In the age of cybernetics, contemporary man is experiencing an ever greater degree of alienation with himself, society and the universe. The Italian writer, Italo Calvino, characterized this phenomenon as “laceration” (“dimezzato” in Italian) and portrayed it in his 40-year writing career as a recurring theme. This study highlights Calvino’s understanding of and response to this challenge to modernity, which is arguably rooted in the era of Enlightenment when human beings addressed themselves as masters of Nature. Young Calvino was once a member of the Italian Communist Party (Italian: Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) and published his first novel as a neo-realist in 1947. He had written novels that portrayed the hardship of post-war Italy, however he had a vision that stretched beyond Italy and class struggle – the universal struggle of human existence. In the late 1950s, he left PCI and departed in his writing from neo-realism. He shifted to fantasy and metaphysics. But he did not abandon his compassion and concern for the fate of humanity. He remained cautious yet optimistic about the world in the next millennium, and literature holds the key to this mission. With the help of his work, both fiction and nonfiction, I will demonstrate how humanity is becoming increasingly perplexed and mutilated in this labyrinth-like existence, and how literature acts as an important instrument in mapping the world, thus aiding our understanding of the man-universe relationship and the possibility of discovering a hidden order. / published_or_final_version / Modern Languages and Cultures / Master / Master of Philosophy

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Universität Basel, 1934. / Vita. "Diese Arbeit ist der erste Teil des demnächst im Verlag "Die Runde" Berlin erscheinenden Buches: E.T.A. Hoffmann. Ein Kampf um das Bild des Menschen"--T.p. verso. Includes bibliographical references in "Anmerkungen" (p. 133-140).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Texas at El Paso, 2008. / Title from title screen. Vita. CD-ROM. Includes bibliographical references. Also available online.

This study seeks to demonstrate that nature provided Frost an objective background against which he could measure the validity of human experience and gain a fuller understanding of it. The experiences examined with reference to the poetry include loneliness, anxiety, sorrow, and hope. Attention is given to the influence of Frost's philosophical skepticism upon his poetry. The study reveals that Frost discovered correspondences between nature and human experience which clarified his perspective of existence. The experiences of loneliness, anxiety, and sorrow were found to relate to Frost's feeling of separation from nature and from the source of existence. The experience of hope was found to relate to Frost's vision of the wholeness and unity of life, a vision which derives from humanity's common source with nature.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This dissertation analyzes the critique of charity and philanthropy implicit in Melville’s short fiction written for periodicals between 1853 and 1856. Melville utilized narrative and tone to conceal his opposition to prevailing ideologies and manipulated narrative structures to make the reader complicit in the problematic assumptions of a market economy. Integrating close readings with critical theory, I establish that Melville was challenging the new rhetoric of philanthropy that created a moral identity for wealthy men in industrial capitalist society. Through his short fiction, Melville exposed self-serving conduct and rationalizations when they masqueraded as civic-minded responses to the needs of the community. Melville was joining a public conversation about philanthropy and civic leadership in an American society that, in its pursuit of private wealth, he believed was losing touch with the democratic and civic ideals on which the nation had been founded. Melville’s objection was not with charitable giving; rather, he objected to its use as a diversion from honest reflection on one’s responsibilities to others.