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T.S. Eliot's use of allusion is crucial to the structure and themes of his early poetry. It may be viewed as a compulsion, evident in even the earliest poems, rather than just affectation or elitism. His allusions often involve the reversal or re-ordering of constructions of gender in other literature, especially in other literary treatments of myth. Eliot's "classical" anti-Romanticism may be understood according to this dual concern with myth and gender, in that his poetry simultaneously derives from and attacks a perceived "feminised" Romantic tradition, one which focuses on female characters and which fetishises, particularly, a sympathetic portrayal of femmes fatales of classical myth, such as Circe, Lamia and Venus. Eliot is thus subverting, or "correcting", what are themselves often subversive genderings of myth. Another aspect of myth, that of the quest, is set in opposition to the predatory female by Eliot. A number of early poems place flâneur figures in the role of questers in a context of constraining feminine influence. These questers attempt, via mysticism, to escape from or blur gender and sexuality, or may be ensnared by such things in fertility rituals. A sadomasochistic motivation towards martyrdom is present in poems between 1911 and 1920. With its dual characteristics of disguise and exposure, Eliotic allusion to ritual and myth is itself a ritual (of literary re-enactment) based on a myth (of literature), namely Eliot's "Tradition". Allusive reconfiguration being a two-way process, Eliot's poetry is often implicitly subverted or "corrected" by its own allusions. Thus we are offered more complex representations of gender than may first appear; female characters may be viewed as sympathetic as well as predatory, male ones as being constructed often from representations of femininity rather than masculinity. The poems themselves demonstrate intense awareness of this fluctuation of gender, which appears in earlier poems as a threat, but in The Waste Land as the potential for a rapprochement between genders. This poem comprises multiple layers of re-enactments and reconfigurations of gender-in-myth, centring upon Shakespeare's Venus and Adonis. The Waste Land's treatment of myth should not be seen as merely reflecting a passing interest in anthropology, but as the culmination of concerns with myth and gender dating back to the earliest poetry. The complex interrelation of the two aspects leaves it unclear whether Eliot's allusive compulsion derives principally from a concern with mythologies of literature or from a concern with mythologies of gender.

This study attempts to establish a connection between the moral philosophy of F. H. Bradley, particularly as expressed in his Ethical Studies and modified in the teaching of Josiah Royce, and the moral thought of Eliot's poetic writings, beginning with "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," culminating in Four Quartets, and finding a new mode of expression in the dramas. By tracing Eliot's moral thought to the nineteenth century anti-utilitarian moral controversies out of which Bradley's Ethical Studies grew, this study clarifies Eliot's position in the history of moral philosophy. For Bradley, the end of morality is not self-gratification; it is the realization of the universal will in the will of the individual. Hence the aim of moral action must be away from self-concern and toward the duties that society imposes on the individual. The Absolute, in which all individuals and societies culminate, invites us to true self-realization, while the egotistic self solicits us to physical and spiritual self-indulgence. Royce modifies Bradley's Absolute by making it a redemptive community in which the selfish actions of the past are given new meaning by heroic sacrifices in the present and future. The moral thought of Eliot's poetry and drama closely parallels this ethical system. In these works, Eliot dramatizes situations in which selfless motives are scarcely distinguishable from egotistic needs, merited suffering from heroic martyrdom. In Murder in the Cathedral, for instance, Thomas the Archbishop cannot will his martyrdom for the good of God's kingdom without also willing the gratification of his personal vanity. Four Quartets presents the same moral dilemma working itself out in Eliot's thoughts about his own life. He wonders if he has chosen his life as poet and critic as an unselfish response to duty--and hence as a path to God--or if he has chosen it out of personal vanity. In his considerations of time and eternity he comes to the conclusion that it is possible to redeem past mistakes by the present right intention.

Traditionally, Rosa Luxemburg has not been understood as a feminist. In the beginnings of her socio-political career she did not align herself with feminism. However, as time progressed, Luxemburg became increasingly weary of male-chauvinistic ideals including Revisionism, opportunism, centralization, militarism, and war. Luxemburg's socio-political theories and her relationships with the women's movement led her to label herself as feminist. This thesis outlines and examines the claim that Luxemburg can be described and labeled a feminist.

