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"All this little affair with 'being' is over:" Metaphysical Crisis in Virginia Woolf's The Waves
Opravil, Vít ; Procházka, Martin (advisor) ; Vichnar, David (referee)
Thesis Abstract The present thesis sets out to follow three different problems in the metaphysics of Virginia Woolf's late novel The Waves and contrast them with the theories of three thinkers - Gilles Deleuze, Félix Guattari and Jacques Derrida. First chapter discusses Woolf's approach to subjectivity. It is shown that Deleuze's and Guattari's method establishing subjectivity as a by- product of a machinic assemblage is particularly fruitful in reading the characters in the first four chapters where their bodies and their "subjectivities" form in diverse ways. D&G comment on the waves of the lyrical passages as an abstract machine of which the character-assemblages are actualizations. They do not, however, comment on the territorialising function of sunlight which seems to be equally important and therefore needs to be analysed. This function corresponds with the ever growing oedipalisation of the characters, which finds its summit in the fifth chapter of the novel and transforms a deterritorialised rhizome into a reterritorialized (or oedipalised) signifying system. The second chapter discusses how the functioning of the territorial machine of the sun reduces the rhizome into a centralised system whose centre can be understood through the prism of Derrida's theory of structure as a play of...
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The Development of Lord Byron's Satire
Kopečná, Alena ; Procházka, Martin (advisor) ; Horová, Miroslava (referee)
1 ABSTRACT As the aim of the thesis is to follow the development of Lord Byron's satirical voice, I have chosen to analyze three of his shorter satirical works (the analysis of Don Juan is omitted on purpose, since it has been thoroughly examined by many scholars) significantly different from each other both in form and content, and thus allowing me to map Byron's satirical technique and to contrast the texts. The following works will be analyzed: English Bards and Scotch Reviewers (1809), Beppo: A Venetian Story (1817) and The Vision of Judgment (1822). To understand satire it is essential not only to analyze the texts, but also to put them into context, which will also be part of the discussion. English Bards and Scotch Reviewers - his first published satire - presents Byron's sharp opinion on his contemporaries (including the Lake poets) and serves as the poet's defence against literary reviewers. It follows the tradition of the Neo-Classical satire represented by e.g. Alexander Pope whose legacy is very apparent in English Bards. Beppo marks a new approach - it shows a strong Italian influence - not only is the anecdote set in Italy and thus allows the author to satirize both Italian and English society, but Byron also adopts the form of ottava rima typical of Italian literature. It is argued that the...
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Use of conductivity meter LTC to characterize the flow of groundwater in well: Use of artificial well and field monitoring
Rodovská, Žaneta ; Bruthans, Jiří (advisor) ; Procházka, Martin (referee)
My Master thesis is focused on a tracer dilution technique in the well using automatic conductivity logging probes LTC Levelogger (Solinst co. Canada). The main aim of my thesis was to test the application conductivity meters LTC to track the movement of fluids in wells. Different set up were used moving probes with unmodified sensor slit, moving probes with modified sensor slit, probes measuring at fixed points, combined moving and fixed points probes and results were compared. 15 wells in quaternary and 11 wells in Bohemian Cretaceous Basin were measured, some of them repeatedly. The comparison of results indicate that the highest apparent flow velocity have probes with unmodified sensor slit. On the other hand fixed point probes indicate flow velocity, which is 40 - 50% lower at the same wells. The combination of the stable positioned probe LTC and the moving probe LTC has about 40% higher flow velocity than the rate of steady probe LTC placed in the well. The results also indicate that extremely slow velocity values (below approximately 0.02 m/day) can be measured only with LTC probes at fixed points. Modified probe slit was tested in the laboratory in plexi-glass tube using fluorescein and NaCl tracers. Unfortunately the modified geometry of measuring slit does not show distinctively better...
