My dissertation explores the intense crisis of sensibility experienced by liberal intellectuals in cold war America, with special emphasis on the desire to renew liberal democratic culture by moving, in mind and spirit, from innocence to responsibility. The latter term, however, expresses sentiments of civic virtue or republicanism very much at odds with liberalism; hence the ultimate failure of liberals to consummate their own sense of what is most needful or necessary. Although liberals clearly desire the sensational execution of innocence, their inability to be "altogether evil" (Machiavelli) consigns them to the equivocating limbo of what R. W. B. Lewis called the "new stoicism." The liberal desire for renewal does find its consummation, however, in Leo Strauss's Thoughts on Machiavelli (1958), which instructs liberals in the salutary benefits of a philosophical republicanism. As embodied in Machiavelli himself, this mode of republicanism promises to emancipate liberals (if only they would listen) from the tyranny of innocence, thereby effecting the desired regenerative movement to civic responsibility.

This thesis is dedicated to establishing ways in which the image of Calderon was perceived and constructed by the thinkers of the Enlightenment, of both conservative and reformist convictions, as part of their efforts to create and impose their own understanding of what Spanish national identity is or should be like. / The thesis concentrates on the writings of several of the most important intellectuals of the XVIII century who took part in the heated debate as to the value of Calderon's work: Blas Nasarre y Ferriz, Tomas Erauso y Zabaleta, Nicolas Fernandez de Moratin, Cristobal Romea y Tapia, Jose Clavijo y Fajardo and Francisco Mariano Nipho. / The first two chapters of the thesis deal with the way by which the image of Calderon has been used in order to support certain ideological convictions, in particular, a certain way of understanding Spanish national identity. Chapter three examines the polemics itself, from its beginning in 1749 until the mid-sixties of the XVIII century. A brief section of conclusions closes the thesis, followed by a selected bibliography.

As the twentieth century ended with globalization and commercialization, popular culture begins to challenge the dominance of national culture. The Chinese intellectual community tries to defend national culture against the incoming global culture and local cultures. The conflicts between localism and nationalism, and also between globalism and nationalism, are clearly demonstrated in the Hero phenomenon, which basically concerns the unanimous disparagement on director Zhang Yimou's debut martial arts film Hero within the Chinese critics' circle. Through a discursive analysis of the phenomenon, we can see how the conflicts between modernism and postmodernism, between elitism and commercialism shape the landscape of contemporary Chinese culture. In this article, I first seek to understand how modernism evolved into nationalism in China during the last century and what role the intelligentsia played in the process of such evolvement. I further seek to understand why the intellectual community has distaste for popular culture and commercialism. Other research on this topic has linked nationalism to national culture, and localism and globalism to popular culture.

This thesis is an institutional history of Jewish Cultural Reconstruction, Inc. (JCR), an organization mandated by the Office of Military Government, United States (OMGUS) to assume trusteeship over heirless Jewish cultural property that had been plundered by the Nazis and later centralized in depots in the American Zone of Germany in the wake of the Second World War. Formally established in 1947, until 1951 JCR functioned as the cultural arm of the Jewish Restitution Successor Organization (JRSO) and distributed hundreds of thousands of books, thousands of ceremonial objects, and Torah scrolls to Jewish communities around the world including the United States, Israel, West Germany, Britain, and Canada. Looking beyond its mandated mission, JCR was also involved in searching for caches of Jewish property in the Allied zones, microfilming manuscripts and archives in German public institutions, and negotiating the enactment of West German legislation to safeguard future discoveries of Jewish property.Salo Baron, professor of Jewish history at Columbia University, was JCR's founder and president; many of the foremost Jewish intellectuals of the day, including Hannah Arendt, Gershom Scholem, and Leo Baeck were associated with it. This study of JCR sheds light on numerous topics, not the least of which is the political activities of Jewish academics in the aftermath of the Holocaust. Further, the internecine struggles among Jewish organizations over which group best represented world Jewry as trustee of this property is highlighted along with the development of JCR from a research commission to a U.S.-recognized supervisory body. JCR's interactions with the State and War departments as well as with the American military government in Germany add to the discussion of Jewish influence during this period. The examination of JCR's activities in the American zone between 1948 and 1951 serves to underscore the diligent work that was carried out, but also the less than ideal conditions in which this work was done. The distribution process undertaken by JCR and its member organizations emphasizes the debate surrounding what it meant to culturally reconstruct the Jewish world after the Holocaust. Finally, a discussion of JCR's very limited activities, from 1952 to 1977 when it was finally dissolved, underscores the difficulties inherent in maintaining a relevant rationale and function in an ever-changing political landscape. / Cette these presente l'histoire institutionnelle de la Jewish CulturalReconstruction, Inc. (JCR), une organisation mandatee par le bureau dugouvernement militaire des Etats Unis (OMGUS) pour assumer la tutelle desbiens juifs culturels sans heritier, qui ont ete pilles par les nazis et plus tardcentralises dans les depots de la zone americaine en Allemagne apres la DeuxiemeGuerre mondiale. De sa creation officielle en 1947 a 1951, la JCR a fonctionnecomme l'antenne culturelle de la Jewish Restitution Successor Organization(JRSO). Elle a distribue des centaines de milliers de livres, des milliers d'objetsrituels et des rouleaux de Torah aux communautes juives dans le monde,notamment aux Etats-Unis, en Israel, en Allemagne de l'Ouest, en Grande-Bretagne et au Canada. Outre sa mission originelle, la JCR a egalement participea la recherche des caches de biens juifs dans les zones alliees, a enregistre surmicrofilms des archives et des manuscrits appartenant aux institutions publiquesallemandes et est egalement intervenue pour encourager une legislation ouestallemandeafin de sauvegarder les decouvertes a venir des biens juifs.

