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The poetic form of Sylvia Plath's early poems
Arutyunyan, Veronika ; Quinn, Justin (advisor) ; Armand, Louis (referee)
This thesis is concerned with an analysis of selected early poetry of Sylvia Plath on the basis of the apprentice period, in which she often relied on traditional verse forms and was inspired by poetic influences. Plath's poetry is marked by a progress from experimental phase to mature, powerful poetry of controlled rhythm. In the introductory chapter, we are concerned with an elucidation of the major verse forms Plath employed repeatedly exemplified by several poems Plath wrote in her early twenties including the poems of The Colossus. The later poems discussed display an effort for a freer structure and flexibility. The second chapter focuses on the analysis of various poetic influences. Plath was immensely inspired by both her predecessors and contemporaries, which can be seen in her employment of poetic devices, diction and even themes. Plath's apparent meticulous practice and learning of the diverse traditional verse forms - for example the alliterative meter of Old English poetry - shall be examined in order to demonstrate the importance of this practice which later led to the poetry of high technical achievement. The third chapter provides a survey on elegy and its major function in the course of development and analysis of Plath's early elegies with reference to Peter Sacks' study The...
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"The Grand Conspiracy: A Lacanian Reading of Contemporary Conspiracy Theories"
Bohal, Vít ; Armand, Louis (advisor) ; Vichnar, David (referee)
The numerous and varied conspiracy theories which circulate in the contemporary discourse are subject to hyperstition, insofar as they are grouped into wider, more elaborate structures. Some of them become hierarchic to such a degree, that they may, in Michael Barkun's typology, be labeled as "superconspiracy" constructs. No author is more prolific and systematic in the crafting of these constructs than the guru of anglophone conspiracy theory belief, David Icke. The work attempts to keep as its object of study the work of David Icke and his "reptoid hypothesis," as it is effectively one of the most elaborate and baroque conspiracy theories which populate contemporary political discourse. It is Icke's oeuvre which this thesis attempts to recontextualize within the confines of critical social theory and Žižekian psychoanalysis. The existence of a "paranoid style" as professed by Richard J. Hofstadter can be noted throughout the history of western culture, from the Homeric gods, scheming behind the scenes, to its modern incarnations culminating in the superconspiracy constructs of David Icke, Alex Jones, and others. The work focuses not on specific conspiracy theories and their claim to facticity, but rather attempts to trace the structural features of Icke's construct and establish their underlying...
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Street Art in Galleries: Aura, Authenticity, and The Postmodern Condition
Chiu, Ewelina ; Armand, Louis (advisor) ; Vichnar, David (referee)
This thesis examines contemporary street art and its exhibition in galleries and museums in connection with Walter Benjamin's concepts of aura and authenticity in the postmodern period. Street art is posited as a marginal art evolving out of the tradition of 1970's New York graffiti that can be made to function as a type of anti-spectacle within the spectacle of the mainstream. Situationist theory and concepts within the agenda of Unitary Urbanism (psychogeography, the dérive, and détournement) are used to evaluate contemporary street art as anti-spectacle. Photography, as a primary method of documenting street art, is considered as a mechanically reproduced medium bringing into play discourses of repetition and originality, which are in turn related back to Benjamin's concepts of aura and authenticity. Andy Warhol, his Pop Art iconography, and practice of seriality are also considered as an influence on contemporary street art's imagery and underlying practice. Warhol's promotion of an "art star" persona is also related to such contemporary street art "stars" as Banksy and Mr. Brainwash.
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The New America in Beat Literature:Spontaneous, Far Out, and All That Jazz
Novická, Tereza ; Armand, Louis (advisor) ; Vichnar, David (referee)
1 Thesis Abstract This thesis establishes the Beat Generation as part of the American literary canon despite its rejection of the literary establishment and academic criticism of its day. The portrayal of the American postwar zeitgeist in Beat literature is examined through the innovative literary techniques proposed by Jack Kerouac based on jazz characteristics. The revitalization of poetic and narrative form are identified in Allen Ginsberg's earliest published poetry, notably "Howl; for Carl Solomon" (Howl and Other Poems, 1956), Kerouac's novels On the Road and Visions of Cody and his long poem Mexico City Blues, respectively. The emergence and peak of the initially marginal Beat literary movement that gave rise to the affiliated beatnik subculture illustrates the tradition of avant-garde art becoming incorporated into establishment culture. The first chapter outlines the political and cultural hegemony of the conservative fifties in America with focus on cultural and historical aspects relevant and parallel to the surfacing and development of the Beat/beatnik counterculture, i.e. Cold War policies, McCarthyism, poetic movements, the emergence of bebop and its innovations. The second chapter provides an in- depth analysis of Beat writing in reference to jazz as subject-matter and as influence on both...
