The three autobiographies I study in this work, Sartre's The Words, Perec's W or The Memory of Childhood, and Sarraute's Childhood, are each at least partially devoid of chronological structure. Calendar-based order, traditionally associated with autobiography, fails to provide the coherence that the reader has come to expect. Hence, the reader must create a sense of coherence at a level other than chronological while bringing into play his conceptual resources. This work shows that in these literary texts coherence is maintained based on the exploitation of conventional metaphors taken from everyday language. The autobiographers transform them in a manner that is creative and yet familiar to their readers. I first stipulate that the autobiography as genre is built on the familiar metaphor "Life is a journey," for readers can generically understand the three autobiographies as three specific journeys, with a starting point in childhood and an ending point chosen by the writer. Thus, readers travel with the autobiographers on a road that the latter have already traveled (fictionally and/or factually) towards a destination unknown to the first at the outset of reading. In reading, they move to different stages of the book, and at the same time progress from location to location along the autobiographical path. Each time they pass a stage, they move away from the starting point and approach the final destination (the end of the book and the ultimate meaning it carries). The notion "Autobiography is a journey" is a conceptual resource autobiographers and their readers share as they metaphorically travel together along the autobiographical path, journeying from one mental stage to another, and remaining all the while co-located. This generic autobiographical journey is further structured by metaphors specific to each work, which are useful tools for both writers and readers. Sartre, Perec, and Sarraute use metaphors to capture their pasts and structure their autobiographical artifacts, while readers employ them to conceptualize others' life experiences. The autobiography is understood in each case through knowledge that is familiar to both writers and readers. These conventional patterns of thought are metaphorical bridges between the productive consciousness of the writers and the receptive mind of the readers that allow the first to organize their works and the latter to understand them.

Alexander Hobbs's diary records, from a Union perspective, the excitement of enlistment, impressions of southerners--both black and white--the confusion of combat, and the depression and helplessness of a prisoner of war. Hobbs, serving the Union as an infantryman in Louisiana and Texas, also preserves his experiences at a critical change in Civil War policy concerning parole and exchange. He is one of the last Civil War soldiers to be incarcerated as a parolee under the Dix-Hill Cartel by his own government. Never exchanged, he finally returns to Massachusetts. Originally from Canada, Hobbs enlisted with the Forty-second Massachusetts Regiment in September 1862, fought in the Battle of Galveston on January 1, 1863, and was captured there. After being imprisoned in Houston, he was marched as a parolee from Texas to Louisiana, where he was held in a Union parole camp until discharged in July 1863.

Following Lillian Hellman's death in 1984, friends and foes alike came forward to dispute the truth of Hellman's account of her life presented in her memoirs, An Unfinished Woman, Pentimento, Scoundrel Time and Maybe, A Story. Two camps emerged: the critics who believed there was no excuse for lying in non-fiction and those who believed that by its nature autobiography is a process by which one shapes one's life, and Hellman, they argued, only re-worked her story to a greater degree than most memoirialists. The evidence is substantial that Hellman dramatized her life, creating an image of herself by both adding and deleting important information. In 1986 William Wright published Hellman's biography in which he exposed her literary inaccuracies and documented her personal flaws in detail. There was much discrepancy revealed between the "self" Hellman had presented in the memoirs and the fiery-tempered, mean-spirited woman Wright portrayed. Yet Wright failed to draw any significant conclusions about why Hellman would have felt the need to fictionalize an already fascinating life. I focus on the psychology, on why she would have falsified and distorted her rendition of her "self." Several patterns emerge in the memoirs in the form of language, structure, and recurring themes that suggest that Hellman had severe conflicts around the developmental issues of separation and individuation. Her external self-assurance and bravado, it is argued, actually masked a weak sense of self-identity; and she used the writing of the memoirs as a means of writing through these problems, although rarely on a conscious level. During various stages of the writing process Hellman achieved certain psychological resolutions, correcting some original, unsatisfying developmental dynamics by creating characters and situations that imitated certain childhood configurations. Through the re-defining of her relationship with Dashiell Hammett, she re-defined the childhood Oedipal phase of development; and when she writes of her childhood friend Julia, making up as a best friend a woman she apparently had never met but who in fact existed, Hellman relives the pre-Oedipal stage; she writes herself into a mother-daughter configuration with Julia, differentiating from the mother when she creates and then destroys Julia. Hellman emerges from the experience more autonomous than before, having written herself into a stronger sense of self.

