Ramon Fernandez, un des plus eminents critiques francais de l’ entre-deux-guerres, revient a l’actualite apres une eclipse de trente-cinq ans. Et en meme temps revient le souvenir d’une carriere commencee avec eclat sous le signe de l’humanisme de la personnalite et terminee prematurement par la mort au moment ou s’effondrait autour de Fernandez le nouvel ordre europeen dont il etait devenu un des principaux porte-paroles. Comment expliquer la trajectoire qui le mena du socialisme au fascisme, de l’extreme-gauche en 1934 a la Collaboration en 1940? Pourquoi le decalage, sensible a ses contemporains, entre la promesse de l’oeuvre et l'apparent echec de l'homme? D'aucuns en ont cherche la clef dans le conflit d'heritages spirituels ou dans le sentiment de declassement social d'un homme ne d'une mere franc;aise d'origine bourgeoise et d'un aristocrate mexicain. Et qui pour comble de difficulte se sentait different de sa generation pour ne pas avoir fait la guerre de 1914-1918. Nous croyons que les racines du drame sont ailleurs, dans le bouleversement subi par un enfant accidentellement prive de son pere a l’age de onze ans, traumatisme qui rencontrant dans le psychisme les traces du fantasme parricidaire, devint le mobile profond de sa vocation. Dans la premiere partie de notre these, nous ex ami nons les faits de la jeunesse de Fernandez et les traits de sa personnalite a la lumiere des concepts psychanalytiques. Dans la deuxieme partie, nous montrons comment les themes, I 'organisation et le langage de sa pensee prennent leur sens dans des idees inconscientes se referant a la mort du pere, problematique que Fernandez essaya d'explorer imaginativement dans ses romans, auxquels nous consacrons la section suivante. Nous montrons enfin comment ses ouvrages critiques successifs reposent sur une identification de caractere paternel avec l'auteur qui evolue selon des modalites psychiques.

Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) demonstrates a remarkable affinity for surrealist poetry in his numerous settings of leading modernist French poets from the first half of the twentieth century. The poetry of Max Jacob (1876-1944), a once unduly marginalized writer who is now regarded as an influential initiator of surrealism, provided the inspiration for one of Poulenc's most significant works, the chamber cantata Le Bal masque (1932). / This thesis seeks to shed light on Poulenc's largely neglected artistic interaction with Jacob by exploring musical counterparts to the poet's unique surrealist aesthetic in Le Bal masque. Chapter one examines Poulenc's artistic milieu surrounding the composition and first performance of Le Bal masque, and reviews previous literature on Poulenc's involvement with avant-garde art and literature. Chapter two focuses on Jacob himself and discusses key aspects of his subversive poetic aesthetic. Chapter three outlines the fundamental characteristics of surrealist art in general and reviews previous discussions of music and surrealism. The final chapter explores surrealist influences in Le Bal masque while concentrating on musical parallels to central features of Jacob's poetry and surrealist art in general described in the preceding chapters.

This thesis is an exposition on the British traveller Mary Edith Durham and her various activities in the Balkans from 1900 to 1914. Durham earned a reputation as an ethnographer, traveller, reporter, political activist and relief worker. First, the thesis documents her experiences between 1900-1908 as a traveller in the Balkans. In this period Durham developed a keen interest for the history and cultures of the peoples of the Balkans. She also gained a solid knowledge of Balkan politics and became a familiar face in Montenegro and the Albanian territories of the Ottoman Empire. The study then describes her relief work in Albania and her efforts to lobby for the Albanian cause from 1910 to 1914, when she returned to England. / The research consists of both published works and unpublished sources, some of which have not been used for studying Durham. These include Durham's personal manuscripts, correspondence from other personal papers, and documents from the British Foreign Office archives. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

The essay examines Robert E. Park's theory of the role news and newspapers have in processes of social interaction, and of the role they consequently play in the constitution of society. Park's theoretical work is often cited for its appreciation of the dynamic aspects of social interaction. This perspective is evident in his analysis of news and newspapers. / In The Immigrant Press and its Control (1922), Park examined how immigrant groups responded to the experience of immigration and how their newspapers contributed to that response. / Park adopted from American pragmatism a definition of pragmatic or 'rational' social interaction and applied it to interaction over news. For Park, attention to newspapers and discussion of news tended not to favour adherence to tradition, but encouraged a pragmatic or rational attitude. In articles on news and public opinion written in the 1940's, Park saw attention to news as a potential threat to belief systems and as a source of social conflict. Challenges ta fundamental values lead to blind, defensive reactions and the behavior proper to a 'crowd'. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

