This dissertation reveals a hitherto unrecognized thread of speculative postapocalyptic fantasies underlying nineteenth-century accounts of the American frontier. Many critics have exposed the latent imperialism behind popular myths of primeval wilderness and virgin land; bringing together fictional tales, travel writings, and scientific texts, I show that U.S. authors who enthusiastically celebrated these myths distorted rather than escaped the bounds of history. Their literature results in an uncanny historicism that unsettles narratives of material progress by conflating ancient territorial rupture with a potentially disastrous future. The Illinois prairie of the 1840s thus appeared to Margaret Fuller as a country that has been carefully cultivated by a civilized people, who had been suddenly removed from the earth, with all the works of their hands, and the land given again into nature's keeping. Fuller's notion of hidden destruction behind a vision of natural tranquility was not uncommon. Striving to reconcile their projection of an empty continent with the myriad traces of both Native Americans and prior European settlers, writers such as William Cullen Bryant, James Fenimore Cooper, Henry David Thoreau, and Jack London crafted historical narratives that imagined the swift annihilation of entire populations. For them, the blank slate of the American continent was simultaneously a ruined wasteland, and the mythical American Adam was really an American Noah - a patriarch of a new world built on the violent dissolution of the old. U.S. frontier literature between the War of 1812 and the First World War contains postapocalyptic themes like the last man on earth, the lapse into barbarism, and ruin-strewn landscapes. As a key example, I read Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans (1826) as a narrative of biological extinction that foreshadows his later national apocalyptic allegory The Crater (1847). Similarly, I contend that the industrial ruins a young Thoreau discovered in the Maine woods spurred him to imagine a suddenly depopulated Massachusetts in his journal. These postapocalyptic fantasies often attempted to deny the ongoing presence and property claims of Native Americans by relegating the original inhabitants of American soil to a separate past, yet they also suggested that the United States itself might be subject to imminent catastrophe.

This doctoral thesis analyses the depiction of the historical topics of Conquest and Revolution across the literary writings of Alejo Carpentier (1904-1980) and Carlos Fuentes (1928-2012). These historical tropes constitute core topics of reflection throughout their literary and critical works, stressing the interplay between literature and history. I propose the concept of literary historicism to analyse their portrayal of historical topics and characterise the role of history in their poetics. This concept denotes the historical awareness that underpins the authors’ literary reinterpretations of historical events; their use of a historicist writing methodology; and the critical relationship established to historiographical sources and narratives. I argue that the authors’ deliberate historicism characterises their narratives, challenges disciplinary boundaries and posits literature as an alternative medium for the production of historical interpretation. This comparative study focuses on a corpus of fifteen fictional works from both authors that depict Conquest and Revolution. The first section analyses the authors’ literary portrayal of the Conquest of Mexico (1521) and stresses the relationship established to the historical sources consulted and their literary reinterpretation of this historical event. An assessment of the reflections and symbolisms embodied by their literary-historical figures elucidates the authors’ understanding of the Conquest. Thus, this section demonstrates the defining character of these authors’ literary historicism in their writing methodology and semantic interpretation when addressing historical tropes. The second section explores Fuentes’s and Carpentier’s depiction of historical Revolutions including the French, Mexican, Haitian and Cuban Revolutions. This section comprises a transversal and diachronic analysis of their Revolution cycles to demonstrate recurrent narrative, thematic and stylistic patterns in Fuentes’s and Carpentier’s literary portrayals of this historical phenomenon. I highlight the further meaning that these patterns acquire in their works, articulating a critical assessment of these historical revolutions. This thesis adds to the scholarship on these authors from an interdisciplinary perspective that re-centres attention on History. Through the concept of Literary Historicism, I demonstrate the existence of a central concern in their oeuvres to critically reassess the Latin American past and its historical interpretations from literary discourse. This study contributes to the understanding of history and literature in Latin America, for it analyses the interactions between these branches of written culture.

Portia serves as a complex and often underestimated character in William Shakespeare's controversial comedy The Merchant of Venice. Using the critical methodologies of New Historicism and feminism, this thesis explores Portia's representation of Elizabeth Tudor, Queen of England from 1558 to 1603. Striking similarities exist between character and Queen, including physical description, suitors, marriage issues, and rhetoric. In addition, the tripartite marriage at the play's conclusion among Portia, Bassanio, and Antonio represents the relationship Elizabeth Tudor formed between her merchant class and her aristocracy. Shylock serves as a representation of a generic or perhaps Catholic threat to England during the early modern era. Moreover, by examining Portia's language in the trial scene, the play invites audiences to read her as a representative of the learned Renaissance woman, placing special emphasis on the dialectical and rhetorical elements of the language trivium in classical studies. Finally, through a close reading of the mercantile language in the text, Portia can be interpreted as the merchant of the play's title.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Graduate School, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

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&ldquo / New monumentality&rdquo / is a term which was first introduced to architectural discourse by Sigfried Giedion, Jose Luis Sert, and Fernand L&eacute / ger right after the post-World War II in the early forties. The effect of the term comes from the polemical power of reformulation of the accustomed category &ldquo / monument&rdquo / within the field of the modern architecture. In this way, as it is shaped by the three authors, for the first time &ldquo / New Monumentality&rdquo / had been identified as a modern task under the name of Nine Points on Monumentality in 1943. Therefore, this thesis is mainly grounded on this significant text that is a primary manifestation of the need for the new monumentality. On these bases, that the manifesto is stressed an effort to determine the ethics of the post war modern architecture regarding: historicism, functionalism, and representation. This thesis seeks to clarify the self-critical frame which is unfolded by the manifesto within the context of the modern architecture. Thus, the first one of the three objectives of this thesis is to clarify the concept of new monumentality / the second one is to locate its position in the history of modern architecture / and the third one is to differentiate proposed and unintended outcomes of this movement within the contemporary discourses of architecture.

