The work confronts prosaic pieces with noticeable autobiographical features. It deals namely with works of Edgar Dutka, Eliška Vlasáková and Antonín Bajaja. It was not a coincidence to choose right these three Czech authors. They have quite a few features in common. They all belong to the same generation. They are born in the 40's of the 20th century, so they have spent an essential part of their lives (childhood, adolescence and substantial part of their working age) in the second half of the 20th century - in the time of political convulsions and social changes. A childhood spent during this period has become their common literary theme. They all make their memories a literary piece. Each of them does it in a different way and with a different amount of accuracy. Their inspiration comes from their real life, from their memories. The next common feature of these three authors is that they all wrote some of their texts without a vision to make them public. They wrote them for themselves. Book editions were carried out after the year 2000. Last but not least mutual fact is that all of these three authors have been nominated for a prestigious literary price. Edgar Dutka's works show the interdigitation of fictional worlds and also the diffusion of these worlds in the real life of the author. Eliška...

Avhandlingens syfte är att beskriva och analysera arbetets betydelse i starta eget–bidragsföretagares liv. Material har samlats in dels genom en omfattande enkätstudie som omfattar hela populationen nuvarande och tidigare företagare från 1995 i Östergötlands län, dels genom en serie livsberättelseorienterade intervjuer med ett urval aktiva respektive före detta företagare med fokus på deras inställning till arbete. Resultaten visar bland annat att etableringsmotiven ofta utgår främst från strukturer och omständigheter utanför individen och att dennes handlande när det gäller att starta eget i mycket bygger på ett oreflekterat förhållningssätt. Analyserna lyfter också fram de identitetsskapande aspekterna av arbete och visar att den del av identiteten som är knuten till arbete i många fall mycket starkt påverkar eller omformar övriga identitetsaspekter. SeB-företagarna kan betraktas som ”nödvändighetsentreprenörer” då de skapar nya arbetstillfällen åt sig själva. Bland nuvarande företagare anser drygt hälften att deras liv tagit en positiv riktning. De mest negativa återfinns i gruppen tidigare SeB-företagare, av vilka drygt en tredjedel anser att deras liv tagit en negativ riktning. Bland fördelarna med företagande framhålls av de studerade personerna framför allt möjligheten till en upplevd egenkontroll i arbetet. Nackdelar som betonas är ekonomisk oro, kompetensbrist och brist på sociala relationer. / The thesis aims to describe and analyze the importance of work for those who start up in business through the active labour market programme – the start-up grant entrepreneur. The material was collected partly through an extensive questionnaire study covering the entire population of current and former entrepreneurs in subsidized enterprises from 1995 in Östergötland, Sweden, and partly by a series of life story-oriented interviews about attitudes to work with a sample of active or former entrepreneurs. The results show, inter alia, that the establishment motives are often essentially based on the structure and circumstances beyond the individual and that his/her actions in terms of starting their own business are largely based on a non reflective approach. The analysis also highlights the identity-building aspects of work and shows that in many cases the part of one’s identity that is associated with work significantly affects other identity issues. Start-up entrepreneurs can be regarded as ”necessity entrepreneurs” when they create new jobs for themselves. Among the current workers, just over half believe that their lives have taken a positive direction. The most negative is the group of former start-up entrepreneurs, in which just over one third indicate that their lives have taken a negative direction. The benefits of entrepreneurship highlighted by the studied subjects include the possibility of a perceived self-monitoring at work. Disadvantages indicated by the same people include economic concerns, skills shortages and lack of social relationships.

This dissertation investigates the relationship between work performance and the sense of coherence, using the salutogenesis approach and the influence of employees' biographical variables on work performance. The sense of coherence construct is discussed and conceptualised in terms of its comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness. Similarly, work performance is discussed and conceptualised in terms of its dimensions and dynamics. The integration of the literature study characteristics such as the cognitive, affective, conative and interpersonal characteristics were discussed. The research was conducted among 80 employees at a banking institution. The quality of life questionnaire and performance appraisal ratings were used. The relationship between biographical variables such as age, marital status, gender, qualifications, tenure, functional department and work performance were investigated. The results confirmed the empirical investigation that there was not a significant relationship between work performance and SOC. However, a significant relationship was found between job category and work performance, and between age and work performance. Finally, recommendations made for future research included using a bigger sample size in order to improve the generalisation of the findings to other organisational environments, and to further determine the relationship between other aspects of work performance (not just the KPAs) such as the human attributes of work performance and SOC. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology / M.A. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology)

