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Family in Modern Fantasy: A Blessing or a Curse?
TÝMALOVÁ, Monika
This thesis aims to provide a comparative analysis of selected works of Anglo-American fantasy literature: Neil Gaiman's Coraline, Neverwhere and The Ocean at the End of the Lane, Amanda Stevens's The Restorer and The Kingdom and Melissa Albert's The Hazel Wood. In the theoretical part, the thesis briefly introduces fantasy and urban fantasy genres and their relation to family stories, along with authors and their respective works. Then the theoretical part focuses on the topic of Bildungsroman, dealing with the liminal phase of a journey from childhood to adulthood. In this context, the thesis alludes to the importance of Bruno Bettelheim's psychoanalytical approach in studying fairytales to understand children's fantasy further. It highlights the significant function of a trial, described via the structuralist study. The analysis itself draws on the following thematic areas: dream and disillusion, threat and hidden danger, will to survive, temptation and destruction, fear of nothingness, the role of mother and father, the power of words, helplessness and help, the temporality of beauty, recovery and rebirth. Based on the analysis results, the work tries to describe the function of the family in individual stories, how relationships between children and adult characters influence the development of the main heroes and heroines and whether the family represents a blessing or a curse.
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Three significant trends in young adult literature
Stupková, Kateřina ; Čeňková, Jana (advisor) ; Malý, Radek (referee)
The aim of this diploma thesis called Three significant trends in young adult literature is to analyse this literary category in the Czech Republic; to describe the publishing houses focusing on this type of literature and to determine, if there are any trends - and if so to describe them. The first chapter states different definitions of so called YA literature and its understanding abroad and in the Czech Republic among the publishers. In the next chapter I characterise the main trends in YA literature that already exist and also those that could emerge, according to literary agents and publishers. In the next part of this thesis I describe three chosen genres: urban fantasy, fairy tale retellings and dystopian novels and I analyse four series determined as typical for respective genres: The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon, The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins and Divergent by Veronica Roth. Each analysis is followed by the description of media response to the chosen series. The thesis also includes the interviews with editors from chosen publishing houses focusing on YA literature: Tereza Pecáková from CooBoo, Jakub Šedivý from Fragment, Lucie Kučová from Egmont and Eva Sedláčková and Jiří Štěpán from Host. This practical part is preceded by a theoretical...
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