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Something Gone Wrong With the Silence: The Motif of Voice in Samuel Beckett's Embers, Eh Joe and That Time
Kiryushina, Galina ; Pilný, Ondřej (advisor) ; Wallace, Clare (referee)
in English The primary concern of this thesis lies in the investigation of the motif of voice, and its various forms and functions, in three selected plays by Samuel Beckett. One of his lifelong preoccupations, the motif of voice already pervades much of Beckett's early prosaic work finding its more suitable and sophisticated realization in the author's later dramatic works for radio, television and theatre. Throughout the author's entire oeuvre, the motif of voice is called for on many different occasions: voices are engaged in the creation of both characters and the external reality surrounding them; Beckett's narrators are concerned with the voices ceaselessly echoing within their heads; voices represent the characters' memories and past selves becoming, eventually, characters in their own right. Embers, Eh Joe and That Time were deliberately chosen for the investigation of the nature of such a motif on the basis of the correspondence of their contents, as well as of the difference in their realization involving three different media. The introductory chapter foreshadows the origins of the motif of voice in Beckett's non-dramatic texts, as well as it attempts to outline several basic features of the motif in connection to its realization within the dramatist's work. The chapter briefly considers...
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A Comparison of Short Stories by Katherine Mansfield and Elizabeth Bowen
Synková, Blanka ; Wallace, Clare (advisor) ; Nováková, Soňa (referee)
This thesis compares short stories by the New Zealand-born author Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923) and the Anglo-Irish writer Elizabeth Bowen (1899-1973), namely Mansfield's short story collection Bliss and Other Stories (1920) and Bowen's The Demon Lover and Other Stories (1945). It aims to offer a relatively complex view: it discusses the form as well as the content of the short stories, illustrating the arguments with concrete examples from the short stories, famous ones as well as less known; it suggests various influences that may reflect in the short stories, it offers opinions of notable critics on the individual authors and it also occasionally mentions the authors' own opinions on their work and literature in general. There are three chapters in the body of the thesis. One of them provides contextual information about the possible influences that may have shaped the authors' writing as well as about some critical approaches to their work. The other two chapters analyse the form and content of the stories, respectively. The discussion of formal aspects of Mansfield's and Bowen's short stories focuses on various features of the short stories that may be described as impressionist or lyrical, and on technical devices that may be compared to film. The analysis of content is concerned especially...
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Brian Friel's Conception of Forming History and Its Implications
Kantorová, Aneta ; Pilný, Ondřej (advisor) ; Wallace, Clare (referee)
Thesis Abstract The aim of this thesis is to provide a thorough overview of Brian Friel's attitude to historical writing based on an analysis of three of his plays that directly deal with the themes of Irish history and heritage - Translations, The Communication Cord, and Making History. The plays are analyzed from different perspectives, applying various sources and influences shaping Friel's understanding of the concept of history as such and its fictional representation in art. Upon this careful examination, major tendencies in Friel's historical writing are revealed offering a concise characterization of not only the plays in question but also of the Irish historical consciousness in general. The thesis is divided into four major chapters - one providing a theoretical background which would be later applied to the other three parts that deal directly with Friel's works. The theoretical part is further divided into a brief summary of the philosophy of history and a short introduction of the Field Day Theatrical Company. The former segment is based on Hayden White's Metahistory for he treats historical writing as a narrative rather than a scientific objective report. This part follows the development of the concept of history, truth, and art, and is mainly focused on Friedrich Nietzsche as an ideological...
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The Development of Mimetic Desire towards Latent Conflict in the Work of Katherine Mansfield
Nováčková, Zuzana ; Wallace, Clare (advisor) ; Nováková, Soňa (referee)
Thesis abstract Using Aristotelian notion of imitative behaviour and René Girard's theory of mimetic desire, several stories by Katherine Mansfield are analysed in order to demonstrate the development of mimetic desire together with its implications. The analysis follows the negative aspects of mimesis: the problems it causes in relationships, as well as the positive aspects including the self-knowledge. Since Mansfield's stories do not correspond fully to Girard's theory, the analysis explores a specific way of dealing with mimetic desire: keeping the conflict latent. At first, the stories about childhood offer an insight into Aristotelian concept of mimesis - imitative behaviour being a natural and pleasing human activity that is best observed in children's plays. The stories show how children choose their models, how they comprehend the world that surrounds them, especially the interpersonal and social codes, and how important is imagination in their mimetic activities. The analysis proceeds from natural imitation to the origins of mimetic desire, focusing on two modes of mediation and on the process of realization of one's own self-authenticity. The search for self-authenticity is possible due to external or internal mediation of desire. The transition from one type to the other is explained by the...
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The past as a leitmotif in Stewart Parker's dramatic work for stage
Raisová, Michaela ; Pilný, Ondřej (advisor) ; Wallace, Clare (referee)
The main objective of this thesis is to analyze the use of the past in Stewart Parker's dramatic work for the stage. A recent historian Hayden White formulated that the work of a historian is in fact similar to the work of a historical fiction writer - the difference lies mainly in the extent of their invention. In that respect, Parker's work can be regarded as a fictional alternative to the official depiction of history. In his plays, Stewart Parker often deals with the Troubles and Northern Irish history and politics. Apart from using real historical events around which Parker revolves the plot of his plays, he often explores the effects of personal pasts of his characters and uses it as leading dynamics in the plays. The main motto of his plays is 'coming to terms with the past'. His plays also often feature ghosts which can be regarded as a reflection of the past. In my thesis, I examine their role and Parker's use of the past in Spokesong, Catchpenny Twist, Nightshade, Pratt's Fall, Northern Star, Heavenly Bodies and Pentecost.
