This thesis examines the selected dramatic works of three second-generation American-Irish playwrights in the twentieth century: Eugene O’Neill, J.P. Donleavy, and Frank D. Gilroy. Key texts of O’Neill’s late period, including The Iceman Cometh (1940) and Hughie (1959), are assessed in Chapter 1; Chapter 2 evaluates Donleavy’s plays The Ginger Man (1959) and Fairy Tales of New York (1960); Chapter 3 concludes the analysis by examining plays including Gilroy’s The Subject Was Roses (1964) and Any Given Day (1993). The form and content of these playwrights’ work are shown increasingly to revolve around notions of loneliness, storytelling and community, and these aspects of the plays are found to be shaped by the ideological influence of the work of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) which, I argue, was itself a highly theatrical and performative operation. The tenure of HUAC spanned 1938-1968; its effects lingered longer. The plays are not political interventions or critiques in any straightforward way, though; indeed, the thematic content of these writers’ work appears to become increasingly small, personal and autobiographical as their careers develop. However, my contention is that the plays operate as “indirect allegories” – subtle, often unconscious responses to the ideological climate of the time. My analysis of the plays applies the works of critics as diverse as Louis Althusser and Erving Goffman to show that themes such as loneliness reappear as manifestations of HUAC’s increasingly negative impact on community formation and cohesion. Likewise, recurrent formal devices such as storytelling function to dramatise the paradoxes surrounding such self-performance in the era of HUAC – narrating the self is both a nourishing, self-defining act, and also, in this context, potentially incriminating. In this way, the thesis starts to plot a developmental trajectory of second-generation American-Irish playwriting and its indirect allegorisation of the HUAC era.

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The thesis examines the American psychiatrist Murray Bowen’s major contribution to his profession, Bowen Family Systems Theory, as a literary-critical tool to interrogate the theme of family disintegration in Tennessee Williams’s early and middle plays written between 1945 and 1962. Both Williams and Bowen were writing in a specific intellectual and cultural context in terms of post-World War II attitudes towards the American family and its social function. Bowen theory understands family as an interrelated emotional system, in which a change in the functioning of one part of the system directly relates to changes in the whole system. I argue that we find a parallel to this in Williams’s plays: members of the family do not function separately, but within the context of the system that shapes their feelings, thoughts, and behaviour. The four chapters of the thesis pair eight of Williams’s major works using the eight interlocking concepts that form the basis of Bowen theory: chapter 1 examines differentiation of self and triangles in The Glass Menagerie (1945) and A Streetcar Named Desire (1947); in chapter 2, nuclear family emotional system and family projection process in Summer and Smoke (1948) and Period of Adjustment (1961); in chapter 3, multigenerational emotional process and sibling position in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955) and Sweet Bird of Youth (1959); and, in chapter 4, emotional cutoff and societal emotional process in Suddenly Last Summer (1958) and The Night of the Iguana (1962). Not only does Bowen help to elucidate a central theme of Williams’s writing, but the psychodynamics of therapy are reflected in Williams’s dramatic accounts of the plight of the mid-twentieth century family. In the introduction I argue that Bowen theory is a useful tool for the analysis of modern American literature, developing the ways in which psychoanalytical theory has been used by literary critics to gain a broader understanding of the group context of family life in the postwar period. This will be demonstrated through the four chapters, while the conclusion considers what Bowen offers to literary studies more broadly, and what the limitations of his theory might be.

