Edith Wharton's 1913 novel The Custom of the Country reveals a national concern with defining and preserving authenticity in social and cultural life. A study of the novel through the lens of scholarship concerning the modernist obsession with "the real thing," including such seminal texts as Walter Benjamin's "The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction" and Lionel Trilling's Sincerity and Authenticity, opens up a broad discussion of authenticity and imitation as defined by Wharton's characters. This paper challenges the traditional interpretations of the much-abused term. First, I outline a brief history of the study of authenticity in art and literature in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, showing how realist writers like Wharton were influenced by the ideal of cultural and literary reality. Then I discuss the obsession with "the real thing" by all the characters in The Custom of the Country, both low- and high-born, and how the term influences the development of the plot. Finally, I reveal the vexed nature of the term "authenticity" in the novel, showing how the nouveau riche wrest aura from the old aristocratic class, and how they appropriate the power necessary to define "the real thing" on their own terms.

Text in English / Although initially dismissed as superficial, Harold Pinter’s Betrayal, Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing, and Patrick Marber’s Closer use the theme of marital betrayal as a trope to investigate metatheatrical and epistemological issues. This study aims to demonstrate how these three plays define and explore the concept of authenticity within the fictional as well as the actual world; how arbitrary the construction and mediation of the characters’ identities are, not only from their own perspective, but also from the audience’s; the significance of the audience’s role in these plays and how issues of authenticity, fictionality and dishonesty impact on a genre that depends on illusion. This study intends to provide a new interpretation of these three texts through an analysis drawn from postmodern and poststructuralist theories, concerning the concept of authenticity within art and language. This study finds that the fictional worlds in these plays are created through mediation, which includes everyday language as well as complex works of art. Authenticity is shown to be an elusive concept. Language is either unsuccessfully used to force authentic responses from characters, or as a shield. In Betrayal, language functions as a protective barrier, preventing the characters from knowing one another. The Real Thing suggests that although inauthenticity may be established, the inverse is not necessarily true. In Closer, the characters try in vain to access authenticity through different registers of language. Furthermore, neither the body nor the mind is shown to be the locus of authenticity in Closer. Within the postmodern context where originality is impossible, mimicry is not seen as something external and inauthentic, but as inextricably part of human existence. The audience is drawn into the fictional world of these plays as its members are able to identify with the disillusionment of the characters and their inability to form a definitive view of each other. Simultaneously, the audience is ousted from the fictional world by being reminded of the author’s presence through metatheatrical devices. These plays take advantage of the fictional status of theatre to explore issues of authenticity, positioning them in direct opposition to postdramatic and verbatim plays. / Afrikaans & Theory of Literature / D. Litt. et Phil. (Theory of Literature)

Text in English / Although initially dismissed as superficial, Harold Pinter’s Betrayal, Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing, and Patrick Marber’s Closer use the theme of marital betrayal as a trope to investigate metatheatrical and epistemological issues. This study aims to demonstrate how these three plays define and explore the concept of authenticity within the fictional as well as the actual world; how arbitrary the construction and mediation of the characters’ identities are, not only from their own perspective, but also from the audience’s; the significance of the audience’s role in these plays and how issues of authenticity, fictionality and dishonesty impact on a genre that depends on illusion. This study intends to provide a new interpretation of these three texts through an analysis drawn from postmodern and poststructuralist theories, concerning the concept of authenticity within art and language. This study finds that the fictional worlds in these plays are created through mediation, which includes everyday language as well as complex works of art. Authenticity is shown to be an elusive concept. Language is either unsuccessfully used to force authentic responses from characters, or as a shield. In Betrayal, language functions as a protective barrier, preventing the characters from knowing one another. The Real Thing suggests that although inauthenticity may be established, the inverse is not necessarily true. In Closer, the characters try in vain to access authenticity through different registers of language. Furthermore, neither the body nor the mind is shown to be the locus of authenticity in Closer. Within the postmodern context where originality is impossible, mimicry is not seen as something external and inauthentic, but as inextricably part of human existence. The audience is drawn into the fictional world of these plays as its members are able to identify with the disillusionment of the characters and their inability to form a definitive view of each other. Simultaneously, the audience is ousted from the fictional world by being reminded of the author’s presence through metatheatrical devices. These plays take advantage of the fictional status of theatre to explore issues of authenticity, positioning them in direct opposition to postdramatic and verbatim plays. / Afrikaans and Theory of Literature / D. Litt. et Phil. (Theory of Literature)

The dissertation focuses on the problems associated with determining the amount of wear (finding the remaining technical values) that are being addressed. It deals with an overview of the different methods used. The basic premise of the thesis is a comprehensive overview of the calculation procedure and the methods used. This area of wear does not except the price regulation precisely defined procedure, nor are they addressed the circumstances in which that would be the method to be used. Various possible methods or inaccuracies may result in questioning the expert opinions as at trial. In conclusion of this dissertation is shown how the calculation procedure should wear for what purpose should be used and it is also proposed several alternatives.

The dissertation focuses on the problem of determining the timeliness of the normal market rent an apartment at the market price of the apartment. The basic premise is obtain a database of prices of flats and apartments to compare these parameters the most accurate way. This area has been addressed several times, but only in some cities and not fully explored. The conclusions of the dissertation indicate what the relationship is normal and usual rental price of the apartment, then further comparison of the development of this relationship before the economic crisis, ie the price levels of 2008 and the present. Based on these data, it is also possible to determine the level of capitalization in each regional cities with regard to the average wage in each regional cities.

The dissertation is focused on current issues in the connection with the rental price of land and construction land maps, which are addressed to practice. It deals with an overview of the development of rental and price charts in the Czech Republic and abroad. The basic precondition of the dissertation is the existence of data dealing with the relationship between rents and the usual (market, global) price of land in the price map in the Czech Republic. This area, the relationship of rents and land prices, has not yet been fully explored. The unavailability of this data can result in questioning the expert opinions for example in court proceedings. The conclusions of the dissertation illustrate, how interdependent ground rent with the price specified in price map constructions of land. The percentage of the relation I have determined to both individual cities (Prague, Brno, Olomouc), and all the Czech Republic as a whole.

Dissertation work deals problems Law Of Building in relations to new Civil Code No. 89/2012 Sb. (NOZ - new Civil Code) Legal regulations are for all new and rather are in common level. Supplying present, more than 40 years old Civil Code new recipe, presents revolutionary changes in civil right. NCC starting from the another ideological, political and terminological bases. With new Civil Code loom incomming new questions: What will real property and what will no. What kind of law is possible newly to real property to establish. How will new property owners limited. Important is appreciate, that by the new Civil Code was cancelled current Civil Code, so and current Business Code too. New legal regulations cancelles more than 238 law regulations. All the law, which affected law relations to real property are cancelled. Contribution is solving the problems and summaries the cases, where would had Building Law to do. Result of the dissertation work is: