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Escapes and Returns in Neil Gaiman´s Fantasy Stories
ŠEDIVÁ, Barbora
The diploma thesis deals with the interpretation of Neil Gaiman's work, in particular, the children's stories Coraline (2002), The Graveyard Book (2008) a Fortunately, the Milk (2013). The theoretical part of the thesis focuses on the continuity of the discussed works with the tradition of adventure literature and the Gothic novel. The theoretical parts also covers the theme of British children literature and Neil Gaiman and his main works. This part also concentrates on the structure of the rites of passage (Gennep) and on the theme of the test/crisis as an inevitable part of the protagonist's search for his own identity. The practical part of the diploma thesis analyses the stories of Gaiman's protagonists as examples of the initiation that takes place in three main phases: the preliminal, the liminal and the postliminal phase. The specific function of the time-space relations (the motifs of the old house and the cemetery as a border/limit) is described in the same way. The conclusion considers the meaning of escape to another world as an important experience and a part of the journey to adulthood, which helps the protagonists to accept the real world, to find their own place in it and to appreciate the value of real interpersonal relationships.
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Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca and Susan Hill's Mrs. De Winter: From the Gothic Horror to the Problem of Identity
FENCLOVÁ, Renata
My diploma thesis concentrates on the interpretation of the novel Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier in the context of the Gothic literary tradition (the motifs of secret, crime and persecution). It also concentrates on the literary variations on Rebecca in the novel Mrs de Winter by Susan Hill and it tries to follow the links between the Gothic novel and the psychological portraits of the characters and their mutual relationships. It also considers the role of the main character and the question to what degree this character reflects the influence of the so called Gothic "villain". With this respect it also points out the influence of the so called "tamed" romanticism.
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Comparison of lives and works of E. A. Poe and Stephen King/ What can make people write horror stories?
Kopečná, Kateřina ; Ženíšek, Jakub (advisor) ; Chalupský, Petr (referee)
The bachelor thesis is concerned with the comparison of lives and works of Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen King. In the theoretical part of the thesis the horror genre and its typical features are introduced together with outlining both writers' brief biographies. The main part focuses on the analogies between the authors' lives and similarities in the topics and motifs of their work. Poe and King are world-wide famous horror writers; and besides the obvious similarities, such as the nationality and the choice of genre, there are many parallel events and influences in their lives that might have affected the literary production. The thesis provides a deeper analysis of those facets and it puts them in context with their works. The last part interconnects the findings made throughout and explores the tentative thesis as to whether there can be something that can "make" a person write horror stories.
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The Role of Violence in Blood Meridian and The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Kubalová, Barbora ; Robbins, David Lee (advisor) ; Procházka, Martin (referee)
Violence has always been conspicuously present in the American nation, its culture and literature. Considering the immoderate abundance of violence in current entertainment industry, it would seem natural for the emotions to be dulled and able to process any abhorrent excess of violence; the reactions that both Blood Meridian and The Road by the American author Cormac McCarthy have gathered are thus all the more surprising. Face to face with the novels' unspeakable evil, many readers do recoil in horror and the pervasive violence of McCarthy's writings has provoked a wide range of critical perception. The novels may differ significantly in the setting − Southwestern United States of the 19th century in Blood Meridian as opposed to post-apocalyptic future of The Road - but the apparent gulf between both groups of characters and mainly between them and the reader is only another ruse of McCarthy's scheme, whereby he unveils uncomfortable truths about humankind. Although his meticulous study of sources might support the inevitability, even a penchant for bloodshed and carnage in specific conditions, it would be erroneous and contrary to McCarthy's portrayal to imply that it is anomalous rather than representative. The hostility in the novels should not be understood as a feature of a particular region or...