The relationship of musicmaking to the city is a complicated one as it often takes very specific and complex spatial and social forms. The example of Montreal can be used to illustrate some of the ways in which these forms manifest themselves. By considering the way in which two particular cultural spaces, namely scene and bohemia, emerge in relation to musical activity, this project analyzes the nature of musicmaking and its role in shaping a unique experience of the city. It frames a case study of Montreal musicmaking to explore the ways in which scenes and bohemias are connected to city life. It also considers the way in which a particular image of the city manifests itself through musicmaking. The collective representation of Montreal as a bohemia by anglophone musicmakers works with and through a number of social divisions and cultural distinctions. It is argued that the nature of place-images and mythology in musicmaking is such that they have a profound effect on the sociomusical experience of the city. Montreal is privileged by many anglophone musicmakers as an ideal city in which to be culturally active, as the city's weak economic state is perceived to foster the conditions best suited to a flourishing bohemia. This project examines the relationship of musicmakers to Montreal, using a variety of research methods and theories. Cognitive mapping, diaristic accounts and interviews are utilized to better apprehend how a chosen image of Montreal affects musical practice. The socioeconomic history of Montreal in the latter half of the twentieth century is used to frame an analysis of the emergence of an independent music scene in the city. By exploring a number of relevant factors, this project documents the ways in which musicmaking is structured in relation to the economic, political and social dimensions of Montreal.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the process of manipulation of the image of the Golden Age playwright Pedro Calderon de la Barca (1600--1681) during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Intellectuals of all political stripes sought to impose their own agendas by advancing both conservative and reformist convictions as they used the figure of Calderon to their own advantage in the creation of a 'Spanish national identity' for the time. / The research conducted here focuses on the writings of various thinkers of the rival ideologies over the two centuries mentioned above. What this demonstrates most cogently is how, first, the appropriation of Calderon's image always played an essential role in the political debate about 'national identity,' and, secondly, how the dramatist's image was increasingly identified with the values and parameters of conservative ideology. / The first chapter deals with the origins of the debate about the idea of a 'national identity' during the eighteenth century, and analyses in detail the ideological duality and division which characterized this debate as well as its strongly political background. The next two chapters examine respectively the writings of Bohl de Faber and Menendez Pelayo, both of whom took on key roles in the debate. The interpretation provided in these two chapters leads to the conclusion that, by the nineteenth century, Calderon's image was strongly identified with conservative ideology. The thesis ends with some final conclusions, followed by a select bibliography.

The rise in feminist consciousness and the growth of Women's Studies has brought Yiddish women writers into sharp focus. Kadye Molodowsky was one of the most prominent of the modern Yiddish women poets. / Her biography is a typical summary of the modernization of Eastern European Jewry in the early twentieth century. / Molodowsky was a leading figure in Yiddish cultural life in interbellum Poland. As a writer, her primary affiliation was with the Literarishe bleter (Literary Leaves, 1924--1939). This periodical, founded by prominent Yiddish intellectuals in Warsaw, became the world tribune of secular Yiddish culture. Molodowsky's association with this high-profile publication placed her at the centre of the vibrant Jewish literary, cultural, and social life of the time. / What follows, is an annotated bibliography of her publications and work about her in Literarishe bleter, from her debut there in 1925 until her departure for the US in 1935.

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In this essay I look at the significance of Inigo Jones's annotated copy of Andrea Palladio's I quattro libri dell'architettura in a time of momentous change in the habits of readers and writers, printers and publishers, architects and kings. Jones lived in Stuart England, a hinge period swinging between print culture and manuscript culture, science (mechanical philosophy) and magic (Neoplatonism, hermeticism, alchemy), humoural physiology and modern medicine. I examine his book as part of a change of social setting, looking outward from his study of Palladian architectural theory to developments in publishing and authorship, perspective and theatre design, graphic representation and anatomy, medicine and the history of the human body.

The eighteenth century public sphere has been defined by Habermas in terms of its rational, critical style of debate and egalitarian ideals. In eighteenth century America the public sphere comprised mainly elite merchants. This group mediated between civil society and the state in order to influence government decisions. Motivated largely by commercial interests, they nevertheless claimed to represent the entire society. But around the mid-nineteenth century, the American public sphere began to expand, mainly due to the emergence of a middle class. Debate over Shakespearean drama had a profound effect on the ways in which 19th century civil society presented and considered arguments related to public issues. Increasingly, the credibility of an individual's public utterance, rather than his or her social or intellectual status, was of primary import in determining the merit of an argument. The discursive behaviour adopted in discussion of Shakespeare plays in numerous clubs and societies helped to form habits of rational critical debate which characterized public decision-making in the latter part of the century. Those largely excluded from public debate, such as blacks and women, began to publicly argue for rights previously extended only to white males. The major spread of mass entertainment and its perceived ills toward the end of the century, however, rendered Shakespeare the chief weapon in the resistance to modern vulgarity and commercialism. The wedge which developed in Shakespeare discussion between amateurs and academics at this time may be partly explained by a developing mass consumption mentality which Habermas contends segmented the public into protective, specialized minorities and an often uncritical mass of consumers.