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The four Mephisto Waltzes of Franz Liszt constitute the focus of the present paper. Aside from the fascination they hold as individual works, they form an intriguing group related by title and heritage yet made distinct by important structural differences. Also, the separation of more than 20 years between the completion of the first and the last means that as a group they illustrate well the changes of style and concerns in Liszt’s composing. In this paper, the four works are discussed in a manner that reflects a shift in their dramatic source. The first two waltzes are closely tied to the poem Faust by Nikolaus Lenau and derive most of their drama from that extra musical link. The latter two pieces, however, exhibit fewer connections to the poem but contain compelling tonal and structural features. The first two chapters discuss the First and Second Mephisto Waltzes respectively with an emphasis on those aspects that are most closely associated with Lenau's Faust. In addition, certain passages that are not necessarily tied to the poem but are interesting in themselves are discussed. An example of this is the coda of the Second Mephisto Waltz and its effect on the piece's overall tonality. The third chapter discusses those few elements of the Third and Fourth Mephisto Waltzes that can be seen as stemming from Lenau's poem, while the final two chapters are made up of tonal and structural analyses of these latter two waltzes. The Third Mephisto Waltz, in particular, is treated to a more intense analysis since it is the most problematic of the group. In this piece, the overall tonic is unclear as two different, yet related, keys struggle to dominate, with neither coming to a clear and decisive victory. F-sharp major and D-sharp minor are supported in turn throughout the work and can be seen to coexist at times when the piece is viewed in its background. The Fourth Mephisto Waltz, although tonally more clear, contains a dramatic game of frustrated expectations and then unexpected fulfillment as the tonic, F-sharp, is strongly implied twice and only later is attained with little preparation. In order to come to terms with some of the problems posed by these works, I have used a modified form of Schenkerian analysis. Departures from, or additions to standard techniques are mentioned within the appropriate chapters. Since the four Mephisto Waltzes (especially the latter two) have not been exhaustively analysed, it is hoped that this study makes some contribution to the field of Liszt research.

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William Makepeace Thackeray's irony is largely responsible far the ambiguity which roused strongly conflicting opinions about his female characters. Critics have argued about why he wrote so ambiguously, but most likely he was expressing his artistic vision that life is full of incongruities and ironies. A study of specific examples of irony in the portrayal of "good" and "bad" women in his major novels clarifies how he uses it to make his characters life-like. It also illuminates the moral viewpoint and the structure of Thackeray's masterpiece, Vanity Fair.Irony in the characterization of Becky and Amelia in Vanity Fair is rich and complex. Following Thackeray's earlier disposition toward parody, he made both women serve as ironic satires on the stock heroines of popular novels in the early 1800's. Besides parody, there is a great deal of simple verbal irony, which is usually comic, and also much dramatic and situational irony, which is often more serious in tone. The verbal irony is usually at the expense of Becky and Amelia, whereas the other types use the women at the expense of society. Even more frequent are complex combinations of verbal, dramatic, and situational techniques, double meanings, afterthoughts, shifts of the ironist/victim functions, and romantic irony, in which the author seems capriciously to build and destroy his readers' illusions, as well as his own in his role of narrative persona. Both women are used as agents of Thackeray's irony at the expense of the readers, but in different ways. In