Contributing to the movement to separate church and state in revolutionary Virginia, John Leland formed a unique discourse that utiltized the similarities inherent in evangelical religion and republican ideology. Building upon the language of his New England brethren, which stressed the inconsistencies of republican rhetoric and religious persecution, Leland merged this language with the evangelical movement in Virginia. Through his actions in Virginia, Leland became an important Baptist leader and political ally. He joined the Baptist associations fighting to disestablish religion in that state and became immersed in the politics affecting the region. This involvement included influencing his congregations at the polls and affecting the elections of prominent constitutional figures such as James Madison and Thomas Jefferson.

The problem of discontinuity in the work of the German architect Erich Mendelsohn (1887-1953) is redefined through a closer look at the biographical context and a critique of the established historiography. Mendelsohn's Jewish status, artistic background, and education are discussed as conditions in the transition to a more professional attitude. The role of the avant garde is considered for its spiritual and artistic influences, and Mendelsohn's sketches are analysed as a uniquely artistic method of composition. The Einsteinturm, the climax of his Expressionist period, is the point of departure for his subsequent buildings. The influence of the Neue Sachlichkeit and the importance of Richard Neutra are shown to be instrumental in Mendelsohn's metamorphosis. Historians have either embraced Mendelsohn and his early Expressionism, or rejected him completely, rather than trying to comprehend his transition to professionalism and his compromise with urban circumstances.

Riefenstahl's career is examined through criticism which only allows two images: Riefenstahl as a Nazi film propagandist or Riefenstahl as a pure artist. My research shows that Riefenstahl is a complex person; therefore, it is impossible to place her into categories. Through her memoirs, Die Macht der Bilder, Das Blaue Licht, Triumph des Willens, Olympia, Tiefland, her Nuba material, and her underwater work it becomes clear that her career must be examined within the context of its time. Her films and photographs are considered for their artistic qualities as well as for their innovative elements.

Arthur Garfield Dove's symbolic portrait collages are a unique body of work. They represent the multiplicity of artistic styles and thought in New York City during the first three decades of the twentieth century. As an outgrowth of a number of avant-garde intellectual and visual precedents, these works stand alone by virtue of Dove's unusual amalgam of European and American thinking. What are the artistic and philosophic underpinnings of these works? What makes them portraits? Are there theories or art works that directly influenced Dove? Where do these eight portrait collages stand in relation to both their artistic precedents and contemporary work? What makes these works significant sixty years after their creation?

Olga Samaroff was one of the most influential American musicians in the 20th Century. She was important not only as a concert pianist, but as a teacher of some of this century's great performers. As a teacher, she instilled in her students the importance of observing all of the composer's written markings and playing within the stylistic guidelines of the time period in which the composer lived. At the same time, she refrained from imposing specific interpretations on her pupils; individuality was a quality she valued above everything else. Although she taught literally hundreds of pianists who made successful careers in both performing and teaching, three students---William Kapell, Rosalyn Tureck, and Alexis Weissenberg---stood out above the rest. An in-depth analysis of these three pianists' recordings suggests to what extent each of these students adhered to her teaching principles. Many of their mannerisms reflect trends in 20th Century pianism and in contemporary musicianship as a whole.

As an artist, physician and social activist, Robert Campbell combined artistic, spiritual, medical and humanitarian work. Through art Campbell engaged his audiences in issues of poverty and injustice, and stimulated social activism in others. This thesis articulates the connections between Campbell's differing media and identifies his strategies for fusing art with social activism. The thesis documents paintings through which Campbell attempted to link personal reflection and meditation to an awareness of others; sculptures that incorporate the viewer's symbolic actions with an expanded consciousness; and installations that explicitly associate compassionate identification with others to social activism. Campbell's artistic and social practice, influenced by Liberation theology of Latin America, sought to reconcile the personal with the social through a process of consciousness-raising. This process included meditations, educational actions and community involvement, and is identified as a key component to the activism and spirituality in the art of Robert Campbell.

The nature of Scottish fiddle music in the mid-eighteenth century was shaped by three main factors: the social context of music-making for performer and audience, the coexisting traditions of folk and classical music, and international influences. These factors are analyzed and extensively illustrated in a detailed examination of the compositions and performing styles of two musicians; the classical style is exemplified by William McGibbon and the folk tradition by Niel Gow. The decline of Scottish music from the end of the eighteenth century is explained in terms of the limited possibilities for classical development of folk music, the rise of nationalism, and the stifling of the native idiom by a combination of these factors.