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"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
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Dandyism as a lifestyle
Hercogová, Jana ; Půtová, Barbora (advisor) ; Štěpánová, Irena (referee)
Theses focuses on dandyism as a lifestyle. It presents the theoretical definition of dandyism as well as its 19. century important representatives such as George Brummell, George Gordon Byron, Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly, Charles Baudelaire, Oscar Wilde, Robert de Montesquiou and Artur Breisky. Attention is paid to the characteristics of the historical period and the society in which the dandy figure appeared. Theses also focuses on the dandy figure in terms of his value orientation, appearance, behaviors, interests and time spending. Moreover, theses deals with the image of dandyism as a lifestyle in literature. More detailed attention is paid to literary works Fanfarlo, The Picture of Dorian Gray and Against Nature. In the final part of the theses is discused the topicality of dandyism in 20th and 21st century and presented three personalities whose lifestyle resonates with the principles of dandyism. Key words: dandyism, dandy, lifestyle, individulism, aestheticism, hedonism, elegance, revolt
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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...
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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.
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Dandyism as a lifestyle
Hercogová, Jana ; Půtová, Barbora (advisor) ; Štěpánová, Irena (referee)
Theses focuses on dandyism as a lifestyle. It presents the theoretical definition of dandyism as well as its 19. century important representatives such as George Brummell, George Gordon Byron, Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly, Charles Baudelaire, Oscar Wilde, Robert de Montesquiou and Artur Breisky. Attention is paid to the characteristics of the historical period and the society in which the dandy figure appeared. Theses also focuses on the dandy figure in terms of his value orientation, appearance, behaviors, interests and time spending. Moreover, theses deals with the image of dandyism as a lifestyle in literature. More detailed attention is paid to literary works Fanfarlo, The Picture of Dorian Gray and Against Nature. In the final part of the theses is discused the topicality of dandyism in 20th and 21st century and presented three personalities whose lifestyle resonates with the principles of dandyism. Key words: dandyism, dandy, lifestyle, individulism, aestheticism, hedonism, elegance, revolt
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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.
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Concept of the Neo-Avant-Garde in Peter Bürger's Theory of the Avant-Garde and following critical reaction by B. Buchloh and H. Foster
Jonášová, Markéta ; Stejskal, Jakub (advisor) ; Kaplický, Martin (referee)
The thesis deals with the question of the relationship between historical avant-garde movements and the repetition of its main artistic strategies in the neo-avant-garde after the Second World War. The primary resource to deal with this topic is the theory of Peter Bürger, because his book Theory of the Avant-garde represents a very influential and complex conception of the relationship between the two phenomena. Bürger's harsh critique of the neo-avant-garde, which he derives from his concept of the meaning and intentions of the historical avant-garde, is criticised in particular by Benjamin Buchloh and Hal Foster, two American critics of contemporary art. The aim of the thesis is to show, on the grounds of Buchloh's and Foster's critique, the usefulness of Bürger's conception when theorizing neo- avant-garde phenomena and its relationship with the historical avant-garde movements.
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"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
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Dandysm Today
Schlupková, Gabriela ; Heczková, Libuše (advisor) ; Merhaut, Luboš (referee)
In my thesis for a bachelor degree I introduce the evolution of dandyism and I try to describe how this phenomenon is viewed by present-day (literary) theoretitians. This originally social phenomenon is embodied in the figure of Lord Byron, connected to romanticism and is broaden by literary and intellectual stances where Baudelaire contemplates concept of beauty and modernity, Oscar Wild represents the decadent aesthetic of the end of the century and where the Czech dandy is Arthur Breisky. In my thesis I also address contemporary expressions of dandyism - neoconservatism on one side and the esthetics of camp on the other side. Amongst the basic principles of dandyism belongs stylization - underlying function is surface, dandy stylizes himself into the image of an artifect, his individuality expressed through clothes (or more radically through his own body). For this reason I also pay attention to a fashion as a medium of (artistic) expression. Keywords Dandy, surface, mask, stylization, aesthetics, mystification, contemporary expression of dandyism, self-creation.
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