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Oasis in the heart of Europe. Orientalism in Czech architecture of the 19th century
Vránová, Veronika ; Šmied, Miroslav (advisor) ; Czumalo, Vladimír (referee)
Europe of the early 19th century is searching for its new artistic persona. Several new and distinct directions come into being, all vying for a spot on the landscape of arts and for the leading position. This desire to search for new directions deepens Europe's interest in the Orient. Meeting of the West with the East goes all the way back to early Middle Ages and manifests through several phases all the way to the present day. Fascination by the Orient in the 19th century was connected mainly to Napoleon's Egypt campaign, Greek uprising against the Turks, France's conquest of Northern Africa, World Exhibition in London and excursions into exotic lands themselves undertaken by contemporary enthusiasts. The wave of orientalism permeated all levels of fine art. It is most often seen in painting, graphic arts and photography and seen the least in sculpture. The thesis follows the orientalism phenomenon from the end of 18th century to the First World War. The goal is to provide some insight into its influence on areas of the fine arts in central Europe and provide background for future research in doing so. Key focus of the thesis is the research of exotic tendencies in architecture in the Kingdom of Bohemia and presenting it in the context of oriental architecture of other countries under the...
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"Am I Not a Man and a Brother?": Representations of Slavery in the West Indies and Abolitionist Rhetoric on the Road to Emancipation
Bartová, Nikola ; Nováková, Soňa (advisor) ; Veselá, Pavla (referee)
This thesis is concerned with literature connected with the abolition of slavery in British colonies. The thesis will treat the topic of the abolitionist movement from the perspective of social, cultural and literary history from the beginnings until the abolition of slavery in British colonies in the Caribbean in 1833 with the Slavery Abolition Act. The thesis will focus on the discourse of race and slavery. The chosen authors represent different opinions and perspectives as the discussion will focus on sentimental poetry, travel writings as well as slave narratives. The chief aim is to identify and define the strategies of abolitionist discourse and the rhetorical practices which it employed especially in shaping the image of Africans and how the hegemonic discourse of sentimentalism influenced their writing. The first part of the thesis is concerned with establishing a theoretical background and the establishing of the literary traditions and customs of the eighteenth century, definition of the sentimental discourse and philosophies of the Enlightenment. This will be framed by a definition of Edward Said's "Orientalism" as well as Paul Gilroy's theory of the "Black Atlantic," which will enable us to define the space between Britain, Africa and the Caribbean, where the history of slavery of...
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A. I. Herzen's concept of Russia
Kožíšková, Lenka ; Nykl, Hanuš (advisor) ; Tumis, Stanislav (referee)
The thesis focuses on different conceptions of Russia developed throughout the philosophical- journalistic and prose works of an eminent Russian thinker of the 19th century - Alexander Herzen, who had lived and worked in Russia and later on continued his work as emigrant elsewhere in Europe. Applying E. Said's Orientalism, I. Buruma's and A. Margalit's Occidentalism, and A. Etkind's internal colonization, a representative sample of Hezen's work has been analyzed to embrace the changes of the author's perception of Russia. In particular, Etkind's concept is used to bridge the divergence between a conventional understanding of Orientalism directed upon Middle East and the canonical texts of the Russian 19th century (pre-revolutionary) intelligentsia. Herzen's work has been thus situated within the context of postcolonial studies. The analysis studies the images and scenes used by Herzen to build up his ideas and understandings of Russia and Europe, or more precisely his constructions of East and West, indirectly intertwined with the social characteristics of Russia and his various conceptions, including the imaginary role of Russian intelligentsia and the author's own role in Russia and Europe.
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Women in the English Drama of the Orient
Němcová, Nikol ; Nováková, Soňa (advisor) ; Kolinská, Klára (referee)
The subject of this BA thesis are plays set in the Orient, a new genre that started to gain popularity in the Restoration period. These plays, commonly inspired by the popular travelogues to the Orient and historical accounts, are characterised by their collection of stock characters, repeating topoi and orientalised images that represent the Orient more as a conception created by the West than an actual place. Nevertheless, in analysis of some of the plays I shall argue that these works also offer possible commentaries on the British society of the time and that they can be used as arguments criticizing or reinforcing the contemporary perception of women by dealing with such otherwise rather inaccessible themes as women stepping out of their social boundaries, femininity or female sexuality. In order to advocate my thesis I plan to use four different tragedies with Middle-Eastern settings, specifically Rhodes, Morocco, Turkey and Colchis (located mostly in present-day Georgia and Turkey). All these plays were written between 1663 and 1696 and might be considered some of the most representative examples of the genre. They include William Davenant's The Siege of Rhodes (1663), Elkanah Settle's The Empress of Morocco (1673), Mary Pix's Ibrahim, the Thirteenth Emperour of the Turks (1696) and...
