Michal Ulvr Abstract It was the near-end of the Second World War, which defined the popular reception of the Atomic bomb for upcoming decade. In the first year of the nuclear monopoly, the feeling of uncertainty and fear of death in the nuclear war was not yet present in strength. The mood of relative safety dominated the American society till the fall of the monopoly in 1949. Since the first atomic explosion occurred in the USSR, the atmosphere of fear, that never faded back and was latent since August and September 1945, made an exuberant appearance in press and other media. Suddenly, the American government made (after years of neglect) a great effort to calm down the uncertainty of the public. A Federal Civil Defense Administration was established at the end of 1950 and provided more or less useful information, propaganda, material and logistical support for a war with the Soviet Union, which was expected to come sooner or later. Plenty of educational and propaganda pamphlets, books and training films were produced in determination to make it clear, that survival under nuclear attack was possible. And indeed, at that time, there was even a good chance, that keeping some basic survival rules in mind an individual could come out of a nuclear attack relatively unscathed. Administration even tried to...

Yong Wai Ting. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 100-103). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / 論文摘要 --- p.iii / Acknowledgements --- p.iv / Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter Chapter One: --- Literary Language Versus Film Language --- p.17 / Chapter Chapter Two: --- Cinematic Novels Versus Novelistic Cinema --- p.46 / Chapter Chapter Three: --- Film Adaptation: Transfer Versus Cinematic Reshaping --- p.73 / Work Cited --- p.100

The dissertation is dedicated to the under-researched subject of the official sculpture in the DDR and ČSR in the time-frame 1948-1968. By evaluating the material on a broad background of the art historical, historical, cultural and ideological determinants, the dissertation endeavour to provide an accurate insight into the internal processes of the cultural machinery of the Socialist states with regard to sculpture and sculptors. The comparative character of the dissertation contributes to the understanding of the critical questions of art historical research of the period - such as the (in)authenticity of the local varieties of Socialist Realism and relatedness to the SSSR Socrealism, dates of the Socrealism existence, engagement of modernist sculptors, principles of the state/artist relationship or the second life of the Socrealist sculpture.

Izabela Laiblová Urban Dissertation "Václav Havel and Sławomir Mrożek - Theater of the Absurd behind the Iron Curtain" Abstract: Dissertation is devoted to the analysis of dramatic works of Václav Havel and Sławomir Mrożek in the context of the Theater of the Absurd, trying to answer the question whether it is possible to include plays of these East European writers into this literary movement. Dissertation discusses the impact of political, social and cultural situation on the entry of the Theater of the Absurd behind the Iron Curtain reflecting the perception of the trend in Czechoslovakia and Poland. It describes the key thematic areas of both authors' dramatic plays, such as the relationship between humans and the system, the individual and the group as well as type of dramatic characters. It focuses also on the language of Havel's and Mrożek's plays with its several characteristics, such as phraseology taken from the language of communist propaganda as well as combining different styles - official, administrative and others. The dissertation discusses the composition Havel's and Mrożek's with their significant differences, outlined by comparing the relationship "circle - funnel", respectively "circle - spiral". The research is focused mainly on early plays of both authors. In the case of Havel's plays...

The aim of the thesis is the analysis of "domestication" of the scientific-technical revolution and the most important alimentary behavior of Czech society in the 1950' and 1960' of the 20th century. In the thesis is this process interpreted in the context of the change of the regime and of the ideological patterns in the mid- 1950', which should help to overcome the difficulties of the Stalinist utopianism - increased emphasis on quality of lifestyle, housing development, architecture and design, modernization of kitchen equipment and the transformation of ideas about desirable social standards and their importance to legitimize post-Stalinist organization. More specifically, in the context of "domestication" of the scientific-technical revolution, I deal with topics such as the rationalization and mechanization of houseworks, emphasis on hygiene and nutrition, quality of food storage and preparation, the transformation of food composition, the "discovery" of vitamins and enzymes, minerals and etc., haunches on consumerism, developing doctrines of household management, image of woman and her place in the household and other topics. The present work examines not only the structural changes that have occurred, but their ideological aspects - especially the place where the promise of a better life...