This work provides an overview of Cornel West's moral thought. I begin by analyzing West's characterization of a promising viewpoint in moral inquiry that he believed Karl Marx adhered to--radical historicism. This viewpoint, which West presents in an early work of his, The Ethical Dimensions of Marxist Thought, leads one to discard the traditional philosophical pursuit of certainty in ethics in favor of a historically situated attempt to enact meliorative social change. After outlining the details of this viewpoint and West's characterization of Marx's relationship to it, I examine some of West's subsequent work in light of radical historicism. In this section, I indicate that West still maintains the efficacy of ideals in the moral realm despite his abandonment of the traditional philosophical pursuit of apodictic foundations. For West, these ideals mainly stem from three main traditions: the tragicomic, the deep democratic, and the prophetic Christian.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-14T12:11:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Arquivototal.pdf: 701008 bytes, checksum: a380e2ce6dcea66d430772e9889963da (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-09-27 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The present work has for purpose analyze through a interpretative reading, the critical of the Nietzsche to the historicism starting from the relationship between history and life. The historicism is understood in this dissertation as the exaggerating use of the historical knowledge, the faith in a philosophy of the history as it presented the Hegelianism and the objectivity of the history while modern science. According to Nietzsche, the way the story was conceived in the nineteenth century, it turned the life sick and degenerate. The excess of historical culture removed the power of man's own creation and it restricted the mere reproduction of the past. The past was seen as a model to be copied, therefore, influenced by the philosophy of history that pointed to a becoming by an entity determined by metaphysics and scientism which conceived of history as a science that accurately describes the past, man has become incapable create and passed only to live the history of others, the history of those that had died. Humanity has become old, obsolete, without vitality. In this context, on his Second Untimely, the German philosopher appears for that that would be a profitable use of the history to service of the life. Reflecting her usefulness and her disadvantage, the thinker addresses the directions of the history for another sense. A new way to conceive the history as creative activity in extreme consonance with the life. / O presente trabalho tem por finalidade analisar, através de uma leitura interpretativa, a crítica nietzschiana ao historicismo a partir da relação entre história e vida. O historicismo é compreendido nesta dissertação como o uso exagerado do conhecimento histórico, a crença em uma filosofia da história conforme apresentou o hegelianismo e a objetividade da história enquanto ciência moderna. Segundo Nietzsche, a forma como se concebia a história no século XIX, tornava a vida doente e degenerada. O excesso de cultura histórica retirava do homem o poder próprio da criação e lhe restringia a mera reprodução do passado. O passado era visto como um modelo a ser copiado, pois, influenciado pela filosofia da história que apontava para um devir determinado por uma entidade metafísica e o cientificismo que concebia a história como uma ciência que descreve com exatidão o passado, o homem tornou-se incapaz de criar e passou apenas a viver a história dos outros, a história daqueles que já foram. A humanidade tornou-se velha, caduca, sem vitalidade. Neste contexto, em sua Segunda Intempestiva, o filósofo alemão aponta para aquilo que seria uma utilização proveitosa da história a serviço da vida. Refletindo sua utilidade e sua desvantagem, o pensador direciona os rumos da história para um outro sentido. Uma nova maneira de se conceber a história como atividade criativa em extrema consonância com a vida.

abstract: In the latter half of the nineteenth century, colleges and universities transformed their thinking of the body as they institutionalized physical education, recreational activities, and especially physical exercise. In this study, I examine the historical discourse on physical exercise and training during this period. I employ the theoretical and methodological practices of Michel Foucault's archeological and genealogical work to write a "history of the present." I challenge the essential narrative of physical fitness on college and university campuses. I also discuss nineteenth century notions of ethics and masculinity as a way of understanding twenty-first century ethics and masculinity. Ultimately, I use the historical discourse to argue that institutionalization of recreation and fitness centers and activities have less to do with health and well-being and more to do with disciplining bodies and controlling individuals. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.A. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2012

FundaÃÃo de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Cearà / A partir da crÃtica do historicismo e do holismo, busca apresentar o mÃtodo das ciÃncias sociais como proposto por Karl Popper. ApÃs uma breve exposiÃÃo do mÃtodo das ciÃncias naturais e discussÃo sobre alguns de seus componentes, a saber os conceitos de mÃtodo dedutivo, falseabilidade, e corroboraÃÃo, o historicismo à definido e criticado. Por meio do uso de certos exemplos baseados na fÃsica do sÃculo XX, mostra como à possÃvel refutar o historicismo por provar que uma teoria em prima facie determinista nÃo pode assegurar o determinsmo do mundo nem de suas previsÃes. Define a chamada anÃlise situacional, que afirma ser a tarefa das ciÃncias sociais a explicaÃÃo de situaÃÃes tÃpicas. Mostra a origem desse mÃtodos e suas principais influÃncias, bem como seus limites. Exibe porque a anÃlise situacional nÃo pode ser o Ãnico mÃtodo das ciÃncias sociais e porque a psicologia nÃo pode ser eliminada do estudo de certas situaÃÃes sociais. / From the critic of the historicism and holism it searches to present the method of the social sciences as it is proposed by Karl Popper. After a short exposition about the method of the natural sciences and some of its components, namely the concepts of deductive method, falseability, and corroboration, historicism is defined and criticized. Through the use of some examples based in XX century physics it shows how is possible to disprove historicism, showing that a prima facie deterministic theory can not ensure the determism of the world, nor of its forecasts. It defines the so called situational analysis, which maintains social that the social sciences task is the explanation of typical situations. Indicates the origin of this concept e its major influences as well as its limits. Exhibits why situational analysis can not be the sole method of the social sciences, and why psychology can not be eliminated from the study of some social situations.