her parodic function and in Thackeray's shifts of tonein describing her, Amelia is used directly to upset readers' expectations and complacency about their values. Although Becky also serves that function, she is more often used indirectly, as a clever ironist at the expense of the other characters in the book. But these characters, of course, represent an important proportion of the readers.In the novels following Vanity Fair, Thackeray gradually reduces both the quantity and the variety of all ironic techniques in characterizing women. In general he uses a little less irony to characterize "good" women than to characterize "bad." However, as the irony decreases that ratio narrows, and the differentiation between "goodness" and "badness" also narrows. At last, in The Newcomes, Rosey and Ethel, who begin as "good" and "bad," actually switch roles: Rosey deteriorates into "bad" and Ethel grows into "good." Parodic and comic irony are reduced; in Pendennis, Blanche and Laura are occasionally comic, but none of the later major women are. Dramatic and circumstantial techniques used seriously to expose social evil and human weakness are also reduced, but to a lesser degree, so that they seem to become relatively more prominent. Early in the sequence of novels, almost all verbal and romantic forms of irony are eliminated in which Thackeray is the direct ironist. He continues the dramatic method of using fate or circumstance as agents at the expense of the characters and the characters as agents at the expense of themselves or other characters. Only in characterizing Ethel during her "marriage market" years does Thackeray resume the techniques of verbal irony and of author as direct ironist.The increase of direct and verbal irony to make Ethel "bad" indicates that Thackeray uses such direct techniques to characterize bad qualities, as opposed to"bad" people. This fact supports those critics who interpret neither Becky not Amelia favorably. Despite the novel's contrastive structure described by Tillotson it is not necessary to view them as diametrically opposed. Becky's wickedness does not command Thackeray's secret admiration, and the sentimental effusions over Amelia are not serious; in different ways both have bad qualities, ironically revealing the shortcomings of Victorian values.

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Se estudian en esta memoria dos aspectos del problema de inmersión de la Teoría de Galois: la existencia de soluciones con condiciones prefijadas sobre la ramificación (capítulos I y II-1) y la construcción efectiva de soluciones (capítulos II-2, II-3 y III). En el capítulo I se revisa primeramente la Teoría de Galois sobre esquemas. Obtenemos que todo recubrimiento principal de un esquema conexo “X” es suma directa de recubrimientos galoisianos de X, isomorfos, generalizando así el resultado de Hasse relativo a la estructura de las galoisianas sobre un cuerpo. El estudio del concepto de recubrimiento de un esquema conexo nos permite plantear el problema de inmersión sobre esquemas. Traduciendo a este lenguaje el problema de inmersión sobre un cuerpo de números, con conjunto de ramificación prefijado, se observa que la obstrucción a la resolubilidad de este problema viene dada por un elemento de un grupo de cohomología étale. Esto nos permite obtener condiciones para que, de la resolubilidad de un problema de inmersión sobre un cuerpo de números “K”, dado por una extensión de grupos central, con núcleo abeliano, pueda deducirse la existencia de soluciones, con conjunto de ramificación prefijado. Dichas condiciones se expresan en términos de número de clases de ideales del anillo de enteros del cuerpo K. En el capítulo II nos planteamos si, para un problema de inmersión del tipo considerado en el capítulo anterior, puede obtenerse un cuerpo solución sin aumentar el conjunto de ramificación. Para ello, se estudia previamente la variedad de las soluciones con conjunto de ramificación prefijado a un problema de inmersión sobre un cuerpo de números. El objetivo del capítulo III es construir explícitamente las soluciones a problemas de inmersión dados por extensiones espinoriales.

