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Story and its "what" and "about what"
Špína, Michal ; Bílek, Petr (advisor) ; Pokorný, Martin (referee)
The thesis deals with the question of interpretation of narrative works of fiction in regard to what the text refers to (what is usually termed reference). On the work of three differently focused authors (Frege, Ortega y Gasset, Shklovsky) it studies reference pushed aside as a thing unimportant or even impossible in art. Structuralism, developing mainly in France after 1960, supplants these questions with exploring the literalness of literary works and their inner relations, allowing narratology to arise. Subsequently, Paul Ricoeur aims for the synthesis of structuralism and hermeneutics. Approaching literary work as discourse, he distinguishes the "what" and "what about" of works, following Frege's distinction between sense and reference (meaning), while reference of a work is not descriptive. In Time and Narrative he uses the term refiguration instead of reference and emphasizes the temporal aspect of literary work and its reception. The thesis is closed with a brief interpretation of Budapest, a novel by Chico Buarque (2003).
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Comprehensive immigration reform suspended: Lessons from the U.S. Senate 2004-2010
Švajda, Michal ; Kozák, Kryštof (advisor) ; Calda, Miloš (referee)
The M.A. thesis "Comprehensive Immigration Reform Postponed: Lessons from the Senate 2004- 2010" elaborates upon the causes hindering in the years 2004 to 2010 the adoption of a comprehensive immigration reform in the United States of America. The main goal of the thesis is to assess the consequences of the polarization of the American political scene on the immigration reform and to evaluate the party divide on the matter upon the floor remarks made by the members of Senate Committee on the Judiciary taking in account the differences in between the 109th and 111th Senate. The focus on the Committee on the Judiciary is justified by the role played by its members in the drafting process of particular reform proposals. The scope of the polarization of the Committee is assessed upon the aggravated means attributed to the most dominant narratives used by the senators. The remarks used in the evaluation are addressed in the context of the most significant contemporary factors influencing the polarization of American political scene as well as under the light of the development surpassing the domestic affairs.
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The psychology of story
Pithartová Slachová, Helena ; Bahbouh, Radvan (advisor) ; Uhlář, Pavel (referee)
In the theoretical part of dissertation main ideas and concepts of narrative psychology are reviewed. The notion of both narrative and paradigmatic knowing coined by Jerome Bruner is explained. The importance of story and narrative for organizing and understanding human experience is discussed. Other psychological functions of both story and narrative metaphor are mentioned. In the empirical part selected stories that could be considered as a part of European cultural heritage (cultural meta-narratives) are analysed. The methods used for story analysis are TAT (ThematicApperception Test) and CCRT (Core Conflictual Relationship Theme, Luborsky et al.). The aim of the empirical part is to verify the construct of "a latent story". Another goal is to identify repeating motives in the selected stories, that could be used as a form of projective method. Keywords Story, narrative, latent story, narrative psychology, myth.
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Postmodern Characteristics of KURT VONNEGUT
Adamová, Kateřina ; Klumparová, Štěpánka (advisor) ; Kubíček, Tomáš (referee)
This thesis analyzes narrative strategies of Kurt Vonnegut as a postmodern author with a specific style. The first part defines postmodernism as opposed to modernism and explains all essential notions to provide the theoretical background. This part also includes a biographical element, describing the important events of the author's life, as these had a major influence on his work. Second part of the thesis analyzes the narrative style of the two selected books, Breakfast of Champions and Mother Night. The conclusion summarizes the most important specifics of the author's narrative strategies and style in the given books. This thesis presents Kurt Vonnegut as a significant and influential representative of postmodern American literature of the second half of the 20th century. Vonnegut fully employs the narrative strategies typical for this period, and by experimenting he creates his own unique style.
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Corruption as Narrative
Fiala, Šimon ; Kotík, Michal (advisor) ; Volek, Martin (referee)
FIALA, Šimon. Political corruption as a narrative. Prague, 2012. Undergraduate thesis (BA). Charles University in Prague, Faculty of social sciences, Institute of social studies. Dept. of Sociology. p. 59. Supervised by Mgr. Michal Kotík. Abstract Political corruption became one of the most pressing problems of our time. We may say that corruption replaced repression as the main threat to the rule of law. This work attempts to articulate the role of corruption in relation to system legitimacy, assuming Czech Republic and the CEE countries as a model. This work approaches corruption as a narrative, which is being mobilized by the public as a critique of the way the system works. Conventionally, corruption is thought of as a pathology, which damages democracy, quality of governance and economic growth. It will be argued that it also makes sense to think about corruption the other way around - as an interpretive structure which allows introducing sense into the complex organization of society and particularly its negative outcomes. Corruption is a narrative, which allows the public to relate to problems stemming from the workings of the system. This work identifies several dimensions of the problem. It argues that corruption has a notable social dimension, which addresses inequality and injustice in general....