This thesis is based on a comparative study of plays by two contemporary authors: Die Zimmerschlacht and Ein fliehendes Pferd by the German author Martin Walser and A Delicate Balance by the American playwright Edward Albee. Critics have stressed the emphasis which both playwrights lay on dialogue as the driving force of their dramatic art. Hence an analysis with pragmatics appears particularly pertinent. I demonstrate that methods and findings from linguistic pragmatics applied to ordinary language are equally relevant to critical analysis of dramatic action. My work draws in a broad but targeted way on pragmatic devices mainly from three different studies: G. Leech, The Principles of Pragmatics, P. B. Brown and S. C. Levinson, Politeness. Some Universals in Language Usage and P. Watzlawick, J. B. Bavelas, D. D. Jackson, Pragmatics of Human Communication. A Study of Interactional Patterns, Pathologies and Paradoxes. I elaborate on how the tenets of pragmatics expose levels of meanings and character’s motivations not immediately derivable from the surface structure of utterances. I aim to provide pragmatic devices to explore a character’s behaviour and communicational targets and also focus on the level of communication between playwrights and audiences. Not withstanding their cultural differences both authors reveal similarities in their approach. They are concerned with social reality and its effect on human relations. Although not overtly political the plays by the two authors clearly denounce the refusal of individuals to engage beyond their own interests as social conformism thereby suggesting the necessity of embracing a more tolerant and empathetic attitude. Language is shown to illustrate the individual struggle between social demands, private desire and demands of contemporary society.

This thesis proposes a new reading of Tennessee Williams which enables his work to be seen as a cohesive dramaturgy which challenges realist and liberal notions of dramatic space, identity, and time. It examines the biographical and historical origins of ‘plastic theatre’, and the aesthetic and philosophical implications of this crucial term. This thesis analyses the development and hardening of Williams’ reputation during the 1940s and 1950s as a realist (or ‘failed’ realist) playwright through an examination of contemporary reviews and the work of literary critics such as Raymond Williams and Christopher Bigsby. The thesis argues that the critical reception of Williams during these decades was inflected by biographical readings which pathologised Williams and his work from the perspective of ‘straight’ realism. It considers more recent critical re-­‐evaluations of Williams’ work: including those of David Savran, Annette Saddik and Linda Dorff. These re-­‐evaluations, and Williams’ work as a whole, are seen in the cultural, political and historical contexts of the 1950s and 1960s, which saw the development of the notion that the ‘personal is political’ and a major shift in the ‘structure of feeling’. The thesis goes on to develop a new theoretical perspective on Williams’ work which draws on the philosophical work of G.W.R. Hegel’s views on contradiction and his analysis of the master/slave relationship, W.E.B. Du Bois’ notion of veiling and Malcolm Bull’s theories of hiddenness. This new perspective is employed in extended close readings of early successful plays (The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire) as well as the more problematic later plays (Camino Real, The-­‐Two Character Play, The Remarkable-­‐Rooming House of Mme Le Monde, I Can’t Imagine Tomorrow and In the Bar of a Tokyo Hotel). The final chapter makes use of Gérard Genette’s theories of narratology to explore the plasticity of time in Something Cloudy, Something Clear and Clothes for a Summer Hotel.

Having read much of Nietzsche's published work, particularly The Birth of Tragedy, The Joyful Wisdom and Thus Spake Zarathustra, Eugene O'Neill absorbed many of his ideas and attempted to transfer the philosophical concepts into dramatic form. He copied out many passages from Nietzsche's work (see Appendix) and used them directly or adapted than in order to relate Nietzsche's ideas to the newly developing theories of theatre and dramatic presentation in the United States of America and to the emerging character of twentieth century America as O'Neill observed it. O'Neill explored such controversial concepts as F temal Recurrence (Chapter II), Socialism (Chapter III), the evolution of the Superman (Chapter IV), the Dionysian influence (Chapter V), Nietzsche's pronouncements on the death of God and the re-valuation of Christianity (Chapters VI and VII) and Nietzschean pronouncements on life and death (Chapters VIII and IX). He created plays which are a dramatic analysis and interpretation of the nature of man and the world he inhabits, and throughout O'Neill's playwriting career the influence of Nietzsche is evident. From the early one-act sea-plays and the elaborate and innovative plays of the '20s and '30s where Nietzsche's influence is most clearly observed, to the more dramatically realistic final plays, O'Neill adapts and integrates Nietzsche's philosophy. In many of his most original and complex dramatic works he produced plays which are both a reflection of Nietzsche and a vehicle for his own philosophical and theatrical theories.

