the reader to accept it in the governess's narrative. The governess repeats the dialogue pattern with Mrs. Grose and Miles. Their discussions appear to validate the governess as a reliable narrator when in fact her reliability is as impossible to determine as the reliability of Douglas or the frame narrator. The result of these departures from traditional frame narration is the construction of a text of insoluble ambiguity.

This thesis is an examination of Henry James and James McNeill Whistler as cultural analysts of modernity. Using the theoretical work of Peter Burger, Jurgen Habermas and Theodor Adorno as a frame, I analyse James's and Whistler's theoretical and artistic responses to modernity and the problematic status of autonomous art and the modernist artist in late nineteenth century industrial capitalism. In so doing, I place both figures in their social and historical context and show how their work not only reflects but itself participates in the complex social and cultural transformations of late nineteenth century society. While Henry James has continued to attract critical attention from many quarters, those who have studied him in the larger context of nineteenth-century avant-garde culture are still relatively few. Of those contextual studies, none has examined James's career and work in the light of parallel developments in avant-garde visual art during this important and complex period. James McNeill Whistler, like Henry James an American expatriate working in late nineteenth century London, has been the subject of many studies describing his formal achievement; however, he has not yet attracted the attention of critics interested in theories of modernist representation, gender and sexuality. Because modernisation was a phenomenon which had an impact on all aspects of late nineteenth century culture, as both James and Whistler themselves acknowledge, my interdisciplinary, contextualist approach to cultural production can illuminate aspects of cultural theory and practice which might remain hidden in analyses contained within disciplinary boundaries. The present thesis is not primarily a work of art-historical scholarship nor is it an in-depth textual analysis of the Jamesian canon; it is an analysis of the ways in which two individuals deal with the conditions of their artistic practice. My thesis is original in its bringing together of two important figures - a writer and a visual artist - whose theory and practice reveals the complexity of early modern art's dialectical relationship with modernity. In so doing, I offer a critical reevaluation of the work of Henry James and James McNeill Whistler in light of its engagement with the discourses of modernity and modernism.

諶蕾.
"2004年11月".
論文(哲學碩士)--香港中文大學, 2004.
參考文獻(leaves 191-209).
"2004 nian 11 yue".
Abstracts in Chinese and English.
Chen Lei.
Lun wen (zhe xue shuo shi)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue, 2004.
Can kao wen xian (leaves 191-209).
Chapter 1.第一章： --- 緒論 --- p.1
Chapter 2.第二章： --- 王闓運生平及著述簡介 --- p.2-5
Chapter 3.第三章： --- 王闓運治學方法析論 --- p.5-31
Chapter 第一節： --- 王闓運治學歷程槪述 --- p.5-10
Chapter 第二節： --- 王闓運經學流派槪說 --- p.10-26
Chapter 第三節： --- 王闓運治學方法及態度 --- p.26-31
Chapter 4.第四章： --- 王闓運詩學理論槪說 --- p.32-98
Chapter 甲： --- 詩論 --- p.32-81
Chapter 第一節： --- 詩源論 --- p.32-39
Chapter 第二節： --- 體製論 --- p.39-60
Chapter 一、 --- 四言
Chapter 二、 --- 古體詩
Chapter 三、 --- 近體詩
Chapter 第三節： --- 創作論 --- p.60-81
Chapter 一、 --- 復古
Chapter 二、 --- 摹擬變化
Chapter 三、 --- 緣情綺靡
Chapter 乙： --- 詩選 --- p.82-98
Chapter 第一節： --- 《八代詩選》 --- p.82-91
Chapter 第二節： --- 《唐詩選》 --- p.91-98
Chapter 5. --- 第五章：王闓運文論槪說 --- p.98-109
Chapter 第一節： --- 流派 --- p.98-100
Chapter 第二節： --- 作法 --- p.100-109
Chapter 6.第六章： --- 王闓運治學與治詩、文之關係 --- p.109-113
Chapter 7.第七章： --- 結論 --- p.113-116
Chapter 8. --- 附錄 --- p.117-187
附錄一：〈王闓運治經歷程詳表〉 --- p.117-138
附錄二：〈王闓運自負言論輯要〉 --- p.139-144
附錄三：〈《八代詩選》收錄詩統計總表〉 --- p.145-152
附錄四：〈魏晉南北朝詩家評〉 --- p.153-159
附錄五：〈《八代詩選》漢詩家評語輯要〉 --- p.160-163
附錄六：〈《唐詩選》評語輯要〉 --- p.164-190
Chapter 9. --- 參考書目 --- p.191-195
Chapter 10. --- 參考論文篇目 --- p.196-209

Recent changes in the historiography of American Transcendentalism have inspired a reappraisal of the relationship between the Transcendentalist movement in New England and the pietistic wing of the Unitarian church. This thesis explores this reappraisal through a close reading of selected writings by Henry Ware Jr. in juxtaposition to the more familiar strains of Ralph Waldo Emerson's Divinity School Address and other Transcendentalist texts of the late 1830's and early 1840's. In opposition to the view that American Transcendentalism is an imported form of German Romanticism, the thesis argues that both Emerson and Ware represent a response on the part of rational religious liberalism to the emotional enthusiasm of the Evangelical movement, and that the primary inspiration for Emerson's philosophy came from his own mentor in the Unitarian ministry. Henry Ware Jr. was the senior minister of the Second Church in Boston from 1817-1830. Emerson was called to that same congregation in 1829 to serve as Ware's assistant and eventual successor. From 1830 to 1842 Ware was "Professor of Pulpit Eloquence and the Pastoral Care" at the Harvard Divinity School. His Hints on Extemporaneous Preaching was an influential handbook of homiletics. His devotional manual On the Formation of the Christian Character went through fifteen editions. His sermon "The Personality of the Deity" has traditionally been perceived as a response to Emerson's controversial 1838 address, which Emerson delivered at the height of Ware's tenure at the Divinity School, and which is often depicted as the opening salvo of the so-called "Transcendentalist Controversy." Chapter One of the thesis summarizes the changes in the historiography of American Transcendentalism. Chapter Two relates Ware's "Formation of Christian Character" to the broader Unitarian understanding of Self-Culture, which the Transcendentalists also shared. Chapter Three compares Ware's "Hints" to the Emersonian ideal of preaching as proclaimed in the Divinity School Address. Chapter Four addresses the issue of the "Personality of the Deity" in relation to Emerson's notion of an "Over-Soul." The final chapter offers some personal observations about the nature of history and the reappraisal of the relationship between Unitarianism and Transcendentalism.
Graduation date: 1996

Arnold van Wyk (1916 - 1983) frequently referred to the extramusical concepts of the elegiac, and of mournfulness, introspection and death when describing the intended content of his works. The import of these concepts seems to have been a constant element spanning his entire oeuvre. In this dissertation, William Kimmel's theory concerning the Phrygian Inflection and the Appearance of Death in Music is applied to Van Wyk's Five Elegies for String Quartet. Kimmel's theory is applied to the following parameters of each of the Five Elegies: melody, harmony and structure. In addition. the elements of rhythm, pulse, texture and timbre are investigated. Since Van Wyk often linked the concepts of death and protest, an interpretation of the work as music of protest is included in the final chapter of the study. It is concluded that Kimmel's theory has substantial--although not conclusive--validity in terms of the work under study. It is moreover possible to trace the inflection's presence through the parameters of pulse, rhythm, texture and timbre. In the absence of specific indications by the composer of the substance of the intended protest, observations in this regard are of a speculative nature.
Thesis (M.Mus.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1991.