Politický aspekt literatury: kritika (neo)konzervativní komunity

Kašparová, Karolína

Thesis Abstract The political aspect of literature, specifically fiction, has always provoked passionate discussions, both in academia and in mainstream media. Avoiding politics might rob literary works of their context and power, while reducing them to mere political manifestos denies these works their aesthetic qualities and underestimates the role of fiction. One has to take into consideration the important fact that politics in works of fiction is crucially shaped by the historical context and is thus beyond the author's control. The thesis examines how the political aspect of literature functions, and the focus is narrowed down to two dystopic novels which critically deal with life in a neoconservative community; namely Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and Ira Levin's The Stepford Wives. The analysis of how the atavistic communities in the novels are constructed to appear illiberal, undemocratic or even fascist requires research not only in the field of literary theory (or aesthetics), but also in philosophy. The thesis involves two streams of inquiry - the first one is centred on the community itself and on its totalitarian tendencies, where the works of Roberto Esposito and Hannah Arendt are of great importance, as they determine the dynamics of a community. Furthermore, they explain the reasons...

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