This master thesis is concerned with biblical epic poem (or "epos") by Slovak author Augustin Dolezal, called Memorial Tragedy (1791, originally in Czech language). In this type of genre author takes well known biblical stories, such as fall of man or murder of Abel and adds his own fabricated circumstances. In this particular case author is trying to provide reader with catechesis and religious education on top the tale. Tragedy is mainly focused on the nature of sin and its connection to human condition, fall of man and possibility of evil in the world. Method of this paper is mainly theme analysis and comparison with Bible and its well known exegesis throughout the history. It is focused on comicality, which shall be defined in the theoretical part. Practical part attempts to come up with interpretation of the text in such a way, that certain themes, tropes or figures from the literary text are interconnected with certain features of comicality and shown as such. Keywords: Comicality, Biblical Epic Poem, Augustin Dolezal, Baroque, Classicism, Carnivalesque

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This thesis is an attempt at a partial interpretation of Lucan's epic The Civil War (Bellum Civile). It pays special attention to the character of Caesar, who turns out to be at the centre of the poet's narrative and to whom the essential themes presented by the poet are related. The introduction of the work points to the importance of interpreting inconsistencies in the Roman epic (O'Hara), which has become the methodological basis for the submitted literary analyses of Lucan's work. Indeed, modern Lucan research (Henderson, Masters, Roller, O'Hara) shows that the fragmentation and inconsistencies of the individual voices, scenes and events in the epic are the artistic intent of the author and mirror the theme of his work - the deeply divided world in the civil war - in the form of his narrative. The main part of the work is devoted to analysing the passages of the epic in which the character of Caesar has a central position and which prove to be essential in the interpretation of the overall narrative of the work. These analyses show that one of the prominent themes of the epic is the theme of power. As can be seen from Caesar's characterization and his actions in the first five books of the epic, the character of Caesar is shrouded in an image of monstrosity and unstoppability, which, however,...

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Peut-on lire l’épopée espagnole et l’épopée portugaise du seizième siècle indépendamment l’une de l’autre ? La présente étude montre qu’entre 1569 et 1589, l’Espagnol Alonso de Ercilla et le Portugais Jerónimo Corte-Real composèrent une série d’épopées au fil desquelles émerge une pratique commune et originale du genre. Étroitement liées aux Lusiades de Luís de Camões (1572), elles dessinent un modèle partagé de narration épique dans une étroite relation intertextuelle. Lues dans l’ensemble de la péninsule ibérique, ces épopées portugaises et espagnoles éveillèrent l’intérêt du public pour leurs sujets tirés de l’histoire récente. La comparaison avec les chroniques révèle une mimésis formelle, destinée à autoriser ces récits en vers en adoptant de certains traits de l’histoire en prose. Mais le choix de l’épopée les rattache au traitement de la guerre et des conflits dans la longue histoire du genre. À l’instar de la tradition épique depuis Homère, elles reflètent les profonds changements qui accompagnent l’expansion territoriale espagnole et portugaise et la réunion des deux couronnes en 1580. Cette convergence des poètes autour de l’actualité de l’Ibérie moderne les place en situation de concurrence. Il en résulte une émulation affichée dans l’imitation de modèles communs – latins, le plus souvent – et dans la reprise de motifs caractéristiques de l’épopée dans lesquelles est chiffrée cette concurrence. En travaillant ces mêmes motifs, en se répondant d’un texte à l’autre, Ercilla, Corte-Real et Camões, forgent sur deux décennies un patron narratif ibérique qui rompt avec le modèle du Roland furieux avant que celui du Tasse ne s’impose dans la péninsule. / Can we read Spanish and Portuguese epic poetry independently of each other? This study demonstrates that between 1569 and 1589 the Spaniard Alonso de Ercilla and the Portuguese Jerónimo Corte-Real published a series of epic poems through which emerged a common and original practice of the genre. Closely linked to Camões’ Lusiadas (1572), they form a shared epic model built on an intertextual poetic practice. Read throughout the Iberian peninsula, this Spanish and Portuguese epic demonstrates its readers’ interest for the subjects based on recent history. Compared to the chronicles it reveals a formal mimesis through which verse history is authorized by some formal imitations of prose history. Nevertheless, by choosing epic poetry, poets link these narratives to the treatment of war and military conflicts during the long history of the genre. As epic poets since Homer, these modern poets unveil the deep changes that occurred during the Spanish and Portuguese colonial expansion and the union of the two crowns in 1580. Because they deal with current events in modern Iberia, the poets are placed in a competitive situation, coded in the text, in the imitation of common poetic models –Latin, mostly– and in the use of some typical epic motives. Through working on the same motives and dialoguing from one text to another, Ercilla, Corte Real and Camões invent, over the course of two decades, a narrative Iberian pattern that breaks with the Orlando furioso tradition before Tasso’s model became preponderant in the peninsula.

