|
| |
|
|
The motif of death in art in the years 1890-1918
Heřmánková, Klára ; Pech, Milan (advisor) ; Bendová, Eva (referee)
The aim of the bachelor's thesis is to deal with the motive of death in the visual arts at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The work introduces and analyzes various motives related to death and dying and their changes over the course of twenty years. It follows the content shift of these motives, such as the frequency of their occurrence, their connection with the development of society etc. Last but not least, the work introduces the topic from a sociological point of view, and therefore touches on statistical data on mortality and common causes of death in the years 1890 to 1910, etc.
|
|
|
Melancholic souls. Social dysfunction and social phobias in Czech literature at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries
Řezníková, Lenka
This study deals with the presentation of social dysfunction in 1890s Czech Decadent literature. At a time when other literary movements were highlighting mass society and crowd behaviour as a topos, neo-Romantic, Decadent and Symbolist literature was reflecting extreme forms of individualism. The staging of pathological anxieties here became part of a broad contemporary debate over the relationship between individualism and a modernising, consumerist, conformist and manipulable society, which was also subject of contemporary psychology under various headings during and especially at the end of the 19th century. Pathological individualism was not presented in neo-Romantic, Decadent and Symbolist literature either as something people are obliged to choose, or as a goal of emancipatory endeavours, but as a condition to which some individuals are “condemned” as a result of uncontrollable, e.g. genetic, factors.
|
|
|
Imaginary Orientalism of Gustave Moreau in the Context of 19th Century Orientalism and Symbolism
Domincová, Eliška ; Prahl, Roman (advisor) ; Wittlich, Petr (referee)
The purpose of this bachelor thesis is to analyze the orientalist artwork of French painter Gustave Moreau in a context of orientalism and symbolism in the second half of the 19th century. The thesis focuses on comparing the representation of Orient in Moreau's art and its representation in painting in general, in particular in academic orientalism. Stylistic and thematic differences between traditional academic orientalism and the innovative approach of Gustave Moreau to the similar oriental subjects are examined. It also explores the position of Moreau's art in symbolist movement and his influence hereon. The core research method used in the thesis is studying the works of art mentioned in it and their analysis from iconographic, iconological and semiotic points of view. The author also examines primary textual sources (mainly artist's own thinking about art) and secondary literature concerning the life and art of Gustave Moreau, orientalism and its political context, and works on symbolism. The thesis consists of two parts. Part 1 deals with Moreau's orientalist art work within the frame of French orientalism of the second half of the 19th century, and it points out differences between Moreau's imaginary orientalism and the traditional academic orientalism. Chapter 1.1 describes the social and...
|
|
|
The Employ of the Gothic Novel in Czech Prose of the First Half of the 20th Century: analogies and variations of the genre.
Petrová, Zuzana ; Činátlová, Blanka (advisor) ; Mravcová, Marie (referee)
The aim of this bachelor thesis is to define the genre of the English gothic novel, a historically-conditioned phenomenon, which is revived whenever a specific cultural and social situation occurs. The presence of the genre in the Czech prose of the first half of the twentieth century is traced and discovered in the works of Vítězslav Nezval and Jiří Karásek ze Lvovic. Along with the inspiration drawn from the gothic novel goes the literary background particular for each author - surrealism (Nezval) and decadence (Karásek). Despite the gothic novel balancing on the edge of the trivial, its position in the literary tradition has been stable for several hundreds of years. It has affected many other genres which have carried on its tradition until today.
