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An Outlaw Journalist's Journey through an Era Decadent and Depraved: Hunter S. Thompson in the context of America of the 1960s and early 1970s.
Stárek, Jiří ; Robbins, David Lee (advisor) ; Ulmanová, Hana (referee)
The thesis aims to explore the artistic personality of Hunter S. Thompson, one of the most distinctive cultural figures of post-war America, and his genesis as an author, journalist, and a counterculture idol of the 1960s. The era is now widely regarded as a turning point in contemporary American history as its deep-rooted values and norms were, over the course of a decade, gradually transformed by the young generation of social and political activists toward allegedly a more tolerant and liberal kind of community. Crucial in such an endeavor was the role of the countercultural movement that produced some of the most capable intellectual minds of the time, including Thompson. The paper thus analyzes the role and nature of the alternative culture in America as perceived by one of its most observant participants. Also, the thesis focuses on the author's role in establishing a new genre called New Journalism which can be linked with the era's countercultural efforts as well. In general, Thompson, in his texts, examines various phenomena surrounding the counterculture and provides us with a distinctive portrayal of the era's zeitgeist. However, unlike some of his contemporaries, he also remembers to examine numerous flaws and fallacies existing within contemporary American society, the American Dream...
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Tom Stoppard - an inventory of his postmodern and near-postmodern literary devices
Braňka, Štěpán ; Ženíšek, Jakub (advisor) ; Topolovská, Tereza (referee)
This Master's thesis is dedicated to the analysis of Tom Stoppard's plays. It analyses their main themes, protagonists and modern and postmodern literary devices that Stoppard used when creating his plays. The theoretical part briefly introduces postmodernism and some of its major characteristics. It further focuses on the theatre of the absurd. In the practical part, Tom Stoppard's plays are then analysed from different angles. The major areas constitute mainly Stoppard's modern and postmodern literary devices, the themes of his plays and their division. The part of this thesis dedicated to themes also discusses the characters of the plays. Key Words: Stoppard, postmodernism, theatre of the absurd, plays
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Old Testament Interpretation and the Postmodern Conditions
Zatroch, Ondrej ; Lukeš, Jiří (advisor) ; Biernot, David (referee)
The task of diploma thesis "Old Testament Interpretation and the Postmodern Conditions" is to critically reflect the course and current issues of Old Testament research. This reflection is based on the analysis of research situation and chosen approaches to the Old Testament. The thesis shows, that the Old Testament interpretation must be based on lively dialogue. It doesn't mean just the dialogue with the biblical texts or the state of current research, but also with the situation of the world often called as "postmodern". The important assumption of this diploma thesis is that the authentic interpretation includes also the constant and deep self-examination of interpreter and his place in the society. It doesn't mean, that the interpretation ought to be the self-presentation of interpreter. On the contrary, it should remain critical and solid, but also enacted in deep solidarity with the neighbour and shared world. The results of this diploma thesis show the importance of keeping the critical grounds of Old Testament research and interpretation. Only the intensive and unappealing criticism could be a basis for the future quality and solidness of the research and upholding its matter in wider research community and society. Another important aspect is the solidarity with the world. It means that...
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Postmondernism and Magic Realism in Forestillingen om det tyvende århundrede by Peter Høeg. An Attempt to Define the Terms
Talafantová, Kristýna ; Březinová, Helena (advisor) ; Hartlová, Dagmar (referee)
1 Abstract The thesis examines the relationship of the literary phenomena magical realism and postmodernism. The starting point of the thesis is the statement that both the terms embody various common features (ideological, thematic). The author targets the definition of both styles and their genealogical delimitation in the first part. In the second part, the author relates these two terms to the particular work - the novel The History of Danish Dreams of the danish author Peter Høeg. It is possible to find demonstrable principles of both magical realism and postmodernism in this wider prose. The author of this thesis illustrates principles and themes with examples from the novel and the interpretations.
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Feminism and Mythopoetics in Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories and Nights at the Circus
Klepáčková, Michaela ; Chalupský, Petr (advisor) ; Higgins, Bernadette (referee)
The aim of this thesis is to present the specific notion of feminism and mythopoetics in the selected works of Angela Carter and demonstrate them on two selected works of Carter's, namely on the collection of re-visited traditional fairy tales The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories and the novel Nights at the Circus. The thesis also deals with chosen features of postmodernism these two works contain. In the first, theoretical part the author and her oeuvre is introduced, followed by the concept of postmodernism and its selected features. The second, practical part is focused on both books' analysis which attempts to establish whether and how the selected works show the features of postmodernism and to which extent it is possible to trace the notions of Carter's feminism and mythopoetics in them.
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Sam Shepard: Buried Child
Filinger, Marek ; Josek, Jiří (advisor) ; Russell, Robert Alexander (referee)
One of the reasons for writing this thesis was to help readers and theatregoers better understand Shepard's plays and to let them see, at least partly, his intentions. Yet, to ask for a straightforward explanation or an unambiguous ending would mean to completely misunderstand the author. Samuel Shepard the playwright, actor, director, screenwriter, poet and musician as well as a cowboy and shaman - "a New World shaman" - is anything but a piece of cake. To know this much might be enough unless you plan to translate or direct one of his plays. And for these very purposes, I have decided to prepare a roadmap for understanding Samuel Shepard Rogers III. My goal was to show three main influences that helped to form Shepard's style. First, we will travel with young Sam eastwards all the way to New York in order to discover a brave new world. Only fifteen years later, we will set the sails in the same direction again, this time to accompany an unheard-off success - an Off-Off- Broadway show moving from San Francisco to New York to be eventually awarded the Pulitzer Prize. Unfortunately, this child prodigy we came with is dying; indeed, it is already a Buried Child. After twenty more years, Shepard will revise the text and claim that "it's now a better play". That is where our analysis starts. First, we will...
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Transgender identity
Kováriková, Juliána ; Skupnik, Jaroslav (advisor) ; Štěpánová, Irena (referee)
The main purpose of the present diploma thesis is to introduce the transgender identity as a newly emerging lifestyle and political activism of transpeople. Because the transgenderism has been formed in opposition to the dominant medical discourse of transsexuality, it is necessary to include the transsexual stand of view which transgender people are defining against. I regard the transsexuality and transgenderism as two different discourses forming new different identity categories, having specific impact on lives of people they are naming. I focus mainly on the impact of different concepts of sex, gender and sexuality on formation of specific shapes of these ideologies. In the empirical part, I am applying my mind on the narrative construction of transgender identity. Through some parts of interview with a person diagnosed with transsexuality, that has accepted the identity of a transgender in the course of his life, I try to mediate a more realistic and sculpturesque image of transgender/transsexual life, identity and sense of self.
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The Theme of Art and Life in selected Jeanette Winterson's Novels
Gridneva, Yana ; Chalupský, Petr (advisor) ; Topolovská, Tereza (referee)
The aim of this thesis is to explore the theme of art in Jeanette Winterson's novels with special attention given to the relationship between art and life in her aesthetic system. The theoretical part of this work is concerned with describing Winterson's philosophy of art and defining it as a combination of modern and postmodern elements. The practical part deals with three novels, Written on the Body (1992), Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal? (2011) and Art & Lies (1994), and explores how the theme of art and life is developed in each of these works. Key words: modernism; postmodernism; stories and archetypes; experimental literature; imagination and reality; physical and spiritual.
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