|
|
Interpreting Narrative Techniques in Moby-Dick
Sedláček, Martin ; Procházka, Martin (advisor) ; Robbins, David Lee (referee)
Thesis Abstract The objective of this thesis is to map the narrative strategies of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. By applying different narrative theories to Moby-Dick, it explores and assesses mainly the narrative reliability (Wayne C. Booth) and the narrative situation (Franz K. Stanzel). Ishmael is generally considered to be an example of an unreliable narrator and in this thesis manifestations of his unreliability are evaluated. Special attention is devoted to the inconsistencies in the narrative (e.g. recurring disappearances of Ishmael, shifts in focus on some of the characters, complete disappearances of other characters) and their treatment, taking the general academic consensus into account. Such phenomena are discussed as deliberately and consciously incorporated into the narrative, rather than being a result of a precipitated writing process. Apart from the formal inconsistencies, the narrative also includes incongruities of thematic nature (e.g. questionable value-scheme according to Rimmon- Kenan). By employing Stanzel's narrative theory, the thesis discusses Ishmael's oscillation between "narrator" and "reflector," with special focus on the dramatic chapters. Using both of these conceptions, Moby-Dick is assessed from two different perspectives, hopefully shedding some light on the complex...
|
|
|
"Henry James & His Stance towards Aestheticism and Decadence"
Mackal, Jan ; Roraback, Erik Sherman (advisor) ; Robbins, David Lee (referee)
This M.A. thesis focuses on the problematic relationship between Henry James and Aestheticism and Decadence on the example of his two masterpieces-The Portrait of a Lady () and The Golden Bowl (). The main task is to document the evolution of this relationship and to point out that despite his lifelong preoccupation with these two artistic movements in his literary works, James refuses to assume a concrete stance toward them. Before the literary analysis of the two abovementioned novels, the author devotes the first chapter to a brief historical survey as to the nature and purpose of the work of art, to the development Aestheticism and Decadence in Europe and Britain, and to James's relationship with some of the proponents of British Aestheticism. The rest of the thesis is devoted to the literary analysis of the two novels through the optics of Aestheticism and Decadence. Keywords: James, Henry; Aestheticism; Decadence; literary analysis; transatlantic studies
|
|
|
Spiritual anarchy in Emerson: the infinitude of the private man
Žižka - Marušiaková, Jana ; Robbins, David Lee (advisor) ; Procházka, Martin (referee)
(EN) Spiritual Anarchy in Emerson: The Infinitude of the Private Man The central focus of the thesis is a critical study of anarchistic ideas vital and alive in the major literary works of R. W. Emerson. Included in the thesis is a general layout of the history and major figures of anarchism as well as its definitions, bearing in mind the fact that anarchy is indeed a broad river with as many diverse streams and currents as there are individuals striving for freedom. I explore the common ground between Emersonian ideas and Eastern mysticism and Greek thought to establish the central anarchistic themes present and their relevance thereof. Throughout the history of human kind individual needs, values and aspirations inevitably clash against the restrictive norms of the society and state. Yet, although the outcries defending freedom have been solitary, its energy and genius have aroused the appraisal of many whose longing for liberation has not been down-trodden with social estrangements; among such was Henry David Thoreau who in turn played out the intelectually and spiritually sophisticated insights of Emerson into the practical experience of everyday living and being. His insistence on a simple and fulfilling life, bereft of materialistic concerns and hindrances, in complete harmony with nature,...
|
|
|
The Comic in Henry James' Fiction
Kudrna, David ; Roraback, Erik Sherman (advisor) ; Robbins, David Lee (referee)
The subject of this thesis is the study and interpretation of the interlacement of the world of comedy in several works of Henry James and the reflection in these fictions of certain specified problems and challenges of modern society which assist to bring forth the social ambience therein. In the author's opinion, the comedy in the said works of James, on the fundamental level, criticises and pokes fun at the evils of modern society and the characters who pay homage to them. The thesis argues that the comedy in the analysed works of Henry James satirizes several challenging, problematic socio-cultural and economic developments of contemporary modern times through the ridicule and stigmatization of the mostly despicable characters who, under the sway of these developments, perpetrate their negative influence on the lives of other characters in the selected works. To substantiate this argument the thesis looks at the following works of James: The Wings of the Dove, The Golden Bowl, The Portrait of a Lady, The Ambassadors, "The Turn of the Screw" and "The Beast in the Jungle." At the outset, the thesis outlines briefly several critical approaches to the comedy in James's works, comments on their validity, reveals the author's views, and points in the direction of the critical opinions and approaches...
|
|
|
The theme of love in Toni Morrison's Sula and Beloved
Brzobohatá, Michaela ; Veselá, Pavla (advisor) ; Robbins, David Lee (referee)
Toni Morrison was born in 1931 as Chloe Anthony Wofford in Lorain, Ohio. She studied at Howard University and later at Cornell. She worked as an English teacher, but in 1965 she became a senior editor at the Random House. Thanks to her, many African American works were published. As Henry Louis Gates observes, as a writer, Morrison was influenced by the magical realism of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, and by William Faulkner. Morrison published her first novel, The Bluest Eye, in 1970. Sula was published in 1974, followed by Song of Solomon (1977), Tar Baby (1981), and Beloved in 1987. In 1993, Morrison was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature, becoming the first African American woman to win the prize.1 Morrison continues to publish until the present day; her most recent works include Paradise, Love, and A Mercy. When putting Morrison's work into a wider context, we have to consider the difficulties of African American self-expression in literature. According to Barbara Christian, in the 1970s and 1980s, the time Morrison published most of her novels, African American women writers undertook an exploration of their history and community. They were finally able to express what the previous generations were not, as they were permitted to express themselves in limited ways, due to racism and sexism. Starting with...
