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Xenologies: Sociality on an Alien Planet
Bohal, Vít ; Armand, Louis (advisor) ; Horáková, Jana (referee) ; Malečková, Dita (referee)
(ENG): The dissertation explores the use of the morpheme 'xeno' in anglophone theory and literature, and aims to formulate a comparative xenology which would address its contemporary meaning and significations. The term 'Xenology' has existed since the 1950s, largely denoting a speculative science researching alien life, and Part I provides a historically reflexive analysis of the xenologies of the second half of the twentieth century, culminating with a critical analysis of the project Xenologies: Immigrant Instruments by avant-garde artist Krzysztof Wodiczko. Part II then moves to formulate a comparative xenology drawing on contemporary projects which have notably utilized the xeno and its relation to the alien, uncanny or other. A central feature of the discourse is the xeno's collusion with the social sphere - where some theorists use it as an index towards a sublime transhumanism, others develop its original social resonances; this dissonance is addressed throughout the work. As a meta-narrative on the xeno today, comparative xenology is constructed around three modes - the figural, the procedural and inhuman - which are discussed in relation to three contemporary xenoprojects - xenofeminism, xeno-architecture and xenoplanetarity, respectively. Part III then features a glossary of the most...
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"Legs apart as the tide came in": Fluid Sexual Personae of Ann Quin
Černá, Michaela ; Vichnar, David (advisor) ; Armand, Louis (referee)
This thesis focuses on the "sexual personae" in the oeuvre of the British novelist Ann Quin. The aim of the thesis is to map out a basic overview of the types of characters appearing throughout the author's work, point out the significant patterns involved in their construction and the approach to these figures. The analysis draws from the arguments maintained in the research regarding this author so far, and works of psychoanalysis, especially the oeuvre of Sigmund Freud since his works contain analyses of the phenomena discussed in relation to the characters observed in this thesis, and other texts influenced by psychoanalysis. The analysis follows four thematic spheres significant in the works of Ann Quin: the family environment, gender roles, triangular relationships and violence. These thematic circles significantly shape the archetypal nature of Quin's characters. The thesis indicates the resurfacing attributes "typifying" Quin's characters in the context of sexuality, and also attempts to provide a comparative reflection of these "personae." KEY WORDS Ann Quin, sexuality, persona, British literature, 1960s, experimental woman writer
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Forking the Path: A Study of Hypertext
Ismiyeva, Narmin ; Armand, Louis (advisor) ; Vichnar, David (referee)
Bc. Narmin Ismiyeva Diplomová práce Forking the Path: A Study of Hypertext/Rozvětvené cestičky: Studie hypertextu Vedoucí práce: Louis Armand, Ph.D. Praha 2022 Abstract The aim of the present thesis is to critically engage with the concept of hypertext and to outline various approaches to it. Hypertext will first be interpreted theoretically and will engage with the philosophical notions of logocentrism. It will be viewed as a process of non-sequential writing that is characteristic not only for electronic literatures but for writing in general. Second, hypertext will be approached as a system that allows one to create, read, perceive, store, and utilize information in a particular way. This system makes the patterns of non-sequentiality inherent in writing visible. Third, hypertext will be viewed as a technique, the implementation of which will be analyzed in relation to the concepts of the performativity of art and language. Key Words: hypertext, hypermedia studies, digital media, logocentrism, avant-garde, performativity
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Reflections of the deleuzian "time-image" in the films of Andrei Tarkovsky and of Alain Resnais
Konoreva, Evguenia ; Roraback, Erik Sherman (advisor) ; Armand, Louis (referee)
During the twentieth century, cinematography matured into an independent and potent form of art. Film as a sequence of images caught in continuity presents a unique tool of capturing time; it allows the viewer to observe the manipulation of temporal and of spatial values, which before was not possible in the arts. Furthermore, the technical and aesthetic conceptualization of cinematography was evolutionarily developing during its short history and, according to Deleuze, saw a major break after Citizen Kane (1941)and most forcefully following the Second World War. This break resulted in the emergence of the so-called 'time-image', which in its essence reveals a radical alienation of the individual in contemporary society, but seeks to establish a new philosophy of space and time in a disorientated post-war world. The present analyses of the films chosen in this project aimed at revealing the new realities created by our two chosen film-makers. These realities echo the complexity and ambiguity of the contemporary individuality; these are the realities of a post-war subjectivity, one that is at one stroke both questioned and fragmented. Both Alain Resnais and Andrei Tarkovsky, whose bodies of work were conditioned by the emergence of a new post-modern consciousness, created a new cinematic style and also...