|
|
|
"Henry James & His Stance towards Aestheticism and Decadence"
Mackal, Jan ; Roraback, Erik Sherman (advisor) ; Robbins, David Lee (referee)
This M.A. thesis focuses on the problematic relationship between Henry James and Aestheticism and Decadence on the example of his two masterpieces-The Portrait of a Lady () and The Golden Bowl (). The main task is to document the evolution of this relationship and to point out that despite his lifelong preoccupation with these two artistic movements in his literary works, James refuses to assume a concrete stance toward them. Before the literary analysis of the two abovementioned novels, the author devotes the first chapter to a brief historical survey as to the nature and purpose of the work of art, to the development Aestheticism and Decadence in Europe and Britain, and to James's relationship with some of the proponents of British Aestheticism. The rest of the thesis is devoted to the literary analysis of the two novels through the optics of Aestheticism and Decadence. Keywords: James, Henry; Aestheticism; Decadence; literary analysis; transatlantic studies
|
|
|
The Eternal Boyhood of Jiří Karásek ze Lvovic
Kolařík, Karel ; Vojtěch, Daniel (advisor) ; Lishaugen, Roar (referee) ; Merhaut, Luboš (referee)
The thesis attempts to describe the life and work of Jiří Karásek ze Lvovic through an analysis of his lifestyle, i.e. the way in which he organized, embellished and individualized his life. Karásek sought to shape his existence as an artwork, in accordance with the inspirational concepts of the contemporary and antecedent thinkers and artists (e.g. Oscar Wilde, Walter Pater and Maurice Maeterlinck). He accented its integrity and orientation towards beauty. In accord with his aesthetic vision (and his literary work) Karásek conditioned beauty with sadness and pain and attempted to emphasize melancholic beauty, unity in disunion. For that purpose he would accentuate particularly the disintegrative, critical elements, evoking the impression of unsuccessful, self-destructive endeavor to reach life's high ideal. This corresponded with his tragic concept of the artist immolating himself for his Art. I approach Karásek's lifestyle through the use of the terms youth and (eternal) boyhood, which Karásek himself employed as symbols of mournfully beautiful existence in his literary work. I define a youth - in accordance with the romantic and symbolist interpretation - as a person at odds with reality (contemporary truths, customs and rules), a solitary, unique being, trying to construct a new world - only...
|
|
|
Protagonist in Gabriele D'Annunzio's Rose Trilogy
Richterová, Daniela ; Flemrová, Alice (advisor) ; Čaplyginová, Olga (referee)
In this thesis we will focus on D'Annunzio's Novels of the rose cycle, on the character analysis of its protagonists in the light of the specific social-historical interpretation of fin-de- siècle period. After a short introduction dedicated to life and work of the author, we will analyse the three novels with the aid of the works of literary criticism in a way that the major themes and specific characteristics of the novels emerge in their comparative interpretation based on the perspective of significance of the author's work in italian and european literature at that time. In conclusion we will consider the possibility of alternative solutions to decadence for D'Annunzio's protagonists which will bring our discussion into philosophical debate about crisis of misguided european rationalism, the crisis related to the problem of dissolution of subject of identity.
|
|
|
Death as an artifact: aesthetisation of death in works of Georges Rodenbach and Jiří Karásek ze Lvovic
Zvoníčková, Michaela ; Vojvodík, Josef (advisor) ; Hrdlička, Josef (referee)
The aim of the submitted thesis is a comparison of symbolism of a double in Georges Rodenbach's Bruges-la-Morte and Romány tří mágů of Jiří Karásek ze Lvovic. We will focus maily on death as a key motif of literature at the fin de siècle and a motif that is, in works we are examining, closely linked with the existence of a double. We will inspect motif of a double in the context of psychological states of mind. The choice of compared texts was motivated by the process of self disintegration. The process of self disintegration is closely connected with the process of depersonalisation which appears when a subject makes contact with a soulful space or a object. Cities (Bruges, Venice, Prague) which are the scene of this self disintegration take a special place in the literature of symbolism as a urban space of art and death at once. Despite mutual relation of life and art, the strange tension, and the phenomenon of annihilation, is still present within this relation.
|
|
|
Concept of Childhood in Fyodor Sologub's prose
Tyulkina, Maria ; Hříbková, Radka (advisor) ; Hlaváček, Antonín (referee)
ТITLE The Concept of Childhood in Fyodor Sologub's prose ABSTRACT: This Master thesis deals with the topic of childhood in prose works of the Russian writer, novelist and teacher Fyodor Sologub. The research presents his biography, traces the development of his personality, as well as his perception of the world and interests. It focuses on the events, which determined the extent and significance of the chosen topic for Sologub. There are also revealed lesser known facts of his childhood that influenced his choice of the topics and its embodiment in his literary works. The writer's biography is complemented by the views of critics and contemporaries who studied his works and shaped public opinion. The main topics of the analysis are: dualistic vision of the world, children's death, faith in God, children's patriotism. The ideal world of children is presented in the novel The Created Legend. The thesis also reveals the popularity of the topic of childhood in other 19th and 20th century writers' oeuvre in comparative analysis with Sologub's work. It also depicts the importance of two literary movements - symbolism and decadence, their representative Sologub was. The questions raised by Sologub remain relevant to the present day. KEY WORDS: Russian literature, F. Sologub, Symbolism, Decadence, Childhood
|
guest ::