Il genere del cosiddetto “poema sacro” fu uno dei più frequentati nella letteratura italiana tra il XVI e il XVIII secolo, ma le opere afferenti a questa categoria letteraria sono state a lungo ignorate dai critici. La mia ricerca si propone di studiare una sezione limitata di tale enorme produzione, ossia le opere in volgare pubblicate nel Ducato di Milano, coprendo un arco temporale che va dal 1566 al 1706. Sulla base di una rigorosa analisi dei componimenti, spesso poco studiati o del tutto sconosciuti, questo lavoro intende delineare le peculiari declinazioni dell'epica sacra nella realtà milanese, fortemente influenzata dall'indirizzo culturale proposto da Carlo e Federico Borromeo. Gli autori dei poemi considerati sono Sisto Poncello, Giovanni Maria Paroli, Cesare Della Porta, Ettore Colombo, Annibale Guasco, Giacomo Turamini, Antonio da Brugnato, Bernardino Baldi, Antonio Biaguazzone, Giulio Fe', Lelio Guidiccioni, Ambrogio Ferro, Francesco Antonio Tomasi, Francesco Pallavicini, Stefano Rossi, Giacinto Faggi, Giuseppe De Maltraversi, Pietro Paolo Giletti, Alessandro Ghirardelli, Basilio Bertucci. / The so-called “sacred poem” was one of the most successful genres of the Italian literature between the 16th and the 18th century, but the works belonging to this category have usually been ignored by critics. My research aims at studying a limited part of this enormous literary production, considering the vernacular poems published in the Duchy of Milan between 1566 and 1706. On the basis of a meticulous analysis of the texts, often scarcely studied or completely unknown, I intend to determine the features of the sacred epic in the Milanese environment, which was strongly influenced by the cultural policy promoted by Carlo and Federico Borromeo. The authors of the poems are Sisto Poncello, Giovanni Maria Paroli, Cesare Della Porta, Ettore Colombo, Annibale Guasco, Giacomo Turamini, Antonio da Brugnato, Bernardino Baldi, Antonio Biaguazzone, Giulio Fe', Lelio Guidiccioni, Ambrogio Ferro, Francesco Antonio Tomasi, Francesco Pallavicini, Stefano Rossi, Giacinto Faggi, Giuseppe De Maltraversi, Pietro Paolo Giletti, Alessandro Ghirardelli, Basilio Bertucci.

Critical studies and creative works in the Sesotho novel have made some of the important contributions in Sesotho literary history in particular, and African literary history in general. However, such contribution has been dictated by a particular history and an ideology. The world-view in literary practice that emerged from that history is the one that tends to divorce literature, literary study and language from society. Consequently, this study identifies this practice as a problem that needs to be addressed. This study argues from this perspective that literature, literary study and language should be re-established as integral parts in a manner that pedagogical practice would translate into positive social practices. To realise this ideal the study approaches the study of the Sesotho novel from the perspective of literary production. The theory of literary production insists that literature is a form of social production. This argument becomes even more pertinent to the study of the novel, which is viewed as having profound elements of realism that mirror society. A consideration of the Sesotho novel as a form of literary production that is linked to other forms of social production immediately leads to the question of the development of the Sesotho novel. The possibilities that are identified include external influence and internal evolution in the development of the Sesotho novel. These possibilities also have a bearing on the study of the Sesotho novel in particular and the study of the African novel in general. In order to pursue the argument to its logical conclusion, the development of the Sesotho novel is divided into three periods: 1900-1930; 1930-1960 and the 1960s- 1990s. Each of these periods demonstrates a particular ideological leaning that is akin to the material conditions of each period. Taking this trend as a pattern in the development of the Sesotho novel, this study advocates an approach that links literature and literary studies to society. / African Languages / D.Litt. et Phil. (African Languages)

In this study I identify and argue for hybridity as a common feature in four postcolonial texts, namely Femi Abodunrin’s It Would Take Time, Edward Kamau Brathwaite’s Masks, Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s Matigari and Mvona’s An Arrow from Maraka. The study advances that when two or more cultures encounter one another hybridity affects the new emergent culture socially, linguistically, historically and politically. Employing Homi Bhabha’s interrelated terms, notably ambivalence, mimicry, liminality, the third space, in-between space and interstitial space —all of which gesture towards the concept of hybridity, the study explains the emergence of corresponding and equally complex identities in the postcolonial world. With a specific reference to Africa, the study establishes that postcolonial discourse is not as transparent because hybridity does not necessarily mean coming up with completely new aspects of Africa but it implies coming up with mixed cultures since different histories and cultures affect each other in order to come up with a new brand. As such the study concludes that hybridity is opposed to cultural purity and the assumed status quo. In this dissertation I therefore argue for hybridity as a solution to identity crisis because the new personality displays different traces which, in the words of Homi Bhabha, are called “transcultural identities” and such a plurality of identities leads to the production of hybrid personalities and cultures. Such transcultural forms within the contact zone, which Bhabha calls the “in-between space,” carry the burden and meaning of the new cultures that emerge in the postcolonial condition. / English Studies / M.A. (English)