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The Aesthetic Aspect of Knowledge Acquisition in the European Renaissance and Early Modern Period
Avxentevskaya, Maria ; Procházka, Martin (advisor) ; Pfister, Manfred (referee) ; Vermeir, Koen (referee)
Maria Avxentevskaya How to discover things with words? John Wilkins: from inventio to invention Abstract in English My doctoral thesis explores the functions of rhetorical and dialectical devices in the argumentative style of John Wilkins (1614−1672). My study traces the development of his discursive techniques in scientific narratives, theological writings, and linguistic treatises, with the aim to examine how the interplay between cognitive and performative language enhanced early-modern practices of knowledge-making. I argue that the procedures of dialectical rhetoric, apart from being popular perlocutionary tools, were effective as heuristic instruments. Language was one of the important agents in the performing of science, and my study employs the concept of "performative knowing" as a key to Wilkins's dialectical and scientific inventions. The idea of performative knowing straddles several constituents derived from the analytic philosophy and speech act theory. From this perspective, Wilkins's undertakings appear as a coherent exercise in the art of making knowledge through persuasive communication. My thesis explores how Wilkins's argumentative method departs from baroque rhetorical flair of The Discovery of a World in the Moone (1638), explores the capacity of rhetoric to impart scientific...
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Hybrid Bodies and Hybrid Identities in the Fiction of Octavia Butler
Korejtková, Adéla ; Veselá, Pavla (advisor) ; Procházka, Martin (referee)
The thesis explores the theme of hybridity in Octavia Butler's Xenogenesis trilogy and in her last novel, Fledgling, which both deal with complex relationships between humans and a different species. The main focus is on the characters of mixed origin - offspring of two distinct species and beings whose existence is a result of genetic experiments. These individuals occupy a metaphorical "in-between" space where cultural, racial, sexual and other boundaries meet and blur. The theoretical framework follows two sets of ideas - Homi Bhabha's notion of hybridity and the so-called Third Space, and Donna Haraway's cyborg figure. The second chapter of the thesis is centered on the origins and development of the concept of hybridity and its current use in postcolonial discourse. Furthermore, it introduces the most relevant ideas from Bhabha's The Location of Culture and Haraway's "A Cyborg Manifesto" and compares them. The following two chapters are mainly devoted to Butler's hybrid characters, Akin and Jodahs from Xenogenesis and Shori, the protagonist of Fledgling. This section analyses, among other issues, their physical features and special skills connected with hybridity, the construction of their identity, their relationship with others and their relation to the clash between different species and...
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Legal Status of the Financial Arbiter in Comparison with Selected Regulatory and Control Institutions in the Czech Republic and EU
Procházka, Martin ; Marková, Hana (advisor) ; Kohajda, Michael (referee)
Legal Status of the Financial Arbiter in Comparison with Selected Regulatory and Control Institutions in the Czech Republic and EU The topic of my thesis is legal status of the Financial arbiter in the Czech Republic. It represent a specific institution for out-of-court settlement of financial disputes between providers of some financial services and their clients. The Financial arbiter does not substitute the role of courts; instead it operates alongside the judicial system and offers to the clients of financial institutions swift and free of charge alternative to the legal proceedings, which emphasizes reconciliation. In the opening chapter of this thesis I looked into the theoretical concept of this institution and characterized it as an administrative authority sui generis. In order to obtain better understanding of the institutional status of the Financial arbiter, I further compared the Financial arbiter with similar institutions in the Czech Republic and the EU. I consider the separation from the Czech National Bank and the creation of the Financial arbiter bureau, which is a government department, as a major change in the legal status of the Financial arbiter. The arbitration proceeding represents an alternative to the legal proceedings. It can be initiated only by a client`s complaint, for...
