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Werenwolves in European culture context
Koubová, Michaela ; Opletalová, Lenka (referee) ; Czumalo, Vladimír (advisor)
We have met a motif of the werewolf in the course of the whole European cultural history. Already ancient authors - poets, historians and doctors, as well, devoted themselves to study of this phenomenon. In particular, a zone of Arcadia and its mythical king Lykaon were the most emblazoned with werewolf myths. German ulfhednars and quantity of Slavic superstitions show that belief in werewolves was widespread among the other European nations. Even in Middle Ages werewolves did not fall into oblivion, and there dealt with them not only religious literature, but also belles lettres - of which poem Bisclaveret of Maria de France is probably the most famous. Actual expansion and intensification of belief in werewolves occurred in the early modern age, owing to that many paid life. Werewolfness was particularly in France a widespread crime. Work of religious and other authors on whether and how the metamorphosis of humans in the animal is possible, we can see up to the late modern times. A different view, however, remained doctors, who since antiquity claimed that lykantropia is a kind of melancholy, and therefore a mental illness. Of the many superstitions and myths, the theme was taken over by literature and later by film in 19th and especially in 20th century. Flood of horrors and fantasy, which we can meet...
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