黃坤堯. / Thesis (M.A.)--香港中文大學硏究院. / MS. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 258-268). / Huang Kunyao. / Thesis (M.A.)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue yan jiu yuan. / Chapter 上篇 --- 溫庭筠研究 / Chapter 一 --- 溫庭筠傳略 / Chapter 1 --- 早年生活 --- p.1 / Chapter 2 --- 旅食京華 --- p.21 / Chapter 3 --- 江南鄉居 --- p.4 / Chapter 4 --- 重遊長安 --- p.48 / Chapter 5 --- 西川行迹 --- p.62 / Chapter 6 --- 科場疑案 --- p.70 / Chapter 7 --- 襄、荊遊宦 --- p.84 / Chapter 8 --- 國子助教 --- p.103 / Chapter 二 --- 性情與志行 --- p.118 / Chapter 三 --- 著作考 --- p.130 / Chapter 下篇 --- 溫詞研究 / Chapter 一 --- 論詞體之成立 --- p.143 / Chapter 二 --- 溫詞之創作背景 --- p.153 / Chapter 三 --- 溫詞之內涵研究 / Chapter 1 --- 論主題 --- p.160 / Chapter 2 --- 論寄託 --- p.172 / Chapter 3 --- 論情志 --- p.184 / Chapter 四 --- 溫詞之表現技巧研究 / Chapter 1 --- 論意象 --- p.193 / Chapter 2 --- 論字句 --- p.207 / Chapter 3 --- 論結構 --- p.217 / Chapter 五 --- 溫詞之聲律研究 --- p.225 / Chapter 六 --- 溫詞之批評研究 --- p.235 / Chapter 附錄 --- 主要參孜資料 --- p.258

Thesis (M.A.)--香港中文大學. / MS. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 314-322). / Thesis (M.A.)--Xianggang Zhong wen da xue. / 自序 --- p.1-3 / 本文綱要　 --- p.1-7 / Chapter 第一章 --- 溫飛卿的生平　 --- p.1-50 / Chapter 第二章 --- 溫飛的詩 --- p.51-134 / Chapter 第一節 --- 樂府古詩 / Chapter 一 --- 樂府樂行的源流　 --- p.51-155 / Chapter 二 --- 飛卿樂府的特色 --- p.55-75 / Chapter 三 --- 溯源 --- p.75-88 / Chapter 第二節 --- 近體詩 / Chapter 一 --- 近体的源流 --- p.89-97 / Chapter 二 --- 飛卿近体的特色 --- p.97-134 / Chapter 第三章 --- 溫飛卿的詞 --- p.153-252 / Chapter 第一節 --- 詞的興起興發展 --- p.135-151 / Chapter 第二節 --- 詞的特質 --- p.152-162 / Chapter 第三節 --- 論飛卿詞是否有寄托 --- p.162-203 / Chapter 第四節 --- 飛卿词的特色 --- p.204-236 / Chapter 第五節 --- 溫、韋词比較 --- p.237-252 / Chapter 第四章 --- 總评 --- p.253-264 / Chapter 第一節 --- 飛卿作品的風格　 --- p.253-257 / Chapter 第二節 --- 文學史上的地位　 --- p.258-264 / 附註 --- p.265-313 / 參考書目　 --- p.314-322