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The Avant-Postman: James Joyce, the Avant-Garde, and Postmodernism
Vichnar, David ; Armand, Louis (advisor) ; Pilný, Ondřej (referee) ; Symington, Micéala (referee)
The thesis, entitled "The Avant-Postman: James Joyce, the Avant-Garde and Postmodernism," attempts to construct a post-Joycean literary genealogy centred around the notions of a Joycean avant-garde and literary experimentation written in its wake. It considers the last two works by Joyce, Ulysses and Finnegans Wake, as points of departure for the post-war literary avant-gardes in Great Britain, the USA, and France, in a period generally called "postmodern." The introduction bases the notion of a Joycean avant-garde upon Joyce's sustained exploration of the materiality of language and upon the appropriation of his last work, his "Work in Progress," for the cause of the "Revolution of the word" conducted by Eugene Jolas in his transition magazine. The Joycean exploration of the materiality of language is considered as comprising three stimuli: the conception of writing as concrete trace, susceptible to distortion or effacement; the understanding of literary language as a forgery of the words of others; and the project of creating a personal idiom as an "autonomous" language for a truly modern literature. The material is divided into eight chapters, two for Great Britain (from Johnson via Brooke-Rose to Sinclair), two for the U.S. (from Burroughs and Gass to Acker and Sorrentino) and three for France...
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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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Fragmentation and Disjointedness in Samuel Beckett's Plays
Halášková, Lucie ; Pilný, Ondřej (advisor) ; Armand, Louis (referee)
The aim of this thesis is to explore different levels of fragmentation and disjointedness in Samuel Beckett's Endgame, Krapp's Last Tape, Happy Days, and Play. Firstly, certain concepts are exposed as being fragmentary. The concepts which are examined in relation to fragmentation and disjointedness are language, time, identity, and reality. The motivation behind this part of the research was to expose the subjectivity and multiplicity of these concepts, and to examine how they function in the four treated plays. Furthermore, this thesis seeks to examine Beckett's use of fragmentation and disjointedness in correlation with incompleteness, examining the importance of what is present but also what is absent in the treated plays. In chapter 2, the relationship between the form and function of language is examined, exploring the different factors that affect one's perception towards language. Language is examined within a subjective, contextual, and social framework. The characters of the treated plays prove that language is a delicate method of expression, often resulting in rifts in communication. The third chapter deals with the fragmentation and subjectivity of time, identity, and reality. Time is examined in relation to the characters, delving into the problem of the characters' perception of the...
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The Language and Subjectivity of a Portrait
Dudešek, Štěpán ; Armand, Louis (advisor) ; Vichnar, David (referee)
In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Joyce shifts away from the traditional objective narration to a more subjective mode of writing. The reader can experience the story and the characters not only through what is actually written but also through how it is written. Joyce employs various language techniques to show different styles that create the feeling of different voices. Four major registers can be distinguished: a child's language, 19th century lyricism, the language of the Catholic school and the more complicated style of the last chapter. The prevalent techniques suggesting a child-like usage are manifested through repetition, childish expressions, use of modality and questions. Lyricism then draws on Byronic and other 19th century parallels, for instance the overuse of adjectives, elevated metaphors and frequent occurrence of standard poetic tropes. The language of the Church is reflected in sermon-like repetition, archaic words, biblical expressions and heavy diction. The language of the last chapter tries to use precise technical terms in an imitation of Thomist and other scholastic texts and manages to incorporate many of the previous elements as well, although often in a self-mocking way. All these techniques and devices in part substitute the traditional objective narrative and help to...
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"The Dead" - A critical compilation of existing interpretations
Fíl, Lukáš ; Pilný, Ondřej (advisor) ; Armand, Louis (referee)
The essay collects and discusses several reading perspectives of 'The Dead,' a short-story by James Joyce from his collection Dubliners (1914). It contends that the story is very much open to creative reading and subjective interpretation, as it may be seen as a platform for various discourses, hidden and unfinished stories, themes, historical testimonies, etc. It argues that 'The Dead' even successfully dramatizes the very event of interpreting a literary text. At the same time, the paper pays attention to how the story is closely tied to its author's personality, life history, and how the whole collection to great extent derives from Joyce's overall scepticism held towards his countrymen in Dublin. The chapter "A Biographical Reading" discusses James Joyce as an interpretive principle for the story. It reflects on Richard Ellmann's essay "The Backgrounds of 'The Dead'" and notes its positive aspects, but it also acknowledges drawbacks of what is called a biographical method of reading 'The Dead.' The next chapter, "The Dubliners Project," starts by outlining two reading perspectives that don't defy one another, but may rather be seen as mutually enriching. The first sees 'The Dead' as an individual piece of writing, whereas the second as an integral part of the collection. The chapter then...
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