This is the first intensive study of Henri Bergson's influence on Katherine Mansfield's fiction. As I shall explore more fully in Chapter 1, it has frequently been mentioned that Bergson was a great influence on modernist writers and artists, and even on the public at that time. Although it has been at least acknowledged that Mansfield was also inspired by Bergson's philosophy, with the exception of Angela Smith's discussion in Katherine Mansfield: A Literary Life, no detailed account has been offered as to how much and in what ways Bergson's philosophy influenced Mansfield's writing. The lack of studies on this topic might seem surprising, given that Mansfield played some part in introducing the then new philosophy of Bergson to British literary society, with her colleagues, working on the Bergsonian magazine,Rhythm. Nevertheless, it is no wonder that the link between Mansfield and Bergson has not been dealt with in most studies in Mansfield's fiction, considering that her writing does not show what commentators at present commonly know as 'Bergsonian' as obviously as works by some of her contemporaries do. It might seem easier to link Bergson and writers whose famous works are experimental such as James Joyce and Virginia Woolf In this thesis, however, I argue that this view of the difference between Joyce and Woolf, who are 'Bergsonian', and Mansfield, who is not, results from basic misunderstandings and stereotypicali deas of Bergson's philosophy and Modernism in present literary criticism. Agreeing with other Mansfield critics, I find it worth noting that her fiction has not been appreciated as much as work of some of her contemporary writers such as Woolf, who was jealous of Mansfield's writing. Just like Bergson, who was extremely popular in his lifetime but soon lost his fame posthumously, Mansfield has failed to attract as much critical attention as might have been expected, although it is significant that her work is popular with common readers, and has never gone out of print. Scholars of her work have studied her as a modernist, woman, and colonial writer, but she is seldom discussed in detail in extensive studies on Modernism; her work has not been a major focus for feminist or postcolonial critics either despite the fact that she is a female New Zealand writer. I argue that the ambiguity, or duality, of Mansfield's writing in terms of nationality, gender, and class which often prevents us from reaching a lucid conclusion on these issues in her stories, is one of the causes of the difficulty of approaching Mansfield's apparently simple writing. Although her well planned ambiguity, like Bergson's, might cause her ideas to be wrongly interpreted as inconsistent at times, I see it as her crucial link with Bergson, or as a strong piece of evidence of her modernity. The aim of this thesis is to reassess Mansfield from multiple perspectives by closely examining her connections with Bergson.

Die biographische Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit dem aus Prag stammenden Gynäkologen und Geburtshelfer Friedrich Wilhelm Scanzoni von Lichtenfels (1821-1891), der an der Universität Würzburg 40 Jahre lang gelehrt hat. Seine Arbeit war bedeutend für die Universität, er gründete eine neue Würzburger Frauenklinik, seine Lehrbücher und Forschungsarbeiten förderten entscheidend die Gynäkologie in Deutschland, und nicht zuletzt profitierte auch die Stadt Würzburg von seiner europaweiten Berühmtheit als Frauenarzt. Eingebettet in einen historischen und fachhistorischen Rahmen werden sein Leben, sein Werk und seine Wirkungsgeschichte dargestellt, dabei auch umstrittene Themen wie seine Einstellung zum Kindbettfieber aufgearbeitet. Besonders prägend für seine Krankheitslehre war die um 1850 durch die Arbeit Virchows neu aufblühende pathologische Anatomie. Scanzoni selbst beschritt forschend viele neue Wege, wie z.B. bei der Zangengeburt bei hinterer Hinterhauptslage. Seine zahlreichen Publikationen, darunter das bekannte Lehrbuch der Geburtshilfe, werden in ihrer Resonanz beleuchtet, aber auch die Höhen und Tiefen seines Weges von der individuellen Seite her betrachtet. Zahlreiche Quellen aus der internationalen Fachliteratur wurden eingearbeitet, wie auch Persönliches, darunter insbesondere der Adelsbrief in Bild und Text. Es entstand ein umfassendes Bild eines bedeutenden Arztes und Forschers, der nicht vergessen werden sollte. / The biographic dissertation concerns with the gynaecologist and obstetrician Friedrich William Scanzoni von Lichtenfels (1821-1891), a native of Prague, who taught at the University of Würzburg for 40 years. His work was eminent for the university, he created a new gynaecological clinic in Würzburg, his textbooks and research projects promoted importantly the gynaecology throughout Germany, and last but not least also the city of Würzburg profited by his European-wide celebrity as a gynecologist. Embedded into a historical and specialized hsitorical framework, his life, his work, and his impact are represented, also contended topics like his attitude to the puerperal fever are worked up. Particularly formative for his pathology was the pathological anatomy blossoming around 1850 by the work of Virchow. Scanzoni took many new paths in research, e.g. with the forceps delivery in converse rotation. His numerous publications, under it the well-known obstetric text book, are lit up in their resonance, furthermore the heights and depths of his career are regarded from an individual point of view. Numerous sources from the international gynaecological literature were included, like also personal sources, under it especially the patent of nobility in picture and text. Developed a comprehensive picture of an important physician and researcher, who should never be forgotten.