In this dissertation I seek to ascertain why Merleau-Ponty concludes his Phenomenology of Perception with lines drawn from Saint-Exupery's Pilote de guerre. This ending has received no critical scrutiny in the literature on Merleau-Ponty. Yet it is quite puzzling; for the content of the cited passage is antithetical to the philosophical thrust of Merleau-Ponty's work. And yet, it is linked to the idea of 'the realization of philosophy'. Given that this idea constitutes the guiding impetus of Merleau-Ponty's existential phenomenology, a comprehensive understanding of Merleau-Ponty's project requires coming to terms with the role of Saint-Exupery within it. / To this end, I examine the major themes of Saint-Exupery's work, in particular the 'cosmic humanism' of Pilote de guerre, showing that this is based on a spiritual account of self-sacrificial action. I then reconstruct the core of Merleau-Ponty's existential phenomenology as a 'militant' philosophy, focusing my analysis around the notion of 'human productivity'. On this basis, I provide a detailed reading of Merleau-Ponty's essay "Man, the Hero" in terms of post-Hegelian philosophy of history, and I provide a detailed comparison of Saint-Exupery and Merleau-Ponty with regard to truth and freedom. / This analysis reveals that heroism for Merleau-Ponty is the manifestation of pure human productivity and, as such, is a phenomenally objective purposiveness. Drawing on Kant's third Critique, I conclude that the rationale for Merleau-Pontian heroism is to furnish sensory evidence attesting to the possibility of a solution to the human problem. Through the concept of the hero, or of heroic purposiveness, we are able to cognize the potential suitability of the natural world for the realization of human reconciliation. The hero is thus the linchpin of Merleau-Ponty's teleology of consciousness, and of the transcendental project that hinges on this teleology.

The composer Ethel Smyth (1858-1944) claimed that sex discrimination had prevented her from succeeding as a composer, and she cast much of the blame on the press. This study examines the critical reception of Smyth’s Mass and first four operas in England and Germany, with a focus on their premieres. It evaluates Smyth’s claims, and places the works more broadly in context, tracing the processes by which they gained performance, and the circumstances of the productions. Rich and multiple interpretations are made possible by reading from different perspectives, allowing the complexity of critical commentary and the subtle intersection of concerns with gender, nationalism and style to be revealed. Despite the pervasiveness of gender bias in the reviews, there is much more to the critical reception of Smyth’s music than the way in which it represents her in relation to patriarchal stereotypes of femininity. / Performances researched include the Mass’s premiere in 1893 and its revival in 1924, and the early productions of Fantasio, Der Wald, The Wreckers and The Boatswain’s Mate. These operas were composed with hopes of performance both in England and Germany, and therefore provide the best case studies for an examination of press reception in these two countries, notwithstanding the fact that the first was performed only in Germany and the fourth only in England. The reviews are interpreted in light of the different contexts that affected critics’ perceptions: local circumstances, contemporary politics and knowledge about the composer. Chapter 1 explores the significance of Smyth’s biography and autobiography and Chapter 2 traces each work from composition to performance, examining the challenges Smyth faced and her responses to them. Smyth’s connections with royalty and aristocracy, both in England and Germany, were of great assistance to her, and this has hitherto been insufficiently acknowledged. Smyth’s music elicited a diverse range of praise and criticism from critics, and the last three chapters focus on issues of gender, discussion of the libretti and music of the operas, and national preoccupations. / The complex question of gender in the Smyth criticism includes the problem of the woman composer, definitions of femininity and masculinity and the effect of Smyth’s feminism and persona on reception of her music. Critical writings rarely included detailed technical discussion of the music, but libretto and comedy, text-setting and orchestration all received attention. The division of Smyth’s career between England and Germany led to her being seen as foreign in both countries, and the performance of her music contributed to nationalist debates about the selection of repertoire. The division between English and German critics is most marked in their attribution of influence on Smyth’s operas. German critics distinguished various styles and genres in Smyth’s music and were perceptive in recognising the underlying eclecticism of her mature voice. Smyth’s countrymen knew she had studied in Germany and persisted in hearing this influence in her scores, although some allowed that she was contributing to the formation of an English voice.

Zugl.: Wien, Univ., Diss., 2007

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 97-103). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Issued also as thesis, Columbia University. / "A study of the Institute of Social Sciences, Saint Louis University." "Selected bibliography": p. [601]-623.

Issued also as thesis, Columbia University. / "A study of the Institute of Social Sciences, Saint Louis University." "Selected bibliography": p. [601]-623.