Date of Award
2004
Document Type
Thesis
Publication Status
Version of Record
Submission Date
October 2026
Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]
Keaton, Kenneth
Abstract
In the fall of 1973, Leonard Bernstein assumed the Poetic Chair of the Charles Eliot Norton Lectures and presented The Unanswered Question: Six Talks at Harvard in which he extended Noam Chomsky's linguistic theory of deep structure and transformational grammar to encompass not only musico-linguistic analogues, but also the deeper abstract concepts these forms of communication share. Most importantly, he explored beyond this conceptual domain to an even more essential source of creative expression---the realm of the ineffable. Bernstein's circle metaphor represents this paradoxical, transcendental sphere. This thesis extrapolates the profound philosophic threads inferred by Bernstein's lectures, and analyzes the developing logic of his metaphysical-aesthetic Weltanschauung.
Extent
90 p.
Recommended Citation
Thomas, Naomi., "Bernstein's unanswered question: A journey from linguistic deep structure to the metaphysics of music" (2004). Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2000 - 2009. 672.
https://digitalcommons.fau.edu/etd_general_5/672
Identifier
FADT13136
Comments
Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters|FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection|Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2004.|Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters