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Heritage and innovation - Polynesian literature in English
Binarová, Teata ; Nováková, Soňa (advisor) ; Kolinská, Klára (referee)
Polynesian literature in English is being defined as a post-colonial literature written by indigenous writers living in the former colonies of Great Britain in the geo- cultural area of Polynesia. This new literature emerged in the 1960's and became part of the pan-Polynesian movement. It sprang as the articulation of the autochthons' resistance against the manifestations of colonial hegemony, political or cultural, and at the same time, as the expression of their struggle for self-assertion and independence. In their works, the Polynesian writers strive to form a new Polynesian literature and culture and to find a proper cultural identity: they innovate the indigenous oral tradition by putting it in relationship with contemporary life in post-colonial Polynesia and by introducing it into their writing in English. The most representative authors who fulfil this new literary direction are the prose writers Witi Ihimaera and Albert Wendt in their respective novels Tangi (1973) and Sons for the Return Home (1973) together with the poet Alistair Te Ariki Campbell in his poetry collection The Dark Lord of Savaiki (1980). However, they are not alone in their strife, which is evidenced by the series of other names such as Patricia Grace, Epeli Hau'ofa, Keri Hulme and others. All the given prose writers...
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Apocalypse as revelation of truth in modern American fiction: Thomas Pynchon and post-9/11 novel
Olehla, Richard ; Ulmanová, Hana (advisor) ; Procházka, Martin (referee) ; Kolinská, Klára (referee)
English summary This dissertation focuses on the apocalyptic fiction of Thomas Pynchon and analyses various representations of the apocalypse as "revelation" or "unveiling of truth" in its various aspects and manifestations (i.e. paranoia, angels, etc.) in the novels V., The Crying of Lot 49 and Gravity's Rainbow. The theme of apocalypse as a revelation concerning the true nature of the world has a key role to play in the above mentioned novels as well as significance for Pynchon's protagonists. This is so despite the fact that such revelation is depicted as illusory and mostly unattainable, since these novels are all based on the premise that there is no ultimate truth, and therefore, there is nothing that can be revealed. Pynchon's characters get only a revelation of individual truth, and thus theirs is a private apocalypse. When analysing the role of the apocalypse in Western culture, it is also important to analyse the role of millenarian expectations as well as the supposed communication process between God and people, a process depicted as being mediated by angels. The interpretation of God's message can never be precise and perfect, since its meaning is distorted during the communication process. On the rhetorical level, this distortion is equal to metaphor, which in turn causes feelings of paranoia...
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Identity and Displacement in Contemporary Postcolonial Fiction
Olehlová, Markéta ; Nováková, Soňa (advisor) ; Franková, Milada (referee) ; Kolinská, Klára (referee)
English summary The main objective of this thesis is to present some key issues relevant for postcolonial field of study with respect to two basic areas of interest: concepts of identity and place, respectively displacement in contemporary postcolonial discourse and their reflection in fiction, too. The thesis should provide the potential reader with basic theoretical background based on the most fundamental sources and by means of selected literary works it should support (or disclaim, if necessary) conclusions reached by the most notable theories. This dissertation work consists of three major parts. In the introduction, apart from providing the motivational, theoretical and literary objectives of the thesis, I cover some basic difficulties that may occur when dealing with the postcolonial field of study. The central part of the thesis can be divided into two parts, each of them consisting of two further sections. The first one, "Identity in Postcolonial Discourse", is focused on one of the key terms in all of postcolonial theory: identity and other concepts related with it. I cover the basic development of theoretical reflection concerning this concept, drawing primarily from secondary sources dealing with it. The theoretical part on identity is succeeded by a chapter "Reflections of Identity in the...
