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Japan in the novels of the British writer Kazuo Ishiguro
Kráľová, Martina ; Beran, Zdeněk (referee) ; Hilský, Martin (advisor)
As we have seen, the fact that Japanese culture plays an important role in all three of Ishiguro's early novels appears to be virtually incontestable. In the first two novels, Japan is present not only on the obvious level of setting and characters. Ishiguro employs and simultaneously subverts the Western stereotypes about Japan, like the notion of obedient Japanese women, or the myth about the Japanese propensity to suicide. The novels also share a controlled and almost minimalist style of narration, which shows distinct traces of the Japanese cinema of the 1950's and of the Japanese aesthetic concept of mono no aware. Moreover, Ishiguro cleverly manipulates the speech of his characters and makes the Japanese language filter through the perfect English diction. As for The Remains of the Day, a critical perspective, which views this novel as purely English without any relation to the Oriental culture, provides enough means to cover the novel to a satisfying degree. However, if the reader has a chance to take into account the Japanese background of the author and the context of Japanese culture, he may discover Oriental elements at the very heart of butler Stevens: in his motives, in his conduct, in his understanding of his vocation and in his view of his position in the context of humanity. Such a reader...
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Two translations of Lady Chatterley's Lover by S. Jílovská and F. Vrba
Petrášková, Radka ; Kalivodová, Eva (advisor) ; Abdallaova, Naděžda (referee)
This thesis attempts to explore the role of the translator's gender in the two translations of D. H. Lawrence's novel Lacfy Chatterlry's Lover. Within the limited context of an M.A. thesis, the writer submits the following: 1. A biography of D. H. Lawrence and a short overv1ew and periodization of his extensive work. 2. An exploration of the position of D.H. Lawrence among his contemporaries together with an attempt to determine his position in the context of the modernist movement and other literary streams and of his life and of the previous epoch. 3. A short overview of D. H. Lawrence's individual philosophy, his attitude to and understanding of women and men women relationships and the reflection of these views in Lawrence's work. An exploration of Lawrence's fiction of women and his fiction woman's experience of physical love is included. 4. An overview of the genesis of D. H. Lawrence's novel Lacfy Chatteriry'J Lover, including a factual appraisal of previous versions and an account of its content. A more comprehensive coverage of the topic follows, including an account of the reception of D. H. Lawrence's work in Great Britain and in the USA, and of Lacfy Chatterlry'.r Lover in particular, as well as Lawrence's clash with censorship. There is an examination of the early reception of Lawrence's work...
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Jan Škvorecký - Danny's Kostelec
Bergrová, Adéla ; Dvořáková, Michaela (referee) ; Županič, Jan (advisor)
The Czech writer Josef Škvorecký is born in Náchod, Czechoslovakia, in 1924. Škvorecký graduated in 1943 from the Reálné gymnasium in his native Náchod. During the War he spent two years as a slave labourer in a German aircraft factory. After the Second World War, he started studying at the Faculty of Medicine of Charles University in Prague. Having finished the first term, he left the Faculty of Medicine for the Faculty of Arts. He studied English and Philosophy. He received his Ph.D. in Philosophy in 1951.In 1952 - 1954, he performed his military service in the Czechoslovak army. He wrote his first novel, Zbabělci (The Cowards), between 1948 and 1949. Set during the last days of the Second World War, the novel was criticized when first published in 1958 for not depicting this historical event in a more heroic, Socialist-Realist manner. As a result, Škvorecký was unable to publish again until the early 1960s. Škvorecký received his doctorate in English literature at Charles University in Prague in 1951, after which he took up a career as a teacher and editor.
