|
|
Psychological aspects of the gothic in Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's fiction
Procházková, Ilona ; Pilný, Ondřej (referee) ; Wallace, Clare (advisor)
What is usually understood by the term "Gothic" is the distant and rather obscure period of Middle Ages connoting severe wars, fortified inhospitable castles and the burning of witches. Apart from that, the word is very often used specifically to describe the architecture of this time. However, especially in an English cultural context this word gained a secondary meaning which is not completely unrelated to the first one and which is to a large extent connected with literature. Under the influence of Romanticism, the second half of the eighteenth century bears witness to extended interest in uncanny Gothic castles or ruins, forlorn scenery and other melancholy places, with even greater stress put on its mysterious, obscure and frightening aspects that finally resulted in something which may be called the Gothic revival. Victor Sage writes that, "'Gothic' could connote any of a wide range of overlapping senses: horrid, barbarous, superstitious, Tudor, Druid, English, German, and even Oriental."1 One of the primary goals of Gothic literature was to create strong emotion of fear or even horror. Among the most popular settings of its fiction belong gloomy ancient chambers, buildings with rich pasts, abandoned decaying mansions, graveyards and similar places which help to establish the right atmosphere for...
|
|
|
The power of self-delusion in Eugene O'Neill's Long day's journey into night and Arthur Miller's Death of a salesman
Klupková, Petra ; Ulmanová, Hana (referee) ; Wallace, Clare (advisor)
Arthur Miller and Eugene Gladstone O'Neill both established themselves as major theatrical icons in America, also earning an international prestige as influential playwrights. While O'Neill is one of the most prominent playwrights America has seen at the turn of the 19th century, Miller markedly stands out from the generation that immediately followed. Their dramatic achievements were recognized both by the audience and the critics, resulting in the highest critical acclaim both in the form of various prestigious awards, O'Neill becoming the first American dramatist to receive the Nobel Prize, as well as causing remarkable controversy. The two plays that are to be examined, Miller's Death of a Salesman and O'Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night, have both been praised as the authors' finest pieces of writing, and both received the Pulitzer Prize, O'Neill's fourth one, only this time awarded posthumously. Miller himself expressed his admiration to O'Neill's work, as he marked him his "favorite playwright" in an 1957 interview, referring to Long Day's Journey as to a "masterpiece." Even though it might seem that Miller's work draws richly upon the legacy of O'Neill, he refuses any influence of his upon his own writing.1 A similar respect can be seen with T.S. Eliot, who paid tribute to O'Neill by claiming...
|
|
|
The speech of nature and objects in the poetry of Medbh McGuckian
Skálová, Alena ; Wallace, Clare (referee) ; Quinn, Justin (advisor)
Before analysing the poetry of Medbh McGuckian, Michael Allen mentions different ways of reading poetry and suggests that in order to perceive the subterranean ways of imagery, "a complete understanding of a poem is not necessary".101 At that stage of reading, however, McGuckian may seem wilfully obscure, and only a reading aimed at the meaning of the poems proves the contrary. In closer readings Allen argues that we realize her "way of distancing us fruitfully",102 her sense that "dreams are part of reality", her "riddling translation of life into artefact, artefact into life"103 and other constraints for readers' interpretation of her poems. From Allen's point I wish to develop the link between the obscured meanings in McGuckian's verse and different ways of reading her poetry and conclude thus my observation of her work. During the introduction of my thesis I explained that I will not concentrate on individual themes within the poetry, but on the author's concept, her treatment of them, on her perception of the world. With different approaches to reading poems, the question about their meanings arises. Where should we look for the meaning of a poem, or should we strive to reach it at all? Answers to this question are different for different poets and different time. In McGuckian's case, I perceive the...
|
|
|
Movement and stagnation in Samuel Beckett's work
Kudrnová, Anna ; Wallace, Clare (referee) ; Pilný, Ondřej (advisor)
Upon encountering the dramas and shorter prosaic works of Samuel Beckett, the reader or spectator will probably soon notice, apart from other characteristic features, the exceptional number of characters that limp, have various foot defects and pains, have problems with locomotion and balance, or who are even legless. In other cases, external causes impede the protagonists from moving, as for example in the play Happy Days, where Winnie is stuck in a mound of earth. Incapability of movement and stagnation, whether voluntary or forced, does not appear merely on the physical level; hesitation, inability to decide or act despite an urge to do so are themes frequently occurring in Beckett's texts; when we think of these manifestations of impotence in abstract terms, we realise that they represent stagnation as well: the inability to progress from one situation to another, further from one attitude or mental state etc. The characters often experience the ancient dilemma of activity versus passivity in human life; in many cases, Beckett illustrates it on motion. Another level on which a certain form of immobility emerges is often the structure of a text; that is to say, the plot does not reach any conclusion; the situation presented therein, although usually close to unbearable, does not change, or becomes...
|
|
| |
|
|
Transformations of the Gothic in Victorian Ghost Stories
Bambušková, Tereza ; Wallace, Clare (advisor) ; Beran, Zdeněk (referee)
Thesis abstract This thesis will focus on the ways in which the transformations in nineteenth-century Gothic stories mirror the gradual changes in the Victorian society's notions about perception and about the metaphysical. The nineteenth century marks a time when advances in science made it clear that not seeing something does not mean that it does not exist, and when psychologists made it clear that seeing something does not necessarily mean it does exist. Moreover, the nineteenth century was a time when religious notions that were previously accepted without question started to be doubted. When people lost their faith in the unseen and at the same time became aware that their eyes are not sufficient to see everything and that their mind may play tricks on them, the notion of reality was increasingly problematized, which is made especially clear in the genre of the Gothic. It could be argued that while the basic tropes of the Gothic remain more or less the same; however, the way they are used, the reactions of the protagonists as well as the general outlook of the story are problematized by newly introduced ideas about vision and human mind. It could be said that in many cases there is no longer a clear boundary between the protagonist and the 'other' of the story, which can often be interpreted as an...
|
|
|
The Irish Peasant Novels of Emily Lawless Hurrish: A Study & Grania: The Story of an Island
Bonnerová, Kateřina ; Wallace, Clare (advisor) ; Pilný, Ondřej (referee)
The Anglo-Irish writer, Emily Lawless (1845 - 1913), has not, in the period following her death, been a very well-known, or widely appreciated, author. At the end of the 19th century though, she was popular with the English reading public, mainly because of her two contemporary Irish peasant novels, Hurrish: A Study and Grania: The Story of an Island, in which she managed to awaken English society to the plight of the impoverished Irish peasant. As Emily Lawless has not been widely studied nor written about only until recently, my access to resources, both primary and secondary, is very much limited. For this reason, I was able to acquire only one of the novels (Hurrish) as a printed publication, while the other novel Grania was available to me only in an electronic version. While William Linn's dissertation "The Life and Works of the Hon. Emily Lawless, First Novelist of the Irish Literary Revival" has been a valuable source of all the details of Lawless's biography and writings in general, the critical articles have been only a few. These include the 1980s first critical "appreciations" after years of neglect, by Elizabeth Grubgeld and Betty Webb Brewer, and more recent essays of James Cahalan, Jacqueline Belanger and Heidi Hansson. This thesis will attempt to introduce the writer in terms of life...
|
guest ::
