A survey of demonstrative usage in Classical Latin, an assessment of the syntactical significance of ille and iste in Late Latin, together with conditions favouring the evolution of the definite article, and an examination of articular usage in Old French up to the Chanson de Roland. / Master of Arts (MA)

<p>This thesis aims at a comparative study of the role and portrayal of the non-aristocratie characters of several chansons de geste selected from the twelfth to early fifteenth centuries. At the same time, the treatment of the so-called pseudo-vilains in relation to that of the genuine non-nobles will also be considered.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

This thesis investigates the Medicean ability to present divergent messages to different audiences through the manipulation of art and architecture of the Palazzo Medici. I examine several works of art commissioned and authored by the Medici. First, Donatello’s bronze David, located in the Medici Courtyard, is interpreted through the traditional Christian perspective as seen by the vicini, making the Medici appear pious, reverent, and religiously devout. This work is also interpreted from the amici point of view using ancient and contemporary authors to trace the development of ideas amongst the circle of Classically educated friends of the Medici. Second, Donatello’s bronze Judith and Holofernes, located in the adjacent Medici Garden, is examined in the same way to highlight the divergent message of humility juxtaposed with pride. This exercise shows the Medici had the ability to use one piece of art to set the stage for several different messages. Each type of visitor would view the same piece of art and come away with a different message specifically tailored to them, which allowed the family to increase support for their political faction and maintain their status as de facto rulers of Florence. The Medici family’s success is undisputed amongst scholars, but Cosimo’s use of the Augustan model and his use of the palace as propaganda is a subject that has been left scarcely examined. Much research has been conducted on the exterior due to what is extant, but how those in the Medici faction viewed it is non-existent. This work builds upon F.W. Kent’s position that Renaissance palace were built with several groups in mind. Through this examination of the Medici’s use of polyvalent messaging, a new understanding of the Medici emerges, which shows they were masters of propaganda and can explain why the Palazzo Medici became the model for palaces through Florence, the Italian Peninsula, and eventually greater Europe.

"Los heroes y Minerva en la narracion del libro de caballerias Cristalian de Espana de Beatriz Bernal" adds to the advancement of knowledge due to the novelty of the topic and findings that have been incorporated throughout this research. This work analyzes the first two volumes of the Cristalian de Espana, which is one of the few novels of chivalry written by a woman in Spain during the 16th century. The main objective of this investigation resides in exploring the role of hero in relation to the classic hero portrayed in chivalry novels using Amadis de Gaula as a point of reference, and the configuration of Minerva's image as the narrator's desire of a more accurate representation of women in the Early Modern Spain literature.

<p>A critical analysis of Zola's La Joie de Vivre together with certain biographical ïnformation and details of Zola's methods of composition.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

After the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991, Bosnia and Herzegovina erupted into ethnic conflict and ultimately genocide. Nearly 100,000 people, mainly Bosniaks, died in the Bosnian War. Two decades later, the violence has ended but the conflict is still present in Bosnia; the societal segregation of the 1995 Dayton Accords, intended only as an immediate solution to the violence, still stands. Population and language distribution are evidence of this segregation. Bosnia’s two entities are home to two different ethnic majorities: Serbs in the Republika Srpska and Bosniaks in the Federation of BiH. In an environment so sensitive that the government recently feared that merely releasing statistics on ethnic populations might cause violence, the languages that represent these populations are important indicators of social presence and power. In order to evaluate the presence of the Serbian and Bosnian languages, as well as the English language, in Bosnia, signage on the main streets in the country’s capitals were photographed in great detail. It was hypothesized that linguistic majority would match ethnic majority on both main streets, and that English would appear frequently in advertisements. The number of photographs in which each language appeared was tallied up in order to determine how often the languages are typically used. Analyses of these results demonstrated that the English language is the second-most ubiquitous on both streets, after Bosnian, and the comparatively small presence of the Serbian language on both streets indicated that the linguistic environment in Bosnia is not conducive to peace and reconciliation.