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Regional variability of mortality level on death causes suggestible by health care
Procházka, Martin ; Dzúrová, Dagmar (advisor) ; Šídlo, Luděk (referee)
The aim of this thesis is to map regional variability in the intensity of mortality using methods avoidable mortality and a few selected characteristics of health care. The thesis describes the development of the concept of avoidable mortality, which is then used for the Czech Republic for the period 2006-2010 and to individual districts for the period 2006-2010. Furthermore, this thesis focuses on the relationship between expenditures of General Health Insurance Company and the level of mortality in the regions. For showing regional differences depending on the health care intensity of mortality from ischemic heart disease (both acute and chronic forms) was also selected, depending on the distance of specialized medical care. The last chapter focuses on National screening programs and cancer mortality, which are integrated in a comparison of the percentage of people examine in this program for districts. The relationship between spending per insured and intensity of mortality and outcomes related to the intensity of mortality, depending on the availability of specialized health care has been confirmed by statistical methods - correlation (Pearson correlation coefficient). Relationship between the intensity of mortality in cancer within screening programs and the percentage of people who passed...
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The Ideal of Beauty in the Period of Romanticism
Páchová, Kateřina ; Procházka, Martin (advisor) ; Horová, Miroslava (referee)
(in English): The aim of the thesis is to study the ideal of beauty in the period of Romanticism. The study is based on a close analysis of one of the crucial texts of the Romantic period - the Lyrical Ballads written by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The thesis is concerned with the vision of the beautiful in relation to the aesthetics of the sublime. It focuses on the development of what was perceived as beautiful in the periods preceding Romanticism and how this vision changed for the Romantics. The question is what is the ideal of beauty in the period of Romanticism and how it is presented in the Lyrical Ballads? Is there a common ideal for Wordsworth and Coleridge, or do they differ in their notion of the beautiful? The main focus of the thesis is the discrepancy between the beautiful, on one hand, and the sublime or the grotesque, on the other, both in perceiving the nature and human beings. The Romantics have several similar features as well as the vision of the beautiful, whether they praise women or men or nature, whether they deal with the beauty inside or the surface. Similarities between those are considered as well. The reflexion of aesthetics of the beautiful and the sublime is drawn primarily from Edmund Burke's The Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of our Ideas...
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Proza Works of Petra Hůlová
Procházka, Martin ; Kubíček, Tomáš (advisor) ; Klumparová, Štěpánka (referee)
In this dissertation I directed my attention to literary creation of the writer Petra Hůlová. I analyzed her books directing my attention to building-up of the fictitious world and the characters, than to the style of narration and the work with literary time. In the last chapters I made a comparison on the basis of analyzed works and tried to show their similitudes and diversities. At the very end I addressed the issue of the question of Petra Hůlová's style development. I used S. Chatman's and J. Peterka's naratologic works and typology of characters with their building-up and methods, which I became acquainted in class of introduction to the literary theory and interpretative seminaries.
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History and Play in Lord Byron's Dramas
Horová, Miroslava ; Procházka, Martin (advisor) ; Beran, Zdeněk (referee) ; Minta, Stephen (referee)
History is a major point of inquiry and exploration in all Byron's major, and many of his minor, works. Byron understands and conceptualizes history and its tight and troubled relationship with literature, drawing attention to the literariness of history and the historicity of literature in his wake. The aspiration to the 'truth' of history is, for Byron, a highly creative process, highlighting the cross-pollination of fact and fiction, and also exploring history's inherent theatricality. Historical writing shapes but, crucially, also distorts our understanding of history. The dramatic works of Lord Byron are, on the whole, traditionally the least critically explored territory of his oeuvre. Byron's singular understanding and conceptualization of history in his dramas is the focus of this study, comprising the seven dramatic works he wrote between 1820 and 1822. As this thesis shows, these dramas make up a dynamic dramatic project, creating a space of formal, discursive and thematic experimentation, which reveals not only Byron's intense involvement in matters of drama but also, in a wider perspective, his understanding and treatment of history. This study takes up Byron's treatment of history in his dramas and analyses it through the methodology of play laid out and adapted for use in literary...
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