This study investigates the understanding of heresy and the heretic according to John of Damascus. For him, a heretic was any Christian who, by wilful choice, departs from the one orthodox tradition by adopting a personal opinion on the common faith which he intends to institute as sole truth. Our research is divided into two parts and aims to apply John of Damascus' understanding of the recurring identity of the Christian heretic and his behaviour. By using historical-theological, interdisciplinary and diachronical approaches, our research demonstrates that this Church Father, who is the `seal of the patristic era,' remains a relevant authority for our comprehension of heresy and the heretic. Through two case studies, namely, the Dutch Reformed Churches and Apartheid, and Kimbanguism, our study specifies, on the one hand how a distorted Christian confession contributed to the rise of Apartheid, with its attendant sense of a theocracy, predestination, election, supremacy, divine love and justice. Kimbanguism, on the other hand, represents a heresy against its will. It is an example of Christian leaders who abused their power to apply cultural elements that resulted in a dramatic misinterpretation of the Christian dogma of the Trinity. Finally, our study intends to apply the notions of wilful choice, obstinacy and fanaticism, libertine exegesis, personal opinion and orthodox tradition or common faith, to portray a heretic by using an interdisciplinary approach: theologically as a libertine-exegete, psychologically as a dogmatic and fanatic person, and sociologically as a negative cultural reformer. Thus, our analysis is both historical and theological, and clearly and substantially elucidates the heretical mind in modern times. Consequently, our inquiry may be summed up as follows. Firstly, heresy habitually comes from an existing text, doctrine or discipline; secondly, it concerns people who are originally Christians; thirdly, it demonstrates that a heretic may be a fervent and an educated Christian, a layman or a church leader, who, on the basis of wilful choice, interprets Biblical texts freely, with his personal exegesis and hermeneutics, and ultimately incorrectly. From this exegesis and hermeneutics he deduces and sustains a new doctrine that he defends with obstinacy and fanaticism. / Christian Spirituality, Church History & Missiology / D. Div. (Church History)

Ålderns och åldrandets betydelser för människor som under lång tid har levt med fysiska funktionsnedsättningar har hittills fått begränsad uppmärksamhet såväl i forskning som i andra sammanhang. Samtidigt pekar såväl åldersgränser i det offentliga stödsystemet som tidigare forskning mot att ålder och åldrande kan få speciella innebörder för människor som lever med funktionshinder. Syftet med den här avhandlingen är att tolka innebörder av åldersnormer och upplevd ålder för människor som i dagens Sverige befinner sig i de kronologiska åldrarna kring 65 med fysiska funktionsnedsättningar som funnits med under minst 30 år. Med åldersnormer avses ”enhetliga uppfattningar om de ’typiska’ åldrar då man innehar vissa roller under livsloppet”. Subjektiv ålder syftar på ”hur gammal man känner sig”. Åldrarna kring 65 har valt därför att det är en del av livsloppet då ålder, åldrande och åldersnormer kan förväntas få särskilt stor betydelse. En intervjustudie med 20 personer i åldrarna 56-72 har genomförts. Planeringen, genomförandet och analysen av intervjuerna har utgått från ett livsloppsperspektiv. Tolkningen av de intervjuades utsagor visar bland annat hur människor kan anamma ”äldrenormer” som ofta beskrivs som negativa i andra sammanhang på ett sätt som resulterar i något för individen positivt. Till skillnad från befintliga teorier om hälso- och funktionstillståndets betydelse för människors subjektiva ålder pekar studien också mot att det kan finnas en rad olika möjligheter att känna sig ung eller ”inte gammal” med funktionsnedsättningar och sjukdomar. Mot bakgrund av intervjupersonernas beskrivningar av sina dagliga liv framstår det därtill inte som orimligt att en ålderspensionär med omfattande funktionsnedsättningar med hjälp av ett individuellt anpassat stöd och hjälpmedel kan tillägna sig ett modernt och fritidsaktivt pensionärsideal på ett sätt som får som konsekvens att hon utformar sitt liv på ett ”tredje-ålder-likt” sätt. Ålder och åldrande framträder emellertid inte som betydelsefullt för alla aspekter av de intervjuades liv med funktionshinder. Särskilt inte för hur vissa förändringar av det egna funktionstillståndet upplevs. / The significance of age and ageing for people who have experienced a physical impairment under a long period of time is an area that has received little attention in both policies related to disability and the elderly as well as in social scientific research on disability and social gerontology. At the same time, age limits related to public support for disabled people, as well as related theories and empirical studies indicate that age and ageing can have specific meanings for people living with impairments. The aim of this thesis is to interpret the significance of age norms and subjective age for people in today’s Sweden who are approximately 65 years old with physical impairments that have existed for at least 30 years. Age norms refer to commonly accepted interpretations of what is associated with a certain age or phase of life, while subjective age refers to ”how old one feels”. The years around 65 have been chosen because they stand out as a time in life when age, ageing and age norms are expected to take on a particularly palpable meaning. An interview-study of 20 persons between 56-72 years of age was conducted. A life course perspective was used, both as a theoretical departure and as a methodological tool. Among other things, the interpretation of the interviews reveals how people can acquire and apply age norms that are often described as negative in other contexts in a way that results in something positive for the individual. In contrast to existing theories that emphasize the centrality of good health to be able to ”feel young”, the study at hand also indicates that those with a medically-defined chronic illness or physical impairment may experience age in a number of ways, without this necessarily involving their diagnosis or impairment. Furthermore, the interview subjects’ descriptions of their daily lives suggest that it is not unreasonable to surmise that a pensioner with impairments in today’s Swedish society can achieve a modern and leisurely ”third age” pensioner ideal. But age and ageing do not emerge as important to all aspects of life. This is particularly the case with respect to experiences of various changes in one’s own physical condition.

