published_or_final_version / Chinese / Master / Master of Philosophy

published_or_final_version / English Studies and Comparative Literature / Master / Master of Philosophy

No description available.

Although the letter purports to represent fact, it cannot avoid having a partly or potentially fictive status, turning as it does on the complex interplay between the real and the imagined. Consequently, the main critical approach of this paper is to consider the interactions between conflicting modes of expression in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century epistolary fiction. The rhetorical and conceptual contrarieties that I examine are broadly characterized by the contradiction between the implied spontaneity of the familiar letter and the inevitable artifice of its form. Working with familiar letters by four writers between the years 1740 and 1825, I specifically address various narrative patterns by which each turns to the act of communication to draw upon the experience of an isolated self. Against a background which explores the main developments in epistolary fiction and a historical progression of the uses and significance of letter-writing, I investigate epistolary texts by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Lord Byron, John Keats, and William Hazlitt. In turning to letters by each author, I explore the literary, theoretical and especially the psychological implications of the tenuous divisions between fact and fiction. In particular, my analysis stresses that letter-writing is an authorial act in which writing about the self can be understood as a literary form of self-portraiture or creative expression. / I examine this claim---and the metaphors defining it---in two ways. First, by focusing on selected letters, I foreground each writer's language as an agent of internal conflict. In so doing, I am able to formulate distinctive questions regarding the potential of epistolary narratives to transform emotional or psychological schisms into fictions which become explicitly creative texts. Secondly, I analyze the changing nature of the fictions which emerge through this process. My findings conclude that authors' letters must be read, at least very often, as a constituent part of their literary work and as interpretive models of a shifting dynamic of psychological expression.

No description available.

The study has identified seven Puerto Rican composers that shared a common bond as first products of the recently established system of post-secondary music education of the island of Puerto Rico. A review of relevant literature produced only one fugitive document with any information about these composers. Through the use of a questionnaire and documents supplied by the composers, information available about these artists was collected and updated in order to provide accurate documentation of their artistic activities. An orchestral work from each of these composers was examined in order to give an insight into some aspects of their individual style, although it was not possible to make generalizations about each composer's style due to the limits of the sample.The study demonstrated the existence of significant works for orchestra by these composers and provided, for each of these artists, a short biographical sketch and a complete list of works up to the present. The composers and works studied were:Esther Alejandro, El zapatero prodigioso Carlos Cabrer, CanticosErnesto Cordero, Concierto evocativo (guitar concerto)Jose Daniel Martinez, Tiempo sinfdnicoJose A. Montalvo, Canto para la America sufridaRoberto Sierra, PolarizacionesCarlos A. Vazquez, Casa LlenaDuring preliminary research, the study also identified substantial errors and omissions in general reference works in music on the subject of Puerto Rican music. The first chapter includes a review of all available literature on the subject of the study, covering published and fugitive sources. The bibliography includes a section with annotated newspaper articles on some of the composers appearing in the study. Computer print-outs from searches of the Comprehensive Dissertation Index and the Repertoire International de Literature Musicale on key words "Puerto Ric" and "music" appear in the appendices.

An Analytical System for Electronic Music is a systematized method for the analysis of an electronic work and is directed towards making electronic music (E. M.) more accessible to the general audience and the experienced analyst.The uniqueness of E. M. is characterized by new sonic materials. These new sonic compositions require new methods of analysis. Because electronic music composition is sound dependent, a look at the surface, syntax, and the way in which the different hierarchical levels interact had to be considered. The word "topography" was adapted to conceptualize the formal and structural principles of the medium.In most cases scores are not available for electronic music compositions.Because of this, new perceptual and cognitive capabilities are required by both the analyst and appreciative listener.In E. M., pitch, duration, loudness, timbre, and the spatial properties of sound have an equal potential to be the primary generator of the musical material. The Analytical System assists the analyst in identifying significant musical events in any parameter. Pitch-contour, vertical-density, attack-density, dynamic-contour, timbral-characteristics, and spatial-location graphs are integral components of the method. Adaptable to any hierarchical level, the graphs clearly depict the sonic activity. With the addition of a detailed graphic representation of the significant musical events and objective verbal descriptions, an electronic work can be accurately recorded in sufficient detail to allow indepth analysis.The System is purposefully broad in its approach to the individual electronic work. It has been devised to be applicable to the many diverse styles of the medium. The method of analysis will easily guide the analyst through a large portion of the literature of electronic music.

The fantastic stands as an important part of Chinese culture. It is in fact through its literature that it has been made possible for us to enjoy this heritage. With the study of fantastic tales and anomaly accounts, this thesis tackles the problem of rationalism in relation with supernatural. It attempts to understand the mechanisms of the intermingling of the concepts of fiction and history, through the comparison of Chinese historical and fictional texts, as well as parallels between China and Europe. It will also deal with the concepts of nature, in both the perspectives of China and Europe, and the Enlightenment.

No description available.

In this dissertation, overviews and detailed examinations of three compositions are presented. These compositions which constitute the portfolio of the M.MUS degree, are an attempt to explore syncretism between Indian and western music. Two of these works are written for a flute quartet (flute, violin, viola and cello) accompanied in part by a mridangam (Indian percussion instrument). The third work is written for a jazz quartet (piano, saxophone, double bass and drums). Syncretism between western and Indian music can take on a variety of forms, and while this concept is not new, there exists no suitable model or framework through which these compositions can be analysed. The approach used In this dissertation IS therefore guided solely by the compositions themselves. The syncretism in these works lies in the use of melodic, rhythmic and timbral elements of Indian music within two ensembles which are essentially western. This dissertation describes each of these elements in their traditional context as well as the method of incorporating them into western ensemble playing.