RÉSUMÉ:C'est en fonction de l'apparition de thèmes réitératifs dans l'oeuvre de Gautier que nous avons choisi une critique thématique pour l'étude du bonheur dont la recherche n'apparaît en fait jamais de façon explicite dans sa production; bien qu'il existe pour tant une filiation entre une oeuvre et la suivante. En fait, les personnages partent toujours en quête de leur propre idéal, le plus souvent sous la forme d'une personne à aimer. Toutefois, des obstacles apparemment infranchissables apparaissent à tout moment devant eux: le destin, le temps et la mort jouent implacablement leur rôle dans toute l'oeuvre de Gautier.Il croyait fermement en une volonté supérieure qui dirigeait la vie de tous les hommes - la sienne en particulier - et Tous ses récits sont marqués par un déterminisme contre lequel luttent vainement certains personnages. Il était aussi angoissé devant le temps qui passait inexorablement, portant avec lui l'oubli et la mort, presque toujours présents dans son oeuvre. C'est ainsi que l'amour charnel, purement physique, n'aboutit jamais de façon heureuse et entraine même la mort de celui qui ne connaissait que le désir dans ses sentiments ("La Morte amoureuse", "Militona", "Avatar", ...) Les amours d'outre-tombe finissent également mal, et ne peuvent avoir de suite; les amoureuses de l'au-delà retournent toujours à leur origine, abandonnant leur amant, parfois au réveil d'un rêve fantastique ou, le plus souvent, à la suite d'un exorcisme.Pourtant, les personnages insistent dans leur dessein d'arriver au bonheur; pour y parvenir, ils suivront plusieurs étapes. Quelques-uns tenteront des expériences -comme le fit Gautier lui même- susceptibles de leur apporter des moments d'évasion. Les "paradis artificiels" (vin et drogue) s'étant avérés décevants et inutiles par le caractère éphémère du bonheur apporté, la recherche se poursuit. L'argent devient une condition implicite (quoique d'emblée non obligatoire), pour connaître une vie heureuse. C'est la contemplation de la Beauté qui conduit Gautier et ses personages vers l'approche d'un bonheur encore sensuel, mais moins éphémère puisque l'oeuvre d'art est le grand vainqueur du temps, d'un temps qui angoissait Gautier par son action destructrice. D'autre part, l'amour purement charnel s'étant révélé un échec, c'est la manifestation d'un amour pur qui permet au personnage de prendre conscience de la possibilité d'un bonheur au-delà du physique. La pureté semble pouvoir l'y conduire.La femme prend alors dans l'oeuvre une apparence qui ne correspond plus la réalité; elle se caractérise par une beauté surhumaine, en se transformant lentement en un être de plus en plus dématérialisé d'un récit à l'autre. A mesure que disparaît la propre corporéité de l'héroine, on devine la présence intérieure d'une âme qui essaie de se manifester, comme si déjà Gautier préparait inconsciemment le lecteur à l'arrivée finale de Spirite.On assiste alors à une certaine évolution dans l'attitude de Gautier: si le matérialisme et le spiritualisme ont toujours été vécus de façon simultanée dès ses débuts littéraires, s'il a longtemps accordé une grande importance au corps et aux plaisirs ("Mademoiselle de Maupin", "Fortunio",... ) tout en ayant l'intuition d'une autre réalité possible, plus spirituelle, il va graduellement être attiré par un monde supérieur.Comme chez les romantiques, l'infini l'attire, mais dans son cas, Gautier sera de plus en plus convaincu qu'il doit exister un autre endroit, au-delà du monde sensible, où se retrouve tout ce qui disparaît sur terre, idée qu'il retrouvera dans le "Second Faust" de Goethe. C'est aussi dans ce monde qu'évoluent les âmes séparées enfin d'un corps inutile et pesant ("Premières Poésies", "La Cafetière", "Avatar", "Spirite"). Suivant en cela la tradition orphique et la théorie platonicienne, Gautier croit que l'âme doit être libérée et que clest à partir de cette libération que commence à se préciser l'idée du vrai bonheur. Il existera donc lorsque cette âme pourra enfin s'unir à une autre âme à laquelle elle était déjà destinée ("Avatar", "Spirite").C'est au-delà de la mort qui abolit enfin le Temps et le Destin que commence le bonheur, dans une synthèse d'amour et de beauté. Après une hiérogamie extraordinaire, le retour à l'unité première est maintenent assuré par la naissance d'un être définitivement unique, mais aussi par l'intégration dans le Grand Tout, l'infini, le cosmos divin, vers lequel Gautier, lui aussi, se sentait invinciblement attiré. L'Eden perdu, dont la mémoire individuelle et collective gardait l'imperceptible souvenir, est redécouvert par l'amour pur qui devient donc la seule voie de salut pour celui qui ignore l'ascétisme. C'est par