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Prejudice, Cultural Clash, Female Role, Nation and Nationaly in the Novels of Ying Chen
Navrátilová, Leona ; Kolinská, Klára (advisor) ; Jindra, Miroslav (referee)
Ying Chen is a Canadian writer of Chinese origin who writes in French. In her novels, she investigates immigration which is closely connected with displacement and the loss of one's original identity. Her literary work is primarily aimed at the North American readership so she includes a lot of details of historical events and social facts about China. Ying Chen belongs to the group of authors who are labelled as immigrant writers. The majority of her literary work centres around the recurring themes of nationalism, feminism, imagination and immigration, which can lead to a loss of original identity. Ying Chen investigates whether a person can exchange his identity, that which was given to him by his parents, with a new one. In her second published novel, L'Ingratitude, Ying Chen speaks through the character of the dominant mother and says: "A person without parents is miserable, like a people without history." With these words she indicates the impossibility of exchanging one's nationhood, national history, and identity. We need to accept who we are, and she emphasises this fact in her novel, Immobile, saying, "I am myself."
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Features of the gothic novel and Southern Ontario gothic in the works of Robertson Davies
Kyselová, Mariana ; Nováková, Soňa (advisor) ; Kolinská, Klára (referee)
The gothic novel, albeit not considered high literature, counts among the most distinctive literary genres. The literary form was at its prime in late 18th century, although its days of glory have past elements of the Gothic can be found even in contemporary literature. Over the centuries, several sub-genres of the gothic novel have developed, including Southern Ontario Gothic. This branch of the Gothic is characterized by criticism of social attitudes towards race, politics, gender and religion specific for that region, in combination with elements of the supernatural, magic realism and satire. Robertson Davies, whose novels belong to the most significant works of Southern Ontario Gothic, is considered to be a Canadian literature classic. The aim of this paper is to compare the elements of a classical gothic novel with the elements of Southern Ontario Gothic in Robertson Davies' TheDeptford Trilogy. The initial chapter covers the theoretical background to the problematic of the Gothic and defines the commonly used terminology. The term "gothic" is used in many contexts and fields, and therefore can carry various meanings. The chapter also introduces Southern Ontario Gothic as an acknowledged sub-genre. In the second chapter, some common themes that occur in Canadian culture are introduced....
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Stolen generation in Australia
Valentová, Zuzana ; Armand, Louis (advisor) ; Kolinská, Klára (referee)
The main theme of this thesis is Australia's "Stolen Generation." This term refers to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were removed by force from their families between the years 1909 - 1969. However, these years are only unofficial numbers and it is known that the removals took place even before and after this period. The aim of this policy was to assimilate the Aboriginal people in order to educate them in the British manner. This policy was an act of cruelty and abuse since the children were brought away from their families and put into state institutions or foster care to suppress their culture. The aim of the thesis is to portray the development of the Aboriginal culture; beginning with the situation prior to British colonization and ending with the current situation in Australia. The thesis analyses the situation during the colonization and after it because the process of colonization caused further changes. It demonstrates the inability of the Indigenous people to assimilate to the new lifestyle. After the colonization, the Aborigines were deprived of their land and their traditional culture. The worst policies were the removals of so-called 'half-caste' children from their families, which were nothing less than forcible removals that were done without any permission from their...
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Migrant experience in contemporary black British fiction
Vítková, Veronika ; Nováková, Soňa (advisor) ; Kolinská, Klára (referee)
My work will be concerned with post-WWII migrant experience in Britain. Accordingly, I will focus on issues of identity, hybridity, belonging, diaspora and the concept of home. All these will be exemplified on the basis of selected works by black British writers that will be specified below. Over time, the denotation of the term diaspora - originally meaning the dispersal of the Jews from Israel - increasingly widened. Nowadays, it may refer to people leaving their countries not only for reasons of expulsion and persecution, but also for example in the wake of political strife or war, through conquest and colonisation, as part of global flows of labour or as a result of the capture or removal of a group through slavery.1 According to Avtar Brah, "the question is not simply about who travels but when, how, and under what circumstances?"2 Moreover, it is not possible to create strict categories - types of diaspora - into which particular moving people can be placed. This is also the case of black immigrants in Britain whose ancestors were brought to the Caribbean from Africa for the reasons of slavery. They themselves came to Britain as a result of at least two factors: colonialism and the global flows of labour. As Avtar Brah claims, "[a]t the heart of the notion of diaspora is the image of a journey."3 This...