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The Elements of a Detective and a Gothic Genres in Christopher Pike´s Series Remember Me
HOMZOVÁ, Markéta
The diploma thesis deals with the analysis of particular detective and Gothic elements in Christopher Pike's adventurous series Remember Me. The main aim of the thesis is to analyse themes and motifs of Pike's work with respect to the Gothic tradition and the development of detective prose. The thesis is formally divided into theoretical and practical parts. The theoretical chapter is devoted to the genre of the detective and Gothic literature, as well as metaphysical detective story. The theoretical part is followed by the practical analysis of selected Pike's works. The practical analysis involves the characteristics of the main protagonists and the influence of horror and metaphysical detective elements on the search of individual identity.
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Violence, Manipulation and a Persecuted Heroine in Vladimir Nabokov´s Lolita and John Fowles´s Collector
KREJZLOVÁ, Anna
This bachelor thesis deals with two postmodern novels: The Collector (1963) of the British novelist John R. Fowles and Lolita (1955) by the American writer Vladimir V. Nabokov. At first the thesis focuses on a brief overview of both authors' lives, as well as on the postmodern tendencies in their works, moreover it provides a short description of postmodernism itself. Next, the main features of the Gothic novel and its founders are described along with the characters of their major works. With respect to the Gothic tradition, Edgar A. Poe's short stories are introduced with the emphasis on his evil manipulative characters. Subsequently, the previous antiheroes and heroines from the Gothic novels are compared to the contemporary characters from The Collector and Lolita. In the following chapters, the thesis pays attention to a brief summary of both novels and then it focuses on the comparative analysis of selected themes: surroundings and their function, the loss of freedom, narrators and their communication with readers, conscience and the loss of identity.
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The Environment of the Fictional Space of Wuthering Heights
ŠEDIVÁ, Barbora
This bachelor thesis introduces the author of the novel Wuthering Heights in the context of the literature of 19th century and focuses on Emily Brontë´s relation with the enviroment where she grew up and which formed the relationship with the place where her novel´s plot is set. The aim of the bachelor thesis is to cover romantic elements of the novel Wuthering Heights, to characterize the gothic novel´s influence on the overall picture of the enviroment and to find confrontations of realistic, gothic and romantic elements creating the setting of the novel.
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The Role of Violence in Blood Meridian and The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Kubalová, Barbora ; Robbins, David Lee (advisor) ; Procházka, Martin (referee)
Violence has always been conspicuously present in the American nation, its culture and literature. Considering the immoderate abundance of violence in current entertainment industry, it would seem natural for the emotions to be dulled and able to process any abhorrent excess of violence; the reactions that both Blood Meridian and The Road by the American author Cormac McCarthy have gathered are thus all the more surprising. Face to face with the novels' unspeakable evil, many readers do recoil in horror and the pervasive violence of McCarthy's writings has provoked a wide range of critical perception. The novels may differ significantly in the setting − Southwestern United States of the 19th century in Blood Meridian as opposed to post-apocalyptic future of The Road - but the apparent gulf between both groups of characters and mainly between them and the reader is only another ruse of McCarthy's scheme, whereby he unveils uncomfortable truths about humankind. Although his meticulous study of sources might support the inevitability, even a penchant for bloodshed and carnage in specific conditions, it would be erroneous and contrary to McCarthy's portrayal to imply that it is anomalous rather than representative. The hostility in the novels should not be understood as a feature of a particular region or...
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Comparison of lives and works of E. A. Poe and Stephen King/ What can make people write horror stories?
Kopečná, Kateřina ; Ženíšek, Jakub (advisor) ; Chalupský, Petr (referee)
The bachelor thesis is concerned with the comparison of lives and works of Edgar Allan Poe and Stephen King. In the theoretical part of the thesis the horror genre and its typical features are introduced together with outlining both writers' brief biographies. The main part focuses on the analogies between the authors' lives and similarities in the topics and motifs of their work. Poe and King are world-wide famous horror writers; and besides the obvious similarities, such as the nationality and the choice of genre, there are many parallel events and influences in their lives that might have affected the literary production. The thesis provides a deeper analysis of those facets and it puts them in context with their works. The last part interconnects the findings made throughout and explores the tentative thesis as to whether there can be something that can "make" a person write horror stories.
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