|
|
The Translingual Poem: Ilya Kaminsky, May Wong, Li-Young Lee
Romanenko, Anton ; Quinn, Justin (advisor) ; Delbos, Stephan (referee)
This thesis discusses the work of three contemporary Anglophone translingual poets: Ilya Kaminsky, Wong May, and Li-Young Lee. A translingual poem is a poetic text written in a language that is not the author's mother tongue. Translingual literary practice was common in the Middle Ages, but during Romanticism the monolingual literary model became dominant. This started to change in modernism, where new forms of translingual writing subjectivity began to appear, exemplified by writers like Vladimir Nabokov, Eugene Jolas, and later Ivan Blatný. The thesis discusses these writers' works, establishing the connections between the modernist translingual subject and the contemporary one. It then proceeds to analyze the poems of Ilya Kaminsky, Wong May, and Li-Young Lee, looking for the ways in which these authors relate to the literary traditions of their first and second languages through the use of form and poetic content. The thesis also discusses the intermedial quality of their work, as well as how the three poets approach the notion of the lyric. Key words: translingualism, multilingualism, modernism, poetry, poem, poetics, transmediality, literature, lyric
|
|
|
"The American Way Is a Hideous Monster:" The Portrayal of American Society in the Poetry of Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Amiri Baraka and Chen Chen
Moravec Zajkr, Alexandra ; Delbos, Stephan (advisor) ; Quinn, Justin (referee)
This bachelor thesis deals with the portrayal and criticism of American society in the poetic works of twentieth and twenty-first century poets, namely Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, Amiri Baraka and Chen Chen, focusing predominantly on the style of the depiction and issues addressed in the selected poems. The objective of this thesis is to determine some of the principal topics of their social critique and show the impact the historical context had in the composition of their poems and on the commentary contained therein. Selected poems of each author are analyzed separately to point out the notions that are unique to their portrayal and to show that despite differences in personalities and historical periods, certain issues of the United States are discussed and continue to be discussed by poets from both the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The thesis demonstrates, however, that specific social and racial circumstances, together with historical context, inform each poet's writing, showing that the poets of the twentieth century pose different questions from the poets of the twenty-first century even as their opinion of American society as a whole remains critical.
|
|
|
The Poetry and Journalism of James Fenton
Ward, Richard Douglas ; Quinn, Justin (advisor) ; Delbos, Stephan (referee)
This thesis analyses the work of the British poet and journalist James Fenton, with a particular focus on his work on Southeast Asia. I argue that Fenton's journalism represents an interesting experiment in personally inflected writing, akin to the New Journalism, and which shows a keen eye for the unusual. However, I suggest, following Benedict Anderson, that Fenton is at times motivated by a desire to create a marketable commodity rather than more serious journalistic concerns. I examine the relationship between Fenton's politics and his writing, arguing that Fenton's work on Vietnam narrates a growing but incomplete disillusionment with socialism, and that his writing on the Philippines shows a complete break, marked by the typical ex-believer's desire to distance himself from past commitments. In terms of Fenton's poetry on Southeast Asian topics, I track the shift from Fenton's early experiments in journalistic poetry to his later, more formally concerned work, arguing that this shift mirrors the change in his political convictions.
|
|
|
Literary Politics of the Radio Free Europe in Czechoslovakia in the Period of "Normalization"
Momčilović, Aleksandar ; Quinn, Justin (advisor) ; Zezuláková Schormová, Františka (referee)
The MA thesis aims to reconstruct the political and aesthetical framework based on which the Czechoslovak Broadcasting Department of the American Radio Free Europe created its "literary canon" and interpreted literature and society in Czechoslovakia in the period after the breakdown of the Prague Spring, usually referred to as "normalization." The thesis contextualizes the RFE's literary activities and political implications within the late Cold War transnational dynamic to demonstrate the influence of the Anglophone cultures on Czechoslovak literary and political life. Unlike the traditional comparative research, which is usually concerned with how cultural artifacts or values travel from one national culture to another, the thesis explores the Anglophone influence through the way in which this American transnational institution promoted the Czechoslovak cultural products primarily but framed them to be aligned with the American foreign policy. Chapter 1 provides the historical and theoretical background of the activities of Radio Free Europe based on the critical overview of the existing literature on the Radio's cultural activities during the late Cold War with the emphasis on funding, its role in international politics, and its underlying ideology and internal structure. Chapter 2 deals with...
|
|
|
Moving the Frontier of Conscience: Representations of Animal Ethics in Selected Contemporary Anglophone Literature
Holečková, Zuzana ; Quinn, Justin (advisor) ; Ulmanová, Hana (referee)
1 ABSTRACT This MA thesis examines how selected works of contemporary anglophone literature reflect ethical principles in human behaviour towards animals. It begins by explaining basic ethical theories and their development in Western philosophy. The first chapter also presents several works of literary criticism that explore literary animal studies, with reference both to representations of human-animal interaction in literature, and to new ways of interpreting literary texts. The second chapter analyses Karen Joy Fowler's novel, We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves (2013), along with the collection of short stories by the Australian writer Ceridwen Dovey Only Animals (2014). Both works illustrate the possibilities of human communication and emotional relationships with animals. Blurring the physical boundaries between human and non-human animals, and associated ethical considerations come to the fore in Michel Faber's sci-fi novel Under the Skin (2000), and in the novel Animal's People (2007) by Indra Sinha, discussed in the next chapter. The final chapter deals with the novel Elizabeth Costello (2003), in which J. M. Coetzee consciously crosses the boundaries between moral philosophy, literary theory and fiction.