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Imaginary Orientalism of Gustave Moreau in the Context of 19th Century Orientalism and Symbolism
Domincová, Eliška ; Prahl, Roman (advisor) ; Wittlich, Petr (referee)
The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to analyze the orientalist artwork of French painter Gustave Moreau in a context of orientalism and symbolism in the second half of the 19th century. The thesis focuses on comparing the representation of Orient in Moreau's art and its representation in painting in general, in particular in academic orientalism. Stylistic and thematic differences between traditional academic orientalism and the innovative approach of Gustave Moreau to the similar oriental subjects are examined. It also explores the position of Moreau's art in symbolist movement and his influence hereon. The core research method used in the thesis is studying the works of art mentioned in it and their analysis from iconographic, iconological and semiotic points of view. The author also examines primary textual sources (mainly artist's own thinking about art) and secondary literature concerning the life and art of Gustave Moreau, orientalism and its political context, and works on symbolism. The thesis consists of two parts. Part 1 deals with Moreau's orientalist art work within the frame of French orientalism of the second half of the 19th century, and it points out differences between Moreau's imaginary orientalism and the traditional academic orientalism. Chapter 1.1 describes the social and...
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The Image of India in the Czech Literature
Špicová, Zuzana ; Štipl, Zdeněk (advisor) ; Hříbek, Martin (referee)
(in English): This thesis deals with the image of India in Czech literature. The first part defines the basic concepts: imagology, autoimage and heteroimage, and outlines the ways in which European literature and culture created the images of India, dividing them into the British, French, German, and lastly the Czech. The following parts present the images created in Czech literature in two lines: the first are the images of the real India, i.e. namely of its nature, primitivism, poverty, and wealth, the second line shows the conceptions of the sacred India, particulary of faith, magic, and superstition. All the images are illustrated with a number of concrete textual examples of Czech poetry and prose. The conclusion evaluates the relation of the image of self to these images of the other, and summarizes their changes from the Luxembourg era so far.
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The Interwar Czechoslovak Perceptions of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's Reforms
Černý, Jáchym ; Vojtěchovský, Ondřej (advisor) ; Scholz, Milan (referee)
This bachelor thesis is focused on reformist policy of first Turkish president Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. The contemporary Czechoslovak reflection of these reforms in diplomatic correspondence and principal newspapers is examined. The frequency of articles about Atatürk's reforms is outlined in introduction by examination of several chosen newspapers during October and November 1933, when the Republic of Turkey celebrated its 10th anniversary. The second chapter follows republican reforms and divides them into larger blocks by their subject instead of chronological order. In the third chapter the overall Czechoslovak reflection on a sample of diplomatic dispatches sent by delegates from Turkey and daily press is examined. Articles are chosen from main journals with preferably nationwide impact. In the analysis of articles, he focus is given on those with critical and evaluative features. The analysis aims to reveal the contemporary discourse about Atatürk's reforms. In a wider approach, this thesis studies image of Turks as they were pictured in diplomatic reports and papers of interwar Czechoslovakia.
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Islamic Culture in Euro-Mediterranean Dialogue and its Reflection in the Czech Lands
Gombárová, Jana ; Soukup, Václav (advisor) ; Soukup, Martin (referee) ; Novotná, Yvona (referee)
PhDr. Jana Gombárová Islamic Culture in Euro-Mediterranean Dialogue and its Reflection in the Czech Lands Abstract The general aim of the present Ph.D. thesis is a reflection of Islamic culture within the Euro-Mediterranean multi-cultural dialogue. Its specific aim is a study of reflection of the Arab and Islamic communities in the Czech Republic. The first chapter provides methodological and theoretical analyses of the conceptions of "end of history" by Francis Fukuyama and "clash of civilisations" by Samuel P. Huntington, which provoked a wide and controversial discussion both around the world and in our country. It also provides an analysis of more recent "catastrophic scenarios" (Laqueur, Spencer, Rodrígez, Sarazin). The Islamic culture within the Euro-Mediterranean dialogue and with the history of Barcelona process of cooperation of the European Union with the South- Mediterranean countries, which culminated in founding of the Union for Mediterranean in 2010, are also included in the chapter. Anna Lindh Foundation as a European non- government organisation and its network in the Czech Republic is an object of special interest. The last part of the chapter includes the controversial results of the "Arab Spring" characterized by the rise of Islamists to power. The second chapter is focused on...
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Reflection of travellers' activities at the end of the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century in the work of Enrique Stanko Vráz
Motl, Jaroslav ; Rákosník, Jakub (advisor) ; Pullmann, Michal (referee)
Reflection of travellers' activities at the end of the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth century in Enrique Stanko Vráz's work The aim of the offered thesis is to study the issues of exotic lands' presentations given by Czech travellers. Attention is primarily paid to Enrique Stanko Vráz, his work and means of propagation of foreign countries. At the end of nineteenth century and the first half of twentieth century lectures, expositions and books of travels comprised an important part of informing the public about foreign lands. Countries outside of Europe attracted not only the people, who were coming to visit and experience them. But even people, who could not or did not want to leave their homes were longing for discovering those lands. The demand of reports from exotic places of our planet was undertaken by few Czech explorers, who decided to share their experience with the Czech public. The centre of the work will be the ways of the implementation and access of the travellers to the unique information. The main subject of the study will be the archive materials from the Náprstek museum archives and secondary literature from the field of travelling and orientalism.
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