Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of History, June 2002. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Este trabalho reúne esforços para analisar aspectos da teoria literária de Jean-Jacques Rousseau a partir do romance La Nouvelle Héloïse, considerando suas inovações estéticas em face do período de então (século XVIII) e a relevância explicativa da obra no seio do pensamento do autor. Aos propósitos do trabalho, é fundamental entender a escolha do gênero epistolar a fim de facilitar o estreitamento da narrativa com a experiência do leitor, o que se combina com a crítica da representação e com o ideal rousseauniano da transparência, perfazendo o formato do romance que Rousseau, após severas críticas à literatura, transige em considerar necessário por oferecer um exemplo de virtude no amor a uma sociedade degenerada pela corrupção dos costumes. / This work combines forces to analyze aspects of Jean-Jacques Rousseaus Literary Theory at the novel La Nouvelle Héloïse in light of its aesthetic innovations towards that period (the 18th century) and the explicative relevance of the work to the core of the author\'s thoughts. With respect to the purpose of the work, it is important to understand the choice of the epistolary form in order to facilitate the alignment of the narrative with the experience of the reader, which is consonant with the critique of representation and with the Rousseaunian ideal of transparency, constituting the format of the novel that Rousseau, after severe criticisms of literature, came to consider necessary to offer an example of virtue through love to a society degenerated by the corruption of customs.

Este trabalho reúne esforços para analisar aspectos da teoria literária de Jean-Jacques Rousseau a partir do romance La Nouvelle Héloïse, considerando suas inovações estéticas em face do período de então (século XVIII) e a relevância explicativa da obra no seio do pensamento do autor. Aos propósitos do trabalho, é fundamental entender a escolha do gênero epistolar a fim de facilitar o estreitamento da narrativa com a experiência do leitor, o que se combina com a crítica da representação e com o ideal rousseauniano da transparência, perfazendo o formato do romance que Rousseau, após severas críticas à literatura, transige em considerar necessário por oferecer um exemplo de virtude no amor a uma sociedade degenerada pela corrupção dos costumes. / This work combines forces to analyze aspects of Jean-Jacques Rousseaus Literary Theory at the novel La Nouvelle Héloïse in light of its aesthetic innovations towards that period (the 18th century) and the explicative relevance of the work to the core of the author\'s thoughts. With respect to the purpose of the work, it is important to understand the choice of the epistolary form in order to facilitate the alignment of the narrative with the experience of the reader, which is consonant with the critique of representation and with the Rousseaunian ideal of transparency, constituting the format of the novel that Rousseau, after severe criticisms of literature, came to consider necessary to offer an example of virtue through love to a society degenerated by the corruption of customs.

This dissertation examines pre-Kantian rational philosophy and the development of the discipline of aesthetics in the North German Enlightenment. With emphasis on the historical conception of the physiological and psychological experience of music, this project determines the function of music both privately and socially in the eighteenth century. As a result, I identify the era of rational aesthetics (ca.1750-1800) as a music-historical period unified by the aesthetic function and metaphysical experience of music, which inform the underlying motivation for musical styles, genres, and means of expression, leading to a more meaningful and compelling historical periodization. The philosophy of Alexander Baumgarten, Johann Georg Sulzer, and others enable definitions of the experience of beautiful objects and those concepts related to music composition, listening, and taste, and determine how rational aesthetics impacted the practice, function, and ultimately the prevailing style of music in the era. The construction, style, and performance means of the free fantasia, the most personal and expressive genre of the era, identify its function as the private act of solitude, or a musical meditation. An examination of pleasure societies establishes the role of music in performance and discussion in both social gatherings and learned musical clubs for conveying the morally good, which results in the spread of good taste. Taken together, the complimentary practices of private and social music played a significant role in eighteenth-century life for developing the self, through personal taste, and society, through a morally good culture.

Tradução parcial (com notas e introdução) do Dictionnaire de musique de Jean-Jacques Rousseau. / Rousseaus Dictionary of Music: portuguese translation (partial), introduction and notes.

Tradução parcial (com notas e introdução) do Dictionnaire de musique de Jean-Jacques Rousseau. / Rousseaus Dictionary of Music: portuguese translation (partial), introduction and notes.