This dissertation is an investigation into the secrets of the life and poetry of a major late Tang poet, Wen Tingyun (798-866?). Traditional Chinese literary criticism has subjected Wen to such misunderstanding that even many modern studies are not immune from agelong prejudices. This fact can be regarded, in a sense, as a continuation of the slanders Wen suffered in his lifetime, though it results from misconstruing Wen's poetry and ignoring the political implications of his life. A complete and careful restudy of Wen Tingyun the man and Wen Tingyun the poet is therefore a pressing academic necessity. By means of factual investigation and textual annotation, and with recourse to the mutual evidence of history and poetry, this study probes the political intricacies of the major events of Wen's lifetime and explores the artistic complexities of his "inexplicable" verses. The result is that it finds a series of hitherto uncovered facts, reveals the unreliability of Wen's official biographies and reconstructs a chronology of Wen's life. Meanwhile, in eliciting the biographical information via unraveling Wen's poetic puzzles, it reaches hold of the key to going in and out of Wen's artistic labyrinth and thus paves the way for a reevaluation of his poetry. With respect to Wen's life, this study consists of the following findings: Wen's birth year (798); Wen clan's marriages with the royal family and hostility with the eunuchs; Wen's marriage to a singer-prostitute (836); his secret attendance upon the Heir Apparent (837-8); his change of name in an effort to pass the civil service examinations (839-40); his numerous failures and final "success" in becoming a Presented Scholar (847-59); and his "cheating" (helping others) when sitting for the examinations. These findings spell out a new understanding of Wen's life that underlies his poetry. Drawn from Wen's poetry, they will unfold more secrets of his poetry and then lead to more discoveries of his life. Since Wen used his poetry as elaborate representation of himself, it is only natural that he wanted to express, rather than hide, his experiences, feelings and ambitions, however ambiguous they might be, because of the political pressure of the time. In this sense, to know Wen Tingyun the man is to understand Wen Tingyun the poet, and vice versa. In brief, Wen was deeply involved in the palace and court struggles of his time, especially at odds with the power-entrenched eunuchs. Some of the events he witnessed were too sinister to be recorded by histories, and his poems reflecting the truth too incomprehensible for causal readers, despite his efforts to put his secrets into them. These contradictory factors caused a long-lasting misunderstanding before he could be seen in his true light. Now it is high time Wen were rehabilitated.

L’oeuvre de Eugene O’Neill est souvent considérée de manière parcellaire : si la critique s’accorde sur la place canonique d’O’Neill dans le théâtre américain, c’est qu’elle choisit généralement d’occulter l’oeuvre de jeunesse. Cette thèse vise à reconstruire le lien entre les pièces et les différents contextes qui se succèdent au cours de sa carrière pour mettre en évidence une esthétique du paradoxe, nourrie par des aspirations communautaires insatisfaites. Il s’agit non pas de conclure à la supériorité de l’oeuvre tardive, mais de redonner sa place à l’oeuvre de jeunesse, comme la matrice de l’écriture. La quête d’un sentiment d’appartenance parcourt l’oeuvre dans laquelle s’exerce la tension entre scène d’avant-garde et scène commerciale, démarche individuelle et démarche collective. Le théâtre d’O’Neill est difficile à appréhender dans sa globalité tant les pièces sont irrégulières et hétérogènes. L’oeuvre est cependant tendue vers une même quête : la quête d’appartenance qui transparaît aussi bien dans le contexte de production que dans l’écriture des pièces. C’est en envisageant les pièces comme un ensemble unifié autour de la recherche impossible d’une communauté que se dessine une nouvelle lecture de l’oeuvre théâtrale : les paradoxes de l’écriture donnent à voir les capacités de l’oeuvre à produire sa propre ambiguïté et sa propre richesse / Eugene O’Neill’s drama is generally approached from heterogeneous perspectives: if there is a critical consensus concerning O’Neill’s canonical position in American theater, it is probably due to the critics’ tendency to neglect the early plays. This dissertation aims to reconstruct the link between the plays and the shifting contexts in which they were elaborated in order to highlight O’Neill’s aesthetics of contradiction fueled by an unsatisfied quest for belonging. Instead of positing that O’Neill’s achievement lies in the late plays, this study aims at evaluating the early plays, as they constitute the matrix of his writing. The quest for belonging runs through O’Neill’s plays, which also show a constant tension between avant-garde and commercial stage, individual and collective behavior. O’Neill’s plays are difficult to apprehend, as they are extremely heterogeneous. But as a whole, they appear directed, however, toward one single pursuit: the quest for belonging which characterizes the context of production as much as the writing. By considering the plays as a whole, unified by the impossible quest for a community, one may attempt a new approach to O’Neill’s works, as the contradictions inherent in the writing show how O’Neill’s body of work produces its own ambiguity and interest