This thesis examines the composition of 2 Thessalonians 2 and focuses specifically on the relationship of the participles Τό Kαtεxov and Ό Kαtεxwv to the chapter's main theme, the Parousia of Jesus Christ. The study begins with a discussion of the various interpretations given to solve the referential meanings of the participles (chapter one). This exploration of the various attempts of scholars to account for the participles concludes with the challenge to seek answers elsewhere. To help situate and evaluate what the writer says in regard to the participles, it was necessary to reassess the role of 2 Thessalonians 2 in the epistle as a whole (chapter two). This broader compass of the letter contributed to an understanding of the author as engaged in practical admonitions of several different concerns. It exposed the myth of centrality surrounding 2 Thessalonians 2 and thereby warned of determining the meanings of the participles except from the immediate thought of the context wherein they are found. A detailed exegesis of 1 Thes 2:1-15 was presented in order to confirm and clarify the specific nature of verses 2:6-7 (chapter three). This made familiar the context in which the participles are located. Particularly, it established the limit of the passage as extending to v. 15 rather than v. 12. In addition, the flow of thought contained in the text was demonstrated to center on the appearing of Christ, a significant point of perspective for interpreting the two participles and other elements in the passage. With the literary and exegetical foundation lai., it was left to deal witn the participles themselves. k guiding principle in their interpretations was the that thr should be understood from a strict relationship to their context. It was shown that the technique of an inverted parallelism at the climax of the first pericope (2:1-6) helped explain the meaning of the neuter participle as signifying the two preliminary events of the apostasy and the revelation of the Man of Lawlessness. This interpretation was based on a correlation in the parallelism between tαϋtα (v. 5 and Τό Kαtεxov (v. 6). An important ramification was that the personal pronoun αύtόv in v. 6 must then refer to Christ and not the Man of Lawlessness. It was the Day of the Lord that was being restrained because the two pre-signs of the apostasy and the revelation of the "Antichrist" had not yet occurred. Accordingly, the masculine participle Ό Kαtεxwv was a particularization of the content of the neuter participle; thus, it was shown that Ό Kαtεxwv represented the Man of Lawlessness. The thesis concludes with a brief review of each of the chapter studies and underscores the present need for scholars to give more attention to the proposed meanings of the participles, especially in light of there having been other advocates of interpretations for the participles that are similar to the one this thesis develops--most notably, N. F. Freese, P. Andriessen, Joseph Coppens.

La siguiente investigación explora las representaciones de la mujer-madre en el contexto español a través de la historia del siglo XX y XI. Usa “La niña sin alas” de Paloma Díaz-Mas, “Al colegio” de Josefina Rodríguez Aldecoa, y “Espejismos” de Josefina Rodríguez Aldecoa – tres cuentos de la antología Madres e hijas de Laura Freixas – para analizar tres temas particulares que relatan a la situación de la mujer-madre: el espíritu del sacrificio, el perfeccionismo, y el aislamiento. La investigación concluye con una evaluación de los cuentos como “obras femeninas.” Intenta de enseñar el valor de estos cuentos por sus perspectivas únicamente femeninas y por sus estéticos universalmente excelentes. The following investigation explores representations of the woman-mother in the Spanish context through the history of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. I use “La niña sin alas” by Paloma Díaz-Mas, “Al colegio” by Josefina Rodríguez Aldecoa, y “Espejismos” by Josefina Rodríguez Aldecoa – three stories from the anthology Madres e hijas by Laura Freixas – in order to analyze three themes that particularly relate to the situation of the woman-mother: the spirit of sacrifice, perfectionism, and isolation. The investigation concludes with an evaluation of the stories as “feminine works.” The intention is to show the value of these stories because of their uniquely feminine perspectives and their universally excellent aesthetics.

This thesis compares two perspectives on the production of Holocaust memory: a novel that leads up to The Holocaust in Britain and one that reflects the hindsight perspective of a liberator in the Soviet Union. The novels are Virginia Woolf’s BETWEEN THE ACTS and Vasily Grossman’s LIFE AND FATE. The analysis offers a locus of analysis for the diasporic literary energy created by the catastrophe in the 20th and 21st centuries. The project offers a theorized standpoint on the role of literature on official historical archives. Proposing a method through which contemporary readers can engage the diasporic event of The Holocaust, the project adopts both the extended metaphor and literal expression of soundscapes. Soundscapes encompass the immaterial processes of memorialization and the literal sonic textures developed in Holocaust novels. The critical perspective incorporates contemporary notions of narratology, archival practices, and cultural manifestations of language into the notion of literary ethnomusicology.

Book Summary: The essays in this collection explore the languages - artistic, symbolic, and ritual, as well as written and spoken - in which power was articulated, challenged, contested, and defended in Italian cities and courts, villages, and countryside, between 1300 and 1600. Topics addressed include court ceremonial, gossip and insult, the performance of sanctity and public devotions, the appropriation and reuse of imagery, and the calculated invocation (and sometimes undermining) of authoritative models and figures. The collection balances a broad geographic and chronological range with a tight thematic focus, allowing the individual contributions to engage in vigorous and fruitful debate with one another even as they speak to some of the central issues in current scholarship. The authors recognize that every institutional action is, in its context, a political act, and that no institution operates disinterestedly. At the same time, they insist on the inadequacy of traditional models, whether Marxian or Weberian, as the complex realities of the early modern state pose tough problems for any narrative of modernization, rationalization, and centralization. The contributors to this volume trained and teach in various countries - Italy, the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia - but share a common interest in cultural expressions of power. / https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu_books/1186/thumbnail.jpg