conséquent un Gautier libéré de la mort et du rythme spasmodique de sa vie spirituelle qui arrive au bout de son existence.La pureté est pour Gautier l'assurance - au-delà d'une mort libératrice- d'arriver enfin à un bonheur auquel l'homme a droit et qu'il a confusément cherché toute sa vie sous de multiples formes, aussi insatisfaisantes les unes que les autres, puisqu'elles étaient toutes soumises à l'action du temps. D'après l'évolution de ses oeuvres, Gautier aurait donc trouvé la route du Bonheur définitif et c'est dans "Spirite" que se lit le secret espoir d'y parvenir.Convaincue au départ de deux étapes différentes et successives dans la vie de Gautier, une matérialiste et l'autre spiritualiste, nous sommes arrivées à la conclusion qu'il existait en réalité simultanéité, c'est-à-dire une polarité entre ces deux tendances. Gautier, comme nombre de ses personnages, était constamment partagé entre un appel sensuel de la vie et une inquiétude spirituelle. Cependant, sa dernière grande nouvelle, "Spirite", nous laisse croire que c'est en suivant ce dernier penchant qu'existe l'espoir d'un bonheur possible et durable, dont la mort ne serait que le prélude. / Throughout the works of Gautier, the search for happiness on the part of the characters does not appear in an explicit manner, then it does exist as the underlying factor in aIl his tales. One unsurmountable obstacle or another will inevitably prevent it. Destiny, time and death play a fundamental role in each of the tales. Purely physical love never enjoys a happy ending and can bring death even to those who know it only through desire. Nevertheless, aIl of Gautier's characters pursue happiness.Whereas the "artificial paradises" turn out to be a disappointment for the fleeting nature of acquired happiness, the contemplation of Beauty brings Gautier and his characters closer to true happiness. It is then when women acquire superhuman beauty and become more and more immaterial, announcing the arrivaI of "Spirite".If at the beginning of his literary career materialism and spiritualism where experienced simultaneously, in constant polarity, slowly on Gautier becomes convinced of the existence of another realm beyond the tangible world, where everything that disappears from this world is again reencountered. It is there that the souls, finally separated from their useless and sluggish bodies, are to be found. Following the Orphean tradition and the theories of Plato, Gautier believed that through liberating the soul one can come to know true happiness, but that this will only be possible when the soul is finally able to be united with the other soul for which it has been predestinated. For Gautier, happiness can only be found outside the reel world, after death.

Doctor of Philosophy(PhD) / Revised September, 2007 / This study examines the continuity of mediaeval literary tradition in selected rhymed narrative verse. These verses were composed for entertainment at various times prior to 1648. At or shortly before this date, they were collected into The Percy Folio: BL. Add. MS. 27,879. Selected texts with an Historical or Romance topic are examined from two points of view: modification of source material and modification of traditional narrative stylistic structure. First, an early historical poem is analysed to establish a possible paradigm of the conventions governing the mediaeval manipulation of fact or source material into a pleasing narrative. Other texts are compared with the result of this analysis and it is found that twenty paradigmatic items appear to summarize early convention as their presence in other poems is consistent — no text agreeing with less than twelve. The second step is the presentation of the results of an analysis of some fifty mediaeval Romances. This was undertaken in order to delineate clearly selected motifemic formulae inherent in the composition of these popular narratives. It is shown that these motifemes, found in the Romances, are also present in the historical texts of The Percy Folio. The findings, derived from both strands of investigation, are that mediaeval continuity exists in the texts studied. The factors which actually comprise this ‘mediaeval continuity’ are isolated: it is then seen that rather than discard tradition as society grew further and further from the early circumstances that gave rise to it, later poets have chosen to contrive modifications designed to fit new requirements as they arise. Such modifications, however, are always within the established conventional framework. In short, no text examined failed to echo tradition, and mediaeval continuity is an important feature of the popular rhymed narrative in 1648 and The Percy Folio.