This diploma thesis deals with the theatricality of Milada Horáková and company trial and its theatrical reflections. In this thesis, the political trial is regarded as an ideological fiction on the grounds of the ritual and theatrical character. The dramas, which are inspired with this trial, are interpreted in the following chapters. First of them, it deals with Pařeniště by E. F. Burian in the context of the socialist realism, which was put on the stage in a short time after this trial. It paid attention to re-putting on the stage in 2008 as well. The last part of this thesis deals with contemporary productions, which are inspired with this trial (Horáková, Gottwald by Karel Steigerwald and opera Tomorrow will... by Aleš Březina and Jiří Nekvasil), which depict absurdity and bizzare atmosphere of this trial.

This thesis describes a specific church political situation in the Catholic Church in the district of Český Brod in the period 1949-1952, as we know from the available archival sources - situation reports and documents of the district church secretaries. It shows how the official church policy of the state was in reality reflected at the given period in the activities of the district church secretary, pastors, nuns, believers in the monitored region. This work describes and evaluates various tasks and activities that the district church secretaries performed to reduce the Catholic Church in the Český Brod district in the fifties.

Notre travail porte sur le traitement de la question du mal dans des récits français publiés entre 1945 et 1962, soit entre deux procès ayant interrogé la spécificité du mal et de la culpabilité, celui de Nuremberg d’une part, celui d’Eichmann d’autre part. Ces écrits sont des récits de l’après publiés par des écrivains qui ont participé à la guerre (comme Simon ou Camus) ou qui n’en ont reçu que des échos lointains (comme Butor ou Bataille). Le fil conducteur de notre analyse s’appuie sur l’essai de Paulhan, Les Fleurs de Tarbes ou la terreur dans les lettres, lequel nous a permis d’étudier le mal non seulement dans son versant historique au prisme de la terreur nazie et de ses conséquences, mais aussi dans son versant littéraire, entendant alors le terme de terreur dans le sens métaphorique que lui accordent Paulhan et Sade avant lui. La terreur est contrebalancée en permanence dans ces écrits et dans notre travail par son opposé, la rhétorique, et engendre la constitution d’une génération de romanciers « antimodernes » qui accèdent à une modernité esthétique sans renier la tradition romanesque du XIXe. L’approche du mal en termes de terreur et de rhétorique nous permet ainsi de concevoir la spécificité du traitement du mal chez Sartre, Bataille ou dans la littérature de témoignage, mais également de réinterroger sur nouveaux frais le statut du Nouveau Roman au prisme d’une historicité souvent déniée par la critique et de marquer l’oscillation de ce groupe de romanciers entre terreur et rhétorique. Cherchant l’hermétisme, l’exception, les nouveaux romanciers sont par ailleurs en quête d’une rhétorique fédératrice, capable de refonder une communauté brisée par la guerre. / Our work relates to the question of evil in French stories published between 1945 and 1962, therefore between two trials that have questioned the specificity of evil and guilt, namely the Nuremberg trial and the Eichmann trial. These stories, written after the war, were published by writers who either directly took part in the fight (like Simon or Camus), or simply had echos of it (like Butor or Bataille). The heart of our study is the essay of Jean Paulhan entitled Les Fleurs de Tarbes ou la terreur dans les lettres. This essay enabled us to analyse evil, not only in terms of History — by referring to the Nazi terror and its consequences — but also in literary and metaphorical terms, therefore considering the term ‘terror’ according to the definition of Paulhan and Sade. In both these stories and our work, terror is constantly offset by its opposite, rhetoric, which constitutes the basis for a generation of ‘anti-Modern’ writers who aim at esthetical modernity without denying the importance of the novelistic tradition of the 19th Century. The question of evil through the notions of terror and rhetoric leads us to specify the approach of evil in Sartre and Bataille’s novels, or in testimonies. These notions allow us to analyse the status of the Nouveau Roman from an historical perspective, often denied by critics, and to show the constant wavering of this group of writers between terror and rhetoric. The nouveaux romanciers are not only looking for exception, abstruseness, but they are also seeking a common rhetoric, capable of recreating a community otherwise broken by the war.

This diploma thesis deals with the political trials of 1950s in Czechoslovakia. It describes specific cases of poets Václav Renč and Jan Zahradníček who were accused of espionage and high treason. The group of accused were based on unfounded evidence, treated as part of an international organization called Green International. Relating with the political trials and imprisonment these thesis focuses on analyzing the prison poetry of these two catholic authors.