|
|
|
Representations of the female in the work of Charles Bukowski
Mecner, Michal ; Quinn, Justin (advisor) ; Veselá, Pavla (referee)
Women. Coincidentally and yet not coincidentally the title of a Charles Bukowski novel and the main subject of this thesis. Charles Bukowski (1920 - 1994) was a German-born prolific American writer whose poetry and prose revolve about the underground life of Los Angeles. His characters were drunks, hustlers, prostitutes, losers, and social misfits. As inspiration he had countless dead-end factory jobs, love-hate relationships, or afternoons spent in the racetrack. After a hard day's work he cracked open a beer, put on a classical record, and began composing poems until his fingers "began to bleed" from typing or until the police came on account of the neighbors' complaint about his disturbing the peace. Bukowski's work in general is centered around the antithesis of the traditional American dream but to be more precise we should say that Bukowski was largely ignorant of the conventional way of living and the American go-getter ideal. Among the low class which became the most frequent subject of Bukowski's writing there is no such thing as daydreaming and the nights are too wild to be spent on dreaming either. There is simply no place for dreams in the lives of lower classes; there is only the rough reality of life at the bottom of everything. No wonder the author chose "Don't try" as his epitaph, often...
|
|
|
Fictional political mirroring in Two novels by Vladimír Nabokov
Šindelářová, Martina ; Quinn, Justin (advisor) ; Roraback, Erik Sherman (referee)
The focus of this thesis is to closely analyze two novels by Vladimir Nabokov, namely Invitation to a Beheading and Bend Sinister, and on the basis of close reading as well as detailed examination of critical literature enlighten the circumstances of their creation in the course of author's life and the influences and experiences that might have imprinted in the novels. Although validity of biographical approach may be subjected to question, it proves to be a rather insightful approach concerning the central topic of the thesis and it also provides wider perspective for more accurate understanding of the novels, as it directs the reader from politics towards more philosophical and aesthetical concerns. The thesis should also summarise the main points of Nabokov's artistic theory and clarify what was the main concern of Nabokov's literary works. Invitation to a Beheading, one of the last works Nabokov wrote in his mother tongue, a "dystopian fable" which appeared for the first time in a Russian émigré magazine Sovremenniya Zapiski in 1938, follows the last days of Cincinnatus C., a prisoner sentenced to death for his deviation from the common transparency of his fellow citizens in a world which is a grotesque parody of an absurd political regime, but at the same time this exaggerating portrayal depicts the...
|
|
|
Czechs, the heroes of the Wild West
Hecková, Lucie ; Procházka, Martin (advisor) ; Quinn, Justin (referee)
I would like to thank the following people who helped make it possible for this thesis to be completed. First of all, thanks to my supervisor at Charles University in Prague, Prof. PhDr. Martin Procházka, Dr.Sc.,, whose advice and experience added to a more concise focus in the work as a whole. Through his gentle guidance my intellectual powers were stretched. Also, I want to thank my friends and great Iowans, Lloyd Dunn and Mark Yates who provided me with their scholarly skills, candid opinions and endless optimism. Last but not least is my husband John, who contributed to the source of my interest in Midwestern U.S. History, and whose constant support and encouragement helped me finish this work.
|
|
|
Mythical Method in T. S. Eliot's "The Waste Land"
Straková, Kateřina ; Quinn, Justin (advisor) ; Vichnar, David (referee)
By the use of mythical method, T. S. Eliot created a pattern of archetypal imagery in his poem The Waste Land (1922). This work focuses on the various interpretations of The Waste Land written from the perspective of archetypal criticism. Eliot's critics frequently interpreted the poem as a modern cultural artefact testifying to the ritual of death and rebirth. Examination of the approaches towards archetypal imagery contained in Eliot's work enables an exploration of the main thematic concepts of this literary composition - namely the lack of vital energy and longing for renewal. The poem incorporates archetype-based images into its symbolic frame, and at the same time exposes the sources of these variations on primal ideas. Vegetation myths and the Arthurian legends are recognized by the archetypal critics as the main references for the thematic structure of Eliot's poem. The archetypal analysis of Eliot's work was prevalent in the 1950-70s. Critics expanded upon the idea of the desired renewal of productive forces expressed in the poem. They identified this concept as anthropological in its origin, and traced the influence which James G. Frazer's theories about primitive ritual had on The Waste Land. Eliot coined the term "mythical method" in his essay on James Joyce "Ulysses, Order, and Myth"...
|
|
|
Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin's The brazen serpent: a contextual analysis
Skrbková, Alžběta ; Quinn, Justin (advisor) ; Wallace, Clare (referee)
Ní Chuilleanáin's collection The Brazen Serpent is fascinating on many levels and deserves a broad readership. However, due to the author's reputation for elusive and impenetrable poetry, the collection has not been as widely appreciated as it could have been had the readers been brave enough to flip and rotate the cover and dedicate to the collection the time and effort which the poems call for. The main dissuasion may seem to be the fact that the collection is deeply inspired by religious imagery and faith. However, in the analysis of the collection, it has been shown that although the poems are connected to the theme of religion, including topics such as nuns, the sacred versus the secular, saints and relics and other similar themes, there are many other layers of meaning which are hidden and have been excavated with the help of critical publications, interviews with the author and systematic close reading of the texts. This analysis of The Brazen Serpent, which incorporated biographical information, the Irish context, the feminine and feminist aspect, history - both personal and religious, aspires to be a useful tool for the better understanding of the rich symbolism contained in the poetry in its many layers of meaning. As was evident in the personal interview which I conducted with Ní Chuilleanáin,...
|
guest ::
