From thesis: Except perhaps for Debussy, Scriabin appears to be the most outstanding and productive composer amongst all his contemporaries in the field of the prelude. He wrote ninety preludes for the piano.

Edwin Muir's poetic vision is bound up with that belief in a twofold structure of reality that in European culture has been called Platonist but which is so ancient and widespread that no one can determine its origins. Though no longer fashionable in a time when materialist philosophies flourish and even Christian clerics are busy "de-mythologizing" their faith, it has been the potent source of our greatest poetry and perhaps, as Kathleen Raine believes, of all true poetry. Those who hold this conviction regard the sensible world as the reflection of an "intelligible" or spiritual world which gives meaning and purpose to life, and they see the objects of nature as images that evoke the ideal forms of a divine reality. For poets, as for traditional men, this belief is less a metaphysic than an intuitive way of apprehending and ordering experience, a "learning of the imagination" inherited from ancient and mysterious sources. To Muir it came directly and spontaneously in the symbolic images of dreams, and the fact that he entitled the first version of his autobiography The Story and the Fable testifies to the importance, both for his life and his poetry, of his belief in two corresponding orders of experience. Intro., p. 1-2.

Writing about Eighteenth Century England, and more particularly about the age of Johnson, Trevelyan gives us an admirable definition of a classical age: It is a "classical age, that is an age of unchallenged assumptions, when the philosophers of the streets such as Dr. Johnson, have ample leisure to moralise on the human scene, in the happy belief that the state of society and the modes of thought to which they are accustomed are not mere passing aspects of an ever shifting kaleidoscope, but permanent habitations, the final outcome of reason and experience. Such an age does not aspire to progress, though it may in fact be progressing; it regards itself not as setting out but as having arrived." To apply this definition of a classical age to the protean Nineteenth Century might, at first glance, seem impossible or at least dangerous. Yet it is only when we see this century - and more particularly the period 1871-1914 - as a truly classical age, as the classical age of the Bourgeoisie, that we can understand the direction and meaning of the revolt during the Twenties and Thirties of which Malraux' work is so representative. Intro., p. 1.

In considering Chagall's art the observer is immediately struck by the constancy of his almost obsessive repetition of certain symbols and themes. In this way Chagall has created his own fantasy world, one with which the observer soon becomes acquainted and grows to love and understand.

This study is about examining some changes to conventions and culture in selected Xhosa drama plays. Conventions are general agreements on social behaviour. They are the customary methods of presenting the elements of the text. There are no strict rules followed in the writing of plays, but there are conventions which vary from one playwright to another and from time to time. Conventions are the devices and the features of a literary work by which its kind can be recognized. Change creates anxiety, uncertainty and stress. Adaptation of culture to some changes plays a role as time passes by. To adapt to change is to be able to manage change. Managing change demands three levels of human response namely: the individual, the group and the cultural or social context. No matter how many changes are brought, different cultures should survive the changes for the nation to remain with its nationality. Industrialisation, urbanisation, religion, politics and economy are the agents of change. Also the social environment, human intelligence and culture play to a greater extent a role in the evolution process. Among other things, this study portrays that the changing times are reflected in Xhosa plays. This is the reflection of how people live, behave or do things, and think as time comes and passes. Pattern of development is traced through time, with the history being involved in the development. Change and development are unavoidable products of human thought. Development is traced from the primitive to the modern way of doing things. A modern or developed society is viewed as being capable of handling a wide variety of internal as well as external pressures. Every time a society manages a new pressure, its modernity improves. Thus, the word ‘modern’ has no time frame, as long as there is a new development, this term ‘modern’ features in. Though the study employs Evolutionary, Structuralist, Stylistic, Formalism and Marxist approaches, the branch of the Semiotic approach, Pragmatism, plays the major role in that the meaning of the texts is one of the semiotic categories. Again Semiotics deals with the writing and the interpretation of the text. Thus communication, adaptation and relating are fundamental to human existence and survival. It is easy to notice that there are old conventions that are continuing in the writings of the new generations of playwrights. This study compares and contrasts the similar conventions of dramatic texts, especially those that have the same theme and meaning. This study shows how the existing dramatic conventions are affected by time, history, economy, education, technology and some other changes. Though the dramatic conventions are said to be continuing, they also adapt to the changing time. There are conventional and cultural aspects that seem to be continuing, but it is a ‘changing continuity’. The developments or changes discussed in this study are in Xhosa drama conventions, those of culture of amaXhosa, dramatic construction of the Xhosa plays and in the interpretation of the plays.