|
|
|
The trickster in Herman Melville's The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade and the works of Charles W.Chesnutt
Kyselová, Alžběta ; Robbins, David Lee (advisor) ; Procházka, Martin (referee)
Tricksters are popular cultural and literary characters which appear across regions and genres in various forms. The characters Uncle Julius from The Conjure Woman collection of short stories by Charles W. Chesnutt, and the confidence man from Herman Melville's The Confidence-Man: His Masquerade are both tricksters who are based on strong cultural backgrounds: the African(- American) religious trickster, and real life con artist William Thompson, respectively. This thesis sets out to compare the tricksters in thematic and structural elements. The origins of the literary characters help shape the readers' expectations and perception of the tricksters. Melville and Chesnutt encourage the stereotypical reading of the characters while also including an alternative one in the text. The conflict of perceptions serves to introduce a number of social topics regarding slavery in The Conjure Woman and self-reliance in The Confidence-Man, both of which ultimately point to the problematic distribution of freedom in American society. The tricksters appear both as literary characters and literary devices, corresponding with the ambiguous nature of the trickster archetype.
|
|
|
The Role of Violence in Blood Meridian and The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Kubalová, Barbora ; Robbins, David Lee (advisor) ; Procházka, Martin (referee)
Violence has always been conspicuously present in the American nation, its culture and literature. Considering the immoderate abundance of violence in current entertainment industry, it would seem natural for the emotions to be dulled and able to process any abhorrent excess of violence; the reactions that both Blood Meridian and The Road by the American author Cormac McCarthy have gathered are thus all the more surprising. Face to face with the novels' unspeakable evil, many readers do recoil in horror and the pervasive violence of McCarthy's writings has provoked a wide range of critical perception. The novels may differ significantly in the setting − Southwestern United States of the 19th century in Blood Meridian as opposed to post-apocalyptic future of The Road - but the apparent gulf between both groups of characters and mainly between them and the reader is only another ruse of McCarthy's scheme, whereby he unveils uncomfortable truths about humankind. Although his meticulous study of sources might support the inevitability, even a penchant for bloodshed and carnage in specific conditions, it would be erroneous and contrary to McCarthy's portrayal to imply that it is anomalous rather than representative. The hostility in the novels should not be understood as a feature of a particular region or...
|
|
|
Du Bois and rap music: two ways of awakening of the African American self-consciousness
Sedlák, Ladislav ; Robbins, David Lee (advisor) ; Ulmanová, Hana (referee)
The aim of this thesis is to connect W.E.B. Du Bois and rap music as two immensely important influences on African American community by tracing the development from one of the greatest scholars in American history to the widely criticized musical genre. Du Bois is studied all over the world whereas rap lyrics are mostly ignored by scholars. Nevertheless, both can serve as extraordinary sources of knowledge and pride, both can lead to the awakening of African American self-consciousness, as far as we choose the right kind of rap music and the right Du Bois. Du Bois's inclination to Stalinism in his later years may be perceived as equally condemnable as the first album of the American gangsta rap crew NWA; but most importantly both Du Bois's radical political thinking and the emergence of gangsta rap are alerting and inevitable in a way. They were caused by the longstanding frustration of the black community in the US. The thesis compares the themes of Du Bois's collection of essays The Souls of Black Folk with the poetry of rap artists. An important part of this thesis is also a sketch of the development of African American progressive thought and social commentary, which is necessary to see the link between Du Bois and rap. It is also intended to make us see that the artistry of musicians such as Mos Def,...
|
|
|
Experiencing nature. Reading of R.W. Emerson's mythopoeia
Makelberge, Nina ; Procházka, Martin (advisor) ; Robbins, David Lee (referee)
According to theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, "ideas look very different in the ripeness of their maturity than in the freshness of their birth"1; this observation is particularly pertinent to the work of Ralph Waldo Emerson, not only on the level of his own literary development, but also within the context of his evolving culture. Within the field of modern literary criticism and American cultural studies, the work of R.W. Emerson is primarily regarded and classfied as the prototype of the pragmatic theory. However, the over-emphasis of Emerson's forecasting of the American Pragmatism indeed overcasts the nascence of those very ideas which in their origin embody the idea of "transformation".
|
|
|
Emerson's influence on women in works of Nathaniel Hawthorne
Teršová, Tereza ; Robbins, David Lee (advisor) ; Veselá, Pavla (referee)
Due to its emphasis on the concepts of self-reliance, inner guidance and the aboriginal Self, Ralph Waldo Emerson's philosophy elaborates theses that favor the individual over community, such as the superiority and sanctity of self-definition, as opposed to definitions constructed by society and imposed on the individual. It is possible, then, to perceive his philosophy as important for the formation of the Women's Rights Movement and for the emerging feminism. In his four romances, Nathaniel Hawthorne creates female protagonists who advocate for women's right to self-reliance as Emerson describes it. Hawthorne's heroines can be understood and interpreted as contemplating the Emersonian principles, thus illustrating the connection between Emerson's philosophy, and themes and motifs present in Hawthorne's romances. Related to Hawthorne's portrayal of the heroines' reflections on the concepts of inner guidance, the aboriginal Self, moral dereliction and self-reliance is Hawthorne's attitude toward the relationship between "womanhood" and "femininity" on one side, and "manhood" and "masculinity" on the other side. The ambivalence of woman, as depicted by Hawthorne, consists in the discrepancy between attributes traditionally associated with "femininity", such as devotion, affection and humility, and the will...
|
guest ::