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Towards the analysis of Ludwig Winders novel "Der Thronfolger. Ein Franz Ferdinand Roman" in the context of the narrative of early and late work of its author
Broukalová, Jindra ; Krolop K., (advisor) ; Stromšík, Jiří (referee) ; Tvrdík, Milan (referee)
Ludwig Winder patri k vyraznym predstavitelum prazske nemecke li teratury mezi valecneho obdobi. Po smrti Franze Kafky se stal clenem Prazskeho kruhu. Rodistem i nekterymi rysy sve tvorby je zaroven spjat s moravskou nemecky psanou literaturou. Narodil se 7. 2. 1889 v moravskem Safove a zemrel 16. 6. 1946 v anglickem Baldocku. Po maturi te na nemecke obchodni akademii v Olomouci nastoupil Winder do redakce videnskeho levicove liberalniho listu "Wiener Zeitung" a zurnalistice zustal verny po cely zi vot. Jeho novinarske pusobeni je spj ato predevsim s prazskym nemeckym denikem "Deutsche Zeitung Bohemia", v nemz byl 25 let redaktorem. Po pocatecnim tvurcim hledani se Ludwig Winder venoval proze, v niz byl cenen predevsim pro svou vecnost a objektivitu. Pozornost kri tiky i ctenaru upoutal Winder romanem "Zidovske varhany", ktery je pokladan za j eho nejvyznamnejsi dilo. Asi v polovine 20. let dvacateho stoleti se Winder odklani od expresionismu, ktery se u neho plne projevil pouze v romanu "Kasai" z roku 1917, a v j eho tvorbe se prosadila pro neho tak typicka vecnost, ktera se ohlasovala jiz v drivejsich pracich a byla v souladu s li terarnim proudem nove vecnosti, prevladaj icim tehdy v nemecky psane literature. Za roman "Stefi aneb Dörrova rodina prekonava krizi" a s prihlednutim k dosavadni literarni...
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Usage and meaning of extinct Germanic languages in the novels of J. R. R. Tolkien
Kales, Josef ; Ženíšek, Jakub (advisor) ; Matuchová, Klára (referee)
About 450 anthroponyms and toponyms associated with the English literary works The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are either borrowed from or etymologically (mostly as asterisk names) located into difference languages other than English as the reference language. This huge figure includes names from earlier versions of the narrative and excludes a huge number of proper names in wholly distinct Tolkien's invented tongues (actually several hundred), a few dozen elements pertaining to older stages of English as early as the Middle English period and more than 60 names from Classical languages and as a whole based on generic or botanical names, which, technically, are not proper names from extinct languages.
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The transformation of the "Sanftes Gesetz" by Stifter from "Studien" to "Der Nachsommer"
Balcarová, Markéta ; Zbytovský, Štěpán (referee) ; Tvrdík, Milan (advisor)
In my thesis, I focused on Adalbert Stifter's concept of nature and explored how he develops it, from his early collection of short stories Studies (Studien) to his later collection Colorful Stones (Bunte Steine) and finally in his novel entitled Indian Summer (Der Nachsommer). I also worked on identifying to what degree it was influenced by "the gentle law" (das sanfte Gesetz) , formulated in the Preface (Vorrede) to Colorful Stones. In my introduction, I attempted a summary of the Biedermeier characteristics present in Stifter's work. In addition, I touched on the traits of previous or emerging literary movements that heavily influenced Stifter, whose work is generally considered as typical of the Biedermeier movement. In order to forge links between "the gentle law" and the prose chosen for analysis, I also addressed the Preface to Colorful Stones, where "the gentle law" is conceptualised. Using the examples "big" (groß), "small" (klein) and "gentle" (sanft), I established that there is already an anticipation of "the gentle law" in Studies and that the principles of "the gentle law" can also be found in his later novel, Indian Summer. The chapter in which I follow the development of Stifter's nature concept constitutes the principal part of my thesis. I distinguish between five concepts of nature, so as...
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Klostermann¨s bohemian forest. The picture of the Bohemian Forest in Klostermann's tales and novels
Kofroňová, Lenka ; Pechová, Drahoslava (referee) ; Stejskalová, Anna (advisor)
Thema dieser Diplomarbeit ist die Darstellung des Böhmerwaldes und seiner Bewohner im Werk von Karl Klostermann. Zur Analysis sind Klostermann's Romane Ze světa lesních samot, V ráji šumavském, Kam spějí děti, Skláři und zwei Zyklen der Erzählungen V srdci šumavských hvozdů a Odysea soudního sluhy benützt. Das Ziel war der Böhmerwald als Ganzes, seine Veränderungen im Laufe der Zeit und seine eigenartige Bewohner im Klostermann's Werk. V Einzige Werke sind aus dem Genregesichtspunkt analysiert. Beachtung schenke ich auch den literarischen Anfängen des Schriftstellers, seiner künstlerischen Entwicklung und schriftweiser Reife. In dem Erzählungschaffen richte ich vor allem auf die Personen, die verschiedene Typen der Böhmerwaldbewohner darstellen, im Fall des Romans prüfen wir hauptsächlich die Darstellung der Böhmerwaldlandschaft und ihr Einfluss auf ihre Bewohner, die hier leben. Die bedeutendsten Romane, die sog. Böhmerwaldtrilogie bilden, sind als selbstständige Kapitel verarbeitet und diese Kapitel bilden den Kern der Diplomarbeit. Am Ende der Arbeit charakterisiere ich noch kurz Klostermann's Schaffen als Ganzes und ich versuche seine Darstellungen des Böhmerwaldes mit Darstellungen anderer Schrifststeller, z. B. Josef Rank, Adalbert Stifter ua., zu vergleichen. Und schließlich bemühe ich Bedeutung und...