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Apocalypse as revelation of truth in modern American fiction: Thomas Pynchon and post-9/11 novel
Olehla, Richard ; Ulmanová, Hana (advisor) ; Procházka, Martin (referee) ; Kolinská, Klára (referee)
English summary This dissertation focuses on the apocalyptic fiction of Thomas Pynchon and analyses various representations of the apocalypse as "revelation" or "unveiling of truth" in its various aspects and manifestations (i.e. paranoia, angels, etc.) in the novels V., The Crying of Lot 49 and Gravity's Rainbow. The theme of apocalypse as a revelation concerning the true nature of the world has a key role to play in the above mentioned novels as well as significance for Pynchon's protagonists. This is so despite the fact that such revelation is depicted as illusory and mostly unattainable, since these novels are all based on the premise that there is no ultimate truth, and therefore, there is nothing that can be revealed. Pynchon's characters get only a revelation of individual truth, and thus theirs is a private apocalypse. When analysing the role of the apocalypse in Western culture, it is also important to analyse the role of millenarian expectations as well as the supposed communication process between God and people, a process depicted as being mediated by angels. The interpretation of God's message can never be precise and perfect, since its meaning is distorted during the communication process. On the rhetorical level, this distortion is equal to metaphor, which in turn causes feelings of paranoia...
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"Very much a woman of reason and propriety": Ann Radcliffe's female gothic romances and their eighteenth-century contexts
Klosová, Kateřina ; Nováková, Soňa (advisor) ; Kolinská, Klára (referee)
In 1977 Ellen Moers in her Literary Women coined "Female Gothic" as a new term in literary criticism. In this she seemed to be laying the foundation for a new conception and specific way of thinking about women writers as related to the Gothic genre. Moers in her critical book on women's writing claims that the Female Gothic is "easily defined: the work that women writers have done in the literary mode that, since the eighteenth century, we have called the Gothic"1. Nevertheless, along with other terms, Female Gothic was quickly adopted by the feminist critics and especially during the eighties of the twentieth century its interpretation underwent distinct changes. As Avril Horner and Sue Zlosnik observe, since the late seventies "it has been increasingly acknowledged that women writers have made use of the non-realist Gothic mode in order to explore the problematic nature of female subjectivity in Western patriarchal culture"2. Thus, what was originally conceived of as a specific coinage for the Gothic novels distinct by their female authorship, became a term encompassing the specificities of both woman style of writing and of the woman character as a means for the exploration of female experience. The application of the term became more focused and consequently rather limited in the late 1980s. This was...
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Power through humour: Thomas King's strategies for decolonizing Canada
Tuček, Jaroslav ; Jindra, Miroslav (referee) ; Kolinská, Klára (advisor)
This dissertation is about power, humour and various comic and ironic strategies contemporary Native writers and artists apply in their works to challenge the outdated Indian stereotypes and obsolete systems of cultural and aesthetic representation. The artists employ a combination of comedy and irony as favoured modes of expression in order to contest, subvert and critically deconstruct the oppressive hegemonic ideologies and power structures still present in Canada and the United States. Their novels, poetry, essays, films, documentaries, theatre performances, paintings and other works of art strive to emphasize the marginalization and rights of all Native people in North America who have suffered over the hundreds of years of colonization, acculturation and violent cultural appropriation. In the last decade, there have been growing calls from academia, Native communities as well as the government, to reconceptualise the bi-cultural politics between the First Nation peoples and the Canadian nation-state. A great amount of models for an inclusionary and multifaceted identity politics have been proposed by several Canadian cultural analysts and critics, including for example Diana Brydon, Smaro Kamboureli, and Lily Cho. However, before they can be successfully implemented, a creation of an alternative space...
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