This study is an examination of ocular imagery in the secular poetry of T.S. Eliot. As a symbol, eyes begin as a metonym for the panoptic vision of society. In the earliest poems, Michel Foucault's conceptions of discipline illuminate the acerbic paranoia attached to ocular imagery and its source in the culture of turn-of-the-century Boston. Towards 1919, the image of eyes becomes an objective correlative for the figure of Dante's Beatrice who represents both earthly and divine love. The loss of sight by the various speakers in both - "Gerontion" and The Waste Land is then the loss of connection to both the earthly woman and God. Finally, in The Hollow Men, the tenor and vehicle merge completely so the eyes themselves become the object of desire. / by Joshua RIchards. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2009. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2009. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

This thesis explores radicalism at work in M. Maxwell Philip's Emmanuel Appadocca (1854) and China Miâeville's The Scar (2002). These novels highlight piracy as a means of rejecting systems of power and social order. Through speculative fiction, each author finds the means to resist the hegemonic power of genre, race, empire, and knowledge that pervade each author's social and historical milieu. This work examines the historical and literary context of piracy as a metaphor for radicalism, the project of legitimization and resistance to generic categorization of both texts. Emmanuel Appadocca resists racial stereotypes, and both texts exhibit clear resistance to colonial expansion. This resistance is made possible by each author's use of the sea as the site of insurgency and challenging boundaries of knowledge. Thus both novels lend themselves to interpretation as works of postcolonial fiction. / by Elizabeth Kelly. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2008. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2008. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Can a constitution commit suicide? How should a liberal democratic state respond when social movements threaten war with one another and against the state itself? How should liberal democrats respond when extremist parties are strong enough to cooperate in parliament and obstruct essential legislation? Can an illiberal antidemocratic party legitimately obtain power through elections and then kick the ladder down by legally amending democracy and liberalism out of the constitution entirely? Beginning in 1929, theoretical questions like these suddenly became both practically and existentially relevant for Weimar Germany. The share of the vote Nazis and Communists received in elections swelled until, combined, they were the majority. Neither movement accepted the legitimacy of liberal democracy and both were explicit that their only goal in running for seats in parliament was to gain a strong enough majority to amend the Weimar Constitution out of existence. Until then, they cooperated across the aisle, so to speak, to constitute negative majorities and prevent the SPD, Zentrum, and other parties from being able to pass legislation to respond to the economic, social, and political crises Weimar faced. By 1932, the Nazis held a plurality. In January 1933, exhausted with alternatives, Hindenburg appointed Hitler Chancellor. This dissertation extrapolates Carl Schmitt's state theory and looks at how it was conceived in response to Weimar's legitimation crisis. It shows how Schmitt looks back to the tradition of state theory to address this crisis. In particular, it shows how he models his solution on Thomas Hobbes, whose Leviathan was also a response to civil war and the breakdown of political order. This dissertation argues Schmitt updates Hobbes' state theory to respond to the unique problems of the 20th century, especially modern mass democracy. Modern mass democracy was the product of universal suffrage, mass media, and advances in psychology. Disingenuous social movements exploited the media and whipped up an emotionally charged base, obtaining for themselves a veneer of democratic legitimacy and the means to parliament. Once in parliament, they exacerbated Weimar's crises and struggled against each another to advance their particular goals. Schmitt saw these conflicts as the 20th century equivalent of the Confessional Civil Wars and he saw himself as the 20th century Hobbes. He theorized ways to neutralize those conflicts and restore the state's sovereign authority. But, besides that, Schmitt thought these issues begged the basic question of constitutionalism: are there any objective limits to a goal "the people" want, even if 99 percent of citizens support that goal? Can "the people" legitimately be bound to the mast? Can democracy be tyrannical? Schmitt's peers, such as Hans Kelsen and Richard Thoma, answered in the negative and argued that there was no basis to deny a democratic will that had formed through proper procedures. Schmitt disagreed. He argued the constitution imposed hard limits on democracy. Through this answer, this dissertation argues Schmitt's state theory anticipated what is today known as militant democracy. Militant democracy is a type of liberal democratic constitution that guards against certain forms of popular sovereignty and prevents constitutional suicide. Its institutional mechanisms include the entrenchment of core constitutional principles, such as basic rights, and political bans on certain illiberal and antidemocratic parties. Although one finds militant democracy embedded in constitutions around the world today, it has been undertheorized. Because Schmitt's theory of militant democracy rests on his substantive state theory, this dissertation concludes he offers us a foundation for developing a normative theory of militant democracy - something invaluable for making sense of its legitimacy and its limits today.

Xie Qun. / "August 2004." / Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 246-256) / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web. / Abstracts in English and Chinese.