In early Philadelphia, 1783-1788, the classics formed a pervasive presence on the city's cultural, political, and physical landscape. As the American nation commenced its republican experiment, references to the classics in Philadelphia especially emerged as a vehicle and vocabulary employed by statesmen for fashioning a people, political culture, and national identity. According to political theories of republicanism, statesmen in Philadelphia had a vested interest in cultivating the virtue of their citizens. As symbols and lessons in patriotism and virtue, classical antiquity was incorporated into civic iconography and national foundation narratives and projected to the broader public. This thesis examines the classical presence in Philadelphia, 1783-1788. It specifically analyses the public presentation and dissemination of the classics in three cultural avenues beyond the walls of the academy, newspapers, spectacles, and orations, in order to evaluate the barriers and opportunities for engagement with the classics by the broader Philadelphia public. I argue that although the gates to a traditional higher education were shut to many of the Philadelphia public, cultural avenues existed that allowed the classics to disseminate to the wider populace. The broader public was invited to engage with the classics when it served a political purpose and lessons in patriotism and virtue were being transmitted. However, this inclusion was often controlled, mediated, and implemented on the terms of the elite. Further, the classics still served as markers of status, and the two contradictory functions held by the classics placed the wider Philadelphia public on the threshold of inclusion and exclusion. / Master of Arts

This essay examines how the meaning of an absurd play may be affected by how the reader understands the text. To address this problem I have turned to Wolfgang Isers theory of reception. Primarily I have taken on that the creation of meaning comes about when the reader fills in blanks in the text. I have also used Martin Esslins work on the theater of the absurd. I have mainly studied his research on Harold Pinter. Based on these two theories I have suggested a interpretation model that focuses on the interaction between reader and text. The interpretation model contains how the reader analyses blanks through observing the wandering view alternatively understanding the implied reader. The interpretation model also discusses how the reader can fill in blanks by using the relationship between character and environment, the final junction, turning points and uncertainties. I tested this interpretation model on Harold Pinters play A kind of Alaska. In my ideation of the play I realized it was about the loneliness of ageing and changing. I used these results to evaluate the usefulness of the interpretation model. / Denna uppsats undersöker hur läsarens uppfattning av en absurdistisk pjäs påverkar dess betydelse. För att angripa det här problemet har jag dels vänt mig till Wolfgang Isers receptions teori. Jag har främst tagit fasta på hur meningskapande sker när läsaren fyller i luckor i texten. Jag har även vänt mig till Martin Esslins forskning om den absurdistiska teatern. Där har jag främst studerat hans undersökning av Harold Pinters dramatik. Utifrån dess två teoretiska ingångar la jag fram ett förslag till en tolkningsmodell som utgår från läsarens interaktion med texten. Tolkningsmodellen innehåller bland annat hur man kan analysera luckor utifrån läsarens rörliga perspektiv alternativt utifrån en underförstådd läsare. Tolkningsmodellen tar också upp hur läsaren kan fylla i luckor genom att använda sig av karaktärens relation till rummet, knutpunkter, vändpunkter och osäkerheter. Jag har testat tolkningsmodellen på Harold Pinters pjäs A kind of Alaska. I min ideation av pjäsen kom jag fram till att den handlade om ensamheten i åldrande och förändring. Jag använde resultatet av analysen för att utvärdera tolkningsmodellens användbarhet.

Cette enquête s’est proposée de mettre en lumière l’émergence de la fonction de critique interne du champ intellectuel dans les premières décennies du XXe siècle à travers la confrontation de trois cas principaux à Paris, Londres et Vienne, en tentant de dégager des homologies et des logiques de structuration transnationales. La mise en relation de Julien Benda (1867-1956), Karl Kraus (1874-1936) et Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) s’appuie principalement sur leur appartenance à une même génération et sur leur fonction commune de critique interne du champ intellectuel. Celle-ci désigne l’intellectuel positionné en tant que critique de son propre milieu, au nom de valeurs intellectuelles. La première partie de ce travail étudie l’émergence d’une instance critique, à travers l’étude des années de formation de Benda, Kraus et Chesterton, et de leur participation à la culture de masse. La deuxième partie entreprend de dégager les caractéristiques principales de la critique interne du champ intellectuel, entre stratégies iconoclastes et stratégies d’ajustement. La troisième partie porte sur les réceptions, les voisinages et les héritages de ces trois critiques du champ intellectuel, dans les aires culturelles anglo-saxonne, germanique et française. L’étude des médiateurs et des récepteurs impliqués dans les transferts culturels révèle ainsi à la fois l’intégration des différents champs intellectuels nationaux à l’échelle de l’Europe et le poids déterminant des problématiques nationales dans les usages qui sont faits des œuvres importées. / This study deals with the birth of the internal critic of the intellectual field, in the first decades of the XXth century, through the confrontation of three major « cases » in Paris, London and Vienna and the identification of homologies and transnational logics of structuration. Our intent to establish links between Julien Benda (1867-1956), Karl Kraus (1874-1936) and Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) relies mainly on the fact that they belong to the same generation of intellectuals and have devoted part of their work to internal critic of the intellectual field in their respective countries. The expression "internal critic" refers to the intellectual as a critic of his own social microcosm, taking a stance in the defence of intellectual values. The first part of this PhD focuses on the growth of a critical authority, through the study of the authors' formative years and their action within mass culture. The second part highlights the main distinctive features of the internal critic of the intellectual field, from iconoclastic to adaptative strategies. The third part focuses on the reception of the three authors' work by their contemporaries and thereafter on their legacy in English, German and French-speaking areas. Mediators and receivers involved in cultural transfers reveal the European integration of the various national fields as well as the importance of national issues in the uses that are made of imported works.

A reception analysis on Skellefteå Krafts external communication on CSR and sustainable development and in what ways students decode the message. As an effect of today's climate changes and global issues, one of the most important subjects for companies to communicate to consumers and stakeholders is corporate social responsibility (CSR). The purpose of this paper is to investigate in what ways the concept of responsibility in relation to corporate social responsibility and sustainable development infuse meaning in the external communication by the company Skellefteå Kraft. The paper also examines the way three respondent groups of students relate to this message. The theoretical frame stretches from different views on CSR- communication to green brand strategy and sustainable development. The critic on CSR-communication includes the concept of greenwashing. The study also relies on theories within semiotic analysis, reception analysis and Stuart Halls encoding decoding model. Using the method visual semiotic analysis made it possible to reveal what Stuart Hall calls the preferred reading of the company's external communication. To be able to analyze the way students relate to the message qualitative interviews was used. Tools within reception analyze was applied on the material from the interviews. Both the visual semiotic analysis and the analyze of the interviews showed that the external communication did not include the economic side of CSR as much as the social- and environmental aspect. This was to be expected since the campaigns are focused on customers and other stakeholders. The main result was that the respondents in large made a hegemonic read of both the advertising films and the campaign site. They lay focus primarily on the caption and less on the image itself. The respondents could mainly distinguish the communication of social responsibility. This may be because both campaigns focus primarily on the human being and different life styles. When it comes to environmental responsibility the analysis show that Skellefteå Kraft uses ecological arguments in their external communication about energy and electrician, but they do not demonstrate the extraction which does in fact have some negative effects on nature. If Skellefteå Kraft had been more willing to demonstrate the extraction process they probably would have been described as honest and their ecological arguments would have been more comprehensible. This would also be proof that the company has little to hide when it comes to environmental responsibility. The advertising film as well as the campaign site communicates joyfulness and naturally produced electricity.