This thesis explores the lives and works of Carlo Gozzi and Carlo Goldoni. Specific emphasis is placed on their feud, positions in society, the motivations behind their theatrical styles, and the ways they used theatre to either attempt to maintain the status quo (Gozzi) or strive for social change (Goldoni). Contrary to previous studies, this study suggests that Goldoni tried to influence the world around him, rather than merely reflect it. This study examines the above through the lens of several twentieth century theories including semiotics, structuralism, and the avante-garde. The contents of this work are essential to anyone seeking biographical information, doing dramaturgical research or producing one of their plays, and those investigating the ways theatre has been used to incite change and create an atmosphere of social equity. This work demonstrates that theatre can, has been, and should be actively used to influence that change.

L'image du monde arabe la plus répandue aujourd'hui dans l'opinion publique, même la plus cultivée, italienne, française et européenne, est construite surtout de lieux communs et stéréotypes. Les réactions aux récents "Printemps Arabes" en sont une preuve éloquente. Cependant cette image est assez récente: elle n'existait pas avant le XIXe siècle. On trouve dans la littérature italienne et française du Moyen Âge au XIXe siècle des images du monde arabe bien différentes de celle d'aujourd'hui. Le monde arabe, jusqu'au XIXe siècle, n'était pas aux yeux des Européens, un monde radicalement "autre", mais, bien au contraire, une partie tout à fait légitime et familière de la civilisation méditerranéenne, un monde avec lequel on pouvait avoir des âpres conflits, mais aussi des relations économiques, commerciales, politiques et culturelles très utiles. Au XIXe siècle cette image change radicalement et le monde arabe devient un monde barbare, incapable de progrès, radicalement "autre", un monde pour lequel la seule possibilité réside dans la colonisation européenne. Cette image, née en France et en Angleterre au même moment de la politique impérialiste, ne tarde pas à s'affirmer aussi en Italie, l'Unité nationale achevée. / The conception of the Arab society, still so predominant with the public opinion, even with the most cultured one, be it Italian French or in winder terms European, originates from stereotype. The reactions to the latest "Arab springs" are a clear evidence. The belief arose in the XIX century and not in more ancient times as most people believe and think. Before that time, stating from the Middle Age, both Italian and somehow French literary production gave diverse pictures of the Arab society, which are very different from the current ones. Up to the XIX century this conception was not drastic and the Arab word was considered to be a legitimate and usual part of the Mediterranean civilization you could have strong conflicts with, but at the same time also business, political, economic and cultural relations. In the XIX century this belief totally changes and the Arab world seems to be an uncivilized society whose only opportunity is the European colonization. This opinion was born in France and Italy when the imperialist politics started and it finished in the second half of the century, after the union of Italy.

No description available.

No description available.

The concern with the following arguments started during a study of national and international cinemas, from the desire to account for a cinema that internationally was doing well, but was undervalued domestically. The aims were to account for the renewal of Italian filmmaking from 1988, the New Italian cinema, and understand the conditions behind this renewal. The thesis identifies in the historical theme and in the recurrence of features from Italian cinema history elements of coherence with previous cinema production. The first consideration that emerges is that a triangulation between a new generation of filmmakers, their audience and recent history shaped the recovery of Italian cinema from 1988. A second consideration is that no discussion of Italian cinema can be separated from a discussion of that which it represents: Italian society and politics. This representation has not only addressed questions of identity for a cohort of spectators, but on occasions has captured the attention of the international audience. Thus the thesis follows a methodologic approach that positions the texts in relation to certain traditions in Italian filmmaking and to the context by taking into consideration also industrial factors and social and historical changes. By drawing upon a range of disciplines, from political history to socio-psychological studies, the thesis has focussed on representation of history and memory in two periods of Italian film history: the first and the last decade of twentieth century. The concern has been not so much to interpret the films, but to understand the processes that made the films and how spectators have applied their knowledge structures to make meaning of the films. Thus the thesis abstains from ascribing implicit meanings to films, but acknowledges how films project cultural contingencies. This is because film is shaped by production conditions and cultural and historical circumstances that make the film intelligible. As Bordwell stated in Making Meaning, "One can do other things with films besides 'reading' them" (1989, p. xiii). Within this framework, the thesis proposes a project that understands history film within the norms that govern Italian filmic output, those norms that regulate conditions of production and consumption and the relation between films from various traditions.

Doctor of Philosophy / This thesis offers the first English translation of Eduardo De Filippo’s last play, Gli esami non finiscono mai (1973). It analyzes the play in the context of the dramatist’s career and describes the philosophical shift that took place in Eduardo’s dialectic as he progressed from a post-war, neorealist drama like Napoli milionaria! toward the existential reflections present in his last play. Unlike previous studies, this work concentrates on Eduardo’s philosophical journey from neorealism to existential query and identifies the factors that influenced his thinking process. To this end, I have evaluated the plays most relevant to the development of his philosophy and the socio-political context in which they were written. The influence of the Neapolitan traditional dialect theater, along with that of Luigi Pirandello, his American contemporaries, Arthur Miller and Eugene O’Neill, and William Shakespeare, is also examined. Important social issues that directly affected the author, such as the struggle in Italy for the legalization of divorce and the plight of children born out of wedlock, are highlighted to illustrate how they contributed to the disillusionment and pessimism present in Eduardo’s last play. From the rather hopeful ending of Napoli milionaria! Eduardo was reduced at the end of his life to sheer desperation in Gli esami non finiscono mai. Italy had changed but it had not moved on. By focusing on the playwright’s final play, this thesis offers a new perspective on a twentieth century dramatist who is much more complex than is commonly acknowledged. De Filippo is revealed as a dramatist who transcended the Neapolitan comic theatrical traditions he sprang from and created a theater of political and social engagement that endures today.

