Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 1993. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 269-275). Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

The feast of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary was one of the last medieval Marian feasts to be introduced into the Roman Calendar, and is unusual in the wealth of contemporary, and near contemporary, documentation available for study in relation to its introduction. The offices written by Jan of Jenštejn [1347-1400] and Adam Easton [1330-1397] for the feast of the Visitation of the Virgin Mary have never been the subject of detailed examination or comparison, nor have critical editions of these offices been produced. This thesis addresses both these gaps in scholarship and presents an analysis and comparison of the texts, melodies, and dissemination of the offices. Using contemporary evidence and secondary sources the reasons for the institution of the new feast, the motivations of both Jenštejn and Easton, their compositional styles including choice of texts and melodies, and the introduction process itself are examined within the wider context of contemporary Marian devotion and fourteenth- century textual and musical composition. Chapter One provides a contextual background to the celebration of the Visitation, from its inclusion in the Gospel of Luke and apocryphal sources to contemporary sermons, showing the importance of the Visitation in the West long before the new feast's introduction....

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez Campus, 2004. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 192-202).

Zugl.: Jena, Univ., Diss.

Zugl.: Jena, Univ., Diss.

No description available.

This thesis examines the life and career of Bret Easton Ellis, and the influences of his work on the author's development as a writer. Part one encapsulates a novel written specifically for this thesis. 'Call waiting' is a harsh look at modern friendships, the role of work in these relationships and the proliferation of shallow communication through the advent of email. A critical reflection follows, examining the process that led to the novel's creation. Three specific areas are focussed on: the direct influence of Ellis' novel 'The rules of attraction' on the overall themes of 'Call waiting', the realisation of the project and the various editing changes and narrative developments that arose during the writing of the novel, and an examination of the inspiration behind the novel's creation. Part two considers Ellis' role in the literary world of the 1980s, his own complicity in the creation of a career as a celebrity author, and the carefully manufactured persona Ellis presents to the world. In Part three the thesis is concluded with a close analysis of the publication of Ellis' controversial novel 'American psycho'. This chapter explores the negative publicity the novel attracted and the possible causes of the ensuing backlash against the author. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Le projet d'écriture de Bret Easton Ellis constitue un point aveugle dans l'horizon critique actuel. Pour pallier ce manque, nous nous penchons dans ce mémoire sur l'esthétique pragmatique particulièrement complexe (ou « scrappy », selon la définition de Barbara Herrnstein Smith; 1988) du personnage et de la communication chez Ellis afin de définir son projet d'écriture comme expérience de « descente dans le chaos », expression développée par Maria L. Assad (1991) à partir des réflexions de Thomas M. Kavanagh (1986) sur Les cinq sens de Michel Serres (1985). Pour ce faire, nous proposons une micro-lecture attentive du deuxième roman d'Ellis, The Rules of Attraction (1987), suivie d'un bref retour sur les cinq autres romans de l'auteur. Afin d'effectuer notre micro-lecture, nous avons mis sur pied une grille de lecture construite à l'aide des théories de la pragmatique de la communication et de l'identité empruntées aux sciences sociales, en nous concentrant essentiellement sur les pratiques narratives de l'identité et les états problématiques de la communication. Cette grille a été appliquée au roman grâce au logiciel d'analyse de discours NVivo 8 (approche de codification vivante). Les résultats obtenus ont été interprétés à partir d'une approche libre inspirée des études littéraires et largement informée par les théories des chaoticiens. Cela nous permet de montrer comment il est possible de faire appel à la pragmatique des personnages pour saisir leurs textures différenciées. Il apparaît alors que la pragmatique du personnage ellisien participe d'une esthétique disjonctive de la communication qui se répercute sur l'esthétique générale du texte comme « descente dans le chaos ». L'étude des autres aspects du roman d'Ellis (métadiscours, incipit et excipit, exergue, titre) vient confirmer l'influence des « chaotiques » (Hayles, 1991) sur le projet d'écriture ellisien, point de départ pour repenser The Rules of Attraction comme un jalon important dans le développement d'une écriture et d'une œuvre qui exploitent les possibilités narratives et culturelles du chaos. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : Ellis Bret Easton, The Rules of Attraction, Pragmatique, Théorie du personnage, Chaos

No description available.

<p>This study investigates how an ambivalence surrounding men and masculinity has been expressed and exploited in Pop literature since the late 1980s, focusing on works by German-speaking authors Christian Kracht and Benjamin Lebert and American author Bret Easton Ellis. I compare works from the United States with German and Swiss novels in order to reveal the scope - as well as the national particularities - of these troubled gender identities and what it means in the context of recent debates about a "crisis" in masculinity in Western societies. My comparative work will also highlight the ways in which these particular literatures and cultures intersect, invade, and influence each other. </p><p> In this examination, I demonstrate the complexity and success of the critical projects subsumed in the works of three authors too often underestimated by intellectual communities. At the same time, I reveal the very structure and language of these critical projects as a safe haven for "male fantasies" of gender difference and identity formation long relegated to the distant past, fantasies that continue to lurk within our cultural currencies.</p> / Dissertation