Stendhal and the Lesson of Napoleon

PMLA ◽  
1970 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 456-462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Porter

Given Stendhal's known liberal opinions, his admiration for Napoleon has always appeared paradoxical. Through a detailed examination of the two works most fully representing Stendhal's thoughts on Napoleon, an attempt is made to resolve the paradox. To do full justice to the complexity of the author's attitudes, what he found to blame is first contrasted with what he praised. The admiration for the man of destiny contrasts with the dislike of the statesman, extraordinary qualities of character are set against weaknesses. Beyond the description of the man, Stendhal discerns general historical laws operating in Napoleon's career. The course of events from rise to prominence through imperial power and progressive decline embodies a lesson for mankind. Despotism promotes a state of national demoralization and, therefore, prepares its own defeat. Such a judgment derives from the historiography of Enlightenment liberalism. The contrast between Stendhal's attitude toward Danton and Napoleon confirms that this is the tradition to which Stendhal belongs. As a utilitarian Stendhal nevertheless concludes that Napoleon's impact on European history was not wholly negative, since it led to a greater sum of happiness. As a liberal he affirms that lasting happiness within a state is only possible with constitutional government.

2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 152-174
Author(s):  
Saïd Amir Arjomand

Abstract After a brief sketch of the historical background, the mutual impact of Islam and constitutionalism is examined by looking closely at the process of constitution-making in the broad context of the constitutional politics of Iran between 1905 and 1911. The modification of modern constitutional concepts under the impact of Shiʿi Islam and through its custodians in the course of the reception of Western constitutionalism in this period is followed by an analysis of the impact of modern political ideas on Islam. The analysis is based on the texts of the Fundamental Law of 1906 and its 1907 Supplement, and on the contemporary tracts for and against constitutionalism from opposite Islamic viewpoints. Our detailed examination of these sources indicates no presumption that a constitution had to be based on Islam. Nor was there any notion of ‘the Islamic state,’ the slogan of the Islamic revolution of 1979. For the constitutionalists and anti-constitutionalist pamphleteers of the first decade of the twentieth century alike, the counterpart to the constitutional government was not the Islamic state but the autocratic monarchy of ‘the king of Islam.’


2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-41
Author(s):  
Austin Glatthorn

In July 1786 Prince Carl Anselm of Thurn und Taxis concluded that he had no choice but to dissolve his Italian court opera. This owed in part to the success of the German theater, which had been established in 1784 to rival the Prince’s Hoftheater and contest his position as the Holy Roman Emperor’s representative to the Reichstag in Regensburg. New evidence challenges the prevailing view that the dissolution of the Taxis’s court opera marked the end of the family’s musical patronage and involvement in Regensburg’s cultural life. In the face of opposition from other Reichstag officials, the Thurn und Taxis continued their investment in music and theatrics, appropriating outdoor spectacles of a kind popular earlier in the century to project imperial power. The prince affirmed his position as the emperor’s representative in such older displays of affluence and standing but updated them to suit contemporary tastes. Carl Anselm’s musico-political theatrics around 1789 demonstrate that although Italian opera failed to articulate the legitimacy he intended to project, his culture of political representation conducted in the name of the emperor endured well into the twilight years of the eighteenth century. To understand the continued musical patronage of this contested and middling prince is to appreciate more fully the methods by which music, spectacle, and politics were negotiated during a transformative period in European history.


Author(s):  
J. P. Colson ◽  
D. H. Reneker

Polyoxymethylene (POM) crystals grow inside trioxane crystals which have been irradiated and heated to a temperature slightly below their melting point. Figure 1 shows a low magnification electron micrograph of a group of such POM crystals. Detailed examination at higher magnification showed that three distinct types of POM crystals grew in a typical sample. The three types of POM crystals were distinguished by the direction that the polymer chain axis in each crystal made with respect to the threefold axis of the trioxane crystal. These polyoxymethylene crystals were described previously.At low magnifications the three types of polymer crystals appeared as slender rods. One type had a hexagonal cross section and the other two types had rectangular cross sections, that is, they were ribbonlike.