Through the ages satirists have exposed and ridiculed certain malpractices in society in their texts. They have often done so in a language filled with irony and exaggeration. For the purpose of this dissertation I wish to focus on three texts by Marlene van Niekerk, the eminent Afrikaans author, and analyse the way in which she uses satire to comment particularly on contemporary South African society and address issues such as violence, the 2010 World Cup, corruption and violence against women and children. The three texts under discussion are the two lengthy poems, ―Suid Afrika and ―Brief aan president Motlanthe [―Letter to President Motlanthe] and her play Die kortstondige raklewe van Anastacia W [The brief shelf-life of Anastacia W]. She bases her writings on real life incidents and events written about in the newspapers and these clippings serve as intertexts for her critique of society.

This work studies the extent to which the novels written by Jorge Edwards between 1973 and 1987 respond to the historical Chilean context that they seem to address, openly in some instances and evasively in others. It examines the way in which the novelist represents the Chilean situation under the dictatorship of Pinochet. In the novels, Los convidados de piedra (1978), Elmuseo de cera (1981), La muier imaginaria (1985) and Elanfitri On (1987), not only is the apparent decadence of asocial class revealed, but also the regenerative capacity of this class to perpetuate its dominance in society. The analysis of Edwards' works written during the dictatorship allows the possibility of comprehending the historical reality within the fiction through some themes: Chileanhistory, its culmination in the 1973 military coup and its aftermath, the decline of the bourgeois way of life, the status of women in Chile, and the problems of exile. To study the dialogue between the novel and society, and to reflect on the writer's role in facing the conflicts of his time, an eclectic methodology has been used which incorporates elements of narratology, Bakhtin's dialogism, sociology and history. These elements lead to further questioning rather than offering categorical answers; Edwards' own voice is used frequently to contrast or to clarify some aspects of his works. With the study of Edwards as an intellectual and with the review of his novels, this dissertation concludes that the Chilean writer shows a constant preoccupation with Chilean society. Moreover, his writings suggest that the causes of the dictatorship are anchored in an unresolved distant past. This explains the ironic gaze that questions the upper class and its origins from within. The voices of the novels are also ironic and reveal a rejection of the self-bestowed historical importance of the upper class. Finally, this study underlines the role the author has assigned to himself by converting the act of writing into an authentic personal mission. / Arts, Faculty of / French, Hispanic, and Italian Studies, Department of / Graduate

The main purpose of this thesis is to illustrate Sciascia's work concerning the "mafia". It implies a previous discussion on the mafia and why no government could destroy it . It also points out its relationship with the Sicilia society and other countries on earth. The introduction gives an account of the history of Sicily and its invaders throughout the centuries. The formation of the old law of "omerta" (conspiracy of silence) developed as a defense and protection against the harsh rule of the Spaniards who dominated the island continually from the fifteenth century till 1860. This old law became the basic principle of the mafia as illustrated in the four novels written by Leonardo Sciascia. The titles are as follows: 1. II giorno della civetta (The Day of the Owl); 2. A ciascuno i l suo (To Each his Own); 3. Todo modo (One Way or Another); 4. II contesto (Equal Danger). The structure of each novel is the same as generally found in the detective story genre but without any denouement. The first chapter deals with "II giorno della civetta" where examples of local mafia are illustrated including the struggle for justice. Sciascia shows the structure of the mafia in a small Sicilian town. The second chapter analyzes the novel "A ciascuno i l suo" where the mafia infiltrates the government and many political sectors. In chapter four "II contesto" one encounters an urban, cosmopolitan system of corruption involving the elite class of judges and high political party leaders. Sciascia challenges the very institution of justice, political parties and the government at large. He takes on himself the responsibility, as writer, to push for the recognition of moral values of a society and an era. The epilogue covers the efforts of the "Antimafia" men in their attempt to put down the mafia. The end covers the international mafia and its criminal underground activities such as the drug trafficking, money laundering, prostitution, etc. Various antimafia personalities have been killed in this campaign and the struggle continues today in spite of many "mafia bosses" having been arrested. / Arts, Faculty of / French, Hispanic, and Italian Studies, Department of / Graduate