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The American Identity in the Works of David Mamet and Sam Shepard
Sičák, Michal ; Wallace, Clare (advisor) ; Ulmanová, Hana (referee)
In my thesis I focused on the matter of the relationship of Americans during the decades after World War II to their own identity, as well as to the myths of the West or consumer society. I wanted to compare these aspects on plays by Sam Shepard and David Mamet, two playwrights concerned with similar issues in 1960s and 1970s. In the theoretical part of the thesis I concentrated on the development of the American theater off Broadway. I described three significant theater groups of the era and the differences in their approach. I based the comparison of the plays on Richard Schechner's performance theory and J. L. Austin's theory of the so-called "performatives." Later I discussed the matters of rituals and myths in the postmodern society where I based my theory especially on Victor Turner's and Marie Maclean's work. The two main chapters are dealing with comparing two plays by each author with regard to the way Shepard and Mamet work with rituals and modern myths. Those are considered commonplace, insufficient, almost misleading in a modern society, and the plays' characters thus cannot cope with the society. They end up being on its outer edge and do not seem to be able to find the way back. As a result of the comparison of the plays based on the theoretical part I concluded that even though from the...
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Boland, McGuckian and Groarke: nature and the self in three contemporary Irish women poets
Skálová, Alena ; Wallace, Clare (advisor) ; Quinn, Justin (referee)
This thesis comprises historical and critical introduction to contemporary women's poetry in Ireland and close reading of three poets of its two latest generations, Eavan Boland, Medbh McGuckian and Vona Groarke. It focuses on her perception of nature and attitude to the relationship between the human self and natural processes and objects. The contextual background to my reading emphasizes the feminist critique of the traditional false images of the woman's self in Irish poetry and politics, and suggests new opportunities of the most recent female poetic voices. The culturally rooted simplifying or even harmful connection between femininity and the fertile land or Catholic ideals of virginity has provoked a lot of indignation among contemporary women poets, and caused abundant literary attempts of its re-negotiation. The authentic poetic representation of the woman's sexual and spiritual connection to the land and nature along with women's subjective use of nature imagery belongs to crucial points of this re-negotiation. It is pursued extensively in all of the poetesses discussed in this paper. My close reading considers the political objectives of the poems and notices different modes of their artistic response to the relevant cultural questions. Nevertheless, it emphasizes also the independence...
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The picaresque in Angela Carter
Mečířová, Eliška ; Nováková, Soňa (advisor) ; Wallace, Clare (referee)
in English This MA thesis focuses on the analysis of picaresque elements and traces of the picaresque genre in chosen novels of Angela Carter, namely her two most picaresque novels: The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman (1972) and Nights at the Circus (1984). However, as I have strived to prove throughout the analysis, Carter's earlier novels from the sixties, The Magic Toyshop (1967), and Heroes and Villains (1969) are also rich in picaresque themes and motives of the journey and therefore deserve to have their place in the analysis too. In the introduction the dissertation traces the history of the picaresque from its sixteenth-century Spanish roots until its more modern and postmodern development. It also stresses that in relation to Carter's work it is important to take into account her intertextuality. In describing it Linden Peach borrows Julia Kristeva's quotation from Semiotike, Recherches pour un Semanalyse where she observes that: "Every text builds itself as a mosaic of quotations, every text is absorption and transformation of another text."1 For Carter this is especially valid - her novels are hybrid, multi-layered mosaics which use and at the same time subvert mythology, the Bible, European and English literary works, Renaissance drama (Shakespeare), fairy-stories and folk...
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Folklore and myth on stage: a comparison of their use in revival and contemporary Irish drama
Kurz, Matouš ; Pilný, Ondřej (advisor) ; Wallace, Clare (referee)
of the Thesis The topic of this thesis is the use of mythology and folklore in Irish drama from the era of the Irish National Revival and the contemporary period. It focuses closely just on two plays, The Countess Cathleen by William Butler Yeats, representing the Revival period, and At the Black Pig's Dyke by Vincent Woods, representing the contemporary era. The thesis is divided into six chapters. The introductory chapter explains how the terms folklore and mythology are defined and used in the thesis. It also provides some basic background to Irish culture and literature. The second chapter presents the events that conditioned the development in Ireland until the end of the nineteenth century, describing the circumstances that led to the Irish National Revival. The third chapter is dealing with the life of W. B. Yeats, his involvement in the Revival, and also the sources of his inspiration and motivation for writing. Another focal point of this chapter is The Countess Cathleen, its background, origin, reception, and the folklore and mythological elements it contains. In the fourth chapter, a short account of the changes in Irish drama during the last hundred years is given. It focuses on some of the events that had a direct impact not only on the life in Ireland, but also on the modern Irish...
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