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The story of diverse readings. Reception of Kundera's novel Žert (The Joke) and Třetí sešit směšných lásek (Laughable Loves) in Czech and German speaking context
Rennerová, Jana ; Bílek, Petr (advisor) ; Holý, Jiří (referee)
Reakce publika na Kunderův román Žert a Směšné lásky248 (opět reakce zejména na Třetí sešit směšných lásek) byly velmi různorodé. Žert pochopilo publikum českého prostředí jako historické svědectví o událostech padesátých a začátku šedesátých let. V procesu imaginárního dialogu mezi románem a publikem vyvstala hodnota dobového dokumentu, který velmi specifickým, důmyslně pojatým a detailně promyšleným způsobem promluvil o historických událostech padesátých let. Milan Kundera skrze svůj román Žert nabídl publiku jednu z prvních otevřených reflexí této doby. Recepční proces byl rozpoután, Žert se prakticky ihned stal ikonou českého poválečného literárního vývoje, od Zbabělců Josefa Škvoreckého ikonou zřejmě nejpřekvapivější. Publikum ihned přisoudilo románu svébytné místo v literárním kontextu. Recepční proces, jak ukázaly jeho doklady, však téměř opomněl upozornit na literární kvality románu. Často je sice v ohlasech české recepce Žertu zdůrazněn význam polyfonní kompozice románu, důležitost postav; román ale nebyl viděn ve své pravé románové podstatě: jako dílo, které na rozsáhlé ploše zpracovává a osvětluje jednak téma událostí padesátých let, jednak téma identity člověka ve společnosti, a které zpracováním těchto témat nutí své publikum k emocionální zainteresovanosti. Žert musel své čtenáře strhnout,...
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French reception of Czech written novels by Milan Kundera
Jelenová, Tereza ; Hrbata, Zdeněk (referee) ; Bílek, Petr (advisor)
The thesis deals with French acceptance of and reaction to Czech written novels by Milan Kundera which were published in France between 1979 and 1990. The thesis presents French reception of three books: The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, The Unbearable Lightness of being and Immortality. We are approching the pieces by applying the receptional and aestetical theory. The aim is to present that one work can be read in many ways, then we illustrate concretely how the opinions of the reviewers differ, how they comprehend the novels and how they describe them. The thesis is divided into ten parts. There is an introduction, the second part (theoretic base), the third part (short presentation of French press), three big parts named after three novels, whose French reception we are dealing with, a conclusion, a summary in Czech, a summary in English and a bibliography. Each of the three big chapters is also divided into smaller chapters, in which we subdivide the reception of literary context, the reception of genre, characters, themes and composition and also the evaluation of author and his novel. In the conclusion, we resume the development of the image of Milan Kundera and his novel in French reception, we describe the metaphors in the language of reviewers and we submit the analysis of the French press. In...
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Jean-Philippe Toussaint and New novel
Veselá Segetová, Zuzana ; Pohorský, Aleš (referee) ; Voldřichová - Beránková, Eva (advisor)
This thesis deals with the question whether Jean-Philippe Toussaint's work resembles the work of the authors of the New novel, particularly Alain Robbe-Grillet. The thesis initiates with the topics covered by the New Novel: the main ideas and their realization and characteristics of the new writing style. This is followed by the analysis of a contemporary Belgian author, Jean-Philippe Toussaint. There is a short introduction of his life and character, his work and reasons why he is so popular and how he became a success. The main point of this part is the analysis of his writing style and its development from his early novels up to his present work. This thesis tries to look into the similarities and differences of J.-P. Toussaint's work and the work of the authors of the New novel. It mainly focuses on the use of objects, what role they play in Toussaint's novels, how they are described and the importance of their description for understanding the plot. The analysis begins with an introduction to the 1950s' new wave authors, later called the authors of the New novel, and their complaints aimed at the classical 19th century novel. We base this part mainly on Alain Robbe-Grillet's ideas. This author totally rejects classical plot, characters, accurate description of reality and linear time-flow. Instead, he...
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