My thesis explores the posthumous literary life in the early modern period by examining responses to ‘dead poets’ shortly after their deaths. Analysing responses to a series of literary figures, I chart a pre-history of literary biography. Overall, I argue for the gradual emergence of a linkage between an individual’s literary output and the personal life that predates the eighteenth century. Chapter 1 frames the critical investigation by contrasting examples of Lives written for authors living before and after my chosen period of specialisation. Both these Lives reflect changed attitudes towards the writing of poets’ lives as a result of wider discourses that the following chapters examine in more detail. Chapter 2 focuses on the events following the death of Robert Greene, an author often described as the first ‘professional’ English writer. The chapter suggests that Greene’s notoriety is for the most part a posthumous construct resulting from printed responses to his death. Chapter 3 is concerned with the problem of reconciling a poet’s life-narrative with the vita activa model and examines potential causes for the ‘gap’ between Sir Philip Sidney’s public life and his works, which continues to pose a challenge for biographers. Chapter 4 examines the evolution of Izaak Walton’s Life of Donne. The ‘life history’ of Walton’s Lives, particularly the Life of Donne, reflects an accidental discovery of a biographical technique that anticipates literary biography. My method is mainly based on bibliographical research, comparing editions and making distinctions between them which have not been made before, while paying particular attention to paratextual materials, such as dedications, prefaces and title pages. By investigating assumptions about individual authors, and also authorship in general, I hope to shed some light on a promising new area of early modern scholarship and direct greater scrutiny towards the assumptions brought into literary biography.

La recherche s'est occupée des liens de solidarité qui se créent à partir d’actions bénévoles spontanées au sein d’une communauté territoriale. L’ensemble de ces liens a été traité telle une ressource sociale conceptualisable par la notion de « capital social solidaire » et ce dernier a été considéré comme un bien public pouvant favoriser le bien-être social d’une société locale. De cette ressource, nous avons tenté d'en comprendre : 1) ses spécificités ; 2) son processus de micro-fondation ; 3) ses implications théoriques pour une théorie de la société. Le premier but a été atteint en dressant la carte des actions bénévoles mises en place dans deux provinces du nord-est de l’Italie (Trente et Trévise). La carte a montré un cadre hétérogène et diffus d’actions mises en place par les principales catégories d’acteurs de la société locale. Pour analyser le processus de création, les raisons des promoteurs ont été identifiées grâce à une série d’entretiens biographiques Les résultats des entretiens montrent une pluralité de motivations qui soutiennent ces actions et les limites de la théorie du choix rationnel à les expliquer. En ce qui concerne le troisième but, la réflexion a essayé d’éclaircir la nature de bien public du capital social et son utilité pour les débats sur la société civile et sur la cohésion sociale. Cette recherche a mis en évidence, d’une part, la contribution du capital social solidaire dans la valorisation du lien social et, de l’autre, l’utilité de la notion dans les analyses du courant associationniste de la société civile et dans les modèles individualistes de type communautaire de la cohésion sociale. / The research work presented in this doctoral thesis analysed the solidaristic bonds generated by spontaneous voluntary actions within a territorial community. Such bonds form a distinctive social resource conceptualized as “solidaristic social capital”, meant as a public good that benefits the social well-being of a local society. Three main aspects of this resource were investigated: 1) its specificities; 2) the process of its micro-foundation; 3) its theoretical implications for a theory of society. As for the first aspect, a survey of voluntary actions was conducted in two provinces in North-Eastern Italy (Trento and Treviso). Data showed a variety of types of actions producing solidaristic bonds, carried out by a heterogeneous set of social groups. In order to explain the generative process of social capital, a series of biographical interviews were conducted, which shed light on the life stories of promoters of voluntary actions, as well as on the limitations of the rational choice theory in accounting for the complexity of their motivations. Finally, the main theoretical implications of the notion of social capital were discussed, focusing on its nature as a public good and on its contribution to a theory of civil society and social cohesion. On the one hand, the solidaristic social capital emerged as a source that helps strengthen social bonds. On the other, this notion might play a crucial role in the theoretical elaborations based on the associationalistic approach to civil society and on individualistic models of community type of social cohesion.

BRAUNOVÁ, L.: František Kožík's biographical novels about Zdenka Braunerová compared to the extant correspondence /Master Degree Thesis/ Prague 2014, Charles University in Prague, Faculty of Education, Departement of the Czech Literature. This Master Degree Thesis compares Kožík's novels Na křídle větrného mlýna and Neklidné babí léto with the extant correspondence, which is used in different ways in both novels. The starting point was extensive research, which provided a precise undertanding of the author's intentions. The goal was to find out how the author forms the characters and their relationship using sources, especially the correspondence. At the same time this thesis delineates the difference between facts and fiction with an example of Kožík's novels.

No description available.

No description available.