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Family Stories about school
Hávová, Markéta ; Viktorová, Ida (advisor) ; Kučera, Miloš (referee)
This bachelor thesis is focused on the narrative, which parents of their children tell. The narrative is focused on the area schools and school environment. The theoretical part of the thesis introduces the reader first with the importance of storytelling in our lives. In the text are cited ideas and theories of experts, who are interested in the topic a long time. Next is another important area of work related to the topic - chapter about the significance of family, intergenerational transmission, family stories and family myths. Another important part is the empirical research. The aim of our research is effort to capture the image of the school passed between generations and capture which functions fulfill family story in the case of school material. Written text of children, who talk about what their parents told them about school, served to fulfill our research plan. Pupil's essays were collected and analyzed. There were six classes of second-degree of two selected primary schools. Analysis of data showed that the family story is told and serve to family cohesion. Furthermore, it appeals that children have to right to be naughty. Child who is naughty occasionally, it is joyous and happy. Finaly, it was found that the school is important and significant for family, but parents also show your...
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Origins of the Czech and Slovak Digital Narrativity: The History of Text Computer Games in Czechoslovakia
Šidlichovský, Pavel ; Švelch, Jaroslav (advisor) ; Connelly Kohutová, Radka (referee)
The present diploma work describes the early development of digital narrative on the territory of the former Czechoslovakia in the 80's and at the beginning of the 90's of the 20th century. In that period, the text adventure game production and use were influenced by the socio-cultural and economic environment in the east-European Communist bloc, and by its following transformation into a democratic system with market economy. That brought about unique approaches to the computer game development and playing, and it also led to a formation of a cultural phenomenon of digital text games connected with the context of that time. The text deals with a brief historic development of digital game playing in the world, and a general situation in the information technologies on the territory of the former Czechoslovakia including direct participants' selected opinions. Within the framework of the present work, basic theoretical approaches have been presented, examining the adventure games genre, and especially their narrative part and the principles of intertextuality. The latter have been described using the examples of the respective Czechoslovak game production.
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Aesthetic Experience, Paradox of Time and Event Horizons
Pačesová, Klára ; Dadejík, Ondřej (advisor) ; Ševčík, Miloš (referee)
The main topic of the thesis is the temporal dimension of aesthetic experience in its relation to memory and imagination. The initial approach to the topic is the concept of relationship between time and narrative of Paul Ricoeur, primarily contained in his three volume book entitled Time and Narrative. Gradually, the specificity of the time experience will be investigated, as well as operations of memory and imagination in narrative fiction. Attention is focused on a narrative as means to designate a coherent whole, respectively a meaningful concatenation of events. The main relationship explored is the interaction between the world of work and the lived world. The functionality of theoretical views is presented on the work of French director Chris Marker, especially on his two films La Jetée (1962) and Sans Soleil (1982).
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Three stories between East and West: "Virtuous young man", "Divine lover", "Sacrifice of a child"
Špicová, Zuzana ; Vojvodík, Josef (advisor) ; Pokorný, Martin (referee)
The thesis deals with the realization of three narratives -"Virtuous Young Man", "Divine Lover", and "Sacrifice of a Child"- in diverse literatures of East and West. Basic form, characters/(arche)types, and motifs and their possible variations depending on cultural, literary, and religious/mythological setting are presented for each plot. Using historical and comparative poetics, each plot is analysed from the first extant adaptations in European and non-European literatures to the modern ones. The thesis puts an emphasis on specification and configuration of particular motifs, variations depending on the religious-mythological context, and tension between the same and different, general pattern and specific realization, type and character.
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Disease is neutral - Life with "depression"
Vojtková, Lucie ; Šmídová, Olga (advisor) ; Praško Pavlov, Ján (referee)
This thesis is inspired by the theory of social construction of mental illness. The work is a case study that uses the metaphor of the story and narrative analysis of interviews examining the individual human experience with mental illness. My goal was to find out what makes us understand the disease and how this understanding can be used in a daily struggle with the disease. In the theoretical part, I drew from documented knowledge about mental illness, particularly for depressive disorder and schizophrenia simplex. Then I presented the narrative approach as a legitimate way of exploring understanding of lived experience. The practical part is implemented as a case study and through narrative analysis provides interesting insight into the way of understanding and coping with mental illness a person who has the expertise and also suffer from mental illness. Key words: mental illness, social construction, narrative, narrative approach, the dominant medical discourse, depression, schizophrenia simplex, stigma, coping strategies.
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