Master of Arts / Department of English / Dean G. Hall / Salman Rushdie's 1999 novel The Ground Beneath Her Feet is ostensibly a rock 'n' roll novel, largely set in the 1960s, that traces the commercial rise of Indian rock star protagonists Vina Apsara and Ormus Cama. As their fame and wealth rise to global status and their stage show comes to entail a logistical complexity of military proportions, it becomes increasingly difficult to discern the couple's earlier countercultural ideals within their new established culture status. I argue that despite the change from countercultural to establishment-based values in the novel's protagonists, Rushdie does make a case in The Ground Beneath Her Feet for the possibility of countercultural efficacy against the commodifying culture of global capitalism (which I refer to as the "Frame"). His recipe for combating the exclusive hierarchies produced by the Frame is a combination of the non-totalizing politics of postmodernism and the subversive potential of uncommodified rock music. I pay close attention to establishing the historical templates--John Lennon of the Beatles and Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys--of the novel's protagonists in an effort to understand the sort of countercultural alternative Rushdie is proposing. I likewise focus on the novel's depiction of the Beach Boys' Smile album, which as a still commercially unreleased record, reinforces Rushdie's imperative in The Ground Beneath Her Feet for an uncommodifying counterculture and works in tandem with his portrayals of the artistic plights of several minor characters in the novel as well.

The composition is scored for the following instruments: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons and a large percussion section requiring 7 performers. Beneath the Dancing Moon is a programmatic piece in one movement form composed of 5 continuous sections. It depicts a night scene when the elves begin to dance beneath the moon. Later, the moaning ghosts from the dark forest and the witches with brooms come to join them. They dance furiously until the moon disappears, the sea stops dead and all the dancers suddenly vanish. The approximate performance time is 17 minutes.

Bc. Čestmír Cimler: Prague Johanniters in the Middle Ages This thesis, named Prague Johanniters in the Middle Ages- architecture and wall painting is focusing on architecture and frescoes of Order of Malta in Prague before the break of Hussite wars. One of aims of the thesis is also to figure out typology and function of buildings of the Order, falling within the Priory of Bohemia's authority. Art production od the Orderhas not been systematically examined till today. Range of authority of the Priory overlapped the area of Bohemia into Moravia, Silesia, Hungary and Austria. The relations among commandries were quite close, most likely because of expansion of the Czech king Přemysl Otakar II. Under the autority of the Priory of Bohemia was a great amount of commandries. Several of them are preserved till today; others were partially destroyed or even damaged completely. The most important Order's seat in Bohemia was a commandry belonging to the Church of Lady beneath the Chain, founded in 60's of 12th century, developing till the first quarter of 15th century. The Church of our Lady beneath the Chain is a very significant monument because of its architecture. This church is composed of many construction phases, from Romanesque to baroque times. This thesis is focusing on medieval architectonical production...