The songs of Puccini provide another approach to understanding the composer's musical development. The objective of the study is twofold; first to provide a discussion of the musical style of Puccini's songs; and second, to show how Puccini utilized and integrated the preexistent material into the operas. The songs are grouped and characterized in three stylistic periods. In each period, Puccini was concerned with different issues in text setting. They anticipated or corresponded to the musical style of his operas, and this is evident by his use of the earlier songs in the later operas. Three examples of such cases are examined. The details involved in the transformation of self-borrowing are illustrated in terms of recomposition, expansion of the vocal line and orchestration. Each case illustrates the textual and/or musical consideration by Puccini of the original source for the new dramatic context of the opera. The borrowed material, often incorporated with new themes and expressive orchestration, blooms as an effective dramatic piece of music in his operas. In addition to the lecture recital, based on the dissertation and given on June 23, 1997, three other public recitals were performed. The first, on February 27, 1989, included works of Schubert, Brahms, Wolf, and Strauss. The second program, an operatic performance of The Queen of Spades by Tchaikovsky, was given on April 20, 1991. The third recital was performed on February 20, 1995, and included works by Handel, Mozart, Stravinsky, Schubert, Poulenc, and Turina.

Abstract (1 leaf) and Summary contents guide (18 loose leaves) in pocket of v. 1 / Bibliography: v. 1, leaves 261-277 / 3 v. : music ; 31 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, 1984

Ces dernières années, lhistoriographie des premières Guerres dItalie (1494-1525) sest considérablement enrichie notamment grâce aux études de D. Le Fur, N. Hochner, A.-M. Lecoq et R. W. Scheller. Croisant délibérément des sources variées (littéraires, politiques et iconographiques) ainsi que les méthodes (celle de lhistorien des textes et celle de lhistorien dart), leurs travaux se sont attachés à définir les différents aspects du pouvoir royal et la manière dont celui-ci se met en scène tout spécialement sous les règnes de Charles VIII, de Louis XII et de François Ier. Force est donc de constater que la figure du roi de France domine lhistoriographie récente des premières Guerres dItalie. Pourtant, à chaque fois que les souverains des fleurs de lys sont mis en scène, ils noccupent pas seuls le discours politique. Dautres personnages, la France et les Français, apparaissent à côté deux. Le premier est dépeint, selon une tradition établie, comme un espace bénéficiant de qualités exceptionnelles. Lesdites qualités conditionnent la nature du deuxième personnage les Français , lequel sintègre dès lors à un portrait de la nation. Durant les Guerres dItalie, ce discours sur la France et les Français ne sert pas uniquement à décrire le royaume lui-même. Il permet avant tout aux artisans de la propagande royale délaborer une pensée légitimant la conquête de lItalie et permettant dy imposer une nouvelle culture politique et sociale dinspiration française. Cet amalgame dimages à propos de lItalie française ou Franco-Italia traverse lensemble de la période, croisant parfois la figure royale, mais sen éloignant aussi très souvent. Létude dune telle idéologie révèle enfin un intérêt supplémentaire. Au cours des premières décennies du XVIe siècle, la France connaît un véritable bouleversement de son modèle dorganisation sociale traditionnel. Nous voulons parler des trois ordres du féodalisme (oratores, bellatores et laboratores). Certes, dans la réalité quotidienne, le système ternaire ne reflète plus, depuis des siècles, la complexité des relations politiques et sociales. Par contre, la remise en cause de ce modèle au sein de la pensée politique curiale, en somme dans la culture de lélite, est une donnée relativement nouvelle en ce début de XVIe siècle. Ainsi, le discours sur lItalie française sert de champ dexpérimentation aux théoriciens du politique, aux polémistes ainsi quaux chroniqueurs et même aux poètes, leur permettant de redéfinir les contours dun schéma ternaire qui, dans sa forme traditionnelle, leur apparaît désuet. On laura compris : notre thèse soriente donc vers létude, non dun seul mode de pensée, mais plutôt dune pluralité de concepts et dopinions ayant comme dénominateur commun la redéfinition des contours de lItalie et également de la France. Il sagira de comprendre la manière dont les auteurs de la cour de France regardent la Péninsule et ses habitants et comment, de cette expérience de laltérité, ils en arrivent à pratiquer un retour sur eux-mêmes et à relire leur propre mode dorganisation sociale, autrement dit, les cadres théoriques de leur existence. Cette histoire des lys qui sévertuent à fleurir dans les champs dune Italie pourtant bien décidée à les faucher sera loccasion dentrevoir sous un angle neuf cette période de bouleversements et dinquiétudes que sont les premières Guerres dItalie.

This study investigates the acquisition of grammatical gender and number agreement in Italian as a second language (L2). The theoretical framework is based on a functional approach that stresses the importance of form function mappings, cues, frequency effects and the statistical properties of the language input. The Competition Model is of particular importance and the Italian oral corpus LIP is used to make calculations that measure the validity, availability and reliability of the Italian noun endings. The data consists of 71 transcribed teacher-student dialogues with Swedish learners of Italian at Stockholm University. The results show that learners have problems with feminine gender in the plural and with ambiguous noun endings, i.e. cases where one form is connected to more than one function. These findings can be explained by cue competition and frequency effects and to some extent by a markedness effect.  A second study with time (longitudinal development) and reliability of the noun endings (high or low) as independent variables and degree of accuracy as dependent variable showed a positive increase in accuracy rates over time, both for low and high reliability noun endings. There was also a significant interaction effect between the two independent variables according to which cases of agreement with low validity noun endings showed a higher increase in accuracy rates than high validity noun endings. This could be explained by the power law of practice, i.e. cases of agreement with high reliability noun endings soon reach a very high level of accuracy from which it is difficult to make further progress.