Fra Angelico's fresco cycle of the lives and martyrdoms of SS. Stephen and Lawrence in the Chapel of Nicholas V (1447-49) communicate in a style which seems to be rhetorical in the sense that they employ numerous strategies which appear to aim at persuading viewers of the truth of the ideological notions the frescoes convey. This fact encourages one to consider the specific pressures which the context of the frescoes' production may have exerted. Commissioned by a pope who had the training of a professional humanist - and who, as a humanist, had interest in the efficacy of rhetoric - these frescoes convey their messages with a persuasive pictorial 'eloquence1 which, in some respects, corresponds to or plays off on humanist definitions of eloquence. The following study attempts to explain what messages these frescoes were meant to communicate, and how their manner of communication is rhetorical. The rhetorical style becomes a method of conveying old ideas in new ways, and may have made the messages more resonant in the context in which they were meant to function. A paucity of primary documentation on the frescoes makes this type of evaluation difficult. Problems in identifying the frescoes' intended audience and working on the troublesome ground between the rhetorical nature of written and pictorial texts also complicates this' investigation. Nevertheless, by considering the problems and aims of Nicholas Vs pontificate, and by closely examining the subject matter, organization, and expression of the frescoes, some indication as to their probable function may be gained. / Arts, Faculty of / Art History, Visual Art and Theory, Department of / Graduate

"Rudy Wiebe and the Historicity of the Word" analyzes Wiebe's six major novels published to date: Peace Shall Destroy Many (1962), First and Vital Candle (1966), The Blue Mountains of China (1970), The Temptations of Big Bear 1973), The Scorched-Wood People (1977), and My Lovely Enemy (1983). Traditional literary critical terms and concepts prove inappropriate to Wiebe's work because they implicitly reinstate the ideological postulates Wiebe calls into question. This study therefore employs the theoretical framework developed by Mikhail Bakhtin and V. N. Vološinov. The introductory chapter provides a synoptic view of the six novels, relates Wiebe's authorial objectives and practices to his cultural and religious background, surveys relevant critical discussions of Wiebe's work, and defines the central theoretical principles of Bakhtin and Vološinov. Chapters 2 and 3 discuss Peace Shall Destroy Many and First and Vital Candle respectively, establishing that although Wiebe shows considerable interest in "the dialogic principle" at a thematic level, his overt rhetorical intentions prevent him from realizing this principle in his writing. Chapters 4 and 5 examine Wiebe's use of polyphonic narrative forms in The Blue Mountains of China and The Temptations of Big Bear. Analysis of the inter- and intra-textual politics of these two novels demonstrates that overtly dialogic narrative forms may remain functionally monologic. Chapter 6 considers The Scorched-Wood People and Wiebe's strategy of embedding voices within other voices, a practice which compounds the "internal dialogization" of the prose. Chapter 7 discusses My Lovely Enemy as a challenge to various forms of anti-imaginative discourse, and to prevailing notions of artistic creativity. Chapter 8 focusses on the question of the provenance of "voice" and concludes that although Wiebe's novels exploit the historicity of the Word—indeed, of all words—they also bear the legacy of a monologic Christian fundamentalist model of language. An Appendix entitled "The Early History and Doctrines of the Mennonite Church" describes Wiebe's dialogue with Menno Simons' doctrines of the Word. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate