National Repository of Grey Literature 41 records found  beginprevious25 - 34next  jump to record: Search took 0.01 seconds. 
'But it's only a children's book' - children's literature as a vehicle of manipulative ideological dissemination
Moravčíková, Hana ; Clark, Colin Steele (advisor) ; Beran, Zdeněk (referee)
The historical era between 1850 and 1950 is known to be a turbulent period reflected not only in adult literature but also in the texts written for children. This unusually rich period in terms of political, social and ideological development certainly influenced most parts of the world. However, it was particularly important for England mainly for the transition of the Victorian era and Edwardian period to the modern history initiated by the WW I. Throughout this period many new ideologies arose and scientific discoveries were more numerous than ever. In 1859, for instance, Darwin's On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection was published and initiated the still on-going war period between Christianity and science. At the same time, the concept of childhood started to be understood in a different way and books written for children became a common commodity converting the end of 18th century in the Golden Age of children's literature. However, according to Peter Hunt's publication Understanding Children's Literature, 'all texts are inevitably infused by ideologies'. Therefore, the aim of this thesis is firstly, to study the way in which ideologies are incorporated in the texts for children (overt or covert) and secondly, the extent to which the texts for children become a vehicle of...
An Analysis of Female Characters in Contemporary Fantasy'
Čabartová, Kristýna ; Clark, Colin Steele (advisor) ; Beran, Zdeněk (referee)
- English The thesis analyzed female characters in contemporary fantasy while aiming to determine if there were any significant changes occurring, which would cause the female characters to be perceived as 'original' or 'revolutionary'. The first chapter focused on the definition of terms, deciding to consider contemporary high fantasy as literature written after 1945 of the "genre of imaginative fiction involving magic" set into a fictional world that has its own system of laws and rules by which it abides. It also outlined ideas of a number of critics on the subject of female roles and stereotypes in literature and agreed that while female characters are continuously evolving they are still largely stereotypical. In reference to this information, the second chapter analyzed concrete characters in chosen texts (The Lord of the Rings from J. R. R. Tolkien, A Wizard of Earthsea and The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula LeGuin, and A Game of Thrones by George Martin) to see the extent by which they are subjected to stereotypes. The results showed that female characters are greatly stereotypical; however, they are more likely to become more complex and dynamic in the more modern texts. The Questionnaire in the third chapter showed that readers are prone to notice these qualities and that they perceive them as...
Depiction of Media in British Dystopian Fiction
Bakič, Pavel ; Clark, Colin Steele (advisor) ; Veselá, Pavla (referee)
The thesis aims to give an overview of the treatment of media in texts that have formed modern dystopian writing and to which new additions in the genre necessarily relate. This set of texts consists of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four, Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and When the Sleeper Awakes by H. G. Wells; first chapter substantiates this selection and proceeds to define the concepts of "media" and "dystopia". Second chapter is concerned with the understanding of history in dystopian societies and shows that the very concept of historicity is undesirable for a totalitarian state, which seeks to blur history and reduce it to a three-point schema "before the Event - the Event (revolution) - after the Event". Closer analysis then shows that the Event itself can be divided into a further triad that has to be completed in order to pass into eternal post-Event society. Third chapter describes the use of citizens as media and shows that while Huxley's society uses what Michel Foucault calls "biopower" to achieve this goal, Orwell's society rather uses the concept of "discipline". Fourth chapter turns to printed media a the privileged role they are ascribed in the novels: The authors see literature as an embodiment of individuality and, at the same time, as a guarantee of tradition established by an...
Political voice of Aphra Behn
Hoblová, Kristýna ; Nováková, Soňa (advisor) ; Clark, Colin Steele (referee)
The Political Voice of Aphra Behn Kristýna Hoblová, 2013 Abstract This work of literary history analyses the relationship between the fiction of Aphra Behn and the developing partisan politics of the Restoration period, focusing on Behn's use of set tropes of political rhetoric of both Whig and Tory supporters and on the influence of her feminist views on her political writing. It rests on the assumption that in the Restoration period the public and private spheres were still closely interlinked and thus almost any kind of literature engaged in politics, ranging from formal treatises to drama and amatory fiction. The thesis opens with a chapter setting up the historical background and the literary context of the reign of Charles II and James II, which offers a brief overview of the main rhetorical strategies of all kinds of political writing - the household analogy of formal treatises, the Cavalier libertine culture of the Restoration comedy, the relationship between romance and allegory, Tory feminism developed by Margaret Cavendish and methods of political rhetoric employed by John Dryden, the author closest to Behn in political and religious adherence. The third chapter uses this context to sum up Behn's approach to politics in the whole of her work, employing some of her pindarics to prove her...
Reforming the Heroine: Female Characters in Late Eighteenth-Century English Women's Novels
Teichmanová, Klaudia ; Nováková, Soňa (advisor) ; Clark, Colin Steele (referee)
This thesis explores the reformed heroine tradition in the English literature of the eighteenth and early nineteenth century. It focuses on four novels: The Reform'd Coquet by Mary Davys from 1724, The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless by Eliza Haywood from 1751, Evelina, Or, the History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World by Fanny Burney from 1778 and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen from 1813. In the centre of the thesis stands the fallible heroine who is capable of development. The first chapter concerns the social changes of the eighteenth century which introduced the idea of companionate marriage, and it explores the establishing novel of the reformed heroine tradition, The Reform'd Coquet. It stipulates the main characteristics of the reformed heroine character: inexperience, vanity, absence of a reliable authority and overrating her own judgment. Additionally, it describes the relationship of the reformed coquette and the lover-mentor and notices the absence of female guardianship. The second chapter focuses on The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless and explores similarities and differences between Betsy and Amoranda. It also describes Haywood's critics on the discrepancy in approach to male and female virtue and the hypocrisy of distinguishing between the public appearance and...
The role of literary studies in translation: an introduction to Swing Hammer Swing!
Křepelová, Dana ; Beran, Zdeněk (advisor) ; Clark, Colin Steele (referee)
This thesis analyses the process of translation of the opening four chapters of the novel Swing Hammer Swing! by Jeff Torrington with regard to the cultural, literary and linguistic point of view in order to point out the holistic approach to translation, which has been previously omitted as the functional aspect of translation. In other words, the original text needs to be analysed with regard to its literary, cultural and social context, so the functions of the text are properly reflected in the actual translation. The thesis is based on Jiří Levý's functional structuralism, who is nowadays being discovered by the western linguistic theorists, whereas, in the Czech context, he was well-received and always associated with Prague Linguistic Circle. The thesis is divided into three main parts predominantly based on Halliday's (2001) macro and micro level approach to translation, which strategically combined both the literary and linguistic experience of the translator. In the first section "Macro level approach", the novel as well as the author are placed in their literary and social contexts, additionally, the novel is respectively analysed in terms of its structure, themes and the overall agenda of the author. In the second section called "Micro level approach", three main approaches of the field...
Playing Tricks: An analysis of Janice Galloway
Kotalíková, Michaela ; Nováková, Soňa (advisor) ; Clark, Colin Steele (referee)
Novels by Scottish author Janice Galloway belong to the most influential works in contemporary Scottish women's writing and her female characters often offer a stunning insight into the minds of women, who are stricken by various forms of emotional or existential distress. The aim of this thesis is to discuss and closely examine the main character Joy Stone in Galloway's most famous novel The Trick is to Keep Breathing, in order to analyse the position of a woman in contemporary Scottish society and underline the importance of work such as this one. The first aspect that attracts attention is its unusual and experimental form apparent from the very first sight by the mere flicking through the book. The text seems to be living its own life, often changing form, breaking down into lists, signs or play-like dialogues, and some words even partly disappear off the pages. This fragmentation is one of the main focuses of the novel and it is expressed in two levels. One of them is the fragmentation of the text which mirrors the second one, the mental breakdown of the main character Joy Stone. This study is going to concentrate on both of these aspects, firstly it will deal with disintegration of the mind of Joy and the world around her, and subsequently it will proceed onto the form of the novel and look...
Madness of Love, Love and Madness: A survey of the Works of Rose Tremain in the 1980s and 1990s
Koucká, Anna ; Nováková, Soňa (advisor) ; Clark, Colin Steele (referee)
Rose Tremain, a contemporary British author born in 1943, belongs among the most talented writers of her generation. Nonetheless, her works are not as successful as she would deserve. The two historical novels that she has written, Restoration and Music and Silence, have brought her a remarkable popularity. As for her other works, however, she has not been given adequate attention. The aim of this thesis is to introduce the reader to some of her novels and characterize her work. A major theme in her prose is the madness of love that she examines basically in all her texts. For the purpose of this thesis, four novels have been chosen as representative of her work: The Swimming Pool Season, Restoration, Sacred Country and Music and Silence. In the search for the meaning of life, Tremain's characters often concentrate on romantic love as the only reason for living. Tremain emphasizes the foolishness of this, showing that romantic relationship itself can never fulfil one's life. The happiness in a fruitful relationship is possible, but one always has to start with one's own personal development in order to achieve it. Tremain points out that we cannot look for self-realization in romantic relationships; otherwise, our sense of inferiority and insufficiency will probably have a catastrophic effect on...
The Mighty Boosh: theatrical and narrative sspects of Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding's epic comedy
Šímová, Martina ; Christov, Petr (advisor) ; Clark, Colin Steele (referee)
This thesis is concerned with a detailed analysis of the work of the British comedic troupe The Mighty Boosh created by actors and comedians Julian Barratt and Noel Fielding. The Boosh phenomenon is relatively unknown in our cultural environment. Accordingly, the first part of the thesis aims to serve partly as an introduction: it presents the authors' cultural background and the origins of the project itself. Subsequently, technical and physical aspects of the show as well as the acting/theatrical methods used are inquired into. The second part is more practical as it focuses on the narrative framework and strategies, which tend to be highly repetitive and make Barratt and Fielding's project an epic (heroic) comedy. The analysis seeks to explain these narrative strategies by referring to authors such as Vladimir Propp, Joseph Campbell and others, and to reveal The Mighty Boosh in its entirety and complexness.

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