Author(s):  
A. Ourmazd ◽  
G.R. Booker ◽  
C.J. Humphreys

A (111) phosphorus-doped Si specimen, thinned to give a TEM foil of thickness ∼ 150nm, contained a dislocation network lying on the (111) plane. The dislocation lines were along the three <211> directions and their total Burgers vectors,ḇt, were of the type , each dislocation being of edge character. TEM examination under proper weak-beam conditions seemed initially to show the standard contrast behaviour for such dislocations, indicating some dislocation segments were undissociated (contrast A), while other segments were dissociated to give two Shockley partials separated by approximately 6nm (contrast B) . A more detailed examination, however, revealed that some segments exhibited a third and anomalous contrast behaviour (contrast C), interpreted here as being due to a new dissociation not previously reported. Experimental results obtained for a dislocation along [211] with for the six <220> type reflections using (g,5g) weak-beam conditions are summarised in the table below, together with the relevant values.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 463-478
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Crais ◽  
Melody Harrison Savage

Purpose The shortage of doctor of philosophy (PhD)–level applicants to fill academic and research positions in communication sciences and disorders (CSD) programs calls for a detailed examination of current CSD PhD educational practices and the generation of creative solutions. The intended purposes of the article are to encourage CSD faculty to examine their own PhD program practices and consider the perspectives of recent CSD PhD graduates in determining the need for possible modifications. Method The article describes the results of a survey of 240 CSD PhD graduates and their perceptions of the challenges and facilitators to completing a PhD degree; the quality of their preparation in research, teaching, and job readiness; and ways to improve PhD education. Results Two primary themes emerged from the data highlighting the need for “matchmaking.” The first time point of needed matchmaking is prior to entry among students, mentors, and expectations as well as between aspects of the program that can lead to students' success and graduation. The second important matchmaking need is between the actual PhD preparation and the realities of the graduates' career expectations, and those placed on graduates by their employers. Conclusions Within both themes, graduate's perspectives and suggestions to help guide future doctoral preparation are highlighted. The graduates' recommendations could be used by CSD PhD program faculty to enhance the quality of their program and the likelihood of student success and completion. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.11991480


Author(s):  
Raksha Anand ◽  
John Hart ◽  
Patricia S. Moore ◽  
Sandra B. Chapman

Abstract Purpose: Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) encompasses a group of neurodegenerative disorders characterized by gradual and progressive decline in behavior and/or language. Identifying the subtypes of FTLD can be challenging with traditional assessment tools. Growing empirical evidence suggests that language measures might be useful in differentiating FTLD subtypes. Method: In this paper, we examined the performance of five individuals with FTLD (two with frontotemporal dementia, two with semantic dementia, and one with progressive nonfluent aphasia) and 10 cognitively normal older adults on measures of semantic binding (Semantic Object Retrieval Test and semantic problem solving) and abstracted meaning (generation of interpretive statement and proverb interpretation). Results and Conclusion: A differential profile of impairment was observed in the three FTLD subtypes on these four measures. Further examination of these measures in larger groups will establish their clinical utility in differentiating the FTLD subtypes.


2005 ◽  
Vol 35 (139) ◽  
pp. 247-266 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans-Jürgen Bieling

Recent theoretical conceptions of imperialism may be useful correctives against idealising and harmonising views of international interdependency and co-operation. Analytically, however, they are not necessarily helpful. In terms of the EU, they do not really comprehend its particular international role. Despite improved financial and military capacities, the EU represents not yet an imperial power. Instead, it still pursues a rather hegemonic foreign policy approach due to internal economic restrictions, fragmented political sovereignty and the historical experiences of beneficial economic and political co-operation after World War II. Eventually, however, it remains an open question, whether the multilateralist, law-based and co-operative posture of the EU will prevail even under conditions of economic crisis and further military conflicts in the adjacent neighbourhood.


Derrida Today ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marian Hobson

Derrida thematises his writing through a change of perspective which moves from very detailed examination of an argument to more general statements. This paper is a consideration of how Derrida anchors his close attention to the detail of an argument in a wider philosophical-historical and indeed social framework. In this paper, the word in question is ‘freedom’, discussed with the philosopher and psychoanalyst Elisabeth Roudinesco; this paper moves back chronologically to Force of Law, and finally to a passage in Of Grammatology to demonstrate that in Derrida's work from early to late there is a web of reflection about freedom.


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