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Literary semiotics in the early works of Harry Mathews
Stankovianska, Veronika ; Armand, Louis (advisor) ; Roraback, Erik Sherman (referee)
This thesis is concerned with the early works of American novelist Harry Mathews { in particular the literary semiotics of Mathews' The Sink- ing of the Odradek Stadium. The work also sets out to deal with Mathews' relationship to the avant-garde collective Oulipo (Ouvroir de Litt¶erature Po- tentielle/Workshop for Potential Literature) and the collective's project of formal experimentation. \Potential literature," treated as a function of sign systems, is approached through a comparative analysis of structures and re- lations found in seemingly disconnected branches of mathematics.
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(Post)Modern Inferno: Flann O'Brien's The Third Policeman between modern and medieval netherworlds
Ruczaj, Maciej ; Pilný, Ondřej (advisor) ; Armand, Louis (referee)
I have discussed earlier Noman's hallucinatory experience of "woodenness" spreading across his whole body - "a dry timber poison killing me" (119). It provides another stage in the consistently allegorical construction of the motif. Noman's moment of enlightenment, the possibility of the discovery of an allegorical meaning, is of course immediately distorted by the fact that Noman is already dead and - if his dwelling-place is hell - there is no possibility of further degradation, he is all "wood" by now. "Woodenness" he correctly associates with death, yet as always he misses the point as it is primarily a "spiritual" death that is signalized here.
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Edward W. Said: postcolonial studies and the politics of literary theory
Machátová, Bibiana ; Armand, Louis (advisor) ; Roraback, Erik Sherman (referee)
I first heard the name of Edward W. Said in a university seminar two years ago. His name was mentioned by one of my American teachers and not many of us knew who Edward Said was. After trying to find out who he was I was amazed that I had never heard about one of the most widely known and controversial intellectuals of the twentieth century. I was very surprised that this influential author within the fields of literary theory, post-colonial and cultural studies is so little known within the Czech academic sphere. One of the most striking facts is that as of September 2007, there were only five entries by Said in the Czech National Library!. Similarly, only three of his brief essays were translated into Czech? Thus the purpose of this thesis is to grant appropriate attention to Edward W. Said and present an interpretive overview of his work which is necessary before one can begin to place Said in proper perspectives as the individual whom many have claimed as a centrally important twentieth century figure. It will explore Said's contribution to many disciplines ranging from literary theory and criticism to cultural history to postcolonial studies, as well as the literary, cultural, social, and aesthetic roles he has played as an academic intellectual. It will also attempt to interpret the key moments in...
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Copy, imitation, forgery as an artistic principle in the novel Chatterton by Peter Ackroyd
Labanczová, Johana ; Armand, Louis (advisor) ; Roraback, Erik Sherman (referee)
In the first chapter a question was posed: whether the original and the derivative represent a classic binary opposition in Chatterton. The wide usage of repetition in the novel was revealed to highlight the textuality (in the sense of Waugh's 'condition of artifice'1), intertextuality and self-intertextuality of Chatterton - in particular through references to other texts, the novel's self-referentiality, but also the applying of the means of visual representation (as it was shown in the third chapter). By showing its dependence on particular artistic and textual representations, repetition calls attention to the fact that for example also history could be considered a textual construct. Going back to the initial discussion of the opposition between the original and the derivative, it should be mentioned, as John Frow states, that it is exactly the metaphor of textuality what has a power to overcome 'the dichotomisation of the real to the symbolic, or the base to the superstructure, or the social to the cultural,'2 or the original to the derivative. The subversiveness of embracing the metaphor of textuality goes beyond the one of a forger, counterfeiter or plagiarist. Their works, as Ruthven puts it, 'exhibit a carnivalesque irreverence towards the sanctity of various conventions designed to limit what is...
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The theme of Hamlet in Joyce's Ulysses: The reflections of Stephen Dedalus's aesthetic theory in his later theory of Hamlet and the specific implications that arise from it
Brymová, Petra ; Pilný, Ondřej (advisor) ; Armand, Louis (referee)
The thesis deals with the theory of Hamlet created by Stephen Dedalus, the main protagonist of Ulysses, and with its counterpart in the form of Joyce's theory, which can be imagined as a twisted theory of Stephen reflected in the narrative of Ulysses. The first chapter concerns the origins of Stephen's Hamlet theory; it focuses on Stephen's aesthetic views with emphasis on the terms Stephen uses and shows how Stephen diverts from the models he is drawing on. It is revealed that the basic concept of Stephen's aesthetic theory is the indispensability of "real life" for an artistic creation. Most of the terms Stephen employs include this issue, except for his idea of a "detached artist", which is the very opposite of a contact with reality. However, this paradox is a link towards reconcilliation of two opposing tendencies, which seems to form the essence of an artistic creation. The chapter likewise comments on Joyce's ironical treatment of Stephen's views. Stephen detaches himself from Christianity, yet he uses religious parallels and thus, paradoxically, pays homage to it. Irony also surfaces concerning the relation between an artist and his work of art; Joyce's "new" theory of Hamlet is closer to Aquinas than Stephen's original. In a similar way Joyce regards Stephen's analogy between a literary...
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